Making It Up As I Go Along #218

MONDAY…
--- Work is busy and I go for an hour and a half walk afterwards. Sunny and 23 this afternoon so it’s good for the walk.
--- Some hockey on TV after I get back. Ottawa deserved to win tonight… I even feel sorry for them. And Carolina had a miracle game… I just don’t want a team from that place winning. Learn what hockey is before getting the Stanley Cup.

TUESDAY…
--- Work is alright. I brought a key to a filing cabinet home by accident Monday so it’s locked all day today with me wanting in!
--- Did some hanging out at lunch with Mike and Kiyomi. Been a while since seeing her around (thanks to opposite shifts).
--- Drinks and supper at Leslie’s tonight. It was too nice out so she invited me over to hang on her patio.

WEDNESDAY…
--- Work is fine. Fairly busy day.
--- Lunch with Shannon.
--- After work I meet up with Melissa and we head to Mer Bleue (I finally get the spelling right!). We do the little boardwalk trail and see a snake, a chipmunk, and a couple of turtles. Nice time.
--- Watch the Buffalo vs. Ottawa hockey game and it was really good. Buffalo fans are great and, for the first time since their lovable loser days as an expansion team… I found myself cheering for Ottawa. But Buffalo wins in overtime and it looks like the series is about done.

THURSDAY…
--- A BBQ mess at work. Half the BBQ breaks down and so there are people out there lined up for four hours! I was lucky enough to get mine early but office productivity isn’t at an all time high today.
--- Hockey and Survivor watched in the evening.

FRIDAY…
--- Not a bad day at work but the typical busy Friday with extra people in on the day shift. Lunch with Tina, Mike and Read is a pretty good time.
--- On the phone with Jim this evening and Edmonton looks good beating San Jose in the hockey playoffs.

SATURDAY…
--- Quiet day around the house. The weather is bad so I do some cleaning… some napping… some DVD watching… some hockey watching… and some work on the computer. I even do a little furniture rearranging. And I’m feeling bad for Ottawa being eliminated from the NHL playoffs. Not that I’m a big fan of the team (fans and media here are mostly fools). But I feel bad for the fans I know and like.

SUNDAY…
--- Happy Mother’s Day… for real this time!


BBQ with a Match
Cops for Cancer is a day when people at the RCMP shave their heads in order to raise money for cancer. It’s coupled with a staff BBQ and it’s all done with plenty of good intentions. It still doesn’t mean things won’t be weird.

First bump along the way is the BBQ itself. Several hundred people all coming out from the office to be fed at approximately the same time. The line is bad at the best of times. But when half of the one working grill is shut down, trouble isn’t far behind.

The result is a line that goes all the way to Hudson Bay. And in order to appease the throngs, volunteering co-workers in oversized ‘Cops for Cancer’ t-shirts, that make them all look like a ten year old in daddy’s shirt, come around offering cancer bracelets for a dollar each. These are those rubber band bracelets that are such a rage for anything today. I suppose I can be thankful that the ribbons seem to have been retired for a little while, but still… where did the power of the rubber band come from?

My original plan was to meet Kiyomi and Carole prior to lining up for the food and the three of us would wait and then eat together. But with the line already growing at 11:15 and neither of the ladies in for their modified evening shift yet, I abandon the idea and go with Shannon instead. Some five to ten minutes later, I see the late arriving girls. They give a wave as they head to the back of the line. I consider stepping out from my place so that I can live up to my end of the agreement. But with some hundred people between me and them and the line already moving at a snail’s pace… I leave them on their own.

A half hour lined up is enough for Shannon and me to get our grub and go sit to eat. We sit at a table, layer our stuff with the light bag of potato chips on bottom, napkins above that, and can of coke on top as a weight so that nothing blows away (a trick one from Newfoundland must learn early in life or risk starvation). And we chow down.

I’m completely done both burger and hotdog when there is still no sign of Kiyomi and Carole. Feeling guilty, I give up my seat to another starving soul looking for a place to perch, I take my half can of drink and bag of chips and head up the line to see how far along the girls are. I’m shocked to see that in the hour since I saw them go to the back of the line, they have probably moved about fifty feet closer to the meat.

I stand with them for close to a half hour, chatting a little and gloating about my full belly. In that half hour, the line moves an extra ten feet. At this rate, they’ll be fed in two days.

But a total of an hour in line is all I can endure… so I leave the girls to it, never to see them again.

I go inside and walk around to the big set of windows at the main lobby. Outside there is where the action is. The RCMP garage band (that is to say a group of five employees who usually play for themselves in the office basement on Thursday nights and, to put it kindly, should continue that practice) have stopped and hair chopping has captured everybody’s attention.

It’s quite bizarre actually. To stand there and see how several hundred people are captivated by the spectacle that is an electric razor pealing layers of hair off of the tops and sides of heads. Pale stubbleness is left where hair once stood and people are entertained by this. I realize it’s all done for a good cause and it takes some guts for someone with a full head of healthy hair to part ways with it… but still, it’s odd to see how such an event hypnotizes bystanders.

Once I think of this, I just can’t remain as one of the crowd, so I return to the office and check on the work. I even do a few urgent forms that come but, after twenty minutes, I feel a little guilty and return to the big windows to see what’s happening.

More people parting ways with manes to laughter and applause. And a line for food that remains infinitely long. I go back to the office for good. I just don’t want to hear that band start up again. I mean these guys are now the guaranteed entertainment for every office outside event… and it makes me want to use up some of my leave whenever these events occur. Staff appreciation days and charitable causes are no excuse to torture the workers with bad music.

Finally, people start trickling back to their desks. The most common reason for their departure from the outdoors is the fact that windswept, freshly cut hair is attacking the bystanders with monster like ferocity. Thank goodness I ate early… otherwise, my burger and dog may have gotten some much unwanted garnishes.

And with the end of the day, I walk out with Isabelle and we look towards the BBQ line-up. And yes, four hours after it began, people remain lined. They are defeated and weak with hunger but they can’t think of anything else… they must get fed.

And even though Isabelle and I grew up speaking different languages, we look at each other with wide eyes and complete understanding.

No hot dog is worth four hours of your life.