Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Concert at work

Today started off rather drearily. It was raining pretty hard when I woke up and the only thing I could think of was staying in the bed and sleeping the day away. I got up anyway and took Matilda out for a very quick walk in the downpour.

When I got to work, I spilled my Chick-fil-a iced tea all over the floor in my office. I spent the first twenty minutes of my work day cleaning up the mess. It was shaping up to be "one of those days" and then it happened.

While standing at the copier, I heard music wafting from behind a co-worker's closed door. I couldn't tell if she was blasting show tunes or an aria from an opera, but it was the type of soprano that makes the lyrics indiscernible. Music coming from her office isn't all that uncommon, but what happened next has only happened one other time in the three years that I've been here.

She started singing.

This wasn't sing-along-to-the-music-under-your-breath-while-getting-work-done singing, this was giving-a-personal-concert-while-driving-down-the-road-in-the-privacy-of-your-car singing. Loud. Shrill. Emphatic. No holds barred.

The hilarity of this spontaneous concert at work created a series of physical reactions I could not control. A pain shot through my side. My face started to hurt. I couldn't stop laughing. Tears rolled down my cheeks.

Once I finally calmed down, she walked out of her office - while singing. The shrillness of her soprano and the sheep-like quality of her vibrato struck a nerve and I burst out in laughter yet again.

This might turn out to be a good day.