This is the kind of writing I have been doing lately. A lot of it distantly correlates tt he Role Playing sessions I indulge in. Please enjoy this next piece.
~*~
Before you are the sands. Even now, in the fading hours of the day, the heat rolls off of it like rain off of oiled canvas. It caresses your face and pools in your heart like dark water after a flood. What is that feeling that stirs in your chest? That emotion that pulls up the hairs on the back of your neck, and raises your flesh into goosebumps? It is unavoidable now. Through the apprehension instinctively rising in the back of your throat, that emotion digs in its claws and bleeds you to take firm hold.
If your eyes were to roam over the twilight shining dunes, catching wisps of spirits picking up and dancing in the sand, you would know. You would understand the sprawling nothing that stretches before you. Like a great cat mid-slumber, dreaming of its latest catch, talons clinging to the fringes of civilization. If you listened close enough you could hear the great creature breathing, many lungs heaving and dropping with a gust of wind. Skin crawling with unrest. For such a creature was never meant to be dormant. It was never meant to be caged by cities and roads. And if you stretched out your senses, just a fraction before your noses towards it, you could feel it there.
The anger.
The anger of a wolf denied its prey. The anger of a disturbed hornet’s nest. The fury to dwarf the rage any man could fit in his heart. For this rage spans miles and miles over the vast emptiness of the desert. This rage waits, lurking past the dunes to ensnare you. Dry you up and dissolve you into powder. Take from you’re your hope, your faith, and your life. Take what you have to feed it’s anger, feed it until one day this mighty beast raises it’s shriveled head and roars into the sky of the civilized present to grind darkened thoughts in the mind of every man, women and child. It would speak to them all, and utter merely one phrase.
I am still here.
But for now, you stand watching it. As if watching a lion at the zoo; complacent. Almost welcoming you with the beauty of the sun setting over the sandy hills, alighting the sky with such vibrancy of colors the likes of which you have never seen. Beckoning you to tread it’s back in search of your purpose, in search of your goal.
All the while grinning, Cheshire in it’s malice, and angelic in the simple innocence of it, as if certain there is something it knows – and you do not. As if the goal you seek is not on it’s great back at all – but behind rows and rows of glimmering teeth.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Seasonal Blues
We all know that there are things about this upcoming season that have the potential to bring us down. Debt, family problems, employment (or lack thereof for some) the idea of not being about to buy gifts for the ones you love....
Unfortunately, in these dark times, the list can go on FOR MILES, all depending on the individual contributing to the pile. what I will attempt to do in THIS post, is come up with as many positive things as I can. Of course, you may not share my enthusiasm about some things, but give it a shot and add some things to my list. i DARE you. Comment on what YOU like. Do it. Double DOG dare you.
1.) The Decorations. Maybe it's just me, but a house seems to maintain even more warmth in it when christmas lights are gleaming gently in the snow, and a tree is glowing in the window. Homey touches like wreaths or garlands are a simple idea - but can transform a room into a cozy little den.
2.) Positive Karma. Maybe it's just me (you'll hear a lot of that) but the idea of doing good to others, especially in this time of year where people ARE feeling morose and lonely, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. ESPECIALLY if they deserve it. And hey - do unto others as yu would have them do unto you, right? Right.
3.) Snow. Yeah I know some of you ABSOLUTELY HATE IT... but think of it this way. While you are warm, huddled under blankets and watching a movie or drinking coffee or coacoa... you can't tell me that gently falling snow, covering the earth outside your window ISN'T pretty? And I like pretty.
4.) Snowball fights. Who doesn't like pelting each other with harmless (mostly) balls of white fluff, running around all stuffed with scarves and layers, falling over your booted feet, and laughing as you are bombarded with dozens of snowballs!?! You can't even DISGUISE that kind of fun! AND who wouldn't want the chance to pelt someone ELSE with a snowball?
5.) Snow statues. I say snow statues because a good portion of the time I find myself making snow DRAGONS. I've heard other people do this, so I don't feel quite as bizarre. But if you're an artist - you've just made a completely unique piece that is fleeting and beautiful. No one will ever see it again, which makes it all the more lovely. Then again, if you're just having fun, and it turns out all poopy, then it'll melt in a few days and be out of your sight.
