The stress is over whether or not I will be working come January 1. I still haven't had confirmation from my boss and I'm getting nervous. Granted, at the company holiday party on Thursday (which was really fun), the head of Accounting and the head of HR both seemed to think I was staying on. I take that as a good sign.

If I get laid off it isn't the end of the world. I have time to find a new job - possibly a full-time job in my field, since all I have left to complete is my thesis - and my tuition is paid in full. I would have to give up my car, but that wouldn't be an insurmountable hardship. The main concern is that my father is still without employment - money is getting tight at home and I want to continue buying my own food supplies and paying for a portion of the electric, cable, Internet and cell phone bills.

I want to keep this job, though. The company culture is fun - what other place is still buying their employees lunch every Wednesday and allowing the Beverage Run on Fridays, not to mention First Thursday (of the month) bar fun on the company tab for two hours? Granted, the majority of people here works 50-60 hour weeks, but the compensation is there for it (the lowest paid person is a Support rep making $37,000 and Support works 9-hour shifts - they have the best hours in the company [as compared to our CEO and CFO, who work 80-ish hour weeks and the workaholics like my boss who never seem to not be working]). And with this economy, I want to be able to apply for a position here when I'm finished with school. Just in case.

Buh. I want to keep this job.

Finished your christmas shopping yet?

In Toronto tomorrow, for that last bit of christmas shopping, picking up meds and having lunch at Arepa Cafe. It got a good review recently here. We so miss ethnic food here in Nanookville, aside from the ubiquitous “Chinese” buffets that liven up our otherwise mostly dreary rural choices, that we jump at the chance to try something new. We loved arepas when we were in Venezuela a few years back, so it will be nice to reconnect. With a bit of luck, The Cloyce will join us.

Over at my other blog at PositiveLite.com, I’m posting some silly stuff this week, about gay gifts for christmas. The irreverent, home-grown new site for poz guys who are (mostly) over it seems to be doing quite well, btw; 5,000 hits in its first week and growing fast, with some lively entries on the part of the blogging team. Anyway, check it out.

What color does your church use for advent? Blue or purple?

Print by: Koson
Source: http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/detail-d446.htm



Only bird tracks
have crossed the garden bridge
this Winter Solstice--
afternoon sunlight lingers
on the path to mother's arbor.
b_oki



Please add your tanka or haiku if you wish.

First the shedding. This is how I did it:

I went skating on a pond--a tiny one, but a deep one, on the cusp of twilight, all alone. I had to do it quick, before the snow came. That was on Saturday.

That night I made eggnog. I got the recipe from sovay. It had four cups of alcohol in it, and two cups of cream, and many eggs, and much milk.

( it looks like polenta, but it's eggnog )

Drinking that beautiful concoction takes away several layers of reality.

Sunday it snowed, but just a little. But it blew and whirled beautifully. I slept a lot on Sunday... sleeping at odd hours also sweeps reality away.

And then I woke up and it was today. It was 5 am, and I went for a walk in the bitter cold, in the woods, underneath the weak stars. That stripped the last stitch of reality from me.

I got clad in reality again by going out for a second walk in the daylight. Daylight firms things up--except in the marshes, where things are never firm. I put my foot through ice there, made a dark brown mud-and-water footprint, a foot-deep footprint, confirming what desert_sparrow and I discussed last year, that northern marshes do not freeze.

Next in my series of night-time shots that need a proper camera but I'm taking them anyway, this evening's moon, waxing as the year turns:



It will be full on New Year's eve, so (weather permitting) it might be the sign-off shot for this year.

Missing Child in Chicago Brianna Lacey, 15, is missing. She is also known to go by the name of Brianna Wright. She was last seen Friday, December 18, 2009 leaving for school from her home in the vicinity of 80th Street and Eberhart and heading to Longwood Academy located at 95th Street and Throop, according to the Chicago Police Department. Brianna is described as a African-American, 5 ft. 4 inches tall, weighing 110 lbs., with brown hair, brown eyes, and a fair complexion. She also has pierced ears. She was last seen wearing a navy blue polo shirt, navy blue sweater, gray pants, and a brown coat. She had on black gym shoes, as well. According to police, she frequents the area near her home, as well as the area near 105th Street and Yates in Chicago, Illinois. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact Chicago Police Area Two Detective Division Special Victims Unit at (312) 747-8274.   karnythia says: This is my son's cousin. She may have run away, but we don't know that for sure. The police are treating her as a runaway so there is no Amber Alert. If you have seen this girl and have any information please contact the Chicago police at (312)747-8274. Or if you are just willing to spread the link, please feel free to do so. She's a kid and we're worried about her. Thank you.

