doberman pizza. a baha'i (bahai, bahá'í) blog.

I should start soaking my feet in hot water…

I had lots of fun today, even though the point of the job isn’t really to have fun. but I did something useful: I solved a sort of sokoban puzzle in the deep-freeze room. I had to liberate one of those rolling-stairway things, but there was a big stack of ice cream blocking the way, so there I was, hauling boxes here and there, making space, until finally I got it out, with much rejoicing. it’s nice when you can enjoy your work.

I’m not facing fast enough. I don’t think I’ve got the technique quite down pat. And I’m really confused as to what I’m supposed to be doing: hauling garbage, or facing and replacing boxes. I get one order this way and one order that way. All in all, it’s very different. I don’t think it’s a consultative environment. Perhaps something can be done to open those channels.

I haven’t been out lately. Is the sky still blue?

aaaaaaaaaauuugh my feet!!!

’nuff said ;)

so things have been going well at work so far. I’ve been averaging around two to three errors a day. not bad for someone with absolutely no experience! it certainly is challenging. I’m practically learning from the ground up. on Tuesday I learned how to face. that means “arrange items nicely on the shelf”, and how to operate the cardboard press, and how to use those little movable stairs. on Wednesday I learned how to use the service elevators and the garbage compactor, and the importance of hair nets. Today I learned how to face again (apparently I hadn’t gotten it quite right the first time), and how to restock the shelves. I’m feeling more and more like a stockboy! woohoo stockboys! oh yeah and my feet are killing me. At least I can guarantee that I’ll be getting some exercise. Now I need to make sure I keep doing those curl-ups and push-ups in the morning to get me going.

In other news… wait, there is no other news. I’ve been cooped up inside a Loblaws all week. what the hell.

We had a conversation about religion in the lunch room (which scared away several people) wherein two people were batting each other about over concepts of religion, particularly the Catholic faith. I can see why some people don’t like to talk about religion. It’s kind of like bashing two bricks together. Religion is treated like any other commodity — just pick a brand name. And if you don’t like any brand in particular, mix and match them to get something you like. I’m always pretty saddened when I see that. I believe that religion is the greatest constructive force in the world, and has always been. What’s that you say? It can also be the greatest destructive force? Yes indeed. I won’t get into the whole logical argument, since it’s getting close to dinner time, but the fact is that religion has simply done a lot of good. There are a lot of good religious people who live pure, happy lives, and do great, amazing things for the betterment of the world. There are also people who miss the point entirely and use religious ideology to gain power, money, prestige, and so forth. Worse even, there are people who corrupt religion by putting forth their own biased views of religion as the gospel, inalienable truth. What’s the difference between the good and the bad? Here’s a simple answer, take it with as many grains of salt as you wish: The good people are inspired by God and seek to follow His will. The bad people ignore God and go by their own opinions as to what’s important. Make sense? This presupposes that God is the source of all good. Can we accept that? I can. But let’s talk about it.

If only I could do this well in French, though ;)

hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go

OMG WTF I have my hours for this week. I start working at Loblaws — well, today, since they asked me if I could come help out a bit this afternoon — but technically I start at 8 AM on Tuesday, August 27th. They gave me 39 hours in five days… and that includes Saturday. Woohoo! That’s sort of a mixed woohoo, you know, because… well, working on Saturdays… but all in all it’s okay because:

Yessah! Give me a monkey suit anyday, I’m gonna make some cold, hard cash! WOOOOOOOOO! Phatness baby! Bowling for dollars! Here comes the grrrrraaaaaavy traaaiin!

I’m overreacting a little bit ;)

family reunion?

whoa it looks like my whole family is gonna come and hang out in Victoriaville for a day tomorrow. what the! that’s pretty cool. Uncle Ralph is going to come up from the States, and the rest of my family is going to come over from Ottawa, and we’re going to hobnob and not speak french. I can guarantee there’ll be Loblaws jokes too, because Uncle Ralph always used to make jokes about Loblaws. Ralph is funny. All my dad’s relatives have a pretty good sense of humor. I’m just sorry I haven’t gotten to know them that well.

