Held Hostage

I was telling a friend of mine just last night that even though I've re-entered the workforce - go me! - it's only grudgingly. Given all the bad that's happening in the world I've got it pretty good, no one's shooting at me or trying to chop my hands off for voting or anything like that. I really have nothing to complain about.
   But I'm gonna.
   The office is about 16 miles from my house. Which, in Texas terms, would mean about a 15 to 20 minute commute. But not in LA. The office is on the Miracle Mile, which means it's not easy to get there from anywhere else in the LA area. It takes me 35 minutes at the very least, 50 minutes on a bad day. Insane in the membrane. I've been away from any sort of commute for a year, and I honestly don't see how I once made a 50 minute commute regularly.
   Being in the office for eight to nine hours a day - absent the commute - feels like I'm being held hostage. Or being punished. Seriously. I feel like a fifth-grader staring out the window on a fabulous Spring day.
   I had several meeting today, with various members of the team, sales, marketing, technology, several hours all together. While the meetings did help with the work I need to do, I don't miss meetings. At. All. To say that I'd rather have someone hit me in the back of the head with a nail-studded two-by-four than attend another meeting is understating things. I remember there were people at my previous jobs who did nothing but attend meetings, all day, every day. I just don't see how they did it.
   And then I have to get back in the swing of bringing my lunch to work, which means I have to buy stuff for sandwiches, get chips and carrot sticks, all that kind of thing. And preparing all that stuff takes even more time out of my day...
   Crap.
   Now I'm starting to sound like a 'friend' of mine who has never held a real job in his entire life, and thinks the world owes him a living just by virtue of him being alive. I guess it's time to get involved in a multi-level marketing scheme and get evicted from a home I could never afford in the first place.

CONTRACT COUNTDOWN: 88 days