IQ Test Results and the Joy of Work
From the online quiz creators at Tickle.com, it turns out I am a "word warrior" based off their IQ test. I guess four years at a good college (make that an excellent college) paid off and my degree in English is now a confirmed accurate symbol of my stellar language skills.
Seems the Gods have shined down on us cubicle workers! Tomorrow is the big office work party at Cellular Field. Its the White Sox vs. the Angels. My company has been planning this event for some time now, so it was a complete surprise when we all found out last week that we will have to leave work early to catch the first pitch. The starting time for the game was mysteriously changed, and we now have the opportunity to soak up more of the afternoon's rays. I will be meeting co-workers I speak to daily on the phone, but have never met in person. Should be interesting...I already have a plan B where I disguise my name and voice if anyone looks as scary as they sound.
A mass email went out to employees, reminding us to remain on our best behavior (as if one would get too drunk and pass out in the stands), and that we are a reflection of our bosses and company. Oh the pressure!
And in honor of the game tomorrow, my company has lifted the "access denied" barrier from sports internet sites. A woo hoo! Its a party in here already.
Hilarity this morning
As I stepped on the L, I smelled a familiar scent- though not a particularly pleasant one. It was nail polish, and I thought to myself, "how can someone paint their nails on the L?" Well, apparently one can paint their nails on the L- and not just fingernails, but toenails. I looked over to a two-seater in the corner, and a woman had her leg and foot up on the seat next to her, painting her toes. So then I am thinking, "well that nail polish must be clear. How can one paint their nails a color on the train? I can barely paint my nails sitting still, without the added aggrevation of a moving train." The inherent unstable movements of the L, combined with constant stop-and-go action would make it nearly impossible, or so you would think, to paint one's nails. I was shocked yet again. She was painting black nail polish onto her toes. Now THAT my friends, takes talent, or a person with extremely evolved dexterity.
I was walking in a daze, still in awe from the nail painting extraordinaire. As I waited for the light to change at an intersection, I noticed a maniac driver fully switching lanes with every other jerk of his wheel. Then, making an extra bold move (or perhaps it was a mistake resulting from a hyper extension of the wheel), the maniac driver flew into the oncoming traffic lane. That is when I noticed the hood of his car was attached to the front bumber by a bungy rope, and both headlights were smashed out. Clearly the driver has issues and should return to driver's ed to work through them. Lucky for him, he has a quick manuever to get him back into the appropriate lane before the blink of an eye. Yet I suppose it was unlucky for him that he was not able to use this manuever to save his car from the first collision, which caused extreme denting of the front of his car.
Oh the hilarity of this morning- it put me in such a good mood, in hopes that one day I too, can be a nail painting extraordinaire and acquire amazing driving manuevers.
My Day at the Office
I work in a place that resembles the Initech building in the movie "Office Space"- literally.
Today we had the "Fish Party" to celebrate Fish's one year birthday. Allow me to explain. Fish is a spirit group, so to speak, where representatives from each department in the company get together and plan "fun" events in an effort to get employees excited about work. The Fish party revolved around pizza, kareoke, a boggle tournament, a supervisors race around the cubicles, and a cake shaped like an ocean. All afternoon, the sound of horrible singing was coming from the break room while I sat quietly in my cubicle, questioning why no one else seemed to have any work to do.
I wish I had a Chotchkie's, so I can escape periodically throughout the workday.
Hall and Oates and I are destiny
A very odd thing happened last night. As I was listening to my new favorite work-out song, which happens to be a remix of "Out of Touch," I decided to download it on my friend's computer. Not knowing who sings the original, I simply put "Out of Touch" in the search box. Poof! The name Hall and Oates appeared. I was speechless but still grooving to the catchy rythyms of my favorite duet.
If you know me, you know I have this crazy obsession with Hall and Oates. Why? I am not sure. It just surfaced one day, but it felt like a re-birth of a past life I had forgotten. I found myself suddenly locating all their greatest hits like hidden gems (in terms of songs). I have a theory as to why I have this strange connection with Daryl and John: perhaps it is because I was subjected to hours of their music when I was both in the womb and growing up. My mother used to love 102.9, the lite station and in 1980-1981, "Kiss on My List" and "Private Eyes" were both chart toppers- played incessantly on every lite station in the country. I am positive she listened to Hall and Oates a ridiculous amount of time while carrying me. To further prove my theory, I can remember listening to their hits in the early 80's during my childhood- in the car, running errands, to and from elementary school, practices, and lessons. No wonder I love the song "Out of Touch!" It was #1 in 1984- making it no surprise I remembered the song but did not know why! Other hits from the 80's- "Maneater," "I Can't Go For That," "Say It Isn't So," "One on One," "Rich Girl" and my personal favorite "You Make My Dreams." Those are just to name a few. The list goes on. I am sure you are thinking, "how can one group of only two men create so many hits?" I ask myself that very question every time I uncover another hit.
If you've rarely listened to Hall and Oates, I highly recommend you download a couple of their songs. I guarantee you will find the duo's music classic and you will quickly become a lifetime fan. Fear not, you can still see them today! They are touring this summer. I wonder if they still have the same hairstyles as all their album covers from 1976 to 1988?
Patrick Dempsey= boo
So I received the synopsis of Grey's Anatomy last night. The fact that Patrick Dempsey's character is married and he did not tell Meredith Grey of his marital status causes his hotness factor to drop significantly. However, since I did not like the character of Meredith to begin with, I feel some kind of satisfaction from this development in the storyline. Dr. Grey isn't Ms. Perfect anymore, now that Dr. Dreamy has made her into a mistress. I feel an evil laugh coming on?
