Reconnecting ....

Friday, July 11, 2008.....

Sometime last fall, I joined LinkedIn, the online community, reconnecting you to previous co-workers. As a member of the start-up whore era, I worked for several tech companies which no longer exist and thought what a great way to reconnect.

The other day, someone who I hadn't talked with in years, or even thought about, invited me to be in his network. He's a nice person, but I don't think I would have ever connected otherwise. Our paths don't cross. However, this one invite made me reflect on my previous co-workers. Some I would never want to hear from, and others, it would be great to catch up with them. While reflecting, I remembered one particular co-worker, my co-worker who was a clown.

Yes. I said a clown. In her spare time, she performed as a clown and believe that she went to official clown school. I know that she went to the clown convention. As juvenile as this sounds, even writing that my co-worker was a part-time clown makes me giggle for some strange reason. What I best remember about my co-worker the clown is that she wasn't a very happy person. She shattered my illusions of what a clown was like. She was a glass half-empty person and a borderline conspiracy theory person. At times she thought the world was out to get her and although that was sad, it made me laugh because it was far from the truth. So, I guess in the end, she made me laugh and was a successful clown.

j

p.s. I'm very happy to report she never showed up in full garb - that would be just creepy.