Post-Thanksgiving Recap

Ok, I admit it - I ate too much yesterday. Dinner was at 3pm and it is now 8am the next day and I still feel like I just ate! I didn't think the amount of food I put on my plate was unreasonable - but maybe I'd eaten too many carrot sticks. My sister-in-law, Stacy, brought her now-traditional pumpkin soup for the first course. Then I had my Tofurky with stuffing, mashed potatoes with Tofurky gravy, the sweet potatoes my wonderful wife made, cranberry jello, and a couple of the Tofurky-supplied dumplings. (Ugh. I could not get those dumplings to cook right - I ate a few bites and tossed out the rest.) I couldn't even finish what was on my plate. Around 6pm I finally gave in a took a very small sliver of Stacy's pumpkin pie - a big mistake - I had to go outside and take a walk to try to get my overstuffed stomach moving.

It was a pretty quiet day, though. Just me and Mary, my mom and dad, my brother Tim, his wife Stacy and their two boys. My brother Andy slept through the entire thing, and my brother Mark is stuck down in south Texas. We did talk to Mark on the phone, briefly. We did a lot of reminiscing about camping trips when we were growing up, about older family members, and Thanksgivings gone by. When we got home, I called the kids at their dad's house and Mary and I talked to each of them for a few minutes.

I'm working tonight from 6pm to midnight. That'll be interesting, since I'm usually in bed asleep around 10pm. It was the only shift left available for today, and I just couldn't pass up the holiday pay. Hopefully it will be quiet.

Shellynne is coming over tomorrow so we can spend some time with her before she goes back up to school for the rest of the semester. Yeah!

News from the Work Front

Well, I got a call from the person who interviewed me for the position at the church. They "decided to go with another candidate" who would be around for a while. Obviously they saw the email I sent regarding the miscommunications over the recent service, saying I was tempted to make my hiatus from church activities a permanent one. Mostly I'm relieved not to have to deal with everything - the position seems to demand a lot more work than the alotted hours would allow for. I'm also a bit annoyed with everything that's gone on the last few weeks. I've been very frustrated with the miscommunication and dysfunction I've been seeing, and I freely admit that I am no longer being spiritually fed there, and haven't been for the last couple of years. It may be time to move on, though to what exactly, I'm not sure.

As for the other job I applied for, the interpreting thing, my application is being processed and I've done the pre-employment drug test. Now I'm just waiting to find out my start date :-)

Snagged from Elfkat

This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished, and put an asterisk* beside the ones you loved.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien*
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley*
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey*
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling*
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien *
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks *
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Wow, some of these I read 35 years ago.... I'm sure there were more I read, cuz I went through every SF book in my school library LOL And I agree with Elfkat... where is Robert Jordan? Mercedes Lackey?

In concert!

Monday afternoon we met up with some friends in the church parking lot, piled 7 women into a minivan and headed off to LA. We dined at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) in downtown LA, then headed a few miles west to the Wiltern Theater.

We had a handicapped placard in the car, and kept asking the parking staff where the handicapped spots were. They kept directing us to "illegal" spots, spots we couldn't possibly fit into. Finally we found a regular spot that looked like it would work, and headed for the elevator and down to the ground floor. Where there were plenty of handicapped spots. Sigh.

Then we made our way past the homeless man begging and the ticket scalpers and the man selling t-shirts for $5 each. We went through the security check and had our tickets scanned at the door. We were in! First things first - I headed downstairs to the ladies' room, then back upstairs for a $3 bottle of water (it could have been worse). We looked at the concert t-shirts, but they only had pastels and I just can't wear those colors. Drat! We went and found our seats, and settled in to wait for the opening act.

The opening act was Bitch and the Exciting Conclusion. After the first song, I wasn't very impressed, and braced myself for duration. But a couple of songs later, she got my attention with some political rap. But what sold me was the song "Pussy Manifesto" -- Bitch had the entire theater in the palm of her hands with that one! I wish I could find a video clip or even the lyrics on line, but no luck so far. We might just have to buy her album! Bitch played for about 45 minutes, then the roadies came out to rearrange the stage, which took about 20 minutes.

Finally, Amy and Emily walked out. Mary had never seen them in concert before, and it had been several years since I had seen them live. They played a lot of their newer stuff, which I don't know cuz I'm a bit behind on the album collection, and a lot of their older stuff, too. Wanna see their set list for that night? One of the things I love about the Indigo Girls is that they love it when the audience sings along. They cut out their vocals and let the audience take it for several lines, and sometimes a whole verse. Unlike some other artists, they are not threatened by the sing-along. And the fans love it!

And they had some surprises, too. They brought out Vonda Shepard to do a duet with Emily. It turned out Vonda had been sitting two rows ahead of us! Then a couple of songs later, they brought out Bitch again and called Lisa Loeb to sing on stage with a couple of others whose names escape me right now. I know, I know, but it was late and I was nearly deafened by that point.

By the time we got home it was nearly 12:30 am. Thank Goddess I had decided to take the next day off of work, cuz there is no way I could have gotten up at 5 am and been functional!

What a relief

Well, we survived the service today.

Actually it went very well, with only a couple of minor forgotten items and mis-cues. We got a lot of good feedback from people. Some of them even got up from their seats and moved!!!! And quite a few people are asking about restarting the drumming circle - I'm working on Glory for that one :-) Unfortunately, Mary's hands have been so bad lately that she wasn't able to perform the song we were hoping she would. We'll just have to plan it for another time, my love.

