I was pretty worried when she told me how I could get a cup of tea. I'd been to one of the two or three kitchens on this floor, one of many floors in this big company's huge building, but I'd found only bare cupboards. And then she told me that if I wanted a cup of tea then I needed to bring my own cup and my own tea bags. The thing that worried me was that she didn't even laugh when she told me.
I needed a cup of tea because I'd been sitting for 7 hours each day, ears open, learning to listen as a sound engineer added 'texture' to this project I was working on. The amount of detail that went into building an atmosphere and leaving one place to enter another, wow!
It was a wild, wild ride. And then she started describing what she was hearing, using words that were really something else. 'Heavy' and 'light' I got, but then she started calling sounds 'strident' and 'insipid.' It totally blew my mind away (that's why I'm so late, aiya! And sorry!)
There was so much pressure, so much to take in. So on the weekend I found a tiny bit of time to head to the second-hand store to unwind. I once told someone that I practically meditate when I'm wandering around these stores. But this time I really found out how much I can empty my mind. I'd looked on every shelf and basket in the shop and on my way heading out I stopped at the counter. I started thumbing through some old papers there. And then suddenly I went 'Woah!' I looked up and (damn) the young girl minding the store was watching me. I laughed a bit, and tried making some excuses about my mind being elsewhere. But she just looked at me, leaned forward and pointing at the papers I'd just been looking through, she said slowly, 'We use this to wrap up some of the fragile things we sell, like crockery.'
'This.' She said carefully trying to make sure I understood. 'This is just old newspaper.'
I didn't try to freak her out any more by trying to buy some :-) It seemed like a good time to head home, and quickly!
