Over Afternoon Tea

Tea is not only a drink but a ritual over which people have been relaxing, talking, and catching up on each other's lives for centuries. This blog is intended to serve as a virtual cup of tea, helping me keep in touch with friends and family in my physical absence.

I love my job.

I love the fact that I have a great job with great benefits, including a week of vacation and a week of sick leave every six months.

I hate the fact that the first of said weeks does not accrue until December and that my job is actually important enough my boss needs me there, so I hate to just ask for the day off.

I feel terrible.

The Back of His Head

Sitting in the backseat of the car, I glanced at the seat in front of me and was startled by a wave of familiarity. The shape of the head in front of me was etched on my memory in every detail, from the silhouette to the slight angle at which the hairs emerged from the scalp. The back of his head was comforting, loving, prayerful. It evoked memories of Sunday mornings when I wished all of time would stop and let me stand here in Church forever, a time when I was still ignorant of Church politic-ing, hadn't heard the stories of bad priests who didn't care, had only seen this patient, prayerful man loving his people into shape. I could almost hear his beloved voice coming in after the last hymn, slightly off-key, warm and fervent, "Again and again in peace let us pray to the Lord..."
"You know," I said suddenly, "I think I've spent as much time looking at the back of your head as the front of it."
He laughed uncertainly, not getting it but amused at the randomness of the remark.
"In services, you know?" I explained. "Most of the time you're facing the front of the Church, with your back to us, so we've spent all this time staring at the back of your head." He laughed then, and got it, and thought it was funny.
I want a picture of the back of his head.

This Month My Boss:

Tried to strangle Kasia, his senior assistant (more times than I keep track of).

Took everybody out to lunch on several occasions, on the last of which he bought a round of monster 24 oz beers for everybody, which he chased down by splitting yet another 24-oz-er three ways (right before heading back to the office).

Started a brief citrus war by pelting Clementines at me and Debbie, in which war we demonstrated that an office base-ball team would be a bad idea since a) Mark (my boss) can't throw and b) neither Debbie nor myself can catch. It was not, however, an entirely futile war, since I got him with one squarely in the back. ;-)

Sent flowers to a client's father who was in the hospital (and spent 15 minutes looking for a 'manly' flower arrangement).

Found my blog and (apparently) feels like a celebrity.

Keeps making comments about my last post. (This one should be interesting)

My Boss Came Back From Canada With Presents

Him: Did you wear your new shirt last night?
Me: I did. It was very comfy.
Him: And? Did you run faster? Jump higher?
Me: (Confused) Absolutely.
Him: Did you feel like Superman?
Me: Perfect.
He dashes off, yelling for Debbie to come help him "file this dog."
(It's a plain black shirt with "Canada!" on it)

Bumper sticker:
A mind is a terrible thing to waste
RECYCLE