An employer should keep social life in mind…

On more than one level by the way. I feel it is the responsibility of an employer to at least contribute as much as possible to a balanced and happy private and social life. Since the better part of your waking day is taken up by work it plays a large role in how you feel about your life in general. Employers should realize this, in the big picture they have an obligation. This year again some companies were actually held responsible for rises in suicides and I think, in some extreme cases rightfully so.

http://www.hazards.org/suicide/index.htm

However, it’s not all misery and gloom. I for one have a pretty decent job and lots of fun, interesting or at least entertaining colleagues. Half of my followers on my blogs are colleagues. Even though the company itself puts no special effort in the selection, in my experience it has been succeeding in creating a great atmosphere among co-workers for as long as I have worked here. Off course there are things that rub me the wrong way, getting a day off when you want to seems to be a challenge for instance and it’s not always easy to get my progressive, idealistic, politically left orientated head wrapped around the übercomercialism, but says more about me than the company itself. But on the whole I have little to complain about.

But… recently excrement is coming into contact with the mounted three lobed propeller. It would seem that a majority of colleagues I had categorized as “interesting”, “fun to talk to” and even “cute” are leaving the company. In short, cool people are leaving. So coming January I will have to make a new selection of people to waste time with. The company should really pay more attention to my needs, trust me, you don’t want me around when I have too much time on my hands or when I am unable to have a pointless conversation. Not being able to get a day off is one thing, taking away my entertainment is verging on criminal.

Guys, I’ll miss you lots…. You know who you are!

Jingle my bells…. The obligatory seasonal greeting.

Jingle my bells…. The obligatory seasonal greeting.

Jingle all the ff-ing way, and I mean ALL the way, everywhere, every day this month. On my list of things I hate about Christmas, the inescapable seasonal sing-a-long stupidity rates extremely high. Every performer out there at some point seems to feel the need to bring out a song, add bells and say the word “Christmas” or “snow” at any given point in the song and tadaah! We have another Christmas song. So now I am jinglebell rocking through the grocery store, walking home through a winter wonderland, dreaming of a white Christmas while Rudolph the red nosed reindeer is telling merry gentlemen “God rest ye”, not really a silent or holy night is it?

And there we have it… the silent and holy night. I am not a traditional (or any kind) of Christian, but I can clearly see how there is little left of the original messages this holy day is supposed to deliver. As with it’s pagan roots, Christmas is a celebration of the return of light on earth. Be it a messiah or literally the lengthening of days, it is a celebration of hope, life and light. Not money, noise or arguments about the proper way to relay seasonal greetings.

Oddly enough, it is almost considered offensive to relate the holidays to it’s religious roots, be it Pagan or Christian. Saying “merry Christmas” is almost an insult, because, Jews, Muslims, Hindi, Atheists, Buddhists, Satanists, Asatruar, Raeliens and Scientologists….(and any I forgot) might not celebrate “Christmas” and take offense. Now I get the point where Jews celebrate Hanukah… and I understand that Satanists might not be too happy about celebrating their “adversary’s” birthday, but for the rest of ‘em, what’s the fuzz? I consider people wishing me a merry Christmas a friendly bunch… and I hate the whole Christmas thing, but the fact that someone is wishing me a good time seems to me like a good thing to me and I appreciate it as such. Off course when I wish them a happy Yule in return they stare at me blankly, blink once and then turn away, visibly remembering that I’m “weird like that”.

So frustrated as I may be about Christmas songs, kids celebrating Santa Claus’ coming to town instead of the spiritual feast, everybody being too political correct to wish each other a merry Christmas and the fact that there is absolutely no way around the whole blasted holiday!!! I do wish all of you out there a merry Christmas, A Happy Yule, Happy Hanukah, A good feast of light and the best of times the coming days of celebration and light.

Thor wants me dead….

Here I was riding to work on my recently fixed bike…. mind you it’s freezing and the roads and sidewalks are covered in a layer of ice, when all of a sudden it starts raining ice water, wind sets in and within seconds the rain turns to hail. Hailstones I can tell you when it’s freezing and the wind is blowing just hard enough, can actually hurt you. Just when I was thinking; “Oh hell, it will pass” a thunderclap sounds, almost immediately followed by a lightning flash that created a second of daylight. In that moment “Oh hell it will pass” shifted to “Oh fuck, the gods want me dead”.

Yes, today's blog is complaining about the weather... I can do that, it's my blog.

Intense visual impact

This morning, on my bike I had to stop at a railroad crossing. There was a thick mist that left me about two meters of vision and it was dark, very dark. Suddenly I saw the three yellow lights of the train emerging from the dark suddenly racing towards me, it was such an intense sight. It’s hard to explain but it was awesome and a bit creepy, it gripped me, triggered something inside. So I started thinking about what sights are the most intense. What makes for a strong visual impact?

There are different types of triggers, I feel fear and eroticism may be two of the strongest. They specifically often have a physical effect, from blood rushing to specific parts of the body to adrenaline pumping through your veins. Maybe eroticism is more of a male thing, considering the popularity of porn under males, or maybe women don’t like to admit it. However, there are certain images that somehow seem to grasp something in your mind. Many of them seem personal but may actually be quite universal. One of those strong images I know for instance is that of your lover looking up at you during, well… you know, receiving a…uhm… well just fill it in for yourself. Another one in the same category is a naked or barely dressed female body. The image can be so strong that it seems to influence your perception, making you focus more on a single subject, even seeming to lose part of your peripheral vision.

Fear and discomfort, quite the opposite of previous examples may be even stronger. Receiving a letter with really bad news, getting back an important exam you failed, your mind seems to zoom in and block out the rest. I experienced a similar thing when I saw the WTC tragedy on the news. A similar thing happened when I saw a cat get run over by a car, time slowed down and my mind zoomed in collecting details. Like this, some of the tarot cards can have that impact; obviously Death and the Devil, but ten and four of swords as well can have such an effect. Different cards can have that effect on different people, I have met someone who got scared out of her mind when she saw the hanged man. I always have to remind myself of this when doing a reading for someone. To some people seeing the Rider on the pale horse has quite the impact and if you’re not careful this can set a mood for the rest of the reading that is hard to turn around. Since few people enjoy a gloomy reading these things can actually cost you clients.

I think that in many ways our eyes are our primary source of information, which is why you have to take extra care when confronting people with certain images on all sides of the spectrum. I know certain people are scared witless when the image of a “grey Alien” is flashed on the TV, likewise I know I lose all focus and concentration when my wife wears certain tight fitting or revealing garments… which is basically 90% of her wardrobe. Which is why I can only simulate any form of intelligence when I’m not with her…

You make me dumb honey and I love you for it…

iceman....

Cold…

Not in a very bloggy mood today, I blame it all on the weather. I don’t mind the cold and I don’t mind the snow…. The two of them combined with wind however make an awful combination to have to bike through to work.