6.) Hot beverages, roaring fires and fluffy blankets. Nuff said.
7.) Snow days. To those who still get them, RELISH THEM.
8.) BAKED GOODS. There are so many of them, in such great quantities, one cannot look and find a place without chocolate chip, oatmeal, funny shaped sugar cookies, spice cookies, lemon bars, macaroons, rum balls, pecan clusters, apple pie, pumpkin pie, all those other delicious, fresh, hot pies, delectibles from every side of the spectrum!!! *sigh*
9.) Sales! For those more practical - the holiday sales. Price cuts for gift giving season. Whats not to like? May as well get some groery shopping done while you're at it, eh? :)
10.) Staying in Touch. Sure it's silly that you only talk to this person or that person once a year - and it's inside the fold of a cheesy Christmas card.. but it's the thought that counts, and if they didn't care just a little, why waste the 44 cents? Why bother even sending one at all? It's just nice to get them sometimes, ESPECIALLY when you feel alone and lonely this holiday season.
I think 10 is a nice round number. What can YOU come up with?
And a greater challenge yet? What can YOU do to help someone elses Holiday be EVEN better? Think about it. What harm can it do?
Oru
Unfortunately, in these dark times, the list can go on FOR MILES, all depending on the individual contributing to the pile. what I will attempt to do in THIS post, is come up with as many positive things as I can. Of course, you may not share my enthusiasm about some things, but give it a shot and add some things to my list. i DARE you. Comment on what YOU like. Do it. Double DOG dare you.
1.) The Decorations. Maybe it's just me, but a house seems to maintain even more warmth in it when christmas lights are gleaming gently in the snow, and a tree is glowing in the window. Homey touches like wreaths or garlands are a simple idea - but can transform a room into a cozy little den.
2.) Positive Karma. Maybe it's just me (you'll hear a lot of that) but the idea of doing good to others, especially in this time of year where people ARE feeling morose and lonely, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. ESPECIALLY if they deserve it. And hey - do unto others as yu would have them do unto you, right? Right.
3.) Snow. Yeah I know some of you ABSOLUTELY HATE IT... but think of it this way. While you are warm, huddled under blankets and watching a movie or drinking coffee or coacoa... you can't tell me that gently falling snow, covering the earth outside your window ISN'T pretty? And I like pretty.
4.) Snowball fights. Who doesn't like pelting each other with harmless (mostly) balls of white fluff, running around all stuffed with scarves and layers, falling over your booted feet, and laughing as you are bombarded with dozens of snowballs!?! You can't even DISGUISE that kind of fun! AND who wouldn't want the chance to pelt someone ELSE with a snowball?
5.) Snow statues. I say snow statues because a good portion of the time I find myself making snow DRAGONS. I've heard other people do this, so I don't feel quite as bizarre. But if you're an artist - you've just made a completely unique piece that is fleeting and beautiful. No one will ever see it again, which makes it all the more lovely. Then again, if you're just having fun, and it turns out all poopy, then it'll melt in a few days and be out of your sight.
6.) Hot beverages, roaring fires and fluffy blankets. Nuff said.
7.) Snow days. To those who still get them, RELISH THEM.
8.) BAKED GOODS. There are so many of them, in such great quantities, one cannot look and find a place without chocolate chip, oatmeal, funny shaped sugar cookies, spice cookies, lemon bars, macaroons, rum balls, pecan clusters, apple pie, pumpkin pie, all those other delicious, fresh, hot pies, delectibles from every side of the spectrum!!! *sigh*
9.) Sales! For those more practical - the holiday sales. Price cuts for gift giving season. Whats not to like? May as well get some groery shopping done while you're at it, eh? :)
10.) Staying in Touch. Sure it's silly that you only talk to this person or that person once a year - and it's inside the fold of a cheesy Christmas card.. but it's the thought that counts, and if they didn't care just a little, why waste the 44 cents? Why bother even sending one at all? It's just nice to get them sometimes, ESPECIALLY when you feel alone and lonely this holiday season.
I think 10 is a nice round number. What can YOU come up with?
