Never a Dull Moment

So, so much going on that I’m amazed I can keep my schedule straight these days. I don’t like that I have no time to write but I can’t dwell on this fact or else I’ll lose the time that I have right now! Let’s see, well we officially start selling product on May 31st. We will be open for business. That’s some scary-ass shit. Someone’s head is undoubtedly going to roll, maybe even two or three, for not delaying this day. Testing has not completed successfully once. What makes the executives think it will suddenly just because we’re in production is well over my head. All I can do is shake my head and keep forging forward. I’m doing more than I ever thought possible and I’m barely not going completely under. Every day that goes by only gets me further behind despite the fact that I’m basically working around the clock, literally. I rarely shut the laptop down unless it’s to transport it to the office and back. I’m really beginning to believe I’m warped because I’m loving my job more and more every day. I guess I’m just baffled because this is such a foreign feeling to me today. If I think far back though, back to the old training days before the Mouse came along, I used to operate like this and make a hell-of-a lot less money. So I come home from work, exhausted yet needing to do something other than get right back on the computer. What do I do? I work on my house. Hanging stuff on the wall, organizing things, and even (yes me!) planting a garden. I have my plants back from Laura’s finally but beyond that I germinated three different flowers, four herbs, tomatoes and cucumbers. Most are now planted in pots and are well on their way to full leaves and roots. The remainder have sprouted but aren’t quite mature enough to be repotted. I never realized just how relaxing this can be. I’ve always had plants and have been able to grow them successfully. Never flowers though and certainly never vegetables and herbs. I can’t wait until I take a big juicy bite out my first home-grown tomato. How cool will that be? Next comes the extra-curricular stuff. LEAGUE is alive and well; our membership continues to grow and it now looks like I might finally have a little help as I have a member who wants to help. Darol has also now become a full-fledged Disney Cast Member and has expressed an interest in helping to keep the events going. Two weeks ago was the fourth annual Jeff Griffith Youth Center Volunteer Day. I love this benefit as its purpose is to help out a center designed to help homeless gay teenagers and young adults. If it’s possible, it was even more rewarding this year than in the past because a handful of friends joined me. I was on the committee and was assigned a room in the center to paint and clean. My friends, along with a couple of other volunteers, were assigned to me and we knocked out that big dining room. It is now bright, cheery and clean. This weekend, I donated some time to another entirely different cause. Operation Gratitude is an organization that puts together care packages for soldiers in Iraq. Again a group of friends joined me in the National Guard assembly lines where we packed boxes with goodies donated from companies like the Girl Scouts, Wrigley’s, Dr. Schoal’s, Target, AT&T, Fruit of the Loom, Sunkist and many, many others. It was the best way I could think to honor the meaning of Memorial Day. It was rewarding but also made me sad thinking about how excited these people get just to receive a box with a deck of cards and a Simpson’s Comic book. How many of these people who will be eating the Tiger’s Milk bar have seen some horrendous sights that will haunt them for the remainder of their lives? That is, assuming they do make it home. I definitely don’t want to get political right now but I really don’t see how anyone could have been working yesterday and not had similar thoughts. Probably the biggest news I have at the moment is that I am now officially the Secretary on the Coldwater-Ardmore Co-op Board! Yep, I’ve been saying I wanted to get involved for a while to work on changing some things and lo and behold, I’m approached by the Vice-President to run for this newly vacated seat. She came to my house on a Saturday while I was home working and just point blank told me my name had been the buzz around the building because they think I’m a responsible, courteous and a smart member of the Co-op. These seats rarely change hands because the board is made up almost entirely of older people who have held their positions for probably longer than I’ve been driving! One of the ladies was forced to step down as her husband is very ill and she needs to be with him. I was elected to my chair as of a week ago. My seat is for one year and then elections happen again. I attended my first Board meeting on Wednesday and was astounded to witness how archaic some of their practices are. The president is the only person under 60 and she couldn’t stop telling me how grateful she was to have me on the Board. They asked for my ideas for the Co-op. I had a list prepared: recycling bins, replacing all electrical sidewalk lighting with solar lights, adding a call-in notification system for the washers and dryers, automating our monthly financials (i.e. electricity, gas and water bill payments). They were excited and wanted to hear more details about all of them. Great. I always seem to do this to myself. How is it that I’m so good at creating more work for myself? Anyway, the main reason for my interest in the first place was to find a way to get the Co-op rules changed to allow shareholders the option of renting their unit. Enough new and younger shareholders have moved in over the past year – fifteen in all. I can’t imagine if this trend continues that people would be opposed to this idea. Assuming any prospective tenant is put through the same background check and interview process by the Board, I really don’t see why this would not be allowed. I have a great unit and I don’t relish the thought of selling it nor do I have any desire to live in it for more than a few years. Whew. I truly just did a complete brain dump. I really needed that. Now I can go back to working. Well, maybe just a little bit of The Godfather. I haven’t played in over two weeks! Ugh, my Manager just texted me. When will I actually have a day off?? I’ve forgotten what that is anymore. Tomorrow is Memorial Day. Let’s see if I can get through one entire day without doing anything work-related. Good frickin’ luck!

