One of the greatest comics of the modern era is The Oatmeal (who has a book out, you should hit that). I love most of his comics but one of my all time favorites is Why working from home is both awesome and horrible because of its relevance to my life. I think a lot of people think of working from home as some kind of paid vacation where you just sit around in your PJs watching TV, do no work at all, and money comes in from the money fairy. Trying to explain the bad parts of working to someone with this idea in their head is pretty much impossible, you’re basically trying to use facts and experience to argue with an imaginary ideal they’ve built up in their heads and you are never going to win that. But this is hilarious because it’s from someone whose been there and it’s one of those, it’s funny because it’s true kind of things. (Except for the sleeping in part… I used to do that but there weren’t enough hours in the day. I start work at 7 AM sharp week days now.)
The whole comic is great but my favorite part is this panel:
Not gonna lie, I’m really concerned that this is happening to me. I have actually started to read the news before I go to visit friends so I can make small talk like a normal person. Â I just love this because it’s one of those things you really don’t think about when you start working from home: that you’ll lose the ability to interact with other humans.
I really hope I’m not peeing myself in public. I imagine I’d notice…
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- Wild Oats: An Interview With The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman (chicagoist.com)


Hillary DePiano is a playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer who loves writing of all kinds except for writing bios like this.




Okay, I’m going to have to INSIST you come over for a cup of tea sometime soon, since you obviously NEED to get out at least a little bit more!
(Should I mention that I’m on my own for supper tonight and plan on making waffles at about 5:00?)
You’re having waffles for dinner?
And this has been a feeling over the last 5 years, not something just this week or anything.
Steve is going to be out of town for the rest of this week so this is really my only chance to see him so I have to decline but I appreciate the offer. Maybe this weekend?
Breakfast works any time of day!
Come for tea/coffee/cake Saturday afternoon? Sunday? Because that would be GREAT … You could pet Chappy, which is very soothing, and you won’t be so far away from home that you’ll start to twitch in withdrawal