...could easily replace me in all my endeavors, but you be the judge...
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Fly me to the moon...
Yes Im still going to blog. No it's not going to be as often. Before I would actually blog like 2-3 times per DAY you guys and now, it's just once in a blue moon. The theme of this blog is "the moon" and things that are related to, from, or about the moon. Oh and my new job ;)

Let's just cut to the chase and discuss "Lunatics". The word "lunatic" come from 13th century Latin word, "lunaticus", meaning, "moonstruck" ( in Latin, luna means "moon"). When I was little I used to think that a lunatic was: (other than my father, as my mother so affectionately called him a "raving" one) a tick from the moon. Tick as in blood sucking bugs that attach themselves to people and animals and then give us all lime disease. I basically thought that people were just running the words together. Of course, I was a lunatic, so it doesn't mean much what I thought then (or maybe even now!) ;)

HOLY MOLEY! I interrupt this blog to bring you this news bulletin! I just got my first pay check and its enormous! hahahaha IM INSANE RIGHT NOW WITH BLISS!!!!! HOLY CANOLI! Ok, on that note I would like to add that this is good timing because I don't have a red flipping cent to my name right now which is very sad indeed because someone regretfully did not inform Capital One, Honda Financial and my landlord of this issue and they still are expecting money. BGE has just stopped trying. "We gonna shut da lights off beeyatch!" was the last voice mail I got from them...I subsequently made a payment that evening over the phone. Ahhh...power. I like it.

Ok...back on topic...a
lunatic is: an irresponsible person, or someone who is considered wildly reckless AND/OR an offensive term for someone who has a psychiatric disorder. When I looked this word up on the MSN Encarta Dictionary it gave me a language advisory! What the hell is that? Is put in place so that we don't offend lunatics? Wow. That's really very considerate of them. I suppose you don't WANT to offend a lunatic, them being loose cannons and all, which transitions me to my point. Public transportation is a breeding ground for lunatics. There's always one lunatic in just about every situation I've been in involving PT so far, and this includes the MARC train. Sleeping people are my favorite. Hopefully they will stay that way. Insane people seem to like the Metro. The homeless and insane as well. Im not going to bash on homeless people, because that's just ridiculous and wrong, but I am going to bash on those who yell very openly at these locations. Most of the time, at me or to themselves. I think they can sense their own ;)

So far I have encountered numerous incidents that just make me stop and think, "Oh my God, thank you so much for making me overweight, slow, sweaty, slow to pick up on things, hairy, overly sensitive and a public crier." At least I am not insane with an overpowering desire to show it. Preferably at 7am, not leaving my crazy post until 7pm. It''s a long days work being insane in public. Case in point, the Muffin and Magazine Man (MM Man). There is a man that stands on Washington Circle every morning with muffins and magazines. He's selling them as a service to all us quick walkers (or in my case...slow walkers). Here's the kicker. They are gently used. Mmmmm nothing is better first thing in the morning than a used and/or stolen issue of Forbes Magazine with a half crushed blueberry muffin.

Me: "Wait, this one has a bite taken out of it!
MM Man: Yes beautiful lady, I was hungry when I fished that out of the Starbucks dumpster, I took a bite of it.
Me: ohhhhhh ok...
Me and MM Man : hahahahahaha! {sharing a laugh}

This man is only parallel in craziness by the insane fat redheaded white man that stands outside the fire station on my block every morning with the same shirt on everyday, yelling at ??? Whoever it is, he is VERY upset with them, he's "HAD IT!" and he's "Not going to put up with this f*cking sh*t much longer." Me either. Maybe he's yelling at his shirt for not working. Oh by the way...its says "Hold The Hog" on it with an arrow pointing SOUTH.

Then there are the "random lunatics". These are people who look 'normal', but if you put them in any situation where they have to be in any way interpersonal, they fail miserably. These are the "sleepers", if you will. They come out of nowhere. They look normal, and it just takes practice and familiarity to spot them, figure out that you don't want to be anywhere near them and plan accordingly. I have two in particular in mind. One is this very good looking professional white guy that frequents the deli downstairs. He's well dressed, clean cut, and INSANE. Everyday he goes down there to order a sandwich and everyday, he's insane. It's hard to describe but it basically includes talking very loudly to everyone, sometimes aggressively, and every time, uninvited. Plus, he's a dreaded "close talker". I fell for this on day #1. At first when he said hello and smiled at me, I thought, "Gosh, he's friendly, and sort of cute! That's refreshing!". At that point he came and stood next to me while I read the menu board up above and proceeded to say, "Mmmmmmmm...What are you getting?" in this seductive yet anticipatory hushed voice. Still not knowing the depth of his insanity, I laughed nervously and said, "Don't know yet." He says, "Mmmmm...well I'll wait to decide until you say what you want." At this point I was thinking that either he was hitting on me, or maybe I smelled some insane cookin. Sure enough, I ordered the Chicken Californiacado sandwich, "with sprouts" and he ordered the same thing almost in unison (and louder and out of turn) and said, "Extra sprouts!" and while he said it, he was looking at me. Insanely. Ok, so I avoid that bozo now and I started to notice that everyone else does too. He's so freakin weird, he's like Bill Murray in What about Bob?.

