Today is meeting day at work.  Tuesday is always meeting day.  In my lexicon, meeting day is known as the Inferno.  We have an all-staff meeting, and then after only a 30-minute reprieve (Purgatorio), my section has its weekly meeting.  These section meetings are excruciating and often stretch their weedy tendrils into the lunch hour, so that near the end everyone has been stricken blind by the gnawing hunger in their bellies, and they begin to hallucinate that there are even more items to discuss on the agenda.  Nine times out of ten there is absolutely nothing on the agenda that relates directly to my work and so the torture is particularly poignant for me.  The boss man spews his oily drivel and we all flop around in it.  We drink down his bitter poison and smile through our gag reflexes, even as our insides melt away.  Then I go back to my desk and stare hollow-eyed at the computer until the end of the day.

On many of these days, the only moments I truly feel alive are those I spend biking to work.  Attention to my surroundings is crucial, as traffic is unpredictable and hazards abound.  At work, at my desk, my senses dull to a blunted finish.  I sit for hours, an empty husk, with glazed eyes and blank mind.  At the end of the day, I struggle to shake it off for the ride home.

Every day they dump new blazing coals upon us, and the greedy flames consume another chunk of our dignity.  As the fat sizzles, so do our ideals.

P.S.  Someone just told me that the staff meeting has been moved to Thursday.  Perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel after all!