And a greater challenge yet? What can YOU do to help someone elses Holiday be EVEN better? Think about it. What harm can it do?
Oru
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Hazing
So we have this girl at the hotel, works housekeeping. Due to the manager's recent random push to "give her employees recognition" (more on that later) she decided to revive the employee of the month program. This girl received it, for which we were all confused, but glad it was at least someone as sweet as her.
Which was the first thing we did to ostracize her from the rest of her hispanic friends.
Now, there was this other woman, older, more experienced (I imagine) who we had originally begun to train as my replacement as Housekeeping Supervisor Assistant. She is also a sweet lady, however, she just couldn't get the room assignment right. something about being able to read the text in the computer program wasn't working for her. Perhaps she just couldn't read English as well as she could speak it? In any case, we trained her for about a week, and then had to decide against using her as my replacement. A friend of the first Girls (We shall call the first girl "A".)
So of course, when we decided to train A, I believe that was the second step in ostracizing poor A from the rest of the girls who may have thought that girl B deserved the position more - or maybe just liked B more.
Then of course, we completed A's training (VERY pleased at how good she was at checking the rooms when they were finished) And set her up for her first day - a Sunday.
Classically speaking, Sundays are oneof the businest days during the summer. Wedding parties all check out at the same time, leaving housekeeping with an amazing amount of rooms to clean entirely from top to bottom. a good portion of the time, we're sold out. Now, this isn't the summer, however, we did happen to have 3 weddings in house for whatever reason, and out of 110 rooms available for rent, 97 of them were occupied and/or checking out. Which is a big chunk.
Maybe just the fact that A had to work by herself, or that she actually got the chance to was the third time we successfully ostracized her from the rest of her housekeeping companions. In any case, I come to work the front desk at 10am and discover that two girls in housekeeping had simply walked out. Dropped their assignment sheets, made a huff out of nothing, and left. Leaving each girl with 16/17 rooms as opposed to the average 1 -12. This change will get all the girls out at 5pm, as opposed to the checkin time for the hotel which is 3pm.
One girl looked down at her sheet, huffed to A that she had 'too many rooms', tossed the sheet back down and left. The second girl did something a little different.
Due to the manager's obsession with constricting everything about the hotel and micromanaging every single freakin aspect of it, she demands that every girl punches in EXACTLY at the time their sheet says they start working. so to prevent early punch-ins, Shiela will take their time cards with her, and then distribute them when they are SUPPOSED to punch in. Naturally, she told A to do the same.
Apparently the second walker got angry, saying she was never told not to punch in early, and that she does it all the time (Which is crap, she's never early when I work) and proceeded to say she didn't want to work here anymore, and simply walked out with Antonia.
why couldn't they just try to make it easier? Aren't they friends? Or are they just cruel to make her first day alone that much harder? Having to discipline and check up on people she used to work with is hard enough. You'd think they would have the common decency to at least be supportive.
Thankfully, the housekeepers that I loved and love were. E as I call her, a shorter, infinitely sweet and compassionate woman, simply smiled and said it was ok that she got 5 extra rooms. The others sighed and nodded their acceptance as I knew and hoped they would.
So what is this? I know the last lady, A1 I'll call her, had been trained and thrown in at the same instance, and she too received FAR too many troubles for her work. Is it some kind of Hazing process? Hell, even I got the short end of their housekeeping stick. Girls call out and don't show up when they think it will teach someone a lesson when they think it's appropriate.
The worst part? Our ever-loving manager will shout and scream at them and tell them they're done and out... but as soon as they come crawling back, mocking tears and babbling in half-spanish mumbo-jumbo, she gets all soft in the eyes and orders, no, commands us to give them more hours.
*twitch* Chew on that.
Oru
Which was the first thing we did to ostracize her from the rest of her hispanic friends.
Now, there was this other woman, older, more experienced (I imagine) who we had originally begun to train as my replacement as Housekeeping Supervisor Assistant. She is also a sweet lady, however, she just couldn't get the room assignment right. something about being able to read the text in the computer program wasn't working for her. Perhaps she just couldn't read English as well as she could speak it? In any case, we trained her for about a week, and then had to decide against using her as my replacement. A friend of the first Girls (We shall call the first girl "A".)