The next wacko on deck is a very large, sweaty man who comes from work at the {fill in some place where you can wear a dress shirt untucked with black jeans and blindingly white Reebok Classics} and who one day was held up, just like everyone else, at the Foggy Bottom Metro stop because there is only one escalator now, it's not moving and people are using it to go both up and down. There was a large line. This upset him. Just to give you a short summary, he started yelling a LOT. Also apparently he thought he was black as he referred to himself as a "brother" and told the disgruntled Metro worker manning the escalator that he was "tryna keep a brutha down". Ironically, the Metro employee was black and did not find him amusing. He proceeds to yell AIMLESSLY that they were on his time now; "This is MY time mother f*ckers! I put in my 8 hours and it's 5 and you're cutting into my time! I'munna f*ck some sh*t up in here mother f*ckers! Let's see how much of my time you're wasting {checking cell phone, so apparently he has some form of credit}...just as I thought mother f*ckers, LATE! Im late as a mother f*cker and I aint gonna put up with this sh*t much longer. That right, the line starts here mother f*cker, right here with me because I'm citizen #1 and this is my time!" Well thanks to him, we all had a good time on his time and then everyone scattered as we boarded the Metro, away from Lunatic Mcghee, and guesssssssssss who is left with no where to stand but next to Tons of Fun? Yes, me. Nowhere to move either. Needless to say he spoke to me, whoops I mean yelled, the whole way to Metro Center. Good Times.

One guy the other day was dancing and singing out loud on the Metro and then started to pray out loud and then he started to shout advertisements for himself as a rapper and how he will be performing on one particular corner in South East and then on WPGC later that night, but I think that last bit about the radio performance was the "insane" talking.

Last but not least, we have the naked man. I saw a man who was VERY weird start to slowly change his clothes on the Metro and I turned away. Apparently as he was attempting to bring down one of the three pairs of pants he was wearing (yes three) he proceeded to pull them all down, exposing his naked ass. I of course was right next to this man, and had no idea until everyone started to look at me with horror. It was a few paranoid moments before I realized that they weren't looking at me and scattering, it was the naked full moon behind me. Pardon the pun. Ewww.

So that's my shpeel on crazies for right now. It's a thrill a minute, this commute. So I'm running now, I forgot to tell you. I have to run everywhere to catch the Metro and train, so yeah, too bad I didn't go intro training for that because there is a lot of burning in my lungs, panting, sweating and shin splints at this point, but I think I'll be ok :) It's nice to be out and about in the bustling city before I have to hole up in my office, so for that I am thankful for the change in scenery. By the way, did I mention how sexy tennis shoes are with dress clothes/suits? I see a lot of that around here and I of course jumped right on the bandwagon and so my workouts are now in my best clothes. I wouldn't have it any other way. ;)

So here are some things I've learned in the last 8 days of my job (just for some fun):

*My arrival was well awaited by all the people in my department. That wide eyed snicker they let out when they are introduced to me is because THEY know the amount of work that was waiting for me. I just thought I had a boogie in my nose for the first 5 days.

*Most people are just insecure and if you just say hello, likely they will warm up and introduce themselves to you, as well as all the insane people that managed to also get hired by your company that he or she is friends with. I pass so many people in this building everyday and I don't know any of them and they don't know each other either. I've made it a point to say hello to a bunch of people rather than waiting for them to introduce themselves to me, because apparently this company is so big, it just doesn't happen. So, I'm making some friends I guess. Mostly I'm partial to the black girls and the gay men. Hey, I am, what can I say? ;)

*Meetings are dumb. None of us is as dumb as all of us.

*When you're the one taking notes during a conference call or meeting, you're going to be the one with the most work. When all of the responsibilities divvied out are YOURS, don't be surprised.

