06:22 - 23.12.06
a-musing
Happy Solstice and dark of the moon in Sagittarius! I hope you celebrated accordingly. The gift I liked best was from JK Rowling. She released the name of her final book and provided an interactive game on her website for those who wanted a puzzle to go with their prize. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is already in pre-sale mode. I received my notice yesterday. No date of release yet though.
Thursday was an interesting day. All those connections between busses and train were just enough out of synch that I missed each change by half a minute. Frustrating to watch your chariot pull away just as you have it in sight. Oh well. It did allow me one last conversation with the one female driver. She took the time to explain all the alternative routes available if those missed connections happen again. A lot of the bus drivers do take a proprietary interest in their regular passengers - helping and chivvying them wherever they can. I think because their work as social workers is unheralded and unsupported it takes a major toll on their lifespan. Another of the drivers I knew well - from volunteer activities - died this week not yet old enough to retire. Too many of the good people in transit end up the same way.
My grandaughter was in play mode when I arrived. That was a good thing because two of the family channels we usually have on were both out of commission for the entire day. No big deal. We did watch a concert on Bravo. She loves the diversity of music offered. We read about 50 pages of The Chamber of Secrets - past the polyjuice escapade - and then watched Muppet Treasure Island again. She loves the pirate song by actor Tim Conway. Laughs all the way through it. He does do a great Rodgers and Hammerstein operetta pirate at that. While she slept I filled out that passport application, watched What the Bleep Do We Know and exercised a bit. Busy day.
In the evening, I found communications from two of the local Returning Officers. Turns out that nearly 40% of the positions in this region are being posted for bids, mine included. Since I had a very good evaluation and a letter from the number two in command stating that they would further discuss the concerns I raised during that process with me, I contacted that person to ask if it had been listed in error given that due process had not been served. No response yet. That was why my assistant has been calling me. She is more distressed about it than I am. She says she doesn't want to take over as RO and asked if I would take the assistant position and accept the additional fees that usually go with the primary position. I doubt that would work if there really is a beef with me at the regional or head office level. Other than the all party inquiry into elector fraud that put the ceo on the hot seat there has been no indication of any logical reason for the decision.
The one Returning Officer who called is also being posted and his comments about the corruption he found on his elector's list and the response he received when he reported it to head office - denial and reproof - tend to reinforce that as an issue. He asked me to re-send the spreadsheet I had collated from the confirmed examples of corruption on our list to head office again. It has nearly 100 entries of elector reported errors. We didn't have to do any sleuthing - it is just what the public came forward to report on their own personal information.
Of course paranoia starts to creep in and all sorts of other scenarios offer themselves up as speculation. Does the blocking of my older posts to you, dear diary, indicate that someone in head office stumbled across them and wants to supress that even though I already have a block on search engines? When I was discussing reasons with my assistant she got really heated when I explained that the local rep, even during the time I was just working on my assignments this summer and fall tried to forbid me to talk with any other Returning Officer or staff member at head office. I refuse to be gagged as far as working with my peers, especially when after trying to work through her I find I can't get any of the answers that are critical to doing the job I am being asked to do. After a month or three of waiting for critical information I've requested to be provided by her, I have no option but to talk to the task owner in question. She still is holding back the data that will allow my staff to be paid as well.
The other Returning Officer, whose ED is being left in her hands, who contacted me is the one who chortled as she noted she was deducted one mark on her evaluation for being consistently impatient with head office staff during the event. She stated that she had made it policy to be mean to the "first tiers" on a daily basis. I was deducted one mark for that too, for being impatient ONCE, as stated on the evaluation - I know there were a couple of other incidents and I posted them because it was a refusal to provide and an attempt to obstruct me by the recipient - that was the reason for my bad behaviour. The fact that different standards are being applied in our evaluations has long been known, although that is also something the local rep has forbidden us to discuss amongst ourselves. That Returning Officer is one of the peers who has come to me for help when head office or the local rep won't follow through on their responsibilities. In fact, if I count it up, I think that nine or ten of my peers called me as a go-to person last event when their concerns weren't met from the designated sources. I also received calls from Returning Officers not in my region without soliciting any of their questions. So how does that figure. No rational explanation from me, my assistant or the other Returning Officers for the decision made at head office. That being the case maybe it was just an error on their part. Hard to know when no response to any of our queries is forthcoming.
Today I headed off to see my chiropractor one last time before he flies off to spend Christmas with his wife's family down east - if the flights aren't delayed or cancelled. One of the requirements of the passport application is to have someone from one of the designated professions listed - including chiropractors - sign your application as a guarantor. He inked both mine and my youngest's which pleased my son greatly. Apparently he has cyber-buddies that he's corresponded with for over a year in Ohio. They've invited him to visit them in the spring. As his mom, I'm quite leery about it because I've never talked with or met them. However my son is now 19 and I can't prevent him from going if he decides he wants to go. I did insist that he book a hotel room rather than staying at any of their homes. That way if their cyber personalities or lifestyles aren't what they have portrayed he at least will have a safe place to go to. Worry worry......
On the way home, I was tapped on the shoulder just as we were passing city hall. It was one on the young women I enjoyed spending time with when I worked at her company five years ago. She came up from behind me and recognized me immediately. Given that I had just had a very bad passport photo taken - you know the joke about "if you actually look like your photo you know you're in trouble"? I looked really sick. I have to admit that with the weight loss - oh joy I am fitting into even smaller size dresses again - my skin is still not as tight as it should be in the face and my complexion is really sallow because of the recent blood loss. I just don't want that brought home to me with a permanent photo. I was consoling myself that the only way for me to go was up, but was wondering how anyone I hadn't seen for some time would recognize me. I guess that was the cosmos answering my question. We spent our trip together catching up on family stories and she reminisced about her country of origin in South America's Christmas traditions. It was poignant to think that one would have to give up all those treasured traditions in order to fit in here. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to emigrate to another country. I'm not certain I'd have the jam to see it through. No Rocky Mountains on my doorstep would do me in.
Arrived home and researched most of the afternoon. Looking for clues to the conundrum set by the one Returning Officer's questions and requests. Actually spent most of my time listening to the Youtube music I have linked with. Some posts all the links were intact and on some all had been blocked due to disputed ownership. Oh well. I did find more of the music I had originally been searching for had been posted and that made me happy. Where else would I be allowed to sing along with the Bee Gees or Phil Collins (no room at the inn) or Cher or Joan Baez and Bob Dylan or Pavarotti and Jon Bon Jovi or Sir Paul. You get my drift. The cats enjoyed the concert as well it seemed. Could be that they were still high on the catnip my youngest had brought home for them last night for their Christmas present though. Whatever. I need to go wake said young man up so he can get off to work. Talk with you later dear diary.
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