I am working on my timeliness. I am not necessarily chronically late-there are things I am on time for but not a lot.
But as I attempt to stop showing up 10 minutes late for work I have learned some things.
If I leave my house at 7:30am, I get to work around 8:38-8:45
If I leave my house at 7:40am, I get to work around 8:27-8:40
If I leave my house at 7:45am, I get to work around 8:40-8:49
If I leave my house at 7:50am I get to work around 8:40-8:49
None of this is an exageration. I take the same train that runs on the same track EVERYDAY. And everyday my eyes are magnetized to the phone clock or the iPod clock checking, checking, constantly checking.
So now the conclusion is, to be absolutely sure I am here in my seat by 8:30am, I have to leave my house at 7:15am, because of rush hour, on the trains, which makes it take just that much longer, it is the only way I can ensure I get here on time. Which means I have to always be up by 6am-or 'getting ready' by 6am, shoot to leave by 7am, which will inevitably turn into 7:15 to account for last minute changes to wardrobe, lunch-making, preening, or whatever else it is I do in the morning that makes me late.
To be clear, I usually am up before 6 but because I am weird, I try to work out, wash dishes or clean in the morning. And watch the news. All things but getting ready things....sometimes I even do a load of laundry. It's my productive time. I don't know. Don't say I'm a morning person. I'm not.
This morning I left my house at 4:52am and got here at 5:34am. DAMN! I was shooting for 6am. It's why I've had a chance to tap this little ditty out. My boss should be here soon. We have an auction to run!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Traditions a-changin'.....
Although not raised strictly religious, my family celebrated the Christian holidays with gusto. Our religious involvement amounted to a prayer before the meal- a song sung slightly off-key; you may know the tune: "O the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the appleseed. The Lord is good to me. Amen. Amen. Amen, amen, amen. AHHHHHH-men."
That was it for us. Well, an occasional church visit here and there, but less than I can count on one hand, probably.
But when we were little there was always lots of cookie-making and treats-a HUGE chocolate Easter bunny, stockings stuffed with candy and trinkets. Dresses on Easter and a delicious brunch with pancakes or something like that; our special family tradition of homemade pizza on Christmas eve, and presents from family, then more presents from Santa in the morning. And somewhere in there more pies and treats and desserts. Over the years as mom grew more healthy, many of these things disappeared.
Now when I go home for the holidays there is no candy anywhere and if we want dessert of any kind we have to go buy it ourselves-times have changed a bit. But the one constant, the thing that will never change, is Christmas music.
My parents own an unholy amount of Christmas music.(awhile ago it was records) They would play them NON-STOP for days and hours and hours in all the days preceding the big day. At no point were we allowed quiet time, or other music time, at least until bed time. Suffice it to say, I have a love-hate relationship with Christmas music.
I LOVE it in November. I am lukewarm to it in the beginning of Decemeber, and by about the 25th, I am ready to strangle myself. And still, all this is memory and fondness. All this is tradition.
And when I became a Bahai 3 years ago, I remember wondering whether or not I would ever feel about the new holidays in my life as I do about the old. And honestly for the last couple of years, each new holiday I have celebrated has felt somewhat empty-of memory and tradition, at least. And empty of reverance, too. Because I am coming to this in my adult life, the child wonderment and association do not exist in my connection to these many and numerous days.
But thanks to life and friends, I am starting to feel it a little. I am completely cognizant of the fact that having an actual family to share these days with will help immensely in my being able to develop a connection. I look forward to that time in my life for sure-when my own little children are learning about the history of our Faith and the wonderment in their eyes shines on my heart a little, when we can create our own familial traditions based on joy and beauty and reverence. And maybe a pie or two and some chocolate. Who knows?
What I do know is for the last week straight I have had another song stuck in my head. It's not 'Chestnuts Roasting' or 'Santa Claus is coming..' or 'Away in a manger'.
It's a rather maddening little tune that goes to these words:
Do you know what we remember?
On the 12th day of November?
We give thanks to the land of Ta
For giving us Baha'u'llah
Ring the bells
and sound the horns
This is the day when
he was born!
That was it for us. Well, an occasional church visit here and there, but less than I can count on one hand, probably.
