8:07 p.m. | 2003-08-08 My Cool, Yet Weird Life Vibe Has Morphed Into A Wacky Heading To Goofy Vibe. When I got to MyWorkPlace today, I thought maybe it was a holiday and no one told me. It was very desolate. Each Division was down to a skeleton crew, so to speak. Apparently, that was just a result of variable schedules, people taking vacations, random illness and some telecommuting. In fact, Colleague�s still on vacation and Boss worked from home today. Boss had a ton of our work to read, and it�s hard for her to do that at MyWorkPlace. What, with me interrupting her every 15 minutes or so to ask questions and whatnot. The stuff we write is, frankly, very technical and hence, quite boring. It really takes a concentrated effort to read it. Trust me, I know because I write it. Hell, it takes a concentrated effort to write it too. So, it was very quiet which is rather creepy. Oh, and the church across the street is closed for a while so there hasn�t been any ringing of the bells. Which, incidentally, is how I subconsciously keep track of time at work and home. That�s how I know it�s time for lunch or, well, time to go home. Or time to go to bed, for that matter. Anyway, I received a total of two phone calls today. One was from Dearest Sister. Now, we don�t normally call each other at work because it�s just not conducive to our jobs, but occasionally, we have to do a quick call because of scheduling conflicts. Not that you give a shit about all that, just that it�s kinda unnerving to receive a call from her at work. This is that. (CI:) Good morning. MyWorkPlace. This is Cruel-Irony. (DS:) Hey Woman, it�s me. (CI:) Oh, hi! (DS:) I have to go to a special meeting today in a few minutes, but I wanted to give you a quick call to find out what the HELL is going on in YourWorld. It�s fucking nuttier than a pecan pie! I don�t understand this. Why is everyone all crazy? (CI:) (Heavy sigh.) I don�t know. (DS:) Why is this even happening? What�s gonna happen next? (CI:) I don�t know. It just changes from moment to moment. I have no idea what�s gonna happen next, I just know that it�ll be unexpected. That�s the only thing I expect� the unexpected. (DS:) Well, YEAH! Woman, you better buckle up and hang on because it looks like you�re in for a wild ride! (CI:) Hell, I�ve been buckled up and hanging on for quite a while now. Pretty soon, I�m gonna just close my eyes, throw my arms in the air and scream as loud as I can. It�ll be a wild ride, but I�ll be fine. (DS:) Well, I gotta go, but I�m gonna call you in a couple of days to check on you. (CI:) Okay. Hey, have a nice day! (DS:) You�re too fucking funny! Now, I have to tell you that we both have that cool, yet weird life vibe thing so we�re used to a certain amount of wackiness in our lives. However, we do get a little uncomfortable when the wacky index goes down rapidly or up sharply. And, we just laugh when it moves too close to normal or goofy since we don�t know what else to do at that point. It always settles back into our cool, yet weird vibe. Eventually. In fact, Dearest Sister called me out of the blue last Sunday. Here�s that. (CI:) Hello? (DS:) Hey Girlie, it�s me. I called to check on you because I�m worried about you, and to get a status on that history box we gave you. So, are you okay? (CI:) Uh, yeah. I�m fine. MyWorld is a little crazy, but I�m okay. Just up a notch on the stress-o-meter. (DS:) Why didn�t you tell me that all this weird shit was going on? (CI:) Well, you know, I was waiting to see how it all shakes out. I mean, things are going keep changing for a while so I figured I�d call you when it all got sorted out. Like I usually do. (DS:) Well, can you explain some stuff to me? (CI:) Sure, fire away. I filled her in on some specifics and answered all her questions the best I could. Then, I gave her a status on the history box. I�m making some progress there, which is actually quite exciting to both of us, but probably not so much to you. Then, this happened. (DS:) Okay, well, I�m gonna call you every Sunday to check on you. I mean, I�m sure you�ll be fine, but I�m gonna call you anyway, you know, because I�ll need status reports on the history box and stuff. (CI:) I�ll be fine, but you know I always love it when you call. That, my friends, is the FIRST time anyone has ever called because they were worried about me. In general, people don�t worry about me. And, don�t you worry either. MyWorld is just wacky right now, but it�ll all work out for the best. There may be an impact on my life, but there may not be. It�s too soon to tell. However, it was just too sweet for Dearest Sister to call me because she�s worried. It was all, like warm and fuzzy and all that shit. I could get used to that. Then, she�d have to call me every Sunday forever. It�s not like we don�t worry about each other, but we�re not delicate flowers or anything. We usually just handle stuff and offer up a report occasionally. In fact, most of the time, people tell me that they don�t worry about me because they know that I�ll just handle whatever life throws my way. And, I do. But, I must say, it�s awful sweet to have someone tell you that they�re concerned about what�s happening in your life. Oh, and I did call the Cable Company today. I�ve been a little, well, snarky lately to customer service representatives � in general � so I took a moment to breathe, center myself and ask for some grace before I made that particular call. I�ve been quite irritated with the Cable Company and it�s been showing. Yet, I know that approach just isn�t effective. Really, it�s not. It�s important to assert yourself at times, but being a bitch just doesn�t get you where you want to be. Plus, it�s normally not called for. And, frankly, I don�t give a shit if you scoff at my breathing, centering and asking for grace, because� instead of having a $90 bill, or even a zero balance, I now have a credit balance with the Cable Company. So, out with the bitch and in with the grace. I�m just saying. your thoughts? seed flower