photo, typo, lame-o, weirdo, no-go, frio

Where's my botany photo of the day? I guess I'm not supposed to expect it till 4pm, and it's only 3:40pm now. But yesterday it came at 2pm. I have only been a proud member of the listserv for two days. It's like looking at another planet, but it's my own planet. I just got an email as I write this but it was something from Mike. I'm pleased to get an email from Mike but I wanted that BPOTD.

Have you all seen Ordinary People yet? It's really excellent, my favorite movie after Moonstruck, which I barely count as a movie because it's more of an experience or a frame of mind. Recently I've been accidentally typing words that start with "f" as "ph" words instead, then looking at them squinty eyed until it dawns on me that I made the f/ph switch again and I fix it. I feel like admitting this because Google Wave is the future so you'll all find out what a horrible typo-committer I am soon anyway.

I'm attempting to come up with a way to keep this necessarily cumbersome conversation fresh and light:

Me: So, uh, I just wanted to let you know that this Friday will actually be my last day, so you'll be dealing with my replacement from Monday onwards, and she's excellent, so no worries, but just wanted to give you a heads up to avoid confusion, so, uh...yeah.
Them: Oh my goodness! Where will you be after this, if I might ask?
Me: I'm moving to AFrica [I always say it like that for some reason - AF rica - and am starting to get sick of the sound of my own voice saying AFrica].
Them: Oh My Goodness! What will you be doing?
Me: I'll be teaching actually [always with the fucking actuallies]! So yeah, I'm really excited, but sad to be leaving here.
Them: Oh wow! Well it's been a real pleasure, and be sure to [insert borderline awful comment about avoiding sickness, being wary of the natives, protecting the local flora/fauna, or not coming back pregnant/shaming my parents here]. And keep in touch, ok? Because we want to hear about all your adventures.
Me: Yeah of course, I'll keep in touch for sure [untruth]. It's been a pleasure.
Them: Ok, well if I don't talk to you before Friday, good luck and keep in touch!
Me: Alright, uh, thanks for everything! Bye!

I know everyone means well and this is exactly what I would be saying if the roles were reversed, but I don't know how to bring these conversations back to the realm of reality. Until my dying breath I will detest the perfunctory, even as I prop it up.

M.F. walks by my cubicle all the time and rubbernecks. There is NOTHING going on in here. I'm just sitting typing away, and he peers through the entrance in childlike wonderment as if I were training a cubicle full of highly functional chimps to mix bar drinks or something. Every time he's out of sight, I shake my head involuntarily and laugh, and for some reason it makes me feel good, to know that he's out there, weird as hell, doing his thing. I do weird stuff too and I wonder who thinks I'm weird.

In an email thread amongst my fellow RW09 WorldTeachers today, someone finally acknowledged that mixed in with all the excitement we've been trumpeting into each others' ears recently, he's also feeling nervous and sad. I jumped all over it with seconds and hear hears, and was quickly followed by the rest of the group. Nice to know I'm not the only one who's feeling a bit overwhelmed at the thought of spending some significant time away from loved ones and loved cities. You know it's all your fault right? You know I love you guys too much to leave, right? No no away I go but know that you've made it damn difficult and that that's a great thing.

It's COLD y'all! So, so cold. I love it because it feels like we're in Tahoe all the time now. But being outside even a little is painful. Luckily the Diller Building can't afford heat so I'm pretty much used to it. How cold will it get before none of us are expected to come to work? For some reason, and I'm ignoring the presence of snow here, as it gets colder things seem to get whiter and whiter for me. So I'm imagining it getting ten degrees colder and the whole world gets about twice as white and bright as it seems now, and as it gets colder and colder things get whiter and whiter and eventually it's all so bright that we can't see anything anymore and we just wrap up pleasant under the blankets and wait for some heat to come along and melt some color back into things.