Ackler!

There is a cadre, an army really, of people that work at the airport. Some of them are front and center, the rest are background. Passengers take the employees at the airport for granted, mostly. The employees are performing their functions, just like at any other job, doing what they do and what they do makes it possible for the passengers to do what they do, which is whisk themselves (hopefully) through the process and get outta there or on the plane. 

That said, those that work at the airport see and encounter numerous situations as well as thousands upon thousands of people on a daily basis. Some things are witnessed personally, many are described later by others, those that were there at the time. Every day there's an ambulance at one end of the airport or another, some passenger went down and the paramedics were called. You name it, we've seen it all. Us worker bees. 

So, being on the job at the airport brings up a lot of stuff for you to think about. After all, how many people are awash in such a sea of humanity on a daily basis? Not many, if you think about it. Even if you work in a busy grocery store you're not seeing the volume that we airport workers see. We work at the watering hole of humanity, the place where every creature comes to and I suppose 'creature' isn't the right word but every once in a while, that word fits. I've seen people I never thought existed. 

Ackler’s perception of the busy airport

Thomas Shelberg- Unsplash.com

Uhm..... .....so the worker bees have reactions to what they witness or hear about, because you just don't experience this kind of volume anywhere else. The sheer number of people passing through is bound to produce some kind of drama, and every single day the vibe at the airport is different. It's astounding. We airport workers witness all kinds of things and watch each other's reactions to what is going down at the moment. We're the framework that the flow passes through, at our stations, doing our functions, and it only takes us a moment to glance over and see how Joe is doing, or Nancy, or Fred. We're constantly watching and observing each other's emotional states, gauging how they're 'handling things'. Overall, we have the same general responses to encounters and events. Elderly people that are struggling tend to make us sad. Passengers that engage us in conversation about our day and are sincere about it make us happy. Parents that unfairly berate children make us depressed while witnessing children express themselves in unabashed joy and wide-eyed wonder remind us how amazing the present moment can be. It's hard to see all these different things and not be affected.

But there is one guy in the airport that isn't affected, apparently, by anything. Ackler! This guy, a senior in his early 60's, is something else. No matter what is going down Ackler has the exact same reaction to it, which is a sort of blank stare along with a disinterested "whatever!" shrug. It's all the same to him. Is Ackler a Zen master? No! I don't think Ackler has been within one hundred yards of a spiritual bookstore in his life, has ever perused enlightening videos on the internet, has been inside a church for decades (if ever), and from the looks of him, he's not into any kind of self help study whatsoever so with Ackler, what’s up?

Does he not care about people, the effect that the current political climate is having on society, the staggering ramifications of tech, the uncertain direction that the planet is going, and all the other things there are to think about? That I think about? That I can't help but think about because just give me a moment and my wandering mind will find something to dwell upon, and perhaps deeply, but Ackler seems to never go there. Whatever is occurring, he's over it in seconds. I swear the guy's attention span is the same as a golden retriever's. He's there, man, he's got it, that thing that we all want- equanimity- and the incredible thing is, from the looks of him, he doesn't even know he has it! 

The guru of the airport, Ackler is. He's not there every day, but when he is I'm watching him like a hawk. I have seen astonishing amounts of drama take place around him. He's nonplussed by it. I have seen other airport workers struggle with excruciating boredom during the slow times while Ackler remains unaffected. I've seen Ackler's workload become almost painful to witness, yet he just does his job- without attitude, cynicism, or complaint.

Ackler has no resistance! To anything!

     What an amazing guy. Another person I took cues from was when I worked at a different airport. This cat was an African American guy whose job was to check in passengers curbside. A rather large fellow, he was. He had the most exquisite attitude, something that had been highly honed by years of experience in the airport as well as outside of it  but..... .....that's another story, one that I perhaps shall take the time to put to words later. Bottom line is-

You can learn a lot by watching other people.

Skeleton Coast

       Had on one of my favorite garage sales finds, a pirate shirt, the last couple of days. Garage sales are places where you can find the coolest and funkiest clothes. Some people have trouble wearing stuff that other people have found somewhere, purchased, and worn for awhile, their energy being in it and all, but I don't have a problem with that unless the energy is way way off in which case my guidance would have been to not be at that garage sale in the first place. I would have passed it by.

So back to my pirate shirt which looks really cool and fits me perfectly, which is another thing that happens every once in a while, you find a piece of clothing that seems tailor made and wear it over and over until it's threadbare because you don't think you'll ever find any piece of clothing like it again, but you do.

Anyway, this post is about being a pirate and what was that like. I was a pirate at one time, in one life, I feel it in my bones and I will tell you it wasn't a glamorous life. It was a lot of time spent out at sea looking for ships to raid and running like hell if they looked at all threatening because the Royal Navy was on the hunt for people like us and would take us out if they could. If we were ever spotted we would head for the coast and inlets there that we and only we knew about because our vessels had shallower drafts than their ships did plus we had compadres in the local area. The navy wouldn't follow us onto land and we knew it. Our safety was in sticking close to shore and never venturing out too far. 

About all that is left of us.

Markus Spiske- Unsplash.com

The trading ships also stuck close to the shore in case supplies ran low and because venturing too far out used up valuable resources like manpower and time. They were on the clock, same as us, trying to eke out profits before the hazards of their occupation took too big a toll.

Pirating was a desperate life and once you got into it you were no good after that. Marked for death, you were, for being a pirate or associating with pirates in any way was almost automatically answered by trips to the gallows. Governments hated us, citizens too, and so we lived on the very fringes which weren't very popular places to be, let me assure you of that. I don't recall any lusty port where we could sail into the harbor and be welcomed by kegs of grog and women fluttering their handkerchiefs at us from brothel windows like you see in the movies. That would have been a dream come true but our dreams were mainly to plunder a gold bearing ship and get the hell off the water and make our way to the frontier where we couldn't get found or spotted by anyone and live out the rest of our lives but disease took us, storms, fighting (or the wounds we suffered from doing that), malnutrition, and drink. The navies of various governments vying for control of the seas constantly sunk our vessels and even the best and most cunning of our breed were eventually outclassed and outmaneuvered by the ever changing outside world which developed countermeasures against us that made The Life less than worthwhile. Just wasn't any chance for us to score anymore. 

Yeah, we were drunks, plunderers, and looters, scourges upon society, debauched lechers and freaks of nature, but at least we were honest about who and what we were. We didn't pretend to be anything else- and that was our downfall. We should have taken our cues from the Slick Willies of the time who were far better at the game of amassing booty than us.

The trick back then, which is the same one used today, was to hide behind respectability to do thieving. In that way you could be gathering up all the gold in the world and still able to walk down the street unmolested, the population unaware of your crimes, and maybe even cheering you.

Meditation

After a long hiatus, I have been called by my pestering guides to resume daily meditation. Let me tell you about my guides..... 

     A lot of people believe in guides, discarnate beings that are around them. 'Guardian angels' is a term frequently used. There are many different ways of describing them. I don't SEE my guides, never have, but I have seen things out of the corner of my eye a lot, rapid movements, but I can't capture an image because whatever it is is gone too fast. I think that's them. 

Anyway, when they want me to do something- and it's always good- they kind of get on my mind a lot. At first it's like a good idea to do whatever then if I don't do it I get the feeling that I might be better off or assisted by doing it (but it's never I 'should' be doing something). It's like an increasingly strong suggestion. That's usually enough to get me on the right track. 

Yes.

Le Minh Phuong- Unsplash.com

So. Mediation. I'm naturally good at this, I'm kind of in a walking meditation all the time. I spend time in contemplation often so I'm never far from a state of mental quietness but lately I've been asked to take it a step further and go into a deeper state which calls for stillness of body, eyes closed, sitting upright, breathing slowly and evenly, and setting aside any thoughts or thinking. 

Been doing this for a few weeks now and I like it. Didn't think I would so much but I anticipate doing the meditations I'm doing. A few have come to my awareness and the ones I'm practicing are from Dr. Joe Dispenza and if you don't know who he is look him up. He was in 'What The Bleep Do We Know?' years ago and since then has been up to some interesting stuff. 

  The word that comes to me about this is 'coherence', more of that is necessary to keep my being operating at an optimal level. To give a little background I was pretty good without doing formal meditation for years. I practiced Vipassana meditation on and off, did Transcendental Mediation many years ago, and have explored the mind quite a bit through Advaita practice but now's the time to sit in silence again. Why? I don't know. When the guides lean on ya, you just do it 'cuz it's always for a reason. 

So here's to coherence! Gonna go sit now.

Insouciance

The present day climate seems awfully dire but strangely, if you think about it, a lot of planetary citizens are doing quite well. Yet, things could be better. There could scads more transparency, for one. What's with all this hiding around in the shadows stuff, all the secrecy? What is that about? 

That kind of stuff has always been there, long before tech started placing its hyper-vigilant Googly Eyes upon everything. Lots has been uncovered already but that has only raised the protective hackles of certain factions worldwide and so one must suspect that there must be a lot left under the rug. The steady trend, however, is it’s only a matter of time before there are no more secrets. Data can’t be protected. Hackers will see to that.

    You would think that with all of this light being shed, spread, and disseminated that the bad guys, the bad people, those who are badder than bad, the dark lords, the evil princes, the tainted kings and vile queens, the corrupt and twisted would throw up their hands thinking "What's the use anymore?" and come crawling out of the same kinds of holes in the ground that Saddamn Hussein crawled out of all disheveled but.....

 .....they haven't, have they? No, it's more like now they're all super pissed and have brazenly come out into the open and are in our faces doing everything they can to make their tainted realities seat themselves into the social fabric and....

....you know where I'm goin' with this. I don't have to describe viruses for you to get the picture.....

......but that hasn't caused the lightworkers, lightbearers, the good guys, the white hats, the Lone Rangers, the Zorros, the Masked Avengers, the what was that movie called, those film noir guys that were shadow dwellers themselves but got the job done social justice vigilantes, started with a W?.....

....(The) Watchmen (thank you). That doesn't stop those kind from settin' things right, where they can, and how they can, just don't pay any mind to how things get cleaned up because that might not be the 'right' way to do it but it always gets the heads in the theatre nodding in agreement. 