So of course, when we decided to train A, I believe that was the second step in ostracizing poor A from the rest of the girls who may have thought that girl B deserved the position more - or maybe just liked B more.
Then of course, we completed A's training (VERY pleased at how good she was at checking the rooms when they were finished) And set her up for her first day - a Sunday.
Classically speaking, Sundays are oneof the businest days during the summer. Wedding parties all check out at the same time, leaving housekeeping with an amazing amount of rooms to clean entirely from top to bottom. a good portion of the time, we're sold out. Now, this isn't the summer, however, we did happen to have 3 weddings in house for whatever reason, and out of 110 rooms available for rent, 97 of them were occupied and/or checking out. Which is a big chunk.
Maybe just the fact that A had to work by herself, or that she actually got the chance to was the third time we successfully ostracized her from the rest of her housekeeping companions. In any case, I come to work the front desk at 10am and discover that two girls in housekeeping had simply walked out. Dropped their assignment sheets, made a huff out of nothing, and left. Leaving each girl with 16/17 rooms as opposed to the average 1 -12. This change will get all the girls out at 5pm, as opposed to the checkin time for the hotel which is 3pm.
One girl looked down at her sheet, huffed to A that she had 'too many rooms', tossed the sheet back down and left. The second girl did something a little different.
Due to the manager's obsession with constricting everything about the hotel and micromanaging every single freakin aspect of it, she demands that every girl punches in EXACTLY at the time their sheet says they start working. so to prevent early punch-ins, Shiela will take their time cards with her, and then distribute them when they are SUPPOSED to punch in. Naturally, she told A to do the same.
Apparently the second walker got angry, saying she was never told not to punch in early, and that she does it all the time (Which is crap, she's never early when I work) and proceeded to say she didn't want to work here anymore, and simply walked out with Antonia.
why couldn't they just try to make it easier? Aren't they friends? Or are they just cruel to make her first day alone that much harder? Having to discipline and check up on people she used to work with is hard enough. You'd think they would have the common decency to at least be supportive.
Thankfully, the housekeepers that I loved and love were. E as I call her, a shorter, infinitely sweet and compassionate woman, simply smiled and said it was ok that she got 5 extra rooms. The others sighed and nodded their acceptance as I knew and hoped they would.
So what is this? I know the last lady, A1 I'll call her, had been trained and thrown in at the same instance, and she too received FAR too many troubles for her work. Is it some kind of Hazing process? Hell, even I got the short end of their housekeeping stick. Girls call out and don't show up when they think it will teach someone a lesson when they think it's appropriate.
The worst part? Our ever-loving manager will shout and scream at them and tell them they're done and out... but as soon as they come crawling back, mocking tears and babbling in half-spanish mumbo-jumbo, she gets all soft in the eyes and orders, no, commands us to give them more hours.
*twitch* Chew on that.
Oru
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Grievances
What are the top five things people complain about? Lists of Grievances are as old as time and as ever: ignored. Mostly. So, what is it that hets under most everyone's skin? I've compiled a list of things that people usually fuss about and my own personal suggestions for taking deep breaths and looking past them. Granted, I'm sure the last two are more my personal gripes, but whatever, hehe.
1.) Money
Regardless of how much you have, or where you get it from, it never seems to be enough. (For the average JOE that is.) You can work until your back breaks, but you'll STILL have to pay off your loans, insurance, bills, etc... And for those of us truly blessed enough to have FAR less then what you need to keep yourself above the surface, it becomes not only a pet peeve, but a problem.
Something that I take comfort in is that It could always be worse. I know. Optimistic, right? But think of it this way while you're climbing the corporate ladder - you have your health, your friends and family to spot you, so try not to get too crazy. Besides - you can't buy everything.
2.) Your Job.
On the same vein, the thought that you are obligated to work in a place you hate soley for the reason that you NEED the paycheck because of Gripe number 1 is amazingly annoying. The idea that someone younger, or less qualified, or less intelligent, or cruel, or just plain dumb is your boss? Thats just infuriating. Especially if it's not particularly demanding and you're bored out of your mind. Or it's TOO demanding and you have no energy to do the things you like afterwards.
