Sex/Work?

As you may know, I started posting less often (if you could call gaps of 2 days less often) because I got a full-time job. I'm working for Americorps, which is supposed to be interesting and rewarding. I don't miss being unemployed (yet), but since I developed so many hobbies during my unemployment that I now don't have time for, I don't foresee a future boredom like the past one that had me on Google searching "Edwyn Collins and asexual", "Kevin Shields and asexual", "Morrissey and asexual" indefinitely. When I didn't have a job, ideas for this blog would get me out of bed in the morning. Now, it's the fact that it's probably warmer on the other side of the house.

Yes, I still want to talk about sex and work.

I didn't like all of Against Love, but it did get me thinking about this subject. The writer of Glad to be A commented that when she's feeling down, that's when she thinks about being in a relationship, because that's what society prescribes for all our ills. I recently did some pretty grim math that yielded something like the average person only having 4 hours to themselves a day. If you spend most of your day doing things you don't like, where are you supposed to get your love? I'm finding that I can't reject sex and passively accept our worklife. I feel like you enter into a societal contract where if you want even the most basic stuff of civilization, you need to commit yourself to working, whether you enjoy what you're doing or not or wether it's contributing to our collective problems or not. I'm not motivated by money, so I can't get anything out of a job I dislike. But I don't understand why we work the way we do. Why do I work 40 hours a week while some work 80 while some don't have jobs (but want them)? Can't we divide up the labor a little better than that?

I remember reading a book called The Corrosion of Character that was about the "new flexible workplace" and how it seems cool and laid-back and ping-pongey, but it's actually damging to worker morale in lots of ways because people have no security. It's funny how at work, we have to be flexible and constantly learning new things, in fear of being obsolete. But when it comes to our relationships, we're very rigid and hesitant to change. I think our relationships could have been a lot more varied by now, but maybe because we're pushed into fake flexbibility at work and uncertainty in our professional futures (if we have professional futures), we cling to traditional dating and marriage. It's a thought. I wish my unknown future could seem like an exciting adventure, but it just doesn't.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on work, (a)sexuality, and relationships. I still plan on writing that epic article someday.