So we got two potential eventual outcomes we're moving towards. One path leads us to where it's increasingly dark and (I gotta say it) ultimately horrific, except for them, the few, that will live somewhere, nobody knows exactly where, but it'll be on top. And then we got the other path that leads us towards the light, where all of us will happily dwell, because we came into mutal agreement that that is what we wanted and were willing to make that happen.

This playout of the dark and light has been going on forever, it seems, as far back as history has been written but even further back from that if you're at all metaphysical and after all the time that has passed you would think that I would be writing about either how these damn leg irons chafe my ankles or how bright and shiny unicorns really are 'cuz by now one side of the other should have won. 

“La la la la la……..”

Marc Schafer- Unsplash.com

But neither side has. What we have instead is the same old standoff where neither side has won yet but they won't concede the battle. They have no intention of giving in. Sort of like the Republicans and the Democrats. (Good analogy there). 

  Looking back, I can assure you from personal experience that the mainstream media hasn't changed much. In the olden times, when there were newspapers, there wasn't a lot of good news to be found. Only thing that has changed is that nowadays the news can be presented in rapid fire fashion, like a barrage, and boy have the not-so-lofty taken full advantage of that. "Look at all the platforms we now have to spread our same old message!" they exclaim in glee, as they present the 'present' of their version of 'reality' to you.

Now as anybody who has ever encountered a noisy environment instinctively knows, the cumulative effect of being continuously impinged upon presents the danger of wearing you out. To counteract this, you get the hell out of there! You go outside, leave the room, take a break, get away from the social setting, or turn off the device.

Ahhhh. Calm settles in. Deep breaths occur. Stress drains from your system. You relax. This is exactly what the purveyors of negative content don’t want you to do. They want you to stay tuned in so you can 'keep appraised of the developing situation'. They want to keep you on edge, wear you down, numb you out, and eventually break you. They want you to give in, cry "Uncle!", and accept the 'new' version of reality that they are espousing, urgently and passionately, for 'your protection and safety', which is some sort of dreary ongoing nightmare battle world.

They want you to choose to give up your dreams of a better world. They want you to extinguish the light that burns within you, fuels your heart, and powers your soul but only you can choose to do that. 

Never give in.

Be the insouciant one.

(Insouciant, from Websters: 'Showing a casual lack of concern, indifferent')

Time Marches On

Or does it? Yes... ….it does….  ...and no, it doesn’t. From a human perspective, time definitely marches on. Every moment counts. One must maximize, super-size, and prioritize one's life. The gaining of experience is what ultimately matters in life and when it comes to experience accruing, let’s gobble up as much of the good stuff as possible while avoiding at all costs the bad because can’t you just hear that damn clock ticking? It’s there, we’re very aware of it, and that’s why we all hit the ground running.

Looking around the airport in which I spend soooo much time the passage of time has almost a desperate quality around it. Wasting not a second, the passengers, most of them, are on the move. No military operation moves faster or more efficiently than a family hup-hupping it to wherever it is they are going, no just-retired couple is filled with more goal-achieving satisfaction that the duo deftly wending their way through baggage claim, traveling light and traveling a lot, this stop only one of many that are planned, while the singles threading their way through have their own destinies to fulfill, those being meeting the family (again), the lover waiting for them in a curbside car, or a friend or friends with which they will have some sort of adventure. 

You can almost hear choirs of angels singing "Precious moments are at hand!" when meet-ups happen. It is so poignant, amazing, and yet at the same time sobering to witness this, over and over. The wide-armed greetings, squeals of joy, wraparound hugs, big smiles, firm handshakes, and the lover's embrace that lingers and puts off heat oh my God get a room already.

On the flip side of all this are the various scenarios where the passage of time weighs like an anchor on hearts and minds. Take a look at any employee who is putting on a brave face but would rather be anywhere else. Gaze at the wheelchair passengers who somebody is going to pick up but that somebody is not in any hurry to get there. Glance at the ones who aren't that good looking and don't have lovers waiting for them and are just making their way through the mob to their home or hotel. Observe the surly traveling worker bees with their little carry-ons, toolboxes on wheels, or demo gear who only want to get home and are emitting the vibe “Don't bother me and don't delay my progress un momento!”

Stop reminding me what time it is! What’s new on Netflix?

Jack Sharp- Unsplash.com

  To keep the throng appraised of where they stand, every half hour a time announcement comes over the airport's intercom while little kids play and some of the passengers squirm, tap toes, and people watch inside the terminal. The others sit staring at their phones, packing more data in. This data is to some degree knowledge, to the other useless trivia, which accumulates and is stored ‘somewhere’. The data absorbers are trying to fill up a gargantuan and seemingly insatiable computer hard drive called Mind, which they individually call my mind, which can't be located anywhere inside or outside of their bodies. Maybe it exists in 'The Cloud'.

Meanwhile, outside of the airport windows, there are other clouds and movement is occurring. The tide is rising, the sun is slowly arcing across the sky, and the brooding mountains nearby are experiencing rain. This scene seems to be taking place within the same context of human time but if you really think about what is happening out there, it’s timeless.
Ten thousand years could pass, geologically, the present-day humans long gone, the airport a crumbling relic, and the natural surroundings would most likely have only imperceptibly changed. 

For outside of the human experience there are no clocks or calendars. There is no such thing as 'day', 'night', 'weekend', 'decade', or 'history'. There are no labels for anything because there is no one measuring, calculating, or comparing anything. There is no ‘evolving’ and no ‘purpose for being’.

Which may be something to think about the next time you're sitting in an airport lounge, patiently (or impatiently) waiting for your flight. Look out those big windows, past the busy runway and the planes taxing into position, at the distant horizon where you can see some nature. There, outside of the human drama, the grand and passionate 'telenovela’ we’re all soooo wrapped up in, everything just is.

A War Of Words

 Is taking place within this country and around the world. Various 'camps' are firing salvos at each other and the bombardment is heavy at times but words can only do so much damage. Thus, Citadels remain. 

Reputations and credibility are under attack everywhere you look, many times unfairly so, for in war it is hardly the case where battles are fought fairly. Battles are fought by whatever means are necessary. 

Position is hoped to be gained or maintained in the eyes of the public to keep the voters voting favorably and donors offering their support so that policies can be enacted and laws passed which will be supported by duly appointed, ideologically compatible judges who will act to maintain control of regions so that things remain the same, revert back to the way they used to be, or turn into what they 'ought to be' (but not into what they ideally could be). 

Lies and disinformation thus abound. Doublespeak is rampant. Misdirection is employed to divert attention from possible collusion. This faction, or that one, supports a cause which seems to be at odds with the very premise of its existence. Boundaries are blurred and lines are crossed, again and again. 

Social media is the new banner that the troops rally behind. There are likes and dislikes, retweets, reposts, Twitterstorms, and furious platform-enabled fusillades against opponents. Thoughts flow back and forth along digital paths at the speed of light, inspiring, inciting, involving, and annoying readers/viewers, compelling and repelling followers. 

The context from which something that was said is placed within, the particular vernacular that was used, and even the tone of voice that something was uttered in in these hypersensitive times could be cause for vehement response. Flurries of positive/negative reactions issue forth hot on the heels of any newsworthy event. 

Shameless and blameless many have become, who have seen previously closed doors become open to them due to the brash behavior of the ones who have forged ahead, damn any 'rules' of propriety.

“Oh.. ..o.. ..say can you see…”

Julia Kouzenkov- Unsplash.com

Anything goes at this point. Backlashes are weathered like sudden storms then up pops the weasel again. 

Incredulity gives way to resignation. Boys will be boys, and formerly closed Good Old Boys clubs now embrace many women 'on message' with the cause.

Crude and rude gets the job done and if it's ugly, avert your eyes. Remove yourself from the arena if you can't cowboy up.

Bullies rule the playground but bullies were never known to be smart so how long can this last in the age of the smart phone? You did not win that many ones' undying support. Builders of society you are not, though throne sitters you may be, and despite the disease extant at certain levels of the organization the greater body of citizenry quietly follows the tried and true path of survival- cooperation, harmony, and balance. 

It's too bad that reason seems to have had its season and that deviousness is now trying to get its day in the sun but it is what it is. Madness only exists inside The Citadels for outside of nonsense exists order, which must be so for a thing such as The Citadel, wherever it may be, to even exist. 

In olden times pieces of metal would be flying through the air, trying to wear The Citadel down, while those within The Citadel would be launching projectiles intending to harm the attackers. Be thankful now in these times that the only armaments employed are words. In this way we can be said to have 'evolved'. 

This present day war of words will only end when each participant goes within to measure what is being said against what they themselves reason to be true, for truth is desperately being attempted to be obscured by smirking Know It Alls who ask you to accept their version of reality as Said and Done while another version of reality is being presented by a courageous contingent for you to consider. To make matters even more vexing, all of this is being quickly clouded over on a daily basis by the acrid smoke and enveloping mists of an ongoing battle.

But the end is certain. Reason must prevail. The only question is, when? How long can those within the halls of untruth hope to hold out? Fervently they maintain their positions, never giving an inch, for to them doing so means 'death'. Giving in means compromising and not wanting to compromise is what the battle is really all about. Those within The Citadels fear giving up what they have gained for they imagine the enemy to be just as vicious as they. They will be subjugated, reduced in number, and steadily lessened in power for in their minds compassion does not exist, thus they believe this is also true in the minds of 'the enemy'. 

  Holdouts, they are, in a changing humanity, trying to support their cause by hopeless means. Baseless lies and distorted facts only undermine their credibility and over time their base will erode after they see non-results from failed policies. Defections will increase and the media supporting the cause will speak into an ever more hollowed-out and echoey void.

Come eventual ‘victory’ then, vengeance the 'victors' will not seek, for there is room for all in a sane and progressive world.

(The real truth, of course, being that most of us have already moved on).

Honor Your Commitment

While it is clever of you to work the angles surrounding your present job, to find all the little gray areas where you can play your avoidance games, it would really be helpful if you didn't. 

     For you see, we, your coworkers, showed up ready to work. Somewhere along the way it got instilled in us that Honoring Our Commitment was valuable let me explain…. 

