Concern ......Caring

A bit of seriousity today. I listened to Elizabeth Warren and President Obama kind of dueling about the Asian Free Trade Agreement coming to a nation near you soon. I happen to like and trust both of these people, and it is difficult to hear them kind of fighting with each other. But in the end I came away thinking, this is something I should care about .....but I just don't.

This happens to me a lot.

For example, there is the whole violence in the Middle East thing. This is all horrible, for sure. No redeeming virtues at all. Nothing good here. People suffering mightily all over the place. But I have reached the point where I kind of believe this story in the Onion.....New Evidence Suggests Middle East Conflict Predates All Human Civilization. Really, just read the Bible for goodness sake.

And the whole violence in the Middle East thing makes me feel 110% powerless. There is literally nothing I can do about it except to think and talk about it. Certainly I have no bright ideas whatsoever about what might could help solve this problem. Nobody has, as best I can tell.

Love It or List It

I'm ok with big changes like moving when those changes are my own choice. I'm not so ok when the need to make a big change is trust upon me, like it or not. I just found out that one way or another, a big change will be thrust upon me.

My apartment building was bought by a new company this spring. At first nothing happened. Now, I have been informed, big things are changing. The company is renovating the whole place including all the apartments. We are going to have a series of choices. All of them involve paying more money and some of them involve the trouble of moving.

Too Much Holiday

Already I am overwhelmed with too much holiday this and that. I got to yesterday and found I could barely function any more. I had some ideas about going out and doing something or another. I didn't do any of that. I stayed in all day. I DID do quite a bit of knitting which made me feel good.

There are too many events for me. Too many dinners. Too many parties. Too many get togethers. Too many public events. To many end of year things. I'm quitting after tomorrow. Today I have our knitting group yarn exchange, which I can't miss, and tomorrow there is a nice luncheon for the Osher Institute (free food) which I have rsvp'ed for. I need to go up to the office anyway, so this will get me out of the house and up to work. Then I quit.

After the Trip

I am back home a from a short business trip, and now I am trying to catch up on my ordinary life. So much goes on hold while I am away, but nothing goes away. I just have to do things later.

There's work, of course. It will take me several days until I am caught up on all the delayed things I have to do for my classes and our writing project. I'll chip away at all that over the course of next week.

But then there are all the things at home that need doing. Laundry, for example. Grocery shopping. Paying bills and managing finances. Cleaning. Everything is on backlog, and everything takes time to accomplish.

An Introvert Reaches Her Limits

I am an introverted person. I was very happy to read a new book that came out this year Quiet by Susan Cain which is all about introverts. The author has a little set of questions to ask yourself if you are introverted or extroverted. I knew I was an "inny" from the beginning, but the set of questions just confirmed it. You should just read the book if you want to learn all about questions like what makes intro / extroverted people, what are our various strengths and weaknesses, how we introverts can overcome some of our difficulties in life & how parents, teachers, managers, co-workers can best work with us.