the awkward turtle waxes eloquent... not really

[phthalombrage]

Three clear plastic bags of thin strips of
award proposals, co-op reports, financial things
Confidential things with big words and bigger numbers
Folders to run to Scaife, Warner, Roberts
A magical cabinet full of the department's keys
I get two
to slip onto my carabiner
Copies to make, a coffeepot to maintain
Maybe I will take tea mornings
Maybe I will develop a tenderness for the copier
It is squarish and grey-beige and fickle like ol' Squeaky
A chair to warm during the office's lunch break
Type elements still lost in UPS's shadowy Texan infrastructure
A telephone that doesn't ring, by the grace of gods
Fucking Internet Explorer
ararar

Baby-faced brown haired girl
Spells her name funny
Never woulda guessed Jeanna is pronounced the same as Gina, but it makes sense
Blissfully ignorant grammar - she's from around here
"I seen it", "these things need shred" (makes me simultaneously sick and a horrible person)
Speaks slowly, moves at a snail's pace but doesn't really know how much to explain
It's good I learn fast
She's got people skills, though

Then again, geniuses don't end up working in offices, do they?
I don't want to be a secretary-type forever
I don't have good people skills
I will come around to liking her once I come to grips with her language
She's very nice

Suzy's busy, Anita says "honey" all the time, Angie's out, and there's a French woman
Francine
I mean, seriously.
I wonder if it would be weird if I decided to speak to her in French
I feel like realistically, I'm not going to do it
maybe that's for the best

Couscous is the only real food I have
Pop tarts and spaghettios, such a nutritious breakfast
Crack that box of peanut-butter-pretzel bits after dinner
Five pounds? A packing slip definitively Jim
For once I know what I'd like from him for my birthday
Vegetarian cookbook; he'll know which to get
Groceries tomorrow after work
It's even on the way (!)
I learn of dishwashers and communal sugarbowls and recycling (or lack thereof)
My roommates are nice
and have a lot of alcohol

Set paintbrush to paper for the first time in god knows when
Acrylics always dry darker than I expect
I try to layer on washes like they're watercolors, stuck in that gear
Wondering when my palette will dry out, mundane things
Knowing that the colors will define this piece, above all else, fear of failure
Maybe I should try oils sometime, getting ahead of myself
In the meantime, yay, focus, concentrate and don't give up
I will gain familiarity

I think that was the first real conversation I've had with Trevor
Hope everything is going all right with Hayley
Didn't ask
Tomorrow or real soon now an awkward trio will see if everything is okay
Over dinner? Cupcakes? Ice cream? What do people do in these situations?

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing is fucking excellent
(houseplants like boy kings and a viridian state of grace and a million silver blades threatening the moon)
I had forgotten about webcomics until I was reminded

Set alarm, crash down.