But when we were little there was always lots of cookie-making and treats-a HUGE chocolate Easter bunny, stockings stuffed with candy and trinkets. Dresses on Easter and a delicious brunch with pancakes or something like that; our special family tradition of homemade pizza on Christmas eve, and presents from family, then more presents from Santa in the morning. And somewhere in there more pies and treats and desserts. Over the years as mom grew more healthy, many of these things disappeared.
Now when I go home for the holidays there is no candy anywhere and if we want dessert of any kind we have to go buy it ourselves-times have changed a bit. But the one constant, the thing that will never change, is Christmas music.
My parents own an unholy amount of Christmas music.(awhile ago it was records) They would play them NON-STOP for days and hours and hours in all the days preceding the big day. At no point were we allowed quiet time, or other music time, at least until bed time. Suffice it to say, I have a love-hate relationship with Christmas music.
I LOVE it in November. I am lukewarm to it in the beginning of Decemeber, and by about the 25th, I am ready to strangle myself. And still, all this is memory and fondness. All this is tradition.
And when I became a Bahai 3 years ago, I remember wondering whether or not I would ever feel about the new holidays in my life as I do about the old. And honestly for the last couple of years, each new holiday I have celebrated has felt somewhat empty-of memory and tradition, at least. And empty of reverance, too. Because I am coming to this in my adult life, the child wonderment and association do not exist in my connection to these many and numerous days.
But thanks to life and friends, I am starting to feel it a little. I am completely cognizant of the fact that having an actual family to share these days with will help immensely in my being able to develop a connection. I look forward to that time in my life for sure-when my own little children are learning about the history of our Faith and the wonderment in their eyes shines on my heart a little, when we can create our own familial traditions based on joy and beauty and reverence. And maybe a pie or two and some chocolate. Who knows?
What I do know is for the last week straight I have had another song stuck in my head. It's not 'Chestnuts Roasting' or 'Santa Claus is coming..' or 'Away in a manger'.
It's a rather maddening little tune that goes to these words:
Do you know what we remember?
On the 12th day of November?
We give thanks to the land of Ta
For giving us Baha'u'llah
Ring the bells
and sound the horns
This is the day when
he was born!
Thursday, November 06, 2008
My Parents are Literary and Thoughtful
MOM
Nov 4, 2008
Dear Gina, Leslie, Louis, Jeffrey and Nathan,
What a historic moment we have all just witnessed. I have been texting and/or talking with each you on the phone tonight, sharing this experience.
I am moved to tears when I think about what this means.
Kayla will never know a country where this was not possible.
Young people, even all those country white boys in Wisconsin that Nathan kept telling me were going to vote for Obama, know that it matters whether they vote or not.
People to whom it otherwise might not occur, will get a chance to see how someone who lived a life of diversity, of different cultures in his own family, learned to understand and respect different perspectives and to find common ground.
Each of you will know that your African American President has a WHITE MOM, too. :)
The world will get to see an achieving African American family that is not fiction and is not called the Cosby Show.
Those of us who like strong, smart women, will have the pleasure of watching Michelle Obama continue her path of greatness on a national level.
The world can see that the American people are GOOD--we have said we don't want a leader like George Bush. Most of us get it that the United States is part of a whole world of countries and cultures.
We will all remember this moment and where we were when it happened. How wonderful for that to be true of something other than assassinations or terrorist attacks.
It has been a long while since I have felt proud of my country. Tonight I feel proud. And I feel grateful to all the generations of people who made this possible. And I feel hopeful.
Thanks for sharing this night with me. I love you all and am so happy this has come to pass.
Love,
Mom
DAD
April 4, 2006
Hi kids,
Tomorrow I turn 53 years old which is a historic time for me as it is not only my golden birthday as I was born in 1953...but I have outlived my own father who died at 52.
A lot has occurred in my lifetime.
I was born COLORED in the Jim crow segregation era, became a NEGRO by the time I started school, turned BLACK in high school, and became an AFRICAN AMERICAN in college.
Of course the only constant name throughout my lifetime is the N word.
My mother had a 3rd grade education and my father was a high school graduate from one of the old segregated negro schools in south Carolina where the negro high school only went to the 10th grade.
