June 2012 Open Mic

 

The sassosphere microphone is open, sistas and mistas.

Please step up and dish whatever you like.

 The Sassistas! sponsor Open Mic the last Friday of every month.

 

Comments

[Flannista]

I'm about to go out for my half-walk/half-trot before the temperature hits 100 degrees today.

[Matissta]

It's 79 degrees & it's only 7am. The heat index is supposed to go up to 110, with humidity. Ugh.

[Matissta]

Nadal out in the second round of Wimbeldon?! babysis, tell me I'm dreaming!

[Matissta]

Just saw the trailer for the new Batman film. It looks awesome. Flann, we have to go see it!

[Flannista]

If this is the trailer you saw for "The Dark Knight Rises", Matissta, I agree with you. The music is incredibly effective. Still not sold on the entire movie, however. I think Batman dies, by the way. Here's the link to the "official" trailer:

http://www.thedarkknightrises.com/home.php

[Flannista]

Here is the trailer for the next "must-see" movie for me: "Beasts of the Southern Wild" -- an extraordinary post-Katrina fable which won a special Grand Jury Award for Drama at Sundance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5d4IanzDG8

Here is the New York Times review of the movie:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/movies/beasts-of-the-southern-wild-directed-by-benh-zeitlin.html?pagewanted=all

[Flannista]

My pastor friend, who has greatly supported me and Matissta, has all her life suffered from CFS/ME (chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis). A couple of weeks ago, she started her own blog, "From the Slow Lane" to share her reflections on living with chronic illness. She's in her early seventies, but her writing is filled with "liviousness" -- her term for the opposite of obliviousness. Please make a visit to her slow lane:

http://fromtheslowlane.wordpress.com/

[Flannista]

I survived my half-walk/half-trot. Like running in a sauna. So many people up and around the lake today to get in their exercise before the heat really kicks in.

[Flannista]

Need some advice -- I had a third meeting with that potential new client and the pro bono presentation on marketing to its directors has now morphed into a pro bono creative brainstorming session. And still no guarantee of any work after that. This is the organization that is letting Matissta go while the Executive Director has private car service for him and his wife (paid for by the organization) when they want to go out to eat on the weekends so they don't have to bother parking their car. The whole place seems very dysfunctional -- extraordinarily siloed -- no one department seems to know (or care) what another department is doing. I can't decide whether to hold out and take advantage of what might be pretty easy work and money because no one really cares what the message is or to cut them off now.

[treesta]

Good morning, Flann & Matiss. I'm up and putzing while my sister catches a few more minutes of sleep. At some point I'll check out your friend's blog and the movie reviews. The blog sounds fascinating, and for some reason I've been a sucker for all of the Batman movies.

My sister and I have to make a decision this morning. As of last night, one wildfire closed the highway near Grand Junction (one of our first destinations) and another was threatening just west of Denver. The alternative we came up with last night was to take a slight detour - around the state of Colorado. Go south through Wichita, around Oklahoma City and through Amarillo one day, and then over to Albuequerque the next day, and then up to Moab to make our reservations there. We'll see how it goes.

Flann, it was as hot as 113 here (well actually, the high temp for our day was in St. Louis). But the humidity was 24%. The low humidity made a big difference.

[Flannista]

treesta -- maybe noway, Peter or PEACEsista can weigh in with an opinion about your route. Will you be able to go to Taos? See the Mabel Dodge Retreat Center where PEACE, Gwendolyn, Westsista, half-a-sista, Contemplaysista all met?

[PEACEsista]

Flann, I can't tell you whether to "cut them off" but I would suggest that each time you meet, that you present them with a statement of the cost of the services you have donated to them to date, then you can either set a dollar amount to end the free-ride or a timeline, so they can make a conscious choice about whether to continue with you. If you just quit, it makes it waaay to easy for them. They are likely to just stop thinking about it.

[Flannista]

Speaking of road trips, early tomorrow morning, Matissta and I are driving to the small town where I was born -- Philipsburg, PA (outside of State College) to attend the graveside funeral services for my Aunt (wife of my mother's brother) who died two weeks ago this Monday. It will be the first time in over 45 years that I have seen my uncle or two cousins. My mother is too incapacitated to travel and my father needs to care for her, so I thought Matiss and I would represent our family.

We'll have the Sass Mic open through tomorrow and plan to sass in from the road.

