what happens when it tests back?
Two years ago: Patronizing crap at the movie theater.
Today's news question:What British actor died on Sunday?
(Don't send me your answers. This is just a little way to expand your horizons. Honest.)
Our DSL line has been out all morning. Yes, I know I am a spoiled brat, but still: it's like the air conditioning going out, or your TV signal vanishing. You don't need air conditioning or TV either, now do you?
Coincidentally, it happens today, Day 1 of my new job.
I am the new Moderator of Wordplay. I am to tell people when the conversation is over, to delete off-topic posts, to remind them to search the archives for relevant info, and so on. It's nerve-wracking: "Is this an on-topic post? Hmmm. What about this conversation? Should they take it to e-mail?" There's going to be a transition period, but still.
I was already feeling a little weird about this new job. For one thing, as with all new jobs, there is a feeling of apprehension, as in, "What the hell am I supposed to do? Where are the boundaries?" (Okay, maybe you never feel that way. I always do.) Even if I know what the tasks are, there's a period in which I'm not sure whether I'm doing the right thing or whether there's something I've missed.
(No, I shouldn't be an air traffic controller.)
Plus, the Wordplay Webmaster and I went through a long period of crossed signals. She first called me about the job when Sophia was a week or so old. I said yes, I was interested. I heard nothing from her for weeks, even though I sent her e-mail. It was the kind of lack of communication that makes you wonder if the initial phone call ever happened at all.
I sent her mail at the end of March and then again at the end of April. Nothing. Eventually I called her and when she called me back she asked, "So are you still interested?" She said she'd been trying to get a hold of me and couldn't.
Weird.
So we talked last week about my starting this week and she said she'd get it all set up. Then we talked last night to get the last minute things out of the way. She mentioned the files she'd send me, including some Administration things I'd need, including passwords.
As of this morning (during the ten minutes in which our DSL line was working), I had not received those passwords.
I read a term in a book about lucid dreaming called "reality testing." What you do is, during the day you stop and look around and ask yourself, "Am I dreaming?" What clues in your environment tell you you're not dreaming? Reportedly, eventually you start asking yourself this question while you're in a dream, at which point you're supposed to notice that yes, you are in a dream.
This morning I started doing reality testing. Here I was, supposed to start a new job I'm not sure I know all the boundaries of yet, without the passwords to do the job, without the ability to get to the website where I'm supposed to do it. It's like a dream where you show up for a test in a class where not only have you not studied or gone to any of the classes, you have no idea what the subject is.
I would have had to do reality testing today anyhow. This morning I took Sophia into her room to nurse her in the rocking chair. Sophia's room overlooks our neighbor's roof.
There on his roof were 5 Mexicans, tearing off the roof with pitchforks.
I mean, if it's not the kind of thing you're expecting to see, it can be a little disconcerting.
What was especially disturbing was the guy who was nonchalantly standing on the slope of the roof that overlooks our neighbor's backyard...two stories below. Darin shrugged and said that was no big deal: his dad had stood on the roof of their house all the time.
Have I mentioned I have a touch of vertigo? Brrr.
Sophia slept another 7 hours last night. From 8 until 3, dammit. I really want 10 until 6, or, even better, 8 until 6.
I shouldn't wish her life away. The changes will come soon enough.
We went to yoga again this afternoon. (Whoo hoo! I rock.) Once again it was a case of: start the class, do about 10 minutes, have an upset Pookie. Calm the Pookie down, go on with class, glance over and notice sleeping Pookie.
There was another baby there today too, 9 weeks old. Cute but not as cute as mine! (It's a genetic thing, folks: you cannot believe how much cuter your progeny is than all other kiddies.) This baby also had a full head of hair. I don't think I've seen a bald baby recently. Are most babies born with big hair?
Forum: What did you see out the window today?
What would you do for the money? And how does Diane's new job factor into this? (I'm not doing it for the money, trust me.)
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Copyright 2000 Diane Patterson
Send comments and questions to diane@nobody-knows-anything.com