soup du jour

We interrupt this workday to bring you: brain soup!

My thoughts are all a-swirly today, and I need to siphon them off a bit before I can get back to my regularly scheduled responsibilities.

I think the quote from Aristotle goes: "Fear is the pain that arises at the anticipation of evil." There's a lot of that fear in my workplace right now. We're throwing chocolate at it like champs, but strangely enough, the fear remains.

Monday is D-Day, the day the restructuring and lay-offs are announced. The day that the "anticipation of evil" becomes full-blown grief at what we've collectively lost. And if this week (on my project) is any indication, Monday is the day we start to deal with an external onslaught of Mean from people who disagree with whatever the outcome is.

In the midst of all that, I've gone and gotten myself a new roommate. I think the "I should get a roommate" thoughts were initiated by the fear of losing my livelihood and being stuck with bills I can't pay, but the ongoing consideration of the idea was nurtured by my extroversion. I really like living with people. So I found Anna: originally of California, recently of Honolulu, and potentially a legal secretary.

I think it'll work out. However, this morning as I was frantically looking for my purse before leaving for work, I had a moment of clarity. I just gave out a set of keys to my house to a mostly-stranger! She could have snuck back during the night and stolen all of my earthly belongings! Of course, all of my belongings were still intact, and my purse was stuffed in the closet where I'd left it, and she'll be a great roommate, but I think it's good to have a 'come to Jesus moment' about the seriousness of being a landlord.

But on the plus side, my income just went up $600 a month.

OK. Back to work.