From a Very Little Sphinx

"Believe it or not, I can actually draw." - Jean Michel Basquiat

Day one.

Fall semester.

After announcing myself with a lot of dramatic waving around and exclamations of "Oh hey! How's your summer been? I'm here! Let's do this! I'm here!" to Cynthia, I am directed to the Lockhart Gallery where I smugly retrieve the key from its hiding place and unlock the gallery rooms, basking in my elitist Gallery Assistant title. There is only one small damper on this glorious return; I haven't the foggiest idea how to turn the lights on.

And yes, I checked for all possible light switches.

I meekly jog upstairs to the Alumni Center and ask the kindly lady at the desk if she does have the foggiest idea how to illuminate the Esteemed Lockhart Gallery. I follow her, again meekly, to the locked reception room and then to a closet in the room and then to a cupboard in the closet (for real) where she turns on the lights. Except, oh dratsicles, most of the lights are still not on. So she meekly jogs upstairs to get another kindly person and I meander around the room facepalming and flipping the only light switch whenever I pass it.

The second, and more informed, kindly woman flips on the rest of the lights using a keypad the first thought was for the alarm system. And then she tells me I've only been turning the porch light on and off.

When Cynthia arrives and there is finally enough fluorescent lighting, I am assigned the task of peeling off painter's tape. Despite an embarrassing fear of heights (Anecdote: I once took so long to jump off the high dive that the lifeguard clapped when I finally did.), it's invigoratingly cathartic and even mildly amusing when I throw balls of tape at the walls. Unfortunately, it wasn't any of those things when I somehow managed to hit myself in the nose with the folded ladder.

The next task is to paint the borders of the walls in another room. Taking a deep breath and trying not to think about how I'm wearing my Explosions in the Sky shirt and favorite pair of jeans, I mostly focus all vacant thinking energies on the stupidity of the movie "Letters to Juliet" and how I would much rather do this instead of going to lab.

It's good to be back.