Tuesday, February 19, 2008

one of those days

At work, there are certain days when I just want to freeze the room (a la Piper from Charmed)—to enjoy a moment when time stops and I may shout a purgative wail before I kick someone’s immobile body to the floor. A small part of me always expects that one day God will grant me these powers; He’s just waiting until I’m responsible and mature enough. Until then, He leaves me only the passive and private powers of mantras and prayers (not nearly as explosively satisfying as I imagine superpowers are).

Today there was no respite until lunch break. Then there was Diet Mountain Dew Code Red, Tylenol (as far as inventions go, it ranks up there with the www, laptops, and iPods), and--the icing on the relaxation cake--my QC2 noise canceling headphones playing Enya. Within minutes I was cat-stretching in my car out in the parking lot before contemplating deep thoughts about the future. I went back to work ½ an hour later, sans headache and feeling 7 times better than at first clock-out.

Work ended and I made the drive home down the traffic clogged 1-8 East. After arriving, I realized that I needed to do laundry. I called my mom and she informed me that a close family friend whom I’ve known all my life passed away this morning. She was only in her 60s. We talked about that for a few sobering minutes before she asked me why I called. I hesitated. Began. Then paused. “I...I, I wanted to know how to get a stain out of my jacket.” There was silence and then I started to nervously laugh. She got the joke and started to laugh too. The juxtaposition of the solemn and the mundane was more than a bit ridiculous—but so is life.

I had many intentions to begin my schoolwork early—but that never pans out. Instead, I read my blogs and decided to call some friends to get a sane-tifying dose of vicarious holiness, ambition, and intelligence. It worked.

Now, I’m getting ready to get to sleep. Still haven’t touched my homework, but I think it can wait.

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