11:42 p.m. - 2004-03-17
Neptune and Pluto
Really nice way to wake up this morning. The phone rang and it was my supervisor wanting to discuss a possible new assignment. He ragged me a bit about still being asleep - it was 7:40 am, but I bet he hadn't been up exercising until 2:30 am the night before either - that's when I finished the bellydance tapes. He just laughed and said he'd sleep in if he got the chance too. The assignment is a "possible" right now. They are still negotiating with the company in question. The timing couldn't be better though. I paid off all my bills last night - so much for my tax refund. The bank account is getting really low. Elections Canada owes me for about three or four weeks work - haven't tallied the hours yet - but I won't see that cash any earlier than the end of next month the way things usually pan out. My supervisor sounded pretty upbeat so I'm glad things are going well for him - maybe that will be good for me too.
Next up shortly after, was a call from the VP of the company we both work for wanting to discuss the rental of their office building for the election.More careful negotiation - the problem is the timing of the election. We aren't privy to that decision until a few days before it is made so I can't give the company a date to plan for yet they need to proceed with the renovations that will facilitate their business. The upshot was that he would send me a proposal tomorrow. Hope we can make it work somehow.
Called Canada Post next - you guessed it - they appear to have "misplaced" the work I sent off last week to Elections Canada. I have the signed manifest and the tracking number as proof they took it but that won't help if the material is lost. "They'll get back to me". Argggh.
I guess I should be grateful the election call has been delayed though. Last week one of my key staff went for emergency surgery. Today another staff member had to leave town to deal with an untimely death in the family. Even if they return quickly I think it will need a bit of time before they will be able to cope with a cranky public. Two out of three people unavailable in a one week period. One of the lessons for staffing any undertaking where the timing is nebulous, is that one can expect at least one third of the people you want to work for you won't be available due to any number of life circumstances. I wish the reminders had been happier - you know the birth of a baby, or someone winning a trip or something where one can feel happy that they have something better to focus on at the time, but it is a good warning I guess.
Spent an hour or so talking with one of the other ROs and his staff by speaker phone helping iron out some more procedural issues. Just vegged out after that surfing the net. It's odd how one can find oneself on very unusual websites by clicking a perfectly normal link in a familiar web page though isn't it? Another synchronicity today around the information I've been studying about ethnobotany in the Caribbean countries and Africe. Today's link took me to two sites that dealt with another ancient herbal medicine. The plant is from the rainforests of Central Africa. Tabernanthe iboga. Iboga
The root has been used for sacred rituals among the Bwiti for centuries. In Europe where preparations have been available since the 1930's it is used to treat drug and alcohol addictions. It appears to work by blocking the neurophysical effects of withdrawal and inducing a dissociated psychological state that allows the addict to look at the source of the addictive patterns. There appears to be a need for only one or two doses of the plant material, with the proviso that the addict continue working with a counsellor to address the root causes of the addiction which usually appear to be some traumatic experience as a child. treatmentprotocols.
I'm not certain why this information on psychotropic drugs intertwined with indigenous spiritual practices from the Caribbean and Africa have been so consistently showing up wherever I look the past year, but there must be a need for the application of the knowledge somehow. Bwiti
In the past when something like this has occurred there was always a specific purpose. I guess I'll know in due time. Curious though. Turn on, tune in, drop out - or something like that? Maybe Carlos Castaneda and assemblage points? Maybe Sedna? Maybe none of the above or all of the above.
�
�
