8.13.1997

Nothing really new is going on at work. Downright boring, actually. I did have enough to stay busy tonight though. I even milked two hours of overtime out of the joint. To amuse myself during the shift I've started terrorizing Wingnut Dan over on the Precision line next to our area. Dan is in the Army Reserves and he knows J1 got out of the regular Army in the last couple of years. I noticed J1 has been talking Army stuff to Dan every chance he gets, and Dan doesn't like it. During the J1 lectures Dan doesn't tell him to shut up and go away because he's trying to be polite. I've been making fun of Dan while J1 is jaw-jacking him to death. I usually lurk somewhere behind J1 but in plain view of Dan and I point and laugh or make stupid faces to try to get Dan to lose his composure. God, how I love to be a nuisance to some of my coworkers.

Lately I've been telling Dan that J1 is going to re-enlist in the Army Reserves just so he can hang out with him on weekends. Dan doesn't think it's funny. He's been trying to downplay it but I've been doing a great job staying real serious as I talk to him. I think I have Dan pretty concerned that J1 will be in his unit soon. Dan already went to Musclehead and Supertech to find out if I'm making all this shit up or lying about it, but I got to them first so they're playing along with me nicely. They're helping build the tension. I hope to have Dan thoroughly stressed out on this by next week.

Saw Dave at lunch today. Talked a bunch of smack with him.

I've been slipping with my mouth again. I gotta get control of it pronto or someone's gonna overhear me in the area and I'm gonna get fired. The problem is Musclehead. He's really loud and crude and he gets me started talking crazy shit and I forget where I am. And that J1 guy, I hate him so much that I say abusive stuff to him all the time now. He's so annoying. My new tactic with J1 is to walk away from him while he's in the middle of telling me one of his dumb stories. It's because I don't care about a damn thing he says. He will be mired in mid-sentence and I will do an about-face and leave just to be as rude as possible. He seems hurt by it but if I don't abruptly walk away he will keep me there for a minimum of 30 to 45 minutes while he babbles away in my general direction. It's pure junk.

Tomorrow I have to be at work by two in the afternoon for that useless "line meeting" with Squirmy and the Dayshift freaks. It's gonna suck real bad.