Tuesday Morning Jots

Reading Bukowski's writings on cats first thing in the morning is probably not the sanest thing to do. So full  of the savagery and the beauty of life - the enigma that is the cat.
No worse than reading the Bible, I suppose.
The Bible is also full of savagery, and beauty.
All the truest observations about this life God made.  Man in all his cruelty, Nature in its absolute adherence to the laws set forth for it.
Perhaps that is the lesson.
Nature's laws are often brutal- kill or be killed- you are either Predator or Prey - Humans are SUPPOSED to be better, supposed to have mercy, because God has Mercy, and we are supposed to be made in God's image.
Isn't that the whole of the Bible right there? The call to humans to  live up to the truth of their creation, after all?


Just my random Tuesday morning before serious caffeine thoughts.  Your mileage may (and probably should) vary.

Rhyme
Fighting through a bit of malaise
These last few days
Emotionally feeling like shit
Not much of life seeming to fit
My friends are the same
Some too quiet, some too game
The few just right
Know my trouble at first sight.
My love just leaves me be with it
Having learned over the years that it
Isn't something he can fix
That unborn words are part of this mix
Frustration more than sadness
Is at the heart of this madness
And All will soon be well again
Once I can take up my pen.

(All written by C.K.Armistead February 9, 2016)

Lapses Happen

As with all my journals, this one has suffered its first lapse. I grant you, it is only one day, but that is usually how the downhill slide starts. One little thing at a time, and before you know it, the new behavior is history. Much like diet and exercise programs.

So much I could write about, let's see...
I got my flu shot this morning at the drive through clinic hosted by the local humongous Baptist Church. The health department runs the flu shot program, the church just supplies space and some volunteers. The city has supplied a couple of traffic officers to help keep people lined up correctly on the approach to the church. (Otherwise we'd have folks trying to cut the line without realizing exactly how many people they are cutting off. You can't see the whole line if you come eastbound on 27th. The line starts almost back at Eastern and goes west.)

Another thing I could write about is the fact that we are awaiting the delivery of some audio recording equipment so that we can make CDs of our singing for family who have requested them. It will definitely be a learning process. I hope that Matt doesn't get too carried away as time goes on and buy too many extras that we don't really need. Like all of us with our hobbies, he tends to do that. I am sure the delivery will come when no one is home, and Matt will have to drive out somewhere to pick it up. (He seems convinced that they will leave it on the porch, and I rather hope not, as it will be a large box, and it may be more than the local teens could resist.)
Most kids around here are really good kids, but there are a few I wonder about.

Choir rehearsal was last night, and he started us off with pieces that had some rather high notes for unwarmed up sopranos. Needless to say, we were all a bit flat and strangled sounding for awhile. (He really should have been expecting that!) I think he thinks we all warm up before we get there, but that almost never happens. Trying to get home from work, get dinner taken care of, the cleanup done, it doesn't leave a whole lot of time for warming up the voice before peeling out the door to get to choir on time.

Tonight it is my turn to work the 1-9 shift. I get to help close the library. Thursdays are always a joy that way. Oh, well, here's hoping everybody has somewhere else to be so they won't be hanging around the library right around 9pm. It can be very hard to get rid of them so we can go home. It is a long day for many of us, and I guess people just don't think about it. They've been home, so they don't think about those of us who would like to get home so we can relax a bit.
Guess I better go pack my lunch bag so I'll have something to eat this afternoon.

A Blank Page is a Blank Page

Even if it is electronic and on a computer screen, a blank page remains the intimidating large expanse of emptiness.
One sits down with all sorts of ideas about what one MIGHT write, and they are all scared away by the large, imposing blankness.
My grand ideas flee away at the first sight of the white (or whatever color) paper or screen before me. I will sit down with a good intent and a purpose, and the blankness transfers from the page or screen to my brain. All I had thought of is gone. Chased away, absorbed, erased, I don't know, but gone, for sure.
Tonight I am so weary I can hardly think at all, let alone think STRAIGHT.
I don't know why I should be so weary. My legs ache and I feel sleepy all the time. I did stand a lot at work today, but I always do. I didn't do any extra exercise or anything that would tire me out. Hope I am not coming down with the bug du jour from the library.
Little children are often quite generous with their germs. They sneeze on us, the books, our computers and anything else they get close to.
The grownups aren't a whole lot better. The bring a stack of books to the desk explaining that they are late and they want to pay the fines. "Oh, I was so sick, I just didn't want to go anywhere, even here to drop off my books. " Thanks so much, I think as I grab the disinfectant wipes to clean off the books. Is it any wonder we library employees are among the first in line every year when the county starts giving flu shots? Is it any wonder we go through so many packages of wipes and hand sanitizer every year? Don't forget all the antibacterial hand soap for the bathrooms.
On a totally different, completely off the wall topic, how can we convince Mike Rowe that the library is just full of dirty jobs? Gee, I guess we could let him clean out the outside book drop, or follow our building custodian around. The sheer, subtle volume of human grime does get to you after awhile, though. The books can be quite dirty. That is one reason we clean them from time to time. The children's books especially. (Come on, you know you let the books get on the floor of the car with heaven only knows what else. Everybody has done it at least once.)
Sorting through the damaged materials with my boss is a dirty job. Literally and figuratively. She has to call the person whose book has come back covered in some substance we charitably decide must be lemon Kool-Aid. The book is no longer fit to circulate, and so the patron must be charged for the book which was damaged while they were responsible for it. This can get dirty, because people like to get a bit self righteous about how they treat books. (Usually their kids are in the background saying things like "That's the book Billy fished out of the toilet." or "That's the book Timmy spilled his Kool-Aid on.") Rule number one: If you are going to fib on the phone to a library employee, don't have your young children nearby. They know all, and they share all.
Maybe Mike Rowe could follow our building maintenance guys around. They have to maintain all the city's buildings, and so they are a couple of really busy guys. Quite often dirty guys, too.
The real reason I'd like to get Mike Rowe to the library is that maybe I could get him to sing some opera. I know a few arias myself, and the staff like music. Some of the other ladies would just like him around to improve the scenery. Maybe we should suggest it to him. You never know, they might bite.