Dancing In Place
i'm two days into this training and headlong into the third. i really enjoy using this system and am picking it up pretty good. The instructor is a big ol' queen who has the downward-turned corners of the mouth and clenched-teeth look of Gloria Swanson in the "ready for my closeup" scene at the end of "Sunset Blvd". And his hawaiian shirts are faaabulous!! That being said, there's going to be a steep learning curve once i get to the new project later this month (after two more weeks in STL) since i'll have to learn their layouts and i'll be working in a new industry. WHEW!
Since my last post, i've gotten an education about "Dallatude" stemming from that little incident at Love Field. Fortunately, that seems to be an isolated incident and the warm greetings of others have washed away whatever bad taste might have been in my mouth (and a few have left other tastes...yum!!). That being said, i seem to be isolated in the hermetically sealed part of town known as Las Colinas which appears to some sort of utopian planned community, but instead is a sad, sterile portal where people with more money than sense are more than willing to give it up to say they're here. Sterile and boring on a level that beats out the West Suburbs of Chicago. It looks like the set for some really bad, futuristic movie with the evil, repressive empire. Like "The Island". It even has a monorail track which, until yesterday, i thought had long been abandoned, a testiment to this failed society. i was wrong.
The building i'm in is part of three towers (joined together by an air-conditioned, enclosed walk) around a central courtyard. In the middle is this bronze sculpture series of wild Mustangs fording a river. i have been facinated by this sculpture and i've taken a ton of pictures of it, the set being accessible by clicking on the picture above. The use of the mini-fountains spraying up from the horses' hooves was a stroke of genius. Naturally, there is a song attached. There is always something playing in my head and it's triggered by my situation. This time, i hear Ian McCulloch's mournful bassing singing...Bring on the dancing horses
wherever they may roam
shiver and say the words
of every lie you've heard
first I'm gonna make it
then I'm gonna break it
till it falls apart...
This is, however, one of those tricky songs that make woofer cry. Unfortunately, along with all the other mania swirling around me, i'm facing a very emotional time that i may or may not address later. Maybe that's why i can't stop looking at those goddamn horses. Dammitdammitdammit....
When i showed up here at the Dallas Office of the BACC on Monday morning, i couldn't get over how cool and high-tech this place is...especially compared to the dump of an office we have in St. Louis. Five floors of sleek, high-tech coolness...neat furniture, bamboo flooring, limestone walls around the elevators, a rim balcony and even it's own cafe. This morning, i passed the CEO of the company in the aforementioned air-conditioned walkway down on the ground floor. Well, that explains everything, now doesn't it? At least i was able to get the power cord on my lap top replaced.
Last night, i was fortunate enough to have a visit from bigxbear. i felt bad since class ran over schedule (whereas it got out earlier the day before) and Mike had to hang out in the hotel lobby while i did my little hike around the lake back from the office. After we dropped off my junk at my room, we headed up to the Concierge lounge on the 15th floor for cocktails overlooking the wide expanse of Texas. The LJ-effect was in full-swing and we just started talking about this that and the other nobody's business. Of course, we filled in details here and there, but that was half the fun...we already knew most of the stories and it was "oh yeah...like that time when you..."-kinda things. Great fun. We headed over to the restauranty part of town and finally decided on Cheddars which i knew from last year up in Decatur, IL, on another project. Good food and good conversation from a dear man who, yes, really SHOULD post more of these fun details and not just "i spent the weekend watching 'Star Trek'". Mike cleared up the "monorail mystery" by telling me that there is a little tram run by a little old man who only comes when you ring the bell to call him from your station. Retro-future, indeed! Mike really IS fascinating and there's more to those spandex hoods than just "fetish fun". Alas, i had about an hour-and-a-half's worth of work to do, so he dropped me back at the Marriott with a big ol' hug and i waved goodbye-for-now as he drove off into the Texas night.