The outcome is most women will not look at Dr. Dreamy in the same light. Why though? Why did the writers have to do this? Just to further the notion that hot doctors- intelligent, rich, successful men are all a$$holes? Can't we just live in a fantasy world where these two people- the doctor and the resident-could have a flawless relationship (other than the working-together issue)?
Maybe the blame lies with Meredith. She knew it was odd Dr. Dreamy was always sleeping at her house. She did not see his "house" until she relentlessly asked to be shown where he lives and he finally gave in (because she said no more sex). And, as it turns out, he lives on a large piece of property in a trailor??? Granted, it was a lovely airstream trailer, but come on. Even I, who wanted so badly to believe that Dr. Dreamy was all good, could not fall for the "I live in a trailer because I like it" idea. How many more red flags did she need? I guess she needed Dr. Dreamy's wife to tell her herself, which made all viewers cringe.
Another television love story so seemingly perfect is quite the opposite and revolves around cheating. I think Patrick Dempsey's character should get killed off the show, then he can move to a new series and redeem himself as the underdog loverboy we all know and love from the 80's. There could be a re-make of "Loverboy," where instead of delivering pizza [and more] to older women, he could ring the bells of 20-something-year-old women...you can see where I am going with this...
A New Epidemic
A new epidemic on the rise is LEA- "Loss of Equilibrium in Adults." Perhaps "new" is not the correct adjective, because this illness may have been around for decades, centuries even. However, I have recently noticed a sharp increase in its prevelance on the sidewalks of Chicago. It affects human adults of every race, creed, and ethic origin, big or small, male or female. No need to involve the children, who find themselves attached to adults who cannot walk a straight line. They are merely victims by default.
So many adults suffer from this loss of equilibrium, which causes walker's rage and numerous other dangerous side effects to both themselves and innocent bystanders. I wonder how many people have been shoved into the street by a diagonal LEA walker?
The most aggrevating aspect of LEA is that it inhibits those who need to get somewhere, the ability to get there in a timely manner. LEA sufferers walk slowly and all over the sidewalk, as if they owned it. They lose grasp of peripheral vision, a much needed human characteristic, and are therefore unable to sense there are people around them. With dangerous veering and sudden b-lines, it is almost inevitable LEA sufferers create havoc on the sidewalks by bumping into others. God forbid they are driving a stroller or carrying several shopping bags.
It's sad when...
It's sad when you can't wait until the end of the day because "your" season finales air. I claim them as "my season finales" because they are the shows I watch, and make it a point to watch every Sunday evening. My shows are Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy.
I look forward to both shows for different reasons. Desperate Housewives has appeal because I grew up in the suburbs on a similar-looking street to Wisteria Lane. I like to let my mind wander about what actually might have happened on my block. Probably nothing, but Mrs. Cooper was a mysterious woman with lots of money, no career, and no husband...
Grey's Anatomy has one major attractive aspect and his name is Patrick Dempsey (or as NBC likes to call him, "Dr. Dreamy"). However, I find myself despising certain scenes because I am not a fan of Meredith Grey, the main character. Perhaps this is because she is sleeping with Dr. Dreamy. Hands off
bi@#$, you have patients to look after.
Both shows are so good, and bring the weekend to such a fulfilling close. What did I do before them? How did my weekends end and how did I feel ready to start the work week? Ah yes, there was Sex and the City...and then there were all the Sex and the City DVDs.
I am seeing a startling trend in my train of thought, but it seems to have been growing for quite awhile. I am conciously planning my day around the season finales. I am feeling the need to tune in because the shows are "must watch" episodes. I feel like I would be missing something. There is all this pressure to view. I thought I was more of an individualist, so you can see why this is frightening. Should I revolt and not watch? Probably will not happen because I know I would just be receiving the synopsis from my friends on Monday(per my request). I might as well give in and choose another way to be a rebel. I'll refuse to watch the re-runs.
The Streets Of Lincoln Park
[5pm, a random Friday night] While trying to do what I call "work," there was constant, loud, drunk banter simmering in one of the main intersections of Lincoln Park. It was quickly coming to a boil- voices were rising and the mingling was being taken to the next level. Believe me on this- I could hear the transition in conversation from my window- people moved from saying, "what's your name" to "I'll bet you'll stay the night here!"
Now I am not one to play the role of party pooper. I even felt a twinge to join the celebration (what the occasion was, I have not a clue). However, it was early in the evening and clearly not everyone in the vicinity of DePaul wants to immediately party when the work week ends. I began to feel anger towards these "partiers," who took it upon themselves to make their neighbors feel like sad-selves, thinking the rest of the area is letting loose. This leads to such ideas as "what the hell, its after-work time on a Friday. I should be having fun, not sitting and trying to be productive. That's what Monday is for!" [Side note, Mondays are never considered "productive days," as we all know. We get into work and think "I have the rest of the work week. I need to edge in slowly, so as not to burn myself out by Thursday." Just humor me and play along with Friday afternoon mentality] I do realize that I live in an area where 20-somethings are trying to unload a little steam at the end of the work week, but my God! The temptation was too strong and my will power, so little! Trying to concentrate was becoming impossible as the "woo woos!" got louder and louder. Oh how I longed to just relax and chill with friends. And this my friends, is where destiny stepped in. The roommates arrived home from their respective offices, making it fully impossible to do any work. I don't look at my inability to work as failure, rather as a momentary lapse in productivity. I shall resume work at a later date and not hold the partiers accountable.
Happy weekend to all!
"Its your blog."
By far the best comment I heard tonight. What it means? I can write whatever I want on my blog...ideas:
-white sneakers and suits
-why Trader Joes is the best place on earth...scratch that, ONE of the best places on earth
-what to do when a co-worker calls you "babe"
-my quarter-life crisis
Oh, you know you will be back to read.
Hello!
Just an introduction to all. I am so excited to finally have a blog that I do not have words to write...will be back...
