Just a chime....or??

[Jerry Oz]

Would it surprise you to find out one day that the only immutable law of the universe is balance? Perhaps the saw "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" describes what holds everything together and is less a guideline than it is THE rule...

[Jerry Oz]

And, if so, might it be possible that a volcano erupting on an uncharted planet half a galaxy away causes a ripple that affects somebody here? Deeeeeep thinking...

[westgrandboulevard]

No, none of it would surprise me, as I do feel it to be true - but I certainly don't understand how it works.

Nature, for example, works towards an extreme, then back again towards the other extreme to balance itself, but often not in strict order. Within certain parameters , it does manifest itself as normal or usual 'for the time of year', but the rest of the time it can take us by surprise.

With all the countless activities carried out by humans, all manner of coincidences are occurring in everyone's lives every day, but are only evident to us when they fall within the 'equal' parameters.

The stock market rises, falls, then rises again. So do our moods. Feast, or famine. Forecasts for everything, but which are often wrong.

We're all to be found engaged in some sort of activity, but are we moving towards a perceived need, or retreating from a fear? Even sitting around, attempting to keep everything absolutely unchanged, would seem to make us different from everyone else.

I guess it all works best for us when we can catch whatever we're needing at the time when it is just right for us. We call it luck, but it is often a combination of preparation, and then opportunity. That said, many times whenever I've felt I've had good luck, my attention has been on something completely different when the 'luck' occurs...!

Everything appears to be like a lottery, but it isn't. I wonder if there exists a computer which can predict such patterns. Somehow, I doubt it....

[Jerry Oz]

I believe that the believers of Chaos theory are of the mindset that if you have a complete set of data on anything, then you can predict to certainty what will happen in any given situation. Of course, to predict whether a dog will bark two times or three depends on a data set that would have to include temperature, wind direction, relative humidity, how many other dogs are barking, whether the dog is hungry or sleepy or grumpy, etc., ad nauseum. Chaos theory believers suggest that there is a pattern that predicts outcomes once the facts can be digested. It almost sounds obvious, but who but God would know everything?

[westgrandboulevard]

No-one this side of Heaven. or anything they could create.

I feel that, if I lived for a million years, I'd still go with 'likelihoods', and no more.

[Jerry Oz]

I do, too. I don't want to know what comes next or I'll constantly be looking past the good things for the dread that I see lurking just beyond. I'm glad to look back and be grateful that it didn't find me as opposed to seeing it and having little choice but to submit.

[moe]

Deep stuff you two........but hope you don't mind I only want to get as deep as Sunday night football [[US, that is, westgrand!)
Night gentlemen......

[Jerry Oz]

My beloved Dolphins beat my beloved Falcons today. I'm happy and quite bummed out at the same time. I'm the only guy that I know who has two favorite football [[and basketball) teams, so I'm the only guy that I know who can pencil in a day of manic-depression every four years, when they have to play each other. [[Whoops... Didn't Jesus say that a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways?! That explains some of these thoughts that posted in this thread, doesn't it?)

[westgrandboulevard]

It might explain one or two [[!) thoughts, but not to worry, as I expect Jesus had something to say about people who were totally single-minded, too...

[Jerry Oz]

Amen to that. Of course, no pun intended...

[westgrandboulevard]

I wouldn't mind if it were. A little extra levity, particularly on dull days, can make a lot of difference.

If you hear any good jokes circulating among your many colleagues, share them here...

[Jerry Oz]

Most of mine are horrible and very inappropriate [[especially for the workplace), but if I get the opportunity, I certainly will. Anyway, it's break time [[again)... It looks like we'll be off on Saturday [[finally!!!!).

[westgrandboulevard]

I still like yours [[?) about the dyslexic atheist who didn't believe in the existence of Dog.

[Jerry Oz]

That is an oldie but moldie. I still tell people that to hear the ticking sounds in their brains as they try to figure it out. Half of the jokes I tell are so unfunny that the dirty looks that I receive for telling them puts the joke on the listener. But they know me well enough by now to understand that I do this, so I guess their indulgence is a sign that they like me.

[westgrandboulevard]

And I bet those people who give you dirty looks retell those very same jokes of yours to others, and enjoy the laughter they receive in return!

[moe]

And I'll bet what you say, westgrand, is true!!!

