How to have fun in the office.

Too young for retirement, too old for backpacking, too unco for joining the circus. I'm 3 days into  'that brilliant little gap I had between fabulous jobs' and wandering around my home office looking for a bit of fun. 

So far I have:

• read 6 pages on how to change the gears on your bike
• attempted to make a paper aeroplane
• considered and then reconsidered pulling my tax paperwork together
• called a real estate agent - just 'cause I know they love a chat
• hung out 2 loads of washing
• checked facebook, linkedin, twitter and googled

Don't you dare accuse me of procrastinating though. My inability to focus on higher priority tasks is quite deliberate. I still plan on doing NOTHING for a while yet. There is one thing I miss about the office though...shhhhh.... it was sometimes fun....

Let me be clear. I didn't work in the googleplex or anything. Just a conventional open plan office. We didn't use the photocopier for shenanigans way beyond it's warranty limits. We didn't have a goofy prankster to entertain us through the climate controlled, ergonomically fitted, meeting filled hours of employment... Nope we just had a team that wanted to enjoy being at work.

Here are some of the things that gave me a laugh in the office:

1. We set up a War Room on the request of senior leaders for, well,.... a daily teleconference.. Thank goodness I didn't go through with the camo netting order.
2. The Great Cumquat Jam Making Competition of 2012. In an effort to rid myself of around 16784 kg of cumquats, I took them to work and created a competition for the most creative and best use of cumquats - complete with an expert CWA judge, fabulous prize and ribbons. Not to mention the respect and admiration of your peers.Guess who won? I swear, Shirley was completely impartial. A woman of her Royal Show judging pedigree can not be bribed... besides that would have been against Rio's code of conduct.
3. Writing left handed during dull meetings... (Not my idea but brilliant nonetheless.. Thanks RR)
4. Adding words to my corporate buzzword hate-list. Fun for a while but dispiriting in some meetings...
5. Coffee... Brilliant in all its manifestations .. Bad coffee demanded a pitching and replacement trip to the local cafe for intel and a stretch. Good coffee, made the agony of 'syndicating', 'learnings', 'boiling the ocean' and 'swings and roundabouts' almost bearable...

I'm missing the insanity of the office just a tiny winy bit... Please free to post what makes you laugh... if you require anonymity, I know a great place that has camo netting!