Bright lights! Boring job.

As most everyone who knows me can tell you, I am not your typical ‘mo. I drink beer, not martinis or any other mixed froo froo drink. I kill bugs without screaming. I don’t decorate. I eat fatty foods. I don’t watch my carbs. And I hardly know any designers by name or sight. But there are times when real life is just too much to deal with, that’s when I gay it up!

Recently work has been particularly stressful. Aside from the fact I share an office with three other people (which is a story for after I submit my two week notice), there is a lot of corporate idiocy I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. How do I handle all the shit I have to swim through day in and day out you ask? SHOW TUNES! (Of course I include in these Bette, Cyndi Lauper and any teen pop “boy” band I may have downloaded to the iPod. Not show tunes but just as gay.)

From Aida to Spring Awakenings to Rent to any tune a Disney character has sung, these have become the soundtrack of my life as of late. You see I have been doing the same work for the last eleven years and there are days when it can be unbearably boring. It helps when I can pop in your ear buds, select a song with a poppy beat and be transported to the bright lights of Broadway.

I’m no longer sitting at my desk, aimlessly typing, trying to formulate a plan to kill myself to end my misery and take a out few key co-workers in the process while still making it look like an “accident.” I am suddenly under the spotlight! The walls fall away, the desks (and co-workers) are dragged away by stage hands, the set rolls in, the stage lights come up and chorus line is in place. This is my moment, my time to sing out loud, to be a star!

Soon (in my head) I leap up on my desk, catch the mike which is tossed to me from off stage and I begin my big number! I’m hitting my notes, keeping in step, the chorus chimes in at the right moments and all is right with the world. If only for three minutes and eighteen seconds, then the stage lights fall and I’ve returned to the real world. Until the next song when the orchestra cues you in.

You can be the Nubian slave in ‘Aida’ singing, “Enchantment Passing Through.” Or the young musician with HIV in ‘RENT’ belting out, “One Song Gory.” My personal favorite these days is, “Totally Fucked!” from ‘Spring Awakenings.’ An upbeat, rockin’ song about how we’re all totally screwed no matter what we do, so we may as well do what we want anyway. I hear that song and my toes start to tappin’ and my head start a boppin’. We should all take some time out each day to be a little gay. Curtain calls in five minutes, deep breathe and remember you’re fabulous! No matter what!