Ass Exploits and Creepy Office Bodies

So, I work at the Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University, at the Research Building A which is just up the road from the School of Engineering and the Magnet Lab. It is a very standard, office-like place, with lots of cubicles and standard offices along the outer edge of the building. Even though there are different projects and departments on each floor, and on different floors, the decor is identical, regardless of where you are. Everyone is cordial, and dressed nice (although not as nice as business formal or whatever), and each area if very clean and quiet. That is the background for where I work, so you have a reference for the two following stories:

Story 1: Ass Exploits

It was my bosslady's birthday yesterday, so the office ordered out Bagel Bagel. Random, yes, and it did require me to hang out with my office people, thereby NOT allowing me to goof off on the Internet. However, I was being paid for that time, so it's forgiven. The Bagel Bagel delivery girl showed up, a standard college girl wearing shorts and a B2 tee-shirt. I helped her carry the food to the conference room, and walking about out she said, "Ouch."

Now, being the caring, thoughtful individual I am, I inquired as to her painful problem, and she said that she had just gotten a tattoo last night. Oh, really? Of what?, I inquired.

She answered, "A street sign."

Now, I'm "hip" to a lot of the things people get tattooed on themselves, so I figured it was a Bourbon Street sign or something. But, no, she tells me it's a Murat sign. I have no idea what that refers to, except for the old, sleazy Prince Murat Hotel here in Tallahassee. No, she replies, it's not that.

"Why did you get such a tattoo?" She answers, "Bad decisions." So, she apparently decides to exercise further bad decisions by pulling your shorts down to show me this wonderful street sign tattoo, which happened to be printed on her ass.

Now, normally I have no problem with random strange college girls wanting to show me their asses (because I'm sure it happens to me a lot, right?), but I am in the middle of the LSI FSU Research Building A, and my very serious, very not-humorous boss is just now walking out of the nearby office. Excellent timing! I'm waiting to see how long it is before the bosslady decides to talk to me again.

Oh, and the food was delicious!

Story 2: Creepy Office Bodies

So, in one of the random hallways, there are many empty offices and rooms. One of these seemingly innocuous doors is labeled "315 Human Resources Lab" with the neighboring door labeled "315A Observation Room." These are two doors that, like many of the others, remain closed, and I never see anyone come in or out of them.

However, one day the door to 315A Observation Room was open, and inside was.... a human body. And by that, I mean it was a guy sleeping in a bed. Apparently, the 315 Human Resources Lab room is some kind of testing/examination/disorder lab, and the Observation Room is next door for, well, observation (hopefully). The two rooms are connected by a one-way mirror, and that's what I was looking through when I saw the door open that one time.

An interesting tidbit of information, but, really? A sleep disorder room (with only a single bed) in this kind of office building? Nothing around here is about psychology or sociology or anything like that. It's all education, or energy systems, or Homeland defense contracts. So now, of course, I *have* to get into one of those rooms to see what's going on.

The final odd fact is that the door has been left open on different occasions, sometimes weeks or months apart, and as far as I can tell, it's the same guy on the bed sleeping...

(cue ominous music)

Life Changes: Part 1

So, it is January 25th, and I have been single for around a week and a half. On Thursday the 14th, my live-in girlfriend of 3 years and I broke up, and she moved out. If this is news to you, then you don't really need more personal information, but if it's not, then you already know most of the pertinent information. Regardless, it was a very, very hard thing to do, as some people may already know. Doing something like that goes against pretty much every fiber in my being, and I have talked to many people and did a lot of thinking about it all. And if you know how much I think and over think generally, then you have an idea about how much I have thought about this extensively. While it was something I did not want to do, I did feel that in the end, at this time, it was the best thing for both of us. I can only pray that I am right. Unfortunately, only time will tell.

So, now the next part of life begins, as life has a happen of doing. Things are different, and in many ways they are the same. I think having so many things stay the same (or at least seem the same) is one of the hardest parts, because your mind wants to fall back into the same patterns it was become accustomed to for years. Alas, you can't let it, because that is not the reality of the next part of life.

So, I will do what I do best: adapt. Effectively adapting to situations is something I do very well (in some fashions), but it often proves difficult, because to adapt to a good or positive thing means you can become inured to it. Familiarity breeds contempt (although "contempt" wouldn't be the right word at all to use). I continue with school, which has gotten out of control (see next posting), and trying to keep up with it fills much of my time and mental energies.

I will try to spend more time with my family, whom I would have (and still eventually might) neglected in my pursuits of school, careers, and all the garbage that goes with it. I will try to expand my social circles. No... I will try to create my own social circles, to meet new people through the few new people I am lucky to have met, so that I can appreciate the good friends I do have now, and increase my exposure to more of the good kinds of humanity. I will try to do things properly, and to follow the very old, very tired, very over-played, very worn out, and very true cliché of trying to find myself. Then I can do what is right next.

