Oh, Scrappy, that sounds thoroughly miserable. Opus Dei is such completely, poisonously bad news, so toxic to everyone in its orbit.

Yay good first date and potential friend with potential for potential, Zen!

I really, really hate the hierarchy.

One of the Boston parishes [shut down by Bishop Lennon in order to redirect funds to cover abuse survivor lawsuits and settlements], St Frances Cabrini in Scituate, Massachusetts, has been occupied for the past eight years by parishioners who have refused to accept its closure. They have a roster chart to ensure at least one person is at the church at any time, so that the archdiocese can’t change the locks.

OTOH, I really kind of love the (non-Opus Dei) lay members. Eight years. That's one seriously fucking impressive Occupy movement. (There was also a parish in Cleveland that did an even more elaborate and impressive end run around the same bishop attempting to pull the same shit -- the article is kind of jaw-dropping, in an amazed "Holy crap, why can I not hire or vote for these people to organize every popular uprising ever because they are so terrifyingly good at it" way.)

The traditional greeting at my parish is now (very bitterly), "Aren't we lucky to be living in such an interesting time to be a Catholic!"

I must be really lucky in the Catholics I know. Because my uncle still loves me and I am really not Catholic. He just accepts it. And this weekend is the 40th anniversary of his ordination. Priest Party!

It's a really messed up organization, I think. I think there are absolute horrors done in its name. But the people I know really have a faith and want to do good. There's something to be said for that.

The traditional greeting at my parish is now (very bitterly), "Aren't we lucky to be living in such an interesting time to be a Catholic!"

I will not attribute the quote but I have heard, "May the Pope open his eyes. Or close them."

And, Aims, I hope Switch comes home quickly and safely. Stressful to have missing kitties.

adding return~ma for Switch

Switch come home!!

ION- I am that grumpy old man, giving a "get off my lawn" type of speech to punks on skateboards making a rukus outside my office. Skateboards make a lot of noise when they scrape the planter and land on concrete. Told the kids to go to the skatepark. They asked "Do they need helmets?" After just looking it up on line, and it says "full pads required", I'm guessing it does. But I said, "I dunno. I don't skate. I do know, there is no skating here."

I have no logical answer to that. I guess because in my shallow little brain if it isn't covered in princesses and rhinestones, it's boy clothes.

I didn't phrase that well. But I'm not sure I can rephrase what I meant. Like, if they were really dressing her gender neutral, wouldn't she wear skirts sometimes? Ahhh, cannot brane.

I hope Switch comes home soon.

So I'm not doing great. I'm dealing with a lot of anxiety and I'm feeling depressed. Yesterday when I took Dean to the vet in the morning I had a mini anxiety attack and the anxiety attack passed pretty much during the day but it left me feeling tired and out of sorts.

Today I was depressed, it was hard to concentrate and I was anxious at this job. I think taking this particular temp job was a mistake, but I can't get out of it now, however it does end on October 5.

I'm going to start calling my shrink's office every day to see if he has a cancellation. In the meantime I'm doing what I can to try and take care of myself the best I can.

When I got home today I ran over to the yarn shop to get help in my knitting. I came home and emotionally I sank like a stone and I felt so tired. I laid down and rested and then got up and walked to the library and bought some books (a whole bag for $3!) at the library sale and came home. I also admitted I've misplaced a book and the librarian who was super, super nice, renewed it even though this is like my 4th renewal. That made me feel better.

I hate feeling like this.

askye, I'm so sorry you are feeling this way. You seem to be very self-aware of it, which is good. Is there something about the job that is making you anxious? I don't remember any details.

Switch! Getcher furry ass home, now!!

I'm working at the College of Medicine's neurology dept as the "interim" assistant in the office with the doctor who was the chair of the dept and the doctor who is the interim co chair of the dept. I'm covering for maternity leave. The big responsibility is handling the schedules, which is a little stressful, but I'm just handling meetings and stuff like that not dealing with patient scheduling. But I also have to take minutes at the faculty meeting 2x a month, first time it was easy b/c the head of the College of Medicine spoke, last time it was harder because I was having trouble following the topics and all the cross talk (I'd never taken minutes at a previous job).

I'm also in charge of making sure everyone knows about the Grand Rounds and taking attendance (I barely know what the faculty looks like, have no idea about the residents - although I am going to ask for a photo cheat sheet), follow up with several people to get their information for Sept Grand Rounds so I can 1) complete the info so everyone can get credit and 2) print the schedule.

Also there's a big lectureship going on and I need to get 2 pieces of info for that and I haven't heard from the doctor and I'm not sure how hard I need to push her.

The person I'm covering for left me with some good instructions -which I accidentally filed behind something and lost until today. And I found several things she'd had written on there that hadn't gotten done.

There are long periods of boredom where there is not much to do.

I think if I was feeling better I wouldn't feel so anxious and stressed out. Everyone is really nice and helpful but I just worried I'm not doing well,e even though I've gotten feedback that I am doing well.

Plus my first reaction was to decline when I was given the offer of the assignment but I felt like I couldn't turn down about 2 months of work and good pay.

Then there's other stuff going on that's building.

And on top if I'm really aware of how it's getting dark earlier and earlier and even though it's August I'm worried about it.