Words and Light

I’m just past the one-month mark here at the paper, and today — a day of optic nerve pain — was the second time I’ve had newsroom coffee, ever.

That was two hours ago. Within the past hour, I looked at my coffee and discovered the creamer was having a little fun in there.

8:45 p.m.: Paramecium.

(Compare: A diagram of a paramecium.)

I checked again later.

8:55 p.m.: Neuron.

(Compare: A diagram of a neuron.)

And once more.

9:11 p.m.: Back to being a paramecium.

Is this normal? I’m not asking whether my taking pictures of how newsroom coffee and creamer interact is normal (it’s not), but rather, whether it’s normal for creamer to assume the shapes of various microorganisms and cells.

I’m not a regular coffee drinker. At all. So I don’t know any better.

Also, as of 9:32 p.m., it is still a paramecium. I guess that’s its default.