Fat app and other fun

The mind is its own place, and can make a Heaven out of Hell, or a Hell out of Heaven.

I don't recall who came up with this one, but I think it was William James, author of The Varieties of Religious Experience. As far as its application in my experience(religious or not)I've found it to be true. You can take an inherently positive, fun situation like a musical band- something designed for you and others to make beautiful music together , reveling in the joyous interaction and comradeship- and with the right combination of alpha personalities it can become a snarling morass of ego conflicts and silly snits and power plays among its membership.

And you can take an inherently unfun place like a government office, with its never-ending line of disgruntled clients, seething negativity through every pore. They always want at least to bitch to you about their situation if not bitch at you about it. Questions, problems, complaints/questions, problems, complaints/questions, problems, complaints. With the right combination of non-alpha personalities though(beta? gamma? theta?), it can be a place where you actually have a good time amidst the emotional squalor around you.

I have been in both these situations: the bands that become decidedly unpleasant due to personality conflicts(those doggone alphas), and the office job that would be unbelievably grim if not for some of the folks I worked with. Currently in the latter situation. It's still unbelievably grim at times, given some of the people we have to deal with, the saving grace being the positive attitude and humor of some of the people I work with.

We do have fun at the office. Everybody more or less joins in on this, but the people who seem to get into it the most are either the newest employees--who aren't yet burnt out--or the old-timers, who are burnt out but for whom retirement is just around the corner.

One thing people were goofing with this past week was a program you can have downloaded to your phone(provided it's an iPhone or similarly advanced model)called "Fat-app", which adds lbs to anyone's picture. The enclosed shot is of me, after being fat-app'ed. I wasn't the Ugliest Mug in the Office, but I do feel I was a contender for that dubious honor. Actually the 'winner' told us he'd kill us if we published his picture, so I just went with mine here.

We have one individual in particular who adds to the fun element(some days you might say fringe element, as in lunatic). His antics vary, from dressing up in Arab garb and playing a recorder to blasting music first thing in the morning. Naturally the music is anything but low-key, usually Opera or the Village People, the latter often accompanied by Steve Martinesque dancing. The other morning he announced he was going to play YMCA and 5 or 6 people groaned all at once. (Had it been a cartoon, we'd have all shared a dialogue balloon.) He played it anyway, and about a minute into things, our manager came out of his office and made him shut it off. I thought this would bring a round of applause, but it was the sound of just one person clapping.

Me.

Much of the time at 8:02 in the am, I'm not up for frivolity. I'd rather not hear Macho Man or
In the Navy when I'm trying to drink my coffee and wake up, but I'm glad the frivolity is there. Our job is at times a real Hell-on-Earth, given some of the people we have to deal with. As one of the old-timers, who has been burnt out for awhile now, and sometimes wonders how he's going to get through these next three years(before retirement), the horseplay definitely makes it an easier ride. Maybe not Heaven, but at least a higher Astral region..