NaNoWriMo :: NaNoWriMo Blog

1. When Chris is in a weird mood (which is often), he likes to speak in foreign languages. Sometimes they are real foreign languages. Sometimes they are fictional. It is particularly challenging when he decides to speak in Jawa. Or whatever language Jabba the Hut speaks. It’s not much more convenient when he speaks in German since nobody else speaks any German, and French is only marginally better since my French is mediocre at best. Often, he doesn’t speak the language either, but he makes up for it with an outrageous fake accent.

2. Lindsey and I share a deep and abiding love for Disney music that nobody else in the office is quite as keen on. This means we’ll often both be listening to the Disney Pandora station on our headphones and sending particularly good lyrics to each other over Google Chat. This also means that when we’re alone in the office, we immediately plug in the rock cord that connects to the communal speakers and have a singalong.

3. Dan really gets into music. Sometimes it’s on his headphones, sometimes it’s on the speakers, sometimes it’s in his head. It doesn’t matter what the source, there are times when it gets the best of him and he has to bust out dancing. Unexpected Dan fact: he is an awesome dancer.

4. Tavia is an owlcaholic. No matter how much you think you love owls, Tavia loves them more. She has a giant owl behind her desk, owl jewelry, owl clothing…if it has an owl on it, Tavia will love it. Lindsey and I bought her a bottle of owl tequila for her birthday.

5. Friday jams are awesome. Every Friday afternoon, Dan cues up the Friday jams playlist and we all rock out to some awesome music of perhaps-questionable quality. I have no idea how this got started, but it rules. I suggest starting a Friday jam tradition in your own office or home. The music choices are not always so harmonious: Chris really loves to sing Christmas carols. In June. We retaliate by making him listen to the entire Moulin Rouge soundtrack.

6. Jen’s great unrealized ambition in life was to play Tinkerbell at Disney World. She would in fact make an excellent Tink, what with her spitfire ways and small stature, but we are very glad she decided to run Script Frenzy instead. However, if anyone is looking for an evenings and weekends Tinkerbell, I can definitely endorse Jen.

7. Jezra is a font of interesting trivia, often about language. You’d think that in an office full of wordy types, the tech guy wouldn’t be the one with the broadest knowledge of etymology, but he totally schools the rest of us all the time. (Who knew that “sinister” actually refers to handedness? Jez knew!)

8. Moving next door to a bakery was perhaps not the wisest move. It is a rare day that at least two people aren’t getting a cookie, a piece of pie, cobbler, scones…the list goes on. Delicious sweet treats within fifteen steps: lethal! Fortunately the new office also has stairs, so we can run up and down them a few dozen times to make up for the inevitable scarfing of baked goods.

9. There are some funny little language quirks here at the OLL. Since benevolent Tom Selleck overlooks us, sometimes his name is taken in vain when something goes wrong. (Try it! If you’re mad about something, shake your fist and yell “Selleck!” It’s surprisingly satisfying.) “Pants!” is also a common exclamation when things do not go as planned. We like to make up words and then cling furiously to the idea that it is a real word. There are also puns flying all over creation pretty much all the time. We do like our puns.

10. There is a grocery store a little way down the road, about a five-minute drive, called the Berkeley Bowl. It has many delicious lunch options. If anyone is ever driving to Berkeley Bowl, there is immediately a carful and several additional orders from the people staying behind. Then we walk from the car to the store all in a row and like to pretend we’re in a gang or about to burst into a musical number. Regardless of what we’re having for lunch that day, the first stop is always Cheese Island for a cheese sample. (I don’t have a car here, except for rare days when my roommate lends me hers, so I’m mostly a Berkeley Bowl mooch.)

I could go on for a long time about what an amazing two months I’ve had here at OLL, but I will spare you all my ineloquent ramblings. Suffice it to say, it’s been two of the best months of my life, spent with the best group of coworkers I could ever have asked for. I have never laughed so hard in my life, and I have never had a job I loved so much. Thank you to the OLL staff and all the NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy participants that I’ve interacted with here, on Facebook, on Twitter, and at events. You’re the best.