Before I talk about work I’d like to share a quick story from today’s evening walk. The story is that a bird pooped on Sam’s head. Better him than me, I thought, since he didn’t notice and probably would have enjoyed it if he did. But then at home when I tried to wipe off the mess with a wet paper towel, he ducked and I got poop on my hand. So I didn’t escape unscathed after all. It figures.

Okay, work. I’m still thrilled to be there, even though I emptied my candy jar in the first two days. I’ve had to bring in and eat *fruit*, can you imagine? I finished my first practice assignment in cite analysis today and will probably get to start on a real assignment tomorrow, assuming I didn’t completely miss the boat on the practice one.

One of my favorite things about this job is that I feel totally justified in geeking out about office supplies. Editors can claim the right to care profoundly about the exact type of pens they use more easily than, say, middle managers or customer service reps. Today, for instance, as I packed in a dense set of corrections, I found myself wishing they’d given us finer-tipped pens, only to flip mine over and see that it was already a Micro. As in finer-than-fine, the same pens I’ve refused to use in the past because I thought they were too thin and scratchy.

Is there a Nano level of fineness? There must be. I see myself visiting the fancy-pen store in the near future. Mmm, fancy-pen store. It’s dangerous in there—I could easily walk out with a whole calligraphy set if I’m not careful. Maybe I need to go with a buddy.

I haven’t had much occasion to use white-out tape before, but it’s become more or less my favorite thing in the world. Today I had to tape over my own corrections three times in one spot—I wasn’t being fickle, either, it’s just that every time I looked at the line I saw something else I’d forgotten or marked incorrectly—and when I was done I could still write neatly on top of it. Magical!

I also have one of those shake-and-squeeze white-out pens for narrow spots, like lines that snake through text, but even that is clump city compared to my lovely tape. I’d rather have a super-fine tape thingadoo than the pen. Get on that, Liquid Ink/Bic/3M.

In other work news, in five days I’ve been out for Mexican food twice. Most excellent, especially since I end up skipping dinner those days. I’m not much of a cook anyway. Oh, and I tried queso fresco for the first time today. It tastes classier than the orange kind. Muy recommendo.*

Why am I writing so many short, choppy sentences all of a sudden? This post reads like a telegram.

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* I took Latin in high school.

Tags: editing, food, pens, Sam, summer, white-out, work, writing

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