Oh yeah I have stuff to do today. maybe I could hang up my laundry right now. the washer just finished. and then I need to get one of my spark plugs changed. I mean my car does, not me. I don’t have spark plugs. See, that type of humor is definitely inherited from my dad’s side of the family. It’s really esoteric and full of non sequiturs and sometimes just consists of things that other people would look at blankly and wonder what the joke was, whereas you’re telling it and rolling in the aisles. I dunno. Spark plugs. Hmmm. That reminds me of the time that Monsieur David F. related a joke that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told, and everyone who heard it just looked at him blankly and wondered what the joke was. I guess you had to be there. Eventually I got it, and it was funny. But if you want to hear it, you’ll have to ask me in person.

know what’s cool? there’s a spring nearby where you can get fresh, cool, clean water. I’ve never seen that before. I guess that happens more often when you live next to a mountain. do-it-yourself spring water is good.

organizational hazard

you can tell I need practice before I go into personnel management. I still have difficulty remembering to call people in to do stuff ;) the phone is my friend!

gah, feeling a little daunted today. lots of challenges. starting the study circle and trying to get everything off to a good start… waiting to start work… managing little contracts here and there… and in the meantime there are spiritual challenges as our community learns to live together. actually yesterday we had a really good experience as a community at the nineteen-day feast. it was lots of fun. so there are fun parts and there are difficult parts I guess.

It all goes so much better when you just give up all the criticism and fault-finding. you know, those things that “quench the light of the heart and extinguish the life of the soul”. it just does no good to even point out to someone that they have a certain fault. they get defensive, offended, angry, they stop being receptive, and you get frustrated because they won’t listen to you, and then estrangement grows. and of course the worst of the worst is backbiting, which completely destroys unity and shakes the foundations of a community to its core.

yeah. when you think about the faults a person has, you also get discouraged because you think “oh noooo, there’s so much work to do!” but in fact, that’s not your work, your work is on yourself. let others work on their stuff and focus on perfecting yourself. there’s no time to worry about other people’s faults. try working with what you’re given instead. find the positive and bring it out, and see how it can contribute to the overall working of the group.

I think that’s been bothering me lately, without me knowing it. I was getting kind of frustrated with some people and I kept on thinking “if only this person would change” and so on. but let’s be real, I can’t do anything to make that other person change! so I better just mind my own development, and keep doing God’s work instead of worrying about the little things.

GYMKATA!

la de dah. it looks like the problem was more a slow leak than an actual flat. I pumped the tire back up with air, which should do for the time being, but it will need to be fixed Real Soon Now™. And in other news, I found out why my bike had a flat — it ran over a carpet tack! I took it out, patched it, and now (i hope) it’s as good as new. huzzah!

Hey, is it just me, or is Quebec crawling with mopeds? I see so many high school kids zooming about with mopeds and I can’t seem to remember there being any in Ontario. It’s kinda cool. It looks so continental. Not as in continental breakfast — I mean as in Europe.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

ahahaha my car got a flat and I’m an hour and a half’s drive from Victoriaville ;)

this is so wack but it’s funny as hell

I love life!

oh ho ho ho!

hey, we just had a pretty cool Ruhi circle here in Victoriaville. many interesting people were there, and more will join. it was an introductory meeting and it was very pleasant and convivial (in the words of one of the participants). Oh and I was facilitating it. mega cool :)

tomorrow I pick cucumbers for money. OH MY GOODNESS IT’S THE SECOND COMING OF CUCUMBER MAN. Third actually. Hopefully they don’t kick me off the bus this time. Wow I must not be making any sense to you people who aren’t watching me every moment of my life. I should get out of my head a little bit.

Anyway, keep watching this space; soon, hopefully before the end of the month, you will see a newly redesigned site, more user-friendly (I hope) and more meaty (yay!), with a section specifically dedicated to the Bahá’í Faith and my experience of it. I just can’t shut my mouth.

GOOFY MAN

dear me!

goodness gracious. Europe is underwater! bummer. All that nice architecture is getting waterlogged. in other news, a water main burst in Montreal yesterday. kismet? there must be some sort of way of using all that water for a good purpose instead of letting it ruin things — hydroelectric power, perhaps. Of course, building a hydroelectric dam on Jean-Talon avenue would obstruct traffic. Speaking of Montreal, here’s a webcam looking onto Peel Street.

pardon me if I seem a bit flippant, I’m still feeling silly. and having a job is helping take the stress off.

shelter? check. livelihood? check. God? double check.

that was cheezy.

oh, and many thanks to “ur wi3rd” who writes:

bla bla bla weird!

hey, thanks!

If there’s one thing I like, it’s when people represent. Thanks for your prayers, everybody — I got the job. Woohoo! I’ll be a commis à l’épicerie (smiling happy guy who answers customers and restocks shelves) at the new Loblaws [français] that’s opening up in Victoriaville. The work starts on August 28th, when the market opens. I get to wear a yellow shirt! And a black name tag! OMG A BLACK NAME TAG. 3y3 4m 2 k3w1 4 u w1+h my b14ck n4m3 746.

