So, as you will be able to tell by the subject matter of this post, it is an old one...I meant to finish and post it in a timely manner but I let time get away from me...So I've decided to just post it as is. You'll forgive the flaws I hope. Enjoy.
So for anyone who is not totally up to date, I am currently working at Albion College in Dining Services. My job responsibilities vary depending on the day and shift. Often I work in the dish room, which works very much like an assembly line, where each employee gets one task that he/she repeats over and over until monotony saps the last remaining vestiges of sanity that a person has left. At other times though I work either on maintaining the beverage stations and restocking everything (plates, bowls, silverware, etc) or I man the deli station (one night out of the week). None of it is particularly hard and once you know your way around it is possible to zone out completely and still do a fairly good job. To put it another way, it's boring! haha. I don't say that as a complaint though. I actually very much like my job, I mean, it's not something I want to do for the rest of my life but for the here and now it's really not bad at all. I only point out the lack of excitement as an explanation of what is to follow in this post...
Now then, I'll get back to that, but presently I would like to speak briefly about the Olympics. They are of course over now, I'm not really sad about that, but while they were going on I kinda liked watching them. I was fascinated by these athletes who have dedicated so much of their lives to these sports. I do have to wonder how some people get into some of these sports though...or how some of these sports even exist... I mean some of these things I just don't understand how the athletes didn't all die in the beginning stages of learning how to do it...I feel like selecting the gold medalist in those events should be easy, like the one guy who tried it and DIDN'T die just has to show up and get his medal...everybody else died, he wins by default, simple enough. But no, there are lots of people who not only didn't die doing these things but were crazy enough to stick with it until they were good at it...better them then me I say... Then there are things that I just don't understand...like biathlon...how did that start? Some guy sittin' around goin', "man, I love to ski...but I love to shoot guns too...it's just too bad I can't do both at the same time...*sigh*...unless..." and then he found out that there were a lot of other weirdos out there just like him and biathlon was born. That's how I imagine it anyway. Either that or folks from Scandinavian countries used skies to get around more effectively in wild lands where they went hunting and it later evolved into a sport... I think I'll stick with my first supposition though. Of course there are a lot of sports that make sense: i.e. Bobsled. It's sledding but with G-forces to rival those reached by astronauts exiting the atmosphere. It's the classic "man" upgrade, namely taking something simple and making it exponentially faster and giving it that "more power" quality that is so very important. Figure skating also makes since to me, but in a very different way. It's just one of those things that you have to see to believe. I mean, if someone told me that these young girls (and strangely enough guys) could go out on the ice with ice skates on and not only jump around all over the place at high speeds but also spin around at a million miles an hour and NOT fall down... I'd tell them that there's more then just the speeds these people reach that's "high".
"Meanwhile back at Albion college... Our hero is faced with the monumental challenge of fighting off that insidious fiend 'Boredom'. Menial task after menial task stands between him and his freedom. With his only ally, his trusted and every ready sidekick 'Imagination' close by, can he succeed? Will payday ever come? ..." Sorry...got a little carried away there... Anyway, at work, when I get a little on the bored side sometimes in the back of my mind I imagine that the things that I'm doing are infinitely more important then they are. So while the Olympics were going on I would half wonder what it would be like if the things like cup catching (grabbing the cups off the trays that come back on the conveyor belts and sorting them into the appropriate receptacle to then be sent through the washer), cup stacking (taking clean cups, staking them, and placing the stacks on the cup cart to be taken out to the dining area), and sorting silverware (do I really need to explain this one?) were in fact all great Olympic sports. Shoot if biathlon can do it why not this right? Not convinced? maybe "upgrade" it and make it "faster", sorting silverware at five 'G's!! Anyway, while I imagined this stuff, I of course became a competitor and the favorite to win the gold in all of these events. It was pretty epic. Of course with the gold medal at stake I tried to work flawlessly and as fast as I could (who says insanity doesn't pay?). Anyway all of this imagination takes place on a near subconscious level, I'm only barely aware of it when I do it. I suppose it is my minds way of comforting me for being at the bottom of the proverbial food chain in life. Regardless as I realized that I was doing that with the Olympics I had to wonder, "How would the announcers commentary go?"
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And this is where I stopped...The thought of finishing it has occurred to me but the original idea has grown stale with time, and if I wait any longer this will never be posted, so I suppose there is nothing to do but cut my losses and post it. Keep you eyes open for a new post soon though, I've already begun it and I plan to have it up soon...
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I like your imagination..you had it even as a little boy. I remember you came home one day upset because the teacher told you you had too much imagination and I told you that imagination was a good and desirable trait to have (I also set the teacher straight on that also). Anyway, let your imagination run free again and give us an update on what the announcers commentary would be for cup stacking and sorting silverware at 5gs (inquiring minds want to know!)
ReplyDeleteP.S. Just a reminder, the above comment is from me (Mom) using your computer - not you commenting on your own blog.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I was wondering what was going on...Tim commenting on his own blog as if he was someone else entirely :P...*cough* schizo *cough* haha... I guess our "hero" is having a little too much fun with fighting boredom with that "imagination", haha, j/k. Anyways, I also daydream at work when I have monotonous tasks though my creativity is very low. I tend to not imagine things that could not be but imagine things that could possibly happen (though not likely to happen in a million years :P)
ReplyDeleteOy...the Olympic games...So many of those sports I find odd... Now...are you telling me there is a sport in which you ski and shoot guns at the same time?? What the frick??? seriously?? Wow...Did the whole town of Appalachia, Kentucky move to the mountains recently :P j/k, bad joke....
I actually can't understand ice skating at all... First of all, it seems to dangerous and totally contrary to logic to come up with in the first place... Hmm, look at this hard slippery stuff, let me show everyone how I can fall with style :P. And then evolve it into dancing and whatnot... Sure there are some cool moves I've seen ice skaters do, which are mildly entertaining, but this whole "dancing" thing... can that really be considered a sport? When I think of sports I think of strategic (or mindless, depending on the game :P) point scoring... Not trying to do something perfectly. That sounds like performance art and has no place in the Olympic games which is for sports. Honestly, the point scored is all subjective and therefore not a sport to me. Give me something clear, like hockey or football, where its clear when a point was made and how much it was worth and then I'll agree that one person/team is better than the other!
I love seeing the workings of your brain in print! That was entertaining enough that I can almost imagine watching you compete in Olympic Silverware Sorting.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the next post.
Ha ha...anything to pass the time. I used to play little games like that with myself when I worked at the spool factory, too.
ReplyDeleteYou need to go to school and study writing/literature. You are a good writer.
I love your imagination! I am waiting on the edge of my seat for the next post!!
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