July was supposed to be a month of rest and reintegration. But it seems like life has just become more disconnected and random and odd. Well, you know what, things always get messier when you start cleaning and reorganizing.
1. Personal performance issues at the restaurant aren't completely resolved, but I've gotten a whole lot better. Or maybe other people are getting worse.
2. New books to read:
_Reading Lolita in Tehran_
_Nine Horses_ by Billy Collins
3. One roommate gone, new one slowly moving in.
4. One roommate kicked off the island, new one moving in August 15 or so.
5. Old friend w/ marital issues still here.
6. Roofers are done. The skies opened up yesterday and I rejoiced. No worries about leaks.
7. Now must decide exterior house colour, must start painting. Hmm, next week.
8. Picking up Friday night shift, possibly picking up Saturday night shift, meaning working every night this week.
9. Have only exercised half as much as usual. Bleah.
10. Managed to triple book last Sunday's lunch time. G said, "How did that happen?" "My brain isn't working."
11. I am beginning to think that not letting other people's blessings be a curse to me is a never-ending process. A constant not letting my heart break. A constant guiding of my mind. "Nope, Mike, just don't go there."
12. New wrinkle--not letting other people's curses be a curse. For instance, I need to not let a friend's miscarriage remind me that I don't even have that opportunity. I just need to walk with them as I can.
13. However, from a different situation altogether--I CAN be angry and say, "Shut up--stop saying that despite my intelligence and empathy I can't understand. Once is fine, and I can maybe handle it twice, twenty times is NOT NOT NOT ACCEPTABLE. Shut the fat up."
14. It's school supply time. I'm out of that schedule for a year. Not sure how I feel about that.
15. Have unintentionally lost weight, possibly due to stress or over the top sweat profusion at work. The a.c. can't keep up, so I just attempt to not drip sweat in the food. And wipe my face very twenty seconds.
16. This means, however, that ALL my jeans now fit.
17. I have too many pairs of jeans.
18. K is back in town. Hurrah for old friends! And their apartment complex has a pool...
19. I've never been a bumper sticker kind of guy, but I've put the following on:
Greyfriar's
Amnesty International
SK (for Slovakia)
Clumpies
Sticky Fingers
Apple
20. My sister J sent me one of those ribbon support magnets to replace my Covenant College sticker. It is black. It reads: Support Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll.
21. I love my sister.
22. The motorcycle is back. The headlight works intermittently. But soon....soon....
1. Bobbo!!! is coming to town
2. clean house
3. clean empty bedroom to prep for fellow server (long hair, vegetarian, gentle hippy kinda guy) moving in sometime
4. take dinner to I and K tonight when they pull into town
5. _Willy Wonka_?
6. finish grading Brussels global trends stuff since it is now all submitted
7. sleep in? this depends on roofers...don't know how close they are to being done
8. seriously consider paint colour for house exterior--taking suggestions
9. help move M and B
please pray for me tonight. The restaurant is not going well and this evening could be a pivotal time.
Can anyone tell me how to get in touch with Heather Noren? I need to return some pictures to her.
mikehardie@comcast.net
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.
The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.
(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens,
I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go,
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them,
I am fill'd with them, and I will fill them in return.)
from "Song of the Open Road" by Walt Whitman
The wedding was great. The weekend was great. We got upgraded to a Jeep Grand Cherokee. They wanted to give us a Wrangler which would have been loads of fun, but would obviously not work for getting five people to CO Springs or for shuttle service at the reception. The hotel was kind of dumpy. Projected hijinks in the pool didn't happen, as the pool was INSIDE. And way too small. The hotel breakfast was carb central. And the coffee was bad. Bleah. I'm glad I had some protein bars along.
We all had several long conversations and we laughed pretty much all the time. It was good for the soul.
This week...uh...uh...not sure what to say. I did make a lot of money last night.
