Day 156: Remember the Time... An Evil Mastermind Must Wear An Epic Hat

"OK, so this is an open brainstorming session in which I want you to be as ridiculous as possible," the head of marketing tells the seven of us squeezed around the table in a conference room. "Let's hear your ideas. Go."

I freaking love my job.

My company is releasing this new book series drawn in comic-book style for kids. To promote its release, the marketing department wants to do something fun to engage our customers. The purpose of this meeting was to figure out what that fun, engaging marketing should be.

I was the only one at the meeting who had absolutely nothing to do with this particular project. My entire department didn't even really have anything to do with the project unless you count that we knew it existed.

The only reason I was a part of this meeting was because a few days prior, the marketing colleague I sit adjacent to was doing some out-loud, preliminary brainstorming and I jumped right in with ridiculous scenarios just to have a mini break from my computer.

The next day, she greets me with, "So [the head of marketing] loved your ideas and wants you to come to our brainstorming meeting."

"I'm doing what now?" I replied.

And I was thrilled to get the invite because this meeting I had today ended up being like no other meeting I've ever been a part of. It was fun, engaging, intellectual, creative, and absolutely freaking hilarious.

As part of this meeting, we came to the following conclusions:

• The place on Earth with the absolute least amount of energy is either a retirement home or a Phil Collins concert
• Electricity cannot exist in the desert or rain forest because there are no electrical outlets
• Penguins are adorable and polar bears are not scary
• If a black hole had a name it would be Steve
• There are at least seven things more exciting than a battery

And I left with laugh tears and the satisfaction that one of my ideas was fully embraced: That our supervillian needs to wear an epic, evil hat. 

Awesome.