I’ve always been allergic to graduations, gowns and nice clothes, walking across a stage, sitting in the sun; none of these things are on any list of things that I enjoy doing. But the worst part is what comes after. I can deal with change, but saying goodbye is a different thing altogether.
(If you haven’t figured it out yet, this post is not about sports as was previously promised. Paige gave me this idea so blame her.)
Our office has changed a lot over the last two years. A blackboard hangs where there was once nothing but an empty wall. A brand new microwave and toaster oven serve as a reminder of an imaginary feud. The Bookoo pyramid towers above all the land. And who could forget the fancy chairs that we [incriminating information hidden]. But what really defines AB 413 is the people that have called it home. This is how I will remember it.
As with any other living, breathing thing, it is usually best to start with the brains of the operation:
Steve is the left side of the brain. It is pretty obvious who represents the intellect in our office, but Steve brings so much more to our group than his (big) brain. When you first meet him, one thing is very apparent, if you ask Steve for anything he will do everything in his power to help you. Whether it takes minutes, hours or even days, he will be there for you. But like any great man he does have his flaws. He will take any dare thrown his way, regardless of how disgusting the piece of old food he is picking up off the floor to put in his mouth is. But to end on a good note, Steve is one of the few people who can have a battle of wits (and humor) with the other half of our brain…
I chose Luke as the right side and Steve as the left for the simple fact that Luke can’t spell nearly as well as Steve can. He’ll be very upset I revealed this secret to the world but I’ll end up blaming it on someone else. Luke probably has the best sense of humor ever, yes, out of everyone in the whole entire universe ever in all of history. He is genuinely one of the funniest people I have ever met; I wouldn’t worry about him getting lost under his desk if he wasn’t. If you ever need someone to make you smile, talk to Luke, he’ll set you straight.
Luke and Steve will be leaving to pursue doctorates. I wish them both the best of luck. I know they don’t need it but I like to think I’m part of everything.
Robbie represents the creativity of our office. He draws, sings, plays the guitar and is a damn good cook. More importantly, Robbie is one of the kindest people I know. He considers everyone he meets to be a friend, and will go out of his way to make you feel welcome. Robbie is humble to the point that he thinks everyone is smarter than he is. But we all have first hand knowledge of how intelligent he is. It’s a shame that he’s stubborn to the point where that doesn’t matter.
Paige has always been our conscience. Unfortunately for her, taking on a such a role in the midst of people like Luke, Steve and myself constitutes a full time job. But she doesn’t mind; Paige is one of the hardest working people I know. The more she has to do, the more she gets done, weird I know. I would like to think that we foiled her kind nature, but in reality if we were ever rude to anyone, she would just be extra nice. Unfortunately she never even tried to stop Steve from eating icky things from off the ground; can’t have it all I guess.
Jeff was only with us for a year, but he ended up becoming our backbone. To this day he is constantly heckled and picked on, but he lets it roll right off his back. In a way he brought us all together. Before he showed up we were really just a bunch of people in a room, but his presence helped us gel. I think Jeff interacted with everyone individually more than anyone else did. Now that we’re all leaving him he will have a new batch of grad students to mingle with. We’re all still holding out hope that we’ve taught him well enough to give them all hell. Make us proud Jeff!
Francis is the heart of the office. He is the type of guy that will call you to make sure everything is ok and only because he didn’t see you all day. He will wish you luck in everything that you do everyday and ask you how things went long after you yourself have forgotten whatever was going on. The world needs more people like Francis. He never assumes anything about anyone and is completely genuine in everything he does.
Moses is our funny bone. His laugh is infectious as is his personality. If you’re not smiling when you’re talking to Moses then you’re just flat out doing something wrong. He was is our office before any of us and made us all feel at home, but even to this day he will tell everyone that we were the ones that took him in and made him feel welcome. He has moved on to Resource Economics, but he comes around every once in a while and brightens up the office.
And last of all there’s me, Amit, but I’ll leave my story to those who can tell it better than I can…
Friends of the Office:
Heather: Steve’s patient wife! Heather somehow managed to put up with me and Luke every day. She already puts up with Steve so I’m not giving her any extra credit for that. More impressively she has probably been the most productive member of our office. I have no idea how she was able to read even a single sentence amongst the daily chaos, but if she was in the office she was either doing homework or sleeping, how I envy her. Heather was also my only ally in the fight against Steve accepting Luke’s asinine dares.
Sayaka: Whether or not she wanted to be part of our office she was and always will be. The best way to describe Sayaka is to take every description I gave of the office members above, combine them, and multiply effectiveness by your favorite power of ten. Maybe it’s a good thing she never came down to the dark side, she would have put us all out of a job. (Picture courtesy of Steve)
Mel & Mahana: Robbie’s beautiful family. When Robbie left us for a semester we were all heart broken. But it wasn’t until Steve realized the Robbie being gone meant we wouldn’t see Mel and Mahana that we knew we had to get him back. Mel is as kind and creative (if not more so) than Robbie. And Mahana, well look at the picture, do I really even have to say anything? Mel and Robbie have repeatedly invited me into both their home and family. I am eternally grateful for that; I love you both. Mahana too, obviously 
A picture of Paige and Mahana for good measure.
And last, but certainly not least, Barack Obama: For obvious reasons Barack can not make it to the office as much as he used to. But when he does come in it sure seems like he eats a lot. There is always candy on his desk. He claims to bring it in for students so they have something good to eat during tests but I think we all know what is really going on. In his absence he has left us a campaign poster and a promise that our next office will be a little more… egg-like.
To finish things off here is what Paige considers to be the best thing I’ve ever done. I’m haven’t figured out if she is just being nice or actually trying to say something about the previous seven and a half years we’ve known each other.
See anything wrong with this picture?
Next week: Walking, weight loss and… footcare?
Posted by Amit 