The Orifice

It's a head-massager. The contraption on my head, that is. Given to all of us in the office by one of our co-workers. A quiet, demure(and attractive)lady who works about 10 feet in front of me. She recently treated a few of us to lunch, and more recently, treated all of us to this wonderful head-gear. So I'm finding she has a magnanimous side to her as well. Back in May, when I started, I told her she was muy bonita(in espanol since she is of Hispanic descent)and she told me I needed stronger glasses. How do you say, "you're too modest" in Spanish?

Another co-worker said the head apparatus kept Martians from reading his thoughts. Hmm. Perhaps this was a problem he was having- but apparently one which, thanks to the wonderful pate protector, has now been eliminated from his life, wiped clean from his plate. May not save him against Venusians or Neptunians though. Or Plutonians, for that matter.

Well, that's some of the kind of fun we have in what I've grown to describe as the local orifice. This is, I guess, a follow-up blog on my progress(or perhaps regress)since rejoining the ranks. It took a little while to re-acclimate myself, especially since there's essentially a whole new crew I'm working with. And since(which should perhaps be most important)they had to figure out what to do with me as far as my job duties. But all is well. Unlike some other choices I've made in my life, deciding to come back was one I don't regret.

So I'm relearning some things, and learning a few more anew. I mentioned in the first blog that we remember things comprehensively, as a total mood or feeling that characterized at least part of our experience, while the actual experience was in fact full of changes and uncertainties(and problems). Somehow in the remembrance, our minds gloss over that stuff. Maybe it's self-preservation, maybe it'd drive us nuts to remember all the crap, or maybe the real stuff is the feeling behind the experience rather than the grisly details.

What's going on now in the office is a climate of uncertainty(speaking of uncertainties)concerning a new computer system we're grappling with. A learning process for everyone on board. Much gnashing of teeth, as it were, around the office right now..So after all the changes I've had in the past four months coming back, here's yet another one- but at least one we all share.

One nice thing about where I work, though(and this was a big motivation in coming back)is that there's always a sense of humor. Sometimes gallows humor, but laughage nonetheless. Laughage. I guess that'd be somehow quantifiable laughter. In increments of yuk. But I get my minimum daily requirement. And then some.

And it's still a bunch of misfits as far as the personalities, a melange of eccentricities. You can't not fit in with a room full of square pegs. Another part of the learning experience, besides the new computer system and whatever the hell it is that I do there, is learning the new folks' moves(which of course are themselves subject to change), and of course them learning mine.

It's not yet like I never left, and won't be for some time to come. But I'm back.