And The Non-Winner Is .... Early Evening Thoughts.

My apologies for not posting over the last few days. I really couldn't bring myself to post something humorous or trying to let you know part of the story when I myself didn't know how it was going to turn out. I wrote in the last point about my friend playing crash and burn with his body and mind. I think crash and burn won....

After he recovered from last Sunday ~ we had several l-o-n-g talks about what was happening and what he was not only doing to himself, but to those around him. I was trying to be careful not to be judgmental and/ or evangelical. It was becoming an extremely difficult task.

I finally got through with the sentence: "I can care unconditionally - but I don't have to accept the behaviors unconditionally." So, he agreed that getting to the counseling center and getting into therapy was the only way to go.

Yesterday, I got a phone call from him wanting to meet for lunch and talk. He was worried about what was going to happen and if he really had the strength to resist his addictions. We talked for a few moments and I hung up to get ready to go down the road and meet him for lunch. He arrived and seemed in good shape - looks and demeanor can be deceiving. I realized that when he took out a bottle of vodka during lunch and helped himself. Once again I'm thinking - "holy Crap now what!" (raging drunks for 1000 Alex.)

At this point I'm also thinking "This is a restaurant I will be unable to go back to...." But my deepest concern is for my friend. He's at this time beginning to spin out of control. I finally get him convinced to leave the restaurant ~ he wanted to buy a backpack and I thought the walk to the store might help. (foolish thoughts for 500 Alex.) And once again I was left shaking my head in disbelief.

I knew I could get him a ride ~ a friend of both of us was still willing to work with him. Several calls later he agreed to pick us both up - but particularly "Mouthwash".

He "earned" the nickname from the Crisis Residential Unit we were both in after my stay in the hospital. He actually managed to get alcohol and smuggle it into the unit. He wasn't selfish evidently ~ more than willing to share with others. Of course, the fact that everyone was on medication that might have a very negative (as in deadly) reaction to it never figured into his conscious. The alcohol? One that needs to be banned from drug store shelves. I'm not going to reveal the name - but the next time you are in a drug store look for a mouthwash that is more than 50 proof. The night at the unit was very interesting. He was turned in to the director and actually never denied the alcohol, merely blamed whoever turned him in as being at fault.

As the counseling center I was hoping to get him into was closed Friday/Saturday and Sunday. He had promised to call on Monday to get the intake appointment, and I agreed that I would go with him. All I could do was hope that he would be able to hold on until then. We finished getting the backpack and a really great pair of sunglasses for me and went outside to wait for our friend to come and take him away.Mouthwash decides that sitting on the sidewalk is the best option. So, now I'm sitting on the sidewalk (getting down there with my knees was a fun undertaking) ~ and he's sitting there taking alternate hits from a vodka bottle and soda bottle. All I could think was what a great picture we were - and how much we both looked like older homeless men sharing a moment. As we were not sharing the bottle that's all we would be sharing. He rambled on and on and I kept praying that no one I knew would show up.

That's when the rest of the story came out. Not only had he been imbibing alcohol this week - but he had been mixing codeine cough syrup and pills (Xantax specifically) ~ a sure-fire meltdown combination. Now I'm worrying about getting arrested simply becvause I'm sitting next to him . . . and I have begun to create a catastrophe out of the situation. I'm not going to share those with you at this point ~ but later they became quite funny.

Finally we had poured him into the car and he was being taken back to the center where he lives to sleep it off ...

The sleeping it off hope ended ~ evidently ~ when he passed out in his doorstep and awoke moments later cursing and threatening everyone in sight. . . including the friend that drove him home and was trying to get him into his room. Details are a little sketchy, but from what I found out ~ he checked himself out of the center and headed off to one of the most dangerous areas of town to add crack to the ingredients in his system. Today we learned that he was beaten up and arrested...no one knows for sure, but it sounds pretty likely to me.

Today when I contemplated what had gone on - I realized that my view of things/people/places and events has really changed. I know that there is nothing I can do to help this person directly and that worrying about it is neither productive nor helpful.

What does concern me is what this says about people I am around. There will be more on that soon.

Erin Go . . . ~ Late Evening Thoughts

To say that last week was interesting would be an understatement. It was a wild, intense and one where a lot was accomplished. Not easily ~ not always with charm ~ not always without some stress. But then the weekend had arrived and I was "good to go." Little did I know it should have gotten up and gone!

