You Really Like Me!

I had a satisfyingly day of unproductiveness today. Actually, today's my first day back where I've actually been semi-busy. But still, I've had a lot of free time at work today, where I suppose I could have focused my efforts on constructive things like updating my resume or working on some ebay auctions that I've been meaning to put up, but instead I decided to sit at my computer and check on all my airline and loyalty programs because I'm a total frequent flier/guest points junkie and crave on every little transaction that goes on in my accounts and daydream about all the ways that I can redeem my points. I'm even enough of a geek to have files (yes, files) filled with old boarding passes, hotel invoices and receipts from various merchants who give points or miles for purchases. It's amazing the amount of pride that I have in my "status". It's like I'm beaming with pride like an Olympic Gold Medalist when I look back at all the points I've accumulated. Yes, that's right. I'll win the first Gold Medal in frequent flyer points.

Anyhow, things started to get busy later in the day. So busy, that I had to ask someone in San Francisco to cover for me on a couple of things because I had to leave the office today at 5:15 to get to yoga class. (Oh yeah, I've started doing yoga, and so now I'm a serene and spiritual Terence. But more about yoga in another blog post.) I left the office and got into the subway station at Grand Central. I noticed that the bag check had been set up again. For some reason, I felt tension rise in me, like I had something to hide. But actually in retrospect, I realize it was that feeling of "Will they pick me? Me???" Is it weird that I actually felt honored when the cop said "Bag check, sir." I felt like I won. It was kind of like the time in high school we were having an assembly for Career Day and our school headmaster (I went to a snooty prep school, so we had headmasters) announced that certain students would be escorting our illustrious guests for the day. Yes, these illustrious guests included a bank manager of a Wachovia bank, a local personal injury lawyer and other seasoned professionals. Our headmaster got out a piece of paper and called out....my name! I hadn't heard about this "contest." Well, I was probably the only person in our school who saw it as a contest, and I wasn't sure what to do, so I just stood up. I was like "Oh my god. You picked me! Do I need to congratulate the other losers? Do I need to go up?" Visions of the Academy Awards flashed in my head. I felt so honored.

Well, to get back to my "win" today, I approached the bag check desk and expected a "Congratulations" accompanied by a big grin. I proudly handed the cop my bag. But he didn't even open it. He just swiped it with some tissue and put it in this machine that looked like a credit card swiper to check for whatever those machines check for. Then he handed me my bag back and said "There you go, sir." I was on my way, a bit disillusioned but not defeated. I'm sure next week, Larry King will be calling to ask me about my win.