[Jerry Oz]

You guys are both right. One of my blessings is that I know the people that I meet and most of them know me. By "know", I mean that I connect with them and if there's anything that I can do to make their situation better, I will. Even if it's by applying levity to make them forget otherwise heavy situations. One of the first things that I learned as a manager was to find out what makes my folks tick and to use it to get more out of them. You'd be surprised the weight people bring with them. Some are eager to come to work because it takes them away from harder things at home.

[moe]

That I can believe Jerry!!! When most people are having a bad day you have to look outside the box [[i.e. what baggage did they bring from home that day!)

[Jerry Oz]

Yes. And you also need to know when they're offering waaaayyyy too much information so you can tactfully back away before finding out something you really don't want to know. To paraphrase Ernie Hudson in "Ghostbusters", I have heard sh*t that would turn your *ss white. [[I don't know why that was always the funniest line of that film, for me...)

[westgrandboulevard]

It helps them just to have actually heard themselves express it out loud, to get it off their mind. Just having a 'beef'. They probably often don't remember saying it shortly afterwards. Try reminding them later of what they said, and watch the different reactions

But it is amazing the personal information some people give freely, as though it were part of a national broadcast, and of national importance!

[Jerry Oz]

Sometimes, I don't know if it's more drama or comedy. Speaking of comedy, they do throw the funniest things out there, sometimes. One guy was talking trash with a co-worker when he told him that he wasn't worried about the other guy because "I know the number for 9-9-1!"

[westgrandboulevard]

Ha! That makes me wonder just what his response might have been to the question 'OK. What is it,then? ..................

[Jerry Oz]

That, my friend, is anybody's guess...

[westgrandboulevard]

Must be the sort who is awarded a few extra marks in an examination, for knowing his name.

[Jerry Oz]

It would be hard to forget! "Ahmed Ahmed" is hard to get wrong... [[No lie about that, BTW.)

[moe]

.........or George George
.........or Edward Edwards
yes, I knew them both!

[144man]

It certainly shows some parents have a lack of imagination.

[moe]

You have to wonder what exactly was going through parents when they name their kids unbelievable names!

[144man]

I don't think the children thank their parents if they're bullied at school for having ridiculous names, and pop stars are the worst offenders.

Luckily in the case of Zowie Bowie, Zowie was only his middle name, so he is able to produce films under his real name of Duncan Jones.

[westgrandboulevard]

It's the same with pets.

Over the years, there has been a shift from addressing the attention away from responsibility of the owner [[now termed as 'registered keeper', I think) and more to the interests of the pet.

When communications arrive, they are addressed to my cat, with my surname.

When visiting the vets, they call her name, 'Belle'.....and up I get. It could be worse, like responding to a call for 'Princess Maisie Delores'.

At this rate, we'll be accompanied by her solicitor, and I'll have to get her pawprint, in order to set up a lasting power of attorney.

[Jerry Oz]

You two should appreciate my cousin, whose last name is England. He recently had a son that he named...


Wait for it...

...LONDON. And here I thought that "North West" was a horrible name...

[westgrandboulevard]

Oh my......all I can say is good just isn't the word for it.

Who needs a name that sounds like a signpost???

Which reminds me that I've always found it interesting that, while we here in UK would simply say Ohio, Paris or Rome, over there in the US you do say London England, Paris France, and Rome Italy.....

[Jerry Oz]

I'm not so sure about "Rome, Italy", but the other two for certain seem to go together well. There's a gentleman with whom I work, that is rather outspoken. Some love him whereas others do not. Whenever someone mentions him, they call him by both names almost as if in reverence. "Jon Brown was in here looking for you." Never - and I mean NEVER - does anybody call him simply "Jon".

[westgrandboulevard]

He sounds the blunt sort. Probably tells the truth, and more sincere than many, but just the way he does it might grate with some people. Sadly, a gulf is created although, for whatever reason, he may prefer it that way.

Just calling him Jon would indicate that they and he are on equal,friendly terms, or that the speaker would like to be on such terms.

Using both names is more formal, like having your name called at the doctor's surgery, and indicates a preference to regard the individual with a certain distance.

Assessments of people, especially after they have left employment or even passed away, often include words to the effect of : 'Jon Brown is a much respected colleague' - but which always seem to carry an unseen prefix, in brackets : ..... [[but is not liked)...

