Down the Wire

The plan is to leave for Canada next week, to roll out the program in the Hamilton warehouse, with testing completed for most of the components except for the major piece, awaiting word from the supplier that all has been installed, but unfortunately in the dark about the situation. It’s like a game of ‘chicken’, who will blink first and swerve away from the collision, a test of bravery, all the chips in the partner and the only recourse is to wait. I visited the doctor this morning, initially an appointment for blood tests but postponed since I did not meet a prior condition, to stop taking medication and see if any change in my blood pressure, instead asking a prescription for colds and cough, unable to shake the virus for nearly a week, trying to beat the illness by inhaling steam but the sickness beating me instead. It’s down the wire again with 4 days left before departure, feeling sick and pressured, but willing to go along, confident that things are all right, having faith in one another’s competence is the key to less stress.

I just completed a noon meeting with the officers of our local club, the meeting seemed to go on well, but afterwards an email sent to all officeholders about a nasty situation involving money and donations, a sad thing to see, airing out dirty laundry to the public; one does not need this trivial problem. It’s the way of the West perhaps, to talk and air out grievances; it’s the democratic way unlike in the East where people tend to follow authority, unwilling to challenge conventions and follow the trend; but it’s really all talk, too much noise in the air. Last night despite my tired condition, I went and attended a lecture about the Southern writer Ben Robinson, the seminar room filled with old people, listening to a young and pretty lecturer reading her notes at the podium, showing slides in the wall about the young writer who died in a plane crash near Lisbon in the height of World War II. It was an interesting talk, learning about Southern culture, the Piedmont Upstate and the Low Countries, the rivalries and the prejudices, the old folks reminiscing of an earlier age long gone, still think about the civil war or the War Between the States.

Nowadays, one cannot wait to go home and watch ‘The West Wing’, a well-made drama modeled after the Clinton Presidency, a television series on its way to greatness but disgustingly made irrelevant due to the travails of its real life hero, caught in a sex scandal and nearly impeached, the image of Camelot forever lost, giving way to the arrogance of the next administration and recently to the election of a charismatic but inexperienced leader.  It could have been a good and rare time, but man’s flaws always there to bring him down, perhaps the present one is hubris while the older one was sexual addiction, masked awkwardly by some psychological disease, one must not challenge the gods or will be struck down. Again one has borrowed too much materials in the library, one is really not a writer just a dilettante, trying to keep up with the latest fad, unable to focus, always absorbed in books. Perhaps that is the best temperament for one, to be a teacher or scholar, away from the turmoil of life. Next week will be interesting if all the pieces come together.