12:04 a.m. - 2003-07-31
Rock On
Sheets of lightning across the night sky to the northwest right now. No rain but a bit cooler maybe. In the midst of it, an in-house foray by two of Miss Kitty's friends - one looks like he might be looking for a paternal visit. Kind of an electric day all around. That sense of things about to happen ready or not.
Woke up this morning to the sound of conflict. Went into the nursery and found two of the kittens locked in an embrace, batting at each other furiously with their tiny paws, extended icicles(claws)like needles. Mewling furiously they were. I separated them to cries of cat outrage. They crawled back into each others' arms as soon as I put them down. Ah brotherly - or sisterly - love.
All the babies' eyes are open now. They stop and peer up curiously whenever we come to visit. Today, while the two combatants continued, two others were trying their best to climb out of the box and on into the unknown. The littlest one was crawling all over mom nipping her ears, pulling her whiskers, butting her head into mom's chin. She rolled on her back, little legs flailing in a bicycling motion, trying to right herself. Mom just rolled her eyes and put one paw across the little one's belly to calm her down. Things to come.
Phone call from my contact for my current assignment. Would I mind spending Friday in their office. Deadline day; everything must be done and out to the intervenors' hands. Not a problem. I'm hoping they won't mind me having a copy of their complete presentation myself. If I happen to have the time, at the end of October, I'm hoping I can attend the hearing itself. I've always wanted to view the process, but never really had the right incentive to go. There is a fear too, of seeming foolish because of a lack of understnding of the discussion. This time I have some time to research first and an insider view of the preparation. Couldn't be a better opportunity.
Shortly after, a call from my new co-worker. Just checking to see how things are progressing and letting me know that my paycheque had been issued. I asked her if she'd mind asking our client for feedback. It's been a long time since I worked for someone who was more interested in the end product rather than saving money at the expense of the process. Although I always try to maintain the integrity the data, I'm sometimes afraid that the constant pressure to compromise on quality has eroded my ability to do the best work possible. This is feedback I would value.
E-mail from my walking partner at the last assignment, her workload is overwhelming right now. I emailed back and asked if we could meet on Friday. It would be nice to have dinner with her and spend some quality time exchanging news. She's someone I quite admire.
Big event of the day was a bit of a surprise. I mentioned the benefit concert in Toronto with the Rolling Stones being simulcast in Calgary about a week ago, dear diary. The scope of the project expanded considerably so that it was also simulcast to Canadian and American troops serving overseas in about ten different hotspots, plus to some other western communities hit hard by the international beef ban. Now, I've always felt such events are much better experienced live, but I liked all the groups in the line up, so I thought I'd have the tv on while I did other work. Ended up sitting on the sofa basically glued to the visuals.
Why? Half a million people all jammed around a mainstage for 11 hours in searing heat. From a sky shot, evidence of people respecting the request not to sit on the runway -the concert being held in an old airfield. Mounties readily evident in their red serge uniforms for crowd control, but none appeared necessary. Everyone was there to play and so were the bands/singers. Water was a problem, just as at Woodstock, but for the opposite reason. Then rain, leaky water trucks, and mud, now not enough around so water cannons used to cool the crowd.
I recalled the question I had last week about why I was being reminded of the '60's rock scene so strongly in one morning and wondering what the sychronicity might mean. Today the second instalment. Sam Roberts' song "Brother Down", took me right back to that earlier time of protest and community action. Watching the Tea Party do their song "Sister Awake" reminded me of the Doors. Sass Jordan and The Guess Who - "American Woman", once they hit their stride, hadn't lost their charisma or energy. A Quebecois band, La Chicane, sang a wonderful ballad - most of which I could follow even en francais. The lead singer looked and sounded a lot like my number two son. Then the Stones. The part of their set shown on TV was their classics - the songs that I truly did love in their early career. What was so enthralling is that they don't really have appeared to age in looks, skill, or energy. Their onstage presence was still enough to keep me spell bound for a while. And to send me back in my mind to a sense or a feeling that I haven't had in a while. Things haven't really changed much in terms of global human conflict over the past 33 years (when will they ever learn), but neither has the will and desire to find a more humane way to work through it. That feeling I'd lost? A sense of hope for the future, I guess. Maybe there's still a chance despite the current crop of world leaders who choose violence as their first option rather than their last.
Oh, and that resemblance to the flamboyant rock star I was accused of? I found some photos of her younger self on the web. Ummm well yeah, I guess - we both look great in black and purple and I love Odetta's music too.
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