two weeks later

I'm back!

Since I last wrote, I've been focusing on adjusting to the many steps, constant kneeling and standing, lifting, and the unforgiving nature of concrete floors. Poor little feet! Poor back! Poor wrists! But, I think I am finally getting acclimated to the physical demands of my job.

From the first few days, when I was planning to quit every fifteen minutes, I have gotten to the place where I genuinely like this job. It truly is physically challenging, but there are so many little satisfactions with the job.

I love helping the people in the store. From the ones who have the "Which aisle is it in" look on their faces, to the elderly who so appreciate genuine interest and kindness, to people who have fewer financial resources, to the apparently grumpy people who smile when I greet them, each interaction makes me feel so thankful for the opportunity to give something to someone else.

Everyone I work with in my department is younger than I, but several of them have MUCH more experience than I do in this industry and I have much to learn. At the same time, my natural leadership abilities and my customer service orientation offer something to my co-workers, and of course, my customers.

Does this sound like a cover letter for a resume? Ooops!

To top it all off, the realizations just keep coming. Since I stock OTC, I have learned that there is a pill for everything. No, make that FIVE pills for everything. And for some things, there are literally hundreds of choices.

I feel like I live my life in a perpetual state of agog-ness, wherein I discover things that probably most people already know. For instance, Kepler had a couple bouts of diarrhea this winter. I did my preferred medical treatment: have him drink more water, and wait. Oh, and I would worry. He missed quite a bit of school. Color me agog when I see several items on the grocery shelf that deal with the symptoms of diarrhea! See? You already knew that existed, didn't you. Not me.

In the picture of the tea, notice the box on top is oriented horizontally, and most of the rest are oriented vertically. When I first started stocking shelves, I was all indignant that some of the packages came in with horizontal packaging and sometimes the SAME THING came in with vertical packaging. I attributed this to the evils of marketing, as a secret ploy to get people to BUY MORE! IT'S NEW! It only took me, oh, FOUR WEEKS to realize that most items have horizontal on ONE side and vertical on the OTHER side, so that you can have the product name oriented correctly no matter how you stock your shelves. Doh!

As with the package orientation, I learn much of my job on my own. The instruction is sparse, and if I don't have my "listening ears" on, sometimes I miss it! The area I am most uneducated in is the merchandising aspect, and I look forward to learning about that.

All in all, I feel like I am a valued member of a team that is serving my community well. And that's very satisfying to experience in a job.

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Ah, Wilderness!

Yes, home again, home again, jiggety jig! It's already Wednesday and we have been back since late Saturday night.

Sunday, I TOTALLY had to sleep to recover from the long trip home. Monday, I TOTALLY wanted to spend several hours helping my sister work through her garage full of stuff in preparation for their move Saturday. Tuesday, I TOTALLY was busy with Thing A in the morning hours, Thing B in the afternoon, and Thing C in the evening.

Finally, today I am here to tell you I am here!

Back to work at the store last evening. I enjoyed my five hours working. At one point, though, a store manager asked me to take on the responsibility of selling something (for a good cause) to at least four people during the evening.

And that reminded me ...

While we were on vacation on the Island of Intermittent Internet, I had a realization ...

The wilderness isn't trying to sell me anything. It's not trying to get my attention with more choices, louder commercials, or faster images.

 The wilderness is made up of many parts that all just do their own thing. Although there are some male birds who do try to get the attention of their female counterparts, the colors and sounds there are peaceful and unobtrusive.

No signs advertising anything. No evident government intrusion into my experience of the wilderness. Small notices -- two buoys signaling "no wake."

I realize not everyone loves the wilderness like I do! I wonder where others get this kind of quiet, this being apart from the noise and chaos of the city.

While I sat writing this post, on the bank of the channel, I saw:

Trees leaning out over the water;
Tangles of lilypads on the water surface;
Partially submerged branches;
The reflection of the trees in the water;
Slow-moving clouds;
Water skimmers;
Concentric circles appearing in the water, then dissipating;
Towering white pines;
The shimmering reflection of the water scurrying along the underside of overhanging branches like natural chaser lights;
Everything swaying gently in the breeze.

Even the canoes full of campers would make very little sound if the campers were listening instead of talking. "Let's play the quiet game," I heard one of them say. "OK," says another, "I lose!"

There is a reality that we can damage our natural resources; the oceans, the waterways, forests, and I wonder what difference it would make if we considered that it is beyond humanity's capability to create an ocean or build a mountain range or do anything more than observe or possibly explain how such ecosystems work.

One cannot find a person or government agency that put these lilypads in this lake (although one can believe in Someone who did). No one who decided where the actual lilies would float. No one who engineered the coasts, riverbanks, lakefronts.

Being in the wilderness always reminds me of the vastness of the universe. The quiet refreshes and calms me. I come away from such a journey with a peaceful heart.

Where do YOU find such refreshment?

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On the road again

Is "intermittent reinforcement" a thing? I remember something from my Intro to Psych class about how that kind of reinforcement kept the rats coming back for more. I'm happy to report that I am smarter than those rats.

The Internet at our undisclosed location this week was frustratingly intermittent, and although I persevered the first few days, there wasn't enough sand for me to stare at my phone more than I already was. Hence, my silent blog for the past few days.

I didn't even realize how much I needed a vacation. It probably took a good three days before I began to unwind. Guess I was the proverbial frog in the water near boiling. Smarter than a rat, but denser than a frog. Going on vacation to a beloved spot turned the burner off and I could stop fighting once the boiling had subsided.

A week later, I am transformed. To be continued ...