People don't exist in a vacuum. What they do has an effect on everybody else and every other thing. Most of what people do is absorbed into the great big gestalt called The World which is the cumulative effect of people's actions and is measured by scientists and sociologists but let's not go into broad spectrum awareness. Let's keep it close to home. In fact, let's go inside that 'home away from home' called the workplace and make it personal. 

  Now I know we each have our issues. Things aren't working out the way you thought they would. The wife is on your back, or the boyfriend, or it’s the ex or the kids or the in-laws or you got health issues or your mother is long term sick or whatever. We all got our problems. 

    And I know it's hard sometimes to look at the situation you're in and not try to lay some or most of the blame for things being the way they are on The Man, 'the oppressor', but you gotta understand that The Man is far removed and supremely shielded from whatever actions you decide to take at work to 'get back' at him. Or is it her? Doesn't matter. 

To your feeble efforts The Man laughs, for he doesn't feel a thing. Your coworkers- us- however, do. When you decide to call in sick when you're not, we have to cover for you. When you decide to take a three day weekend and not report on your Monday or Friday of the week, we have to cover for you. When you disappear at work or figure out a way to appear to be working but are really not, we have to cover for you. Need I go on? You look to be strangely puzzled by this. Are you not getting it? I thought that what was being relayed was unmistakably clear..... 

     No, you are getting it. And that's the problem. You know what you are doing yet you do it anyway. 

Perhaps figuring out why you choose to take the low road might be a course of study beneficial for you to undertake for you probably don't feel so good about yourself or the actions you are taking. It's okay. We understand because way back in the past we did the kinds of things that you did and felt the feelings you are now experiencing. Those weak and sickly vibrations didn't settle well with us so we chose to explore them in order to get rid of them. 

    The only way we could figure out how to overcome those feelings was to live honorably in a dishonorable world. We knew we couldn't change the exterior a whole lot, there were too many people making dishonorable choices, but we decided that at least we were going to feel good about ourselves.

That was a long time ago for us, it seems, for we know that time weighs heavy on the dishonorable. 

The only thing you can’t escape is having to live with yourself

Zoltan Tasi- Unsplash.com

Consequently, we don't go home at night anymore carrying guilt and self loathing. We may at times stray in our actions, everybody does, for The World is an intense place, but we course-correct rapidly while you don't. You linger in the dark, heavy, and sad vibrations and go into endless stories about this and that and them in order to justify your actions to yourself and the people that share your views, who you call 'friends'. The only entity you may fear is God, your creator, for while everybody else is ‘totally snowed’ you suspect that there is one who isn't taken in the least bit by your actions but you can even mentally come to grips with that. He's the forgiving kind, or so you’ve heard. When the time comes you'll just check out like you usually do so there's really not a lot to worry about there. 

Oh, I, we, wish we could reach you but so far all our efforts have been futile for you do what you do again and again and again. 

This is not to scold you, or lambaste you, for the honorable don't do that. Neither is this presented in order to shame you or forcefully educate you. It is only offered in compassion for you to consider. 

Eventually, the pain you have been causing others will have to be reckoned with and boy, that's gonna hurt. You. Hell, it happened to us, that's how we know. We saw the damage we caused, said "Anything but that!", and from then on stuck to the high road for we couldn't continue on in any other way.

In Addendum

     Well wouldn't you know it my piece de resistance written just a few days ago needed to have something added and damn if I didn't get what that something was until I was on my way to work.

I shoulda threw it in there, it was the point I had been trying to make, but didn't. I guess it just escaped my mind. 

The point I had been so bent on illustrating was that when I was walking through that Food Lion bopping to the beat of Hey Nineteen, in that moment everything was fine. 

Life moves through time, which can be measured in moments. Moments of this, moments of that. We think, when we are facing the worst, that the worst will last forever but it doesn't. It usually doesn't last very long. What we agonize over is what we think we will experience exclusively but it doesn't work that way. 

Bad times can certainly seem like forever, but there is always a little good mixed in. In my case, after I exited that Food Lion I still had to deal with being broke, and I did, and though it sucked I got through it. I knew that I had already faced the worst of it, which was the crazy notion I'd had previous to being broke which was that being broke was The End. Could have been, but I didn't choose that. I chose to move past it and in doing so again saw the light. 
      I enjoyed the good moments, many of those, when they came, and those got me through. Little victories. A little extra cash, gifts of food, time outs watching cheap matinee movies. When bad moments arose they were only temporary. 

Equanimity!

Jed Adam- Unsplash.com

Everything, good and bad, is only temporary. Nothing lasts. The fleeting nature of experience is what I saw directly in that Food Lion and from then on I knew I could survive anything because everything has a beginning and an end. Bad times may last for a short while or they may annoyingly linger but eventually they will pass, as will any good times, change being the only constant in life. 

When you get some years under your belt, you'll have plenty of memories. The way you experience life is relative to age. To a five year old kid, life is measured in moments because A. A five year old's attention span is nanoseconds long and B. There isn't a lot of memory built up. 
     As that child ages, memories will accrue and time can start to weigh heavy on the mind. Heavier and heavier the weight of experience gets, so much so that by the time old age occurs there are enough memories to fixate an adult's attention span for days on end. Doesn't need to be that way, doesn't need to be that way at all. 

As the Buddhists say "No mind, no problem!" Thoughts and thinking create states of being and many of those states don't need to be experienced (or re-experienced). It's your choice. Stay responsible like an adult, by all means, while keeping the lightness of being a five year old enjoys.

Be aware that whatever you are experiencing is only a brief moment in the endless river of time. Nothing can be seen as being overly important when viewed in that way.

A Different Day At Work

I must admit, I wasn't ready for what transpired this Monday. It took me totally by surprise.

The first thing that occurred was that I was waved into a parking place right in the front by two smiling attendants who welcomed me and then said that they would be detailing my car while I was on the job. To this I was amazed, I must say, but there came more. Much more. 

Entering the gate that leads to the building that leads to the punch clock, I was ushered down a flower strewn path, past managers standing at full attention, sort of like an honor guard. What UP?
  No less than the head of the division- The Man- met me at the front door, where he shook my hand vigorously. He called me by my first name, as if he knew me. I had seen him from afar many times, where he had been sort of surrounded by a fawning entourage of managers so to be recognized by The Man was disquieting, let me assure you. He led me inside the building, away from the managers, who I could see immediately scattered to reman their positions, and asked me if my pay was enough. I mentioned that I had seen that Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies had signed a 13 year, 330 million dollar contract just yesterday. My division head said he couldn't pay me that much, but he would see to it that I was taken care of. 

Now what that meant I could only surmise, for my idea of 'being taken care of' has always seemed to clash with management's idea of fair compensation. I'm tellin' ya, I was waitin' for the Candid Camera guy to come out at any moment at this point but the division head right on the spot wrote me out a check that got my eyes to poppin'. He said it was for all the past due 'favors' that I had done for the company, where this or that Manager On Duty (MOD) had promised me they would ‘see to it’ that this favor or that wouldn’t be overlooked but they never did pay me back 'cuz they forgot about my beyond the call of duty contribution like a minute or two afterwards. 

Man, I'll tell you I was quite pleased and wished I wasn't at work right then 'cuz I wanted to hustle down to the bank and cash that check before it bounced or somethin' but I had to get on the job and mechanically searched for my time card in the rack. It was getting to be time when my coworkers were going off duty and the passengers were going to be waiting. They pile up quick, you know, but the division head gently put his hand on my shoulder and guided me away from that area while saying "Don't worry about that. It's been taken care of. Come with me"

Well, ok, I hope he's got things covered 'cuz ya know these upper level muckity-mucks don't have a clue about what's going on at street level and I was concerned that my coworkers coming on duty were going to be overwhelmed but next I know I'm sitting in a very comfortable office and The Man is sitting across from me.

“Hal-e-lu-jah!”

Nghia Le- Unsplash.com

"We've had our eye on you for some time" he began, and damn if I didn't get that drop-in-the-pit-of-my-stomach feeling that all employees get hearin' something like that. Was I gonna be fired?

The Man must've read my mind 'cuz he chuckled some before continuing. "No, no, it's nothing like that. You're not in trouble! Quite the contrary. We'd like to offer you a position higher up". 

Not bein' the kind to take a shine to takin' on responsibility, I hardened up some, as if to brace myself for what was coming. But it wasn't like that at all. Company car, nationwide travel on the company's dime, and a hefty per diem. Why, they were offerin' me- me- the kind of a job that, from the standpoint of what I'd been through, wasn't even work at all. I can't go into the details about it, it's not something that an outsider would understand, not bein' in the company and all, so I won't go there. Suffice it to say that I couldn't believe what I was hearin'. But there was really nothing to think about and so lest this opportunity go to another, I accepted the position on the spot. 

"We'll set you up nicely, you'll see" The Man said, while rising from his chair and shaking my hand in conclusion. "There's nothing to worry about. We're confident that you are the right man for the job"

"Thank you, sir" said I, exuding gratitude. 

"No, thank you” The Man insisted. "I was worried that our offer wasn't going to be generous enough. I'm highly relieved that you have accepted our terms"

I guess a uncomfortable moment or two then passed. Seemed our meeting was over. I didn't know what to do next, and my mind drifted back to the punch clock and the taking on of my duties. 

"Take the rest of the week off" The Man then said, addressing my unspoken concerns. He then reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a credit card, which he handed to me. "Here's the corporate card. Take your significant other out to dinner. See some shows. Whatever you want. The corporate jet will fly you to headquarters (“The corporate jet?!”) next Monday".

"Okay" I stammered, not knowing what else to say. My kness were shaking. Felt like I was gonna pass out.

The Man laughed. "It's a little much, I know. But you'll get used to it. All of those who have been elevated go through a period of acclimatization. I have to get on that jet myself so, um... ...see you Monday next?"

"I'll be there!"

"Good!”

The Man then left, and after he did, I caught many of my coworkers eyeing me as I strode out the door on the flower strewn path, back towards my freshly detailed car. I knew they were curious as hell as to what transpired but I also knew that speculation about the details of my meeting with The Man were already circulating 'round the departmental gossip network. My only hope was to get to my car and get the heck out of there STAT. A few of my coworkers hearts were gonna be broken by the news, many of them wouldn't even notice, and some were going to be gnashing their teeth in envy, wishing it woulda been them, but I had just been being me. There could be no fault in that, could there? Thus I was unperturbed about the ramifications that were going to transpire, well, as of now. As of my leaving. 