*Just because you're new doesn't mean you're not expected to know everything, right away. Using "I'm not sure what you mean when you say 'optimal universal fidelity bond regulated error and liability coverage' because I'm new" is so passe. Try, "Ahhh yes, I concur! Great work everyone! Good meeting!" This works better. Doesn't matter if you felt like it was in Chinese, it was a great meeting, idiot!

*
Aeron chairs are SO comfortable and high class.

*I do not have an Aeron chair.

*Even if you have a video camera outside your office door, you still forget and do weird things.

*My office doesn't have a terrace for a reason. Its too tempting.

*Having a cappuccino machine in the breakroom is nice and "foamy".

*Expresso roast makes me insane.

*There are a lot of rich and worldly people who work here. It's hard to keep up in conversations about vacation homes. I don't even have a regular home.

*I really had no idea but the company I work for is the biggest in the world (in its business) and it is not only well renowned but notorious. When you f*ck up big, it's in the news. Yes...the real news.

*I see now why Nikki doesn't put the name of her company in her blog or talk about work for fear that someone will find it in her company and she will lose her job.

*BIC Gel gliding pens ae the shiznit.

*Casual Fridays make people very happy. And dumpy.

*That guy on the other end of the line at the Help Desk is somewhere far away and cant help you for a very long time. Also...he hates you.

*Everyone on the line in a call-in phone seminar can hear you if you're coughing, eating, talking on your cell or chewing gum.

*Lotus Notes is weird. Where is Bill Gates when you need him?

*Its nice having caller ID. ;)

*This place aint nothing like Tate Andale.

*Great benefits make you want to work harder for your employer. Also, there is a massage therapist on staff here. Hells yeah.

I will add to this list later but so far my experience here has been very good. Very hard, lots of work, but great. There is a different kind of morale here and people do this thing that they are calling "WORK". It's very strange but I'm starting to see that's kind of what they want you to do before they bring you this little green check I have in my hand. :)

I missed you bloggies! I will try harder to be a good blogger so that you can stop referring to me as "the blogger formerly known as thelauralee". So please stick with me and I will do my best to keep you entertained and informed.

In other words....PLEASE BE TRUE! In other words, I love you!!!!

Song of the Day:
Fly Me To The Moon - Frank Sinatra


5 Comments:

Blogger heather said...

YAY!!!!!!!!!

i've missed you so much my love, i feel like i dont even know you anymore!! :(

so glad to hear your new job is going well and it's an intellectual and stimulating challenge. as great as doing "nothing" all day is...it's really not that great. ugh.

as far as the crazies?! i laughed SO hard, bc i swear with your descriptions those same people must occasionally travel up to nyc to be insane here. we have the exact same breeds!!!! now you see why i love and hate it here all at the same time.

i miss you so much sweetie, i cant even tell you. i feel like i'm kinda flailing in the wind a little, dont have my usual lifesaver. but i'm glad to hear you're doing well and you sound happy.

talk to you soon, i love you.

Blogger Stargate Jumper said...

I LOVE IT! What you've been lacking in quantity, you definitely make up in quality. That was one hell of a funny blog.

But contrary to you, or Heather, I don't meet any crazies on my way to work. I have to take my car to get to work. So I miss all those clowns and freaks. :(

I almost feel like I'm missing on some great fun, or great scare, daily... :)

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I sent an e-mail to TA because I couldn't remember when you were leaving. I was informed the "Laura Lee no longer is employed at Tate Andale. Try her personal e-mail." Give you 1 guess who I'm sure that was from. So glad to hear everything is going well. The crazies just make life more interesting and make you appreciate the rest of us more. Just to let you know October 10th I am having a partylite party and I am sending you an invite. Hope you can make it. Take care

Blogger TD said...

I have two favorite lunatic stories. First was the guy I saw taking a crap at the Union Square 6 train station at three in the afternoon.This was not a homeless guy either. This was a well groomed dude just standing there, middle of the day holding on to a pole, with his butt hanging over the tracks.

Second was the, smelly, shirtless homeless guy I saw on the subway. He proceeded to remove newspapers from his dirty, gray pants (I think they were once white). After removing what seemed to be the whole sunday edition of the New York Times from his trousers, he stroked his yellowed beard and stumbled over to the nearest woman sitting down and asked her "Do you know the time?" I figured he had somewhere to be.

I don't really have a point

missed you.

Welcome back

Blogger John Holland said...

What's with this not blogging on a regular basis? I expect to see your blogging...hey it took a hurricane to stop me, I don't want to hear any excuses.

Oh, by the way...I'm back.

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