One the other side of my office, where the corporate types sit, one woman has decked out here cube like..well, her models were either a French whorehouse or Stevie Nicks' mudroom. Taste aside, I worry about anyone who invests that much effort into cube decoration.

and yeah, I took a picture. It'll be up later.

I spent the weekend lounging at my friend's pool in New Jersey, slathered in SPF 45 UV-A/UV-B sunblock. But I lacked sunglasses, so my eyeballs themselves seem to be a little burnt. Maybe it's just the chlorine, but it was enough to make me cry in the shower a little this morning. So I sang a little love song to stay happy, and even though I'm high up in the Tower of Doom, a bit of me is lying on a floating mat drifting in a slow spin, looking at the tops of trees and listening to pretty girls laugh like clinking mimosas.

Nothing today. But Friday Mrs. tr33 and I went out for pizza buffet, and at the booth across from us sat an elderly woman by herself eating a salad. She had a bandage on her hand, from a doctor or hospital visit. She reminded me of my mom, alone and lonely after my father passed, and I started weeping like a madman.

Her check came, and she started digging in her coin purse for money to pay the bill. I couldn't take it anymore, and, still crying, went over to her booth and told her lunch was on me today. She was incredibly grateful and sweet about it, wished us luck, and went off into the world. Mrs. tr33 didn't know what to say, but I got a big hug out of the whole thing from her (my much better half), and a wonderful kiss, so I was repayed twice over.

Nope, update. A good man here, good worker and smart and takes all sorts of initiative, just told me he's been demoted because another team member made it her personal fucking mission to point out every little grammatical and mechanical error in his communications (we're writers and whatnot). He's taking a big paycut, and has a two daughters, one heading to college soon. He's pretty torn up about it, and now I'm in tears again. WHY WHY WHY? It's so fucking unfair.

I will now make it my mission to take that bitch down. Damn, it's a damn shame.

Ugh. That's awful, tr33. How sad.

Sorry about your friend at work, tr33hggr... sounds like a raw deal to me.

And your first story about the lady at the restaurant had me in tears. I think about my 91-year-old adopted mom alone in her house late at night (my father died in September of '98), looking through old photo albums and boxes of loose pictures. Her whole life there in those photos. Makes me want to drive up to Connecticut and have a cup of tea with her. I missed her birthday this year, because of the gallbladder surgery. I want to give her her present, a wood-carved momma and baby elephant statue jon and I found in an East Village shop. My mom collects elephants, trunks up for luck.

(pips, maybe she's out at the beauty shop, gettin' some beauty.;))

That's sweet Pips. They need us so, and it's too easy to get caught up in our own lives.

The bitch has it out for everyone though. I take work home, put in more than my share of hours, and today's she's asking me to update my hours on our team spreadsheet because I've been coming in 15-30 minutes late the past few weeks. Watch your step honey, I just might trip your ass.

The wife moved out a little while ago. Today is our anniversary and she let slip that she's having a party. Ego-crushing.

maybe she's out at the beauty shop, gettin' some beauty

Yeah, that's an ongoing giggle between jon and me... at the beauty shop, gettin' some beauty. Every Saturday at 11:30, with Ethel. For years it was Marcel, but he died so unexpectedly of an infection after ear surgery. So sad; he was such a young man. Ethel's great, too, though; she even came to the nursing home to do my mom's hair when she was recooperating from hip surgery. My mom recently went silver (the dye was irritating her scalp), and it's quite fetching. She's quite spunky for 91; still makes dinner Thursday nights for my brothers and their families (they live nearby). Enough garlic in her meatballs to choke a mule. (yum)

That's sweet Pips. They need us so, and it's too easy to get caught up in our own lives.

Thanks, tr33hggr... so true, so true...

Sorry to hear, Popular Ethics... as someone who went through a divorce some years ago, I wish I knew something to say to make it feel better (nothing but time can, I suppose, and/or a new love interest?)... but maybe she's fronting some, not wanting to let the pain show?

Sorry to hear about that, Popular Ethics. I've down that road myself and it's paved with broken glass. But it will turn to soft sand eventually.

Tr33hggr, what a great first story and what a bummer of a second!

Myself, I cried when reading the birthday card my Mom gave me in advance. She warned me not to read it in front of her as we'd both start crying harder. I didn't want to wait until my birthday tomorrow, so I read it this morning while everyone else was still asleep. She was right. I cried buckets. (Not to bore those who know, but my Mom left on Sunday for Seattle from New Jersey). I've been crying off and on since Friday.

Just the usual spot of raw hope. And then at beauty: I don't get to work with kids too much any more, but we have a staffer leaving and I'm taking some of her front-line responsibilites with a museum theatre program for teenagers. It chokes you right up to watch a 12-year-old getting silly, being brave, having fun, taking risks, just starting discover Hey, I might be somebody.

The other stories are getting to me. I relate to your story, tr33 -- those people jump out at me everywhere and I look at them and hope desperately that someone is there for them, that their kids call often, that their grandchildren send messy crayon drawings and that their friends come over for cards once a week. But it's hard to be confident that that's always happening.

There is SO much loneliness in this world - it's the main thing that bothers me about our neo-local, self-driven culture. We don't take care of people once they become outliers, once they're single or old or on the fringes. Our networks break down. And they're important, dammit. Not only do they need us; we need each other. What are we missing out on by not interacting with people like that? Food for thought.

Group hug time. (((hugs Miko)))(((hugs Tr33hggr)))(((taz)))(((Hugh Janus)))
(((Pips)))(((Popular Ethics)))(((everyone!!!!)))

Thanks redvixen. We need a "what made you smile today?" thread...

My company recently got a bunch of money back from the federal government as a result of some tax overcharges being refunded. They're going to use the money to fund a bunch of layoffs worldwide. My workgroup, which does exports, is in the corporate tax organization. I'm so proud.

Thanks redvixen... and Happy Birthday a day early! : )

This is late and may not be what you were looking for.

I was in tears or on the brink of tears two times this weekend. Once as I was leaving the house of a friend and former lover and telling him that as attracted as we are to each other, our sexually-charged friendship is killing me because he keeps telling me how attracted he is to me one sentence, and telling me that he's still to emotionally damaged by his first marriage to date me again in the second.

The second time was after I came back to his place five minutes later because I'd accidentally (really!) left my phone there and we ended up having sex anyway. And I cried after having my orgasm because knowing we have such great friendly and sexual chemistry but he doesn't want to date me always kills me.

Hell, he was part of the reason why I had decided to stop having casual sex, too.