Perhaps it might be a fork, but I feel that change is about to enter my life and I'll have some small choices to make.
Over my half century plus on this earth I have been able to do quite a few different things because I develop an interest, do some study, and apply myself. Somewhere between 5 and 10 years into a particular 'hobby' I get bored or have learned everything I want to about the subject and I 'find' something else.
I sense that time is coming around again. I know the signs. This time it could cover several activities that I am currently involved in.
First, this blog has seen it's readership and posting activity drop in the past few months. I realize that reading about my personal life is not very fulfilling for the readers and I have less and less Fire & EMS stuff to post. I can see I am losing the fire in my belly on that score. There have been a lot of frustrations involved in my participation lately and my activity is dropping off. It may be time to consider how much of my time and yours is being consumed by this blog and wonder if there isn't something better we both could be doing. I do not make any sort of contribution to the community that would be missed.
Second, my paying job has some changes in store. We have a new boss starting in a couple of weeks. You may recall that I put in for that job. However there were some politics at work and the internal candidates never really had a shot at the job from the beginning. They never followed through with the selection plan and hired the outside guy they liked in the first place. I am bummed about that because I was told by a couple of the interviewers that I scored very well and would have been their choice. To make it a bitter pill, we are hearing lots of stories about the guy they hired from some who have worked with him previously that he is a hardass and does some irrational things to piss people off. He is all about power, they say. This ain't gonna wash in our environment and will take a lot of work to correct. Having been in this business for 40 years and having broken in new bosses for 35 years, I don't really have the energy to play games with another jerk. I am hoping the stories are false or biased and the guy turns out to be OK. None the less, I am stressing over how this guy turns out because I am directly in the line of fire. The JOB is going to be demanding a lot more of my time for the next 6-8 months while we learn to work with the FNG.
Third, and possibly most significant, I have realized that I have spent a long life working hard and spending every free minute volunteering my time in other venues. This has taken me away from wife and kids a bit too much. They have always been supportive of course, but it's time I changed that. I ain't gettin' no younger. My kids are all growed up and I don't have as much opportunity to be with them. I'm thinking it's about time I rearranged my priorities and made it my job to do some fun stuff with them more often, even on a regular basis. This week, with all the stress at work and gross disappointment when I found out that I was screwed over once again and probably for the last opportunity I will have in my career, I looked for some distraction and found it in music. We went out on Wednesday night, met with some old friends and listened to my son-in-law play with a band he frequents. On Thursday night we went 5 minutes up the road to a joint I have been meaning to go to for over 5 years and listened to my Bluegrass Legend friend play with his band. As luck would have it, they were short a fiddle player that night and asked my son-in-law to fill in. It was a double bonus. My wife got introduced my hero again and we had a nice chat during a break discussing upcoming gigs, etc. They're head lining at the end of the month at a new festival and I expect to be there either working or listening.
I have also gotten my banjo repaired, re-strung, and tuned and have been trying to teach my fingers to behave in preparation for taking my first lesson. Those half hour practice sessions every night are painful, but they take my mind off the days troubles. I can sense this is good for me whether or not I actually learn to play.
So I can feel a bend in the road coming up and I hope it's not a fork. We'll see what happens.
Be Safe, Be Sharp,
UU
Over my half century plus on this earth I have been able to do quite a few different things because I develop an interest, do some study, and apply myself. Somewhere between 5 and 10 years into a particular 'hobby' I get bored or have learned everything I want to about the subject and I 'find' something else.
I sense that time is coming around again. I know the signs. This time it could cover several activities that I am currently involved in.
First, this blog has seen it's readership and posting activity drop in the past few months. I realize that reading about my personal life is not very fulfilling for the readers and I have less and less Fire & EMS stuff to post. I can see I am losing the fire in my belly on that score. There have been a lot of frustrations involved in my participation lately and my activity is dropping off. It may be time to consider how much of my time and yours is being consumed by this blog and wonder if there isn't something better we both could be doing. I do not make any sort of contribution to the community that would be missed.
Second, my paying job has some changes in store. We have a new boss starting in a couple of weeks. You may recall that I put in for that job. However there were some politics at work and the internal candidates never really had a shot at the job from the beginning. They never followed through with the selection plan and hired the outside guy they liked in the first place. I am bummed about that because I was told by a couple of the interviewers that I scored very well and would have been their choice. To make it a bitter pill, we are hearing lots of stories about the guy they hired from some who have worked with him previously that he is a hardass and does some irrational things to piss people off. He is all about power, they say. This ain't gonna wash in our environment and will take a lot of work to correct. Having been in this business for 40 years and having broken in new bosses for 35 years, I don't really have the energy to play games with another jerk. I am hoping the stories are false or biased and the guy turns out to be OK. None the less, I am stressing over how this guy turns out because I am directly in the line of fire. The JOB is going to be demanding a lot more of my time for the next 6-8 months while we learn to work with the FNG.
Third, and possibly most significant, I have realized that I have spent a long life working hard and spending every free minute volunteering my time in other venues. This has taken me away from wife and kids a bit too much. They have always been supportive of course, but it's time I changed that. I ain't gettin' no younger. My kids are all growed up and I don't have as much opportunity to be with them. I'm thinking it's about time I rearranged my priorities and made it my job to do some fun stuff with them more often, even on a regular basis. This week, with all the stress at work and gross disappointment when I found out that I was screwed over once again and probably for the last opportunity I will have in my career, I looked for some distraction and found it in music. We went out on Wednesday night, met with some old friends and listened to my son-in-law play with a band he frequents. On Thursday night we went 5 minutes up the road to a joint I have been meaning to go to for over 5 years and listened to my Bluegrass Legend friend play with his band. As luck would have it, they were short a fiddle player that night and asked my son-in-law to fill in. It was a double bonus. My wife got introduced my hero again and we had a nice chat during a break discussing upcoming gigs, etc. They're head lining at the end of the month at a new festival and I expect to be there either working or listening.
I have also gotten my banjo repaired, re-strung, and tuned and have been trying to teach my fingers to behave in preparation for taking my first lesson. Those half hour practice sessions every night are painful, but they take my mind off the days troubles. I can sense this is good for me whether or not I actually learn to play.
So I can feel a bend in the road coming up and I hope it's not a fork. We'll see what happens.
Be Safe, Be Sharp,
UU
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