11:05 p.m. - 2002-10-30
Coincidence
"Curiouser and Curiouser" according to Alice of the Adventures in Wonderland fame. There is an observation that the more sychronicities occur in your life the more the universe is letting you know you're on the right path. No such thing as coincidence.
First synchronicity. While I was verifying the facts for my earlier essay on Indonesia/Bali I came across a cryptic passage that noted that Darwin, Australia had been shelled by the Japanese during WW II. I e-mailed my cousin who lives there just for verification. Today he sent back the web address of their military museum - www.epmm.com.au - so I could research as I wished. The Japanese had headed for Darwin right after Pearl Harbour. The Aussies and the US Navy tried to hold them off on the island of Timor in Indonesia. Between February of 1942, when their first attack on Darwin killed over 250 people - half Aussie and half American - and November of 1943, there were 64 raids, similar amounts of artillery dispensed as on Hawaii, and a total of about 500 more fatalities. Where it became really weird was that one of the Aussie generals assigned to defend Darwin, who had just come home from the Middle East campaign against Rommel, had the same name as my cousin. His name isn't all that common but he emigrated to Australia from Canada when he was 20 in the 1960's. When I e-mailed back to ask if there was a family tie, my cousin just responded it was spooky and he would get back to me.
Second sychronicity. My favorite astrologer - www.astrofish.net - sends out a weekly analysis of life as seen in the stars for each sun sign. The comments for my sun sign for the week noted that something was seriously amiss in the chain of command just above me at work and suggested making myself invisible. When I looked at my astrological chart last weekend I had the same thoughts about not being too visible. The planet that "rules" my sun sign is moving from backwards to forward motion this coming weekend. It is usually characterized as the bolt out of the blue. It is standing on top of the planet that governs communication - means shocking news or insight. In addition, it is in direct opposition to the planet ruling power, sex, transformation, and death. The mediator(square)between the two is the planet of the taskmaster/lessons. Quite frankly, I was planning to check under my bed for snakes and scorpions and, if the coast was clear, climb under there with my blankie, a couple of good books, and a stash of dark chocolate until this weekend passed. Obit - "Death by Chocolate".
In the real world of course, I've been noting that something was wrong at work for some time now. The truth is, I haven't been in to work the past couple of days because again, there has been no effort to locate the missing documents that are required to wrap up the project. Yesterday though, my supervisor called to say the liaison had requested access to the most recent electronic version of one of our spreadsheets that has nothing directly to do with the problems at hand. Because it was kind of fruitless for me to spend two hours traveling for about 15 minutes of work time, my supervisor went in to their worksite today and I guided him by phone through the various passwords and security devices that would allow him to e-mail the document to her. Later this morning, he called from his office and we went through a similar process to forward the electronic spreadsheet requested on Friday by the liaison from the first contract we worked on together - I'm amazed I still remembered the passwords.
I did ask my supervisor, during the conversation, if there was any way he could give me some idea how much more "down time" there was going to be. If I hadn't worked that second job earlier this year, I'd be in real trouble right now financially and, quite honestly, I resent having to spend the money I'd set aside for home improvements and Christmas on living expenses while waiting for resolution of this matter. I would really like to continue working with my current supervisor because he is such a great teacher, but I can't wait much longer. He really couldn't say and he sounded stressed. However, the truth is I'm very uncomfortable going into that workplace anymore and I've been hoping something else would present itself to the records management company that I could move over to. Maybe that shocking news thing will clear out the fog.
I had actually been thinking it might be worth a few days less pay, despite my grumbling, to stay home, chase out the most disrespectful dust bunnies and work on building up my health a little more. I know the work stress has really been hard on my body and when the doctor cut my prescription to the lowest amount, my physical response was less than stellar; I had to stop the Ashtanga yoga because of the reactions I was having. I do carry on shimmying but that doesn't build strength. After I spoke with my boss today, I reconciled myself to not working this week and decided to read some of the herbal/health books I've been trying to get to for over a year. One of them provided some information that I have been searching the web for for months in the first few pages. In addition, I switched over to my Iyengar yoga tape - the one with Ali McGraw and Erich Schiffman. I actually like it better because it is technically more challenging, builds strength in all the areas where I've really lost ground, and it's a longer workout as well. However, I was afraid that it might cause a worse reaction than the Ashtanga - not so! My body was much happier with this workout - must be the ujjayi breathing.
Third sychronicity. The friend who is getting packaged is looking for work. Today the newspaper had two ads that described her almost to a tee in terms of qualifications and personality. The banking industry here rarely advertises - they don't need to - and they don't ever ask for the skills and details that were in these ads. I hope it works out for her.
Three big sychronicities and several subsidiary ones all in one day. I hope "they" are right.
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