Cross your fingers, wish me good luck, and introduce me to some of your friends. That's what you can do if you want to help me on my way, reader. And I will do the same for you, if I am able.

School begins; everything else ends

So! First week of school! Actually, the first week of the usual full school week schedule. I had hoped I would have more time available this semester, but after reviewing the work for my two online courses, I do not foresee that coming true.

Online classes, so far at least, involve more work with fewer results. The endless reading and writing in the online discussion boards take up so much time, and I retain very little of the information. I find that in face-to-face courses I ask more questions, get more relevant answers, and somewhat enjoy the material. Online courses... ugh. It's a matter of completing work so I can get a grade. Hopefully I will get more out of my 2 current online courses because both involve working in groups. Luckily, my group members are other students in town, so we can actually get together to complete projects, which is an activity that helps me greatly in keeping all that book learnin' in my skull.

Those two online courses are complemented by two face-to-face courses. One I am not looking forward to, and the other will be an easy (though possibly time-consuming) computer courseware class. Either way, it's a semester more full than I wanted. Fitness has taken a back seat to the cold (even I won't go out there when it's literally freezing), and my hopes of attending the gym may fall to the wayside (wherever that is). My current hope is that I am overestimating the workload for my courses, and I will find time for my various ventures. Changes that may be coming soon could also result in more time available, although it comes at a significant cost.

So, it's cold. I know every person, newspaper, and news show is talking about it, but it's still cold. Each morning I scrap off my windshield with an old credit card, and each morning I wish I had bundled up the shavings, made a snowball, and stored it in the freezer. Then, sometime later in this season, I could hit people with them. It is a dream! And a dream that may come true if I have time to save those Snowy Shavings of Entertainment!

Also, I have a Twitter account now I'm apparently using? Weird... I get and understand Twitter, just not to the level that the rest of the world has.

2010!: 1 Day Anniversary

So, rumor has it that it's now the year 2010. The first order of business is to determine exactly how we're going to say that. Is it, "Twenty-Ten?" or maybe "Two-thousand ten?" Of course, we'll have a similar problem years from now when referring to the year 2012. Saying "oh-twelve" is simply wrong, but just saying "twelve" just doesn't seem right. Hopefully our top scientists will be working on a solution to this, foregoing additional important project such as the pill that gives mice erections for up to 6 hours, and pills that will block up to 15% of the fat you ingest. Thank goodness they're not wasting their time on a cure for cancer or a good looking, easy to apply car wax (top priority!)

I never quite felt the hype presented for New Year's. I don't recall every having a New Year's that I thought was "great." It has always been a regular get-together, except maybe with hats and things that made loud sounds, in addition to shows on the TV that I don't really care about watching. Nothing is quite like the underwhelming feeling that follow, "3!....2!....1!.... Happy New Year!!!....... Let's go home." It is always slightly humorous to see Time's Square practically empty 10 minutes after the ball drops, with they exception of the army of street cleaners that pick up the tons of trash left over from the event. Nothing like celebrating the New Year being extremely cold, crowded, and unable to leave if you want to! Maybe some day I'll understand why people go there for the new year celebration...

The new year brings nothing new. Classes begin in less than a week, but that is about it. While the beginning of the new year is merely a human observation of when we restart out monthly Gregorian calendar, it is just another day later in time. The same thing applies to turning a year older, I suppose. If you're turning 30 or 40, it's just another day later. January 1st signals the onset of teleporters and flying cards just was much as turning 40 signals an instant switch in one's body and appearance.

(I'm still hopeful each year for the flying cars.)

I do find fascination with resolutions, however. If nothing else, it's fun to mock those that create their resolutions, and immediately falter on them. :) That's a sadistic part of me, I suppose. I guess I feel that way because I try not to set goals or resolutions for myself unless I intend to follow through with them, or to at least give it a pretty strong shot over a long period of time. I do understand the idea of using the new year as a time to say to oneself, "Well, I have been meaning to (lose weight/exercise more/eat better/learn French/spend more time with my family/go back to school/stop masturbating at the aquarium/be nicer person/quit smoking)." The change to a new year gives a fresh start of sorts (even if it's just on a paper calendar), and reason to act on those changes you've been meaning to make.

For me, the closet things to a resolution would be those that I find are easier to begin or accomplish with the extra time that (sometimes) comes with the holidays. Currently, I have been running every day! (since starting 3 days ago) Not a bad start, but I hope to continue until school starts, so I can be caught up enough, fitness-wise, to begin running regularly my 'usual' distances 3+ times a week. With possible extra time available this semester, I may try to take advantage of the services available since I do pay all of those student fees. Namely, the free instructors and equipment at FSU's gym. I'm not looking forward to the crowds, or the wearing of sunglasses inside so I can stare at the co-eds in their spandex, but if the time is there the exercise would do me good.

The next month or so should produce a lot of changes, but whether they will be for good or not is, as always, to be determined.