June 4th
Today is June 4th. On this date back in 1937, my father was born. This day eats me alive every single year and this year is no exception. It's tough when you love a father as only a first-born son can, and at the same time you hold so much negative energy from how he treated you during his life.
I'm not going to rehash all of the bad things he did to me during his life. That would serve no purpose. Forgiven, but not forgotten. I do want to touch on how living with two sets of such polar opposite feelings toward one person can make one question their sanity. While I know logically that I am quite sane (although some of what I write here might make one wonder), emotionally the feelings that come up when I think of my father do make me wonder.
I don't think of my father daily. There are times when the thought comes to mind frequently, and others when it is very infrequent. Perhaps that is because of the two types of feelings he engenders in my brain. When I think of my favorite pet from this lifetime, Scooter, I think only of the good things. That's natural. I don't spend a lot of time on the negatives. The time he devoured an entire bottle of baseball glove softener, resulting in the need to shampoo the carpet as well as take him out to answer nature's call hourly for nearly two full days. Or when my 2nd ex-wife turned her back on him for a moment and he snatched an entire pot roast from the cutting board, ruining it. Or the shoes of hers he savaged. Why he ate only her shoes and not mine is another story entirely. Thinking of him makes me smile. Thinking of my dad might make me smile, or it might make me grimace.
Funny how people can make us feel so differently about them at different moments.
* * *
It's been awhile since I wrote a segment of As The Assisted Living Facility Turns and since yesterday was the June meeting of the Resident's Advisory Council (RAC), it seemed appropriate. Let's begin with a resident I am now referring to as the wannabe mayor.
A little background first. Each of the three daily meals is done in two seatings. Breakfast from 7:00 to 8:15 and 8:30 to 9:30. Lunch from 11:00 to 12:15 and 12:30 to 1:30. Dinner from 4:00 to 5:15 and 5:30 to 6:30. The wannabe mayor dines on the first seating and comes back during the second seating to visit with second-seating diners while they are trying to enjoy their meal.
A number of those second-seating residents have complained to the president of the RAC about the actions of the wannabe mayor. They don't want to be bothered while they are eating, and a few of the female residents think this is part of some move by this man to form "interpersonal" relationships with them beyond the level of friendship.
So at the RAC meeting, a new rule was adopted. It basically prohibits his current behavior. The question becomes, what will he do once this new rule has been explained to him. Stay tuned.
* * *
My employer has offices all over the Southern California area. In the district where I work, most of our offices are within the limits of the City of Los Angeles. That means that the minimum wage for people who work in those offices is going up, once Mayor Garcetti signs the new law passed by the City Council. While it won't reach $15 per hour until 2020, it is creating a nightmare for employers and employees alike.
Picture this. When advanced classes resume later this summer, I'm scheduled to teach a class from 9 to noon in an office within the city limits of Los Angeles and I'm also scheduled to teach from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. that evening at an office in Santa Monica. My employer has to pay me two different rates for the same work on the same day in two locations. While it can be resolved with proper computer programming of the payroll system, it won't be easy.
I'm not even going to get into the impact on the economy. Right now I'm just worried about the logistics for larger employers.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Lawyers for Bowe Bergdahl are seeking to have the general who is the convening authority in his pending military legal matters disqualified because he has been nominated to become the Army Chief of Staff. Since that requires confirmation in the Senate, the argument is that this might influence his actions. Maybe he should be disqualified.
The idiotic comparisons between what Lena Dunham wrote about and what went on in the Duggar's house are more than stupid. They are misleading and reprehensible.
Renaming Bruce Jenner Lane is a bad idea. It's in Texas.
It is very cool that the grandson of the man who piloted the Enola Gay is now commanding a B2 bomb wing.
There's a Republic of Korea Air Force member on a U. S. airbase near Seoul who has MERS and is in quarantine. That makes me very nervous. Many U. S. military personnel stationed at small bases throughout South Korea transit through this base on their way home.
In the wake of publication of a news article looking deep inside the workings of SEAL Team 6, concerns are being raised that there isn't enough oversight of their missions. Establishing an independent group consisting of members of Congress and retired federal judges, along with retired intelligence analysts and military experts would be a good idea.
Sending positive thoughts and energy to the Red Sox fan who was critically injured by pieces of a broken bat.
Using DNA to prove it was the waiter who spit in a restaurant customer's to-go cup seems a bit extreme...except that it proved he was guilty of it.
As my binge-watching of L. A. Law moves into Season 6, it is more clear than ever that both Harry Hamlin and Michele Green made the wrong move in leaving the show. For their own careers and for the show. It might have lasted several seasons longer if they'd stayed with the series.
Aloha is not doing well at the box office. I doubt that's because of the criticism of casting Emma Stone as "one-quarter Hawaiian."
I am not questioning the courage of Caitlyn Jenner to undertake her transition in public. But I do suspect that the choice to award her the ESPY award for courage was influenced at least in part by the fact choosing her would definitely send ratings for the award broadcast soaring.
