A week told by the characters within it...

It has been a whole week since my last posting and therefore I have a lot to tell. And it is all going to be in the context of the characters that have entered my life.

My neighbors:

As I was moving in a couple of weeks ago, hauling my massive manifestations of overpacking up five flights of stairs without an elevator, a black girl with headphones, sunglasses and a Moroccan tunic is coming down the stairs. Since I provided this nothing-less-than-annoying roadblock for the fellow stairstepper, we had a chat. Low and behold, her and her friend live next door to me and are American too. At first blush, my heart dipped a little as the complete immersion fantasy was slipping through destiny-given cracks, but these girls seemed very full of life and boy was I right. We went to a tango show, very authentic and it was the tango version of Carmen and these two sistahs were singing along and giving comedic running commentary. If any of you have ever sat next to me in a movie, I tend to provide a 3D feel to the movie's audio given my consistent banter about the plot, characters, etc. For example, the female dancers had a scene where they had to appear brutish, legs wide, leaning forward with their arms on their thighs like Harlem street huslters in the 70's. They had fans waving, but it had coincidently been waving between all these girls legs. Ollie "whispers", "that girl be waving out her chlamydia". Gold.

Anyways, now it is a custom for me to come home and yell, "Lucy's, I'm hoooome". They open the door and we recap our days. I usually cook something and bring it over to their place. It is developing a comfortable routine, a nice situation to come home to.

Clara, my office mate:

I have never understood why people stress the importance of a smile. I employ the smile like a pagent-queen doused in vaseline in Georgia, but I just did it out of habit and a certain joie-de-vivre. But Clara employs the smile and I notice the ease and comfort that undoubtedly comes over me. Socially, the best thing to do is to make your counterpart as comfortable as you can, it gives them a sense of security and allows them to open up and gain a positive impression of your co-existence. That may extend as far as doing something you don't want to do in an effort to have them do something they love. You try something new, they enjoy the day, and you move up on their list of favorites with hardly any sacrifice.

Clara and I have become good friends I think, well office friends (you know the difference). We put up a Pulp Fiction poster in our office and our now collecting Coke cans with different countries' flags on them, a promotion for the World Cup. I ask her advice on work and she is always a great help. She's a Spanish red-head by the way. Why didn't I mention that earlier? Idiot. One day, doing "research" for my Housewives assignment I had to watch an episode. Me and my love for reality, Clara called me out for getting couch-potato face. We had a laugh, we both employed smiles, we're comfortable, we lunch.

Yesterday, I presented my research to my boss and I was involved in the most interesting meeting. It was a "How are we going to get these guys" brainstorm. In presenting my efforts, I stumbled a bit and didn't convey the breadth of my knowledge. They went on long tangential discussions of things I knew but didn't want to insert. At this point, it's not my place, wait a while. Wait his guard to go down and he's tired and upper-cut him in the jaw, right?

Well this weekend I go to Ibiza, the holy land for some. Two days, two nights, zero memories. I can't wait to go and explore, dip my feet in hot, white sand and stare at a painted horizon. I can't wait to star in my own Corona commercial. I can't wait to hear the vibrations from the DJ ruffle the sand grains as I approach, sifting into and commanding my heart palpitations.

The Deputy can't wait to tell you how it goes.