the office

okay, now a lot of things have happened since i last wrote (i don't have the internet...AGAIN) but i'll get to all of that later. first, the post which derives from this title.

i am temping in an office until school starts and it's a really nice job, admin assistant/front desk sort of deal, full time. but here's the thing. i'm working in an office filled with normal people. that's right, i said it. now first let me clarify: normal does not equate to "unintelligent" or "droll" or anything like that. it just means they have a 9-5 job, homes, families, the whole kit and kaboodle.

and for me that is effing weird.

the offices are cubicles, there is a casual friday, it's surreal. you have to remember that i've been working in non-normal places for over five years. (i mean new york city opera? give me a break. my office was a restored coat room in the state theater) and it's almost comforting. the problems are normal (and very intense - it's in mental health care) and i don't have to hear anything about bossy parents or anyone's school system or finding somewhere to buy pointe shoes/lieder/costumes/wigs/sheet music/metronomes, etc.

but it is obvious that i am the odd man out. in my few days here, i've become the public transportation riding, über-recycling, homemade lunch bringing, 800 page non-fiction book reading, opera-singing girl who is studying TWO degrees that no one knows about and talks to herself at the front desk in foreign languages. but it doesn't matter because i'm funny and talk to people and listen and am courteous and that's all people really need, sometimes. (one small caveat, however. since i AM the girl mentioned above, maybe, people in and around this office should not hit on me. it's dead in the water)

so even though it's full time work for the next month or so, which is exhausting (i get up every morning at 6 and don't get home until 6), it's a breath of fresh air. and money, don't forget money.