And most likely never to return. 

That is, unless my new gig within the company calls me to. But I doubt that's gonna happen. 

You know, maybe when I'm flyin' across the country some day, then landing in some big city, my freshly prepped company car at the ready there, and later find myself driving to a nice hotel I might think about the strange world I once inhabited where (chuckling here) I was like them, in the trenches. At the front. Down below. Yeah, I'll reminisce. Those were the days….

…..days best forgotten! 

But you never really can forget, can you? The only thing I know is this- my conscience is clear. I didn't step on any toes on my way to the top. I truly have been blessed and don't even know how it happened! 

Life, huh? It's weird like that.

The Citadel

(On the bridge of the vessel Dauntless, flagship of the fleet of the Ashtar Command, in cloaked orbit around the Earth)

  Admiral Barian is hailed.

    "Sir- monitoring of the planet shows no letup in their efforts"
  "It is to be expected. This has been so on other pre-awakened worlds. Continue to observe. I sense the overall vibration to be lifting but stabilization is not yet. Humans can be swayed and their societies are prone to periods of extreme fluctuation. We must, however, be ready for any unexpected openings that may occur"

    Decades of development go by.
    Communication and technology is passed on to capable citizens and willing countries at appropriate intervals.
    2012 happens.
    The Dauntless stands at the ready, along with other ships of the fleet. Not to invade, for if they had wanted to they could have easily overtaken this primitive world, but to protect the earth and her citizens from technologically superior but otherwise not-so-highly advanced beings holding intentions best left to the imagination.

    During one orbital pass in early 2019, Barian is again hailed. A new communications officer, Ensign Takana, an earnest yet eager fellow, has news to share.
    "It is most distressing, admiral. Citadel mentality has taken hold"
    Barian is not shaken by the news. Though tragic, earth is a free will world. "In what way, precisely?" Barian asks, for there have been many variations of this strategy being employed in his vast experience, and his memory can clearly recall a few notable attempts.
    "A communications platform named 'Twitter' is being used to spread outright lies and wild claims. This serves a dual purpose- it agitates the base of the great one claiming to be fairly elected while its relentless use dismays the great one's many detractors"
    "I see"
"But there is more. Standing at the communication's podium inside the great one's house stands an entity loyal to the great one's cause. Unflappable, this one is"

"We have seen situations like this before. Many times. We must wait"

"Wait, sir? It would appear that these ones could gain leverage over the populace and reverse much, if not all, of the progress that has been made......"
"It shall not be so for they talk as if into a void. Though reporters monitoring Twitter explode in Twitterstorms, and reporters allowed to witness the presentations of the one at the podium in the great house stand with rapt, dumbstruck, and befuddled attention, ready to erupt like volcanos later, most of the rest of the populace turns a deaf ear. 'Tis nothing".
"'Tis nothing, sir? But the great one's followers....."

"Who are called upon to not think? To overlook numerous transgressions? To ignore allegations, investigations, and accusations galore? Who are asked to blindly accept the great one's purity in the face of a building mountain of evidence? 'Tis quite a stretch! They only appear to stay loyal, for no one else will support their causes, save for this one, who claims to be concerned as to their various plights. But as time passes and change does not occur, their support will fade. We must wait"
"Let things run their course!"
"Yes. There have been many, many ones over the ages who have stood upon stones, stumps, or soapboxes and claimed to have The Answer. Hope springs eternal in frustrated peoples' breasts and any who stand up before them and say that their cause be true and just garner attention. Even more attention is paid to those who actually accrue enough power to be able to change things. But power is more often the case sought by those who use it only for their own benefit. 

"With this one it appears that that is exactly the case"

"This sort of deceptive posturing need not in any way be dealt with by us. The house of cards being built will collapse in due time. Of course, excuses as to the collapse, when it occurs, will rain down. "Others are at fault! 'Tis not I!" will be heard. We will be there to render aid when and where we are allowed. Our Prime Directive is that we cannot offer direct intervention. Humans must be allowed to make mistakes. We can only prevent the worst of their decisions from happening".

Barian sighed, then looked down and away from the blue-white jewel on display on the screen before them before adding "At least we are allowed that."

"'Tis madness we are witnessing, surely!"

"'Tis choice!" Barian said sharply, looking up directly at Takana. He then regained his usual serene composure before continuing. 
"For the voice of reason, though it has been by many fervently spoken, cannot sway those within The Citadel, deeper within which is The Ministry of Misapprehension, and out of which flows twisted words. The powerful are afraid of losing their grip on things. 'Tis from them a desperate countermeasure"

"'Tis a measure of the length a faction will go to maintain the status quo!"

"Alas, 'tis so. But time has a way of weakening even the most impenetrable fortress, for while change may not happen within it, change invariably happens without. Perhaps, and I have seen this personally before, The Citadel might even be forgotten by most of the populace, who may simply choose to move on. They may choose to pay it no attention anymore, as if it is of no consequence"

"Such a thing appears to be possible now!"

All Together- Now.

Nasa- Unsplash.com

"This is why the great one pokes and prods the media incessantly. It keeps him and his ill-conceived singular causes on the front page. The public grows ever more weary of this, however, and many are turning away or changing the channel. It's only a matter of time"
"Results are key!"
"Yes. Very perceptive, ensign. Back in the olden days you could keep populations on hold forever, or for what seemed like it, but in the sped-up environment that earthlings live in today they expect change. They actually anticipate it, and many even hunger for it. This is why the entertainment industry is so busy. Distractions must be employed- or should I say deployed- to keep the populace from becoming restless"

"The plethora of entertainment options the entertainment industry provides seems to be doing a very good job of preventing dissatisfaction!"

"I'll agree. A very good job. It doesn't take much to placate the average human. Still, there are those who would like to experience more than just the comforts of home, watching TV, and occasional travel. They want to build stuff. Expand. Improve things for themselves and others. This drive to better one's situation is built into humans. They're hard-wired like that. Those in The Citadel don't want to see great change. They want to see slow change, want to steer and monitor change, and will even act to prevent change. However, the business world needs to continuously grow, and the social fabric as well is compelled to broaden and include everyone in the name of evolution, while those in The Citadel act as the lone holdouts to progress. This cannot last. Why?
  Because there is no resting point! Ever! The human race's destiny lies before them and they are just getting started!" Barian's voice was rising again. 

"They're hardly going to accept anything less than their full potential, whatever that turns out to be. Humans are creative. Inventive. Put them in any situation and they will try to improve it! It's in their nature. So, if you're going to promise them The World, like those in The Citadel say they are, you had better deliver The World! And the sooner the better!"

"Admiral, you seem a little spirited. I hope I'm not being too forward!"
"Thank you for speaking up, ensign, and you're not being too forward. I'm enlivened because I'm passionate about these humans, as are all those in the fleet. We've wanted them to welcome us for a long time. We'd love to freely land on the earth and actually interact with the people there but...."

"The Prime Directive"

"Yes. Thank you. 'No direct interaction until they're ready for it'. The only question before us is how low the ones in The Citadel will go to retain their grip on power. We've already witnessed an astounding amount of mortifying behavior but apparently the bottom has yet to be reached. Time is on our side, however, like I said before. While change is highly unlikely to be spurred by those within The Citadel, any number of precipitating events outside of it could revitalize the populace. God is in charge of that. For now we observe- and wait"

"Its distressing in the extreme that we can't do more"

"Take heart in that the party is only delayed, ensign. This last bit of inky darkness the Earthlings have been wrestling with towards the end of their long journey will make the light they eventually- and inevitably- witness shine all that much the brighter".

Thought Train

 I woke up this morning like any other morning, pondering the remnants of dreams I had, but after awhile I noticed that also filtering through my awareness was a large concept that called for contemplation. 
Contemplation needs mental space so everything, including TOTD, was set aside, for one does not want to derail a Thought Train. It must run its course for at the end there is something to be gained, understood, known, or grokked and in pursuit of that the focus must be pure. 

Contemplation actually occurs in a state of 'loose' focus. That which desires to be brought into comprehension must be allowed to free associate, that is, it must use all tools at its disposal in order for the mind to grasp its meaning, for the mind is not yet comprehending that which is sensed but not understood. 
To this end, whatever means are required to gain comprehension are employed. These could be memories of things past, bits and pieces of conversations, dreams, songs, or phrases. Signs one has seen. Odd puzzling snippets of, literally, anything that has ever been experienced. 

Thought Train coming through! Make way!

Denis Chick- Unsplash.com

Contemplation for me lies in assembling these bits and pieces into some sort of mosaic, I suppose, or pattern, that leads closer to comprehension but usually not yet. This process might take hours.

 
Complex groks are like this, they use everything that has occurred in one's experience to further illustrate, deepen, and eventually bring into knowingness that which the subject has not known before. Call it wisdom. Wisdom occurs at the end of the contemplative process, when the understanding seats itself into the mind, never to be forgotten. Can wisdom ever be un-known? Can you forget how to ride a bicycle?

 
I have gone for days on Thought Trains, wrestling with complex issues. During those times I appeared to be aloof and I was, purposely so, for I nay desired to derail the Thought Train at any point in the process because.....

...once derailed, it's hard to pick up the concept again! States of mind calling for contemplation are precious and thus must be fully acted upon when they arise. They are opportunites brought about by Spirit and desire by the self to further the self's understanding. The larger Self already knows, the earth-based self does not, thus, in order to regain the state of knowingness, the small self must, in lieu of suddenly becoming aware, work to bring awareness back to self. 'Know Thyself' goes the saying. 

What else can human life be but a slog through the misty lands of forgetfulness until the Self is regained? States of contemplation are steps in that process for human life is difficult and poses challenges. It vexes us and has us calling for solutions. Introspection offers us the opportunity to lessen difficulty and improve our lives. In this way, we are directly facing our issues and using our willpower, the inspiration that comes from dreams, our connection to Spirit- our intuition- and our contemplative abilities to elevate our awareness, which enables us to transcend our difficulties. It can be no other way for who can do it for you?

