Life is good

[cjsmith]

Friday, got most of my personal belongings home from work. If I'm going to be walked out the door, I'd rather be carrying only a small pile of stuff.

Saturday, attended a beautiful Japanese Buddhist wedding ceremony. It was short, but not simple; it was bilingual; it was steeped in tradition and symbolism; it was truly lovely. At the reception, people who offered toasts spoke from the heart about friendship, happiness, love, continuity, family, and sharing. I thought back to the most recent wedding I had attended, one with a combination business meeting / awards-ceremony kind of flavor. By contrast, this one warmed my heart.

Paid bills on the plane ride back. Envelopes need only to be stamped and mailed. It feels good to have all the paper fiddly-bits done.

Immediately upon arrival, went in to work and got all my personal crap off my machines there. That lowers my stress level immensely. Where I work, if I remember the last round correctly, folks who get walked out the door are not allowed to touch a computer from the moment they are notified. I'm glad to have all my stuff siphoned off to a CD. I should've been keeping everything neatly organized and divided all along, of course, but I wasn't. I feel a whole lot better now. Whether I get laid off or not, either way, I'll be glad that things at work are much better organized.

Next I rearranged some furniture here at home. This room looks much better. Now I'm sitting at a desk that's a reasonable height for a computer, rather than at a second- or third-hand table that was always uncomfortably tall. jackiecat is curled up on the carpet, snoozing. Life is good.

Comments

[rampling.livejournal.com]

"combination business meeting / awards-ceremony kind of flavor"

Ahhh, you've put words on precisely what bothers me about too many weddings. Glad you got to attend a warm and loving wedding! Nice to know they exist ;) -- I've been a wedding cynic and avoider for a long time. Formal ceremonies with things you *have to* do tends to make me uncomfortable, whether or not I'm participating.

I understand 'bout the work thing -- I've done the exact same thing myself at a previous job, also figuring it was good anyway, plus gave me peace of mind as a backup in case the axe swung my way.

Oh, and Mira says µ to jackiecat and is curious as to whether she should join the LJ bandwagon as well....

Hi Mira

[jackiecat.livejournal.com]

Do join! We need more kitty perspectives here on LJ. There are too many humans. I like humans, but kitties are better!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, you've put words on precisely what bothers me about too many weddings. Glad you got to attend a warm and loving wedding! Nice to know they exist ;)

Hanging out with too many yuppies or intellectual snobs lately? ;-) I've found that there are strong "class distinctions", for lack of a better phrase, in terms of what various splinters of the American culture tend to value. I was raised in a group that valued achievement and devalued, almost abhorred, interpersonal connection emotional weakness. I'm so glad to see that there are other ways to live and that there are happy people out there living them.

Formal ceremonies with things you *have to* do tends to make me uncomfortable, whether or not I'm participating.

For me it depends hugely on how much consent I figure the participants have. At a wedding, I know that before the ceremony pretty much everyone chose to be there, and the main characters designed what they were going to do. At a high school pep rally, consent is far less evident...