The Jas Says. . .

What I’m listening to: the air conditioner

Recommendation of the day: Get outside, it’s SUMMER!

What I’m thinking: Yeah, that’s right, we’ve finally gotten some warmer weather and I’ve been enjoying it! That means sitting on my front porch reading a book or weeding my flower garden or filling up my bird feeders or taking a walk with The Man or a multitude of other fun things besides writing journal entries. So, I’m sorry if I haven’t been talking at everyone in awhile. You can bet your sweet bippie that as summer goes on I will probably update less. So, when I manage a moment I will stop in and tell you all the fun things I’ve been doing. . . but if you were smart you’d get out and do your own fun things, and not stay inside playing on the computer all day long. Just my advice.

Quote of the day: “A splendid Midsummer shone over England: skies so pure, suns so radiant as were then seen in long succession, seldom favour, even singly, our wave-girt land.” — Jane Eyre

What I’m listening to: Doors opening and closing, footsteps, office conversation. . .

Recommendation of the day: Try to stay calm; they’re not coming for YOU.

What I’m thinking: Well, most days this doesn’t bother me but today my psyche seems to be in overdrive. Anyways. I sit right on the “main drag” of the office, so all day long people are walking past, standing right next to me carrying on conversations, and so on. To make it worse I have one of those “low wall” cubicles. You know, it’s kind of like a playpen: it doesn’t filter sight or sound, but it keeps you confined. Well. Normally I just shrug off all of the noise and the prying eyes, but today I just can’t handle it. I feel like people are just pacing back and forth past my desk. It is driving me UP A WALL. So I have to keep telling myself that I’m just overreacting. It’s not working out too well.

Work, work, work. I haven’t talked about work for a couple days so I guess it was time to insert some of that in there. Oh well. Today has been an exercise in waiting. Send out a request for information. . . and wait. And wait. And get one thing back, but not the other one. Wait some more. Oh well. Got a class to train at 3:30 so that will take my mind off the waiting. Tomorrow I don’t have to come in to work until about 5 PM since I have to train some 3rd shifters.

This weekend I’m going to the Bavarian Festival with Vicki. Will it be fun? I don’t know. I haven’t been to the Fest in years. I suppose it will depend on how outgoing I feel that day, which probably won’t be very.

What else is on my mind? I wish I could say it was something exsistensial and amusing but really I don’t have anything like that. BTW does everyone like the new journal graphic? It’s colorful! WOO HOO. I was trying to get a stained glass window kind of look but instead it looks like bad abstract art. But it is colorful and that’s mostly what I was going for.

Yesterday I was browsing around web pages, following links and doing random searches when I happened on to a page about Richard Bach, who is one of my favorite authors. The page informed me that Richard and his wife Leslie had gotten a divorce. Now, some of you are probably thinking “So what?”, but for those of you who have ever read “The Bridge Across Forever”, you’ll understand why this was so shocking to me. I felt bad for both of them, but apparently ’twas an amicable thing, so at least that is good. But it still made me sad.

Ugh. I have rambled this whole entry and haven’t said anything. Oh well. Some days are just like that, aren’t they?

Quote of the Day: “If you spend enough time whacking an old man with a stick you will eventually become an expert swordsman. That’s good news for those of you who have sticks and don’t like old men.” — Scott Adams, giving lessons learned from “The Count of Monte Cristo” (the movie) in his newsletter. It’s not a relevant quote, but it is funny.

Recommendation of the day: Wear the right footwear for your daily activities.

What I’m listening too: Muted office sounds

What I’m thinking: My feet hurt. That is the predominant thought in my head right now. I was training today for a total of four hours and I wore the wrong shoes for that job. The floor is really just cement with carpet over it, and paired up with the shoes I chose, the end result was less than pleasing. But beyond that. . . I am thinking of how odd it is that you really don’t know what you look like and sound like. You think you do. . . but then you hear yourself on the answering machine. Or you see a videotape of yourself. The first thought that comes to your mind, well that comes to my mind, is “I don’t really sound/look/act like that, do I?” The answer is yes, you do. You just don’t know it because you don’t pay attention. You never really see yourself from everyone else’s point of view, and when you do, it’s startling. Isn’t that weird?

Quote of the day: “Look in a mirror and one thing’s sure: what we see is not who we are.” — “The Bridge Across Forever” by Richard Bach

Recommendation of the day: Read the “Dune” books. They are pretty good, but seem to get progressively weirder.

What I’m listening to: Myself typing.

What I’m thinking: I have to admit, the thought process hasn’t kicked in yet today. Must be because I know I have a four hour class looming and I’m trying to conserve my energy to do it. However, I am kind of thinking of synchronicity. Sometimes, mostly when I least expect it, I will experience synchronicity and will just wonder if it’s coincidence or something more. Since all of my experiences with the mystical and mundane I am a bit more skeptical of any “special event”, but I do have to wonder. The instances are usually small things: I will be thinking of a song and turn on the radio — the song will be playing or will play within the next 15 minutes. Last night I called Vicki three or four times getting no answer, so I decided to head out for Saginaw after driving by her house to see if she had gotten home in that time. . . only to pass her on the road heading for my house. Things like that. Just little things that make me smile.

Quote(s) of the day: “A new spiritual awakening is occurring in human culture, an awakening brought about by a critical mass of individuals who experience their lives as a spiritual unfolding, a journey in which we are led forward by mysterious coincidences.” AND “Knowing our personal mission further enhances the flow of mysterious coincidences as we are guided toward our destinies. First we have a question; then dreams, daydreams, and intuitions lead us towards the answers, which usually are synchronistically provided by the wisdom of another human being.”

These are the first and seventh insights of the Celestine Prophecy, as detailed in the book of the same name by James Redfield.

Recommendation of the Day: Go see “Rent” if you haven’t already.

Today I’m listening to: “Rent” (gee, ya think?)

What I’m thinking: Today I’m thinking about the dream I had last night. My mother had sent me away to a special school where they trained people to be artists. So, I got trained to be a dancer. But the strange thing was, apparently this was a pretty traumatic process, because I was sitting in a support group type thing with the other students and we were all talking about the first time we really realized what was being done to us. And also, being a dancer was some kind of special and like. . . mystical thing. I don’t know. It was a very strange dream, which probably came about because I’ve been reading “Dune” and I watched “Six Feet Under” last night and it had a very brief “Flashdance” parody in it.

Sometimes I think I have too active of an imagination. I will fall in to daydreams on the way to work or while I’m trying to type up a document and they are really vivid. But they are also usually all based in some fantasic reality/universe. Been reading too much fantasy, I guess.

Quote: “What was it about that night? Connection! in an isolating age. For once the shadows gave way to light. For once I didn’t disengage.” — Yep, it’s from RENT!!! It’s a Rent kind of day.