freshly sharpened pencils...

technically i had three days left at the msebenz'. it will be a disaster when i leave. we've already made plans to secretly get drunk during my last day - that's me and two other boys. silly americans. they don't realise that it could be their last day also.

there's plenty i'll miss about this place. it's almost been like living in a big soap opera. where should i begin?

we'll begin at the reception. [names will be changed. california is very litigous.] shamy is now six months preggers by marco but marco got a little somesome-hin goin' on with the new 19 year old girl friday called hyra. shamy, hyra and mia all work at the front desk. now hyra's one of those hyper "oh-my-gosh" girls who's not shy splash her sexual exploits every monday morning at the watercooler. she's also "friends-with-benefits" with gobi. gobi's the guy who had a fight in a men's bathroom at a local club and spent the night in the slammers.

as we move on down the corridor, to the right is an office, don and jon's. don's a 40something year old who's into younger chicks. according to clayton he has a prom date. clayton's a white boy, been divorced twice, three kids and into chocolate sisters. in the heat of the californian sun, he wears a black leather trenchcoat like he's just stepped out of the matrix. jon's about to go his gastric bypass surgery. he's got a fat hairy nose which is hard to avoid and every monday he brings in two trays of left over lasagna which no-one dares to eat.

next office by the conference room is rodney's. he's normal. next is lizzy and corrine. they are the two sweetest mothers in the office. i'm always in there for snacks and herbal teabags. next are rick and tony. haven't really spoken to them. next is gary. here's a guy with about five degrees umpteen professional certificates all plastered on his wall. he competes with roy next door in terms of academic wallpaper.

by this time you would have got to the "back office island cubicles" where all drama occurs. i sit next to marco [already mentioned him] and karina. now she thinks she's a milf and subjects me to countless stories about her 22 year old boyfriend and her trainer at the gym. she's got a "play toy" at the back of her bottom drawer. don't ask me how we found out. on karina's aother side is delia. both ladies have an interesting history. delia was once married to karina's ex-husband [she was the reason karina had her divorce]. now that she's also divorced the guy, they are now best friends. go figure.

across the other way is sandy and andy next to ernie. andy and ernie are my drinking buddies. andy's also a bouncer at this place where we get free cover and drinks sometimes. sandy's always asking me if andy says anything about her. first i thought she was just being paranoid before i figured out that she tells everyone that they are sleeping with each other. tmi - too much information. i'm sorry.

then there's vannie, crazy mexican dude - pretty sure he smokes pot in the parking lot, gobi and clayton, we've heard about them then ben and luisa, who are pretty much normal. further on you hit top management ground. they just make too much to spend. the jag, the monte carlo, the hummer, the three mercs, the m3, the z4, the a8 are evident of their bad spending habits. it's really hard to get into their world but once you're in you don't want to leave. kinda like the malume from ekhaya who overstays his visit.

some boring souls were ommitted. so now do you see why some happy spirits are needed on the work floor? i'm going to miss this place.