Matt told me the other day that when we're gone, Wynn spends her time pacing incessantly in the courtyard... While the older and wiser parks herself comfortably in the people chair, patiently waiting for our return.
Today, I just so happen to catch her in the act...
Thelma sunbathingTonight's my work's ("pc") holiday party. I have an interesting variety of personalities at work, so at the very least, it should be good for entertainment.
Lately, I'm guessing due to my leg meds, alcohol seems to be taking to my head rather quickly. So I've asked Matt to monitor my intake. The last thing I need 5 weeks into my position is to be that girl.
So I've got my dress all pressed and my nails all polished and my smile all plastered...
This better be good.
This weekend Matt and I saw the movie MILK, starring Sean Penn as Harvey Milk. We generally find movies about actual events interesting, and this being about the first openly gay politician to be elected to public office seemed intriguing.
I was blown away. In many respects, actually.
To start, Sean Penn's performance was phenomenal. If I've ever seen an actor melt into a character, it was on this screen. Mr. Penn became Mr. Milk. It took me reminding myself that this was Penn... Penn...
Secondly, the story, which I have never heard before, was all-inspiring.
After unsuccessfully running for political office for three consecutive years, Harvey finally landed a seat in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He went from the prominent figure for hundreds to tens of thousands of members of the gay community. And after campaigns across the country were being fought to stifle the rights of those who chose this alternate lifestyle, Harvey willingly invited the fight for their civil liberties to be brought to California.
Harvey Milk staking out campaign headquartersI guess tonight work was holding a "phone-a-thon", which we didn't have to worry about because we're still in training. Yes, that was until we were handed a list of phone numbers and told we'd be dialing out.
...I used to work in a call center selling Cortislim, this "fat-burner" that the manufacturers were later sued over for misrepresentation and fraud. The job was cake. ...But the difference between that job, and this one, is that now I'm making the calls. At least when I was hawking Cortislim, I had all the suckers calling me.
I didn't realize how difficult it would really be until they handed me a script. ...I sat and stared at the dial pad for 10 minutes before making any actual progress.
It's "sink or swim" as they say. But I'd say the first few calls were more of a "flailing".
So I learned something in training at work today. ...Don't act so surprised. ;)
I came across a concept that struck home because it's specific to struggles I've been internalizing for some time now.
...Is it me, or can anyone else take a look at another person's life and formulate unclouded, crystal clear answers (/suggestions) for their problems? ...Yet, when it comes to your own life and problems, the lights flick off and you find yourself bumping into walls? ...Walls you surely you built on your own?
"A perceived obstacle is an obstacle you create because of your own values. It may or may not be real." ...I extracted this from some sales training module, so I'm not even sure it's worthy of a citing. But I have endured a hell of a lot of obstacles, People. And it got me thinking..... Just how many of them are and were self-induced?
The module went on to encourage its reader not to reveal their perceptions until these perceptions were somehow confirmed. ...Though this is likely an age-old sales trade secret, it was news to me. And though it seems, in hindsight, to be such a common-sensical notion, why am I still bumping into walls?
And as if creating my own obstacles and knowing it isn't bad enough, I seem to have this innate need to verbalize "my truth" to just about anyone who will listen. ...I do not discriminate. This approach seems to backfire every time, but it's almost a compulsion to put my perception on display. To lay my cards on the table, despite the fact that these cards read every misconception or preconceived notion my little head can dream up.
Is this the mid-twenties knowledge gain that I keep hearing so much about? The forced, life-altering considerations that the older and wiser refer to when they say they wouldn't relive their twenties if you gave them bundles of money?
If I can take anything away from this seemingly ordinary quote, hopefully it will be the ability to step back and differentiate the genuine obstacle from the one floating in my head alone. And, if at all possible, how to keep a damn card in my hand.
We made a trip up the mountain today to treat the snouts to their first snow experience. It's been dumping up there for a while, so we didn't have to go far... We pulled off at Blue Canyon and were lucky enough to find a uninhabited clearing.
Wynn was a little apprehensive about the stuff at first, but her and Thel were running in circles in no time.
Blue Canyon
On watch
See Wynn fetch
Circle #63
Me frolicking with my pups
Circle #78
He so missed
"To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind...
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true...
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best...
To forget the mistakes of the past and to press on to the greater achievements of the future...
To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others...
To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you."
~ Christian D. Larson, Promise Yourself
...I really expected for 2008 to be an easier year than '07. I'm not sure what gave me the notion that if you have one hard year, it will of course be followed with an easier one. What's funny is that I expect the same of '09. Something easier.
You'd think I'd learn.
