Aquarium Day
Fish are Tasty, Today I Watch
And Plan My Attack!
Authors Note: No, you will not be seeing my picture on the news for eating the inhabitants of the Aquarium Karey & I are visiting today, don’t worry.
[SSDay]
#80 Fight or Flight
Fight or Flight, black and white
Sweeping generalizations rain down hard
Wrong or right, momentous or trite
Categories mandated by impatient masses
Despair or delight, Knocked out or upright
The middle is no business of theirs
Calm or incite, Forgive or indict
They’re too infallible to see the truth.
[SSDay]
#79 Things To Do In Between Appointments on A Busy Day
It seems that on days when appointments stack like Tetris bricks, leaving small pockets of space that are too big to ignore, too small to be useful, one is forced to consider alternatives to their usual activities. Below is a list of potential uses for those 15-30 minute blocks of time you have between meetings.
- Adopt a pet Mayfly – he might only live 30 minutes! Hold a memorial service for said mayfly when he passes on.
- Clean out your desk of miscellaneous papers you don’t need. Extra points if you can get someone to believe you were fired while doing said cleaning.
- Order a pizza to be delivered to your next meeting.
- Find another co-worker in a similar empty time slot and schedule a 1/2 hour meeting to discuss the relative merits of each US President between Polk – Lincoln.
- Eat something.
- Drink something.
- Do something… anything… somewhat productive if possible.
- Adopt a pet Mayfly… oh wait… been there, done that.
- Get your swag on.
- Build a door for your cubicle out of cardboard.
- Reply to mass-emails meant to be rhetorical (i.e. “Why thank you for the invite to your symposium! I’d love to attend but unfortunately can’t be there because I’m having my hair done that day at that time…”). Be sure to reply all.
- Retire your shoes really tightly, then walk until they loosen up.
- Find a desk calendar, make notes such as “Buy supplies”… “Train”…. “Read instructions online”… and then on one day simply write “ACT” and underline it twice. If anyone is reading your desk calendar (or the one in question), they’ll probably take that day off work.
- Take a 20 minute power nap (This is actually good advice if you can do it!)
- Write a blog post of about 300 words, pawning off your own need to fill time as “creative writing”.
So there you have it – 15 things to do in a 30 minute open block of time!
Authors Note: Written yesterday between meetings
[SSDay]
#78 Full Calendar
“I just don’t get it, Rich, it’s insane”, Bob said.
“I agree – they’ve got us running all around the territory – no time to slack off!”, Rich said in reply.
“Yea, and that’s the weirdest part”, Bob said quickly as he focused on the hole in traffic he was attempting to get in.
“What do you mean?”, Rich asked.
“On days we slack off, it seems to take forever for time to pass. But on days we’re busy, the day flies by. Sorta weird that we’d want slack off time at the cost of a faster moving clock!”.
[SSDay]
#77 Gathering It All Up!
She was running late that morning, and nothing was where it was supposed to be. Her bag was a disaster, her laptop case in complete disarray, and the laptop had a dead battery since she forgot to charge it. She wasn’t getting any work done on the train this morning, but maybe she could gather up some reading to catch up on. That meant digging through the inbox, finding documents, and synchronizing them to her iPad.
The clock flashed 7:23, and if she wanted to catch the 7:50 train, she knew she needed to get on the road for her 10 minute drive to the train station. She couldn’t afford a random 10-15 minute backup that weren’t unheard of at this hour.
“Hon”, croaked her husband, who lie sick in bed.
“What?”, she asked, trying not to sound annoyed.
“Can you get me a glass of water before you go?”, came the weak response. She looked at his bedside and found his normally fill canteen was empty.
“Yea… I’ll try”, she said as she pushed things around in her bags.
About 7:26 she made it to the front door, and realized she hadn’t gotten the water. She weighed her options. Get water, potentially miss train, or leave her 43 year old husband, who despite being sick was more than capable of getting water eventually, to his own devices. In the end the guilt got the best of her, and she got him the drink.
“Thanks”, he said, as he drank a sip and reached out for a goodbye hug. She didn’t have time for it, but she felt sorry for him. He’d been so attentive to her in the past, so she waited the extra minute for him to hug her and say goodbye. Then she was out the door like a rocket.
