★☆

It’s nearly 8:00 this morning. I’ve checked my phone messages, my email, and my calendar. I’ve a meeting at 8:30. Too early to head for the boardroom, and too little time to get much accomplished, I’m doing little busy work things, straightening up my office and purging files. I checked in at DD, but all the titles of entries were in Oriental characters. Chinese, Japanese? I don’t know how to tell the difference. I have seen a few journals written in English by people in Taiwan, so I’m going to guess that most of these entries are Chinese. It makes me sad in a way, because there’s a whole world of writers out there that I can’t read. It’s nice to see that this has become such an international site though.


It’s now late morning, post-meeting. The session was interesting both in content and in presentation. There was an agenda that underlay the topic under discussion. It went unsaid, though my immediate boss did point out a few spots where the wording or numbers were skewed. I suppose it’s true that it’s better to lie with half-truths than with fiction. The speaker was fairly good at his job, directing his audience’s attention to what he wanted us to see for the most part. I remained quiet. I’m not entirely sure what the direction of the political wind was in the room, and it seemed imprudent to speak up.

It’s a touchy issue we’re dealing with here. What do you do when perception doesn’t match reality? It seems everyone’s initial instinct is to gather up all the information they can to show the public they’re wrong. And if this were a black-and-white world, that would work just fine. But when you start skimming the scientific literature for studies that support your stand and omitting ones that question your position, you ultimately weaken your defense. My company sees that, but the presenter apparently did not. And the presenter wants to mold us to his view and then use his group’s model to guide our public stand on the issue.

I don’t know how much we value this affiliation, so I wasn’t about to put my foot in my mouth during the meeting. I may have a few private discussions with people on our end when opportunity presents itself, though.


Speaking of work, no news on the Big Changes Are Coming front. I don’t know what to think about it, so I choose not to think. It’s easier that way, and better from a mental health perspective as well.


The home front should be a hell of a lot more interesting. I’d completely forgotten that the Socialist’s Aunt and Uncle are coming in to visit us tonight. Thank heaven I got the Christmas tree down finally last night. The apartment is a wreck, and we’ll definitely have to eat out now because I’ve prepared absolutely nothing for them. On top of that, they’re planning to arrive in our town by train at 3:00 this afternoon. The Socialist is teaching then, so I’m going to have to leave work early. Which means I get docked for another half day. I swear, every time I think I’m making headway in getting some savings together again, I miss more time from work and fall behind. No, I’m not in dire straits. I’ve got a small but comfortable buffer, have my car loan paid off through the middle of 2005, and have no trouble making rent and covering my share of the utilities each month. But I’m used to having a large savings in the bank than I do now, and it preys on my sense of well-being.

But that’s neither here nor there at the moment. Aunt Artist and Uncle Oregon are in town, and there’s naught to be done about it now. This visit feels exceptionally awkward to me because Aunt Artist hadn’t spoken to her mother for years, over something I only vaguely understand. With her mother now freshly deceased, I have no idea what kind of conversation may come up, or if anything will come up at all. Since The Socialist won’t be able to be home until 3:30 at the earliest, I’m likely to have some solo time with our visitors. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that family affairs do not come up in conversation during this time.


Oh, the title of today’s entry is just an experiment. Feel free to ignore. And for those of you wondering … yes, I am a little sorry I vented in yesterday’s entry. But only a little.

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