goodbye cubicle

This will be short because I’m trying to learn a new job. But I have to put the last nail in my UCSD coffin.

I will miss my old cubicle and the privacy, but I gladly trade it in for the opportunity to move back to Los Angeles.

I like the movie “Quadrophenia” all right, but in scrutinizing my cubicle one might think I am a bigger fan. I thought the poster was funny because of all those scooters. It was the most interesting poster I could find locally available in San Diego and my cubicle needed something at the time.

The small framed photo of Jimmy from "Quadrophenia" (Phil Daniels, sitting between two gentlemen on a train) was nearly hidden behind my computer keyboard. The picture (framed) was a gift from Russell. He gets the occasional fit of enthusiasm in which he provides me with an image which is meaningful to him at that moment. I get the feeling he almost expects me to understand the immediate significance of such pictures without explanation. I have a grainy picture of a nameless jockey filed away somewhere that is meant to provide me with (I think) inspiration (nostalgia?), but I can’t remember why.

The L.Ron Hubbard book jackets pinned up beside the doorway (A History of Man and Handbook for Preclears) are from my Biomed library days. They amuse me. Caveman chowing down on some raw meat right off the bone. A crowd of delusionals grasping after false enlightenment (I thought it was appropriate to add the "Logan's Run" logo).

I used to dream that I would someday have a kitchen with a framed poster of "The Exorcist" on the wall. I've grown out of that dream, but I still like the image and enjoy seeing it as often as possible, including on my computer desktop.

I am furtive by nature and often try to hide my actions and purposes from The Others. A co-worker used to keep a coffee maker on top of her desk in plain view, but I was concerned that this might go against University Standards Compliance. Keeping my coffee maker hidden from view, down on a stool sitting between my desk and the bookcase, seemed the best defense against having even a harmless conversation about it. One could hear the coffee maker making coffee, one could smell the coffee. However, unless one were sitting *in my chair*, one could not see the coffee or ask me to share a little of it.

The "Cream Collon" box was just an empty pastry box that Ryan and Kourtney gave me because I thought it was funny.

The black and white poster is a picture from the movie "Eraserhead". It's a blow-up of a tiny wallet size photo of Mary X (torn in half). At the beginning of the movie Henry (Jack Nance) pulls the two pieces from his pocket and looks at just before going to dinner at her parents' house. I was so happy when I was finally able to get hold of this poster and put it up in my cubicle. One of my co-workers asked me if what another co-worker had told her was true, that it was a picture of my girlfriend. They just envy me.

An aspect of my new work space that irks me is that there is nowhere for me to hang up my John Deere tractor calendar. In my old cubicle there was plenty of wall space to put up my stickers, including my wantonly non-PC "National Rifle Association" sticker (when I was living at the Zodiac Killer apartment there was one stuck on the front window and it always made me grin). One of the only desk clutterers that I found room for at my new work space is my can of Pokka. If, however, the choice is between having enough room on my desk for my Golden Lady clock (bequeathed from a departing co-worker) or having the opportunity to work in Los Angeles, it's no contest, I'd be willing to leave both the Pokka and the Spam can at home.

Back to work at the new job, more data later...