Keeping a low profile, and working...

There really is no reason to feel nervous about whether I'm leaving on Friday or not (either I am, or I'm not, and that's all there is to it). On the other hand, I think I'd like it better if I knew what was going on, what the prospects are, what the smart money is saying, etc. On yet another tentacle, I'm sure I can muddle through without being in the know; I'm an experienced "mushrooom."

Asking for information is... problematical. The last time I did that, I was instructed to delay my departure for 3 days (for which I did not get paid, naturally), only to find upon my arrival at the work site that extra support had been sent from Moscow to make up for the shortfall of interpreters. And buying tickets for the restart campaign has been harrowing, since trying to buy tickets on short notice (7-10 days) doesn't give me a heck of a lot of choice given the financial guidelines I've been given, and becomes effectively impossible once you move to within 7 days of departure owing to the fact that every ticket you now look at costs too much.

The prospect of a delay occurring in the schedule has me thinking - between translated sentences - of what I can do in the future to avoid or mitigate the effects of being placed "on hold." (Looking back at my notes, it would appear I did made a tentative commitment to return to Houston in September, but since it's not a solid assignment, I'm not sweating it. Much.)

I'm working on another translation, due Friday, but which I shall finish and deliver before then. For now, at least, departure is still Friday, and there are a load of loose ends to tie off before I pack my bags.

Cheers...

Carpe this!

An interesting read from a new find:

The actor James Dean said, “Dream as if you’ll live forever, and live as if you’ll die tomorrow.” There are several popular variations on this quote, and they serve to remind us to pay attention to what we truly value. The finality of mortality endows reality with vitality.

While it can be difficult to figure out what matters most to us even when considering that we might die tomorrow, perhaps it’s easier to notice what matters least. If you knew you’d die tomorrow, what wouldn’t you do? What activities would you definitely not include in your last 24 hours? Work? TV? Email? Web surfing? What people would you not spend even a moment of your last 24 hours with?

How would you choose to experience your last day as a human being? Why not find out? Consider taking one day out of your life to have that experience now — perhaps an otherwise empty Saturday. Live that day from dawn til dusk as if it were your last. Feel every precious minute ticking by. What time would you get up? What would you eat for your last breakfast? Who would you spend time with? Where would you go? What would you do?

Though I am not planning to check out any time soon, I think this is an intriguing idea.

Forget the weather. What everyone really talks about is how "someday," all the stuff that's really important to them will get taken care of, but nobody ever does anything about it. Hardly.

The level of discomfort I feel now, simply tapping out a post on the subject (and I'm not even going to try to analyze why I feel uncomfortable... at least, not now) is probably a hint that, for me, figuring out how to live a day as if it were my last would not exactly be a "gimme."

I should probably let this simmer in the background for a while, because discomfort or no, it is a curious notion.

Cheers...