02:23 - 01.09.05
In synch
The neighbour across the street seemed to be waiting for me to join her at the bus stop after work today. There are about 4 busses I can take depending where I want to end up - groceries, pharmacy, home, or park. Today I did want the bus she usually takes, but there was some confusion about where to board given that city maintenance crews had torn up most of the pavement in the staging area. No helpful signs anywhere. The bus finally arrived and stopped dead in the middle of the mess. Fine. A little bit of chit chat since she was looking as though she had had one of "those" days. First question out of my mouth was "do you want to talk about it?" She did a bit and we traded tales of woe for a bit. Then she dropped the bomb. Her hubby had called about an hour ago and said our street was full of police and their vehicles. Focus of their activity? The area between our two dwellings. By this time, I think my eyes had become the size of saucers - that deer in the headlights look. Now what? Apparently there was a new immigrant who just found things too overwhelming and had lost his cool. "A Nutter" is what one of the police said to her hubby when he asked for a description of the "suspect". They just wanted to get him some place where both the people in the community and he would be guaranteed some safety. That I can deal with. It was a bit odd, but this morning I had taken a box of baking soda outside with me because I had noticed a pile of used cat litter near my front door. Don't know how it got there, since we take the garbage bags out on the balcony in the back then down to the alley, but whatever. It smelled, so I wanted to clear it up before there was complaining again. Scattered the powder along the edge of the house. On a whim, I propped that box up against the house rather than taking it to the bin at the back, even though I walk past that on my way to the bus. I was actually afraid that the neighbour would accuse me of spreading something noxious on the side yard and I thought the box sitting there might defuse his attack. Come to think of it, the police might not think about it being a baking substance either, so it turned out to be a very good thing I followed that little voice at the back of my mind.
To be getting on with things, next I told the neighbour about the late night animal mauling incident and then talk turned to things election. You see, I got an email from Elections Canada a couple of days ago. "By the way.. " a new assignment is coming. Mid September and over 120 hours worth of work. Deadline? Appears they want it all back by October 1st - 2005 that is. Now I work full time remember. If I have absolutely no wobbles in the time space continuum, then I can probably pull that off, but then we get a notice of a "mandatory" two day meeting with the regional rep set for a Thursday and Friday the week before the assignment is due. Nothing like having one's regular job jeopardized by such draconian demands is there? Oh and by the way hire, train and supervise three other people to do tasks. Where is that supposed to happen? In my home. Right. No one is going to be in my home unsupervised. Now that the inside is torn apart, I don't want anyone in it period. And when am I supposed to fit that in, in a two week period carrying the hours for the two full time positions I'm being asked to cover. Arrrgh. I'll address that little bit on the weekend, I think. Maybe the communication from EC was not clear either. Maybe I'll just verify the timeline before I go off the deep end, eh? Could be worse I suppose. I could be in Louisiana trying to salvage my life from the deluge. Our government just about has it's first shipment of supplies and people ready to go and the company I work for is asking all employees to help out. All one can do is try to add to the resources available one bit at a time I guess.
I've been reading F David Peat's book "Synchronicity" on my commute - when I'm not hearing stories that is. Started a whole sequence of them in my own life it seems. Remember I talked about Christmas songs on my diskman the other day? One of the supervisors I like wandered up yesterday afternoon to show me the treasures she found on sale at the major department store one block over. Christmas decorations 75% off. Now, I had been wondering what I was going to do, since all my decorations disappeared in to that garbage bin for the deconstruction of my home. Went by at lunch and found I could pick up a full tree's worth of pretty glass ornaments for next to nothing. There weren't even crowds. Part of that was because I had to take a late lunch. There are still problems with the wiring and connections for our computers/workstations. The electrician had to get behind my work area to try and trace the next problem that has cropped up. When I returned with my armloads of goodies, I asked him if Fred, our ghost, was at it again. He said that there was something really strange going on in the wall wiring. Means he had to spend tonight tearing it apart and trying to rewire and add some additional circuits - or whatever they use these days. Uh huh.
Just after the electrician left, my phone rang. It was the company liaison for some of their employee development programs - specifically the yoga in my case. Would I come talk with her about the issues raised in the responses I had made in their survey about the effectiveness of the program. I hadn't intended to say anything until I had that visit from the other woman in the workplace who has the genetic connective tissue syndrome. I really resented the disrespect for my privacy that was shown by the instructor. That was the final straw, I think. I withdrew attending when she wouldn't leave me alone physically or verbally during asanas, even after I explained the syndrome's effect to her. I had intended just to remain silent about why, until she disclosed the medical information. The interviewer seemed very nice and we had a discussion about respect and boundaries, as well as an understanding about how to teach a complex activity such a yoga to a group of students whose range of exposure to the discipline and skill levels was quite diverse. I was one of several people who didn't come back after the first few sessions. The interviewer said no one else had spoken up, so they had no other information to go on. I don't really want to cause any trouble, but silence is consent to the continuation of some disturbing behaviour by the instructor. I explained I thought it was because she was young and inexperienced with respect to the principles of teaching. May be some extra training for her would help. Don't know.
When I had gone to get my first cup of coffee this morning one of the other supervisors I like was there making her breakfast. She asked if the meeting promised between me and our Texas counterpart had occurred. No. Neither had hers I guess. We both felt better knowing that we were being dealt with in the same manner. At a guess, our supervisor felt that the confusion of getting direction from two different sources - likely conflicting direction from the sounds of things - wasn't fair to us. I don't know the hierarchy of command or decision making between the US and Canadian records teams. I've truly tried to track it through the company internet, but there is no definitive answer for my questions. I'm glad my coworker thought to ask me though I was feeling pretty stressed about said meeting, whether it occurred or was cancelled. Hard not to personalize it.
The last of our summer students quit today too. In her farewell email, she noted she would be doing fund development at one of the local art galleries. A few days ago I emailed the one friend who is an artist and who exhibits her work locally, to see if we could get together for lunch. There seems to be a further connection with respect to the synchronicities playing out here too. The other person I am trying to spend some time with works with seniors, setting up programs and fund raising. The fundraising and program development is what the two of us have in common having shared those duties for our community for years. Does this connection imply some sort of joint effort in the future. That would be way cool.
Anyway it's very late and I need some sleep. Remind me to tell you about the conversations with my sister and Dad tomorrow dear diary. That and the big 100th birthday party for the Province. Good night.
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