I was especially looking forward to Sunday when someone that I have gotten to know quite well and I were going to have a quick sandwich and coffee at a small streetside cafe and then spend the afternoon exploring Half Price Books. We had arranged to meet at the cafe around 1:30 in the afternoon. This would still give plenty of time for enjoying the book store. Around 10:00 in the morning I began to get text messages and then phone calls changing the time and location of where we were to meet. Finally I told that the place we would meet would be La Strada. (cue mournful music here.) This establishment was an attempt at an upscale Italian restaurant. Fortunately, they managed the upscale and the upscale price part. Unfortunately, (as far as I was concerned) they didn't manage the food part.

I decided that I would have some dessert and let that be that.
I headed out on the adventure of the day. (cue Psycho violins here.)

When I arrived at the place, I realized even before I got to the door, there had been a change. The place was very noisy...very noisy. I though maybe it was because the windows on the street were open but then as I approached the door I had the reality hit me ~ this was not the case at all.

The upscale restaurant had become (on Sundays) a 21 (barely) and up (barely) party central location. It's a little hard to remain upscale when all the drinks are being served in plastic glasses - coffee in foam cups!! And the place was packed. I realized that probably 80% of the boys "guy's" voices hadn't changed (21??) and NONE of the women's voiced had progressed beyond grade school. It was as if I were at a Hanna Montana concert that was never going to start.

My friend? He was at the bar trying very hard to get under it - I think. To say that he had been drinking his lunch would have been been an understatement. He had used all the breakfast, dinners AND lunches for three weeks or more. I am now surrounded by people in high-pitched shriek(s) and a very intoxicated friend who is pawing me and giving me bone crushing bear hugs inbetween telling me what I was going to do and asking me for money. Great conversation points there!!

And, of course, Monday was St. Patrick's Day . . . I found something very interesting and decided to end tonight's post with these VERY clever cell phone charms from Japan. They are called the 6 stages of drunkenness ~

the first stage is the lecture stage: "Let me tell you something ... over and over and over...










The rest and the conclusion tomorrow ...

It's about time ~ Early Evening Thoughts

It's about time that I climbed out of my writer's slumber, my ~ whatever it's called and get back to writing here.

For those whom I know from the blog, I apologize for the delay. Just know, that life actually has gotten quite nice and ~ being me ~ not without it's humorous adventure side.

Starting tomorrow I'm back in the saddle and ready to continue blabbing sharing what's been happening and what is going on...

First up, I'm going to finish the story of what brought me to this point and I've also got a new collection of Elegant Timewasters ...

warm valley —
countless geese
seeking refuge


moonrise —
the dark night of a soul
lifts

Biting off
more than I can chew —
a broken wisdom tooth.

chanting canyon streams

Opening bell
echoes from the canyon walls --
raindrops on the river.

The sounds of rocks bouncing off rocks;
the shadows of trees traced on trees.

I sit, still.
The canyon river chants,
moving mountains.

The sermon spun on the still point:
dropping off eternity, picking up time;
letting go of self, awakened to Mind.

---Above the Fog ~ Short Poems by Michael P. Garofalo
Selections from Cuttings

---more tomorrow

Post-Valentine's-Mortum ~ Early Evening Thoughts

Let me say up front, there were a couple of people that thought I was little (!?!) cynical about Valentine's Day. I will reply in honesty ... Yes, I probably was. However - let me explain.

(Assuming best Masterpiece Theater voice)
My week of working in the florist shop began on Tuesday ... the calm calm before the storm. It was a long day, but fairly uneventful. By the afternoon, the temperature had begun to rise in the clients calling in for orders. Still, no one appeared to have "lost it" at this point.

Wednesday the floodgates opened at 8:30am and the phone did not stop ringing until 5pm that night. There were 120 orders and walk-ins that went out the door that day ... some were called in, some were web orders from Telefloral and FTD. Still, the day went smoothly and people seemed pleased. By the end of the day - there appeared to be over 230 orders that were going to have to be delivered on Thursday.

Thursday (the actual day of Valentine) the phones started ringing at 7am ... they were not answered until 9am. From that point on it was non-stop. We actually had people calling in at 10am wanting to know why the arrangements they had ordered had not been delivered yet.

Finally all the drivers had loaded their vans and headed out to all points of delivery. At this point, we are keeping tabs on inventory AND zip codes. There were several people who had not listened when they were told there were no guaranteed delivery times for that day ... it would get there, we just couldn't say when.

