Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

My actual boss--as distinct from Marvin, who's my day-to-day supervisor and generally signs my timesheets--came in this morning and told me that she'd decided to move me from the office I've been in over to the empty cubicle in the proofreading area, because she thought it would help me concentrate.

I'd be more convinced by this reasoning had I not, immediately after completing the move, been distracted by people quoting Rodney Dangerfield jokes at each other. The problem is that if this doesn't work--if, specifically, it proves a distraction--the conclusion is more likely to be that I'm not suited to the work than that moving me was a bad idea. On the other hand, one of my co-proofreaders said that she thinks the reason for the move is that that office isn't proofreading space, and that there's no good basis for us using it when there's room for all of us in the area that is designated for proofreading. One effect of this move is that the work number I gave some people is no longer functional: it might still get to a voice mail box, but I won't see the message light. (At some point I'll have an outgoing phone line again, though making calls will be more problematic, because I can't close a door to avoid distracting people.) Fortunately, I'm not particularly bothered by people walking by behind me, and there isn't much traffic through there. (rysmiel, you would hate it.) There are other annoyances, notably that none of the cubicle walls will take pushpins, so I can't post any of my accumulated notes and photocopies, and that no office and no office door means no private place to do crunches (not that I was up for those today).

Alina who I ride the train with complimented my hair; one of the other people in the van did a double-take when I got in, and said something about my being early for Halloween. That joke I got twice today, though I have no idea what they think I'm going to dress as. Marvin said "Oh my god!"--I asked him whether he'd ever seen purple hair before, and got a response that came down to "yes, but not on a grown-up." When I came in after a walk at lunchtime, the receptionist said "Why?" and I had no idea what she was referring to at first. I suspect the next questioner will get something like "Martians," or if they're lucky "Because it's the color I had in the house" (this is actually true). On the other hand, back here in the city cattitude and I had a nice conversation with a neighbor which began with her saying something about my hair. She said it took guts to do something like that, and I said that the one thing to remember is that purple hair gives anyone and everyone the excuse to start a conversation, so if you don't want to talk to strangers, don't do it. This led us to talking about giving directions to tourists, at home and while traveling.

New to me, that is. I walked over to the Stop and Shop at lunchtime, to get sushi--I'd brought a salami sandwich with me, but decided it could wait until tomorrow, I wanted rice and raw fish and cucumber. The easiest way to get to the little sushi counter is through the produce section. I bought a pint of blueberries, since they're now selling by the pint. $3.99 is still a bit high, but not impossible, and they're decent berries, from North Carolina. I also bought a bunch of bananas, the short red kind, for a whopping 69¢/pound--the more common large yellow bananas were green, and I wanted bananas today, not for the weekend.

I chatted a bit with the cashier as she was ringing up my groceries, and looking up the code for red bananas and such. Nothing world-shaking, we talked about bananas. At the end, she said I have a very pleasant attitude; I thanked her, but wondered what most of her customers are like, if that sort of idle conversation is noteworthy. When I mentioned this to cattitude, he said I have a gift for talking to strangers; I'll take his word for it, but I don't know where, when, or how a kid who nobody much talked to turned into an adult who talks to people readily and enjoys it, at least so long as the stakes are low. There's no fear of rejection in chatting to the cashier.

Anyway. Bananas. I peeled one banana as I was walking through the parking lot on my way back to work. Tasty. Not very different from the big yellow bananas, maybe a trifle sweeter. I ate another after my sushi, and brought the remaining three home, because Cattitude has never had these either.