Scrabble

Sake

Sex



what a great night

My supervisor wanted me to go out with one of the client work crews to their place of employment and actually work side by side with the clients to get a better feel for the work the clients do.

I didn't really feel it was necessary. I'm not sure that I needed to clean toilets and sinks at a warehouse factory with my clients in order to understand it. I've cleaned plenty of toilets at home. I get how it works.

But, I'm a compliant employee and so I went out with the crew that cleans at a warehouse. I spent two hours cleaning sinks, toilets and urinals. I had the lovely experience of scrubbing the urine off the walls around the urinal. Sometimes up to a foot or more away from the urinal. How does that happen? Are they just flicking their stuff around when they pee with no regard to the urinal?

It was also my first experience with Maxims and Penthouses in the workplace. There was a stack of them in the various mens bathrooms. Now, I haven't been in many men's bathrooms, so maybe I'm naive and I don't realize that Maxim and porn is standard fare for mens bathrooms. I always figured that those magazines fell into the category of "Things that are inappropriate to bring to work from home".

All was well at the end though when the young woman I was working with turned to me with a grin and informed that I was a "hard worker".

If you're at Wegman's on Amherst.
And you're eyeing the candy vending machine.
And you see the fruit shaped gum the size of a fist,
I recommend you have a sound jaw and a strong will to conquer that bad ass piece of gum.

On the way home from work I ran into construction and turned up a cute little residential road when a dog bounded in front of my car. I hardly saw him coming. One moment the road was free from hazards, the next moment there was a curly haired dog standing in front of my car. He froze in place. I slammed on my brakes. I came just inches from hitting him, just inches. His owner was outside and had him off leash when he eloped. It was a good reminder to keep my own dog on leash, even though I admit that I'm guilty of letting him off the leash from time. And I just thank God I didn't hit the dog. I was in a car once with a driver who accidentally hit a coyote that ran across the interstate and I cried for the rest of the drive.

I went home for my 10 year highschool reunion feeling fairly smug with myself. I, afterall, escaped the clutches of Bloomington-Normal, IL and have had some fairly interesting life experiences. I lived in Philadelphia and I had adventures in Vietnam. Turns out that most of my classmates have had interesting lives so far, even the ones living in Bloomington Normal. So, I learned two things....

1. Humility

2. You can make the most of life and have great experiences in life, regardless of where you live....even in Bloomington-Normal.

When I wasn't at reunion events with my former classmates, I was at home working with my family to act out a false reality of sameness. We did our best to make everything look the same as always despite the fact that in reality my parents are divorcing. It was an odd and stressful situation and by the time we got home on Sunday night I collapsed into bed to sleep it off.

Some thoughts as we celebrate Labor Day with barbecues and low, low prices at the stores!

• US companies like Google and Wal-Mart are actively fighting current attempts by Chinese labor activists to reform Chinese labor laws that would afford Chinese laborers labor rights similar to those rights in the United States.

• Los Angeles is close to replacing New York City as the sweatshop capital of the world.

• Made in America labels are meaningless. One case in point below:

• The US territory of the Commonwealth of North Mariana Islands is exempt from the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards act and is partially exempt from the Immigration and Naturalization Act and gets to put Made In America Labels on the clothes produced in the territory.

• Social workers, English professors, clerical staff/secretaries are just a few of several professions that had relatively higher pay in the days when those fields were dominated by men.

Alright, (e:peeps)! You can catch Drew and I at the Amvets on Elmwood Ave today trying to fight the man by buying thrift store clothing! That's our Labor Day celebration, lol!