The day was moving forward (cue sound track from Jaws here). At this point the calls were being balanced between people wanting to know when, people wanting deliveries to areas we didn't and people wanting the impossible. "I'm sorry sir, we don't sell carnations -- of any color and we would be unable to deliver them to Clutch, TX even if we did. (actual name of town).

There was only one complaint at that point - she didn't think her arrangement was "perfection" and wanted another. Fortunately, she was in the building so a new one was walked up to her - and the "imperfect" one brought back to the shop. As it was sitting on the counter ready to be put back in the cooler, someone walked in and bought it. The front of the store was beginning to resemble a bargain basement - people trying to wheel and deal.

Technically there is no smoking in the building, but as I was not going to be able to leave to go outside, I was given an ashtray and I took two smoke breaks the entire day. Lunch was at the desk ... the work must go on.

At this point I was dealing with people who forgot it was Valentine's Day -- or just waited until the last minute...not a good idea on this holiday ~ trust me on that one!! There is a certain 800/internet outfit that takes any order that comes in and then tries to farm them out to local florists at the last minute. I had to deal with about 10 phone calls from them and ended spending quite a bit of time explaining each time why we couldn't/wouldn't be able to help.

The wire brought in 3 orders for funerals in town and I ended up wiring out several funeral orders for out of town. And the phones kept ringing. The system that the shop uses allows us to look up florists in a specific zip code - I was using that a lot to tell people who to call that might be able to deliver. Also, we have a similar name to another florist close by ... several calls from people who were unhappy with the arrangement only to be told that they had called the wrong shop ...

Four O'clock came and thought we were surely through with all the last minute orders - when this gentleman(?) called in to demand that a dozen roses be delivered to an address forty-five miles away in rush hour traffic. He became highly incensed that had to tell him that we were not going to be able to do that. I was going to offer to deliver it for a $100 delivery charge, but thought better of it.

Why the chaos? It can be summed up, I think, by saying that of all the holidays Valentine's Day is the most personal. People do remember their friends (thank you DB, EM for your ecards!!) But by and large this is a time that seems to be for those who are in a relationship, want to be in a relationship or need to be in a relationship. And, they get crazy and somewhat stupid illogical. For example ... I got a call (on Thursday) from a gentleman who wanted to recognize that he had been with this person for two Valentine's Days. He was insistent that there be only two roses in a vase ... no greenery, etc. AND that it be delivered. This delivery was going only a few blocks from where we were ~ and not much further than from where he was. No, it had to be delivered and as soon as possible. This arrangement probably would have cost him at the most $12 using premium rose buds. We have a $35 minimum delivery AND a $15 holiday delivery fee. He spent $50 to have it delivered.

Ah yes, the wonders of the holiday...I'm glad I only do this once a year to help out. There was talk about having me work Christmas week, but I think I'm going to be very "busy" that week. I think I'll be able to appreciate the season more!!!

He loved her very much.

He wanted this Valentine's day to be special, so he had ordered a bottle of her favorite liquor imported from France and it had arrived in time for the occasion.

On his way home, he stopped at the local florist. He had planned to have a bouquet made with her favorite flower, white anemones. But to his dismay, he found that the florist had sold all her flowers and had only a few sterns of feathery ferns left for decoration.

In a moment of inspiration, he had the answer.

He asked the florist to make a bouquet using the flask of liquor instead of flowers and what she produced was magnificent well beyond his expectations. He added a card, and proceeded home.

When he arrived, his wife was beautiful in her most elegant gown, and it was apparent that she had spent much of the day preparing a romantic candlelight dinner for the two of them.

He presented her with his gift, and she opened the card to read, "Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder."

With a tear in her eye, she whispered to him lovingly, "Yes, and with fronds like these, who needs anemones."
---Stan Kegel

It's A Matter Of The Heart ~ Late (to me) Evening Thoughts

It's been a very crazy week ~ and it's only Wednesday!!!! I've been helping D&D in the flower shop they work at ... a small busy shop with L A R G E personalities... My job has been to answer the phone and take orders. I would estimate that there were 150 arrangements that were delivered today and I believe there are over 250 for tomorrow! So, posting, cleaning the house and getting much of anything done has been put on hold for Friday....

Here's my thoughts on Valentine's Day -- obviously colored by my week with flowers!!