Y2/D303....Remote Today..
Jan. 13th, 2022 09:12 pmAnd kept drifting off to sleep. I didn't sleep well last night, so that was half of it. I got too hot, so turned on the AC, then got too cold. Radiator heat, ugh.
Also I'm wondering about my crazy workplace again...how these folks get jobs, or keep them for that matter, I've no clue. I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill you. And we don't want that. (ie. It's too hard to explain without giving out confidential information.)
Was on a meeting - about electronic bidding, except..well, it wasn't about bidding at all, it was about contractual language changes to a contract that I've never had to deal with before - so the changes were kind of irrelevant to me. One of the participants picked up on it - and called them on it, so they ended the meeting.
They also informed us that the global outtage of our time keeping system was the result of a hacker who had managed to acquire personal information from various employees at one of the agencies (which I'm not a member of). We have six separate agencies. But because they want everyone protected, the company responsible for the time keeping is offering all the employees access to a free credit monitoring service.
**
Super informed me that there may be a bit of a snafu regarding tomorrow's scheduled painting of my apartment. Apparently they've run out of off-white or cream paint. And there's no more at the store either. (I suddenly have deja vu of my brother and I fighting over the color of the pain in my parents basement, which we'd been assigned to paint while they were overseas way back in 1990. We fought for an hour over whether the paint was off white or cream, then took a break, went to see Silence of the Lambs, came back and fought some more. I ranted later to Gran about it, and she never let me hear the end of it. "You and your brother can fight for over an hour about the color of paint!")
I don't care if they finish the painting tomorrow or next month. Looks better than it did. A lot better. Considering what I'd been living with - this is a step up.
Super informed me that there was a spider web not a crack above my right window. I told her it was a dust web - it was. Or a cobweb. I took care of it. (I know a spiderweb when I see it.)
**
Went grocery shopping at the Co-Op after work. I wanted pizza - specifically Against All Grains Pepperoni Pizza - but alas they were out and I ended up with Nut-Free Pesto Pizza. I got it because I was standing in a line that went on forever just to get to the pizza. The checkout line went down the half frozen food aisle and up the other half of the frozen food aisle and around the store. By the time I got to the pizza, I'd been standing in line for twenty minutes. It's the only store that has the pizza. I decided Nut-Free Pesto was doable.
(I got other things too - such as a salmon burger, wild tuna steak, chicken slices, creamer, water, CBD sparkling soda, Kombauchi, quiona taboli, green beans, salad greens, chocolate, cheese sticks.)
It was warmer today, so I took advantage. Tomorrow will go to the pharmacy on the way home.
***
One of my cousins has gotten into the habit of hosting big Zoom/Face Time events with family members. This one is for her birthday on the 15. It's hosted through Facetime messenger.
I hate Zoom and Facetime. I have to do it for work - which is fine, since no one cares if I don't show a video at work. But when we do it outside of work - they require video. Also with work - at least there's something to be accomplished, it's not just aimless chatter. My problem with it - is I can't tell how people are feeling or reacting. Also even on conference calls - you can't tell. I'm not a fan of group chat's or conference calls - it's hard to focus on them.
I'm thinking of going to bed earlier tonight, I keep dozing off.
***
Wales: I wish I knew more people in Canada.
Me: I don't know why - I have a lot of Canadian friends on social media. They are as miserable as we are. They keep getting locked down,and hate their leadership.
Wales: They haven't yet tried to null an election by violent mob and are less religious.
Me: True but not for lack of trying...
[It goes on. She went into rant mode. I ended by asking if she was torturing herself with the news again, and to stop that. Sometimes I think the media is 98% of the problem?]
Twitter did have an interesting thread on how the CIA had infiltrated, manipulated and funded the Iowa Writer's Workshop - to teach people to write non-political, self-absorbed personal narratives, with an emphasis on Show don't Tell, that didn't ruffle political feathers and were "capitalistic" in tone.
( see thread below )
Wow. I suddenly feel vindicated for not doing the Iowa Writers Workshop, and abandoning literary fiction for genre, comics, and independently published fiction ages ago.
People can drive me crazy, if I let them.
***
Random Photo of the Night...
Also I'm wondering about my crazy workplace again...how these folks get jobs, or keep them for that matter, I've no clue. I'd tell you, but I'd have to kill you. And we don't want that. (ie. It's too hard to explain without giving out confidential information.)
Was on a meeting - about electronic bidding, except..well, it wasn't about bidding at all, it was about contractual language changes to a contract that I've never had to deal with before - so the changes were kind of irrelevant to me. One of the participants picked up on it - and called them on it, so they ended the meeting.
