Live Sex Show 2Nite

nice.... very nice.... I see perverts row is full already.

No. Really this is just a catch up post. It'll be all over the place. Really!

The job hunt continues with CV's being dispatched hither and yon without the desired result as yet. No nibbles, no emails, no phone calls. I have one new major revision to do and another specific cover letter to write for a newly advertised position.

Last week was a good one to have off. It was the longest stretch of hot, clear high pressure weather we had enjoyed all summer - beautiful!! It was one reason that I wasn't in evidence here very much. Lynda and I paid a couple of visits to Mom's place cuz she and my sister got a new puppy - a beagle they have called Finn. Cute as hell but he will have to grow into those ears.

Lynda and I had some much needed time together Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. She had recuperated from her bout of food poisoning enough that she went back to work Friday afternoon. Saturday we worked around the house and toured about town tracking down stuff we needed. We decided to hole up at home that night and watch a movie - 'The Bucket List', starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. We both enjoyed it; it was both funny and touching.

I've continued reading this Alice Walker biography in fits and starts - read 50 pages one day, don't pick it up for 3 days, read another 80 pages. It is due back Wednesday and there are over a hundred pages to go. Wish me luck. It's a great book - very well written, continually engaging and interesting. The next portion is to be about the writing of ' The Color Purple'. Brilliant.

For the last year or so this city has had a brand new arena which initially had been mismanaged. It has been turned over to new management and they have promised bigger and better things to come, or else. I check their site every now and then to see if they are following through or not and tonight, guess what?? An announcement that Bob Dylan will be appearing right here in our town one night in November. Woo-Hoo!! I saw him in concert once about 20 years ago and swore I'd never do that again but.... he's changed, I've changed. What the hell - let's go!! Down the street and around the corner - there he is!!

I was back here at work last night to start a brand new week and got myself organized work-wise, caught up on my blogmates and a few emails. One of our other facilities had a minor fire last week so we've reviewed our emergency procedures to be on the safe side. Wouldn't want bodies stacked about like cord wood, would we??

Something new on the regional level is a new magazine devoted to poetry, creative writing, various fine arts and crafts called Surfacing. Here is a link which describes it and gives information - I just wish they had posted their premiere issue online. It looks good and is a good read. One of the people involved in the project is a woman who has been involved in Natalie Goldberg's workshops in the past - that leapt off the page at me.

Here's one of those strange little twists of fate - doing a little fact checking about Goldberg and find this link about her investigation into Bob Dylan. Hmmmm........ check it out. Click on 'About the Film' and 'Clips', then push 'play'. Good stuff.

Much Better Now

Late last week I became aware of a situation that has been causing me some trouble. It involved a huge decision by someone close to me and they hadn't bothered to inform me earlier on in the process. Naturally I managed to take this affront very personally.... you know, nose completely out of joint but trying to act as though I wasn't bothered at all.

That was Thursday evening... followed by a largely sleepless night. Fretted, stewed and worried all day Friday trying to work out all the angles and possible eventualities and repercussions. It took until Saturday for me to realize what an ass I was being and made a conscious decision to take myself (SELF; ego) out of the equation. Said a little prayer for the person who I thought had slighted me and another one for the best possible outcome for all involved.

Had word tonight that the plan has been shelved for good, the decision completely reversed...... funny how things work sometimes, ain't it??

Toxic

With Lynda on afternoon shift this week I was surprised to get a call from her at dinnertime yesterday asking that I come pick her up and bring her home. She had a sudden violent onset of food poisoning from leftovers brought in by a friend of hers. Lynda works in a hospital but had to be convinced when I got there to pay a visit to the emerg dept - 'They call it POISONING for a reason you know!'

