Friday, October 03, 2003
The Charm of the Earnest
Right now at work, I'm working on this computer project, so I'm in this conference room with about 6 other people most of the day. It's the kind of thing that lends itself easily to satire because we have all the doors closed & all these computers set up on the conference table & we have scheduled times to go down to different rooms & almost all communication/instruction from "above" comes by e-mail.
Anyway, today one woman was sent to another room on another floor and this guy Fady was transferred into our room to sit at her place.
The boys in Room 26 (where I am "stationed") are all around 25 years old, and they are a lot of fun, though mischievous & sometimes annoying. Today, someone sent an e-mail with a joke on the bottom, and this guy Alex read it out loud: "Why was Jesus born in a stable?"
After a pause, Fady answered, "I don't know. It has something to do with modesty." And then, Alex said the punchline: "Because Joseph was on an HMO." (Very lame joke.) I then heard Fady say, kind of softly, "Oh. It has nothing to do with that at all." And, right there, I felt like I really, really liked him. I love people who are too serious sometimes, people whose awkwardness comes from taking things to heart that people are not "supposed to" take to heart.
I have worked very hard to become "lighter," and I wonder sometimes if this journal, for example, is too serious, if I'm too serious in general. There's a part of me that loves people who are too serious, though.
Cheers to Fady for thinking the question through & for not knowing he shouldn't have thought it through.
I understand.
--m
|
Right now at work, I'm working on this computer project, so I'm in this conference room with about 6 other people most of the day. It's the kind of thing that lends itself easily to satire because we have all the doors closed & all these computers set up on the conference table & we have scheduled times to go down to different rooms & almost all communication/instruction from "above" comes by e-mail.
Anyway, today one woman was sent to another room on another floor and this guy Fady was transferred into our room to sit at her place.
The boys in Room 26 (where I am "stationed") are all around 25 years old, and they are a lot of fun, though mischievous & sometimes annoying. Today, someone sent an e-mail with a joke on the bottom, and this guy Alex read it out loud: "Why was Jesus born in a stable?"
After a pause, Fady answered, "I don't know. It has something to do with modesty." And then, Alex said the punchline: "Because Joseph was on an HMO." (Very lame joke.) I then heard Fady say, kind of softly, "Oh. It has nothing to do with that at all." And, right there, I felt like I really, really liked him. I love people who are too serious sometimes, people whose awkwardness comes from taking things to heart that people are not "supposed to" take to heart.
I have worked very hard to become "lighter," and I wonder sometimes if this journal, for example, is too serious, if I'm too serious in general. There's a part of me that loves people who are too serious, though.
Cheers to Fady for thinking the question through & for not knowing he shouldn't have thought it through.
I understand.
--m
