Majorly mellow

A great day at work today--almost no overtime! Will wonders never cease?

It was a beautiful, sunny day, although still chilly. I'm trying to drink in the sunshine, because tomorrow the forecast is for 3-5" of snow. Bleah. Ken and I both have the day off tomorrow, him for Good Friday and me because I work the weekend.

When I took the garbage out this evening, I noticed some tiny crocuses coming up along the path out to the road. Neato! Some are popping up by the house, too, but the ones along the path have little blossoms on them. Even though we're supposed to get snow tomorrow, I feel like this may be winter's last gasp. I sure hope so.

I went to the grocery store after work tonight, and it was fairly busy, so I was happy to get out of there quickly. I got everything put away, and now I'm sitting here letting the work day roll away, and I feel so relaxed and calm. I'm almost slug-like in my mellowness! <grin> It's just such a nice feeling to know I don't have to get up early tomorrow, and we can stay up and watch the Notre Dame game (Who am I kidding? I'll be out like a light before the half!), and just have an all-around nice day off together. Ahhhh!

                                                          

Hey, last night we watched a documentary on PBS about Lucy and Desi Arnaz. I had only intended to watch an hour of it, then switch over to "American Idol," but it was so dang good we watched the rest of it (missing the first half hour of AI--no problem). It was so well done and so interesting--and of course, so funny--that we both really enjoyed it. She was a remarkable woman, and although everyone knows about her comedic genius, she was also an extremely smart businesswoman. She ran Desilu by herself after she bought out Desi's share, and did you know that she was responsible for giving the go-ahead for the production of "Mission: Impossible," AND...one of my all-time favorites, "Star Trek"? Yep. And Desi was also a genius when it came to production. He's the one responsible for multiple cameras used to film the "I Love Lucy" show, a technique that is still used.

One of the most touching stories came from Carol Burnett, another crazy redhead. She and Lucy became good friends, and Lucy was a mentor to Carol. Lucy would send Carol flowers on her birthday, every year without fail. Lucy died the morning of Carol's birthday, and that afternoon...Carol got her birthday flowers from Lucy.

I think I went through a couple of Kleenexes at hearing that one.

Tags: I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Carol Burnett

Reality (TV) Bites

Ken and I watch a couple of reality shows: "American Idol" and "The Apprentice." Ken will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's it. The explosion of reality TV shows recently is pretty disgusting, and I think we've reached a new nadir with "The Moment of Truth."

We saw a few minutes of it the first night it aired, and we were appalled. From what we've seen of the commercials, it's gotten even worse since the debut. Questions about infidelities, lies, cheating, stealing...I'm waiting for one about bestiality! And what is even worse is that people go on this show voluntarily, and their spouses or significant others are right there in the audience, listening to and watching these people make fools of themselves. Have we become so money-hungry that we subject not only ourselves, but our loved ones, to psychological torture in order to score some major bucks? Show some dignity, for God's sake. I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose. The lure of money can make the lame walk, the mute speak, and apparently the idiotic perform.

Tags: Reality TV, The Moment of Truth

Who? Me?

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

                                       Mark Twain

Don't you just love it when you're sitting in a meeting, and your manager brings up an issue for the entire group, although everyone knows it's targeted at only a few individuals--or perhaps only one? First of all, I've wished for years that various managers I've had would address issues with individuals, rather than lumping us all into the same group. In a previous job, we were all told that we needed to watch our late starts and cut down on our tardiness. Tardiness? Me? I'm never late to work barring bad weather or unforeseen disaster, and in fact I tend to get there 15 minutes or so early. It's always rankled me to be chided, no matter how gently, for an infraction which I haven't committed.

Secondly, I've also noticed that the person or persons who DO commit the infractions invariably don't "get it" that they are the ones responsible! Sometimes to the point of absurdity. An issue a few years ago occurred with one person who took frequent and lengthy breaks, to the point where they spent about three hours a day out of the department. Several of us complained about it--there was work to be done, by God!--and it was addressed at a departmental meeting. We were ALL reminded about our breaks, although only one person was abusing the privilege. This person actually spoke up and reminded US that our breaks and lunches start when we leave the department, not when we get to the break room. We were floored, and there was a stunned silence before we moved on to the next topic. We still laugh about it.

Cluelessness, indeed. We encounter so many people who are so completely unaware of their own behaviors that they actually believe they are totally innocent in such matters, and often begin to accuse others of the same behavior. I'm not sure if that's considered delusional or not, but it seems pretty thick-skulled at the very least. From the person in the grocery store who stops in the middle of the aisle to chat, to the person who leaves their cell phone on in a movie theater or courtroom, to the coworker who just doesn't get that their excessive breaks are cheating their coworkers AND their company...it's a complete lack of self-awareness at best, or a feeling of "that doesn't apply to ME" at the worst.

Awareness of the self and of the world around you is a great state to be in. Give it a try! Not only can you learn more about yourself, your motivations, and your own personal bugaboos, you can figure out areas you need to work on, and ways to improve your outlook, how others perceive you, and day-to-day interactions. Be aware of the kind of people you like to be around--they are probably upbeat, positive, ready with a word of praise or with a gentle touch if criticism is needed, smiling, kind, drama-free...do you try to emulate those qualities, or do you project the opposite to those you encounter? Something as simple as being aware and thinking about the behavior of people who others like to be around can lead you to insights about your own behavior. Are people drawn to you, or when they see you coming, do they get that deer-in-the-headlights look? How do you want to be perceived? A little self-awareness can go a long way in changing things.

Congratulations are in order!

