Beasts of Burden

We all need our breaks from the wear and tear of our workday grinds (and no, I don't mean "MTV's The Grind" - whatever became of Eric Nies, anyway?).  Sometimes, that wellness break can be as simple as refueling with a snack or re-hydrating with lots of water.  For me, sometimes it's a yoga stretch or a short walk around the building, and often it's a song break to 80s music or showtunes (accompanying dance is optional).

This year, I've added a new healthy option to my repertoire: inventing prehistoric beasties names after words that come up at work - the brief drawing times and word mash-ups just make me smile.  And these days, a smile and a chuckle are the simple joys that I happily use to populate my own little higher education Cretaceous Park.

The one that started it all: "Ridiculous" + "Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex)" = "T. rexiculous" (as in "I have a T. rexiculous task to finish today" or "That meeting was just T. rexiculous!")

Sometimes you just want to give a meeting (or specific people in a meeting) the beat-down, so armor plating and a spiked tail can come in handy: "Meeting" + "Stegosaurus" = "Meetingsaurus"

Our Behavioral Concerns Committee (B.C.C.) manages a lot of difficult cases and challenging issues, hence: "BCC" + "Triceratops" = "Beeceeceratops"

Sometimes I am so hungry I could eat more than a horse: "Hunger" + "Pteranodon" = "Hungeranodon" (since the prehistoric flying reptiles are not officially "dinosaurs," this was also the first creation that expanded the menagerie beyond dinosaurs to all kinds of beasties, thus opening the door to even broader selections!)

At a co-workers request for some kind of more nurturing, less nasty critter: "Emotion" + "Maiasaura" = "Emotisaurus"

When my immune system gets triggered by the land of pollen that is Saint Louis, MO, I just want to attack my allergens: "Allergies" + "Dunkleosteus" = "Allergyosteus"

Administrative Assistant who is super-fast on every task: "Meredith" + "Therizinosaurus" = "Meredithizinosaurus"

When the "Allergyosteus" attacks and causes my sneezing fits (usually three in a row): "Sneeze" + "Muttaburrasaurus" = "Sneezaburrasaurus"

Oh, you know you work in higher education when the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA, or the Buckley Amendment) comes up as often as it does in the workplace: "FERPA" + "Xiphactinus" = "Ferpactinus"

And finally, a nod to my local surroundings - the city that just hog wild for fish fry parties and fundraisers during the Catholic season of Lent before Easter (fittingly enough named to a marine reptile, also not officially a "dinosaur"): "Fish Fry" + "Liopleurodon" = "Fishfrypleurodon"

And there you have it: my prehistoric rogues gallery that gives me enough of a wink and a nod to make it through even the toughest days.  The power of the imagination to transport me away from reality by re-framing it in a context that is both real and unreal all at once.

Do you have a word of the workday or a favorite prehistoric creature?  Comment on this blog post and maybe you will inspire the next round of my office beasties.  (I can't just let a dry erase board in my office go to idle waste, you know!)