It's amazing we pulled it all together. The majority of the service was finalized earlier this week, but my "sermonette" and Glory's guided meditation and the children's time weren't finalized. I had planned to write mine up yesterday, but I couldn't even bring myself to look at the notes I've been making or the websites I've bookmarked over the last couple of months, let alone type a single word. Rather than beat myself up over it (something I'm quite good at), I let it be. I decided that either the words would come this morning and I would pound out a sermonette, or it would all be off the cuff, letting the energy flow and allowing the words and thoughts to come forth of their own accord. It ended up being a combination of the two - I did write out the majority of it this morning, but added to it as I shared at the service. The hazards - and the blessing - of being very familiar with the subject matter!

I am thrilled that it went so well, and was so well-received. I am also thrilled that I don't have to be in a pulpit again for a while! Today was the third Sunday out of the last four that I've had an active part in a service. Two of those Sundays I was preaching. And I'm not even a UU minister!!!!!

Roller Coaster Ride

What a week!

Last Sunday, I interviewed for a part-time position at my church. I'm not sure how I feel about that position - I had been looking forward to being able to follow through on doing the work I had helped envision when I was President of the Board of Trustees 5 years ago, but after this week, I'm feeling ambivalent to say the least. Some very unhealthy micromanagement and miscommunication has been going on, and once again I'm feeling a desire to cut myself loose from that community.

But I'm jumping forward a bit.

Tuesday was election day. I thought about posting that day, but decided to wait. It seems that we all took Randi Rhodes' advice, turning out to vote in such large numbers that there was no way they could steal the election again. America voted for a change in direction - no more "stay the course!" Democrats took the House and the Senate, and Donald Rumsfield resigned! This last bit of news had my jaw dropped for a good half of the day, especially coming less than a week after Dubya said that Rumsfield and Cheney would stay with his team for the rest of his term. Happy dancing!!!!

Then the roller coaster started on the downhill slope...

In the meantime, while celebrating as the election returns came in on Wednesday, there I was at work, trying to process phone calls, and dealing with 3 or 4 ongoing email conversations from people at the church trying to micromanage a worship service that Glory and Mary and I are doing this coming Sunday. Wednesday was the day the Order of Service was due to be printed, and suddenly I had people wanting to add things or change the way we planned to do things. It was frustrating and consumed a great deal of energy, but I kept trying to chock up the miscommunication to Mercury Retrograde.

By the time I got home from work and checked my email, and saw yet another email from someone critical of the Order of Service, I'd had enough. I was furious, and spent the next two hours composing an email that would go to everyone I had been dealing with that day, and talking to Mary and Glory about the wording, and what we wanted to do. I laid it all out on the table: the miscommunications starting back over the summer, the micromanagement, the reasons for the decisions we had made, and our frustration. We agreed to include a statement to the effect that if they weren't willing to respect the work we had put into the service, then they could find someone to present a different service on Sunday. These people all know me, and know that was not an idle threat. I also said that I was considering making my year-long hiatus from church activities into a permanenet one. It was amazing how quickly people backpedaled and said, "We trust you! do what you planned".

I was so upset that evening that I couldn't even eat dinner. I'm sure some of the fallout will be that I'm not offered the position I interviewed for. And if I do decide to withdraw my membership, that means finding a new home for our monthly Reiki Circle, and could (although I really hope not) have an impact on the activities of another group that uses the church facilities.

So, we're going ahead with the service as planned tomorrow. And we're going into it with the intention of reaching out to the 150 people who will be there who haven't got a clue as to what's been going on behind the scenes. Funny thing is, the service is "Sounds of the Divine" and is focusing on healing through rhythm. There's definitely some healing needed.

I did it...

I've been self-employed full-time as a sign language interpreter since 1995. I've really enjoyed the ability to make my own schedule, which has allowed me to take care of family stuff and travel for some of my volunteer activities. For most of that time, the income was steady and fairly good. Then the economy plunged, the war in Iraq started, and for some reason, there was less work available. After a while of not being able to pay my bills, I gave in and started working as an independent contractor for one company (which I had resisted working for even when my friends went over there). I've been there for almost a year and a half now, and I've been able to catch up on bills (thanks to steady work and a regular paycheck). It's a pretty good gig, and I'm able to work in a really supportive environment with other highly skilled interpreters, and I don't have to drive around town all day long - just drive to one office and stay there all day! My car says thankya. I've been wanting to go on staff for a while, but some as-yet-unresolved financial issues have prevented that.

So a couple of months ago, my boss walks into the breakroom and says "Domestic partners can get health insurance starting January 1." That got me thinking about not just going on staff, but going full-time so we could get the benefits. I had a sit-down with the boss and went over some details, then went home and talked to the wife. Even with the cut in hourly pay, we thought it would be worth it to have the benefits, and to have taxes taken out of my check (closing an 11-year cycle of ongoing IRS debt, which has contributed a great deal of stress to my life for most of that time). I spent some time on the phone with a lovely rep at the IRS, who had to forward the request to a supervisor for approval, and waited 3 weeks for a response. With a payment arrangement in place, I went back to the boss and picked up the application. It took me a few days, but I turned it in yesterday. I'll have to pee in a cup sometime next week, and then we just wait for headquarters to approve everything. I could be a full-time employee by the end of the month. Yikes! Have I mentioned that I haven't been a full-time employee anywhere since 1995?????

But the benefits will be most welcome. I haven't had health insurance for three years, and I badly need some dental work too. So does the wife. Having insurance will definitely reduce my stress levels. Maybe the biggest reduction will be getting out from under the spectre of accumulating tax debt, something that has hounded me for years, trying everything to get out from under it. There just weren't full-time interpreter positions (with reasonable pay - I don't want to live in my car) around until a couple of years ago. Thank Goddess for the opportunity.