You're kept awake dreaming someone else's dream
Coffee is cold, but it'll get you through
Compromise, that's nothing new to you

---

He wore a colourful wool hat woved in the bright yellow, green and blag of Jamaica's flag. He hugged a boombox, hidden in his backpack, against his chest, only partially muffling the sounds of reggae that floated through the otherwise quiet bus.

He noticed an older woman standing near him and he tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she wanted to sit.

The look she shot him, you would have thought he'd offered to spit in her face or something.

An Indian boy on the other side asked why he'd turned down the volume.

"Not everybody listens to the reggae," the other kid explained. "You like it?"

I don't normally listen to reggae, either --- but today, I didn't really mind it.

I had a moment, though, where I thought about how a million moments, just like this one, passed by in our lives, without notice and without commitment to memory and I wondered, "Why?"

Why do we hang onto those bad moments, replaying them over and over again?

---

The office Christmas party is coming up.

Oh joy.

That was sarcasm, in case you couldn't tell.

One of the guys complained because in his last job, they had a big fancy party at one of the hotels downtown and they were allowed to bring their spouses.

Hurray for you, buddy, since you've got a spouse, I thought.

Christmas parties where you're allowed to bring people are the kinds of office events that I usually try to avoid.

This guy was hanging around KN today and talking to her. When CR saw him, she joked he should get back to work.

He replied, "But I like talking to K --- because she's nicer than you."

Okay, fine. Maybe it was his poor attempt at a joke. But then he went further and added, "And she's younger than you."

As if that wasn't enough, he added, "And prettier."

Okay, so CR's a grown woman and all, but I thought that was just cruel.

It hurt her feelings.

Thank God he didn't say it to me, 'cause I would have replied coolly, "That's kind of harsh, isn't it? It'd be like me saying, 'I prefer to talk to H because he's got less zits on his face.'"

When I made this comment to CR, she stared and then burst out laughing.

She said the similarities between me and House were more and more apparent the more she got to know me.

I'm not so sure that's a good thing.

"Yeah, but he's the guy we all love to hate."

Um, yeah. Love to hate. That's how I want to be known, too.