Wednesday, October 31, 2007

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

(Don't take that subject line as a cue to start singing holiday songs. I'll have NONE OF THAT until after my birthday, thankyouverymuch.)

I love this time of year. The leaves are so many different shades of beautiful, and with the college town's tree-lined streets, walking around campus is, for the most part, a joyful experience. I love these cool temperatures and the smell of leaves. Plus, Halloween is just plain fun. Candy and costumes? Can you really go wrong there?

BUT! I don't want to neglect the most wonderful thing about this wonderful time of year...

It's new phone book day!

...

*crickets*

...

Yes, folks, the campus phone book arrived in my mailbox today, and I'm rejoicing! Because I'm that kind of geek.

You see, I'm all about spaces and maps. I love them. And, looking through the information about my colleagues fascinates me. I look to see where they live. For the people who live in Chicago, I place their addresses on the map in my mind, pondering their train stops, walking distances to the trains, and neighborhoods. I'm a very visual-spatial person, and this is right up my alley. So, I sit and read the phone book. I've done it for years. The white pages are fine, but it's more interesting when I know the people, like a campus phone book (did this as a student, too). I'm disappointed when I find a colleague's home address isn't listed.

The other thing I find interesting about a phone book like this one is the relationships. "Learn to pretend there's more than love that matters" isn't my favorite quote for nothing. I like to see when people list their partners, and for couples who work here, who does and who doesn't list their partners.

I'm not interested in memorizing addresses or spouses names or trick-or-treating and the homes of the college faculty. I just like to think about places and people.

I've already spent 45 minutes with my nose in the new phone book. I'm far from done. :)

1 comment:

J said...

Geek is good. And finding simple joy is good too. :)