We had a massive power failure at work this past Thursday. It was a little annoying and kind of fun. I had just come in from my break and was heating some water for tea in the microwave. Suddenly there were several loud pops and bangs, and the lights started flashing on and off while the microwave bleeped at me and the vending machines started making strange noises at me.
It took me a few moments to realize that the appliances were not staging a massive revolution against mankind, there was just some sort of power surge going on. I pulled my water from the microwave, dumped it, and came out of the break room rather wide eyed asking what was going on. The building looked like a disco with lights flickering on and off. My computer was one of the few that stayed on, so I sat down at my desk ready to go back to work in the dark. I had enough light from my computer screen. But then they told us to turn off everything so, no working.
After a call to my mother and some protracted playing with my phone, I got bored, so I wheeled my chair to where a group of my coworkers were talking and laughing. I picked up a couple of new jokes from one of the IT guys: If a dwarf fortune-teller escaped from jail would he be a small medium at large? (Ok so that is an old one, but it was funny at the time.) What's brown and sticky?...a stick. I really like that one.
Then several of us pulled out our iPhones, iPods and smart phones and started playing with our music. Everyone was playing Brittany Spears, Maroon Five (Maroon something, I don't remember the name) Psychedelic Firs (never even heard of them, but the group was obviously named by someone on a really bad trip). Everyone was playing music and saying "Oh I love that song! Here I have this one!" "Oh that's my favorite song!". I pulled out my phone and began trying to find something to impress everyone else with. That was when I became painfully aware of the fact that all of my music is rather.....well.....nerdy, and UNpopular. Enya, Mannheim Steamroller Secret Garden, the Band Perry, Loreena McKennit, fiddle music of Natalie McMaster and Popcorn Behavior, modern classical piano such as Michelle McLaughlin or Philip Wesley, regular classical like Handel's Water Music or all six of Bach's Cello Suites. I suddenly realized that not only were none of them probably familiar with any of this, it was also incredibly dorky. Ah well! I like what I like, even if it isn't popular. I suppose it all goes with my plaid fixation or my reading gigantic books during lunch.
In hindsight, I suppose I could have played them a little Celine Dion, Hayley Westenra or Josh Groban, that is about as popular as my music gets. I am fairly certain that they would have found Simon & Garfunkel's I Am A Rock fitting for my cube that is a bit separated from most of the others. (Nota Bene: The cube is not separated from the rest by my own choosing, it's just they way the office is arranged. I may indeed have my books and poetry to protect me, but I did NOT make a special request at work to be separated from the rest. I find it....kind of lonely at times, really.)
Next time, I am going to find the most annoying, geeky thing I can, jack up the volume, and hit "play". Maybe Roisin Dubh (Little Black Rose) as done by Cherish the Ladies.
Post Script: The spell check has been driving me insane through this whole post. Why is realize spelled with a Z but choose is spelled with and S?
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