One of the things that an audit of your company does is completely eat up your time to pay attention to other things.
On the whole, I suppose, it is not a bad time to have this happen at all: as I vaguely recall, it may an election season of some kind and - given the typical cast of elections in the United States since perhaps before the turn of the last century - probably not something I missing anything in by not be aware of it. But from the little bit I seem to glean from brief moments looking at the InterWeb (it seems to be the only time), the world seems well on its way to falling apart.
Or, perhaps, it is simply par for the course.
Autumn seems to be well on its way to arriving here: our last Summer style day seems to have been last Tuesday and the temperature has steadily been dropping to the mid-70's F or even into the 60's. Coworkers assure me this rather golden time will be swiftly eclipsed by what is delightfully called "The Rainy Season", which apparently lasts from about now until the Middle of March or later.
I have to say that this almost total news blackout - accidental as it seems - seems to have worked wonders for my stress levels, as the brief times I look back out on The Real World cause me frets galore. My isolated bubble of reading, writing, Joy the Rabbit, exercising, iaijutsu, and work keep me rather grounded on a daily basis.
There remains that danger, of course, that events will overtake me and I will be surprised one morning to wake to true disaster.
Or, maybe not. Given so many years of assuming the worst, actually seeing it manifest in any degree will be more of a "I Told You So" moment - at least right before I starting hacking my way through Apocalyptic Wasteland towards Sanctuary.
With oatmeal, of course. Breakfast of champions and The Apocalypse.
Your first paragraph reminded me of my time in bulk pharmaceuticals, and the prospect of an impending FDA inspection/audit. It was certainly an all-consuming experience that left little time for any other activities.
ReplyDeleteWill, you know the drill then. Although this was an internal company audit, the preparation was the same (and as you likely recall, was going on for months before). Someone used a term I had never heard before, "audit hangover" to describe the sensation of being completely drained afterwards. I have never heard such an accurate turn of phrase.
DeleteI'm not sure disasters even phase me anymore. I catch the 2 or 3 minute clip on the evening news and go about my business. I think because internally, I realize my days are numbered anyway so most likely, any huge disaster will be the problem of the young. I will be one of those older folks that survive it or not, maybe end up with an obituary in the newspaper if I'm lucky, a statistic in Wikipedia if I'm not.
ReplyDeleteEd, just this week I apparently missed a rather large hurricane and Southern Lebanon engulfed in war. It seems like whenever I "tune back in", it is nothing but bad.
DeleteGiven the current state of things, I am thinking I am the statistic - if Wikipedia is even a thing.
Watching national news programs went away years ago, bad enough watching local news, there's always something else to spend the time on TB. You had enough stress from a new job, home and city.
ReplyDeleteNylon12, I try to pay some attention to economics, because that does have some impact on my life. But the rest? Not so much anymore. I can neither impact any of it nor alter its course.
DeleteIn the words of the immortal poet-philosopher Tom Petty, "Most things I worry about never happen anyway."
ReplyDeleteTom Petty, a pretty smart fellow - whose cameo in The Postman was about the only good thing in that movie.
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