Monsters of Folk - Say Please

To Paul and John’s for a winter solstice party last night. It’s an annual affair that begins with everybody trooping up to the top of their hill to gather around a bonfire. Everyone brings a log and a lantern. There are readings, a carol or two and a few invocations to the gods of winter - or something - and then everyone makes a loud noise. It was pleasant enough, though trekking down the hill to the warmth of their house, and the more traditional party that followed, was more my thing. I don’t make a good druid.

Could have been worse. It was -4C or so last night, so we didn’t freeze. And we were home by 9.30pm; with a new dog in the house you don’t stay out too long. Many more parties to test her stamina and her bladder this week; parties or dinners every night until past christmas now.

As you might have guessed though, yesterday was mostly about Peggy, watching her settle in, explore and generally make herself at home. She really has adapted incredibly well. She’s very comfortable in the house now and is buddy-buddy with the other dogs. She’s clearly raring to explore more of what’s outside; we have seven acres here, so there’s a lot to explore, and she seems to want to check out all of it. Right now, though, she doesn’t have a collar for the invisible fence, or the required training that goes with it, but both will come. In the meantime, we watch her so that she doesn’t stray too far.



Here she looks more like Darth Vader than Peggy-Sue; the latter’s her real name, which is not one either of us can stand in its full form. But that stern face is deceptive. She’s a little sweetheart.

Main problem right now is that her breath stinks to high heaven. Bassets are known for this and Dudley’s isn’t pleasant, but hers is a weapon of mass destruction. We’ll take her to the vet this week and see if there’s anything behind it.

Anyway, it likely comes as no surprise that I wanted to take some more photos of her, this being christmas and all, which would update those duo shots I took earlier this month. Whether she would go for that level of indignity (we're talking santa hats here, of course) so soon in our relationship I wasn’t sure.

Wanna see if she was up to it. Well then, do the clicky, for the answer.

( Read more... )

4 p.m. Sunday and I've taken the miserable kitchen tap unit apart and condemned it as not worth putting back together again. Even if I could get replacement o-rings for the mixer stem, which has leaked since forever.

Fortunately, given my lack of forward planning, there's a new HomeDept in the area, and it was open until 6. Helpful chap suggested redoing the lines in as well as the tap unit, so now we have this spiffy if serpentine arrangement and a working kitchen sink again.



But the architecture of the whole thing is so repairperson unfriendly!
Hmm. Not how I'd design it, but that's for another lifetime.

Back into marathon training and I'm **so** tired/sleepy! G'night all.

"Aqua Mosaic" - my artistic muse.


Weeping willows
their branches entangled
in winter pond--
the reflection of our kiss
frozen upon my heart.
b_oki


Our last kiss
now in our twenties
her wedding
in her bridal gown, kissing
her bridesmaid in the powder room.

Sarah Whitworth


willow weeps
on the white winter pond
her footprints
stefan11




Please add your tanka or haiku.

.

The snow was supposed to start at 4 o'clock yesterday, so I didn't take any pictures earlier.  But it didn't start snowing until almost 10 pm. 

( +1 )

and wins

The position i was up for and turned down for earlier this year is open again as of a few days ago. Part of me wants to apply. Part goes "harry potter!"

Print likely by: likely Watanabe Shozaburo.
Title: "Takahama Inari Shrine".
Source: www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/detail-c909.htm


A blanket of stars
for my journey home...
Saturday snow--
dreams of childhood sledding
clinging to my frozen cuffs.
b_oki


out of breath
she climbs the temple steps
winter blizzard

~J



As always....please add your waka, tanka, or haiku.

.

On the road again, fetching Ninja girl back from college -- the Healing angel came along to keep me company on the outbound, as I was a bit zonked from the morning run. This was the pre-sunset sky--very different in the Hudson river valley compared to here in the Pioneer valley.

Last long day of office for a while, although the semester's work is not close to done yet. No outside time -- but it was cold enough I didn't really want to be outside. Got home to a starry sky, no moon, and the blissfully little light pollution there is round here. The camera can't really do stars, but 無理矢理に I took the shot anyway:



Maybe I'll try again tonight, aiming at Orion -- if the snowstorm hasn't arrived by the time he stands up.

Her name is Peggy. She’s a basset hound, like Dudley. In fact uncannily like Dudley in appearance and in temperament. She even has his bad breath. She’s six years old, the product of a broken marriage. The couple apparently split and for some reason the dogs had to go. When we heard she was looking for a new home, we jumped.

The video shows us first introducing her to the other pups as the light faded this afternoon. Since then, Peggy is settling in very nicely. She’s made herself at home already and is following the dogs around everywhere. I think they like her.