They also informed us that the global outtage of our time keeping system was the result of a hacker who had managed to acquire personal information from various employees at one of the agencies (which I'm not a member of). We have six separate agencies. But because they want everyone protected, the company responsible for the time keeping is offering all the employees access to a free credit monitoring service.
**
Super informed me that there may be a bit of a snafu regarding tomorrow's scheduled painting of my apartment. Apparently they've run out of off-white or cream paint. And there's no more at the store either. (I suddenly have deja vu of my brother and I fighting over the color of the pain in my parents basement, which we'd been assigned to paint while they were overseas way back in 1990. We fought for an hour over whether the paint was off white or cream, then took a break, went to see Silence of the Lambs, came back and fought some more. I ranted later to Gran about it, and she never let me hear the end of it. "You and your brother can fight for over an hour about the color of paint!")
I don't care if they finish the painting tomorrow or next month. Looks better than it did. A lot better. Considering what I'd been living with - this is a step up.
Super informed me that there was a spider web not a crack above my right window. I told her it was a dust web - it was. Or a cobweb. I took care of it. (I know a spiderweb when I see it.)
**
Went grocery shopping at the Co-Op after work. I wanted pizza - specifically Against All Grains Pepperoni Pizza - but alas they were out and I ended up with Nut-Free Pesto Pizza. I got it because I was standing in a line that went on forever just to get to the pizza. The checkout line went down the half frozen food aisle and up the other half of the frozen food aisle and around the store. By the time I got to the pizza, I'd been standing in line for twenty minutes. It's the only store that has the pizza. I decided Nut-Free Pesto was doable.
(I got other things too - such as a salmon burger, wild tuna steak, chicken slices, creamer, water, CBD sparkling soda, Kombauchi, quiona taboli, green beans, salad greens, chocolate, cheese sticks.)
It was warmer today, so I took advantage. Tomorrow will go to the pharmacy on the way home.
***
One of my cousins has gotten into the habit of hosting big Zoom/Face Time events with family members. This one is for her birthday on the 15. It's hosted through Facetime messenger.
I hate Zoom and Facetime. I have to do it for work - which is fine, since no one cares if I don't show a video at work. But when we do it outside of work - they require video. Also with work - at least there's something to be accomplished, it's not just aimless chatter. My problem with it - is I can't tell how people are feeling or reacting. Also even on conference calls - you can't tell. I'm not a fan of group chat's or conference calls - it's hard to focus on them.
I'm thinking of going to bed earlier tonight, I keep dozing off.
***
Wales: I wish I knew more people in Canada.
Me: I don't know why - I have a lot of Canadian friends on social media. They are as miserable as we are. They keep getting locked down,and hate their leadership.
Wales: They haven't yet tried to null an election by violent mob and are less religious.
Me: True but not for lack of trying...
[It goes on. She went into rant mode. I ended by asking if she was torturing herself with the news again, and to stop that. Sometimes I think the media is 98% of the problem?]
Twitter did have an interesting thread on how the CIA had infiltrated, manipulated and funded the Iowa Writer's Workshop - to teach people to write non-political, self-absorbed personal narratives, with an emphasis on Show don't Tell, that didn't ruffle political feathers and were "capitalistic" in tone.
( see thread below )
Jan 11
The director of Iowa, Paul Engle, was a Cold Warrior himself, believed in the liberal capitalist project and also received funding from rich businessmen interested in advancing liberal capitalist values. This funding changed the entire trajectory of literature. 9/
Literature shifted away from the social/political critique popular at the time toward more of a bourgeois ideology. Greater emphasis was placed on personal narrative — individual self discovery, revelation/experience, the personal, and the non political etc. 10/
According to Eric Bennet, students were taught that good literature contained “sensations, not doctrines; experiences, not dogmas; memories, not philosophies.” The common adage in creative writing, “Show, don’t tell,” is a prime example of this. 11/
Radio Free Amanda 余美娜catcontentonly
·
Jan 11
The workshops taught students to write subjects as independent, rational beings that exist outside the forces of society who exercise free will and is the source of all cultural and social meaning. Rarely do they link their experiences to political forces to draw meaning 12/
And it had a profound impact! It shaped literature for decades to come, and we are grappling w its effects today in overrepresentation of apolitical personal narratives. This thread is getting long but to read more about this check out Eric Bennett's book Workshops of Empire! 13/
And yes, they are still doing it: US State Department continues to fund sending creative writers around the world as a form of soft power
Wow. I suddenly feel vindicated for not doing the Iowa Writers Workshop, and abandoning literary fiction for genre, comics, and independently published fiction ages ago.
People can drive me crazy, if I let them.
***
Random Photo of the Night...