Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The sounds of morning.

I am in early this morning. I expect to see no "colleagues" for two hours. That's ok. I like the quietude and concentration the morning brings. I like getting in and doing the things I have to do, that, I believe, only I can do. I like the sounds of an empty office.

This morning I am in early to do a bit of freelance that's been uncharacteristically hanging over my head. I've been doing something I seldom do, procrastinating.

I pictured on my way in the blank piece of digital paper I will fill, with I hope, the right thoughts, words and emotions. I remembered back 20 years when we would clackety clack roll in a sheet of white paper into our Selectrics. I remember the reassuring whirr of the machine's motor and the rapid imprint from its type-ball. The ding at the end of a line of words and back again filling in another row.

Those sounds are gone now. My MacBook doesn't whisper me company. But that's ok. I have copy to write.

4 comments:

dave trott said...

Everyone in my office makes fun of me because I still hit the laptop keys as hard as I used to hit them on the Olivetti manual.

Anonymous said...

Guys, are we going to be nostalgic for illuminated manuscripts now?

Anonymous said...

Freelance? At your level George, that's verboten.

george tannenbaum said...

It's pro-bono, Anon. For my Alma Mater, Columbia U.