Others may offer a temporary fix, a salve or a balm that addresses an issue, but since all issues arise from energy, which we are made up of, the energetic basis of any issue must be addressed in order for the cure to be permanent. 
(Many call this 'processing') 

Okay. Enough writing. I gotta get back on today's Thought Train. It's a juicy one, I only took a breather from it to document the process.

TOTD Is One Year Old Today

   Happy Birthday, TOTD! You are one year old today. 

A year ago, when I began this project, I didn't know if I'd be able to write about different things every day for a year but I have nearly pulled off that feat. There were days that I missed posting something but I can honestly say that I gave it a go every day, I gave posting something a thought. Life intervened, however. 

Writing each day's piece at times is ridiculously easy and fun, most times it's a process of having a general idea and honing that over and over, sometimes it's extremely difficult for some reason, and there have been times where I wrote something and decided not to post it due to it being not to my liking, unclear, incendiary, or the energy is just not there. 

So where from here? Right now TOTD will continue as usual. I know that for a fact because during the last year I tried a few times to drop it and couldn't do it. Tried to set it aside and then wouldn't ya know it I had a thought that I thought I oughta write about. That's when TOTD is at its best. 

Ideas of things to write about come to me and I might not write about whatever that idea or topic is until days later but I'll think about it from time to time. At the time I actually write the piece I guess it couldn't really be considered TOTD because I've been thinking about it for many days but when it comes time to sit and write it never comes out like I think it will so that is TOTD right there. Fresh. Present. That day is just the right day to write about it, is my feeling. 

Technical-wise, at the beginning I thought I'd insert all kinds of cool videos and provide all these interesting links to this or that page but Facebook is full of that kind of attention grabbing content. That's not really satisfying, most of it, so I go for the real and valid and try not to stand too high on any soapboxes like I’m some carnival barker trying to get people into my tent. 

No. That's not how I roll around here. I hope to present thoughtfully written pieces that entertain and compel and build a following that is more than about flash. My content is substance-based.

There were times during the year when I struggled with putting pieces out. Ideas just didn't flow and I hate to use the word 'filler' or to move in that direction to simply post something- anything- on those days and maybe I did but the intent was that even that would be of interest to someone, frivolous as it was. 

Some pieces I wrote were whimsical and in other ones I figure people definitely sensed that I was possessed by some sort of mood and I probably was. 

Also I must say that I am old school, not of the social media generation, so it was a bit of a stretch to even put myself out there, not naturally being that way, but the tools were there to do so and I used them and now I can't retrieve from the internet all of what I have written, even if I tried. I imagine it will be circulating through a network of servers forever, like a space probe in the far reaches of the solar system that continues to travel, who knows where or why.

I tried during the year to make my prose relatable. Not florid or pretentious or overly casual or hillbilly or ALL CAPS or heavy in the use of italics and a slew of other writing tricks and styles but if I did I did so for a purpose, to illustrate a point. But sometimes doing that stuff is just plain fun.

Format's not going to change, I don't see that happening soon. The text and picture or two I put in each piece seems to work best. I have recently added more space between the paragraphs for easier reading. Place concepts too tightly together, in too dense a fashion, and they can swirl and get lost in a sea of related topics and lose their ability to be comprehended. Too many ideas clumped together, too many associations and things to ponder packed too tightly together does not a happy reader make. 

Yippie! Cupcake!

rawpixel- Unsplash.com

As you can see, I have a lot to write about even when I don't think I do because when I sat down to write this all of these 'items to mention' just flowed. But I think it's enough..... 

I'm pleased myself to have presented the public with this body of work, these vignettes of daily life. I look back and marvel at it sometimes and then I move on, not resting on any laurels. 

Some things I wrote and posted are probably crap, in some minds, while others are too woo-woo but unless you swing the bat you're not in the game, eh? I thought I'd be writing about more metaphysical stuff but that comes when it comes. I fully intend to stretch boundaries there, what we're about, where we're going, so expect more of that. That's the stuff I really enjoy. 
I like the fun stuff too. The humorous postings. Love writing those. They're totally spontaneous, most times I write them. 

Statistics-wise, I tried for 365 but actually posted 297 times. That's a lot of work. Did I get paid for it, monetize it? I didn't make a dime. Did I enjoy it? Thoroughly. Writing is, for me, one of the things I'm passionate about. 

Ideas? Where do I get them from?  Ol' Johnny Carson got plenty of material from just commenting on the news of the day. I do the same but also mix in longer term musings and things that come right outta the blue. Expect mo' of the same, and hopefully they'll be mo' betta. 

Oh, blow out the candle already and get back to ‘work’!

Sweet Spot

     Got me an old Nissan Sentra 'n she's a runner. Ain't too pretty to look at but man is she the perfect work car.
     My partner purchased her used a couple of years ago. By then she was most likely an old second-hand rental car fleet car. There's tons of them (this make and model) on the road around here. The owner put her up for sale on Craigslist for $2000 but the first four 'buyers' didn't get to own her 'cuz the seller wanted cash, all of it, and they didn't have it. My partner and I did though, so the seller drove the car to us. I was at work at the time so my partner, with the help of a friend, looked her over a bit then made the call. Sold!

Under the hood she looked good but the tires were old and worn, and were from three different manufacturers. I guess the rental car company just put whatever tires on her that would fit. The fuel pump was weak, she wouldn't start on the first crank but (the seller assured us) she always did on the second. "Been that way for months!" the seller said, convincingly. It sounded exactly like something a long term owner would oh so casually say.

   Had to dump a little money into her to fix a few nagging problems but that came early on in our ownership. Now she don't call for any maintenance. Just gas and a little bit of oil every now and then.
She's the perfect work\errand runner car now. 

Like I said, she ain't purty to look at but if ever a car screamed "owned by a local" it's this one. She fits right in, her tan paint all faded from the sun.
Her suspension is shot, she needs new front struts, but that ain't gonna happen on my watch and 'cuz of those struts being bad, she rides low. I had to put a cushion on the driver's seat to raise myself up proper. Her saving grace is she’s great on gas. I drive her to work a couple days a week and leave my other, newer car, in the driveway.

Handling-wise, she drives like a go-cart. The stereo is good, an aftermarket one that puts out righteous sound. The wipers work well and have a plethora of intermittent settings, which are great to have where I live 'cuz you drive in showers a lot, showers that come and go.

Our mechanic insisted we get new tires 'cuz some of the old ones were cracked, and we did, after a while, so no worries there. A few months after we bought The Sentra my partner lost a hubcap after getting a flat with one of the old tires. That hubcap never has been (and never will be) replaced.
The stiff rubber tracks for the windows and softer rubber seals for the doors and such are weather-beaten but cost way too much to replace. A little silicone spray works wonders on the window tracks but the trunk lid has some seal issues and is on my to-do list.
There of the doors open- who needs four? The rear passenger one has a broken door handle interior thingy that will never get fixed. I'll see to that!

The heater/air conditioner fan only runs on setting ‘4’, 1,2, & 3 being inoperative. The windows fog up some in heavy weather so I got a work-around for that. I pop the windows open a crack and run the fan if the windows fog up too bad. That, and paper towels.
There's also a little rust spot that needs paint and the clear coat is peeling but nah...
…..fixing any of that is work. Which ain't the point of this car at all. This car's service life has entered the low or no maintenance whatsoever Sweet Spot.

I think she’s rated 118 horsepower.

Antor Roy- Unsplash.com

I love using this car for junk duty. Errand running. Stops at the bank. The grocery. The post office and hardware store. The mall. Fill-up-the-propane-bottle runs. Taking out the recycling and the trash. I park it anywhere I want to. Worries about door dings are worries that I have with my other car. 

The beauty of a car like this is in popping the hood once every two weeks and seeing that all of its vital signs are still stable. A wee bit of maintenance and years of experiencing this car’s blessed prime-of-life cycle could pass.

The biggest expenses we have with 'The Sentra' (we never gave it a nickname) are the yearly registration and semi-annual insurance payments.

Let her sit for too long and the battery will go dead. I got a battery charger because finding out the cause of the slow electrical leak stumped our mechanic and if he couldn't do it..... 

So, long as she runs I'll drive her. The check engine light comes on and stays on sometimes and she seems to have a hard time breathing for a while and then something happens, I don't know what, she starts running smooth again and the check engine light goes back off. I've tried to figure out why this happens but nothing has clicked so far.

A few other things I oughta mention are the model we've got has a timing chain so no worries there. 
Underneath, the muffler rattles sometimes after a strenuous day and the plastic splash guard on the passenger side of the engine is hanging down some.
The washer fluid reservoir's plastic mounting plate cracked so I tied the reservoir up with some zip ties. The tranny fluid and engine oil need to be replaced but not right away I wish I woulda saved the paperwork on those fixes....

I know car enthusiasts are thumbing their noses at a lot of this because your ride has to be sexy, new, and perform but I like The Sentra. I might even love it. It's practical and utilitarian and that’s golden to a frugal guy like me. But it's not that I need to be frugal, I’m not obsessive like that. I just love being around mechanical devices that last and last.

Now, should the day come when she tanks on me, or makes the kind of sound that has my mechanic giving me The Baleful Eye I think I'll find it in me to let her go. It wont be easy, though.

Cars have personalities, don'tcha know? Ending our relationship ain't gonna be something I look forward to but I've gone through final rites of passage with other cars before. The Sentra and my partner and I’s time together was actually supposed to be up months ago. I took The Sentra to our mechanic and he gave me something close to the dreaded Baleful Eye. "I'll check out that rough starting issue" he said with reluctance, that reluctance coming from the diagnostic headache that all old cars bring to mechanics. So much can go wrong. 

About that rough start issue....
Every now and again, she stumbles a bit upon being started up, runs rough for about two, three, sometimes five minutes, then smooths out. This has been going on for well over a year now. Some internet forums say it's the notorious head gasket issue, where coolant leaks into the cylinders and has to be burned off. Some say it's the EGV (exhaust gas recirculation) valve sticking closed. Some say it could be temperature related, or spark plug/electrical system related. My partner thinks it might be due to being driven in the rain, or from colder than normal temperatures. 
My mechanic says it's the head gasket. But, that was six months ago and I'm still driving The Sentra three days a week. It runs fine and is not losing any coolant. So??? 