Anyway, this is good news. It’s definitely better than making no money at all, which was my fate for a while there. I will definitely keep you all in touch with how it goes.

For some reason I just really feel silly lately. I guess that’s a good sign. It must mean I’m in good spirits. woohoo good spirits!

good vibes requested!

Hey, I have a job interview today, everybody send me good karma waves and tons of prayers. I hope something good comes of it. I’m ready to submit myself to God’s will.

I think I have to revise my calendar.

If only I had a secretary who was All-Seeing, All-Knowing and All-Wise. Then I’d never have to worry about cancelling appointments.

That statement is very humorous.

hey wussup

It’s a sunny day today, and a clear blue sky stretches out above in all directions. I’m a bit spaced out because I didn’t wake up so well. of course, I didn’t wake up so well because I went to sleep too late. I’m making efforts to improve my sleeping conditions. Giving myself a routine, getting some exercise (though probably not nearly enough yet), wearing earplugs to bed, etc. Anyway. Enough talk about sleep. It’s time to wake up!

Still no job yet, but there are a few possibilities still in the running. I’ll keep you all posted.

Hey, for those of you who aren’t in the know, my sister-in-law is pregnant, and she just found out that it’s going to be a baby girl :) Cool. The due date is around December 10th. Double cool. That’s not very far from my birthday :)

yet another day

mostly getting serious on job searching today. I got turned down for a job today, boo. oh well. I’ll keep on trucking. Even if I have to pick cucumbers for months! hey, you know what else, I got a hat. MAN I HAVE A HAT. That’s great. I LOVE IT.

That reminds me (I don’t know why), I want to scan in some photos so I can show y’all how cool this place is. You know, sometimes I still get this cognitive shock when I see a Quebec flag flying, and I think “Hey, I live in Quebec. This is far out.” Apparently the phenomenon of living in Quebec has not yet entered my self-image. Maybe if I start learning how to play spoons…

Oh, and I’ve decided to learn how to juggle. I dunno, I guess I just really need a good way to relax. Besides, it’s cool. I used to think I could never keep three balls in the air, but earlier today I was doing it for TEN SECONDS! WOW!

Woof woof. Getting serious indeed!

holy moly

a day passes so fast!

they’re grrrrrreat!

Hey what’s up people. I’ve moved into my new place and it’s pretty good. The only wack thing about it is that my room is right next to the road. I think it’s been affecting my sleep. That would explain why I’ve been feeling a little tired lately. I guess this means I should invest in some good earplugs! Anyway, otherwise the place is nice. I’m staying with a lady who works for a local international-solidarity organization, and her son, who’s about 16 I think. I don’t know them that well, but I figure that will come as time goes on. They’re both familiar with the Bahá’í Faith — Nicolas (the son) comes to Bahá’í events quite often. Nicolas is, as we say in French, “mordu du théâtre”, is involved in local improv teams, and is a really good actor. Another cool thing is that Sylvie (the lady) eats mostly vegetarian stuff and buys organic food and so on, and she has a large collection of music from around the world.

It’s funny, isn’t it? I just appeared here out of the blue, and suddenly I meet all these nice, interesting people who I either hang around with or rent a room from. It’s nice to have things in common with your landlord. Heh heh. And it’s not just landlords either, I’ve met lots of neat people so far.

So many things to do, so little time and so few resources. If there were several copies of me, I might be able to get more things done. Have more fun. Teach more. Serve more. Meet more people. Offer more support. But there’s only one of me and it kind of pains me to see how many things I have to do just to live. Apply for this and that piece of paper. Find a stable job. Find contracts in the absence of a stable job. Fix this. Clean that. Organize this.

It gets frustrating, and tiring. The worst is when you have to put aside your work for the Faith in order to take care of… well, details. Of course, not everything is just details. Bahá’u'lláh says earning a living is a blessing, and work done in the spirit of service is worship. So however bleah it may seem to look for a job, it’s an important part of life, one that gives you means to accomplish things you couldn’t otherwise. So yeah. I guess it’s not all a drag. :)

I spent some time volunteering for the World Rhythm Festival this weekend, and that was pretty cool. I can put that on my resumé now: Hey! I’m a gaffer! And OMG sitar music baby. I love sitars. There was this phat band called Ragleela, and they’re like an Indian band and they play like ragas or songs based on ragas, and it was like cosmic, man. Wow.

Anyway. I have lots of other stories but I couldn’t possibly write them all down. I guess I’ll C U L8R.