Oh, I have no doubt that a lot of this kind of stuff is selective memory.
The thing about the traffic reports is that usually there is really bad traffic on the tollway I take. So I take notice when the traffic is good. On the days when it “should” be good (according to reports), I’d say it turns out to be actually good a little less than half the time. I drive right past the exits for several other expressways and tollways, as well as the exits for O’Hare Airport. So do I think bad traffic is “fate”? No, it means I should get a job closer to home
** Irony…what a bitch**
I meet a guy. He’s smart,funny,fun to talk to,hot…and he likes me. He can deal with me-which isn’t easy I’ll admit. He’s the kind of guy I’ve always dreamed about and we have so much in common it’s scary.
And he’s already taken.
Last February 7 I went to my regular appointment with my shrink, and said that things were going great - I had a great job, cool roommate, nice boyfriend - and I decided to end therapy, maybe as soon as the next session. I had been feeling really stable for a couple of months and my shrink agreed. I get in my car, drive to work, and get laid off. Oooops.
On a lighter note, I was a terrible student. I refused to do busy work, or homework if I knew the subject. This was especially a problem in math. In 7th grade Pre-Algebra we had this homework assignment - it was on set theory and Venn diagrams. It pretty much involved writing out several pages of lists of numbers that were the union/intersection/whatever of the sets, so I did the first couple of problems at the end of class, understood it and didn’t bother with the rest of it. It was absolutely the worst busy-work-intensive assignment I ever received.
Fast-Forward about 10 years - I’m substitute teaching junior high school. I walk into my classroom for the day and discover that the kids are using the exact same book I did. I then discover that my job for the day is to do that exact same assignment, all 44 problems of it, for all 6 periods, on the overhead projector.
I can assure you that if I wasn’t actually clear on those concepts when I was 12, I’ve definitely got them all now.
I really like mysteries. I’ve been reading a lot of mysteries lately, but there weren’t many good mystery shows on TV. So I’ve been watching re-runs of Poirot.
Then one day I said to my brother, “I’d really enjoy seeing some good mystery shows.”
Bam! A&E starts showing Nero Wolf. BBC America starts showing Jonathon Creek, which I had never seen before. This week A&D suddenly had a NEW Poirot, followed by a new Nero Wolf. The next day there were two episodes of Jonathon Creek followed by Hettie Wainthrope.
A February several years ago. My hubby and sons come to the office, deliver construction paper hearts, red scribbles and roses and then take me out to lunch. After lunch the office mate says something like, you have the most delightful family, your boys are so happy, handsome and charming. I’m grinning and pleased with what the boys have done and by her compliment and respond by telling her something like her daughter is beautiful as well. She starts talking about the delight that is her daughter and her own fears, pauses and says, “Do you ever worry that they will get leukemia or something? I just worry about it all the time, I have sleepless nights because of it.” I reply, “No, other than OldestSthrnAccents hayfever type allergies, they’re very healthy and almost never ill. I never think about it or worry.” Both remarks pass without further thought. Until…
Two weeks later OldestSthrnAccent comes home from school with chicken pox, seven days later YoungerSthrnAccent has it too. Ten more days pass and YoungerSthrnAccent is in the hospital with leukemia. Since then sleepless nights abound. It feels like irony of the fates compounded exponentially.
I find it ironic that while the rest of Silicon Valley’s semiconductor capital equipment manufacturers are ploughing through exit interviews, my company’s CEO hosted a luncheon party today for the last few months of new hires (over twenty of us).
While everyone else is projecting flat or falling revenues we will likely show almost 70% growth this year. My stock options have already doubled in value despite the latest hits Wall Street has unfairly dealt to non-internet high technology firms. I have been able to significantly outperform the last three people who held my position. I’ve also saved my company every cent of regular wages they have ever paid me.
We have one of the highest ratios of genuiely nice people in our almost 150 strong workforce of any other company I have worked for (I’ve been at many of the biggest firms in Silicon Valley). The CEO already knows me by name and we cannot find enough skilled people to fill our jobs. I’ve have been directly told by management that they want me here for a career position.
The only irony is that I have sought this position for the last ten years enduring crappy jobs at the other chip equipment mills. I could paper a wall with the job application rejection slips I have received from all of the other major players in this valley.
