January 11, 2004

Olfactory Assault

The repugnant odor pervaded my nostrils once again, bringing my waning Winter Break to an abrupt and unapologetic end. I was back in Berkeley. And for the first time in a long time, I longed for the fresh air, immaculately mowed lawns, bright sunshine, and brisk breeze of Orange County, which I had left behind only an hour before. But it was already gone - a brief, nostalgic remembrance in a mind trained by years of effort to concentrate on the six months of toil that lay ahead. Six months of unending work, intolerable assignments, and enough bullshit to drown a hundred people in a tidal wave of pointless excursions. The escalator moved unrelentlessly upwards. I was wedged between suitcases and two large, immobile women. I breathed deeply again. "Yeah! That's it! Berkeley. I love the smell of shit in the morning!" (By the way, did you know they are re-releasing Apocalypse Now?) Without another thought, I grabbed my suitcase and stepped off the escalator with a purposeful step, into the compost heap whirlpool designed to destroy me.