Hi. It's Friday afternoon, it's 70 degrees and sunny, my boss has left for the day and here I am - a desk monkey. Something is so unfair about this. So, so unfair. I have been forced to write two journal entries within a 24 hour period which hasn't happened in months. Months! Since nothing really noteworthy has happened since, you know, yesterday, I thought I'd share a few moments with you. Nothing big, not stories, just small moments of emotion that stuck with me.

Comic Despair

About five years ago I worked at a company that made plastic film used in diapers and sanitary pads. White hot, I know. Anyway, whenever the salesdrones went overseas, they'd bring back competitor products and dump them in a small windowless office. There were boxes and boxes of Japanese and European products and one of my tasks was to measure each product, write up the stats and then put this information and the sample in a big binder. It was a Period Scrapbook, if you will. Look! Here's the Hello Kitty panty liner I picked up in Tokyo! Isn't it cute?

So I remember sitting in this featureless windowless little room, surrounded by boxes, measuring pads by hand and wondering if this was going to be my life. If this job, which paid pretty well, was the best I could do. It was a bleak and hilarious moment.

The Smallest Sadness

Honestly, nothing makes my throat catch in grief more than seeing, by the side of the road, the small lifeless hump of soft dove-grey fur that was a squirrel. It gets me every time.

Smug Satisfaction

I had this boyfriend in high school who was a prick. He really, really wanted to be Peter Murphy of Bauhaus if that gives you any idea. Anyway I was dumb enough to think he was cool and he used, he lied, he left. Ugh, good riddance. Only, he won't quite go away.

He somehow managed to become the editor of a large local publication and I have no idea how the hell that could ever happen. I hate seeing his name in print. Grody. Anyway, a local gym closed for renovations and all the members were temporarily shuffled to MY gym. Did I tell you this story before? I feel like I might have. Anyway, he and his wife show up one day and I'm frozen in horror like the proverbial deer. He thankfully didn't recognize me but decided to participate in the same weights class and sets up right next to me.

I quietly freak out and send dagger rays of hate in his direction. The class starts and I see his wife pacing outside the class. Eventually she comes in, stomps up to him and whispers something. They proceed to have a whisper fight right in the middle of the class and she wins. He has to pack up and leave right in front of everyone, his tail tucked between his legs. It was a fine moment, for me anyway.

Involuntary Joy

I was driving across the bridge one morning last week, this bridge, in fact:

and a perfect v-formation of geese flew low over the bridge, right in front of me. It's not something you get to see very often and it always feels like a gift to me.

Cozy Perfection

My very favorite part of the week is coming up. Friday night is it. I go to the grocery store right after work and stock up for the weekend. Kenny's job is to buy the beer and together we settle in on the couch with drinks, take-out sushi and the Netflix movie du jour. With the whole weekend to look forward to and everything I need right in front of me, it's just the best time of the whole week. It's a fine feeling.

Have a good weekend, monkeys!

3 chatty monkeys