holy crap on a cracker

To cube-dwellers, working from home might sound like the absolute shit, much like being told they can eat chocolate for the rest of their lives but still have that toned body. Yes, it's amazing, particularly the part where the option to shower can totally be waived, or you can eat in front of the computer, but I'm here to tell you some things:

• There are too many horizontal spaces at home, e.g., your bed, the couch, the carpet, the floor beside the TV. These horizontal spaces would constantly call out to you to lie on them. "Hey, look at my soft/shiny/clean/comfortable/all of the above surface, would you like to rest your back for a bit?" I'm telling you, you heed that call for one moment, just one weak moment, and there goes the day. In my first few weeks of breaking free from the bondage that is the time sheet I became best friends with all the horizontal spaces, and waking up at 6pm is a bit disorienting especially if you realize that your total waking hours adds up to only 5.

• If you're a gadget person like I am, these gadgets would join the horizontal spaces in the chorus of calling out to you. What better way to spend the day than say, manipulating your Sims on your PSP while curled up in the coolness of your pillow? Or just listening to Sergio Mendes on your iPod under your comforter?
  

• The easy access to third-world pirated DVDs of movies and TV series can be overwhelming, especially if you miscalculate the amount of free time you have. Your brain tells you suddenly you have 8 free hours a day, because the thing called Going to the Office was suddenly scrapped from your schedule. Thing is, you still have to work in that 8 hours if you want to eat. Maybe it's not the traditional 9 to 5 thing, but it's still 8 hours and maybe more.

• I don't know about the others of my kind, but lately I'm busier. In the office there would be downtimes, like when you choose to ignore your filing maybe, or the chitchat in the bathroom. But now the deadlines are more real, and more intimidating. I love it, though.

• The refrigerator is your frenemy. When you're just sitting there, typing, and the refrigerator is two steps away your stomach suddenly gets an opinion about things. Mine is whiny lately, like it's telling me how can I just sit there ignoring that glorious piece of contraption when I can make the effort of walking the two steps and take advantage of the wonderful things inside it? Of course I walk that two steps.

Bottom line is, if you don't have an incredible amount of self-discipline to set a structure for your new life, you'll just end up cramming and sleepless like I am. I'm still getting the hang of it, but when I really want to write seriously I take a shower first thing in the morning to signal my body that we're open for business for the day. Lately the distractions become less tempting, and when I'm able to ignore it I feel a small triumph of accomplishment.

But still, I won't have it any other way.