The Cupboard Under the Stairs

My new office is in an office park in a fancy-pants part of the suburbs. It's one of those places where all of the buildings are small and brick and you can't tell the Wendy's apart from the bank because they aren't allowed to have real signs. Whoever designed my office park was on crack because it is comprised of about 25 IDENTICAL buildings with no external signage, so if you don't know exactly where you are going you would have to knock on doors forever. Thankfully I have managed to memorize my office's address, so I know where to park in the morning.

My little building has been divided into two suites and we are on the second floor. Every morning I walk up the stairs and wonder about the cupboard under the stairs. Thanks to Harry Potter, I'll bet that many people now take more notice of under-stair cupboards, but since this is MY cupboard, I wonder about it a lot. (I have lots of time to wonder about it because I still don't really have anything to do at work.) The door to the cupboard under the stairs is polished, like a nice wood, and outside of it there is this wing chair in sort of a chintz fabric, a little table, a plant and a lamp. I don't know if the chair is small, or if it just looks small because of the angle of the chair, but the whole thing looks like the waiting area for a tiny little office. So, now I am imagining that there is a Leprechaun working in the cupboard in my office. See--the Triangle is getting more fun every day!

For more work news...The Big Cheese took me to lunch today. I've decided that The Big Cheese is a very fitting name for him, as there is something sort of mousy about his eyes. The Big Cheese seemed slightly irritated that we couldn't go to Five Guys Burgers and Fries for lunch, since it's Friday and Lent and I don't eat meat. He paid me back by watching the basketball game through lunch, which irritated the heck out of me. I also got to see my official work portraits that were taken for the website. After viewing them, I realized that I need a haircut, better make up and more sleep. Too bad I didn't know about these things BEFORE I had the pictures taken.

And now it's time to change the subject....

It's Lent and I am weird because I really love Lent. I love the solemnity and the idea of preparing your heart for the coming of Christ. I love that so much of the Mass switches back to Latin. I love the crazy Fish Fry Dinners--one of the things that I was actually sorry about with having to go back to work 5 days a week is that I miss baking all the Fish Fry desserts. This may have been the year that I got brave enough to learn how to use our church's giant and ancient stand mixer that has a clutch. (Yes, you read that right. Our church has a piece of cooking equipment that has a clutch like a car.) This Easter will mark the tenth anniversary of my conversion to the Catholic faith. (I never felt like it was a big leap from Lutheran, although I still miss the celebration of Reformation Sunday, marking the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Thesis to the door of Castle Church in Whittenburg. We had a Reformation Day Festival and got to play fun games as kids like "hide in a pickle barrel and pretend to get smuggled out of a nunnery" like Martin Luther's future wife. Yes--that really happened, both the game and the smuggling.) Anyway, back to Lent...I think my two favorite things are that we get to sing one of Palestrina's masterpieces, "O Bone Jesu." If you don't know the piece, this is a great recording on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqkzQgcexQ4. My other favorite part of Lent is the end--this year we will celebrate the Easter Vigil on April 23rd and have the privilege of witnessing several adults being baptized into the church.

And for something else to keep everything in perspective...

One of my new co-workers has a husband who was diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer about 3 months ago. When I was 6 years old I lost my grandpa to that disease--I could write a whole post about how much that kind of cancer sucks. Anyway, my new work friend's husband had to have a procedure this afternoon because he's no longer able to swallow his own spit. Think about that for awhile and your own life won't seem to suck quite as much.