Yes, I feel like I have enough miscellany to continue with the rambling format:
Something My Grandfather Said About America (a Country He Loved and Fought For) in 2001
"Even a fool can see it's winding down."
How right you were, Grandpa. This is the same guy who told my brother he "was nothing" if he didn't carry a handkerchief. I'm reminded of him when I watch The Godfather sometimes: he was a handsome Italian man who played the blues guitar, and he was certainly perceptive at the end of his years.
The World These Days. Sheesh, Part II
What I meant to say, yesterday, about the disconcerting state of world affairs, is that we seem to be discombobulated. I've always liked that word, and yesterday that was what I was going for. We're discombobulated. It's not bad - as my partner has been saying, there's also re-combobulation, and that's pretty good. And you can't get re- without first going dis-, right? Still, they can be hard on us.
Sometimes during these times, there's something astrological going on. I've mentioned my relationship with astrology before, but it's not typical: I think it's a beautiful descriptive language, that the planets represent living qualities of intelligence, and by reflecting on how they interact, we can see how internal and external forces shape our own lives - it's just a way of externalizing our journey, so we can better understand it. But whatever you think, Mercury is going retrograde - well, just about now, in a few hours, where it will stay until August 8th, when it begins to move forward. I was mentioning the increased traffic incidents?
I ran into a co-worker, who spoke of constant communication problems, even while he praised the region-wide quarterly conference call I did yesterday afternoon - I don't like leading those awkward behemoths of meetings, when everyone has to be on mute because of the background noise, and I feel like I'm talking to myself for an hour. Yesterday, I had good news about one of my company's programs that is part of our mission (you know, the soft heart part of us), and which we're breathing new life into, and this co-worker was one who politely chimed in, got himself un- and then re-muted, just to say, "Yes, I think this is a GREAT idea! I support this. That's all I wanted to say." So, I already know he's a communicating trooper, and I thought - if HE'S having issues on the cusp of this celestial event (he specifically said, when I asked how are you, "Well, this Mercury retrograde!"), what hope have I?
I Have Always Depended Upon the Kindness of Strangers
But there is hope, though. I mentioned some challenges recently, and one of them was event-planning-related. Every year, I plan my regional office's annual team build. We didn't have an annual team build for many years, but we started recently, and I've planned the first two, and now, the third. This one was more in my hands than others, in some ways, because it was a brainchild of my creative and innovative boss - she really does have idea that made me say "That is why they pay you the big bucks" - and it's sometimes harder to carry out someone else's vision. There were some constraints: the venue was maybe a little tight - we're taking over a restaurant for a day, cooking up a feast, and learning from a French chef - and the organization would remain unclear until, really, the day of. It was one of those party-like events - you assemble all the elements that seem like they would be fun / good ideas, and then hope it all goes off.
I'm prefer to plan slightly more meticulously than that, but what the hey, I'm going with the flow, and everything is a bit wobbly but looking OK - I even got a virgin mixologist at the last minute. And then sudden change strikes: the chef injures himself playing soccer, and he seemed OK for a bit and we moved forward, concerned, and then then found out - really too late - that he needed surgery and would not be there on the day of the event.
Well. Okay then. What does one do? Does one cancel? We've lined up vendors, teachers, rental equipment, even a piano player for God's sake - and everyone has committed to this day, and these are really fucking busy people, let me tell you. Even for fun, it's a challenge to get 80 of us in one place at once. And I'm usually successful in doing do - the other two team builds were both big hits. But this one was already shaky, and - well, I panicked for 20 minutes, then collected myself and moved on to Plan B, which was getting all the recipes, some support chefs, and a few people in my company to step up.
We're a food company, so plenty of us DO know how to cook (myself most certainly NOT included; I organize and lead the event, and others do the cooking), but the point of a team build is kind of to also give the folks a break from their daily duties, so asking them was hard. But they stepped up. I sent out one of those "Help me, team!" emergency emails one night around 6pm, when I found out - we had maybe overnight to decide to cancel - and in 2 hours, I had 8 people committed. Many of them with good cheer, telling me NOT to worry, we could still do it.
It will be even MORE of a team build, I told all attendees in the final event reminder. And it already has been. The head guy who will really be in charge in the chef absence volunteered to come to the passing of the menu / event baton meeting with the chef - a meeting at the most dreaded of times, Friday at 5pm, and yet he came; how cool is that? The chef, who is just an SF restaurateur, powered through, w riting recipes on painkillers, making arrangements from his sick bed. And the co-workers who volunteered their time, and even though they were basically obligated to volunteer, they are doing so with incredible grace and positivity.
And therein lies what I mean: sometimes - often, even - humans step up, and it just breaks my heart. The kindness of others is the sweetest experience one can have, maybe. And it doesn't matter if it's at work when co-workers jump in to take action in times of need, or at home when friends appear for a last-minute birthday gathering. It doesn't matter if it's something small, like a Muni driver letting someone poor on without paying or something big, like the near-retireees at Fukushima volunteering to go in for clean up beacuse, they reasoned, the younger workers should have more time to live. All these acts of human kindness matter, even when they are just thoughts, I think. I think if we all just thought good things about each other on a regular basis, many of the world's problems would resolve.
