2017 began with a deep financial low for me. My partner and I weren't sure how we were going to make rent. We both work in the arts, and are both subject to the feast or famine lifestyle it seems to offer, and despite our best efforts to squirrel away excess in those feast times, sometimes the famine times last too long.

So I was offered a temp position by a friend who needed a month-long break from her office job. I really didn't want to. Even had a minor breakdown trying to adjust myself to the need for change. But because we needed the money, I spent all of February as a full time Admin. It was just enough to get us by for a month and a half. It's very expensive to live in Toronto.

But the whole time, I felt so alien to everyone else. Nobody really seemed to know anybody else in the office. Their need to remain professional precluded any other kind of personal relationship. I understand why. The risk, getting to know the people you have to spend every day with, is that you might really dislike the people you have to work with, and that would toxify the workspace.

Even so. All day, every day. Strangers. Working in a hive. Cold. Lonely. Diametrically opposed to my sense of comfort and belonging.

Alien.

I used Christopher Walken for the model for this guy. I love that guy.

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