Since we have moved into new quarters at work, there are new rules:
No one may admit guests without registering them with the receptionist
You may not come to the office before 8 am.
You may not eat or drink at your desk with the exception of water.

I’m okay with those, except that I used to eat lunch at my desk and use my lunch hour for walking. Oh well, until I convince myself to use the ‘cafeteria’ they have built, I will just take my salad or sammich and go to Battery Park, sit near the water and eat there.

Munching away at my bread, today, the King Seagull (unless there are more than one gulls the size of a duck, I’ve been seeing this guy all week). So the King is strutting around, having staked out the sidewalk in front of my bench. Tourists are getting scarce, especially today when the wind was violent and near impossible to walk against. And the lesser birds are swooping overhead, hovering as though to poop, freaking me out but I wasn’t going to move, it’s my park just as it’s their park, and there’s no reason for me to be nervous, right? Right.

Finish the first half, fall into abstract thought. Taking another crack at the bug in my code that’s been bugging me, but without the code in front of me, I come up with another clue as to what may be the problem, reach for the rest of my sandwich which is nestled snugly in my coat pocket.

King swooped outta nowhere, heading straight for my face with killer intent. I swear, his beak open and those eyes and I suppose he thought I was going to drop the sandwich and run.

Hell, no.

At the last second I stood up and said Fuck you very loudly. Almost made some Japanese tourist drop his camera, but I still had my lunch and some shreds of dignity, and most importantly, my eyeballs; I gathered my wits and made my way back to the office.

/me shudders to think of it.