I'm pretty sure my housemates want me to be working more, since when I'm off I start the bigtime cleaning, and I get pissed off at them. I throw things away, like garlic butter which was apparently some sort of amazing stuff but had been open in the fridge for about a month and had definitely hardened. "But I cook with that." "Really? When was the last time you cooked anything but generic hamburger helper?" And socks that have been sitting in the hall for weeks. But everything (everything--I'm about to go buy oven cleaner and get that puppy done) is or will be clean and I will feel better. At least for a while.
in all the world in accordance with thine ancient Name: we beseech thee to make war and tumult now to cease. From the murmur and subtlety of suspicion with which we vex one another give us rest. Make a new beginning, and mingle again the kindred of nations in the alchemy of love, and with some finer essence of forbearance and forgiveness, temper our minds.
--Aristophanes
in a field on its tripod,
ready for the next arrow.
--Billy Collins
We got our you know whats handed to us tonight, but it was good financially, so I am not complaining. (And there's something really fun about being really busy, you know?) Jerry Seinfeld was in town talking on stage, so we had a pre-show and a post-show rush. So I am just now doing laundry, getting ready to head to Colorado Springs for the wedding event of this summer season. (We can't figure out if the reception will be your typical Latvian bash or if the teetotalers from the ARP will have their way. I'm bringing vodka just in case, at least we can retire to the hotel pool and get some vodka tonics goin' on.) It'll be fun, I'm meeting Bob and JKrue and A in Denver tomorrow, we're gonna head on over and just have a good time.
Well, I hope I can sleep on the plane. I am definitely gonna be sleep deprived.
Addendum: for those of you who know what I'm talking about, my old friend is back in town. Apparently those marital things took a downturn. Anger and tears abound. But this is not the end of the story. So yeah, you can pray.
It was always going to be a complicated feeling after Live8. A big noisy day, followed by the inevitable sense of 'what was that all about?'
We just thought it was worth writing a reminder of what it was all about.
The very simple fact is that thousands upon thousands of people are still dying each day, in one damn way or another, as a result of extreme poverty.
No one, absolutely not one person in the world, thinks this is a good state of affairs. And yesterday millions and billions of people took part in an event that was meant to say that. They don't know how to stop the dying. But they are desperate and passionate that something should be done right now.
And so in their millions they sent a message to the G8 leaders that you must treat the situation as what it is - a desperate crisis, a rolling tragedy totally unacceptable at the start of the 21st century. A child dies every three seconds. Millions are dying of preventable and curable diseases every year. There are countries in Africa where life expectancy is now below 40.
The hugeness of Live8 was the best that we normal citizens can do to send our leaders a message.
For God's sake, take this seriously. Don't behave normally. Don't look for compromises. Be great. Do more than expected, not the least you can get away with. You know what will really make a difference, what will turn extreme poverty around. What will actually begin to save the lives of millions of men, women and children.
Do it. Please, do it. The world is watching.
Bob Geldof, Bono, Richard Curtis and everyone at Live8
New cd's:
Cher "Heart of Stone"
Bon Jovi "New Jersey"
Seiji Ozawa-Boston Symphony Orchestra "Vivaldi: The Four Seasons"
Looked for anything by Lauren Winner. The looking was unsuccessful.
I need to borrow someone's copy of Lauren Winner's _Mudhouse Sabbath_. Anybody in Chattanooga? Hm?
Thanks to Barb. I don't know where to start. I swear that you remember everything you ever read. You care for people in the most unique and devoted way, partly in how your friendship and conversation shows people more about who they are. There's always been something for us to laugh about. You have always accepted me exactly as I am. Your dedication and forethought and foresight and commitments challenged me and made me change. I learned to love students from you. I knew I could always show up in your office and that you'd understand what was making me crazy. Your generosity floors me. I love that in a life that's far away you sometimes find things that bring me to mind.
From a friend at tonight's post-Covenant party: "Know that we are always here for a pit stop or a flat tire."
Awww.