On the other hand,

And sometimes there are sunny Friday afternoons when the whole world takes off early, and no one in his or her right mind would spend one minute more than absolutely necessary inside. When air is brisk and clean and the trees are like stained glass with sun behind their colored leaves, and all the creatures of the forest are looking for someone to share their caves for the winter. The would-be students are blowing off their placement tests, and everyone else is done with all tests for the summer, and I am left watching the desk in a room full of bright emptiness. I wanna go play, too!! The boss at least has some work to do. at least, I THINK she has work to do.

But at least I DO have time for a nice, self-indulgent blog. And really, really, I've done everything I can at work. I've even taken Simple Green and scoured the keys on the keyboards. I can't even make up work anymore today.

So let us consider posture:

As a tall female child, I was repeatedly told to stand up straight. When I took piano, the teacher would tap me with her pointer if I didn't sit up straight. (I hated to practice. I never made it past the second beginner's book.) In typing class, you had to sit up straight and arch your fingers. So what is with this semi-reclining posture the youth of today assume at the computer keyboard? OK, I cop to it. I, too, wind up slumping down like overcooked spaghetti when I'm surfing the web. Why is this? Are we all just so dead-butt lazy? Or is there an ergonomic reason having to do with the mouse and the screen and stuff? I know I get a terrible case of mouse-shoulder unless I put the sucker down on my lap for extended sessions. Back in the dark ages when I worked for a computer company before the internet came into popular use if you can imagine such a pre-cretaceous epoch, I remember the programmers kicking back with their feet on their desks and their keyboards in their laps. That was when a computer was the size of a desk and could heat the whole room, and the mouse had not yet been invented.

No, come to think of it, I don't think wretched posture is unique to kids today. I remember people almost lying on the desks to write an essay, back when we wrote everything out by hand. And you can read a book at any inclination or decline. It's only when you get to be as ancient as I am that slumping and sprawling and stooping and such start to take their toll. Pinched nerves, herniated discs, baggy bellies and back aches can all be prevented by good posture. Wish I still had it.

But a glorious September day like this makes me want to hold my head up, raise my ribcage and sniff the air like a beagle scenting bunnies. If you see an old grey mare prancing through the sunshine and kicking up leaves in the gutters, that could be me.

Last year, the maintainence people had blown up a huge pile of leaves, and I threw myself down in it and made leaf angels. It does the heart good to see grounds-keepers laugh themselves silly. So what if I had leaves in my hair all day? It beats walking into work with the back of your skirt tucked into the top of your pantyhose. (Not one of my better days.) And now, the grounds keepers smile and wave when they see me. Always pleased to brighten someone's day.