A big huge CONGRATS to my pal Jimi. He stopped in the lab today and told us that he'd passed his final, and he now possesses a Bachelor's degree! (He had a two year degree, and has been working on getting his four year degree.) I was so happy for him, I gave him a hug, and considering that Jim is 6'4" or 6'5", that's not easy for me to do--I think I stood on my tiptoes. Ha! Anyhoo, I'm just so pleased for him. I know it's been rough lately, with him working full time, having two young sons, and taking online classes. Jimi, YOU ROCK!

Irony, thy name is American Idol

For the past two weeks, American Idol has featured the songs of the Beatles. Some performances have been good, some have been crummy, but most have served to reinforce that the Beatles, and the Lennon/McCartney songwriting duo in particular, have produced some of the most memorable, long-lasting, and just plain GREAT songs in the history of modern, recorded music. And it's such a fine line for the AI contestants. Some songs you really don't mess around with (An up-tempo version of "Let It Be"? I don't think so, and thank goodness the person did a low-key piano version.), but others lend themselves to a different interpretation.

Not everything in the Beatles' catalog has worked for the younguns on American Idol, but many have been very good, which is a fine testament to just how wonderful these songs are.

Especially ironic, considering the settlement today between Sir Paul and Heather Mills. As my pal Jimi put it, just exactly how did she contribute to his income, since he is one of the greatest musicians and songwriters in history, in the four years they were married? Oh yeah...she didn't! What great irony to see the Beatles songs given such reverence on American Idol, and to see some of these kids do such a great job. Although there was one girl--Kristy Lee Something--who said that she was just learning about these songs...you know, these BEATLE guys. She didn't recognize any of the songs. She picked her song just because of the title.

Automatic dismissal, as far as I'm concerned. Are you kidding me? If you want to be a singer and an entertainer, learn your craft and learn a little history of music. Maybe you don't really need it to be a best-selling recording artist, but for God's sake, learn it out of respect for the music and for the artist.

She doesn't know the Beatles?! I'm sorry, but that is simply not acceptable. Begone, clueless chick.

As for me, I be gone to bed. Sleep tight, y'all!

 

Tags: American Idol, Paul McCartney, The Beatles

The lovely Ms. Mills

A little more to the story today....

The judge in the case chose to release documents and transcripts from the McCartney/Mills settlement case. He went on to say that Mills' evidence was "not just inconsistent and inaccurate but also less than candid. Overall she was a less than impressive witness." He also said that Mills' initial divorce claim for $250 million "is and was unreasonable, indeed exorbitant."

And to top it all off, it is being reported that Mills dumped a glass of water on the head of McCartney's lawyer. CLASSY.

The best line I've heard about it so far (although The Daily Mirror's "Wet It Be" headline is fabulous) came from Bob Kevoian from The Bob&Tom Show: "I heard that Yoko sent her a thank you note." HA! (I.e., Yoko is no longer the bitch in the Beatles "family.") Brilliant!

The Banality of Evil

I'm at a point in our book club book, Sophie's Choice, where Sophie is beginning to talk to the narrator about her stay in Auschwitz. While this is a work of fiction, I'm impressed with William Styron's research into the camp and its commandant, the notorious Rudolf Höss. While most of us tend to think of the the Final Solution and the Holocaust as the works of psychotic monsters, the truth is much more mundane, and perhaps more frightening: these were boring people.

When I was reading this part of the book, the word "banal" was used, in reference to a book written by Hannah Arendt. I immediately thought of the phrase "the banality of evil," and when I looked it up to see who coined that phrase, it was indeed Hannah Arendt, a German political theorist who wrote a book called Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, published in 1963. Arendt theorized that true evil is not the dramatic concept shown in novels and movies, such as the mad scientist creating a monstrosity, or the psychotic serial killer; it is monotonous and commonplace, the result of drones who believe it is their duty to follow orders, to blindly follow a cause, and to carry out the plan, no matter how morally repugnant it might be.

When I was in high school, I read about the experiments of Dr. Stanley Milgram. The Milgram Experiments are pretty well-known to anyone who has taken a Psychology course, and they may have been well-known when I was in high school, too. I don't know about that, but I thought it was one of the most fascinating and disturbing things I'd read up to then. If you aren't familiar with the experiment, a test subject was set up in what they thought was a learning exercise. The person conducting the study, a person of authority (the "experimenter"), told the subject (the "teacher") that if the person learning the lesson (the "student") got an answer wrong, they were to give them an electric shock. The strength of the shocks were to increase with each wrong answer. The student was in on this, of course, and no real shocks were given...but the teacher giving the shocks didn't know that. The disturbing finding was that the subjects would continue to give the shocks even when they heard the "screams" of the recipients. If they hesitated, the experimenter admonished them in increasingly strong terms that they MUST continue, the study depends upon it. A frightening number of people continued until they gave the maximum shock...and heard nothing more from the next room, where the student had gone silent.

The "banality of evil" is a sinister phrase when you think about it. We may not always know when those around us harbor terrible things--or the possibility of terrible things--inside them. A commonplace demeanor could hide the potential for horrid behavior. Heinrich Himmler was a chicken farmer, for Pete's sake.

While a certain amount of order must be maintained in a civilized society, blind obedience is dangerous. Arendt postulated that evil is banal. I believe it is also ignorant. (Maybe she did, too. I haven't read the book.) In not taking the time or energy needed to learn about others, regardless of nationality, race, gender, or creed, we follow the herd and perpetuate the lies and myths that so many take as a given. It's a scarily easy leap to imagine the next step down a very slippery slope.

You've seen bumper stickers that say "Mean people suck." After thinking about this a bit, I think a better phrase is "Mean people are boring and stupid."

Tags: Sophie's Choice, William Styron, Hannah Arendt, Stanley Milgram

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