the office boys

us working people spend an average of 8 hours a day at work. that comes up to 40 hours a week. 160 hours a month. 1,920 hours a year. basically that's a whole lotta time. nearly a third of our life. i guess it makes sense that most people try and be friendly during work 'coz talking shop for a third of our life would be so tiresome.

in the last 2 years my office has seen many young men going in and out of the company. since the departure of both my closest colleagues last june, i haven't really had any female colleagues that i could bond with. instead i wound up getting pretty friendly with my guy (now ex) colleague and the new accountant. there's absolutely nothing there. it's just that we get along platonically.

and lately there has been even more office boys to chat with...

a new temporary replacement for my guy (now ex) colleague came in the form of a 21 year old shy guy. initially he was so shy that he would be sitting quietly while the rest of us were laughing away at our lunch table. i tried to be friendly and ask him some questions but he would give short quiet answers or go red in the face. recently he's been getting more comfy. so comfy such that he's been initiating non-work related IM conversations on the office IM. and he told me that he talked bout me to his friend, telling his friend that there was a 'funky lady in his office'. he keeps 'quizzing' me bout myself that it's almost like he's on a "know jo" mission. yes, apparently i must be a source of fascination for the young ones.

then there's the young IT guy who i've been getting pretty friendly with lately. he was always nice to talk to but we never seemed to have any real connection until one day when an extended conversation on lilo and stitch had me nicknaming him stitch. and after my surgery, he gave me the same nickname 'coz i had stitches. once again there's absolutely nothing there. he's got a girlfriend and i'm not interested. he's just got a great sense of humour which makes him really fun to talk to.

so yesterday i was over at stitch's workspace sharing some food (i was sharing all around the office) and we were having a lil chat bout working out. when suddenly the guy in front of him (a cute guy possibly younger than me) asked me if i was into triathlons. i was kinda taken aback. i think partly 'coz i've only talked to that guy perhaps once, the time when i noticed his italian football team jacket and we chatted bout our mutual support for the italian team. and partly 'coz it's not exactly a common occurence for someone to ask if someone else is into triathlons. so i shared with him my interest. while he's not into triathlons, he was once in the navy and hence (in my conclusion) pretty athletic. my boss man chose to come by at that precise moment and ask me bout the time when i took rollerblading lessons. that further shocked the navy colleague. and he started quizzing me on what other sport related activities i've tried. he asked if i was interested in diving (i mean he was a diver in the navy) and while i've tried it before, i'm not exceptionally interested, but i'm definitely open to it again. i guess he was toying with the idea of getting a few people together to go diving. he kept saying how he hasn't worked out in a while so i thought it polite to ask him what did he do in his free time. he said that he partied. stitch immediately chimed in that i partied as well. the navy colleague seemed surprised and said that perhaps one day he'd ask me along. i just had the feeling that our conversation left him utterly surprised. i wonder if we'll have more conversations 'coz he seems pretty nice... and he's a cutie too.

i'm definitely a people person and i love getting to know people. all these lil conversations in the office just help make the work day a whole lot more fun and go by a lot faster.