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29th February 20 I could feel it in my water. The droop of impotence at my workplace. It was inevitable, of course. Heavenly salvation, it's not far away now. There were eight of us to go. I prayed deep and hard for the golden dick shake. I didn't think I could be that lucky. But as it turned out, I was. It's a really pathetic exercise in what many would say an ambiguous assessment of one's career. The template is American of course (flashback to Lester Burnum-American Beauty).
You write responses to questions about key areas of skills and behavior, then you are assessed by a panel. They mark you with a score from one to five. The higher the score, the better chances at staying on at the Pumpkin. Whether the panel agree with what you believe about yourself or not is irrelevant. Some poor bastards took up to five hours of their own precious time to neatly print out their forms with word processors. Others, sweating with anxiety, gripping on dearly with the only cohesion that holds their life together. Then again there were the odd few who handed in a blank form, defiantly threatening left wing retribution if any repercussions were taken. Little did they realise that time and effort would have little effect on tilting the selection scales in their favour. Thanks to the 1-degree of separation between me and Maude (who had herself undergone this joke of a process not too long ago) I was well prepared for what was coming my way. So I spent one hour at work scrawling page after page of crap. I finished in just under the hour. On the front page in big letters I wrote (nearly tearing the paper with my heavy hand) TO BE CONSIDERED FOR A REDUNDANCY PACKAGE ! I got my wish. The day I heard my result, I went into immediate shock. I applied for two jobs and got replies the same day. I had one interview today; a series of computer-based assessment tests covering keyboard skills, numeracy, spelling and grammar as well as a customer simulator. I found it quite grueling not being exposed to a highly competitive workforce market before. The others in my group were young, well-presented and "switched on". After sixteen years at the Pumpkin it was the right time to leave, another twelve months and I may have received less money and a compulsive "see-ya". Part-time work is my only requirement at this stage, a welcome breathing space to develop other goals, while still paying the bills. ____________________________________________ The Hours
A few days ago I saw "The Hours". A gloomy but brilliant film set in three different time lines. Our "little Niccy" was unrecognisable as Virginia Woolf. Portraying a woman who could not find peace, even though her long suffering husband tried in vain to find a place of solace for her. Her lesson to us was, "You cannot find peace by avoiding life". So try meditating on that ! _____________________________________________ The Looming War Have you noticed the major television networks gearing up for the war? They are treating like the forthcoming Australian Open! For God's sake, it hasn't even started ! I have an ambivalent view of the whole situation, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and speak my mind. I do not support Australia's involvement. Not only has it put us at risk of terrorist attack, but it has also made us look like a synchophantic bowing Harold Holt. In this case it is J. Howard dragging us into the yawing maw of a seething Islamic nation at our back door. I do support most of the views of the United States and United Kingdom's governments and I think the peace activists are living in a dream world. 9/11 showed what can happen, how the human being responds. Deep down inside we are still apes. If we get hurt, we fight back. We harbor revenge. We are violent. If the Burke Street Mall was ripped to shreds at Christmas time by Al Queda and our loved ones were maimed, mutilated and killed, how are going to feel after the mind-warping grief has settled down ? Here's an example of an American's view when confronted with the same situation after 9/11. "I
am generally opposed to the death penalty. Not because I have a soft
spot for murdering scumbags, but because I don't have faith in enough
government agencies to believe that they will not end up executing a
lot of the wrong people. (Next time you're dealing with a clerk at the
Post Office , ask yourself if you want to give civil servants the discretion
to kill people who have already been disarmed). The fact that so many
mistakes have already been made by law enforcement, prosecutors and
judges in prior death penalty cases should be reason enough to suspend
the death penalty, and certainly at the state level.
No wonder the terrorists are pissed-off. Have a look at them. They couldn't get a root in a brothel with a bank roll of fifty's' hanging out of their pocket ! I do feel for the Iraqi people. They have suffered under that bastard dictator, put up with crippling sanctions and have been dragged through two horrific wars, and now a third. So how do you disarm the fucker? Negotiations ? Not likely. Like everyone else, I will tune into the upcoming war on TV From the eighteenth of March I will then have a little extra time on my hands. Go well, go Shell......
Ok; back to this again..... Recently reading/read: "My Autobiography"; Charles Chaplin. "On Writing"; Steven King "Prey"; Michael Crichton "The Basic Eight"; Daniel Handler DVD's "Monsters Ball" "Lantana" "A beautiful mind" "Spiderman" "The Mothman Prophecies" "The Signs" "Bend it like Beckham" "Minority Report" "All about Eve" T.V The League of Gentleman (Brilliant, my favorite) Carry on......(each Monday night on channel 2) oooh ahh ! Black and White Horror flicks late Saturday Nights channel 2 Wild Weather, channel 2 Wednesday nights 24, channel 7 Monday nights. Eating Lentil soup, Roast Pork, Thai fish cakes, leathery rump steak and salad, Mediterranean flathead fillets, pavlova, special k. |
