I spent the evening last night ripping down wallpaper in the bathroom (it just pulled right off the wall. I’m doubting that the living room wallpaper will be as accomodating though) and pushing food carts at a dinner for a cancer support centre.

The problem with pulling off the wallpaper is that what I really want to do is pull off the tiles on the wall 🙂 I didn’t like them when I bought the house, I certainly don’t like them now, and I’m finding that there are more than a few that would easily pop off the wall given the slightest pressure, which makes it hard for me not to apply that pressure to help them along. But of course since this is my only bathroom and I do have an affection for cleanliness, pulling off all the tiles in a room that can get kind of steamy is not a good thing to do. But it’s oh-so-tempting. I woke up this morning trying to figure out how much of an imposition it would be to start showering at work.

The dinner was a little less productive although still satisfying, Most of the night was spent waiting (for food from the kitchen, for dishes to take back to the kitchen, for people to leave so we could clear the tables) but since it raised money for a good cause, I didn’t really mind that much. The cart pushers (my job) are called “trolls”, so there were some jokes from our “troll master” about using whips to get us going, and the people were pretty friendly so at least you had someone to talk to while waiting around. Of the eight trolls, there were two teenagers and the rest were probably evenly distributed in the twenty/thirty/forty year old ranges. The guy I was partnered with was one of the teenagers. During one of the particularily long waits for food to be doled out onto our carts he leaned forward and said “It’s weird working with so many older trolls.” I shrugged, assuming that, since it is a fairly physical job, perhaps most years there were more teenagers working the carts. Plus I don’t really like to call people old (particularly when they aren’t that much older than me ;)). We moved up in the line a little and then he leaned forward and said that thing that I just can’t seem to avoid:

“So, you’re still in high school?”

I had to have him repeat it, I didn’t think I had heard him correctly the first time. He did. I had. I laughed.

“Actually, no, I graduated two years ago … from University.”

Short pause.

“Oh .. so you’re one of those older trolls.”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

That pretty much ended the conversation between us, although that was also the time when things began to pick up a bit so we were forced to work the carts alone rather than as a team in order to speed up the service.

Perhaps I need to spend a bit more time in the sun so that I can get a few more wrinkles and start looking my age. I think perhaps another trip to Vegas might just do the trip.