March 31, 2004
Open Book
My boss called me an "open book" today.
Is that a good thing? Or not? Post a comment or email and let's discuss what you think...
March 29, 2004
The Kitchen Sink
Everything but the kitchen sink; or in this case, nothing but the kitchen sink bathed in the long low light of early spring dusk.
Another weekend sped by... bereft of any real fun, just lots of laundry, housecleaning and other tedious errands. Blah...
But we did reserve tuxedos for a formal event next Saturday. I had thought maybe the time to actually buy one was here... but after contemplating the thought of dropping at least a grand on a garment that one might only actually wear once or twice a year at best, I changed my mind. Better to buy a decent suit that I could actually use...
My one request at the formal wear shop brought a smile from the clerks.
"Please don't let us look like the top of a gay wedding cake."
March 23, 2004
3 Minutes for Global Puppitation
More puppy pictures... god help me if the grand canyon was within driving distance. These were taken and posted within three minutes. Maybe I need to work for CNN.
March 19, 2004
Spring Shadows
The sun reflects so low in the days just before spring arrives. This is a dining room chair reflected in such a light that existed for only 10 minutes yesterday afternoon just before sunset.
Everybody seems to be on a vacation, spring breakish... and yet still I am attached to my laptop working furtively in a seemingly endless dance to the death. Flayed and fractured is me. But I feel less like complaining, and more like take-me-out-to-fucking-dinner. Let's just see if that occurs...
There is another thing happening more and more that seems to need mentioning. You might know of it... it's the scenario where you realize that you are acting like yourself, honestly and truly, and then later on see your father's or mother's influence after the fact... and you realize you are becoming just like him or her, reflected against past time.
They raised you, and you rebelled. They didn't understand you at the time. And here you are now, maybe sharing their waistline measurements and baldness among so many other things as adults.
It is a reflected shadow of sorts.
March 18, 2004
Working
It's so much fun when your work is interesting. These days I wake up excited at what the work day will bring. It is a blessing.
He just wants to dig...
March 11, 2004
Leaving
An old friend from high school lost his wife this week. A family friend was found dead in her house, surrounded by squalor despite her substantial wealth. Another friend calls to tell us her dear friend, whom we met at a dinner party last fall, died last week after a sudden and fruitless battle with a vicious cancer.
Leaving and loss... grief and redemption; is all around us. But what can you do to show empathy... send a lousy fruit basket?
My parents are role models in this regard; caring and supportive. They have provided a good road map to follow along this bittersweet journey. You can't avoid it, as we all leave eventually.
March 2, 2004
Get me a sharp pencil please
Ack. I am surrounded by a team of auditors. Literally.
They had been working in a board room, but I came in this morning to find our entire pod of cubicles taken over by the children of the corn, so young and earnest, from Ernst & Young.
March 1, 2004
Permanent Resident
I stood in line today, waiting to receive my permanent resident card, which is now required to regain admission to Canada if you leave the country and are not a citizen, but a legal immigrant. The application was received during the last week of August, and is supposed to take about 12 weeks or so.
Mine was ready to be picked up today, March 1st of the following year. Go Canadian government bureaucracy! Twelve weeks becomes about seven months. Is this related to the current sponsorship scandal reverberating through the Liberal party?
Uptown on the subway to get the card... taking the subway, which I don't do much anymore. Zip, I'm there but get off on the wrong floor and gain admission to a room where many are gathered to receive Canadian citizenship that day... complete with photographers, and kids in Sunday dress-up clothes, orbiting around their anxious parents. For a moment I imagined myself doing this, taking the oath of Citizenship in an anonymous midtown office building.
But today I just pick up the card, after a brief interview with a clerk. The room is filled with Russian, Italian, Polish and Asian dialects. How many American's have lined up for this new identity card I wonder...