Confined Thoughts

I might as well have been locked up in solitary confinement today. I barely spoke to anyone and found myself lost in my thoughts for the bulk of the day. I was sent by the education industry to be trained “properly” as a test scorer. Test scorer or WORST nonpaid obligatory job ever. Whatever. Anyway, I had a few thoughts that I will share.

• A few months back I went to the special education hole-in-the-hall depot for a professional development – as I frequently do every now and then. On this particular day, I realized that there was a distinguished looking building by the subway stop. I paused, looked at it, and processed the visual that my eyes sent to my brain. This building is pretty well-known. People have pictures of it in their homes. Ikea sells a print in an over-sized plastic frame.  And as clear as day, it dawned on me. The building is the Flat Iron building. Out of the 400 times I had visited the special education hole-in-the-wall depot, I never noticed that the Flat Iron building was looming above me. I felt pretty stupid.

                Here I am, months later, and I do it again. I stop, look at the building, process the visual, and then               finally realize that I am a moron. The Flat Iron building gets me every time. And this is how my day started. 

• As I mentioned earlier, I had to go through the most ridiculous training for this test scoring business. It is tedious and time consuming. As a result, I have decided that I would rather put together IKEA furniture. On my own. Or I would rather put my head in a bear trap. 

• I cannot stand it when people (mostly women) exaggerate the “s” at the end of words. For example – “I live in Washington Heightsssssssssssssss.” Are you a snake? 

• I realized that I NEVER get picked for anything cool. Evidence: I get picked to grade the most monotonous “test” in New York State…for six out of seven days. I should NEVER waste my money on a lottery ticket. Things I have been picked for in the past (also not cool): A jury, free tickets for 'Hollywood Squares', and the Teaching Fellows (oh, ouch!).

• For lunch I decided to take in the scenery that the neighborhood provided for me. So I bought a string cheese from Seven Eleven and hung out in front of the VA hospital. Bless these people, but for a while I forgot where I was geographically located. I could have sworn I was teleported to Coney Island. Yikes!