i'm torn between the environment and fun use of batteries

my mind wanders. i sit at work, in splendour, surrounded by aged antique wood and freshly polished brass. the old pipe organ sets itself in the room like a retired ogre made of stone finally able to rest. i despise organ music. in their silence, the towering pipes warn of impending noise.

i type on my pda. oh god, i'm sorry.

today i 'babysit' as another company set equipment in my great hall. it's the peace time that my job occasionally involves. today i am paid to watch over a team of technicians to check they are doing their job properly. i'm to offer advice. i get the same result as most of my days but with no heavy lifting. they all have much longer teeth than me and have been operating since before i was even thought of.

shit, i'm verging on management.

so i stare at the second largest unsupported concrete dome in the world. it sways menacingly above me at geological speeds. i know this building is splitting slowly in half. in a hundred and fourteen years the dome will open, a scream to the sky, showers of grey meteors will rain on whatever audience are in that day.

strong men in black combat gear march around me, purposefully.

we technical crew think of ourselves as warriors. trained with knowledge. some of us know we are ultimate geeks. i do and i am. i am not ashamed or dissatisfied.

we are those cogs behind the stainless steel fascia that make your meaningless conferences writhe with technology. tomorrow a major international bank arrive to tell themselves how rich they are. they will brag about figures bigger than your mobile phone number while plucking invisible fluff from their priceless suits. they will talk of motivation and ponder how to make more money next quarter. then in the afternoon they will praise the god of interest while employees fight off post-lunch winks. it is the same as all business conferences are.

"hello, my name is jonathan and i am an audio-visual technician."

believe that i enjoy my job. daily i witness the latest technological advances. i play with expensive toys that you can only begin to imagine even exist.

you love listening to music on your 150 watt home stereo speakers that cost you two weeks salary. i go to work and play my music on a 15,000 watt system that costs more than your parent's house.

you love movies on your 42" hd-ready plasma screen. i stopped using screens that small years ago. before me today rises a screen twenty feet wide and lit by a projecter the size of your hatchback.

you like your mood enhancing halogen downlighting that makes your lounge oh so modern. i have lights that move to any angle on any given axis and change colour, brightness and shape at a moments command from my fingertips.

i love my job. it fulfils many of the boyish tendencies that drive me. it would be perfection if it involved lego.

lights spin, subs woof, images roar. big boy's big toys.

just wish it was a bit more worthy. can I swap glaxo smith-kline, hsbc and the labour party for the terrence higgins trust, christian aid and the carbon project? i make your conference bigger, better, awesomer... and contribute nothing to the beauty and maintenance of our world. but

believe that i'd never want to sit behind a desktop for any length of time. ye office workers lament playtime! i may work an extra 15 or 20 hours every week on you, but i stimulate all my senses in each hour.

i currently eat a cadbury's fruit & nut paid for by my employer. it is a small but pleasant detail.

i am not bored. today i can tell a man to build a cool thing and then read about the gobi desert while he does it.

i am disappointed that some do not enjoy the hours they spend at work. it is a big part of your week. change to something you love. go on.

i make this.

majestic. pointless. remarkable. wasteful.