Thank You So Much Ellen Degeneres!!!

I went to a taping of The Ellen Degeneres Show last night. It was Tony’s (the DJ) final show. The first item on his agenda was to go back home and visit his family. So, Ellen gave him a trip to London… oh AND SHE GAVE TICKETS TO LONDON FOR EVERYONE ELSE IN THE AUDIENCE!!!!! Well, that’s all I got to report for the moment. Well that and that I’M GOING TO EUROPE FREE!!! Until next time… (Did I mention I’m going to the UK free?)

And So It Goes

And you know things And now I do too Like the time when And the day that We have come so far And held hands all the way To my empty palm Comfort knows not And then there’s the rest Wound up to tick Who shall be there When the time comes When the time comes We will seek the same As those who did before Struggle unlike none other Fruitless outcome Is destiny learned Along the way And so it goes And so it goes And so it goes The rhythm and the time A hole not to be fulfilled A debt never to be repaid Choices calculated Lives left to bear And to whom do we look When one’s absence Is to blame Until then The leaves will change The sun will rise And the ticking And the ticking And the ticking 17 May 2006

Too Much Death

Strange past few days. Outside of being completely buried in work, which has pretty much been consuming my life, I’ve had to once again deal with death. I finished watching the final season of Six Feet Under. Little did I know how timely it would be and for that reason it struck me to the core. Laura’s step-father suddenly and very unexpectedly passed away very early on Sunday morning. Without going into a lot of detail, he had been in the hospital for a separate, completely voluntary operation. He came out of it fine and as of last Thursday was walking, talking and ready to be released on Saturday. By Friday evening he had developed pneumonia and in less than 24 hours was on life support. He died in a coma at 2:00 AM on Sunday. This really is only the second person I knew that died so suddenly, with my Grandfather being the first. Everyone else in my life seemed to go expectedly because of whatever ailment he/she had leading up to it. Because of this, it was a little unnerving to go to his home and see how unprepared he was to end his life. He was a great woodworker and made some really incredible stuff. His niece has a young daughter. Jack was just about finished with a doll house he had made for her. Just a few furniture pieces left unpainted and the front door unattached. I spent a good part of yesterday trying to figure out just how his computer was set up since he for some unknown reason had tons of back-ups, including battery power should the electricity be out, connected to his system. I was in his bedroom trying to coax his cat from under his bed. She is hiding herself away; I think she senses something is wrong. Right next to the TV armoire is a pair of his shoes, almost just waiting for him to step into and use. Watching the aftermath of the demise of an integral part of a family struggle and try and make sense of death was a little spooky. The end of the Six Feet Under series was especially disturbing but at the same time comforting. Looking around the house where Jack and Laura’s Mom live, on the surface looks as though there is nothing ‘off’. I expect the grieving process will strike everyone at some point. I think right now everyone is in shock though, including me. I can’t say that Jack was well-liked by a lot of Laura’s family but he and I always got along. I’ll miss seeing his wise-cracking Republican t-shirts and hearing about some great website he discovered. Needless to say I’m exhausted and could barely stay awake at work today while I ran about a billion reports back to back. Still as my eyelids get heavier, I hope that all is going to be fine with Laura’s Mother. It’s going to be a big adjustment being without the person who’s been by your side for over 20 years.

Random Thoughts In Flight

Another month has passed this year. 2006 is flying by and yet so much has happened in four short months. I’m coming home tonight. In three hours I’ll be back in your eyes. Alarm sounds, one more Monday begins. This trip was cathartic. I needed it very badly. The mystique has been lifted and I feel better. I did it on my terms. Maybe that spine fracture has finally set right this time. I will continue on. I’ve much to learn still and yet my life is almost certainly half lived. I am much too smart to need to learn lessons twice, let alone three times. I’ve been watching the final season of Six Feet Under. I’m not sure I like that all these past characters are conveniently showing up. I hope there ends up being a reason for this. I’ve watched and loved this show from the series premiere. It is much too complex to be allowed to wrap up so neatly. My other most favorite show is not turning out to be the excitement that I had hoped for. Broken promises once again. This week will go slowly with my sidekick on vacation. Sometimes I think he came along in just the nick of time. How easily we found that common thread even though few would or will ever know it. If there’s one thing I can say that is good coming out of all of this pain it is what has grown between the two of us. He gets it, I get it. I know we are not the only ones; just two ‘lucky’ saps. Perhaps someday the others will. If so, my whole-hearted empathy will go out to them.