You know, I have one more thing to talk about, but I think it's a separate topic.
Something My Grandfather Said About America (a Country He Loved and Fought For) in 2001
"Even a fool can see it's winding down."
How right you were, Grandpa. This is the same guy who told my brother he "was nothing" if he didn't carry a handkerchief. I'm reminded of him when I watch The Godfather sometimes: he was a handsome Italian man who played the blues guitar, and he was certainly perceptive at the end of his years.
The World These Days. Sheesh, Part II
What I meant to say, yesterday, about the disconcerting state of world affairs, is that we seem to be discombobulated. I've always liked that word, and yesterday that was what I was going for. We're discombobulated. It's not bad - as my partner has been saying, there's also re-combobulation, and that's pretty good. And you can't get re- without first going dis-, right? Still, they can be hard on us.
Sometimes during these times, there's something astrological going on. I've mentioned my relationship with astrology before, but it's not typical: I think it's a beautiful descriptive language, that the planets represent living qualities of intelligence, and by reflecting on how they interact, we can see how internal and external forces shape our own lives - it's just a way of externalizing our journey, so we can better understand it. But whatever you think, Mercury is going retrograde - well, just about now, in a few hours, where it will stay until August 8th, when it begins to move forward. I was mentioning the increased traffic incidents?
I ran into a co-worker, who spoke of constant communication problems, even while he praised the region-wide quarterly conference call I did yesterday afternoon - I don't like leading those awkward behemoths of meetings, when everyone has to be on mute because of the background noise, and I feel like I'm talking to myself for an hour. Yesterday, I had good news about one of my company's programs that is part of our mission (you know, the soft heart part of us), and which we're breathing new life into, and this co-worker was one who politely chimed in, got himself un- and then re-muted, just to say, "Yes, I think this is a GREAT idea! I support this. That's all I wanted to say." So, I already know he's a communicating trooper, and I thought - if HE'S having issues on the cusp of this celestial event (he specifically said, when I asked how are you, "Well, this Mercury retrograde!"), what hope have I?
I Have Always Depended Upon the Kindness of Strangers
But there is hope, though. I mentioned some challenges recently, and one of them was event-planning-related. Every year, I plan my regional office's annual team build. We didn't have an annual team build for many years, but we started recently, and I've planned the first two, and now, the third. This one was more in my hands than others, in some ways, because it was a brainchild of my creative and innovative boss - she really does have idea that made me say "That is why they pay you the big bucks" - and it's sometimes harder to carry out someone else's vision. There were some constraints: the venue was maybe a little tight - we're taking over a restaurant for a day, cooking up a feast, and learning from a French chef - and the organization would remain unclear until, really, the day of. It was one of those party-like events - you assemble all the elements that seem like they would be fun / good ideas, and then hope it all goes off.
I'm prefer to plan slightly more meticulously than that, but what the hey, I'm going with the flow, and everything is a bit wobbly but looking OK - I even got a virgin mixologist at the last minute. And then sudden change strikes: the chef injures himself playing soccer, and he seemed OK for a bit and we moved forward, concerned, and then then found out - really too late - that he needed surgery and would not be there on the day of the event.
Well. Okay then. What does one do? Does one cancel? We've lined up vendors, teachers, rental equipment, even a piano player for God's sake - and everyone has committed to this day, and these are really fucking busy people, let me tell you. Even for fun, it's a challenge to get 80 of us in one place at once. And I'm usually successful in doing do - the other two team builds were both big hits. But this one was already shaky, and - well, I panicked for 20 minutes, then collected myself and moved on to Plan B, which was getting all the recipes, some support chefs, and a few people in my company to step up.
We're a food company, so plenty of us DO know how to cook (myself most certainly NOT included; I organize and lead the event, and others do the cooking), but the point of a team build is kind of to also give the folks a break from their daily duties, so asking them was hard. But they stepped up. I sent out one of those "Help me, team!" emergency emails one night around 6pm, when I found out - we had maybe overnight to decide to cancel - and in 2 hours, I had 8 people committed. Many of them with good cheer, telling me NOT to worry, we could still do it.
It will be even MORE of a team build, I told all attendees in the final event reminder. And it already has been. The head guy who will really be in charge in the chef absence volunteered to come to the passing of the menu / event baton meeting with the chef - a meeting at the most dreaded of times, Friday at 5pm, and yet he came; how cool is that? The chef, who is just an SF restaurateur, powered through, w riting recipes on painkillers, making arrangements from his sick bed. And the co-workers who volunteered their time, and even though they were basically obligated to volunteer, they are doing so with incredible grace and positivity.
And therein lies what I mean: sometimes - often, even - humans step up, and it just breaks my heart. The kindness of others is the sweetest experience one can have, maybe. And it doesn't matter if it's at work when co-workers jump in to take action in times of need, or at home when friends appear for a last-minute birthday gathering. It doesn't matter if it's something small, like a Muni driver letting someone poor on without paying or something big, like the near-retireees at Fukushima volunteering to go in for clean up beacuse, they reasoned, the younger workers should have more time to live. All these acts of human kindness matter, even when they are just thoughts, I think. I think if we all just thought good things about each other on a regular basis, many of the world's problems would resolve.
You know, I have one more thing to talk about, but I think it's a separate topic.
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