Methinks it's 'cuz The Sentra and I had a little discussion. I told her I knew she might have a head gasket issue but that I wanted to keep her on the road and out of the junkyard for as long as possible. "We'll drive around" I said. "We'll see things and have fun". 
The Sentra seems to have agreed with that proposition because it's been business as usual ever since. 

You know, I got half a mind to think that all cars want to be in that Sweet Spot position. They wanna be kept around- like they're part of the family or something.

Maybe I'm Amazed

Or maybe I’m just numb, I don't know. Both. 

I've been in the people business for nigh nine years now and I would say that easily 100,000 people have crossed my path. Many for only five minutes, some for over an hour. Some of these encounters were recurring, most were one time. 
Most people don't experience this degree of exposure to The Public. They live out perhaps the entirety of their lives and through their choice of careers or physical location or both they don't encounter that many different people. They might see them on TV or on the internet, in movies, or maybe watch them if they're on a trip through a bustling city, or in an arena or stadium, but as far as directly interacting with them, no. 
They don't go there. I do. I have to, I chose to. I have to answer people's questions, greet them, listen to their complaints sometimes, and a host of other things. 

  When you start in a people-intensive line of work, you think you can handle it. If you're a typical candidate, there is a degree of resistance that you know is there and probably a lot that you're unaware of. You have rough edges. Because of those, you do it all wrong sometimes and receive heaps of repercussions. A lot is also projected upon you because you are wearing a uniform and there are associations made. 
But over time, and through much practice, thought, and effort you get better at handling situations but even so you can't ever rest and say 'I've seen it all!" because you haven't and never will. Nor have you heard it all. Because customers can and will surprise you. Never Assume is another way of putting that. 

And so everybody that's been in the people business for awhile has stories. This encounter and that one, tales about events that were handled with aplomb, spiraled out of control, or were a comedy of errors. 
Because the customers just don't understand, sometimes, how things work. Even though you have gone through the process or procedure literally ten thousand times it's new to them and so you have to have the patience of a saint while they don't but that's beside the point. 

Never can you say that you know what's coming for you don't, when you encounter a person. They might look like trouble, be dressed in a way that sets associative alarms off, or be acting in a manner that looks benign (but is really not) so your outlook has to be neutral. Guarded, definitely, in obviously problematic situations, but neutral to a degree even in those. The jury must still be out. For the most menacing figures can turn out to be pussycats and the sweetest appearing people can turn out to be lions sometimes and unexpectedly claw you.

Over time, pros at customer service become blank slates when it comes to dealing with people. We look for all the 'tells' but we still don't know what we're dealing with, for you might have come upon us pre-loaded and broiling due to an unrelated issue that we know absolutely nothing about. In order to assess you we quickly read your body language, facial expression, tone of voice, and whether or not eye contact is being made. We look for the way you are dressed, how you approach us, and at what speed, any evidence we can pick up that might give us a clue on what we're dealing with, because we don't know you from Shinola and due to that have to act super fast. All sorts of calculations are going on in our minds. We have extensive databases of former encounters, believe you me. The way you talk and the vocal inflections that you purposely or unconsciously use might tell us a ton about you. We listen for any catch phrases that are commonly used. You might think we haven't heard them before and that you're the only one who uses them but Sir, Buddy, Miss, & Ma'am, we've heard them a thousand times or more but you don't know that. How could you? You would only know how glaringly obvious these phrases were if you were in The Business, which most people aren't. 

You're probably, very likely, not outsmarting us but we'll let you think you are, because that makes for a smoother customer service interaction. 

Our skill comes from practice. Civilians will never truly get what we have from reading about it in a book, or from watching a video. Those tools help but there's something about actually doing it that seats customer service understanding into psyches because in doing it you can't escape, into thought, into disassociation, into observer mode. You have to come up with solutions. Answers. Redirections. Something! (And if it comes out rambly and doesn't really help at least you tried. It's okay that you don't know everything). 

I know this is a lot, and it might be viewed as I have wandered off point, but sometimes you have to illustrate a point in its entirety to bring home the message. The message is, despite everything I have said about all this experience and my so-called ability to read people, that I (and every other CSR out there) still don't know who is in front of me when someone is in front of me. I am not distressed, bummed, or jaded by my lack of mastery and continuous frustration at trying to read you, I am merely, and continuously, surprised. 

Exhibit A- Left the accountant’s life for a go at being a guitar shredder in leather.

Andrew Spencer- Unsplash.com

For I sense an astounding amount of life experience in you, whoever you are. I know that most Americans speak English, and that they understand much of what goes on and has gone on in the culture, that they can operate computers and hold jobs and raise kids and have families that they interact with, ditto friends and coworkers, but there is so much more. I look at people now and prejudge them not, if I am able, because I have realized that I can't possibly know what is driving them. So much has happened in their lives before they got to me. Each and every time I encounter a person I know I am encountering a truly unique individual and that the story of their life is, well, probably incredible. 

(I didn’t say it was good, I said it was incredible).

Yeah, people also put off an energy vibe, a signature, I forgot to mention that earlier. I try and read that too, everybody does. There's a flavor there, you might say. An aroma. A fragrance? A sense of 'warm', 'cold', 'weird', 'yuk', 'yum' and of course that's all mixed together too, little of this, little of that. 

Maybe, with all this going on, is why most people don’t work in customer service. It can be very destabilizing to encounter all these different energies. You have to be solidly grounded, firmly able to maintain a sense of yourself in the face of all the other selves out there. 

This subject is deep, deeper than I imagined it would be when I first sat down to write it. People are much the same on the surface but below that they are very different from each other. The individual proclivities they have interact with the family dynamics they were born into and then it spreads out from there into friends and coworkers and partners into social networks that now span the globe and I know that sounds quite grand but it's true, it's happening. We’re influencing each other more than ever. 

I've noticed that in the social networking arena, young people are painfully (to an older generation) real with each other, and maybe that's driven by this need to understand each other, for nobody really knows who they're dealing with. 
So much is there! And if we can find it, share it, reveal it, express it a little bit more, that helps bring us closer together, because we then might finally be able to understand that there is more than a persona, a mask, that is standing in front of us. 

Discovering the real person? 

That is (almost always) an amazing thing.

Singin' The Blues

The Blues are pretty handy. 'One size fits all' sort of thing. I have been recording some music lately, and some of that music has been The Blues. Sometimes a blues song or melody gets into my head and I find myself singing it everywhere.

"Lord! I gots dem sittin' at the traffic light cornah o' Airport Road 'n Hana Highway waitin' on the green arrow blues"

"Have mercy! I reached in the coolah, looked dis way n' that, saw it was missin' ‘n moaned "Why I do dat?!" Lawdy! I got dem ol’ lef my peanut buttah cookie on da table at home blues"

You too can sing The Blues wherever you go. Just insert your words into the words of whatever blues song you're listening to. It's very cathartic. 

The Blues can happen through soooo many situations, every day. The opportunity for them to occur is prodigious. Most of those situations aren't the rock bottom soul scrapin' kind but they're blue just the same. Which gets me to thinking that life itself is rather sad. So many things don't come to pass the way you'd want them to but we're taught to buck up, tough it out, and shrug it off. Well, you can only do that for so long. Better way of handling things, I think, might be to belt out some blues. 

You can sing them in the shower. In the car. When nobody else is around. Why keep sadness in? That's stress! Just reading The News is cause for The Blues so why not lament and moan? It'll do you right.
Maybe it's a sign of the times that we don't grieve much anymore. Kids certainly do, at the drop of a hat, but adults, why, if you exhibit any sadness people run away if they can but that doesn’t change the fact that adults carry a lot of sadness inside. We've seen a lot of stuff that probably we shouldn't have and there's plenty that needs expressin', 'cept we don't. 

Get this man a saxophone!

Gabriel-Unsplash.com

We're expected to be happy all the time, up, positive, and no greater evidence of that is the preponderance of selfies plastered all over the internet where folks are super up and livin' bright but I know they're not always that way. 
They're taking time out, some parts of their days, and thinkin' or singin' The Blues about somethin', just like me. 
And there's nothing wrong with that, that's part of life. You need to experience shadow so that you can appreciate light. 
(Just don't do any shadow experiencing in public!) 

When I see those old bluesmen in music videos, the genuine ones (not the flashy over the top wannabe ones you see so much of today), those soulful, grizzled, hard life lived old guys playing the blues on some beat up old guitar, singing as if only to themselves, I can identify. 
That's roots, man, that's soul. That's pain and suffering and it's authentic as hell. Right now I got the "I'm losin' my job and everybody's askin' me what I'm gonna do next" blues and if you haven't been there you don't know what I'm singing about but if you have, you know. 'Cuz you've had 'em too. 

Maybe as a society we've gotten away from reality some, we don't want to hear about a lot of things, see them, or know that they're going on. We want high excitement almost exclusively or think that we do but while that tends to pull us together, at sports arenas, in concert settings, at street festivals and the like, we are also aware that that's temporary because when the show is over and the excitement dies down, the crowd drifts away and we're left with ourselves. 

We're left with day to day life. Reality. All that stuff that occurs outside of the sight of others where we wrestle with subjects like our worth, impact, longevity, relationships, weight, work, prospects, chances, responsibilities, and obligations. The heavy things in life that weigh us down. Ain't no gettin' around those. You might feel better singin' some blues just then about what's troublin' you.

Personally, I can only sing maybe one or two blues songs and that's it. I'm done. All it takes for me. I don't linger in Bluesland, and found out long ago that I actually can't. Like most adults nowadays I have a short attention span, am insatiably curious, and am always ready for the next experience. Couldn't sing The Blues for long if I tried.

But I know that The Blues are always there for me if I need 'em, even if most times I only sing 'em light.

The Next Picture

Haven't put pencil to paper in quite some time. It's either Thought Of The Day or art and I can't do both because art is something that you get into. It's not something you do for twenty minutes. 

More like three hours. 

