Sunday, October 28, 2012

Waiting for the storm

I'm getting conflicting messages.  At 7:00pm, I received the following notice from WMATA:


Two hours later, this one came in from the firm:


Because I'm a lawyer, only the highlighted part applies to me; the rest is all for non-lawyer staff.

For a firm that prides itself on its attention to detail, this is pretty embarrassing.  I mean, seriously, who doesn't think to check the status of public transit before sending an email like this?  Even if you still decide to keep the office open, at least acknowledge the lack of transit in your email -- otherwise you just sound out of touch (or, worse, insensitive to the predicament of support staff who don't have the luxury that we lawyers have of being connected everywhere all the time).

Not that the storm has gotten bad enough yet to make the decision to shut down metro an obvious one.  It's only been cloudy and breezy all day; raining lightly since around 6pm.  In fact, it's been kind of boring. 

So, here's a recap of a few non-Frankenstorm highlights from this weekend:

Shopping.  A friend of mine asked me to go shopping with him yesterday.  He wanted to get some new clothes but wasn't confident that he would pick out good outfits.  At first I limited myself to nixing things that were obviously too big or unflattering.  Then I got bored just standing outside the dressing room, so I started putting outfits together (fun at the best of times, even better when it's not my money).  My first proposal was met with skepticism:  "That's not my style."  Just humor me.  "Mmmkay, but I'm not sure abou . . . . woah, this is great!"  Yep.  "From now on I'm just going to let you do all the picking."  Yay!  To be honest, at first I felt a little trepidatious because there had been less pressure when my suggestions were unsollicited.  Then I scored again with an awesome outfit that included bright red pants.  I may be good at this.

Karaoke.  After shopping, Tim (the same friend) suggested that we go to a karaoke bar.  Mmmkay, but I'm not sure abou . . . "Just humor me."  I did, and although my attempt at Adele's "Rollin' in the Deep" was pretty much an unmitigated disaster, it was good for me to get out of my comfort zone and try something new.  (I've now resolved to learn a few songs to have in my back pocket -- that way the next time someone spontaneouly suggests karaoke I'll have something to "spontaneously" draw on.)  

New calling.  I recently got called to be the Assistant Executive Secretary in the ward (for those of you not familiar, this means I handle all the scheduling for the two counselors to the bishop).  I think it'll be a good calling, because the guys in the bishopric are all really great and it'll help me get to know more people.  Still, I've inherited some records that are in serious need of updating, and the process of updating them is quickly taking on a cat-herding quality.  I've decided to take it as an opportunity to learn how to be effective without being totally in control and/or totally perfectionistic.  (We'll see how that plays out.)

Turnips are one of my favorite smells, especially when they're simmering in a stew-pot along with onions, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and rice.  So earthy and delicious.  Plus, they remind me of a storybook that we had when I was little about a giant turnip that was made into stew.  At the time I'd never eaten or seen a turnip, so it was as fanciful as any other creature in a fairy tale; now I eat them and feel a like a fairy-tale peasant (which, short of being a fairy-tale prince, is a pretty good gig).

*   *   *
Oh, and look what just came in from the firm.  Better.


Needless to say, I'll be at home tomorrow, noshing on turnip stew while drafting contracts and hoping that the storm turns out to be a whopper (that doesn't actually hurt anyone or cut the power for too long). 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You've had more fascinating weather in your area than I can believe! I can say that because you've always been safe. Congrats on the great survival stew to ride the storm out with. Now, if it were a great novel and hot chocolate instead of work... Congrats on the new calling. I'd love to do that. And, about the "without being totally in control and/or totally perfectionistic" part, good luck with that! Lady