I lived through and saw on TV the era of MLK, Malcolm X, Vietnam war, hippies, the Black panthers, Rosa Parks, etc.
Despite all of this stuff I can honestly say that I have been happy most of my life.
One regret I do have is that I wish I could meet my kindergarten (Mrs. Johnson) teacher again to let her know I turned out OK. I am sure she worried about me a few times because I hit a few kids with blocks (those kids deserved it too).
Yes, I did good for a ghetto kid. I have accomplished a lot in my lifetime and will accomplish more as I expect to live for another 25 years or so.
Love,
Dad
Nov 4, 2008
Dear Gina, Leslie, Louis, Jeffrey and Nathan,
What a historic moment we have all just witnessed. I have been texting and/or talking with each you on the phone tonight, sharing this experience.
I am moved to tears when I think about what this means.
Kayla will never know a country where this was not possible.
Young people, even all those country white boys in Wisconsin that Nathan kept telling me were going to vote for Obama, know that it matters whether they vote or not.
People to whom it otherwise might not occur, will get a chance to see how someone who lived a life of diversity, of different cultures in his own family, learned to understand and respect different perspectives and to find common ground.
Each of you will know that your African American President has a WHITE MOM, too. :)
The world will get to see an achieving African American family that is not fiction and is not called the Cosby Show.
Those of us who like strong, smart women, will have the pleasure of watching Michelle Obama continue her path of greatness on a national level.
The world can see that the American people are GOOD--we have said we don't want a leader like George Bush. Most of us get it that the United States is part of a whole world of countries and cultures.
We will all remember this moment and where we were when it happened. How wonderful for that to be true of something other than assassinations or terrorist attacks.
It has been a long while since I have felt proud of my country. Tonight I feel proud. And I feel grateful to all the generations of people who made this possible. And I feel hopeful.
Thanks for sharing this night with me. I love you all and am so happy this has come to pass.
Love,
Mom
DAD
April 4, 2006
Hi kids,
Tomorrow I turn 53 years old which is a historic time for me as it is not only my golden birthday as I was born in 1953...but I have outlived my own father who died at 52.
A lot has occurred in my lifetime.
I was born COLORED in the Jim crow segregation era, became a NEGRO by the time I started school, turned BLACK in high school, and became an AFRICAN AMERICAN in college.
Of course the only constant name throughout my lifetime is the N word.
My mother had a 3rd grade education and my father was a high school graduate from one of the old segregated negro schools in south Carolina where the negro high school only went to the 10th grade.
I lived through and saw on TV the era of MLK, Malcolm X, Vietnam war, hippies, the Black panthers, Rosa Parks, etc.
Despite all of this stuff I can honestly say that I have been happy most of my life.
One regret I do have is that I wish I could meet my kindergarten (Mrs. Johnson) teacher again to let her know I turned out OK. I am sure she worried about me a few times because I hit a few kids with blocks (those kids deserved it too).
Yes, I did good for a ghetto kid. I have accomplished a lot in my lifetime and will accomplish more as I expect to live for another 25 years or so.
Love,
Dad
Monday, November 03, 2008
Confession
I am not a fan of being cold. I am one of those people who is always cold. I have a love/hate relationship with winter, in that I love it's beauty and the wonderful things that happen every time it gets cold(my bday, my adoption anniversary, the holidays) but I absolutely HATE being cold. There it is. I live with it.
I must confess that I have a thought every time it is unseasonably warm out, a bad thought. Especially in light of the fact that each year we get more and more unseasonable....I think in my head...oh thank you global warming. I KNOW! Think of the polar bears, those poor cute creatures. I know. But the thought still creeps up and is thunk in my head. I could move. Yes that is true. But I do like the 4 seasons. Both the one on the earth and the one by Vivaldi....
Don't worry my carbon footprint is really light. I swear.
I must confess that I have a thought every time it is unseasonably warm out, a bad thought. Especially in light of the fact that each year we get more and more unseasonable....I think in my head...oh thank you global warming. I KNOW! Think of the polar bears, those poor cute creatures. I know. But the thought still creeps up and is thunk in my head. I could move. Yes that is true. But I do like the 4 seasons. Both the one on the earth and the one by Vivaldi....
Don't worry my carbon footprint is really light. I swear.
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