So that's where I'm at. I have got the next picture in mind though. It's gonna portray action of some kind, and I want the character in it to be happy because I'm going to put this one up on the wall. It will be symbolic, something I can look at and not only go "I drew that" but every time I see it I will feel good that it's there. 

Don't know what the character is or what he or she is going to be doing but I'll know it when I see it. 

Gonna be a big picture, about 36 x 24, something like that. I have the paper for it. I can scale it. No bigger than that though. Whaddya think, I'm drawin' a Warhol? 

I want a lot of detail, but not too much. Shadows aplenty that bring out contrast. The clothing not too fancy, nor the background. I want a dramatic pose and/or setting. This picture is going to have energy.

Thinking this one is going to portray a full figure.

Not this one. Too much going on!

Sandra Ollier- Unsplash.com

I want it to catch the eye, my eye at first, because that will get me to want to draw it. 

Time budget for this one is six drawing sit down sessions. I took on a project awhile ago with a bunch of people and faces in it that was like drawing the damn Sistine Chapel. Never again! (Still isn't finished).

I want character. Attitude. Gumption. Moxie. Like it like that. Got a new drawing board and have been Jones'n to try it out. 
Looking for that picture now, that setting, that pose, that character. No superheros. Those have been done. 
Meanwhile and during, I will continue with TOTD, a concurrent project. And many other things. 

Seems art is a frivolous endeavor, not worth the time. Au contraire! 

"Ars Gratia Artis"
Art for art's sake!

Some things just must be done.

Not for money, or fame, or for approval from others. Things simply must be brought into the physical, the physical form. 
For everything exists in the ethers. It's just not here yet.

I bring a little piece of the All into physical represenation, best I can. 

No other reason. 

But then again, if you can find a point to life itself, I'd like to hear it. 

Beyond Work

Exists a land called culture, which many people either know not of or very little of, for they are not used to having it. 
In mankinds' quest for survival, culture is one of those luxuries most often done without. Private enterprise, hell-bent on growth and dominance, cares little about culture and government- our current political climate especially- only sees supporting culture as a financial drain at best or a necessary evil at worst. 'The Arts', as they are called, which is a blanket term encompassing many 'frivolous' things, seems to be best presented via digital platforms where people can view culture but not participate in same. 

Cooking shows, traveling epicurean adventures, travelers reporting from various points on the globe, orchestras on You Tube, operas, street festivals, concert footage, sporting events, tours of art galleries, hunting even (and this just in- virtual reality plays where people can put on goggles and experience being in the scene), all are portrayed via the screen so that people, homebound in Podnunk or whatever, can experience cultural things vicariously and don't feel so very left out. 

For in Podnunk they're not so good at arts and culture, though they try and compete with cities around the area for things that their citizens might be interested in but, money, you know, drives this luxurious thing called culture, something they'd very much like to have. However, the roads need fixing and the town is over budget on the new jail and the school district is clamoring for more money and that means raising taxes which nobody wants and damn it would be nice if we could draw more real jobs here but- yada yada yada. 

Ya get what ya get where you live so the moneyed have flocked to well established cultural founts New York and San Francisco, Disney-esque islands where they knew they could experience mondo loads of culture, but real-time demographic data is showing that gentrification sets in when the cost of living rises and the very thing the rich want to forever experience is getting slowly killed off, artists not known to be as financially astute as the wealthy, nor are the artists so willing and able to hold day jobs and then perform for audiences at night. Or on weekends. So what's a city, or a group of cities- a nation- to do?

(Gasp!) Support the arts? OMG! That would cost money, but if culture was supported in not just The Big Apple and The Bay Area but across the land maybe, just maybe people would take more of an interest in where they lived, and go out more. Turn off the box, shut down the screen, see it live, participate even and be happy where they were instead of barrelling down The Boulevard afta work, you know, the one that seems scary and vacant even in the daytime, is lined by fencing on either side, and leads into the 'neighborhood' that the developers promoted as a 'community' because it has a walking path threading through it and a tiny, scrubby park with a playground for the kids oh dear God take me already!

Business, business, business, the economy, the economy, the economy! Don't the wealthy have enough already? Yes they do but they didn't put any of that in when they built The Podnunk Addition. 

Not dressed for ergasia (work)

Xuan Nguyen- Unsplash.com

The Arts fill a need, and that is to fill the soul with something that resembles Home. We did not come from a sterile environment and we won't thrive within one either. We yearn for the richness that naturally rises from the wellspring of our beingness. Art and culture is who we at heart are, and that thing we call work is included in there too, though it would be better put as 'craft', 'mastery', or 'skill'. We're not one dimensional in our expression, we're multidimensional. We function best when we operate in balance. Too heavy the focus on work, too little our exposure to culture, and we wither. 

On the upside, progress has been made! Most of the planet seems to have this survival thing down. America has Costco, which is a very good survivability indicator, so perhaps it's time we took things to the next level. We're new at this luxury thing, frivolity is still frowned upon- especially by The Boss, The Board, The Shareholders, and other stern entities- so it ain't gonna be easy moving forward because we've been relentlessly conditioned to live mainly without, but if we introduce arts and culture into the mix imagine the growth potential there! It's really where we're going as a species. I can't imagine our dreams to be building mega-factories, 2.7% annual GDP, or blasting off to Mars or some other planet only to recreate the world we have already made. 

Arts and culture is what the world is sorely lacking because it's the least cost effective element in a world fixated on creating wealth (for the very, very few). Marginally feeding and sheltering humans isn't the 'cost of doing business'. Creating satisfying lives is the true cost of doing business, but business doesn't want to factor that into their miserly calculations, thus the world 'is as it is'. 

Evolved societies always contain loads of culture. Like it or not, businesses, governments, we're headed in that direction. The olde 'labor camp' model isn't going to work anymore. 'Military barracks' model. 'Shopping center surrounded by suburbia' model. People want more. 

How to get there? Art incubators worked in the past. Give creative people places to practice and hone their craft. Finance entire districts where culture can be presented in concentrated form. Enable entreprenuers to marry their need to make money with their drive to support culture. Tell the Zoning Board and the SWAT team to stand down some so a bunch of people can eat street food, make noise, and roam from venue to venue (safely) at night. Build parks- big ones- that have lots of things in them that people can do for in doing, the people's lament “There's nothing to do!”, will be quelled.

And throughout, make whatever is built beautiful. 

How did we ever get away from this? Where did we err, drop the ball, and miss the handoff because European cities are packed with this stuff and that's where a lot of us came from? (Not to slight other cultures, though, I'm sure if I looked into any one of those the people from there would probably feel like there was a little- or a lot- left behind). 

America is a nation of immigrants that was 'tasked' with the job of filling a vast land and those immigrants were in a rush. Gold rush, land rush, mad rush. We didn't build those arts and culture 'extras' into our cities, most of them, though some people tried. And now that our cities are all built up, politics and tremendous redevelopment costs are involved, the wheels turn slowly or not at all, and a lot of us are left with something like Podnunk. 
So that's where we're at. Again I say, though, that that is not where we're staying because the simple fact is that people want more than 'just enough'. If I don't say it someone else will, and then somebody after that, and so on. And maybe that's what it takes to get the ball rollin'.

Because, deep at heart, we're all culture vultures and will, given the chance, sup at the glorious banquet table of culture and heartily consume its many offerings.

You Hang In There, Dave

Around mid-shift, after a particularly obnoxious group had passed through, one passenger lingered because she had something to say. She waited until the others, hurrying, were out of earshot, then looked me right in the eye and gasped "I can't believe the lack of gratitude! Do people treat you like this every day?"
"Yes. I get this on a daily basis" I sighed, an authentic edge of weariness in my voice.
"People just don't appreciate blue collar workers! I could tell from watching you that you really don't like your job"
"I hate it! But it's only going to last a few more months"
She, older, wiry, and strong, reached for my hand and gave me a firm handshake. "I'm an ex UPS driver, and my partner over there worked at UPS too. We know what it's like. You hang in there, Dave!”
"I will. Thanks for acknowledging me" I said as they left, not knowing if they heard that last line. 

There's people in the world that know, and there's people in the world that don't. The ones that know, that have been there, might not ever let me know that they know. They might just observe and then leave the scene. But others that know might give me a telling look, a glance, met, that indicates that they have been there too. A pat on the shoulder. A genuine thank you. They might engage me in light conversation. But rare is it that I'll have a full on 'encounter' because acknowledging the fact that the public as a whole is generally a rude and insensitive mob isn't exactly something that those in the know want to bring up, probably for the same reasons that veterans don't want to talk about their time on the battlefield. 

If you see these guys coming, it’s time to run.

Adam Whitlock- Unsplash.com

Those of us that have worked with the public, we're different. I can read faces pretty good and I can just tell, when I watch workers dealing with the public, by the way they are talking or gesturing, if they've been at it for a while. I can almost tell what thoughts are running through their minds for I have been in the breakrooms and I've heard the stories. All of us in customer service have had highly individualistic encounters with the public and while the particulars vary, the encounters themselves run kinda the same. The gist of it is that members of the public wear on us with their attitudes and unrealistic demands and think nothing of it.

We weather their insensitivity because we have to get the job done, whatever our function is, which calls for focus and though it may seem like we aren't doing a lot sometimes we're still on the job. We have to be ever present. The public knows we're duty bound to be approachable so they think nothing of asking us a question, or hitting us up for a little one on one working through an issue that should have been handled beforehand, or a host of other things that are like 'favors' being asked of us, not realizing that the cumulative affect of this takes a toll.

Well, we think that the public does realize that it takes a toll on us but the public does what it does anyway, because we're there and because they can.

It's amazing to witness this from the inside, from the front lines, because only there do you realize the full extent of the sense of entitlement that customers imagine they are granted just because they're buying or paying for something. Instantly at the counter or over the span of a flight away from home people can go from nobodies to playing King or Queen For A Day (or a week). They think nothing of lording over others, which is something we in customer service find alarming. It's a good thing that these people aren't given any more power than just the little bit they are granted, because their tendency to abuse power seems to be unbounded. 

