Blah
Short post today:
- 11 miles like usual (~16km). It is all I can get it during the time I have. (sigh)
- PCS = 8. I feel like saying "to hell with it" regarding not smoking my pipes and also regarding trying to figure a way to become an occasional pipe smoker. I am feeling it just doesn't matter.
- I am very tired of all the political ads and all the b*llsh*t that both sides are saying. Both are just filled with con-artists who simply work for their own gain.
- I did not get to go swimming yesterday. With work requirements ramping up this week, and with having had orchestra rehearsal last night, and with my wife not being able to go swimming with me, it just did not happen.
- I try to do good things. I try to be productive. I try to help others. I try to be positive and to be thankful for what my life is. But so often, like today, it seems I am an insignificant cog in a machine of limited value and that while I "spin" and "spin" as is my role, it seems for nothing and it seems like no one gives a damn about me.... unless I fail to do my "spins". If I fail in that way, then I am noticed but only negatively and considered useless.
Back to spinning, I guess.
PipeTobacco
4 Comments:
Your work/life routine is dizzying in scope to a lazy sloth like myself. Strangely enough, at work I've embraced that I'm microscopic cog in an immense, dysfunctional machine. I don't expect praise nor anyone to care. It's actually quite liberating. I try to do good work. I try to be an adequate employee. But I will NOT go the extra mile nor pick up the slack because of employer inadequacy. The trick is not to take on too much responsibility and not be rushed. Granted, that's easy to say in my position of limited responsibility (flight attendant) as compared to yours. However, it seems like you ride yourself extra hard, Professor. For some things that you're not even directly responsible for. For what my opinion is worth, you seemed happy when you could mitigate the stress with a satisfying session with the leaf. You spoke of it almost mystically. It was of sublime importance and a source of great comfort to you. So now you abstain from the pipe. Is daily life better as a result? Also, besides the pipe cut yourself a little slack about being all things to all people. I know I barely know you, Professor. But you write very clearly about your feelings and with great candor. Whether you realize it or not, I consider you one of my pipe-mentors...especially in the days when you would write so lovingly and glowingly about melding flame to leaf. Your prose was rich and poetic when you spoke of the pipe.
At any rate, professor. You do me a great honor if you reflect upon these words even if for a few seconds. Above all, try to be good to yourself.
GaP
Between your work, running and family, you are doing a whole lot more than most of us. Perhaps it's time for some stress relief. (occasional pipe smoking) If you don't like it, you can give it up again. You could at least see if it helps. Although I hate the campaign ads, the two sides are extremely different in their current philosophies and policies. I don't agree 100% with either but that's impossible anyway. I already know how I'm voting--if only I had my ballot!
Professor, I notice on the U.S. bishops' liturgical calendar that Wednesday, October 19, is a memorial day for Saints John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, seventeenth-century Jesuit priests who were martyred while doing missionary work in Canada. From what I read about them and their work with tobacco-using Native Americans, I would draw a strong inference that these men were pipe smokers. Perhaps as you go through your travails tomorrow you can feel some solidarity with them.
Ah, we're all little cogs, but you seem like a bigger cog than many given your position.
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