11:32 p.m. | 2003-08-19 I Am SO Jinxed. The jinxing power of Colleague is awful strong. For those not in the know, about six weeks ago, I moved into my Dreamspace (otherwise known as TheHotel). After I made that decision and everything was being processed, I discovered that OurBoss (my boss� boss) is a semi-permanent resident at TheHotel. Now, I�m not one that likes to mix up work and home in the same pot. However, my Dreamspace is, well, my dreamspace and I don�t have it in mind to change all that. At the same time that I�ve been figuring out how to make that all work right, Colleague has been busy jinxing me left and right. Or right and left, depending on your preference. See, every time he asks me if I�ve seen OurBoss at TheHotel, I tell him that I haven�t and then promptly experience an embarrassing or ill-timed encounter with OurBoss at TheHotel. (If you want the history of all that, I suggest you check out my archives because, well, they contain my history.) Anyway, Colleague jinxed me again last Thursday at lunch. Although I didn�t encounter OurBoss, I figured his phone call on my DAY OFF last Friday was the end result of that particular curse. Alas, I was wrong. After staying late at work tonight and running errands, I came home and changed into comfortable, baggy clothes. Then, I realized that I left a document in my car. As, I was standing in the hallway locking my front door, I saw OurBoss approaching me out of the corner of my eye. This is some of that. (CI:) What�s that you�re holding? It�s not one of my files is it? (OB:) No. Here. (Handing me a cooking magazine; he cooks as a hobby.) All you have to do is cook every recipe in here by tomorrow. (CI:) Oh, okay. No problem. Then, we talked all about work, thanks to Colleague. That jinxing bastard. In parting, the conversation took an interesting turn. Mind you, this all has an appropriate context. (OB:) What�s your ethnicity? (CI:) Uh� white? (OB:) No, in particular. (CI:) Uh� white-white? (See, I�m so mixed that I don�t really relate � personally - to any particular ethnicity. I did understand the question; I just wasn�t quite sure how to respond.) (OB:) What�s your lineage? (CI:) Oh. Scottish, Irish, German, Norweigan, Dutch and French. Well, and I�m sure there are more but that�s the only lineage anyone�s copped to. There was more relevant conversation, of course, but the odd thing to me was that no one�s ever asked me what my �ethnicity� is before. See, I told you, Colleague�s jinxing ability is quite amazing. And, that bastard�s gonna hear about all that tomorrow. I�m just saying. On a completely unrelated note, I tend to adopt � temporarily � language as used in books and movies when reading or viewing such. That tendency lead to this conversation. (CI:) For you, I have a check. (Friend:) �For you, I have a check?� (CI:) Sorry. I gotta a check for ya. I recently watched an old movie. Well, not an �old� movie; a movie set back in the day. Way back. Yeah. I watched a recent version of The Mayor of Casterbridge which was written in 1886. Apparently, I picked up some old linguistic styles. An odd habit, for sure, but a bad one? I think not. your thoughts? seed flower