03:49 - 02.04.06
daylight saving time
When JK Rowling wants to release more information about the Harry Potter book she is writing, she provides hints on her official website. It is an interactive game where one has to use what one has learned from previous books and movies to find the clues that allow one into the next level of information. Fans become really excited when the "do not disturb" sign is removed and the door to her study/the room of requirement opens. That happened a couple of days ago. Yesterday I was able to get through all the steps and found that the "reward" was the opportunity to take the WOMBAT test. It is supposed to be modelled after the OWL and NEWT exams that are set for Hogwarts students but with no magic other than one's memory allowed. There is a time limit for responding to the questions and they do demand both an extensive knowledge of the different disciplines that are taught as well as deductive reasoning for the balance of the questions. At the end of the test one is issued with a certificate that one is supposed to keep until one's test is marked. Apparently it is the first step of Ms Rowling's revelations as to what will be in book seven. What does become clear in the exam is that the animal kingdom has a much bigger role to play for example as do the uses of herbs. The other thing one might want to keep a list of is the artefacts that have been mentioned or created through the series. There are several other hints sown throughout the site that seem to indicate that such things as runes - which are an integral part of celtic and norse mythology - will also be part of the plot line. Messages coming through these and the animals. Reading books like "The Tales of Prydain" (Black Cauldron) by Lloyd Alexander, The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper, Hans Christain Andersen and the Brothers Grimm fairytales and the Mabinogian which is the celtic book of theology/mythology might help with the more subtle clues that are being offered. All deal with the sublimated shadow that Freud and Jung speak of when they discuss human personality. Hmmmmmmmm.
Today was rather quieter. Yesterday the one friend I volunteered with for many years called and asked if she could drop off a couple of shelving units she wanted to rid of from her home as she is trying to simplify her life too. I have no storage space at all since pulling the house apart so I was really grateful for the offer. We had first discussed the idea just before the election. She had wanted me to take them then, but with everything else going on at the time I just couldn't handle one more thing - dumb as that sounds. She was good enough tho store them for me over the winter but it was obvious she really wanted that space they were taking up released for other things now. In the afternoon yesterday she called to say she wanted to bring the one over immediately. I really didn't feel up to lifting something that heavy yet, but agreed because I had already inconvenienced her enough. Went outside to await her arrival and started picking up the detritus that blows into the yard over winter. The stencilled orange leaf bags that I use for Hallowe'en decorations had finally been released from the frozen ground on which they sat so my youngest and I hauled those around to the back yard too. I was just wearing shorts and a pullover - no shoes - because I wasn't expecting to be outside for very long; she had said she was on her way. I think she must have got stuck in traffic because it was a while before she pulled up to the curb behind the neighbour's truck - the one he always parks right in front of our sidewalk. When my friend arrived she helped us get the one shelving unit to the door and then we carried it upstairs. I was feeling fine up until then, but I think the combination of being out in the pollen laden air and then the exertion carrying that unit up the stairs set me back lungwise again. I've been fighting to breathe since. Finally took some antihistamines that I swore I would try not to use because I had run out of other options. Meant I was up almost all night long. Woke up today to find that that same frined had come by sometime in the morning today and propped the second shelving unit up against my front door. I don't recall hearing either the phone ring or knocking on my door. I felt really guilty for not being there to thank and help her and I am hoping she didn't lift it by herself. I did call her home to talk with her but her hubby said she wasn't in. I feel like a bad friend but I really don't know how to change things either. When someone does a favour like that for you they should be treated with the greatest respect and attention - right? I hate having dropped the ball on that and I'll have to try and find a way to make amends when next we talk.
Other than that all I did today was help my youngest edit his resume - girlfriends are so expensive - and he also wants his own laptop so he can work on his game designs without the fear of losing his work. My PC seems to be attacked with viruses and other such things about quarterly and I think he feels that the stand alone unit will give him more protection. I don't know if he can really make a living that way, but one should follow their bliss I guess. This article about one of my high school classmates underscores that nicely - the "Father of Java", who'd a thunk. Good on him. I also talked with my trainer from the election today. We have been trying to get together since voting day to do an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the training program based on the performances noted for the 500 or so people who worked in polling stations on election day. Given how I felt today and the fact that she has started her second seasonal job we agreed that the meeting we had tentaviely scheduled for tomorrow would need to be postponed. She said that the negotiations with the school board for her primary job were not going well. Her union has not had a contract for about two years now. The local board has settled with all the other bargaining units and given themselves raises of over 3% - which is about cost of living - but they will not give her bargaining unit - mostly made up of single moms with school aged children - the same rate. The proposal on the table now is for half of that of everyoe else and they will not consider arbitration. My friend is not a single mom and so doesn't have to worry about not having any money to put food on the table literally but she fully understands the reluctance of her co-workers to go on strike. The other power the board has is that they lay all her unit off at the end of the school year and don't assign staff their hours or postings until the second week in September when student counts are in. That is reasonable given that it allows the board to use their personnel in the most effective way to meet the needs of their students. However it can also be used as a weapon against anyone who "steps out of line". They are the ones who just might find their hours cut to a minimum or that there is no placement for them. Those workers usually pick up summertime jobs to tide them over since they receive no wages during the break so they are left in double jeopardy in many ways. The school based work does allow them some benefits I think but the summer jobs do not. The school board can afford to just wait them out knowingly placing these single parent families at great financial jeopardy. My frined says she could handle that if they treated all their other employees and themselves the same with respect to wages but feels that they are exploiting the vulnerability of so many of her co-workers. What about their children? The upshot sadly, is that she thiks that a rotating strike in a few weeks might mean she has more free time for me then. I'm hoping that I'll feel much more energized by then and that parliament - which reconvenes on Monday - won't dissolve untimely any time in the next few months. We'll see. Hopefully the strikes won't be necessary and she'll be too busy looking after her students.
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