Something I like to do to help myself out? Adjust as many personal thingsa as you are allowed to do. Change the desktop background on the computer to a picture you like. If you have to wear a uniform, try making adjustments: different colored socks, bracelets, earrings, pins, fun ties, anything. OR just simply make the best of it. Enjoy the customers if you can, be pleasant, because believe it or not, if YOU are pleasant, the chances of OTHER people being pleasant to you increases dramatically!
3.) Your Health.
By this I mean allergies, sleep patterns, things like that. I imagine it's absolutely wretched to have those seasonal allergies where everything on your face gets puffy and gross, or you have runny sneezy nose, or tearing - it's not attractive, you feel gross, etc...
Distraction from this? Invest in benadryl! Or, try to at least put your condition to good use - it makes a legitimate excuse to avoid people you don't like in social situations, get out of work, or be spoiled by your significant other! It will at leqst make it bearable!
4.) Bad Drivers.
Chief complaint! I do it all the time. The best advice? Think about the delightful Karma that they will receive later on for cutting you off in traffic! Huzzah!
5.) Really Lame Movies.
There is nothing quite as dissapointing as paying 10 dollars to see a movie whose previews looked AMAZING, only to be staring in disbelief at the end of the film, realizing it was a waste of time. Plot? what plot? Script? Who wrote THAt mess? Acting? WHAT acting!!?!?
When confronted with this kind of Cinematic let-down, I simply sigh, sit back, and laugh. Because, how delightful is it that those poeple put so much money into their project and then get barely enough in profits back to make ends meet? I feel that it allows them to look back and reflect on the crap of the film and learn their lesson.
1.) Money
Regardless of how much you have, or where you get it from, it never seems to be enough. (For the average JOE that is.) You can work until your back breaks, but you'll STILL have to pay off your loans, insurance, bills, etc... And for those of us truly blessed enough to have FAR less then what you need to keep yourself above the surface, it becomes not only a pet peeve, but a problem.
Something that I take comfort in is that It could always be worse. I know. Optimistic, right? But think of it this way while you're climbing the corporate ladder - you have your health, your friends and family to spot you, so try not to get too crazy. Besides - you can't buy everything.
2.) Your Job.
On the same vein, the thought that you are obligated to work in a place you hate soley for the reason that you NEED the paycheck because of Gripe number 1 is amazingly annoying. The idea that someone younger, or less qualified, or less intelligent, or cruel, or just plain dumb is your boss? Thats just infuriating. Especially if it's not particularly demanding and you're bored out of your mind. Or it's TOO demanding and you have no energy to do the things you like afterwards.
Something I like to do to help myself out? Adjust as many personal thingsa as you are allowed to do. Change the desktop background on the computer to a picture you like. If you have to wear a uniform, try making adjustments: different colored socks, bracelets, earrings, pins, fun ties, anything. OR just simply make the best of it. Enjoy the customers if you can, be pleasant, because believe it or not, if YOU are pleasant, the chances of OTHER people being pleasant to you increases dramatically!
3.) Your Health.
By this I mean allergies, sleep patterns, things like that. I imagine it's absolutely wretched to have those seasonal allergies where everything on your face gets puffy and gross, or you have runny sneezy nose, or tearing - it's not attractive, you feel gross, etc...
Distraction from this? Invest in benadryl! Or, try to at least put your condition to good use - it makes a legitimate excuse to avoid people you don't like in social situations, get out of work, or be spoiled by your significant other! It will at leqst make it bearable!
4.) Bad Drivers.
Chief complaint! I do it all the time. The best advice? Think about the delightful Karma that they will receive later on for cutting you off in traffic! Huzzah!
5.) Really Lame Movies.
There is nothing quite as dissapointing as paying 10 dollars to see a movie whose previews looked AMAZING, only to be staring in disbelief at the end of the film, realizing it was a waste of time. Plot? what plot? Script? Who wrote THAt mess? Acting? WHAT acting!!?!?
When confronted with this kind of Cinematic let-down, I simply sigh, sit back, and laugh. Because, how delightful is it that those poeple put so much money into their project and then get barely enough in profits back to make ends meet? I feel that it allows them to look back and reflect on the crap of the film and learn their lesson.
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