notes from the front desk
Nov. 12th, 2004 10:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fearlesstemp1. It is snowing out today, tons of tiny flakes that won't stick. It kind of looks like God's sifting flour or something. Because of this, everyone in the office is obligated to engage in the following conversation at least three times today:
Person A: Hey, it's snowing.
Person B: I know, can you believe it? It's too early!
Person A: And it's only the beginning.
Person C: Hey, it's snowing.
And so on and so forth.
What do people in the south talk about? I wonder if one could do a study: Is the desire to engage in meaningless, excruciatingly boring and predictable banter about the weather related at all to the severity of the weather changes in a particular region? If I lived in a more temperate place, would there be fewer of these torturous conversations going on by my desk? Or would people's desire to engage in excruciatingly boring and predictable banter about the weather transcend climates?
Something to ponder.
2. Another conversation that recently took place.
Fearless Temp: Holy crap, this transcript cost over a thousand dollars! That's, like -- more than five dollars a page!
Secretary: $6.50, actually.
FT: Wow.
S: I could've been a stenographer. (heavy sigh) I screwed it up. Well, that's what happens when you're a drug addict.
FT: [no idea how to respond]
S: But it wasn't really the drugs, it was the alcohol.
FT: [still at a loss]
S: Just generally screwing up my life.
[Awkward pause, during which I worried that she thought I was judging her, which I wasn't, and so thusly felt the need to say something comforting to create common ground. Something like --
FT: I used to drink a lot. Well, a few times. Okay, twice in college with my friends, but one of those times we got SO drunk that we got naked and ran around the memorial in the middle of campus. That sounds weird -- I mean, it was a thing, people did it before they graduated, it wasn't like we just decided to run around naked for no reason.
-- but did not have to, because a nanosecond before the silence got so awkward Fearless Temp would open her mouth, Secretary shrugged and put on her coat.]
Secretary: I'm going to go have a smoke.
FT: Have fun with that!
3. I'm taking the GREs next week (I know, soso late in the year, but what can I say? I'm a poor planner), and have been doing practice tests the last few nights. Horrifying. I think my father is right -- bad TV does rot your brain. It's the only explanation! I used to rock the standardized tests, man, and now I keep coming across words that I remember knowing, but cannot remember now, and find myself resorting to the old, "Hmm...well, there hasn't been a 'D' in a REALLY long time" method of test-taking.
Part of the problem is that I find the tests so boring that I have been doing the practice tests while watching bad TV. Maybe that's it.
4. Speaking of watching TV, on The OC last night, Ryan said, "Oh, buddy. I'm sorry" to Seth (or something like that), which warmed my heart because buddy has been one of my favorite words for the past year or so, and "Oh, buddy. I'm sorry" is something I say to almost any friend's angst. Further proof that Ryan Atwood and I are totally mfeo, and tragically kept apart only by his status as a fictional character.
(Other proof of our mfeo status: The fact that I heart him. Other proof pending.)
5. There are no words to fully express how excited I am about the new Bridget Jones coming out today. Have plans with Jo to go see it after work, and today when I was flipping through radio stations I came across a radio interview with Colin Firth, which caused me to clap my hands and shriek "OH MY GOD! COLIN FIRTH!" at the top of my lungs, almost swerving into another lane.
Am concerned about shrieking "OH MY GOD! COLIN FIRTH!" in the theater upon his first appearance. Almost as concerned as I am about shrieking "OH MY GOD! MATT DAMON!" should there be an Ocean's 12 preview before the movie (pleasepleaseplease).
And that is all.
Person A: Hey, it's snowing.
Person B: I know, can you believe it? It's too early!
Person A: And it's only the beginning.
Person C: Hey, it's snowing.
And so on and so forth.
What do people in the south talk about? I wonder if one could do a study: Is the desire to engage in meaningless, excruciatingly boring and predictable banter about the weather related at all to the severity of the weather changes in a particular region? If I lived in a more temperate place, would there be fewer of these torturous conversations going on by my desk? Or would people's desire to engage in excruciatingly boring and predictable banter about the weather transcend climates?
Something to ponder.
2. Another conversation that recently took place.
Fearless Temp: Holy crap, this transcript cost over a thousand dollars! That's, like -- more than five dollars a page!
Secretary: $6.50, actually.
FT: Wow.
S: I could've been a stenographer. (heavy sigh) I screwed it up. Well, that's what happens when you're a drug addict.
FT: [no idea how to respond]
S: But it wasn't really the drugs, it was the alcohol.
FT: [still at a loss]
S: Just generally screwing up my life.
[Awkward pause, during which I worried that she thought I was judging her, which I wasn't, and so thusly felt the need to say something comforting to create common ground. Something like --
FT: I used to drink a lot. Well, a few times. Okay, twice in college with my friends, but one of those times we got SO drunk that we got naked and ran around the memorial in the middle of campus. That sounds weird -- I mean, it was a thing, people did it before they graduated, it wasn't like we just decided to run around naked for no reason.
-- but did not have to, because a nanosecond before the silence got so awkward Fearless Temp would open her mouth, Secretary shrugged and put on her coat.]
Secretary: I'm going to go have a smoke.
FT: Have fun with that!
3. I'm taking the GREs next week (I know, soso late in the year, but what can I say? I'm a poor planner), and have been doing practice tests the last few nights. Horrifying. I think my father is right -- bad TV does rot your brain. It's the only explanation! I used to rock the standardized tests, man, and now I keep coming across words that I remember knowing, but cannot remember now, and find myself resorting to the old, "Hmm...well, there hasn't been a 'D' in a REALLY long time" method of test-taking.
Part of the problem is that I find the tests so boring that I have been doing the practice tests while watching bad TV. Maybe that's it.
4. Speaking of watching TV, on The OC last night, Ryan said, "Oh, buddy. I'm sorry" to Seth (or something like that), which warmed my heart because buddy has been one of my favorite words for the past year or so, and "Oh, buddy. I'm sorry" is something I say to almost any friend's angst. Further proof that Ryan Atwood and I are totally mfeo, and tragically kept apart only by his status as a fictional character.
(Other proof of our mfeo status: The fact that I heart him. Other proof pending.)
5. There are no words to fully express how excited I am about the new Bridget Jones coming out today. Have plans with Jo to go see it after work, and today when I was flipping through radio stations I came across a radio interview with Colin Firth, which caused me to clap my hands and shriek "OH MY GOD! COLIN FIRTH!" at the top of my lungs, almost swerving into another lane.
Am concerned about shrieking "OH MY GOD! COLIN FIRTH!" in the theater upon his first appearance. Almost as concerned as I am about shrieking "OH MY GOD! MATT DAMON!" should there be an Ocean's 12 preview before the movie (pleasepleaseplease).
And that is all.
