Hiding From Fact

I'm the master of filibusters and rants. I could rant all day about useless information, and after I was done, the government would slap a seal of approval, and give me a gold badge or a purple heart. I've come to realize this through conversations with friends, my own writing, but the biggest example of it is through my blog entries. They are huge! And I like to back my thoughts up with proof, so it looks like I know what I am talking about. Let's face it, some people in this world are unremitting bullshitters. I'm a sporadic bullshitter. I fell behind in an English class once. The day before a paper was due, which, I might add, this paper had to include sources out the butt, note cards, bibliography cards, numerous corrected and checked rough drafts. I had nothing of the sort. Twenty minutes in front of a computer, about ten if you include made-up note and bib. cards, and a few minutes it took to pass a few rough drafts to friends within other class periods, and I cranked out a bullshit paper. When I got it back, I had an A+. I also had a note towards the bottom of it, "way to go on the research!!! (smiley face)" A high school paper thought up at the last minute. Did the same for college English, and got an equally high grade. I can't do that with that many subjects in school, but when I do accomplish it, it is gold! This labels me as a sporadic bullshitter.

Upon many bullshitting fiascos I tend to accomplish in my blogs, I realized the longer the blog entry was, the fewer people would respond. No one responds to this blog, but my other blog on Xanga gets a relatively high feedback ratio. Does this mean that our generation is full of fewer readers? What I mean to ask is, are more Americans anti-readers?

I enjoy a good book here and there, but at times, I'll find myself unattractive to pages upon pages of words and dialog, especially after reading or just blindingly staring at a computer screen all day. Has it come down to a time factor when determining the make-up of readers in today's society? Most people I know always seem to be rushing. Their lives are in the fast lane and they hardly find the time for leisure, never really finding a time to read. I, on the other hand, am all about leisure. I find that I will be more productive after a nap or a break from work. I was in heaven this past week. Somehow, my work schedule ended up giving me five days off work, including Memorial Day. A break like that gave me rest and relaxation, before having to work a full week of nights and weekends. I found that I was happier, obviously, being away from a work load like that.

It's common sense that other countries are different in handling work efficiency. Take Japan, for instance. Part of their work schedule includes a "nap-time" like break, where workers can choose to sleep and rest up for more work. Upon further research of this topic, I found that some companies in Japan will even release aromas into the air to relax workers. For instance, lavender was exposed to children to test it's effects. Here's the link:
http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/30/8/683
In the study they found that one group, exposed to lavender, worked better to another exposed to jasmine, lavender was said to have a sedative-like aroma that brings out euphoria. When exposed to the kids working 60 minutes on tests evaluating concentration and a lapse there of, during the 30 minute break between tests with the exposer of lavender, the students worked harder going into the next tests. This proves that the Japanese know what's good for their workers, although, I have no idea as to what their work days look like.

Does work stress tire a person out to the point where they want to be left alone in a vegetated state? Absolutely! There are days sometimes where I'll sleep for 12 hours after working eight hours with one break every four hours. It's that stress factor that runs you down, and caffeine is not the answer. You need that break to get your senses back. I've heard of game developers in America who have provided their workers with private massage therapists. The outcome: workers were willing to work longer hours - all they needed was a break, and a stop at the snack machine was not going to cut it!

Leisure time should be spent doing just that - leisure. Why should you be worried about taking a break off from work? More importantly, why shouldn't you be given a break? Some places of employment don't allow more than a week or less taken off by their employees and that is tragic. It's proven in all the studies that workers need consistent breaks. So it all trickles down to a necessity to rest. You go home from work, and what is the first thing you want to do? Flop in front of the television or get a cold beverage, and just relax. Do you ever want to just go home and open a copy of "Moby Dick" after doing extensive paper work at your job? Not really. Who's fault is it that test scores in reading and comprehending the material are low? It is industry! You work long hours completing endless amounts of paper work...you really should just sleep. You are driven to the point of exhaustion, and it doesn't help when you have kids. They see a parent not reading for leisure, and how does that help instill the WANT to read? It doesn't! Then, they are tested at schools in reading and arithmetic and the schools are shocked to see such a low outcome. The worst thing I hated in school was being forced to read a book I didn't want to. Why were classrooms forced to provide students with reading material in exchange for grades? Low testing in reading and arithmetic. As a parent, instill that WANT to read. I have a full understanding of families who don't do so because of three or more jobs and 14 to 18 hours of work a day. That's where industry ties in as a problem. Otherwise, read as much as you can, that's about as much as I can say on that point. Big companies out there, slave-pits, Walmart - give your employees some employee time! It's proven to be a high work-efficiency lifesaver. On the downside, you deal with mistakes and problems that could have been corrected if a certain employee would've been given some rest.