Because of the nature of the complaint (and maybe because she is staff) she was put in a Rapid Assessment Pod and checked out pretty promptly. All said and done we made it home around 10 p.m. complete with a couple of scripts from the pharmacy for the nausea and pain. She was all set to return to work today until I pointed out she looked like she had been through the war.... and how about a day to get back to normal??? Taking it easy for the day; nothing more taxing that picking up her car at work. That and cooking some light, bland food for lunch and dinner.

I proposed a new nickname for her friend.... how about 'Killer Cook'??

Right an Oversight

In that 'Mindless Labours' post I linked to a site I should have mentioned - red Ravine. As it happened the post I linked to was by a guest contributor and not by either of the two people who run the site - QuoinMonkey and ybonsey. I can't recall ever having introduced myself to them or commenting on their posts but I'm a regular reader of their material. Why?? Well, because I enjoy their posts so much..... as well as the comments of those who regularly do so. I know I've mentioned them here once or twice during the last year or so. Perhaps you've stopped by; welcome!

I have (somewhere) a photograph taken of me in Albuquerque or Taos about 20 years ago. If I'm able to re-shoot it and post it I might ask ybonesy to help identify where it was taken. In the photo I'm nose to nose with a statue in a little courtyard. Must try to track that down one day soon.

Close To The Bone

One thing that keeps things fresh for me in working here is fielding calls from people in the grips of addiction who are seeking treatment. For most people the continuum of substance use is typically one that travels from casual occasional use to regular frequent use through to heavy daily use into chronic debilitating use. The transitions are usually pretty subtle over time but can vary pretty widely depending on the substance(s) involved. By the time they are ready to pick up a phone and place a call to a centre like this their motivation is normally a desperation move. Various aspects of their lives are tumbling down and they are looking for a solution NOW. For the uninitiated a long intake process isn't what they had in mind when they place the call. Most don't realize there is a difference between places that specialize in withdrawal management and those that do addiction treatment. Simply completing a withdrawal program only means that your system is clear of the intoxicant and your major symptoms are under control. Treatment program enrollments are taxed to the limit with the upswing in recent years of more addictive drugs being more readily available.

Weekday evenings I normally handle a couple of calls a night from individuals or family / friends seeking treatment information on their behalf. Then comes the weekend..... and the calls come back to back... and the plethora of impacts on these people's lives come tumbling across the phone lines. Financial woes, jobs in jeopardy, rent money gone and nowhere to go, charges pending and underlying it all relationships strained, damaged or gone.

So, what to do? Normalize the current thoughts and feelings regarding the situation. Offer tangible solution based scenarios and alternatives. Next step propositions. Offer hope for the future. Delineate probable time lines to avoid unreasonable expectations and disappointment. Ask for a commitment to follow up. Provide assurance regarding positive life change - attainability.

I'm so glad I'm on this end of the phone line these days.

Gotta go - it's ringing again.

Mindless Labours

Do you sometimes like to lose yourself in your work?? This week I have focused on not pushing myself very hard and getting whatever rest I could in order to hasten the departure of this cold I've had. Today I was up around 2 p.m. and took a cup of coffee outside to enjoy while I shook out the webs. Looking about the yard I quickly realized I couldn't leave the lawns any longer - they needed a trim. I threw a load of laundry on, changed into my grubby work clothes, poured another coffee and was set to work before 3. I nailed Lynda with a request as she was coming in the door from work - I could get going on the front yard if you would pick up after the dogs out back???? Thanks hon.

The front lawn doesn't take long because we're on a court and the lot is pie shaped - narrow at the front and very wide out at the back lot line. The weather was perfect - sunny, not humid, mid 70's and we've had no recent rain so the grass had dried out nicely. With the front out of the way it was through the gate into the backyard and beginning the work with the downslope into the yard. With steady movement behind the mower and taking no breaks it still took almost 3 hours. But the nicest part of the whole thing was the timelessness of it... not having to think about what I was actually doing and letting my mind wander aimlessly, hither and yon. The only give away was the increasingly acute angle of the sunshine; the days are much shorter now. Hmmm.... the equinox is Monday coming.

