Thursday, February 23, 2006

Sox-y Adventures

I'm not given to Seinfeld-esque observations because I'm simply not as funny as the man. However, there are quirky everyday mysteries that make you really wonder about the laws of physics and suchlike phenomenon.

One of them involves my laundry.

I saw this advertisement within my office building for an internal company campaign of some sort. It shows a washing machine and a single sock. The theme of the advertisement was: "Some things will always remain a mystery."

Tell me about it. One of the most mysterious (and infuriating) things about doing your laundry is sorting all your clothes once you are done. If you have clothes in the load which are prone to attracting static, heaven help you. By the time the dryer's done, many of your static-y clothes are filled with enough electricity to power a small bulb (I'm sure Mohan Bhargava could have put this idea to some use) and they are all sticking to each other. The worst culprits, of course are the socks. Invariably, one sock (or three, or five. It has to be an odd number) will go missing. After sorting all your laundry, you are left with that mysterious odd one out.

More than once in the past few months, I've had this wonderful mystery. All my laundry's put away, making for a successful weekend (or rather, a peaceful week ahead) and the next thing I know, there's a single sock left. It sits there, in the corner of my bedroom, in silent admonishment of a job badly done. I look at it before I go to sleep most nights, wondering if I should get up and turn my wardrobe upside down to search for it. Invariably, sleep is too tempting.

I dread the day when I'll wear a sweatshirt to work, and some pretty girl (the kind I absolutely don't want to be embarrassed in front of) will say "What's that sticking out of your sweatshirt"? and it'll turn out to be that pesky sock stuck to the inside of my fleecewear.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Creative Thinking.Read you blog for the first time.

nupur said...

I dont think there is any creativity involved in writing about a sock sticking out of a sweatshirt. I think it *actually* must have happened to Ajay. :-P
lol @ Static-y
Come to think of it. I have 4 single socks in my socks drawer. Once you start working, laundry is a BIG problem. I think sorting is easy, Ironing is the tough part. I have spent 2-3 hours of my precious sunday evenings in that. Its a complete waste of time. Im buying wrinkle free shirts so that i can avoid ironing them. But the laundry problem still remains.

Ajay said...

Sandhya: Thanks!

DQ: I categorically deny any such thing ever happened.

Ironing? The last time I ironed clothes was for a job interview. Viva la casual workplace! Tees, sweats and jeans rule.

CAR said...

Casual work clothes. Fun at times but I prefer wearing crisp blackish clothes to work. I just get more work done if I have ironed darkish clothes!

As for the sock, I fear for him. He was alone when you passed him everyday with menancing stares. I do hope he re unites with his laundry lost brother!

Unknown said...

LOL! good post :)

Ajay said...

DW: :-). The re-union shall be accomplished over the weekend.

Sameer: Thanks.

Saket said...

See that's why I work where I do. There are no pretty girls you dont want to be embarrassed around. Who cares what other guys think ;)

Great post!

Saket said...

BTW if the theory of 6 degrees holds, then shouldnt COEPians plus 6 degrees be enough to include everyone in the world? ;-)

Saket

Ajay said...

Saket: 20% of a very large company makes for sizable female population. And if this happened in front of a senior *male* colleague, I don't think it'd reflect very well.

As for the six degrees, yes :-). That section's for people I know directly or indirectly. The hot-shots are a different category though I think Ramanand could go on both.