Wide-Ranging

I very much like my boss. He has great stories about his Army Ranger days, he's got a snarky sense of humor, he loathes the corporate bureaucracy, we fall into the same general political spectrum (so blue we're nearly invisible), and he seems to legitimately care about everyone in the office.

Every so often, he'll stick his head into my office and say, "How're you doing?"

And I'll say something along the line of, "I'm working on thus-and-so and gearing up for Project X."

Then he'll sigh -- that almost parental sort of, "Don't you understand yet?" sigh -- and say, "No, how are you doing?"

And I'll offer up some anecdote from home: Alex is teething, or Penny's latest surprise mental leap, or... something. There's a better than even chance that it'll remind him of a story of his own, and we'll chat for four or five minutes, and he'll head on his way.

I've learned that he hates grits. With an abiding passion. (I eat them for breakfast almost every morning.) He cannot restrain a shudder whenever he sees me with my bowl, and I usually respond with some wise-ass comment. Naturally, there's a funny story to go with it that he tells whenever someone else observes the exchange.

He also -- and this cannot amuse me enough -- is utterly fascinated by the contents of my iPod.

Because I have a small private office, I don't bother with earphones -- I have a small set of minijack speakers on my desk, so if you come into my office, you'll hear whatever I'm listening to. And I've got about 90% of my music collection on my iPod, and I'm prone to just putting the whole thing on "random," unless I'm in the mood for a specific playlist.

So one time my boss poked his head into my office to ask some question, did a double-take, and stared at my speakers. "What. Is that?" he demanded.

"Um..." I picked up the iPod and checked the screen. "Islamic prayer chanting."

"Wha-? Seriously?"

"Yeah. It's mood music for when I'm writing."

"Islamic prayer chants are mood music."

"Well, depending on what I'm writing. Yes."

"I thought I had wide-ranging music tastes, but wow."

"Oh, I have all kinds of stuff. Come back in an hour and it'll probably be traditional Chinese throat-singing."

He gave me a Look, and left.

But the next day he came back. "What is it today?"

"KMFDM. German industrial techno."

"You know, I thought I had wide-ranging musical tastes, because I'll listen to rock and pop. Do you have any... what was it that was so popular a few years back... Gregorian chants?"

"You know, I don't think I do, but I really should."

He walked away, shaking his head and laughing.

I don't think of myself as having that huge a collection of music (especially compared to, say, KT's), but it is pretty eclectic, I'll give it that. I've got Abba and ZZ Top; I've got bellydancing music and filk; oldies and classic rock and bubblegum pop; jazz and blues and folk and swing; soundtracks from Broadway and movies and anime; rap and metal and punk and country. I have classical music, and techno remixes of classical music. Traditional music samples from the Middle East and Africa and China and South America.

If I have to admit it, I kind of live for the moment when my boss is in here chatting and Beethoven slides into Britney Spears. The look on his face will be priceless.