March 5, 2008

• Happiness

  Blog titles is actually a Goldfrapp Seventh Tree song stuck in my head, but also describes my morning bus trip.  When I stay at Z-man's place, I take the 12 Folsom bus.  It's amazingly convenient.  And there's a stretch where it goes southward on the Embarcadero, past the Ferry Building, Justin Herman Plaza, and offers a spectacular in-your-face view of the Bay Bridge, our other, more unsung bridge to Oakland. 

   

  One part of the route turns on Harrison and goes past a large brick office building.  At the southwest corner of the building, you can see into the daycare center.  It's a very popular daycare center, apparently, and there are lots and lots of babies and toddlers.

   

  Wednesday and Friday mornings when I pass it, I nearly always see a plump Asian guy giving the babies some breakfast.  He's puttering in the kitchen, pulling out formula and baby food.  Little tiny kids are in highchairs, clapping their hands in that spasmodic way small people have when they're still developing muscular control.  But they are clearly happy and excited.

   

  Every time I see him, he's grinning, even when he's just warming up formula.  You can tell he totally loves his job.  He patiently spoons gobs of mushy food into their hungry little mouths, making all those contorted faces adults do, hoping that babies will monkey-see-monkey-do just like them.  Yes, I've seen him with the occasional spoon of goo in his hair.  It doesn't seem to bother him.

   

  On crowded mornings, he's got a veritable assembly line of children in highchairs, and he bobs from one to the other, spooning baby food into one mouth, scraping food off another's chin back to where it belongs, picking up bibs and nappies as they fall or get tossed.

   

  He manages to keep smiling, and I cynically wonder if that's because he's getting paid for a task that would otherwise be a labor of messy love for an actual parent.  I imagine a salary would increase your tolerance levels for such work.  Plus he doesn't have to juggle the million other things that new parents have to on top of cleaning the counters to wash away some unexpected projectile vomit.

   

  But who knows? He might just like kids.

   

  Via Tworavens, via Otter, I'm . . . lavender? Well, okay.  I'm rather fond of the plant, and the color's okay, and the essential oil is one of the most useful out there, with actual, clinically-tested data to back up its benefits.  I was hoping for green, but I can live with this unexpected result.

   

  you are lavender #E6E6FA

  Your dominant hue is blue, making you a good friend who people love and trust. You're good in social situations and want to fit in. Just be careful not to compromise who you are to make them happy. Your saturation level is very low - you have better things to do than jump headfirst into every little project. You make sure your actions are going to really accomplish something before you start because you hate wasting energy making everyone else think you're working. Your outlook on life is bright. You see good things in situations where others may not be able to, and it frustrates you to see them get down on everything.

  the spacefem.com html color quiz

  And the text is pretty good.  Given, that the test was to "select any of these words that describe you," it'd be a piss poor test that didn't, y'know, just recycle the data and somehow completely fail to describe me based on my self-description.

  Tworavens also mentioned that Gary Gygax passed away. I'd no idea he was 69.  I think I must've pictured him as a perpetual adolescent nerd.  He is the father of the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game system, which I can thank for many hours of fun and geekery, and can still thank for such diversions (I'm fascinated by the Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer expansion pack; it manages to be fun AND wonky).  And some good friends, Tworavens in particular, and the man who will be my best man if the California courts get their shit right.  Two of my best friends are the direct result of me succumbing to my inner nerd.  Actually, same goes for my career, I suppose.  ("Excel makes graphs? Cool! Let me try!")

  Edited to Add:  One of my favorite sites of satire, Sadly, No! has an obit to Gygax.  It made me laugh: 

  Gary Gygax Runs Out Of Hit Points
  Posted at 2:56 by D. Aristophanes

  The man who invented Dungeons & Dragons has died at 69. He pwn3d pen-and-paper gaming.

  
  Above: Missed saving throw

  Hee hee! One ticket please, and I brought my own handbasket!

  • 12:43 pm
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