So- when that ex-UPS lady firmly shook my hand, she infused caring into the situation, something she knew I would absorb like a sponge because I had been walking in the dry and barren desert that the public offers up, a dusty, cruel, harsh land completely devoid of any nourishment. She brought me back to life and became my instant soul sistah. I didn't need to know what she had gone through to get the understanding, the fact that she understood to the degree she did told me everything I would ever need to know. Her suffering had been similar, yet different than mine. But I knew that she had come out of it on the other side.

  Through being on the front lines she had developed compassion, tolerance, and patience. She hadn't broken, she hadn't become one of the numberless rude members of the public, spewing forth her impatience, disdain, petulance, and all the rest. No, she had risen above it, like I have, and despite the actions of the public has become a better person. I know she's gonna do well wherever she goes, and I know she thinks the same of me because she saw in me that even though I didn't like my job, I still treated the people with kindness, though with kindness the people treated me not. 

That's big. That's huge. If you've learned that lesson, you have arrived. That lady knew the value that both of us could bring to the world through having the understanding.

  It takes one to know one.

Arrogance

Is a quality displayed as a matter of course by Americans, who imagine themselves superior to all other beings. We're number one. Winner take all. Losers walk. This quality has been with us since our inception as a country, probably because we had spent a whole lot of lousy lifetimes living in Europe under the boot heel of this or that lord or king or member of royalty, who treated us not so nicely. 
Experience that and inwardly one vows "Never again!"

And so the new land opened up across the ocean and we non-royals flooded over to there, took everything that wasn't nailed down, and claimed it as ours. So what if there were people there before us? They weren't armed as well as we were and so we overpowered 'em. That's a fact, it's in our history, and though it's not exactly portrayed in that manner....
.....everybody knows that back in the day, those settlers came in and kicked ass and justified it by whatever means. Because there was no goin' back. 

Some of those settlers turned out to be Democrats, and some Republicans, and over time the nation split pretty evenly, or so the pollsters tell us, where jus' 'bout fifty percent of us lie on one side of the fence and fifty percent on the other and that depending on what is going down in D.C., or at the state level, we're likely to vote slightly to one side or another. It's almost like America has a split personality. We play to win, but we're also troubled by conscience, by what we've done to get where we are, and so we want to do right for the losers at the game, even if for some of ‘em gettin’ around to making’ amends, if any could at all be made, ain’t happenin’ and most likely won’t, least in my lifetime. 
'Cuz, gettin’ back to our proclivity to dominate, we know what it's like, each and every one of us, to be on the losin’ end. Ain't no glory there, ain't no fun.  

The alpha piece in this symbolic representation can be easily seen.

Markus Spiske- Unsplash.com

Well, years and years pass and now the nationwide vibe is that a tiny contingent wants to take everything that they can grab and leave the rest of us in the dust. Don't they understand that that is UN-American? Hell yeah we grab all that we can but- we disperse a lot of the booty to those that lose 'cuz even though they're losers, they're still kin. We try to make things right. 

The people what wants to take everything and give nothing back are messin' with American minds right now, they're trying to justify their positions by whatever means are necessary, which is a tactic that sits right with winner-take-all Americans, 'cept these people (I wouldn't go so far as to call 'em 'folks') really do mean to take it all and though that ain't exactly bein' stated, every American at a deep level ain't 'feelin' the love', as the sayin' goes.

What we're sensin' here is the ominous possible return of the olde days when we had to bow to the royal procession as it passed by, and give the roadway to 'em, whilst we stood there in the mud. 
An' how when it came to livin' conditions, how we usta look up at those castles on the hill and wonder what went on in there, 
An' when we were fightin' the wars for 'em how we thought that doin’ that would improve our situations, and it did some, for awhile, but then one of 'em would pick a fight with the guy across the river and back at it we'd be again. 

That was no way to live! 

It felt more like dyin'.

We remember all that, oh yeah, that's in us and that's why we don't like what we're seein', hearin', and feelin'. High up people go around sayin' they're gonna Make America Great Again well, that better be meanin' for all of us, not just the wannabe lords and ladies at the top. 'Cuz we've been there, meanin' Europe, and we ain't goin' back, even though they've got their acts together over there now for the most part. Either way, we can't go back 'home', they aren't lettin' in any more immigrants.

So what gives, what the hell, and WTF even? Maybe your arrogance has blinded you, power grabbers, but we see what you’re up to. True Americans ain't gonna let this slide. 

Errand Runner

I dispatched Carlos, on his E-bike, to make rounds for me within the city. As he zoomed away I breathed a great sigh of relief. A time window had opened on my day that I was now at the luxury of filling. 
Meanwhile, Carlos was standing in line at the post office acting as my agent, telling the person at the counter that some mail meant for another had been mistakenly and consistently stuffed in my P.O. Box. That rectified, he zoomed over to the local bakery and scored some stick donuts for me to enjoy later before the bakery sold out. 
On and on he went and the fee I paid him for his weekly services more than made up for the contentment his services brought me, the luxury of time. 

Processes that we grumble about that consume great quantities of the precious commodity we call time are what we call work, road construction, or airline travel, while processes that consume less of that time we call commuting, shopping, or cooking. 
Watching TV and perusing the internet can be said to be activities where time 'stops' (commonly called 'quality time'), for in doing these activities immersion occurs and the passage of time is hardly noticed. 
Ditto sitting on the beach, participating in sports, or eating a meal in a restaurant. 
Thus, when Carlos takes on my 'bad time' tasks, I am able to experience 'good time' activities in their place. Nothing wrong with that. Anybody that can afford this would do it. 

Is there a cure for 'bad time' activities? None that are known by humankind. Errands are errands, chores are chores, work is work, and a whole industry has developed to make the intolerable tolerable. Neck pillows for travelers. Satellite radio for commuters. Spas for the overworked. Sports bars to counteract non-exuberant workplaces. Take-out for the weary, etc. Toxin/antidote. No time/time saver. Un-fun/fun. 
Pain/pleasure is the standard human response to things within our environment. We avoid or lessen pain, seek out and try to increase pleasure. Yes/No. Attracted/Repelled. Approach/Retreat. 
The so-called 'masters' at the game of life (most of us witness this in one way or another, through TV, film, or videos) gravitate always towards pleasure and seek to reach the place where pleasure is continuously experienced. Full immersion. Heaven. Bliss. Nirvana. 
(I like the word Nirvana 'cuz it sounds like Nir-van-AHH.....)

But really, could anybody actually experience a constant state of bliss? After a while, the high would seem to be a vague thing, for how could you measure how high you were? Contrast provides the answer. The shadow side must exist and we must know of it, in order to determine whether we are experiencing 'pleasure' or 'pain', for without the ability to identify any difference we would only experience sensation. Without contrast we would simply feel. That's all we would know. That's all babies know. 
You might say that that is hogwash, that there is a huge difference between pleasure and pain, that 'pleasure' (eating exquisite food) and 'pain' (hand on a hot stove) are self-evident things not requiring thought. They are built-in, instinctual reactions to stimulus. "Yum!" is obviously pleasure, while "Ouch!" is obviously pain.  But is this so? Animals may be observed to be experiencing either state but are they defining those states, differentiating between the two? Probably not. To an animal, things just are. Separating sensations can only come through thought, through reason, where it is determined that there are such things as 'good' and 'bad'. Judgement has entered the picture. There is that which we think serves us, and that which we think is to our detriment.  

The intrepid Carlos pauses on his rounds.

Josh Appel- Unsplash.com

Only humans reason, and through thought, decide whether something should be or shouldn't be (is 'good' or 'bad'). In essence, we are arguing all the time with what is and if anything can be done about it and that is why I can't stand to run errands but Carlos is more than happy to do them for me. He has no judgement about them. 
That's also why the crippled man is happier than the healthy one sometimes, and the grimy peasant smiles while the wealthy layabout scowls, and so on. Judgement colors most people's perceptions, and most people have adopted their perceptions, their worldview, through conditioning. Conditioning that has been brought about by the unique environmental exposures they have experienced. Conditioning that very well may have been relentlessly thrust upon them until they adopted it entirely, or assimilated it to a degree deemed 'acceptable' by their peers or society.
This may be unfortunate but it is what is. Ultimately, to know who we are, we must overcome this conditioning in order to view the world through unconditioned eyes. This responsibilty is thrust upon us and can't be relieved by any exterior force. Drugs, sleep, and distractions can remove this responsibility from us, but only temporarily. Dissociation from reality can be a longer term coping strategy, anger another, depression a third, but still the responsibility remains. We're born with it and it will dog us throughout our lives, and into the next one(s).
So why not deal with it now? Not in a desperately ambitious "I'm going to solve this once and for all!" way (which may bring about the inner peace of 'enlightenment'), this approach working for a few but seeming to be highly arduous and destabilizing for the majority, but in a slow way, a measured way, a determined way, a methodical and patient way?
One could start by assuming that they know nothing, that they don't actually know (you can pretend here) why they're having a reaction to this/that/whatever and explore their thoughts about it. "Something is occurring and I'm having thoughts about it. Why?" you can ask yourself. Little stuff, to begin with. "Who ever said?" is a question you can ask about conclusions that others have reached.
It is in this questioning that you can find out how you feel about things, how you can separate your thoughts from the mass consciousness, at least for a while, if doing so for a longer time makes you feel uncomfortable. Because deep inside you know that when you do this you're stepping, even if it is just one toe's length away, from the comfort of the conditioned herd. But you also know deep inside that you have to do this, and do it consistently, because until you do you won't know who you really are and what your true thoughts are about whatever is occurring. You won't know if for you something is 'good' or 'bad'.

As to this pertaining to myself, I don't know if I'll ever come to the place where I don't have judgement about running errands and 'wasting time'. Perhaps Carlos knows something I don't? It could be that my 'wasting time' issues, my "Why am I doing this instead of that?” issues are actually much, much deeper than I think, they having to do with greater things called purpose, reason for being, why did God create me anyway, the egoic need to feel special, fears of inadequacy, abandonment issues, and who knows what else. Obviously, I have a great deal of judgement about where I am placed and what I am doing. Somewhere, somewhen, conditioning took hold.

That's okay, though. I'm looking at these issues, at least. Questioning them. I might not get all the answers in this lifetime but until then...

….you guessed it….

....I got Carlos running errands for me.