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A short post to tide ME over

My last post is dated today but I'm in central time so it actually went up last night. I am doing a lot of writing but the sketchy Internet makes it very hard to post long posts. Talk to you soon!

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Just to tide you over

Am out of Internet range for all but the most rudimentary tasks. Will be in touch soon. Happy 50th birthday to my dear sister.

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It's all in your point of view

Years ago, when Kepler was a baby, the neighbors who live behind us were up to their normal July 4th BIG, LOUD fireworks. I can't remember now whether we called them directly or called the police, but I'm pretty sure we called them directly. They had no idea we were trying to put a baby down for the night, and apologized for the noise.

In the years following, they have kept up, and even increased the spectacle on the 4th. Although fireworks are illegal, I think our local police kind of give everyone a pass for that one day because there have been plenty of fireworks shot off in their yard. This year, their fireworks were so loud that Kepler would run into the house during prolonged explosions. I ran with him. I'm not the biggest fan of fireworks

My dear husband and son do love fireworks and had gotten some small ones to set off. I just had to laugh at the contrast between the huge booms taking place in the yard behind us, and the tiny little boomlets happening as our bottle rockets zipped skyward. Neighbor's booms were bold72-point font with sixteen exclamation points after them. Ours were 6-point light, in parentheses.

So you can imagine our surprise when the police car stopped in front of our house and walked to our backyard to ask us about the fireworks we were setting off. Greg motioned to the yard behind us as the source of the giant booms, but the police still told us we had to stop as someone had complained, and once someone complains, they have to take action. We stopped immediately, and went inside.

Meanwhile, the giant booms continued.

We have our own Gladys Kravitz (character from Bewitched -- very "observant" neighbor) living nearby and we suspected they called the police, owing to another time when the the city sent us a letter checking out something that was brought to their attention by one of our neighbors, something which was unfounded. I also suspected them because their front window would give them a view of the big booms, and they could have conceivably thought we were doing it since we were in direct line with our neighbors behind us.

I hate it that our neighbors would call the police on us. ESPECIALLY since our teeny little fireworks were both fairly quiet and unobtrusive. As we went inside, and I sat reading, I just reflected on the irony that with all the huge fireworks being set off before, during and after our miniature display, WE  were the ones the police visited.

I'd like to think that next July 4, maybe we will be living somewhere where we do not have loud fireworkers living directly behind us, and police-callers directly in front of us! If we are, well, I'm sure I don't know how that bottle rocket ended up in your yard, sir!

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The Cloak of Invisibility

6:30am GMT

Dear Blogger Customer Service,

It has come to my attention that you may have inadvertently invoked the "Cloak of Invisibility" clause and applied it to my blog. I say this because although I have checked Facebook and email religiously the past few days, it seems no one is reading my blog. I can only conclude that this is due to your mistaken idea that I had asked for the COI to be applied herein. Please advise.

Thank you.
Siouxsie
Siouxsie'sMusings

6:37am PST

Dear Souisxie,

We have received your request to invoke the "Cloak of Invisibility" on your blog. Although we do not advise this, as it will make your posts unavailable to all readers except your mother, we are here to serve.

Sincerely,
Customer (dis)Service
Blogger

6:38am GST

Dear Blogger Customer Service,

No, No, No, No! I do not WANT the COI to be applied to my blog. Please reverse this immediately. My readership is small and faithful, and will be discouraged if they cannot read whatever Siouxsie is Miouxsing about.

Thank you in advance.
Siouxsie
Siouxsie's Musings

7:45am CST

Dear Mouiouoxsie,

In order to reverse your request to invoke the Cloak of Invisibility on your account, which we do NOT advise invoking, as it significantly reduces your already tiny readership, please forward by certified mail, three notarized affidavits by readers who are willing to vouch for your actual humanity. We have had a great deal of trouble with "bots" writing blogs, and our computer programs have detected a high level of material on your blog that could have been written by a "bot." We await your response, Mr. Muoiuosie.

Sincerely,
Customer (dis)Service
Blogger

7:45:10am Turkish Time

Hey,

I didn't ask for this Cloak of Invisibility thing in the first place, and I'll be derned if I'm going to fabricate three letters from my readers, although as many times as I check to see if anyone has visited my blog, I could certainly qualify for that. Take it off. NOW.

Git it done, eh.
Siouxsie
Siouxsie's Musings

9:39pm MST

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please check your computer to see if it has been taken over by "bots." We have been receiving communication from this ISP address which indicates that you want to have the Cloak of Invisibility invoked on your blog. We simply do not recommend this. Please see our FAK page at wwww.FAX.hun.org.com. The Cloak of Invisibility will significantly cut down your readership. What do you NOT understand here?

Sincerely,
Always at your service,
Blogger

9:40am Aussie Time

Yeah, ok. Please invoke the Cloak of Invisibility. I will continue to write, but now I will be sure that no one is getting to see it. That will reduce the sharp disappointment I feel every time I write a post and receive no comments whatsoever. I know yesterday was the 4th of July, and people were out running 5k races, marching in parades, setting off fireworks, and generally celebrating with their good friends and families, but wouldn't at least one of them have had time to check Facebook and click on my link? I'm so confused.

Sadly,
Siouxsie
Siouxsie's Musings

9:45gm GMT Greenwich

Dear Siouxsie,

We have received your request to remove the Cloak of Invisibility and have done so. All you had to do was ask! As you know, we do not recommend the Cloak of Invisibility to our bloggers.

If you should ever want to reinstate the COI, simply email us and we will be glad to help. For now, keep on blogging and enjoy your day.

Mostly sincerely,
Blogger Customer Service Extraordinaire.

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