June 2004 Archives

I went to a specialist this morning and finally got my ears cleaned out. It took hardly any time at all. He had given me Cerumol, which contains paint thinner (seriously) to put in my ears for a week before he would take any action. Three uses of the syringe and boom! Done.

I haven't been able to hear most ambient noise for a couple of months. I always had to face my coworkers and often have to move closer to them in order to make out what they were saying. I would hear ridiculous things in place of what people were really saying. It was tough. And French! That was three times as hard. But now, it's all restored. I even had a test of my hearing which I thought I failed if you can fail such a test, but it turns out that my hearing is normal.

So life is grand. The Montreal Jazz Festival starts today. Do you have your plane tickets?

I seem to have a talent for knowing when Rose updates, especially considering I no longer check my buddies page at Diaryland, and she doesn't have a notify list as far as I know. She briefly goes over my heroic saving of a baby urban brown bird this past weekend. I have no idea what they are really called, but it was young, and wasn't doing so well.

I lent a book to a coworker last Friday, and I wanted to discuss it with her when she was done. I decided to send her an email asking her if she had started the book. She's the marketing intern, and basically a Marketing-Woman-in-training, but so far, fairly nice. Here's the email she sent back to me:

The final question:

What is your position on same-sex marriage? Do you think its legalization is inevitable? Do you think same-sex couples jeopardize the "sanctity" of the institution?

What does it mean when someone says that another person has a very "compartmentalized" life? And why/when is this bad?

The fourth question:

Today, almost a third of all children are born out of wedlock. In the last forty years, there has been an 850 percent increase in the number of cohabitating couples who have children. Do you think this trend will continue? And is a two-parent household necessary to a child's well-being?

Seems to be cloudy or raining everywhere in the world today. I have a new Weathernetwork button in the sidebar. See if your city is there, and find out the weather, if only to confirm what you already know.

The third question:

Do you think the grounds for divorce are changing? Are they becoming more lax (i.e.: it's not worth ending a five-year marriage because of a spouse's infidelity) or more stringent (i.e.: you cheat, I leave and take the dog, no questions asked)?

UPDATE: Sorry, I had the link wrong before. It is now fixed.

I just really, really hate myself. Something has to change. Something has to change, something has to change. I just don't know exactly how to do it, though. But it's all up to me.

UPDATE 3:01 PM: I'm actually much better now. Thanks for asking. :)

The second question:

The age of first marriage is higher than it's ever been: thirty-seven million Americans are waiting until their thirties or beyond. At the same time, some single men claim they don't want to date women over the age of 30 or 35, because they consider them to be a "reproductive liability." Is this ignorance or pragmatism? What can women do? And do you think the recent slate of articles about "baby panic" among older, professional women might cause the age of first marriage to start trending downward?"

Last night some co-workers and I went sailing on the Lake of Two Mountains, which I prefer to call lac des Deux Montagnes. There were four of us from the office: Ned, Johnny, Rick and myself, plus Rick's girlfriend, Melissa. I drove up with Ned, and we picked up some beer and chips. Molson Dry has released a strong version of Molson Dry at 6.5% alcohol, but in small 250 mL cans. You get eight of them. Melissa had one and I had seven. I was feeling just fine.

In response to Liz's entry on mawwage, I thought I would write this. It might follow nicely from Question 1 as well.

People respect (or they say they respect) commitment in a relationship. If you say that someone may be less committed in relationship A (unmarried) than someone else in a different, married relationship B (a dangerous comparison to make, by the way), then it might be reasonable to think that you respect relationship A less. But from the point of view of someone in relationship A, depending on how secure they feel, your lack of respect is either of no consequence, or offensive.

Next Tuesday's meeting:

Please be prepared to review the following: Prepare this from your perspective. We will use the meeting to debate and set Q3 but bring what you think should be your top priorities. This is not a "to do list" but where you need to focus. These priorities must guide you throughout the quarter. There will be lots of "to do's" beneath each.
****************************
Historical Review - create a report card - grade yourself on your top priorities that we set in Q2

Do we carry any of Q2 priorities forward that we did not complete in Q2 or need to continue as a priority

Set the top three Priorities for Q3

What an unbelievably shitty day. I found out today that everything I did at work in may is wrong or inadequate.

When working in a team environment when team members need and require reminders and conversations in writing, and everything must be in the database that the team is using, then send email three times from your account, use the database to send email as well and then have a meeting or two to COVER YOUR ASS. I didn't cover my ass, so I am not going to be paid as much as I should be. Now I am scrambling to get things done so that I can get paid properly. As it stands right now, because I was learning to use the new database, I am being screwed out of a few hundred dollars because my outside people need to be spoonfed and things were waiting too long.

I'm just putting out fires now. This really sucks. I look as imcompetent as those idiotic outside reps. Chrissakes.

Before continuing with this series, you should really read this, this, this and this, if you haven't already. They sum up my views on marriage, however, they are quite bound to my circumstances at the time.

The first question:

Is marriage dead? What is the future of marriage? Where is it going — or is it too far gone?"

Nerve.com - VoiceBox: Toward a More Perfect Union

Nerve has just completed a five-part series of interviews with several media personalities. This five-part series has them ruminating on the state of marriage as part of their Future of Marriage issue. Great idea. I have my own thoughts on these things. I will answer the questions here as they apply to me, but first, some words about the contributors:

They say that the devil appeared to Robert Johnson and offered the chance of an eternity: Be the King of the Delta Blues for the price of your soul. The "Crossroads" story is a blues legend. Robert eagerly jumped at the opportunity. I suppose he's burning in hell now.

Ever wonder how the devil would appear to you? What kind of offer would the devil be making you? What would you want to have so much that you would pay any price for? Would you sacrifice your soul for a family member's life? A spouse's? I wouldn't, because everyone must die sooner or later. Better to have a soul and live in mourning than feel nothing ever again. What about guaranteed prosperity for all? I wouldn't do that either. I don't trust people to maintain such perfect conditions.

A more interesting question is, what form would the devil take to entice you? For some, it would be a sexy member of the preferred sex. For others, it would be an innocent, ordinary-looking person, and for still others, the devil would look like, The Devil, horns and all. For me, I think the devil would look like an evil version of me. As badass and corrupt as possible. Physically perfect, with a look that would make a Nazgul flee. Swirling blackness would partially obscure his body, and light would shy away from him. Pure evil. Or pure self-interest. But I didn't need to say it twice.

One year ago today, I was paid off. That touched off the best summer I have had since I was a kid.