(Point to consider - maybe I should start my own landscaping and lawn maintenance business)

Where did my mind venture to? Well, besides the usual family and work related sorts of things a lot of the time was spent on topics I read about on the blogs and also the folks I've come to care about through my regular reads. (Seems the blogs I enjoy most are written by women) That mindspace was a good place to be while the work lasted. Progress on the job at hand and doing it right but not having to be fully present while doing it. Cool.

In a way it reminded me of different sorts of work I've done over the years. I used to be a process camera operator and film stripper for a big commercial print operation. Some of the more complex jobs involved producing hundreds of film negatives, laying them up on mylar bases and masking them so we could make printing plates from them. Once started into a job like that you could easily lose all track of time as you applied yourself to the task.

Before that prepress work I had worked in a bindery on a variety of machines - stitchers, gluers, folders, guillotines - and mostly on large repetitious jobs. Detailed but mindless labour.

*On the downside of that - I just recalled a guy I took a course with once. He had worked at Kodak for about 20 years and for that entire time had run a folder producing those little inserts that used to go into each box of film - the ones that described the film specs. By the time I met him he was half nuts.

On the plus side - I can recall also during the times I had my home darkroom set up getting so absorbed in developing rolls of film, printing contact sheets and burning and dodging prints that I would be missing in action for 5 or 6 hours when I had only intended to devote a couple of hours to it.

Sitting here reflecting on some recent posts I've seen I might just have to cruise the art supplies stores and see what I can lend my hand to this winter. Link, link, link. Lots and lots of talented people out there to inspire me.

Heh, heh... just had a look at xfacta and Kel has a recent post about their lawn too. Nice, and acres bigger than mine. Shout out to Kel and Mr X across 10,000 miles.

Last night I took a couple of hours out to enjoy disc 2 from David Gilmour's 'Remember That Night' DVD set as a sort of memorial thing for Richard Wright. There is some great footage of him both on stage performing, and off stage being the fun gentleman that he was. He'll be missed. (I also found David's page on Facebook. On his, instead of becoming a facebook 'friend' you become a 'fan'. Now I'm there along with 17,000+ others.)

So?? What do you like to work at or indulge in so as to lose yourself?

(and no, JPW... I don't want to hear about your sex life. Thanks anyway.)

Lah-Dee-Dah

Well, I haven't had a lot to say for myself lately. I've been laying low trying to recuperate from this damned cold. Yesterday was the best sleep I've enjoyed in weeks and while I feel like I'm clearing up I still feel loggy.

Last night I watched 'Stealing Home' - a Jodie Foster / Mark Harmon film. All the best scenes were hers. When it was over I finished reading her biography which ended when she was filming and had released 'Nell'. (which is probably my favourite film of hers) An updated version would be good as that book is the better part of 20 years old... (well maybe 15?? I suppose I could check but...) Anyway a lot has happened since then including the birth of her 2 kids.

Earlier tonight I started in reading Alice Walker's biography; 20 pages down, 450 to go.

A couple of surprises tonight. Out of the blue a call from my old girlfriend Audrey; remember her? The sexy senior citizen? She called to say that following her fall, her hospital stay and rehab she is out and about again. We had a nice 15 minute chat and updated one another on all the news. I'll see her Saturday night.
Then I had a message from my son's common-law updating me on their news and how the baby is doing - 7 weeks old and over 10 lb. I sent her one right back filling her in on our stuff. Now if we could just get Russ to sit down and write a note or pick up a phone.......

Lynda's and my time together continues to be scanty and we're facing some pretty serious problems but the big difference now over a year or two ago is that we work at them together. As opposed to independently and in isolation. Now it is 'us', back to back, vs 'the world' with some very direct dialogue happening on an ongoing basis. Life is a lot easier when you're dealing with known issues and facts.

The job hunt continues. I've applied for 3 positions in the last week or so; no responses as yet.

