Ask the Priestess

Last week, I had an appointment to meet up with a friend after work. Once bitten, twice shy, I realised getting on a bus, any bus!, would mean time stuck in rush hour traffic jam. I checked my map, and found out I could be at our meeting place within 40 minutes if I were to go on foot - roughly as long as it would take me by bus, on a good day. I actually like walking, so I set off. The route, it turns out, is pretty much a straight line: leave work, turn right, over the bridge, a slight zig-zag, oh, look! The city Court building! I didn't know that was there. Even more, I didn't know there is a little area to sit around a pool. In the pool, which at that time had no-one around, there are water lilies (only pads, as it's winter). And, oh! wow! in between the pads, flashes of bright red, white and black - there are koi fish there! Looking even closer, there were other varieties of fish, tiny and dark, darting around. I had to continue, lest I be late! So, off I went, aga...

Do you love your job? I love my job. I do, why do so many people look at me questioningly? Some think I am just trying to keep up a positive vibe; others, that I am faking it; yet some believe that I am pushing their buttons. But nope, honest to goodness, I love my job. My job is not the kind I thought I would ever have. Actually, I knew nothing about this industry before getting the position. Added to that, I left my previous post, as a manager in the field I had experience, to a degree I'd even say mastery, without any need to do so. Just because I felt I needed to grow, to try new things. So I did, and I don't regret it. My job is not glamorous, it won't make me famous, and beyond the salary (which is good, but nothing outlandish) it is no crazy scheme to make me rich. I also cannot really talk about the details with other people, not because of matters of National Security or similar, but because of simple client confidentiality. By the way, I work in a lab that c...

I like silence, be it the kind that makes you hear ringing at night; the kind that spreads wide on a hill surrounded by space; or the kind one finds in libraries and similar locations. There is also the murmuring silence, where there is a group of people, sometimes even a large group, yet everyone speaks softly, shortly, secretly. This is the sort one finds at a centre of prayer such as churches or synagogues; the sort before a classical concert; the sort that populates the water, once we are totally submerged, or bathes in a crackling log fire on a cold winter night, cosy in fleecy socks. Yes, I like silence, with its comforting hush and pillow-like sense of emptiness, of potential. Living in a society plagued with noise, silence has always been a precious commodity. Particularly when one attempts to share its joy with other people. Most people, I'm sure you'll agree, claim to want 'peace and quiet'. Except, dictionaries to the contrary, their quiet does not mean...

Last week, it was my birthday, but I was away for a week, so when I came back to work today, I got all the best wishes. I thanked my coworkers, then went on with my life. I don't really get why people celebrate birthdays. Actually, I do, but only for people who've had a life-threatening scare or are fighting a life condition, which they have overcome (maybe just for now, but a day at a time). In these cases, the people have sort of 'earned' the understanding of what an amazing achievement completing another solar year really means. For the rest of us, who simply live by inertia, unconsciously grateful for modern medicine and a comfortable environment, it has no real meaning. So, why was I away last week, if not to celebrate my birthday? To celebrate life. In a few days, it will be my mother's 7th death anniversary, and my sister and I decided it was time to let her last remains go free, as she loved being. We decided to release her ashes, close that cycle. Mor...