talisman
I thought some of you might appreciate this — it’s a slightly edited version of an email exchange with a friend of mine. It started out because he had a three-hour layover at Midway:
me: i’m at [local coffee shop], by the way. which is actually a little bit like being at the airport.
him: actually, i think the chairs at the airport might be a tad more comfortable than [the coffee shop chairs] …
me: i’m at the short table
him: that’s funny. when i get an email from you, i pretty much always picture you writing it from the short table at [the coffee shop]. glad to know that, this time, i’m right.
me: for some reason, i find that hilarious. i am now silently laughing at the short table. i feel like maybe i should take a picture of the short table to frame and hang in my new office. like a talisman.
him: you absolutely need some physical memory or representation of the short table to take with you all throughout life. wait, did i just define talisman?
me: i think that would be more like if I gouged a chunk of wood out of the side of the table and carried it around with me in a jar. Maybe I could just try to steal the table. Or see if the owner would sell it to me. That would be hilarious.
him: using the short table as your desk [in your new office] would be one of the most awesomely eccentric things ever and i highly encourage this outcome.
[end conversation]
totally unrelated observation: last night in the library I was thinking about how the 10 East stacks are kind of like a casino — it’s dim and there aren’t any clocks, so it’s easy to lose track of time. And there’s that sense of possibility, too. Like, “I’ll look at just one more book” and “maybe this *next* book will be the awesome breakthrough book.” It’s kind of like blackjack and a buffet all in one. On the other hand, it’s really hot, and there’s no one coming around with trays of free drinks. Maybe someone should look into that. But I’d still rather be in the library than at a blackjack table. (planbreaker, can you order me an extra one of those t-shirts?)
March 28th, 2007 at 7:10 am
Please stop making me miss coffee shops and libraries. ;-(
Kidding. But I, too, enjoy imagining you sitting at the short table, except now I need the pic — you must take it. And how about some pics of the blackjackbuffet stacks. I can tell you w/some certainty that someday you will be very glad to have photos of these places where you have “lost” so much time….
March 28th, 2007 at 7:24 am
[…] It’s kind of like blackjack and a buffet all in one. On the other hand, it’s really hot, and there’s no one coming around with trays of free drinks. . . . But I’d still rather be in the library than at a blackjack table. ⇒ Tags: friends […]
March 28th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
I’ll try to remember to bring my camera next time, and maybe I can furtively snap a picture.
March 28th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
i can stop by with my computer and built in web cam and try to capture you …
for the record, i also usually assume that you are at teh short table when i email you …
April 1st, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Hey, that was a FOUR-hour layover at Midway, thank you.
April 2nd, 2007 at 1:08 pm
My profuse apologies for not accurately conveying more precisely the miserableness of your situation. Maybe next time you should bring me back a souvenir shot glass or keychain or some good nonfiction — to commemorate the misery.