When Your Day Job is Like Bolero

January 22, 2008 at 9:16 AM

Have you ever had those moments in your day job when the task at hand seems to go on forever and forever with no end in sight? Then for some reason, Bolero comes to the surface of your mind. The single melody that repeats itself over and over and over again, seemingly never ending. I can't seem to get that tune out of my head at the moment.

Over the past week my day job has been like playing Bolero at 20 bpm with repeats for each instrument playing the melody over and over again. Run a program to convert data from one database to another and then wait 19 hours for the encore. Then to make matters worse, having random failures happen every few hours. Then a flurry of activity at the end. Then guess what? Bolero is played all over again from the top so that one instrument learns how to wake up long enough to do their part without mistakes.

It is times like these that I wish I wasn't both a musician and a software engineer. I can't stand Bolero!!!!

From Pauline Lerner
Posted on January 22, 2008 at 9:21 AM

I sympathize. I can't stand Bolero either.

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on January 22, 2008 at 12:21 PM

I actually like Bolero. This sounds more like Sisyphus. Ah, day jobs . . .

From Tom Holzman
Posted on January 22, 2008 at 2:48 PM

I also hate Bolero. You have all my sympathy. Be careful that the folk in the white coats do not end up coming to get you and take you away!

From Jasmine Reese
Posted on January 22, 2008 at 4:15 PM

I like Bolero when it is played right.

From Emily Grossman
Posted on January 22, 2008 at 10:08 PM

I like Bolero. But I also like endless repetitive tasks.

From Yixi Zhang
Posted on January 23, 2008 at 12:27 AM

There are moments I do like Bolero, just as those moments repetition makes me feel grounded. If something is good, repeat it. I keep my day job so that I get paid to learn and to live a structured life, and I’m gladly repeating this purpose everyday for as long as I can, why not?

From Mendy Smith
Posted on January 23, 2008 at 5:58 AM

I actually ended up having to explain Bolero to my software team (no one got it). After explaining the piece, they started laughing. Ahhhhhh!!!! Sit around and wait forever until you can do your bit, then wait forever again.

:::humph::: Engineers!

From violetcat (rachel)
Posted on January 24, 2008 at 5:26 AM

Well, Torville and Dean skating to Bolero and getting 6.0s across the board was memorable. Other than that not a huge Bolero fan. I hear you though--so many things in life stand in the way of music as a profession....

From Terez Mertes
Posted on January 24, 2008 at 7:22 PM

Oh, this is hilarious! Now I'm going to have "Bolero" in my head, to boot.

From PM Chu
Posted on January 26, 2008 at 4:08 AM

LOL, I like Bolero, but I can only listen to it for like 2 minutes...max

From Ian S
Posted on January 26, 2008 at 5:06 AM

If I'm not mistaken, Bolero was written as an exercise in orchestration, not as a true concert piece. Ravel was supposedly not pleased with the attention it received.

This entry has been archived and is no longer accepting comments.

When Your Day Job is Like Bolero

Laurie's Books

Subscribe