And she was more than a bit upset when she got to the train station at 7:49, parked, and missed the train by less than a minute. She’d have to take the 8:10. She found a bench at the train station, wrote some quick emails rescheduling her first appointment, and tried to start working. At least there was a power outlet her she could siphon some power off for her computer.
At 8:09 she made her way to the platform and stepped on to the train. Her phone vibrated with an alert and she ignored it. She was always getting alerts from various services she subscribed to, some about traffic, some about the weather, some about things she only cared about once in a short while. This one would just have to be ignored.
Until she looked out the window and saw the strangest sight. The train slowed down and passed another train sitting on the tracks. At the slow speed she could see that it was the train she normally took. In fact, she saw a friend of hers sitting in their usual seat. She quickly pulled out her phone and saw the alert was from a service for rail passengers. It talked about a delay in her general vicinity. She looked up her friend’s number and dialed. The other line picked up quickly, as if her friend was already staring at her phone.
“Rita, what’s going on?”, she asked.
“Our train broke down!”, Rita exclaimed, “And now we’re waiting for a tow back to the hub, where we can transfer. Probably won’t get into the city until 9:30 or 10 at this rate”. They chatted for a few moments before hanging up. She didn’t have the heart to tell Rita she had just passed her – so she said she had gone in earlier, which technically would be correct adjusting for their new arrival times.
As they finished their call, she got another message, this time from her husband. It simply read “Sorry to make you late with my requests – hope all is well”. It was all well, after an ironic twist of fate. She realized that sometimes small differences create other small differences, a glass of water, an ironic reduction in delay. But the perspective to see the important small differences from the trivial – that was what made the big difference after all!
[SSDay]
#76 Ever Notice
Ever notice to your dismay
that 6 AM is ok on Sunday
But during the week
when you wish to sleep
There is no keeping the alarm at bay!
Authors Note: I’m going to try to get some more sleep today, but we’ll see… grr!
[SSDay]
#75 Surprises
Leo woke up not to the sound of his alarm clock, but to a loud knocking at his door. It was 4 AM, well before his 5:30 AM alarm. He put on his robe and went to the door to find a policeman.
“Are you Mr. Hickman?”, the cop asked.
“Uh… no – Hickman lives next door”, Leo said, gesturing toward the right, as the officer apologized and excused himself.
Leo couldn’t get back to sleep, and when his alarm rang it felt like the world crashed down on him. He reluctantly got up, got ready for work, and walked out the door. No sign of the police, and interestingly the lights were on in Hickman’s house – he never had to wake up early! Leo paid it no mind and got in his car to drive to work.
At work, Leo received word that his request for a raise hadn’t come through, although he had received 2 extra weeks vacation each year. He wasn’t aware that this was an intermediate option between raise and no raise. Leo spent the first half of the day annoyed, and cooled by mid-afternoon. At least he had something good in the surprise, even though it wasn’t exactly what he wanted.
That night Leo came home and told his wife about the day.
“That’s OK Leo, two extra weeks gives us more time together”, she said as they sat down to dinner.
“Oh, by the way, did you hear about the Hickmans?”, Leo’s wife asked.
“Naw, just saw a cop this morning looking for them. Didn’t have a chance to look into it further”, Leo explained.
“Their daughter was in a major car accident this morning. She’s hurt pretty bad but they think she’ll make a full recovery – just might take 6 months or longer”, Leo’s wife reported.
“That’s horrible”, Leo exclaimed. He couldn’t help but think about his own daughter, living away at college. He’d call her later tonight just to make sure she was OK.
[SSDay]
#74 Waiting
Waiting All Day Long
Curiosity you see
Torture Excitement
[SSDay]
#73 If Tomorrow
If tomorrow you ceased to exist
completed failed to be
You wouldn’t notice it at all
It would mean nothing to thee
Because you fail to exist
absolutely with no doubt
You cannot despair the fact
Because you never found out
So enjoy today in all
highs, lows, and mundane
For tomorrow you may cease to exist
With other’s memories only to remain.
[SSDay]
#72 Inspired by Music
Each portion of this story was inspired by the music I was listening to via shuffle.
