Want Some Cheese With Your Whine?

I am busy at work these days.

REALLY busy.

Not that I was watching Oprah and eating bon bons before, but my job changed at the beginning of the year and I am a whole new kind of BUSY.

-- The kind of busy where you keep a running to-do list on the side of your desk that makes you wince in the evening when you realize that, not only did you not tackle a single doggone thing on the list, but you added four more things for tomorrow that are way more important than anything on today's list.

-- The kind of busy where you eat lunch at your desk every single day, and usually not until around 3, and only then because you are on a conference call and can chew your food while the phone is muted.  You learn quickly not to bring an apple or nuts, because odds are good that someone will ask you a critically important question while your mouth is full.  Stick with something soft and silent, like cottage cheese or yogurt.  Quieter and probably safer, too.

-- So busy that you keep postponing going to the bathroom until it is WAY TOO LATE TO WALK WITH ANY DIGNITY.

-- Too busy to have a friendly chat with a co-worker about what their kid did in the talent show last Saturday without looking at the clock every 18 seconds and telepathically communicating that they need to wrap it up before things get rude and you have to ruin your friendship.

-- The kind of busy where you are in meetings nonstop from 8 a.m. all the way to 7 p.m. (taking into account aforementioned lunch and bathroom breaks), and in each meeting, you were fool enough to take responsibility for something that has to be done before the end of the day because you want everyone to marvel at your "can-do!" attitude.

-- So busy that, while concentrating deeply during note-taking on conference calls, you put your left elbow on your desk and rest your head in your left palm while you write with the right hand.  Your left hand is in your hair for the better part of the day.  You strongly resemble The Joker by the end of the day, plus your ear is hot.

I'm really busy.

But don't get me wrong -- I am grateful to be busy.  May I never take umbrage with having Joker hair or quiet lunches, because I am thankful for my job as well as the opportunities it presents to my family and me.  I do work for some really great people, and guess what -- they have Joker hair, too.

And anyway, I can't stand Oprah.