What's in the bag?

Perception can be an interesting thing sometimes.

A little bit of background about myself. I'm not one of those full-time fiction writers. Nope, I've got a day job writing nonfiction as well, which leave me a little tired at the end of the day when I fall into bed after spending many quality hours with my various computers composing both fiction and nonfiction. In fact, I work in the financial industry, writing about the stock market. It's an interesting passion. The stock market is a monstrous creature, constantly morphing from bull to bear, turning on you after weeks of stellar outperformance. There is always something going on, some stock that needs to be covered.

Despite advances in women's lib and all that, the industry is still dominated by males. I've got no complaint about it and I actually prefer it that way. I'd rather hear about Sunday night football than the latest fall fashions. But that's me. And after all the years of working in the industry, I'm sometimes forget that I'm not exactly one of the guys.

Why do I bring this up? Well, I brought in my lunch today, and not in the typical brown bag, or any of those cute zipper bags that can help keep in the cold. No, I used a pink Victoria's Secret bag. I think I acquired it when I was last in picking up perfume and nail polish. Well, if you've never been to Vicki's, they have great, durable bags with a thick string handles. My only thought was that it would be able to hold some weight and wouldn't rip if the contents were cold and condensating.

Yeah, well the guys noticed the bag sitting in my office and made immediate comments, speculating on what interesting things were housed in the bag -- some of which I might add are not sold at Victoria's Secret. That bag immediately moved me out of the "one of the guys" realms and firmly back into girl territory. The balance was restored later in the day after the bag was moved out of sight and I think I edged back into neutral territory.

It's the little things, the tiny details that really define a day or a person. Remember that when you craft a scene.

And for the curious.... The bag contained a bowl of watermelon, a fork, a nectarine, and two cans of cold diet Mountain Dew. Yep, sometime fictions is really more interesting than reality.