Long-winded

this past friday, over the course of the work day, two different people within the time span of a half an hour asked if my neck was stiff.

the first, was the technology manager, who has asked, or more appropriately, commented on the condition of my décolletage several times before. this, for obvious reasons, always did annoy me slightly but i kindly said no, "i was fine thank you", before our conversation passed awkwardly onto more decidedly objective subjects. ah, the work at hand.

shortly after this short episode occurred, another woman asked me the same unmistakeably query, and i began to envision what i actually may look like when people approach my cubicle: typing furiously away at my computer, hunched over while simultaneously slouching further down the back of my chair, slowly, into the vastness underneath my workspace... stopped mid-thought. a question is asked and i change position to address it, rotating my whole body with the uniformity of an passenger jet-liner, never allowing the shoulder, neck, leg alignment to shift a degree out of symmetry as i stare-up at them, cross-eyed. through reading glasses.

whether or not this might look strange to anyone had never occurred to me. perhaps the alternative would appear slightly even more inappropriate: craning my neck around like a deranged pigeon, while keeping the bulk of my body parallel to the computer as if it were a magnet. quite pathetic it seems, almost workaholic in nature.

it was only after these scenarios, that a few others accrued, making me feel as if i were in some sort of office day fun house which included, but are not limited to, the following: answering "HI!" when my boss called to ask for lunch (of course thinking it might have been a friend), having been caught starting at my feet as i walked out of the bathroom, self-proclaiming myself paranoid when one of my colleagues approached my desk (who, of course, i thought was my friend trying to play a practical joke on me), listening to my name pronounced in a variety of ways, some in other languages, only to find out it was because one man from the magazine department thought i was someone else for these first 11 months i have worked in the office.

harmless oddities, likewise, i wonder if my neck will be ruled stiff monday morning.