DC MISC.

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DC Misc Musings (from 12-10-11)
DC Misc Musings from the past

12-22-11 - Happy Winter Solstice - at 530am. It's so curious that on the first day of winter the days start getting longer and the nights shorter. - dc

12-21-11 - Just in case you get these mixed up, Madeline from Oregon taught me this nifty reminder:

12-16-11 - The Diamond Sutra says there's none but still we seek abode

Due to the opinion of a code inspector who says Katrinka and my present haunts are designated for horses only, we are looking elsewhere for a place to lay our heads as well as the archives and stuff I type about. Suggestions welcome. - dc

12-14-11 - Bypassing voice messages and the irritating phone company prompts that follow II.

In Bypassing voice messages etc I, a description of the problem with opinion and solutions were presented. Elder son Kelly's message could always be bypassed by hitting the number 1, but now for some reason it's * - asterisk. And some systems need to have # hit. Kelly has kindly sent a formula to bypass all or probably most messages. I'm not sure if it's worded correctly to cover all. Will be testing. - dc

Step One: Push 1. If your friend is on Sprint (or possibly Verizon, but not always), this skips the greeting and you are done. IF you hear a message that says "One is not a valid option" skip to Step Three below, otherwise continue to Step Two.

Step Two: Push *. If your friend is on Verizon, you’ll hear the beep.

Step Three: Push #. This works for both Cingular and T-Mobile subscribers, and you’re all set to go.

12-10-11 - Humiliation

My friend Gregory wrote me yesterday and asked how mother was doing - her mate of 23 years, Richard Whinery, died this Monday, five days ago and I came to Fort Worth right away (Obituary). Here's my answer, edited a bit for increased dynamic impact:

She's fine. But I'm suffering from severe humiliation at having lost the key to her car which mystified me and looking and looking then telling her the spare she found in her room didn't work and was for a previous car she'd owned, that followed by a long period of looking then calling triple A and almost paying $150 minus sixty they'd refund for a locksmith coming then calling Jim who said that there might be a number for the key in the car manual which I checked but no so called Toyota parts who said they'd make em off the title for $7 then borrowing the neighbor car which mother did not like to go way out of town to get to the parts dept. right before they closed at seven and had three keys made which they didn't even charge for saying merry Xmas then coming back and testing the new keys which were good and that took three hours and then she looked at the key she'd given me earlier and said it looked the same as the new ones and I scoffed and tried it to find it did work, was indeed the spare - that all the fuss was unnecessary, and was again mystified, stammering - but it it it it didn't work - I tried it in the door and the ignition and it didn't fit - but now it did. I should have tried again I apologized like I kept looking again and again in the same places and pockets for the lost key but didn't try the one she gave me again and mother was very nice about the whole thing, really cool which is not always her nature, but I'm mortified, muttering to myself that it's a good lessen and I'll use it to make sure I am more mindful, but also aware that I can't celebrate an interesting experience at her expense (remembering the woman who got lost in the woods at Tassajara when I was director, who was lost for days - everything came to a halt to look for her with crews from outside joining in and when she was found and brought back in a stretcher she was ecstatic with what a great experience it had been and I didn't appreciate her sentiment as we were all exhausted and she'd not listened to the warning not to go wandering off by yourself especially if you're from NYC.). Mother and I discussed the concept of whether there's such a thing as lost time - she said yes and I said no that it's all perfect mind which she didn't appreciate - and those were empty words for it's taking a while for me to stop wishing I'd tried that key again and I am just sitting at my computer not looking up waiting for the shame to transform and feeling myself slowing down, privately enjoying the crushed ego effect.

I remember while looking for the key hoping that she'd picked it up and put it somewhere - that it was her fault - and then thinking, no, that's mean. I hope it's mine. No I don't care. Whatever. Now I'm glad it was me because if it had been her it would have made her feel bad and me, as Marsha once said, I'm a glutton for punishment, like to eat it up as nourishment. Michael said I'd probably been prejudiced against the spare key when I tried it. That's right. I remember thinking - oh this is an old key, why does she keep them? Katrinka says it was all because I was being stubborn, not paying attention and giving that spare the attention it deserved. This was indeed a humbling experience. Now a la Byron Katie I'll drop this drama and take the kernel of a lesson from it to urge a slow down and give each moment and each thing its due.

A far fetched thought occurred to me, a scenario to explain how I could have both lost the key (which I've never done here) and incorrectly inserted the spare key into the car. The thought was of my subconscious perceiving danger if we went out at that time and making sure we didn't. Thanks subconscious if that's true but it's more likely I just blew it.

I also thought of Niels RIP waxing on the virtues of shame and the shame of shaming my mother for her little slip-ups which in the light of recent events pale, became almost white.

And that's all on this much ado.