Food for Thought? Maybe.

Ok... this is Friday.

I am ready to go home... But I think I will spend most of today cleaning off my junky desk...

My boss, the Darth Sista T, has been yelling:

"LadyLee, I can't find that paperwork!!!!"
"Okay."
"LadyLee, blah, blah, BLAAAAAH!"
"What do you want me to do Darth Sista, snap my fingers and make it appear out of thin air?"

So, I have to clean off my desk, and search for the paperwork FOR THE THIRD TIME.

(Update: She found the paperwork. I gave her the gas face.)

Uggh.

So, here's a pic of what's going on with my cabinet above my desk:


Yeah, there is a lot going on, LOL. There are lots of stuffed animals and porcelain knick-knacks. Those were birthday gifts over the years.

There's a sticker from when I was called to jury duty. I don't know why I've kept that. I think I brought it to work to show my boss that I wasn't lying about jury duty. I didn't want acting all ignorant, saying I was AWOL. You gotta watch these management types, man.

I was reading a book a couple of years ago, and it had a gazillion words that I didn't understand. So I made a wordlist, and I add words to it sometimes. That list has been taped up there for a couple of years.

I have a VERY strange habit of saving the stickers from my fruit, and pasting them on a post-it note. VERY strange indeed. There are even some fruit stickers on the cabinet. Strange. I may need psychological treatment for that.

There's a small bottle of tea tree oil, just in case an Oldgirl is a bit ashy, as is often the case.

There are also several jars of organic babyfood. I am a food chemist, and I use these as "blanks" for little things I have to do in the lab. I know they are pretty much chemical-free and all. Thought I should explain that, because **crickets** fly whenever people see those.

We got some jacked up magnets from our supervisors a few years ago that read "You are appreciated... THIS MUCH." There's a girl with pigtails and she has her arms stretched a bit to wide. We thought this was the funniest thing in the world. I remember someone taking a marker, going around to each one, and coloring the little girls so they would be black.

We were all thinking... Oh gee, thanks for the magnet.

I was thinking... Can I get a raise or a promotion?

Guess not. The magnet will have to do.

But my favorite, my very favorite item on top of the cabinet, is a can of "Dr. LadyLee".

No, it doesn't say "Dr. LadyLee". But it does contain my real last name and my title.

I first saw these canned drinks at a Whole Foods store in New Orleans. I was down there doing a Postdoctoral Fellowship for a couple of years. I thought they were cute. (Dang, there's something with my name on it!) I bought a couple of six packs and took them to work.

A small frenzy occured.

"Sign one for me, LadyLee!!"

So I started signing cans with various slogans, like "Keep your Head Up" and"Keep Hope Alive!"

All of a sudden, I'd come to work, and there would be a sack of "Dr. LadyLees" on my desk. I was CONSTANTLY autographing cans. I remember an Asian dude looking for me, someone I'd NEVER seen before, knocking on my office door, creeping in and asking... with a can he bought himself in his hand...

"Uh, Excuse me... Yes, I've seen people with these cans. They say you sign them. Can you sign one for me?"

*Ladylee looking at dude suspiciously, wondering if he should even be in the building*

Everyone just HAD to have their can of "Dr. LadyLee".

One chick, a fellow Doc, had me sign some with the phrase "To hell with them ALL!!!"

That's a bit, uh, harsh... Really though. But, it was warranted. It was our battle cry.

There were only three of us black Ph.D.'s there at that particular workplace at the time, and we were HATING life. I mean, we were being treated like crap and all of us were looking for a FAST way out of there. Me, I just started out with a few words, just speaking some faith out there.

"I'ma find me a job ya'll, and I'ma get outta here. I am not staying down here with ya'll. There's a job out there for ME!!"

"Yeah right Doc, you ain't going Nowhere!!" was the common response, along with cracks on my thick southern drawl.

I didn't care what they said. I just kept yelling about how I was getting the heck out of there.

Well, I eventually got a job. The other 2 Post-docs got jobs and got the heck out of there also.

Whenever I look at that can of "Dr. LadyLee", I remember one thing:

Nothing's permanent. Everything's like a hairdo... temporary. Heck, life is temporary. You were born. One day, you're gonna die. TEMPORARY.

Even those cans of "Dr. LadyLee" were temporary, as they were discontinued a few months later.

I must've signed quite a few cases of those cans. But now, I only have one can. I've kept it on top of my cabinet for the past 6 years.

That can reminds me not to panic. Everything's temporary.

If you are in a slow place in life, or in a place you just don't want to be?

Remember... It's only temporary.

Sometimes you gotta say, like my fella Doc... To hell with them ALL!

Or be like I was at that time... Get your mind set on where you WANT to be.

...and know that your present situation is only temporary.

Have a good weekend!!