today i was reminded of just how unquiet my mind can be - i was sitting in a conference room for over 10 hours today for some sales training for work, and me and sitting still for lengthy periods of time do not mesh well. these were some random thoughts and observations that occupied my mind today.
i was mostly distracted by this girl in my group who was sitting in front and to the left of me. you remember those people in college who sat in the front, always had something to say about every little thing the teacher said, and seemed to be trying to 'one up' any other opinion and remark that would come their way? yea. that was her yesterday. every time i saw that little manicured hand and class ring of hers go up, i could feel my eyes mentally roll in the back of my head. i could see from looking around the room that i was not alone in my annoyance. she also enjoyed sharing how much information she knew regarding the material at hand, and even attempted to correct the presenters a couple times. i was kinda embarassed for her those instances, and i just had to look away.
what pulled me to this girl in the first place was her hair - she had pretty long dark hair that was pulled back, except for this one wild chunk that was sticking out and out of place. i almost wanted to fix it for her. it kepr drawing my eyes. sometimes when i'm out and i notice loose hairs on someone's shirt i want to pull them off - they're so distracting. i'll admit that i even have done this, but only when i was sure i could get away with it without being noticed. there would be no recovery from that embarrassment. i have actually spoken to other women who share this idea or compulsion (whatever the hell you want to call it) so i know i'm not alone here. that chunk of hair stayed that way all day long.
one of the first things i did was count ceiling tiles and lights in the fixtures - sometimes when i'm bored i count things. my aunt and i actually counted lights and ceiling tiles together one time at my mom's graduation from nursing school. i think she saw me looking up at the ceiling, and just asked me, 'how many?' she confirmed my answer, and i was relieved that she too counted stuff when she was bored. today there were 84 ceiling tiles in each light fixture arrangement in ballroom a where we had introductions, and 14 lights in each fixture. in the conference room where my group was, there were a total of 11 bulbs on the ceiling (one of which was out) - the pillars and disruptions in the ceiling here prevented me from counting the tiles. so i moved on to counting other things in the room. there were two rows of 4 tables each, 4 chairs per table - every chair was filled (minus the two that left the day early), so we had 32 in our group (30 after the lucky few left. one person brought their computer (which i wish i would have, too), 4 people brought their backpacks.
the chairs in the conference room were very noisy - i think they gave everyone the giggles. they made farting noises, and sounded almost exactly like when you're moving around on those large black rubber inner tubes that you get when you float the river. my teammate and i exchanged glances every time someone would adjust themselves in these inner tube chairs. kept the room quite amused for the day. i will say this, though - i think the guy in front of me and to the right actually farted a couple times and adjusted in his chair to cover up and audibility from his flatulence. very clever on his part...
each speaker had a slide show they presented with their module. i took really good notes for the most part, but had a flashback to college a couple times when the speaker was going too fast. i used to hate it in college when i was plowing through note taking, following along with the teacher, then they'd get moving too fast and go to the next slide before i was done taking notes. this happened twice today - total flashback.
i also learned that one of my team mates played pro baseball for two years with the padres before he came to work for dell. i can't believe i didn't know that! i tried googling him yesterday, and all i found were some stats (and not bad) - no wikipedia page or old pictures or anything. how cool, though.
this girl in front of me (that i opened this post with) had a large, clunky blingy watch on. the point of a watch is telling time - is it not? she had this watch on, but i noticed her check her phone for the time several times throughout the day. so why have the watch? i don't get why she would spend money on a watch she doesn't need. she even took it off at some point, placed it carefully on the table, but still would check her phone for the time. was her watch even working? was she wearing it just for decoration? i have a watch that i wear when i'm running, but it serves multiple purposes - gps, tracks mileage, sets pace, etc. so, i have a watch that i use but i find it silly to have a watch just for the sake of having a watch.
and then came lunch. i typically eat lunch very early, but we didn't break for lunch 'til after noon - that is really late for me. i went home to check on toby, and i needed to create some sort of break in the middle of the day. it was much colder outside than when i left the house this morning, so i opted for a costume change when i got home. i saw a few puzzled looks when i walked back into training - kinda funny.
after lunch the same girl i've mentioned twice started passing notes with the girl next to her and another behind her at my table. i felt like i was in high school again or something. she kept kinda giggling and flipping her hair back and forth. this was kinda rude behavior for someone who had been working so hard to suck up to every presenter. i wondered what they were talking about. i haven't seen anyone pass a note in years...
the day was long, but left me feeling grateful for my job and the flexibility i have with my schedule and working from home. highlights of the day were the cool new water bottle i got, two big awesome cookies for our afternoon snack, and came home to discover my shower was finally fixed. i was also sure to get my ass to the pharmacy for my medicine to quiet my mind a bit. today was kinda rough.
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