Today's rambling: Where is Clarion?
Written on Monday, Jun. 03, 2002 at 7:59 p.m.
while feeling a bit

I'm starting to sort of dread the drive to work every morning. For some reason, the amount of roadkill I've seen has just sprung to unnatural proportions, and it makes me sick. I've seen SO many deer, most of them sprawled brokenly by the side, but some of them nothing more than mangled bits of...well, I'll stop there, but let's just say that I believe they were the unfortunate victims of a head-on collision with a tractor trailer.

I remember hearing once that a guy in Florida, biking on a highway or some such, was struck by a car, then struck by several more before traffic finally stopped...but for some reason, I think I remember that the cars who hit him didn't stop or go back or anything. I hope I'm wrong. That would just be really sick.

Anyway, sorry to start of an entry with that disgusting, morbid stuff. I just wish people would be a little more careful! I know that sometimes those critters just dart out in the middle of the road, and you can't find a way out of hitting them. But I've seen dead animals on back roads that should never have BEEN killed, because the speed limit was such that the driver should've had plenty of time to dodge! But of course, everyone has to drive at 50 miles above the speed limit. I just get really irritated sometimes. ('Sometimes?!' I hear you all saying. Be quiet. :oP )

On the back of one of those trucks that carries new/used cars (y'know, the ones no one ever wants to be caught behind, in case one of those strapped-on cars just comes loose and rolls off the back), and it had a bumper sticker on it that said something like, "Have Faith in God." A nice sticker, I'm not making fun of it. I just thought it was amusingly ironic.

Anyway, to work tales. Because I know you all love to hear about my trials.

It was Geoff's first day back after his 4-day extended weekend. I invited him to go on break with me, but as I was sitting there in the break room waiting for him, who should enter but Frank. Oh, great, I thought, now when Geoff comes in, Frank's going to go all quiet like usual and I'm going to feel really awkward.

Instead, Frank was the one talking the whole time, and Geoff just sat next to me, silently reading an article in the newspaper. Eventually, he slid the paper aside and I took it up, flipping it over because the diagrams on it were bothering me. Flipping it over revealed a map of Pennsylvania that showed the temperatures from around the state, so I chirped, "I sent my application in to Clarion a few days ago!"

Frank asked me a couple of questions, and then Geoff inquired, "What town is Clarion in?" (I only know that it's in Clarion county, hehe...what is the town? :-P) When I replied that I didn't know, he asked how far away from Pittsburgh it was (One of my answers to Frank's questions was Clarion's location). "About an hour or so, I think," I told him. He looked thoughtful for another minute, then teased, "You could stay with my sister."

Wouldn't that be an experience! The kind of interesting thought, however, is that if he missed me enough, he could travel out to visit his sister and she could possibly show him up to Clarion. *grins* Yes, I know as well as you that it would never happen, but I couldn't help imagining it!

Talking about college made Frank pipe up about the textbook he hasn't gotten yet, even though he paid extra money to have it shipped overnight (this was last week). He said he hoped to get it by today, and Geoff said, "What if you don't get it? What will you do?"

"He'll cry," I stated, at the same time that Frank gave his answer. I didn't think Frank had heard me 'til he gave an indignant, "I would not cry!"

"Well, it'd be funny," I shot back...and both men looked at me with wide eyes. Chortling to myself, I went on in what I hoped was a sort of evil villainess way, "I like to see men cry." Then I giggled at myself again, but my voice was an octave or so lower than its usual giggle pitch, so it actually almost sounded like the chuckle form of an evil 'bwa ha ha'. Geoff was like, "Where did THAT come from?!"

After that, whenever a guy walked into the break room Frank exclaimed, "You'd better watch out, or Amber'll make you cry!"

Fate got back at me later when, in helping Bryan get some muffin lids from the top shelf, the entire bag of plastic lids came crashing down...right onto my face. The edges of these things are well capable of giving a papercut-esque slice, and they scratched the left side of my upper lip. Thankfully, it wasn't an actual cut or anything, but I felt it starting to swell slightly. Cruelty never pays off, my friends. *smiggles*

As I left today, I said good-bye to one female (Bonnie)...and four guys. Oo la la, I am such zee guy magnet! Ha ha! Not. It WAS sort of amusing, though. I chatted for a couple minutes with him, then finally said goodbye.

"See you tomorrow," he replied, which made me pause and turn around. I KNOW it sounds stupid, but he's never said that to me before! Go ahead, laugh. I know you are. It's not that it's exactly IMPORTANT, it just makes me feel like he actually wants to see me tomorrow or something. Like, instead of just saying "Bye!" like he usually does, he's almost...I dunno. I know what I'm thinking, but I can't express it very well! :oP

I can't believe I used to be afraid of "Unsolved Mysteries". What a hokey show! It was the guy's voice that used to scare me, but now that I've actually watched an episode, I realize what a bunch of nonsense it is. They don't even have a hotline for you to call if you have information about the stuff they show; you have to write them a letter. An actual, "stick a stamp on it and put it in the mailbox" type of letter! Yeesh.

Well, I used to be afraid of the Emergency Broadcast System test sound, too. And the disembodied voice that would float from the television to announce, "We are having technical difficulties. Please stand by." Hey, it was unnerving to hear someone talking yet not actually SEE that person! Sometimes, depending on the voice, I still get the shivers. :oP But it's not so bad that I run, crying, from the room. At least I've grown up THAT much.

Even if it IS just a little bit.