I'm not going to rehash all of the bad things he did to me during his life. That would serve no purpose. Forgiven, but not forgotten. I do want to touch on how living with two sets of such polar opposite feelings toward one person can make one question their sanity. While I know logically that I am quite sane (although some of what I write here might make one wonder), emotionally the feelings that come up when I think of my father do make me wonder.
I don't think of my father daily. There are times when the thought comes to mind frequently, and others when it is very infrequent. Perhaps that is because of the two types of feelings he engenders in my brain. When I think of my favorite pet from this lifetime, Scooter, I think only of the good things. That's natural. I don't spend a lot of time on the negatives. The time he devoured an entire bottle of baseball glove softener, resulting in the need to shampoo the carpet as well as take him out to answer nature's call hourly for nearly two full days. Or when my 2nd ex-wife turned her back on him for a moment and he snatched an entire pot roast from the cutting board, ruining it. Or the shoes of hers he savaged. Why he ate only her shoes and not mine is another story entirely. Thinking of him makes me smile. Thinking of my dad might make me smile, or it might make me grimace.
Funny how people can make us feel so differently about them at different moments.
* * *
It's been awhile since I wrote a segment of As The Assisted Living Facility Turns and since yesterday was the June meeting of the Resident's Advisory Council (RAC), it seemed appropriate. Let's begin with a resident I am now referring to as the wannabe mayor.
A little background first. Each of the three daily meals is done in two seatings. Breakfast from 7:00 to 8:15 and 8:30 to 9:30. Lunch from 11:00 to 12:15 and 12:30 to 1:30. Dinner from 4:00 to 5:15 and 5:30 to 6:30. The wannabe mayor dines on the first seating and comes back during the second seating to visit with second-seating diners while they are trying to enjoy their meal.
A number of those second-seating residents have complained to the president of the RAC about the actions of the wannabe mayor. They don't want to be bothered while they are eating, and a few of the female residents think this is part of some move by this man to form "interpersonal" relationships with them beyond the level of friendship.
So at the RAC meeting, a new rule was adopted. It basically prohibits his current behavior. The question becomes, what will he do once this new rule has been explained to him. Stay tuned.
* * *
My employer has offices all over the Southern California area. In the district where I work, most of our offices are within the limits of the City of Los Angeles. That means that the minimum wage for people who work in those offices is going up, once Mayor Garcetti signs the new law passed by the City Council. While it won't reach $15 per hour until 2020, it is creating a nightmare for employers and employees alike.
Picture this. When advanced classes resume later this summer, I'm scheduled to teach a class from 9 to noon in an office within the city limits of Los Angeles and I'm also scheduled to teach from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. that evening at an office in Santa Monica. My employer has to pay me two different rates for the same work on the same day in two locations. While it can be resolved with proper computer programming of the payroll system, it won't be easy.
I'm not even going to get into the impact on the economy. Right now I'm just worried about the logistics for larger employers.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Lawyers for Bowe Bergdahl are seeking to have the general who is the convening authority in his pending military legal matters disqualified because he has been nominated to become the Army Chief of Staff. Since that requires confirmation in the Senate, the argument is that this might influence his actions. Maybe he should be disqualified.
The idiotic comparisons between what Lena Dunham wrote about and what went on in the Duggar's house are more than stupid. They are misleading and reprehensible.
Renaming Bruce Jenner Lane is a bad idea. It's in Texas.
It is very cool that the grandson of the man who piloted the Enola Gay is now commanding a B2 bomb wing.
There's a Republic of Korea Air Force member on a U. S. airbase near Seoul who has MERS and is in quarantine. That makes me very nervous. Many U. S. military personnel stationed at small bases throughout South Korea transit through this base on their way home.
In the wake of publication of a news article looking deep inside the workings of SEAL Team 6, concerns are being raised that there isn't enough oversight of their missions. Establishing an independent group consisting of members of Congress and retired federal judges, along with retired intelligence analysts and military experts would be a good idea.
Sending positive thoughts and energy to the Red Sox fan who was critically injured by pieces of a broken bat.
Using DNA to prove it was the waiter who spit in a restaurant customer's to-go cup seems a bit extreme...except that it proved he was guilty of it.
As my binge-watching of L. A. Law moves into Season 6, it is more clear than ever that both Harry Hamlin and Michele Green made the wrong move in leaving the show. For their own careers and for the show. It might have lasted several seasons longer if they'd stayed with the series.
Aloha is not doing well at the box office. I doubt that's because of the criticism of casting Emma Stone as "one-quarter Hawaiian."
I am not questioning the courage of Caitlyn Jenner to undertake her transition in public. But I do suspect that the choice to award her the ESPY award for courage was influenced at least in part by the fact choosing her would definitely send ratings for the award broadcast soaring.
posted by me at 2:35 PM
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