Get Me Outta Here

Saturday night

I was working at a newspaper, and Rod S., the boss who engineered my downsizing at my previous job, was the publisher. I was on my way to his office when I happened to glance over at the wall near another department, and saw that the word INTERNET was posted in large block letters, but that it was misspelled. I was about to e-mail all of the employees about it, but Rod overruled me, telling me only to e-mail the boss of that department. Next, Rod had me come into his office and take notes about story ideas. He told me about a hockey player who had recently been injured, and by way of background, said that the guy had been in Army training with John Mellencamp, and just missed being in his regiment. I was writing all of this while wearing long rubber gloves, and instead of holding the pen as I normally would, between my thumb and the next two fingers, I positioned it backward, toward my palm, and wrote in a scrawl.

*****

The gloves probably mean that I wanted to sanitize myself in his presence; I didn't
want to touch anything that had to do with that man. Also, not to brag, but I've got pretty decent penmanship. The fact that I was scrawling that way means that I was really nervous and out of my element.

I'm not sure about the Mellencamp connection, although I heard a news story recently that JM was happy about John Edwards' campaign using his song "This Is Our Country," but when he heard about John McCain using it, he asked them to stop. As for the bit about hockey, I'm certainly not a fan, but some of my poker buddies were talking about it the other night, and the Caps' game was on in the background.

*****

January 2008 Dream Roundup

Family & Friends:

My wife
My sister-in-law (wife's sister) (mentioned in "Downturn")
Andrew C.
Dad
Dana S.
Dawn C.
Gordon S.
Greg S.
Jimmie C.
Mom
Our (non-existent) French son (in "Poodle?")
Susan W.

Acquaintances & Coworkers:

Christy S.
Eden F.
Jennie S.
Pat H.
Tom S.

Celebrities:

Bruce Springsteen
The Cars
Clarence Clemons
David Letterman
Erykah Badu
George W. Bush
Heath Ledger (mentioned in "On Location")
Jane Pauley
Johnny Carson
Johnny Cash
Ronald Reagan