rogue badgers of FAIL

Graeme came over to show photo of new baby. Ridiculously cute. ...And then later, came over, started chatting, and suddenly went 'Look, badgers!' and nicked my stapler while I was going '...wha?'. Can't believe I fell for that one.

Have new shoes. Sadly, they're low-heeled black ankle biker-style boots. Perfectly nice, but bought more because 'they're on sale and you'll need them at some point' than actually *wanting*. Which betrays the entire point of shoe-buying.

Strange men with clipboards haunt our office, asking for numbers of computers and names. Office move : an interesting experience. Our dept is feeling particularly smug because all the emails going out about recycling and chucking don't apply to us. We have nothing to chuck or recycle, having gone paperless ages ago.

I wonder what it's like to know you're special.

Most people aren't special. By virtue of existence, a few stand out from the herd and a few are somewhere in the gutter. Most of us are part of the herd, the big seething mass that gets stuff done and just lives our lives, who'll never make the news or get an obituary in the paper. I fully admit, and always have known, that I was always herd. Unless I do something really fucking amazing, I'm never going to be special. I've got knacks for some things - I know I used to be decent at photography, and I'm decent at writing and sewing, but I always knew that the level of talent I have at these skills was never going to make me stand out. A good example would be my college photography class. Nearly everyone had a knack for something, and we were all quite good, but we all knew exactly who stood out. Their work stuck up on a white wall in the weekly progress meetings made people stop and stare.

I'm not talking about those whose ego is utterly massive, or became famous for being famous. i'm talking about people who by virtue of their talent in one field or another, stand out as special.