“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart . . .” ~ William Wordsworth
I woke up today very out of sorts, and I really don’t know why. I did have disturbing dreams again, but that doesn’t usually affect my mood for the entire day, just for the first few minutes immediately after waking. When Corey asked me what was wrong, I didn’t have an answer for him. I hate having an unspecified case of the blahs. If I am going to feel this way, I think that I should at least have a reason.
Corey had his orientation last night. Everything went fine; although, he wasn’t too impressed with the two other people in class with him. One arrived fifteen minutes late and texted during class. How rude. The company’s website purports that they only hired ex-service people; however, neither of the other two men were ex-service. One worked for the City of Virginia Beach in heavy equipment, and I don’t remember what he said the other man used to do.
I am awfully glad that Corey has a job for now, but I must admit to being a bit confused. This company supplies port security for one of the largest ports in the world. If the caliber of people they hire is less than optimum, what kind of security is being provided for our ports? Just saying.
“This is. And thou art. There is no safety. There is no end. The word must be heard in silence. There must be darkness to see the stars. The dance is always danced above the hollow place, above the terrible abyss.” ~ Ursula Le Guin, The Farthest Shore
Let’s see. At this precise moment, my desk is filled to overflowing with forms—forms that have been completed and printed, waiting to be sent; forms that have yet to be completed, that require me to find information from yet another source, the location of which I may or may not know; forms that are now obsolete because too much time has passed and yet another form has been sent to replace the old form.
All of this leads me to two conclusions:
- I need to clean my desk . . . desperately.
- Too many trees are still being felled for paper, which is redundant since so much of this paperwork can now be accomplished electronically. I mean, I was astonished to learn today that one form had to be faxed but couldn’t be e-mailed. I don’t understand.
Now, having alighted upon the above, one would think that I would clean my desk by taking care of the forms; however, it is so much easier to push things to the side and just write this post, all while using my precious metal Pica ruler to scratch my back, usage for which it was surely not intended. My collection of metal Pica rulers comes from my past in the newsroom, that is how old the rulers are. They are part of my ruler collection. Of course I have a ruler collection just as I have a pen collection and paper collection.
In other people’s houses this stuff is referred to as clutter. In my little world, this stuff is known as collections. I like my terminology better.
“Give me silence, water, hope
Give me struggle, iron, volcanoes” ~ Pablo Neruda
In other stupid news . . .
- Reportedly, Kate Gosselin did a terrible job on DWTS (no, didn’t watch). Such a surprise. Now go home and take care of your eight children.
- A teen pageant queen who was featured in an episode of “Wife Swap” is suing the network, claiming that scenes that showed her in a bad light were exaggerated. Hmm, the teen’s mom had previously said, “I feel the way to Alicia’s happiness is, give her everything she wants. Don’t give her any rules. Why upset her?” Is anyone surprised by the resultant actions?
- Kim Kardashian has ended her relationship with her boyfriend, Reggie Bush. Oh. So sad. In the world of real people this rates right up there with Kate Gosselin’s failure to drive men mad with her waltz.
- Everyone is feeling sad for Sandra Bullock because it turns out her husband Jesse James had an affair with the tattooed woman. Really? A man who prefers freakish to a seemingly down-to-earth beauty who is so non-threatening . . . Even Betty White is sad
- And oh, by the way, President Obama signed into legislation healthcare reform that was pushed through Congress solely by the Democrats. And no, the world didn’t end. We didn’t suddenly begin to salute swastikas. No one seems to be calling for immediate reforms to an agrarian society. Damn. All of those poor repubs didn’t manage to derail the historic legislation that might actually help people. Of course, the debate rages on, with various people calling for repeal of the law, various lawsuits (including one from my forward-thinking home state), ya da ya da ya da. Sorry. I cannot hear you. I’m basking, however brief it may be.
Seriously, though, the legislation does some pretty cool things, including making it mandatory for insurance carriers to cover children until age 26 (which actually takes into consideration how many more young people are staying at home). Also big is the action that makes it illegal to drop a child for a pre-existing condition, gets rid of lifetime caps, and very big, prohibits cancellation of policies for people who get sick.
Now, with this in mind, would someone please tell me how these things are going to sent our country into a tailspin? Pleez. If you want a concise breakdown of how the legislation will affect you, take a look at this NY Times article.
More later. Peace.
Missy Higgins, “The Sound of White”
Lola's Curmudgeonly Musings 