A room of one's own

I'm really ready to be back in my old space at work again. Even though this dislocation has been far less troublesome than I anticipated. Even though climbing the stairs every day is good for me. Even though it's boosted morale and solidarity within our little section, and probably even productivity to boot.

Ten years in my own semi-isolated work area has just spoiled me. The constant stream of distractions and interruptions isn't too trying when I'm doing something that only requires half my attention, like correcting authority headings or compiling statistics. But now it's crunch time for evaluations and I just can't get the writing done if I can't count on a little peace (not to mention that that it's hard to work on confidential documents when anyone can pass behind you or have private conferences when another coworker is only five feet away).

Now I'm so jealous of any moments by myself that I seethe with resentment when they are denied me. Fifteen minutes after he was due to take off and leave me alone in the room today, Pablo was still noodling around at his computer and I was so annoyed that I had to leave the room before I said something regrettable. After all, it's hardly his fault that my concentration skills are so poor. But now I have more sympathy for another colleague who gets irritated when he doesn't follow the schedule he says he will.

One of my coworkers suggested I borrow a laptop and find a quiet place elsewhere in the building; monshu works from home when he has to get evaluations done. But there are bulky files I need to refer to (such as the stats reports) and I can't use Remote Desktop as long as we're stuck using this router. So I think I'm looking at some late nights this coming week.