toilet humuor
when i walk into the office bathroom and find that all 3 stalls are occupied by men doing their business, the phrase that literally ALWAYS asserts itself first in my mind is "muderer's row."
does anyone actually give a damn that people named matt damon "sexiest man of the year"?
i sure as hell don't.
bread before bombs
one of my coworkers is married to a u.s. army soldier who recently began his 2nd tour in iraq. within her department and the other ones on our floor, she organized a drive for cookies and other treats to put together a goodwill package to send to him and his company.
i was floored when she showed me the unoccupied corner office where she was keeping all the donations. you should've seen it. wall-to-wall, piles of brown grocery bags full of plastic wrapped dishes of homemade chocolate chip, boxes of oreos and those new cookies that are part candy bar stacked high on the desk. i noticed that somebody had even included a cookie recipe (kudos to them for using brown sugar) along with his or her donation.
i don't bristle or scoff at culturally-approved tokens of patriotism like i would've when i was younger and angrier, but all the same, this office crammed with sugary goods donated by a diverse group of people, many of whom will recede into anonymity after signing their names to the card that'll accompany the package, struck me instantly as so, so much more symbolically powerful than a yellow ribbon could ever be. empathy transcending politics.
lifetime problems
the escalator that carries you down to the turnstyles at porter square station has been out of service for a week or so.
in the past two days, i've noticed that the maintenance crew working on resuscitating said escalator are wearing what appear to be 3-mile island containment suits, sans masks.
the eternal refrain/excuse for the constant need for maintenance / inexplicable delays in service / why the t doesn't run past 1 am, when bars are releasing their patrons to the rest of the world: "the t is the oldest subway system in america. we need the extra money from every fare hike we implement just to keep the service up and running. we need the time that we earn by not operating past 1 am in order to make the necessary tweaks and checks on the trains just to be sure they'll be functional come 5 am."
somehow, the fact that the guys working on a mere escalator, one of the most peripheral component of this service, require what seem to amount to containment suits summed up the sad state of affairs for me.
this is a system whose complete overhaul is long overdue. it's a dam that keeps springing new leaks every single time someone plugs an existing hole with his finger.
the saltiest of salts
it's always going to be the salt that's on the type of soft-baked pretzel you get at a carnival or sporting event.
a study in the effect of contrasts.
i really liked it when burger king started spraying their fries with potato bits
yes, i know they're a bit doughy. i like that. they remind me of french fries i used to get when i was younger and went to
this place.
that's how french fries were at the town sq. diner, and that's what i became accustomed to tasting when eating french fries. i learned to like them.
and there's just something to familiarity.
office gold, vol. 2
jumpin' jack flash - the rolling stones
sweet emotion - aerosmith
movin' out - billy joel
oye como va - santana
you're so vain - carly simon
stayin' alive - the bee gees
sweet caroline - neil diamond
night moves AND hollywood nights - bob seger and the silver bullet band
in the midnight hour - wilson pickett
long train running AND what a fool believes - doobie brothers
time of the season - zombies
hello, i love you - the doors
get down tonight - kc and the sunshine band
pretty woman - roy orbison
overture/long time - boston
the laws have changed
guys in the locker room yesterday were talking about the pilates classes they had taken
then again, there's yoga, so it makes sense
the negativity because
sometimes people aren't afraid of passion
and
aren't you aware of a droning?
it's like the low end is a ghost
when it could be a beastly thing
but no, it's actually a wimp
there's a pretext of conquering with inspiration
but it wants nothing more than, with glistening doe eyes,
to drag us down into a self-obsessed normalcy
mediocrity.
i refuse to believe you're tormented
at least your clothing choices are made easy.
oh, and you'll probably get some cheap lays out of the deal, too.
if i had control over time, i would speed it up and bring the imminent ice age in store for you and your kind hurtling forward.
