When I tell people where I work it’s natural for them to ask “oh, are you a writer?” I have no shame when I tell them I am not, but that I am “just” a desker and love my job.
The other day I really started to think about why I do not write and I think it’s two things; 1: I really dislike using the phone, and journalists are on the phone a lot. And, 2: This story, which I re-remembered after reading about it on my old blog archive (from 2003):
I had to interview the VP of Finance and Administration on the campus today about something I’m writing for our University newspaper. I get in early to see him, breeze through the interview, using the handy dandy tape recorder lent to me by the lovely News Editor, Jhen. I take the elevator up to the newspaper office, and as I step off the elevator, my papers and the tape recorder go flying.
The tape recorder sprung open, and THE TAPE WENT DOWN THE ELEVATOR SHAFT. I dropped to my knees and screamed NOOOOO! while shaking my fists at the sky and asking Maxellina, the patron saint of lost audio tapes, WHYYYYYY!
I was about to go all Matrix and retrieve it, but it just didn’t seem worth it.
No one lend me anything for the next few days. I’m gonna lose it. In other news, my toque is still MIA. Come home, little one!
I still miss that toque dearly every winter, by the way. The lost career in news journalism? Not so much.