Current Post On Trae’s Blog:
My grandmother died last night. This wasn't a shock or a surprise. Her health has been on the decline, and she's been in hospice for the last month. She lived a long life, and in her final days she was surrounded by her three adult children.
My grandma was a kind woman. She wasn't perfect, but I always felt loved in her presence. She was a retired kindergarten teacher, and was still working when I was a kid. I have so many happy memories sitting at her kitchen table, and I'm going to carry those with me for the rest of my life. She was also proof that anyone who claims that you get more conservative as you get older is full of shit, because she certainly didn't.
I think it's interesting how the body processes grief sometimes. I don't know that I'll cry, but over the past month, knowing this was coming, I've felt a tension in my gut. Now that she's passed, instead of relief that tension is replaced by a sense of emptiness. That something is missing that should still be there. Something has been taken away, and I feel it.
Of course, as I wrote that, I immediately started crying... so I guess my body processes grief in pretty ordinary ways too.
I wanted to come up with something profound linking this to Beltane, which we sit in the middle of right now, but it just seemed hackneyed. Like I was trying to dig out some greater significance when the truth is death comes whenever it wants. The only predictable thing about it is that it's the end of all of our journeys. I hope that when I pass I'm so lucky to have lived such a long life with people that I love around me in my final days.
For the record, I will be fine. I just needed to get these words out while they were still in my head. I don't have some rousing conclusion or deep insight to tack on here at the end, just that gut feeling that something is missing.
Because it is.
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I’d like to mirror Lynn’s reaction. Who on earth risks compromising a whole business just to get back at one individual…? Especially when that individual is a newcomer who was asked to come help out… O.o
He doesn’t see it as risking the con. The con isn’t fun for him anymore, therefore it’s already failing. Getting rid of Lynn will make it fun for him, so he’s actually saving the con. It’s perfectly reasonable as long as you’re selfish as hell.
Why the hell does he want to take her down a peg? She hasn’t done anything wrong.
Because she’s getting things actually done, despite all the procedural insanity. That threatens his comfortable little cage of circle-jerking around and not having to actually do much. Never, NEVER underestimate how much some people are threatened by demonstrated competence. It’s one of the biggest reasons I’ve seen for firings and like.
He wants to go back to running around in circles gibbering until it’s too late to do anything, then pulling some plan out of his arse that is immediately dumped on whatever poor SOB is too dumb and too gutless to tell them to get bent and do their own work – at which point if it works wow he’s a genius – and if it doesn’t it was all the poor SOB who shall be referred to as proto-Scrappy’s fault! Shame, boo, etc.
Or… I may be projecting from past experience a bit. But only a bit. No joke, a lot of committee stuff works that way. Sad, true.
Fair enough, I guess that does sound reasonable although Lynn will not put up with his bullshit and she will put him in his place or at least knock him down two pegs.
That’s very fulfilling personally but irresponsible. The resulting personality war could destroy the con. It’s arguable this guy doesn’t care anymore but Lynn can’t make that claim.
The best result from picking a fight with Garner is having Lynn ejected from the staff. Garner’s honesty says he feels very comfortable in his position, whatever it is he actually does. And that he could win a conflict between him and Lynn.
I’ve heard honesty is the best policy, but in this specific case, it seems unwise.
….because she’s competent at her role with the con? cause she’s qualified to do it professionally?
Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! But no really, we hear of the wrath she can do, and I wanna see it. Punch!
There’s actually a really old story about this happening in Greece or Rome. Aristides, I think. He was ostracised at one point, which was a fancy form of being voted into exile.
During the voting, an illiterate citizen asked Aristides to write the citizen’s choice on his shard for him. The man wanted to vote to have Aristides ostracised. Aristides, not telling the man who he was, asked the man why. The citizen said he was tired of hearing Aristides addressed as ‘the Just’, and thought Aristides should learn some humility. Aristides wrote his own name on the shard as requested and returned it to the citizen ready to be cast.