Office Hours

What I find the most interesting thing about the day before deadlines is that nothing happens.

Sure, people come in and fade out, sit around and talk, study in the lounge area; but there are no phone calls to make, few e-mails to send, and little motivation to seek out anything new to do.  We're holding our breath.

 Our layout is still on hold.  This constant state of limbo is making me nervous: what to do, what to do in these ages sitting at a desk without a book to read?  I know! Blog. Write an article.  I've missed writing for the paper to be honest.  Editing's great, but trying to turn an idea into 500 words or less? It's a crazy, beautiful thing.  Kudos to the writers who keep sending us amazing stuff!

I did have an office discussion today with a friend about adulthood: it's not as intimidating as we thought it would be.  In fact, it's very much the same as junior high kids sitting around talking about recess.

Letter From the Editor

Editor-in-Chief: someone who sits in an office answering e-mails, occasionally about the publication they work for.

At the moment, my position on this publication board is slightly precarious.

We had a technical difficulty.  A major technical difficulty.  Our layout editor, wizard though he is, lost everything on his hard drive, including Issue #2 which was slated to come out two days ago.

Everything in my position came to a standstill, except for the spinny chair.  It's the feature I love most about office work.  It makes everything a lot more casual if you can spin around full circle while thinking up a clever response to a difficult question.  Not that I ever make it full circle - usually I get caught on the edge of my desk.  Actually, if you want to know, I added that for literary effect. A lot of times I reach the 360 point, but without much to say.  The dramatic effect is lost for lack of good dialog.

A lot of article writing I'm finding hangs on literary effect.  Like the cafeteria.  Students have whined about institutional kitchen meals since they began, but if we give the whining new shiny words, it's well received.   People like hearing what they expect.

But, yes, back to the precariousness of my situation.  Our Vice-President of Internal Affairs, my "boss", though he is the most generous and kind of all bosses I have yet had, is more stressed out than I am.  What am I supposed to do though, really? I can't resurrect the lost hard drive.  The program was highly specialized and unavailable from any known source.  But the VP is right: business as usual, go ahead with the next deadline, keep articles coming in.  We're on the next step forward, and all the e-mails I sent today (well, almost all) were newspaper related.

And that is your first installment from the Spinny Chair Chronicles.

Today's question: if you have a telephone, should it be registered, and if so, may one use cats as target practice?

**Can you think of a better hypothetical question? Post it here, and someone will put forth their best in random answers**