Song: Flowers on the Wall (Statler Brothers)
Tony strolled into the local florist, obviously not in a clear state of mind. He had just come off an all night bender and the bright colors attracted him as he made his way toward civilization from the less gentrified area of town. The woman behind the counter could smell him a mile away, and kept a watchful eye as he looked at her inventory.
“How much?”, he said, pointing toward an arrangement of flowers.
Song: Learn to Fly (Foo Fighters)
The proprietor eyed the wilting flowers she was about to toss out, as she cleaned the shop shortly after opening.
“They’re free for you if you’d like to take them home”, she said, passing the roses to Tony. His startled look accompanied a tentative “uh… thanks”, as he turned and walked toward the door.
“Thank God he’s gone”, the shop keeper said as she watched Tony stagger down the street, roses in hand.
Tony, however, wasn’t quite ready to go home. He knew that his girlfriend would have, no doubt, left a few dozen messages for him with his roommate, especially after he stopped responding to her texts the night before. It wasn’t his fault though – a broken phone smashed after falling off a bar stool isn’t the best texting machine.
Tony, clutching broken phone in one hand, and roses in the other, pushed his way into the AT&T store near the florist. The salesperson approached, apprehensive as the florist had been.
Song: Another Postcard (Chimps) (Barenaked Ladies)
“Can I help you?”, he asked Tony.
“Uh… broke my phone last night”, Tony said as he thrust the remains of his cheap phone into the man’s hands.
“I can see that!”, the salesman said as he surveyed the damage.
“Can you fix it?”, Tony slurred. He’d started to come out of the altered state of consciousness he was currently a resident of, and the hangover had started setting in.
The salesman looked at the phone, broken plastic and missing battery, and informed Tony that he couldn’t.
“Then gimme a new one”, Tony said. The salesman started the process of replacing the phone, and was grateful when he saw that Tony was due an upgrade anyway. He seriously doubted Tony had the money to spend today on a new phone, but felt confident Tony could at least sign his name.
Song: Pickin’ Up The Pieces (Fitz & The Tantrums)
The salesman brought Tony over to the ‘free’ phones section of the store and showed him his three options. Tony picked the one he could see clearest, reasoning that future benders would be easier if his phone was more visible to him. Drunk logic worked like that.
“Just a moment, Mr. Hendricks”, the salesman said to Tony as he went through the usual phone voodoo needed to transfer the essence of one phone to another. When he was done, Tony collected his new phone and roses and wandered out.
“Pills”, Tony thought as his headache intensified. One last stop before he wandered toward the drugstore.
Song: Shattered (Turn the Car Around) (O.A.R.)
Tony made his way into the store, one of those newer mega drugstores that keeps the drugs, ironically, hard to find. He located a small bottle of aspirin that he was reasonably sure he had enough money to pay for and wandered toward the front. A few steps before the cashier he grabbed a bottle of some beverage from a nearby freezer and placed both items on the counter.
“$3.45”, the woman announced.
Tony dug into his pocket, finding that his phone was much larger than it had previously been, and locating two quarters and three crumpled up bills.
“Here’s your change”, the woman cheerily announced as Tony ripped into the drink and the aspirin, placing the nickel in his pocket. The beverage tasted cherry-like, although Tony didn’t bother to look at what brand or concoction it was. All he knew was that he needed to get the pills down and that he was thirsty as hell.
He arrived at his apartment around 9 A.M., each step on the three flights of stairs felt like a knock to the head. He reached his door, put the key in the lock, and turned it, only to find the door unlocked.
Song: Burn That Bridge (Jimmy Buffett)
She saw him before he’d fully entered the apartment.
“Damnit Tony, what the…”, she stopped her sentence midway as she spied the roses.
Tony, not being a particularly dumb man despite his condition, recognized he might have some sort of opportunity here, given his eye for pretty colors and the bounty it had scored him.
“Sorry babe”, he said as he offered up the roses, “I messed up”. Something inside him told him to shut up at this point and let the flowers do the talking.
Angie looked shocked. Tony had never bought her roses before. For him to do it this morning, in his obviously unkept state, was amazing.
“Let’s get you some rest”, she said, as she guided him toward the bedroom.
[SSDay]