It's Not Easy Being Green...

I am green.

I took an online "colour personality test", I didn't even study for it! I think I passed but I'm not sure. I have discovered that I am green.

The results of the test tell me that Green can be many things...I'm an environmentalist, I am a political party, I am Green Eggs and Ham, I am the band Green Day, I walk the Green Mile to the Green Green Grass of home...

The test tells me I am balanced, imaginative, but still logical, I am forgiving but can be jealous. I don't think I'm too stubborn, jealousy doesn't rear its ugly head like it used to. Maybe I'm pale green...blue green. I am a teeter totter trying to find level. It seems the older I get the more balanced I become or I just don't care about the little annoyances in life so much anymore.

As Yoda sang ...er I mean that green frog Kermit..

When green is all there is to be
It could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
Wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!
And I think it's what I want to be.....

THE RESULTS OF MY ONLINE MANDERINGS:

You are green. Perhaps one of the most balanced of all the colors. By balanced, I mean balanced in both bad and good parts.
Let me elaborate:
You're a natural, and somewhat superficial person. You're extremely generous, but, to add to the confusion, you're frugal and stingy. You're a forgiving, but jealous person. You're imaginative, but still logical. At sometimes, you're a complete neat-freak, and other times, you're a total slob. You're very stable, but undependable. But onto the other traits that are associated with this color... You're a stubborn person, simply put. Do you believe in Feng Shui? Green is closely related to the thought of having a balanced environment, you know. When in a bad situation, you're painfully pessimistic, and when you're in a good situation, you're extremely optimistic. A fairly outgoing and amused person, you enjoy talking to people, and hearing their thoughts on different things. As a plus, when people hang around you, it seems like time passes by all the more quickly.
What color are you? (Amazingly detailed & accurate--with pics!)
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93 YEAR OLD FELLA RUNS MARATHON

93 YEAR OLD FELLA RUNS MARATHON

A 93-year-old British man named Fauja Singh (pictured, centre) finished a 21 km marathon in Toronto last weekend.

I wonder what Mr. Singh thought as he took his first steps on a 21km journey. How did he get to the point of actually being at the start line? Was it clean living, a dark cloaked figure pounding at his heels, or just lots of viagra and no where to go. Maybe his whole life has been like a marathon.

I find myself living my life in a 100 meter sprint for people with no direction. Go go go go go. Actually in the last year I find myself slowly moving up to the 200 meters, then the 1500 meters and finally seeing myself in a marathon. OF course I'm a the start line now, catching my breath and taking my first steps forward. It has taken me years to get here. I have only been training for sprints so it's hard to slow down.

Way to go Mr. Singh. 91 doesn't seem so old to me now, so I'll slow down and make each step a worthwhile one!

Principal Skinner: That's why I love elementary school, Edna. The children believe anything you tell them.

It was cirriculm night at My kids school.

I went into my son's grade 4 class and sat at his desk. The teacher began talking about a typical day in the life of my son. I could hardly fit on his chair. My son's name was written in permanent ink on a label and stuck to the desk. I remember the desks being alot bigger when I was in grade 4. At the front of the class sat a glass aquarium with a chrsalyd hanging by a thread. It was waiting to become a beautiful Monarch butterfly. I wondered if the teacher ever looked at the small faces sitting in the small chairs and imagined they were hanging by a thread, cocooned at their desks waiting to become beautiful adults.

The teacher pointed to a sign about "classroom rules" above the corner of the chalkboard. Her biggest rule was "Mutual Respect". She said that if that rule is followed then you really don't need the other rules. There were signs with small words with big meaning scattered above the chalkboard around the whole classroom. Words like "Honesty", "Integrity" , "Fairness" , and "Compassion". I wondered if these words could filter through the chrsalyd of the children's lives and leave a mark on their adult wings.

As I sit in my fabric covered box at work I try to imagine my chair being as small as my son's grade four seat. That the world around me is not so big as it feels and the merchants of greed aren't so powerful as I imagine them to be. My name tag is on a piece of paper slipped between two panes of plastic. Easily removeable and replaced much like the person sitting in their tiny chair. . In my grade four cubicle the words that would litter my walls would be "milestone", "tasks", "blame", and "quality".

I wonder about teaching my son the values of empathy, compassion, and faith. In my work world those values conflict with the single purpose of a large corporation --- greed.
Maybe I should teach my kid the values of greed, selfishness, and self preservation. At the least I could teach him how to effectively blame someone else for his own mistakes.

I could never understand how people can get so angry about helping people in life. It's like healthcare in the United States...what's so terrible about making sure somebody can get an operation or medicine when they need it? Why is the right for access to a lawyer valued above access to a doctor? I hope the kids of room 202 become beautiful adults, healers, or educators. I hope they can spread their wings and bring balance to the world. I 'll make sure my kids know the word empathy as more than a word above their blackboard!

SPOCK help me SPOCK!

Okay,

I'm sitting here in my fabric covered box called a cubicle. If I were selling this small piece of cubicle the ad would look like this:

Fabulous Open-Concept cubicle, upgraded chair, relatively new technology, lots of pens and dilbert cartoons, steps to manager's office!

I am shopping for a new cubicle! This ones become too crowded with micro management! My upper managers throw words around like "work smarter", "quality" and "do it right!" From inside the cubicle the phrases echo back as:

"work smarter" echo: we're building a bigger house but we can't afford power tools or any extra workers!
"quality" echo: We must increase the quality of the managers' bonus
"do it right" echo: do it right NOW!!!!

So yes I have to move. As I sit and stare out the window I wonder where the next day will take me. There has to be a place where people respect each other. Where common sense rules the day...where people say thank you for a great job and mean it! Sure it sounds like that old land of oz cartoon:
"where the streets are paved with gold and nobody ever grows old ..."

I'm like a round peg in a square cubicle, I don't fit in my company's corporate culture anymore! The bullies rule so I must go! I don't believe I'm alone in this thinking. My immediate cubicle neighbors are getting ready to sell their cubicles too!

Am I cynical? How can I not be when I live in a Dilbert world. Have you ever read a Dilbert cartoon and went , "whooooaa" under your breath? Do you do it on a regular basis? imagine.

To cope with the onslaught of stess and lack of accountability I try to remember Rule #9 in my Rules of Life:
Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values

The cubicle market is pretty tight right now, a buyers market. I hope I can get into a great neighborhood. My health depends on it!