Ayatollah Wannabee Panics; Granddaughter Wants Me To Stay; Chocolate Cake Mighty Tasty

Over at South Swamp, where I work, I had made the decision to withdraw from the voluntary group that is trying to improve our workplace through common effort. The reason I withdrew is that the group has been taken over by one of the directors (the Ayatollah Wannabee) who is using it for political purposes.

I remained in my cube working at the time the meeting was to start, and was jamming to get work done so I could get out of there around noon and go see my grandkids for a little while. The Ayatollah Wannabee, who was chairing the meeting of the volunteers, panicked because I was not there, and send a courier to remind me of the meeting and get me to go. I said no, I wasn't available today. The courier returned to the meeting location with his report, and within 20 seconds or so, the Ayatollah Wannabee herself was standing in front of me making it clear that although the meeting was certainly voluntary, that on this particular day the meeting could not go on without me. Because I have made a commitment to help stabilize the Great Ship we are all on, I decided not to make a scene with the Ayatollah Wannabee, and went to the meeting based on the promise that the issue that was for me would be the very first thing on the agenda. I arrived, and sat through 18 minutes of political posturing by the Ayatollah Wannabee, and then another 20 minutes of prep talk by the person that was going to make the presentation. We finally got to the part of the meeting that they said they needed me for, and although my positions as stated were far from popular, they also knew that I was telling my truth and that it requires attention. I left the meeting after 49 minutes, and without getting anything accomplished *:-(

But then...ah yes...but then...

I got to have a hell of a lot of fun with my granddaughter during my visit, & my wife was there too playing with the newborn (meaning holding him while he sleeps). My granddaughter remembered how to use the iPod earbuds without any coaching from me, and that was totally cool. We did a bunch of other stuff too, and then when I needed to leave to go back to work, she clung to me tightly while I held her to my shoulder, and her little hands grasped my clothing tightly, and when I would try to say "bye" she would say "no". Wow, that is a first for me, and I was impacted by it and I believe it suggests that she is beginning to love me, which is cool *:-)

Because of the emotional content of the meeting prior to my seeing my grandkids, I decided to take a piece of vegan chocolate cake back to the office to eat so I would feel better about being there, and after microwaving it for 23 seconds, it was mighty tasty and helped me get through the day.