THE DOOZERS INFLUENCED ME TO CARRY ON. HAHAHA!!!

Jim Henson was a genius, along with his colleagues at The Jim Henson Company. They are the people behind Sesame Street, The Muppets (Marionette-Puppets, as they technically defined the fusion, which later became very popular) and my favorite, Fraggle Rock, among others. They were the puppeteers behind the creatures of “Labyrinth”, an 80s fantasy movie starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. Numerous other collaborations were made with their “creature shop” in TV and movies alike.

If I remember it right, I used to watch Fraggle Rock every Saturday afternoon in the late 80s. I was very young then. It was not exactly educational like Sesame Street, but very entertaining and fascinating for me. The small characters are called The Doozers – probably the cutest of all Jim Henson’s creations: they are construction creatures who build transparent frames which in turn are eaten by larger entities (The Fraggles) roughly four times their size. And then there are even larger creatures than the Fraggles outside their caves, kind of a “food chain” hierarchy. HAHAHA!!! I always wondered how the Doozers were controlled manually, because they were much smaller than the average-size hand puppet. And oftentimes their whole bodies were shown, giving little space to hide the hands that operated them. I loved the technology behind how they were manipulated when I found out! Very clever and sophisticated at that time. I dreamt of having sets – figures and vehicles, of remote-controlled toys like them. Hehehe…

(i do not own the video)

I originally wanted to be a civil engineer. The Doozers were partly influential to spark my interest in engineering; but when I discovered how extensive algebra and physics were involved in the study of its different fields, I turned my attention to the next best thing, Architecture. Not that it’s literally second best, this field is similar (tackling both design & construction) but has less number-crunching computations than civil engineering itself. In the real world, they virtually have the same liabilities, only varying in degrees. I eventually chose Architecture. Besides, I loved drawing in high school. I even created a foul-mouthed Filipino superheroes comicbook where I vented my frustrations. HAHAHA!!! I’d like to think of Architecture to be the “artistic side of engineering”, although many proud architects would dispute that it’s a totally separate field of knowledge.

Anyway, I went on to finish my tertiary education (Bachelor of Science Major in Architecture) but was unable to land a job directly applying the “art”. I pursued an occupation related to the craft instead = facilities administration (now more commonly known as property management), a phase that comes right after the design, planning and construction stages of building structures. We had a dedicated class for that in college, a subject I almost totally ignored. Now I hear that it’s a whole new course of seminars or a diploma program. Makes sense. In my eighteen-year career so far, I am still learning some stuff, but actually having more emphasis on “social engineering” now.

IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO HANDLE PEOPLE AT WORK. PERIOD. It’s not like we’re the Doozers who got along with each other quite easily. To be responsible and be accountable for the actions and mistakes of different attitudes, motivations, and even problems, one has to be flexible and versatile enough. We are not saying that we do not fail at all, we simply stand up again and push forward the best we can. Just like the Doozers who might have always been frustrated that their constructed frameworks constantly kept getting eaten, they carried on anyway. (What an immature analogy!! HAHAHA!!!)

The past two weeks have been disheartening for me at work. And even so, I’ve been informed that there will still be incoming problems in the days ahead. This is not permanent anyway, otherwise it’s time to look for a job somewhere else. But wherever we go, we are bound to encounter problems along the way, whether we like it or not. Maybe this is only a “lunatic interval” of sorts. I just remembered these cute characters. Their hard work being destroyed constantly and they’re still happily toiling.

We are fortunate enough to work with colleagues who regard rank over personality (tempers and all), as it always should be. In my case, count more than two dozen subordinates who I can directly instruct and reprimand, depending on the situation. But respect per se, is truly hard to earn. There was once a time when I was the youngest of all management staff in the building, they were looking for that “wisdom from experience” thing. And there are also some lazy types who are vindictive at times; they take it as a personal offense when you lecture them after a failure, especially safety issues, indirectly implying their laxity and incompetence. Pride can be the biggest beast in us. More than three dozen clients also add, with a regular dose of public relations and solutions to complaints to be applied. It’s a continuous derby of finding the right balance. So yes, it is tough. But so must we be. We push on despite the tiresome challenges. We compromise. It’s still better than having nothing. Work is still a blessing. I’m still generally happy. Thank God for that. J