[Estimated reading time: 30 minutes]

[This is a work in progress.]

New Digs

It's Monday and the first day working from a new building.
My team was moved over the weekend, our desks and computers transported by men with soft blue gloves and carpet-covered dollies, and placed onto different desks.

I of course forget about the move and initially come back to the old building, only to find strangers occupying "my" cubicle.
So after a brief bout of confusion I shuffle to our new digs and navigate the strange automated elevators that I'll be using from now on.

I circle the floor twice before I finally find my new spot in the far corner, cooped up behind three short cubicle walls and right next to a rather tall and imposing wall.
At this time, only Matt is in, so we say our hellos, make some comments about the new sitting arrangement, and then I start reconnecting all the hardware.

Then, when that's all done, I go on a bit of a sight-seeing tour.
The view from this floor is about the same as in the last building, the kitchen area has the same snacks and coffee, so after a while I come back to the cubicle farm and start work.

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[Estimated reading time: 4 minutes]

I sit down at a wooden kitchen table, red place mats at four spots, familiar wear in the surface.
There'a blackboard-
No, wait, it's a white-board, with alcohol-smelling markers.
One is definitely shitty, but we're not going to throw it away.
It's there in case.

The teacher walks in and my spine snaps, my head moves at sonic frequencies and for a moment I break the sound-barrier.

"Today's lesson is feelings.
It's very simple: you are not allowed to have them."

The teacher writes NO FEELINGS in big blocky letters on the board.
She starts with the shitty red marker, which fails halfway through the O, and replaces it with a blue one, continues like it's nothing.

She talks, I listen.
She tells stories of minimal importance, things like the cost of chicken on this particular Tuesday, and creates a storm in a freaking tea-cup.
She discusses her feelings, at every opportunity, and I have to listen.

I forget what it's like to have feelings.

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