[Flannista]

Very sound advice, PEACEsista. Thank you. I think the Development Office has one small project for me, but wants me to provide a price first. I'm curious about their pricing threshold for creative/marketing services. It will be cheaper than 24/7 car service, that's for certain.

[Flannista]

By the way, PEACE -- is noway with you in Wisconsin right now? How about Peter? What's the latest news about your mother?

[PEACEsista]

In June, my brother and I made arrangements for my mother's cremation with a funeral home and a picked out a brushed bronze box for her ashes, to match the one she picked for my father, his a rectangle, hers a cube. I like the image of them in death as they were in life, him taller and beside her.

I expect that my mom's remains will fill that box this summer. She is ready to go, but it is not easy to die, even when you are ready.

[treesta]

So sorry to hear about your aunt, Flann. Safe traveling, friends.

I agree with PEACE on all points re: the work you are doing pro bono. I like the idea of a timeline (and giving them a 'bill' in which you outline the time & money you have donated thus far). Also agree, don't just quit - have them make the decision.

Thanks PEACE for the suggestions about alternate routes. I'll be checking the maps while we eat breakfast.

[Flannista]

I'm assuming that PEACE must have made alternate route suggestions in an email. I was kind of curious about them as I am following your travels on my own maps of the United States.

[treesta]

No specific suggestions yet, Flann. Right now we're considering veering south of Colorado Springs to either Pueblo or Walsenburg, CO to stay for the night, and then taking Rt. 160 over to Cortez, and Rt. 491 up to Moab. We'll see. Heading to breakfast with our maps.

[PEACEsista]

Must have been my alter-ego. I didn't actually make any sassgestions to treesta, but I hope that they work out fine. Last June, I had to take a detour on my last visit to Gwendolyn, because of a wildfire at Raton Pass. I'd never seen anything quite like it, except in pictures of nuclear blasts or of hell. I'm sorry the fires are back. It IS a living hell for the people who live near to them.

We also met Justista in Taos at Mabel Dodge. I'm glad that Justista is proposing a reunion there sometime (though the Grand Canyon trip comes first!)

Good of you to represent your family, Flann and to offer comfort and support to your extended family at this time. Travel blessings to you and Matiss. I never realize how old I am, until I see how old my cousins are! When did we all get so middle-aged and beyond?!

[Flannista]

How in THEEEEEE hell could I forget Justista?????!!!!! Thanks, PEACEsista.

Matissta and I are contemplating a trip out west next summer for my 60th birthday and her 50th. We might end up in the Grand Canyon after all!

Have kazoos, will travel.

[Flannista]

Both of my cousins are on Facebook and when I look at their photos, I'm stunned. I remember them as 8- and 10-year-olds. Deciding to go wasn't all that difficult for me for some reason, and Matissta immediately said, "Let's go" when I told her that I wanted to make the drive up and back in one day. Like my mother, my uncle has Parkinson's, but unlike my mother, is willing to use a wheelchair. He is 93 years old, nine years older than my mother.

Here is a photo of my uncle that my cousin posted on her Facebook wall this past winter:

http://www.sassistas.com/sassistas_our_dish_on_the/2012/29/uncle.jpg

[treesta]

Smile. Doesn't surprise me at all that Matiss immediately agreed to go up to PA. You two have a safe trip.

We're off. Definitely heading to Pueblo, CO. Nothing like a detour to make for a good adventure!
Have fun, everyone.

[Matissta]

A strange day at my job today.

Today was supposed to be my last day at work. Yesterday was my 25th anniversary luncheon with the company. I only invited 5 people, because I wanted it to be intimate rather than a room full of people and some cake.

My boss has yet to tell anyone this is the last day in the department. I was picked up by another group, Business Development and Product Management, to help with the transition to the new platform. I will be working directly with the Product Manager. They realized that not only because of my current knowledge, but also my newly acquired knowledge through school I could help them out greatly. So I'm now here until the end of October.

The last couple of weeks people have suddenly been asking me to "help" them with certain projects. Everything from design, to mockups, to user testing, to fundraising. I'm a hot commodity. Although I don't want to "stay" with the company, it's so confusing to know I'm valuable but still being let go. And yes, I know it has nothing to do with my performance or skills but still hard to absorb.

[Flannista]

Matissta -- one word about where you work: dysfunctional. Another word: stuck. Yet another word: anachronistic.

Stunning to me that an organization devoted to one of the most dynamic of all sciences -- physics -- is so dead.

Of course all of these mixed messages are hard to absorb. ANY message is hard to absorb in that place.