I stay out of hallways and elevators where people might ask me where you are.
If I hum a common song on the radio it’s usually enough to change the subject.
Either the people around here are idiots or everyone starts humming when the unspeakable people in their personal lives come up.
Alt-Tab to my quick window. Choose
Internet Explorer.
Alt-D to the URL address window. Type type type.
I reworked the office television and the hall monitors last night with Kevin. We brought old
Matrox G450’s, and installed them in the the lab workstations. Ran some AV cable under the carpet and up through the vents. This morning, during the proto meeting for Group A’s code, we ran a Fist of Legend dvd out through the dual heads onto every wall mount television set. Mr. Jacobs actually watched about fifteen minutes without comment. Group A ruined the fun once they realized what was up. They RAN to the lab to disconnect the cable. Who RUNS anywhere in an office building after you turn thirty?
Mr. Jacobs asked us what happened in the end. Jet Li beats the General, of course. Do you want to borrow the
dvd? It’s Kevin’s, but he won’t care. Your wife? Well, just tell her you confiscated it from your technology administrator who ran it during a board meeting. Yeah, keep it the weekend. It’s no problem Mr. Jacobs, for real.
Type Type to
penny-arcade dotcom. Laugh.
Type Type to nytimes dotcom. Quiet.
Alt-Tab to quick window to
Photoshop.
Alt-I Image Desaturate. Are you sure you want to flatten all layers?
Yes yes. It is Friday and I’m throwing caution to the wind. Three hours to finish more useless 100 layer collages for the bossman. I spent two
Starbucks mocchiatos trying to explain to Mr, Jacobs why we shouldn’t do the site this way. These vector graphic math things aren’t cutting edge anymore. We should go back to the simplicities, sir. Good code, layout, and the occasional heavy-k image. Outside the afternoon leaf blower brigade is in full effect.
Alt-Tab + tab + tab + tab to Winamp. Click.
Modest Mouse.
Open directory? Include sub-folders? Moon and Antarctica plays to the front of the noise around me. I click and drag Cowboy Dan to the front of the list. Rowdy fuck music. Perfection.
“Do you know why you shouldn’t flatten your image like that?”
“Oh gawd, shut up. You’re not even supposed to be near the computer after midnight. Remember our deal?”
I hold my hands over your eyes. Smile to kiss to triggered giggle from your mouth. You bite my finger and take a deep breath in of my hands. They smell like pencil lead and tea bags.
I whisper unimportance into your ear of,“It’s because the format is lossless. You don’t need to save it .jpg, it’ll save with it’s own extensi-“
You swing back around grabbing my hands. I fake the surprised look of a man unaware of your speed, your passionate precision. You look far into the back of my head, where I have my office. Where I keep my knowledge of Photoshop file saving extensions. You climb and jump back into that part of my head and tussle papers and throw over cabinets like a wonderful nuisance.
“EXT. Tennsshion. Dot P-S-D, right nerdo? Right geekboy?” You fly your hands down to my elbows and pin my back and shoulders onto the backboard of your bed. A little leverage from your foot planted atop the computer desk sends us up and over the aluminum railing and onto red bedsheet mattress.
A closer inspection of my eyes by yours. The
overclocking coolant system I rigged for your
AMD chipset turns over the dormancy much faster. Who knows why? The computer halts their drive spins at the moment you press a lip onto my forehead.
“You’re working too hard again. It’s already 3am and we haven’t made love yet.” A softness perks slightly from your grey soft soft T-shirt.
“You have to see my animation comps (//listen, your work) later. The ones I did in
Maya (//did you know how it felt to have to tell everyone that you were sick and that was why I came alone) that I was telling you about. That rendering engine (//forget Sunday, ok? I’ll call you later)? The one called renderman? You know they use that for movies (//I know, and it’s ok)… We should rent dvds tommorrow. Kevin and I have this(//it’s no problem. pick up your clothes whenever. don’t worry about that stuff, I know you have that project to do) idea to bring our dual head cards and output dvds during the board meetings. Those boring ones that Group A monopolizes with all that shitty
actionscript crap they steal off of
Praystation.”
I’ve been unaware of your movements, as I explicate the more meaningful life issues like render farm outsourcing and dual processor memory management schemes. A warm feeling under my nose, under my chin.
You have fallen asleep and angled your neck onto my neck and chest. Close my eyes and smell shampoo along my cheeks, where you were kissing me.
“
I’m sorry I didn’t come home sooner.” Another apology you cannot hear.
By 3.15am we are asleep.