You know what I’ve noticed? My coworkers always stand in the afternoon. They stand between the rows of cubicles and have conversations. I have to assume that they do it because they’re tired of sitting. I know that’s the reason I go to the break room and stare at the vending machines.

I think it would be better if we had the choice of standing or sitting at our desks. I want a desk that I could raise or lower depending on whether I want to sit or stand. Sure, those are expensive (yes, they exist), but I think my coworkers and I would be more productive if we could stand at our desks when we wanted to instead of standing around the office having prolix conversations just for the sake of not sitting.

So yeah, I’m drinking a Cherry Coke, so I’m not nearly as sleepy as I was earlier today. All morning I was ready to conk out completely. But since I started drinking this Cherry Coke about an hour ago, I’ve been pretty energetic. I mean, sheesh, I’ve already updated both my journal and my website news. That’s pretty unusual for me.

Coke should be paying me for this kind of testimonial. Especially since I haven’t mentioned how jittery I am or that I’ll prob’ly get sick from drinking so much caffeine.

Anyway, now I’m going back to the vending machines. I want to get some Corn Nuts just to piss off the people around me.

I just realized I haven’t been to Denny’s in weeks.

There was a time when we went to Denny’s on Culver (which we affectionately referred to simply as “D.O.C.”) almost every night after rehearsal. We liked D.O.C. because it had the best service of any Denny’s we’d ever been to. They could do anything a customer wanted (except, of course, serving mashed potatoes after ten o’clock).

However, over the past few months the wait staff has changed. None of our favorite waiters or waitresses are there anymore; they’ve been replaced by typical Denny’s waiters and waitresses who don’t care about the customers and don’t deserve more than a fifteen percent tip.

I’m not saying they should be really nice to us, nor am I saying they have to be totally attentive. But they do have to genuinely want our business. Dee at the Westminster Cafe was a horrible waitress both in the quality of her service and the casual attitude she expressed to the customers, but we knew she appreciated our business. She was sincere. The new waiters and waitresses at D.O.C., however, treat us like an inconvenience.

I guess it’s time to find a new Denny’s.

I had a meeting this morning at work. It was actually a meeting that I decided to hold. Isn’t that cool? I called a meeting. I made everyone come to my meeting so I could talk to them. I emailed my coworkers and said, hey, I think we need to talk about such-and-such. Let’s have a meeting at ten. And they said okay. So we had a meeting. My meeting. I feel so… so… managerial.

Now if only they’d let me get a secretary…

A few months ago, I needed to mail a birthday card. In order to get the birthday card to its recipient on time (i.e., on her birthday), I had to make sure it was mailed that day. However, it was already five o’clock in the afternoon when I obtained the birthday card, and I knew that the post office near my home was closed.

I called 1-800-ASK-USPS to find out if there was a late pick-up anywhere near my home. They were unable to tell me the latest pick-up near me; they could only tell me the latest pick-up within a specific ZIP code. So I gave them my home ZIP code and they told me the latest pick-up was at five o’clock. I already knew that. Then I gave them my work ZIP code. Five o’clock. Then I gave them an assortment of ZIP codes all over Orange County, including all the Santa Ana ZIP codes I could think of since Santa Ana seemed most likely to have a late pick up. Once again, five o’clock was the latest pick-up. The woman at the USPS told me that five o’clock was prob’ly the latest pick-up in all of Orange County.

Knowing that there was a nine o’clock pick-up at the main post office in Long Beach, I got off the phone with the USPS and drove twenty miles to Long Beach to mail the birthday card.

Yesterday while driving an unusual route to work, I noticed that there’s a post office about a block away. So naturally when I had some cards to mail this afternoon, I drove to the post office near my office to mail them. The label on the mailbox informed me that the last pick-up was, and had always been, at nine o’clock in the evening.

If you’re new to me, you can read the highlights of the past year so you’ll feel like you know me…

If you’re not new to me, I’ve been without arms for the past year, so I couldn’t write anything, but I’m better now, and here are the highlights…

• I played Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls.
• I bought myself a new car.
• Olive and lime green became my favorite colors.
• Claire and I broke up. We got back together about a week later.
• I was called in by a friend to play Steve, the upstairs neighbor, for two performances of A Streetcar Named Desire.
• Claire and I broke up again. We got back together about two weeks later.
• I sang “Buddies Blues” from Follies in a musical revue.
• I finally got to play Action in West Side Story.
• Claire and I broke up once more, this time for keeps.
• My friends Maile and Amie and I became regulars at the 24-hour Super K-mart Center in Aliso Viejo.
• Our friend Traci left for San Jose State University. Jonathan, Amie, and I drove to San Jose two weeks later to visit her.
• Claire and I became friends again.
• I started rehearsing for Babes in Arms at Irvine Valley College.
• I started working full time at the office instead of at home. No more trips to Super-K at 3am for me. So sad.