R.I.P. Richard Wright

While driving to work this evening I was shocked to hear Richard Wright had died earlier in the day at his home in London, England. Few details were released at his family's request but it was disclosed he died of cancer. He was 65. So far as I now there had been no prior notice that he had been ill.

Wright was a founding member of Pink Floyd, had 2 solo releases, and backed David Gilmour on his 'On An Island' CD and tour. His skills at the keyboard were integral to PF's distinct soundscape.

There were messages posted at both the Pink Floyd and David Gilmour websites acknowledging his passing. Message boards are filling with hundreds of condolence posts from around the globe.

Morpheus Rising

Well, I'm still far from being completely well but I'm feeling way better than I did 3 or 4 days ago. The days sort of blurred together there after Sarah and Zeph left town and I was able to get on with the business of being good and sick. There was a quick trip to a clinic and the pharmacy in there somewhere - got some preventative antibiotics for the old chest cavity. I must confess the only time anymore that I have any sort of urge to drink is when I'm physically unwell. Gotta tell ya - this past week I felt like drinking A LOT. Ah well.... this too passed. I have a vague memory too of having put on, along with one other member, a service meeting at the local detox. That must have been Wednesday...... 3 patients attended. I knew one of them....

More words and music - another trip to the library:
I hadn't finished the Jodie Foster bio so I renewed it. I found a couple of hefty tomes, both biographies, one on Hunter S Thompson by Wenner & Seymour and the other about Alice Walker by Evelyn C White. During my teens I cut my teeth reading Thompson's contributions to Rolling Stone magazine - installments of 'Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas'. I don't know much about Walker but have heard nothing but high praise for her writing so decided to check her out.
Tunes - Sonny Rollins - 'Without a Song' - The 9/11 Concert
B B King & Friends - '80'
Van Morrison - 'Keep It Simple'
Telluride Bluegrass Festival - '30 Years'
New Guitar Summit - 'Shivers' - Jay Geils, Duke Robillard, Gerry Beaudoin & guest Randy Bachman

By Saturday afternoon I felt well enough to drive Lynda an hour or so north to her hometown for a visit with one of her (many) brothers and his family. They had moved recently into their new house so we gave it a thorough going over.We had dinner at an area restaurant and then buzzed by her mom's place for an hour long visit. Good old Mother Mary. It was well after dark when we set out for home; just as we left the skies opened up and we drove home through a lashing rain and high winds. It was good to get home and into the house.

I don't know if that storm was part of hurricane Ike's aftermath but we had similar sessions tonight along with a 'wall of wind' that lasted for hours. A constant moaning wind - not gusty, just strong and unwavering. There's lots of scudding cloud illuminated by the full moon tonight. Thankfully the forecasters were wrong again; they had been issuing flood warnings while telling us to expect up to 3 inches / 75 mm of rain. We got a mere fraction of that as most of it passed north and south of us.

Scanning around on Facebook earlier; I don't use it much but primarily to connect more easily with immediate family. Sarah has posted a bunch of pictures from her trip to our place and now her mother, my ex, has picked a few of them up (pictures of Zeph) and posted them on her own page. Strange to see, I gotta tell you. (We've been apart for over 20 years.)

Getting weary.... must go....

Sick Daze

Blah! Krunk! Mlaalah! Snerffle!

Standard issue cold. Fever, stuffed head, runny nose, no energy; can't get enough sleep. I might have the doctor listen to my chest. (Oh, oh... 6 months today since I quit smoking!)

Here's a little cheese to go along with that whine......

Anyway, Sarah called to say she and Zeph had an uneventful flight home and that he had behaved himself admirably. 'Nice to visit - nice to be home.'


Here is the little darling now in a shot titled 'No! Don't throw that ball! Oops - too late!'

Figured It Out.....