Just the way life is, I suppose. As Bette Davis is believed to have said : "If everybody likes you, you're doing something wrong"

[Jerry Oz]

I'm pretty sure that if you manage to get everybody to like you, you're going to have a problem with yourself... I tend to go out of my way to help folks, but I realize that some people are going to hate you just for the fact that nobody else does. I'm absolutely fine with that because if I do something nice for someone in spite of his opinion of me, it's really more for me than it is for him.

[westgrandboulevard]

Absolutely. Going over the halfway line too many times, when helping others, is bound to rebound on anybody - and we become aware of it the most when we're tired.

[Jerry Oz]

If I am to be truthful, some of my being nice to those who don't care much for me is due to that passive-aggressive mean streak that I mentioned before. I know that it irritates some people for me to be the bigger man. If somebody borrows money from me, I have already presumed that money to be lost, so I have no problem with telling them to keep it. It is usually the ones who like me the least who break their necks trying to pay it back.

[westgrandboulevard]

If you feel you've not been nice to those who don't care much for you, I suspect you'd be irritated to think you've fallen below your own standards of behaviour.

Well, that's the sort of thing that would certainly annoy me, anyway!

[Jerry Oz]

That's kind of the opposite of what I'm saying. I'm nice to pretty much everybody that I meet. Some, I treat nicely because I like them and others, I treat nicely because I think that it bugs them to think that I don't share their feelings. I don't go out of my way to help anybody who doesn't ask for help. But I make sure that anybody who has a negative opinion of me gets what he wants when he asks, if for no other reason than to put them in position of having to admit that I helped them out. It's silly, I know. But I don't think there are many with reasonable cause to dislike me, so I make sure that they cannot spread any false gospel as to whether I treat them as fairly as I treat others with whom I am on better terms.

[westgrandboulevard]

I think I got all of that, Jerry. It's not silly at all, perhaps just a little complicated

[Jerry Oz]

That's a good word for it. I find that it's better to gall 'em with kindness than arguing with them. I have a bad habit of responding in kind when people approach me. I guarantee the best way to hear me shout is to shout at me first. The best way to get me to say regrettable things is to say disrespectful things first. My first reaction is always to sink to the level of the other party, but only recently have I been able to stifle that impulse by pausing and purposely trying to not take the bait. It ain't easy...

[westgrandboulevard]

Jerry, I still think you could be making it all a lot easier on yourself.......

Well, listen to me talking. We're all living in a world where we're urged 'to keep it simple', but I'm still so naturally compulsive about details which instantly take my interest and register with me, and am still wishing to keep my personal and business activities relatively orderly and balanced, yet still getting behind with certain things, etc., etc....

You'll be getting the picture......

[moe]

Bette Davis was a smart woman.........

[Jerry Oz]

Of course, I could make it easier for myself... And yes, she was on point!

[westgrandboulevard]

The best thing for all of us is indeed 'to keep it simple'.

It's Life which just keeps making things complicated, so it's an ongoing battle. And maybe that's just how it should be.

That's such a lot of rationale going on with your feelings, sometimes it's like trying to read messages from you on three screens at once

[Jerry Oz]

Ah, but evolution only happens with struggle. If there is nothing to overcome, there is no chance for improvement. On a personal and on a universal biological level, we need complication in order to strive toward perfection. At some point in the future, there will be people with big ears, no mouths, two fingers on each of their six hands [[one of them being an opposable thumb), fat bellies, clear skin, long and beautiful self-replenishing hair, no significant others, remote controls that cannot be lost, and all of their problems taken care of. That will be the end of the road for humanity.

[westgrandboulevard]

Viewed from that perspective, getting through to next pay day seems a doddle

[Jerry Oz]

You can tell that I'm in management when I explain that it's a good thing that you have to deal with horrible situations...

[westgrandboulevard]

Yes indeed, the calibre of a manager is most clearly defined by how they carry out their job when under pressure.

Anyone working in a managerial capacity is doing so because the bosses/owners feel they have the ability to successfully handle horrible situations.

That's how a textbook would have it. In real life, there's a great variance in standards between workers, managers and bosses, which can be tough for those who have to experience that variance on a first hand basis.

[Jerry Oz]

"Oh, I shorted your pay by $200? Well, look at it as a chance to figure out how to survive with less! I may have screwed you out your rent money, but that'll convince you to get a cheaper place nest time. I think that I actually did you a favor."