We said goodbye to the King of Pop today. I had the memorial service on today while I was at work, and listened to the majority of it; Brooke Shields was incredible and I hope I can someday be eulogized as beautifully as she did MJ. I had to close the window, though, when Michael's daughter, Paris, addressed the 20,000+ fans who attended the services in LA. Still, the service was beautiful and an absolute fitting way to say goodbye.
For one last time, rest in peace.
(The memorial in its entirety is available on VH1.com.)
I had to use both of my hands this morning to hold on to the poles on the bus. I ended up having to basically straddle an uncomfortably large woman in a terrible print dress. By the time I was on the train, I caught myself chewing my fingernails and almost threw up all over myself. It really is time to start carrying GermX everywhere I go. And the scary thing is, once I get to work, I am not thinking at all about washing my hands as soon as I get there; I am focused on settling in, checking my email, and reading the news. Ew.
Rupert Grint, the ginger who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films has come down with a mild bout of swine flu. Scary! On a Harry Potter note, a friend I went to New Orleans with in December has been in London since January and snuck into the HP premier this weekend! He got all kinds of autographs and photos of the stars, and I am INCREDIBLY jealous. I think I'm going to catch a midnight screening of the show on the 14th/15th. YES!
You know what sucks? When people sit on the aisle seat on the bus and leave the window seat open. No one wants to climb over the inconsiderate patron to sit down because that's rude... Except the person actually being rude is the one who won't slide over. Think about it next time you're on public transportation. Thanks.
I love seeing (clean) dogs on the train. This morning, a yellow lab was aboard on a leash. It laid down on the floor right away, and the vibrations and motion of the subway put it asleep in less than a minute. I wish I had a dog with me in Boston to keep me company and to ride with on public trans.
It's so awkward to have to try and guess if women are pregnant. I literally spent almost the entire ride this morning staring into the gut of this girl who looked to be young to be preggo, but was, I think. Pregnant people should just be forced to wear signs; it would avoid awkward conversations and encounters for both parties. No one would ask a woman when she is due after she has had her child but still carries the weight, and no woman would have to deal with the guessing game I was playing this morning. Positive thing, both ends.
So I would have something to Tweet about if I had Twitter. I had Cosi for lunch today (this really good, healthy flatbread sandwich/salad place) and for the third time, the honey mustard that they put on my sandwich has been so, I don't even know the word, that I have NOTHING left in my sinuses. It is worse than eating a dozen Halls cough drops. If I had Twitter, I would Tweet "@Cosi management needs to let employees taste the mustard. THEN I would not have copious, nasal burning amounts on my sandwich. Thanks!"
I spent the ENTIRE day today planning for NPEA's 2010 conference. I looked up hotels and catering menus and audio-visual information. I talked to hotel event planners on the phone, and created a very helpful binder of info and data for my boss to take with her on her trip to visit sites next week. It was fun and I really enjoyed it. Plus, I got to get up A LOT and walk to the printer, which helped me to focus and stay very alert.
So the elevator in the building where I work does not go below the first floor. When getting on on the first floor, you can only push one button: Up. This afternoon, when I was coming back from lunch, I was in one of the elevators, when this boy looked in, and asked "going up?" Um, CLEARLY. Then, even MORE obnoxiously, he gets on and gets off at the SECOND floor. If any of you are one of those people, change. Unless you have arthritis or other health problems.
Working in a professional setting has allowed me to get SO good at talking about the weather 800 times a day. All of the Steppingstone staff are gone and on site with students for the rest of the summer, so I am alone in the office with a lot of older administrators. Which is fine, because they are all nice, but I feel so shy because I can't tell them really about my weekends or my chick lit novel that I'm reading. SO, I've gotten very, very good at commenting on the weather and making appropriate jokes about it. How lame is that.
I am SO bad at talking on the telephone in a professional context, it's ridiculous. I had to talk to some event planners today, and I get so flustered. I forget answers to questions I know how to respond to, I mess up my words, I talk incredibly fast, and I confuse myself...a lot. I blame it on my generation. We are one comfortable and reliant on written word; we email, we text, we BBM, we IM. We do not talk on the phone...not for business or important matters, anyway. I predict that as my generation becomes the dominant one in industries, email and IM communication in the workplace increases exponentially. People will not wait days to email each other back; everything is going to be a whole lot more instantaneous. We don't like to talk on the phone; it's a waste of time and uncomfortable. Wait and see.
Today, when I was walking towards the subway at South Station, I saw a HUGE pad on the floor. Like a period pad. A sanitary napkin. How awkward. And especially how awkward for whoever's purse (or undies) that it fell out of.
Leaving lunch today, I saw a man with HUGE wounds in his scalp. Like this huge, huge bruises and cuts and scabs. He was asleep in his wheelchair with his chin resting on his chest, which made them even more visible. And THEN, tonight, I was sitting in Davis Square with my friend Ed, when I glanced over, and saw the very same man again! I fear I will leave tomorrow morning and find him sitting on my porch.
Speaking of Ed...it was so good to see him! (Ed is a friend from Syracuse; we pledged Mafia together, spent a week in New Orleans together, are on Habitat eboard together, and have remained pretty close, honest friends over the past year and a half.) We went to supper at Chipolte, YUM, walked around Davis, and got ice cream at JP (PJ?) Licks. Again, just really, really good to see a familiar face and catch up.
I'll see him again this summer, I'm sure, and will be spending probably quite a bit of time together this semester, as he'll be living in a nearby residence hall.
So the people I work with and commute with must think I'm so weird and have no clothes. I've actually been pretty good at putting together work-appropriate outfits, but it is SO cold in my office that I have to wear multiple layers or I will freeze. I clearly cannot wear orange and green sweaters very regularly, for a number of obvious reasons, so I resort to wearing gray and black ones very, very often. Like honestly, I probably wear one of them almost every single day. I mean, I can get more sweaters, but they're just basic, essential items that are so similar that having 6 gray sweaters seems ridiculous. The weather getting warmer would make all of this so much easier. (There I go again with the weather!)
Speaking of the weather, when I left work this afternoon at 5:00, it was literally torrentially down-pouring in downtown Boston. When I came up the stairs from the subway at Davis Square, the sun was shining and the street was dry. Explain that one to me.
Today we remember JR. Take a moment and think of Jackie, the Boucher's, and the Nadeau's. Be grateful that you have been lucky and appreciate what you have today. RIP 07/07/07.
Be epic.
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