Rawwrr. Animal Safari Stagette was a success. No real animals were harmed during this bachelorette party. Just humans (a bit of abdominal soreness due to the trampoline portion in the daytime). I am one lucky lady to have beautiful inside-out people that poured so much love and planning into this :)
Edmonton's second Diner En Blanc was also a success. I liked it even more than the first one! Churchill Square was invaded by a lot of elegance dressed in white. If I go next year, I am definitely buying a white dolly to cart stuff around in. We did potluck style this year which was a fantastic idea, because the food was so much better this time around. My group happened to have some fantastic cooks who came up with a lot of vegan-friendly dishes (I did an easy chana masala with brown rice).
Vegan frickin heaven.
Yeah, September's been busy!
I've missed a couple of deadlines at work because I'm not working as much overtime, but I am trying to have more of a life these days. I was mortified to return a measly total of two library books - one unfinished - after TWO renewals. That's a big shame for someone who likes to inhale books. Definitely a sign of not making enough time to stop and smell the roses (in this case smell the lovely musty books).
There are more important things in the world happening right now anyway ... like the refugee crisis and the election. I came across the picture of Aylan Kurdi's body washed up on the beach. I didn't mean to - I am torn about the media displaying dead bodies because of the loss of dignity. In this case though, at least it spurred a movement to help. I see things like this and it just boggles my mind that people have no inclination to help. I overheard a conversation in my office between two guys and they were very vocal about rejecting the thought of helping the Syrian refugees, dismissing them as an inconvenience. I had to walk away or else I might have made fun of them leading their cold little isolated lives, worrying about nothing but themselves. Go ahead and enjoy your nice warm homes and your savings and first world problems like wanting even bigger raises and wanting to pay lower taxes. At least you have salaries and homes, mofos.
These are smart guys, but the lack of empathy bothers me. I keep noticing it! Many things seem to boil down to a lack of empathy in this world. So much brilliant science and tech but we are still in the dark ages of empathy. Maybe the engineering world is just like that and I should know better. Maybe it's the veganism ... maybe it's me getting older ... maybe it's even the yoga. I think a big part of it is identifying with immigrants/refugees. Do people actually think these desperate souls *wanted* to be uprooted from their homes and lives? Why else would a loving parent put his or her child on a flimsy boat in dangerous waters? Because there is nothing left to lose. It might be more challenging to open our doors to foreigners, but that's what this country was built on. Challenge and opportunity come hand in hand.
It's not just the lack of compassion for those suffering and in despair. I find even a lack of empathy in simple everyday things. A smart experienced engineer will end up being a pain in the ass to work because he is caught up in his own questioning of any way other than his own. To the point where things don't get done efficiently because he just can't seem to see the big picture and cooperate with the rest of the team. Or even communicate properly. Sure, he can elaborate for hours about his own designs but just has zero capability to listen to anyone else. Quite painful. Also one of the contributors to my missed deadlines.
Dude how self-absorbed can you be? JUST PUT YOURSELF IN OTHER PEOPLE'S SHOES SO YOU CAN PICTURE THE PROJECT GETTING EXECUTED PROPERLY AND ON TIME. No one really cares about your million and one other ways of doing the same thing.
Rant over. Ha! My silly little first world problem. A good number of my coworkers are actually reasonable and some are even good listeners, especially the younger ones (maybe they're not so set in their ways).
I may be a decent listener but I sure am terrible at going to bed. Fail.
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