Day 6: Tuesday

Today started as usual, with me waking a few times a night, but I managed to get some sleep. I saw, to my shock, that I had a 6:30 meeting. It was 6AM, so I rushed into the shower to be ready, and then I would drive to work to make my 8:05 Zoom meeting at the office. After a quick wash, shave, and so on, I was ready, except the meeting moved to 7AM, so I had enough time, if I left immediately, to get to the office for the now three hours of meetings. So, I swallowed my yogurt and dumped my coffee into a thermal cup. Air Volvo flew to the Nike WHQ Swift building with minimal traffic. The rains are back, and we have possible light flooding–a dark morning.

Of course, I get on the meeting before 7AM, and after a while, it is apparent that the meeting will be rescheduled. I have time to read the emails, Slack channel updates, and the news to prepare for the meetings. The meetings continued, and I noticed that leadership was tight-lipped or missing. The approved changes were also a bit muted. I grabbed breakfast and coffee (I had already finished my liberal coffee) and switched to Nike catering Starbucks coffee from an urn.

Around 11AM, I was free and talking to some folks. Lunch was Asian style and good. I did have the rice, just a bit, as it is not good for me (diabetes). I was following along, and everything was quiet. Surprisingly, the afternoon meetings were canceled. Then, a surprise meeting for the project was sent out, and I was hoping they had decided to give us Christmas Eve and maybe Boxing Day (26 Dec) off. But instead, I cannot share it. I will suddenly have some time available as the project revisits its go-live date and activates contingencies (those are official words I am allowed to use).

I would love to express my feelings and thoughts, but that is not allowed at the moment. I am both relieved and grieved for the changes. I might even get to travel for the holidays. I looked up flights but will likely be home for the holidays. Change is good, and I await the working out of the contingencies.

I was home late and got out the dinner that Barathi, a friend from work who helped on India Night, brought me Sunday. I heated it back up and dived in. I must admit that I used sour cream on the chicken–it was spicy and not made for Americans! Perfect. I reheated the naan in the oven, which was good again. Food is always good when stressed out by activating contingencies (see, I can stay corporate).

In the past few days, I have started playing the soundtrack to Evita on Alexa, the movie version with Madonna, and I am singing the parts while writing. Alexa displays the lyrics to help you sing along. I may be connecting with my inner showgirl (drag queen?), but I sing with the male leads, too (I had to correct that when I had ‘male parts’ for ‘with the male leads,’ which got a smirk when I read it). Besides Don’t Cry for Me Argentina, my favorite is I Could Be Good for You. I sing both parts.

I have a few gifts to arrange for online for Christmas. Folks should expect Heifer Project updates. They had a problem on their website, so I will try again.

I talked to Leta driving home. She had her first day alone, and she did well and dressed, bathed, and ate without issues. Leta sounded happy.

I wrote the blog, deleted the contingencies, and wrote what I could about work. Thanks for reading.