... the reason behind 'Downplayed', that is. I didn't realize it when I wrote it but I was getting sick with another head cold. Funny feeling ears by the time I got up Sunday; sore throat Monday morning; full on stuffed head by Tuesday morning. It sure didn't make those last few hours with Sarah and Zeph very enjoyable but.... what can you do? and that's the other thing - I knew I was going to miss them a lot long before they left so, lots of negative anticipation. The drive to the airport was dreadful because parts of the highway were closed for a police investigation. (Gang killing)

Before Sarah left she downloaded over a hundred pictures to facebook from both her camera and Lynda's. The two of them had a little competition going getting unflattering shots of each other and strangely it seems just the bad ones of Lynda were downloaded. She isn't very happy with her favourite stepdaughter. I wouldn't be either if there were pictures of me out there with curlers in my hair and dressed in a ratty old robe.

I'm going to see what small things I can get done and straightened out without expending an awful lot of energy today. Lay low and lots of liquids & rest sounds like the order of the day.

Have a good one.

Down Played

Sorry about the low output this week but I've been keeping myself to myself a bit and laying low. I've had a couple of hours Friday and today with Lynda before coming to work so that is a good thing. Ditto today with Sarah and Zeph - they had gone into Toronto by train on Thursday for a visit with an old friend of Sarah's; back again Friday evening. I can see changes in Zeph by the day he's changing so quickly. His dad will notice big changes by the time they get home later this week.

In down time here at work I finished the Susan Sarandon biography. I found it informative but thought the author padded it with a lot of repetitive 'stuff'. That is a highly technical term - 'stuff'. I'm well into the Jodie Foster one now. One of the counsellors I work with had noticed me reading it and brought in a couple of her videos from his collection. I watched 'Five Corners' last night and wouldn't recommend going to any great lengths to track it down - strange film. The other one is 'Stealing Home'; another one I hadn't heard of. We shall see.... I was rooting through our videos hoping to find something I hadn't seen before and came up with 'Hurricane' which I remembered having been mentioned in Norman Jewison's autobiography. I might fire it on shortly.

Otherwise, filling time with lots of blogland reading and enjoying what I'm seeing out there - not commenting much and that's okay.

Coming up: - later today all 3 stepsons + their partners are supposed to be coming over to visit and likely have dinner.
Monday Sarah and I have some more work to do on a project. I've been holding onto a bunch of her possessions for close to 10 years now. I got her to spend some time sorting it earlier today into keep, ditch, and pass along piles. So now we have to get some of it to the garbage area at the townhouse, some to the local Goodwill store, and bring some home and see how much she can pack to take home with her.
Monday night I might drag her to my home group meeting as she knows some of my group members from back when I first got sober.
Tuesday she and Zeph fly back to Vancity - ackkk!! gonna miss them!
Continue with the job hunt and hope something comes along......

Hey, ... not terrifically entertaining but a) that is what's going on and b) I'm too pooped to think.

Have a good week.

Kerfuffle

There are a couple of unexpected upsets happening on the homefront so I'm basically trying to fit time in with Sarah and Zeph around sleep and work. It doesn't leave much time for them but I had Zeph out for another walk today around the 'hood' and a leisurely perambulation of the back yard checking out the various plants and trees. 'Ooooooo......' It was almost too hot and sunny to have him out for long; almost.

I'm suffering from Lynda withdrawal. When I'm on this night shift she switches hers up for the benefit of the pets, making her work hours a quasi - late dayshift. What it means is we don't see one another all week. Come on Sunday.

Positive vibes and prayers are going out to a blog friend. Post again when things are good and you are ready. If you need to bend someones ear at an odd hour you should have my number around your inbox somewhere.

Heard tonight that one of our former clients was identified as the victim of murder. When he was here he had bragged about ripping off a couple of dealers. Just 22. Incredibly sad.

Time for home and bed - back in 12 hours.

Unexpected Gifts

Early last week my boss called me up for what turned out to be a couple of reasons - a) to see if I would cover someone else's shift, and b) to see if I was available to join him for lunch on Friday. 'Sorry about the shift; no can do but, hey I can do lunch.' I met him here at 'the house' and off we went to a local restaurant. Our conversation ranged around various topics some of which related to work but just as many were completely off that map. He was telling me about some of the factors, personalities and issues he deals with in management - interesting to get his perspective. I was waiting for the penny to drop, for John to push a button or broach a particular topic and it never happened. The meal came, was eaten, bill paid and we were driving back when John said other staff had told him of my recent 5 year medallion presentation and even more recent birthday. He then reached into the back seat and produced a wrapped gift - a book. 'Congrats; good having you around.'

I'm enjoying the book. It's a compilation of short humour pieces by Jack Handey called 'What I'd Say To The Martians'. He has some impressive creds including having been published by The New Yorker, National Lampoon & Playboy and he is a former staff writer for Saturday Night Live.

A free lunch AND a gift...... now how about a day job?? Hmmm???? C'mon, I know ya wanna.

Okay I'm a Theremin Junkie.....

Whenever I hear a reference regarding the electronic instrument theremin I have to track it down and check it out. It doesn't happen all that often but I just heard Laurie Brown make mention of it on 'The Signal' on CBC Radio 2. She tipped me to this clip on Youtube which features 'uber canadian literature prize winning wordsmith' Margaret Atwood sitting in with band One Ring Zero and doing a cameo performance on theremin.

Check it out here.

Laurie suggested everyone should have a theremin for after dinner entertainment. I agree.

Night Skies....

... seem to be turned upside down. It has been a couple of months since I had a good look around... however, Cassiopeia is overhead and Orion is lying over the eastern horizon. The positions seem way off.

I did pick a good time for a fresh air break; in the few minutes I was outside I saw a shooting star and a satellite passing over.

Placeholder.......

Yes, you're right; I haven't been around this space at all. The time spent at the computer has been infrequent and short lived, to say the least - moderating comments, checking emails and doing a little banking is all.

Life is in suspension since Sarah arrived with Zeph back on Tuesday. Everything is revolving around Zeph's schedule (which is fixed in Vancouver time). Most of the time that is fine but there have already been a couple of times where I've had my eye on the clock wanting to carry out some plan or another only to have things pre-empted. Ah well, alas and alack! I'll get used to it I'm sure. Hey, it's been a long time for me since I've had extended exposure to a little one.

He's just approaching the 13 month mark and he is walking - walking a LOT. But watching him walk is a mind-boggling exercise in fascination; I have no idea how he keeps his feet under himself. His legs wobble, hips rock one way, shoulders the other and his head bobs in still another. Somehow he manages to coordinate it all and transport himself. Lord knows how.... but it keeps us all laughing and cringing with his near misses.

Both Sarah and Zeph arrived with full blown colds and Zeph is teething again so he has been moodier this time around. Most evenings I've taken Zeph for walks in his stroller around the neighbourhood for an hour or more in order to give Sarah a break. We've had a variety of outings - a couple of simple shopping ones; a visit at Mom's; a trip to the lakeside beach, boardwalk and park; and today a drive into my fave Aunt & Uncle's place in a Toronto suburb for a couple of hours.

By the time I'm off work come morning I will have been up for more than 24 hours. Lynda and I were up Sunday morning at 6 in order to get a job out of the way and free up the day. By the time we made it back home Sarah was entertaining an old high school friend. Once the friend left Sarah, Zeph and I headed into Toronto - Lynda had her fave niece swing into town for an afternoon of school shopping. After our visit I dropped Sarah at a friend's place and I beat it home for a quick dinner before coming to work. I was able to get the weeks work organized pretty quickly and spent a few hours getting updated in blogdom. Having sat here for quite awhile I'm feeling due for a nap - which isn't allowed, so I better move around some.

Oh - while Lynda and her niece were shopping today Lynda bought just one thing. A nice sentimental gift for me. Amazing.