FUNNYACCENT

Holiday

Have a wonderful holiday and go easy on sweet and heavy meals.

By the way what color is your mother in law's tongue?

Choice

"

The snow flakes fluttered  high in the air making their way down and made a final rest  on whatever they landed onto. They fell on the leaves on the trees, they fell on leaves on the ground, they fell on the ground, they fell on people, they fell on animal and they fell on the buildings. They melted and became part of their final destination.

Do they choose where they should, or want to land? Do they have a choice if they make a mistake by landing on undesired spots? Can they switch their destination?

I sat in my office looking out the window and watched the light snow fell and wondered about life and the choices we make along the way.

Beauty

Yes, I am Pretty Busy

Have I been busy lately that I've neglected to update my blog? Or I've been neglecting my blog because I'm lazy? Well, either way I've been neglecting my blog. I admit I've been pretty busy for the past few weeks, but I'm glad I'm still long hand writing my journal every single day. Sometimes, I scribble it in a subway on my way home, the only time I could get a seat.

One time, I felt a fellow commuter, a lady in sharp, crispy business suit, pointed stiletto, heavenly scented perfumed (I've always wondered how are these women stay cool, sharp and neat after 8 hours at work? And I am in one missing button sweater to unmatch my green scarf and brown jacket and raggedy red wool hat and not to mention my oily face!) leaned her slim body to me.

I adjusted my seat thinking I had taken up her space. I continued to write in my journal, but when I moved to the next page which made her leaned closer, from the corner of my eyes I was positive she was reading my journal. The next sentence I wrote, I'll  hand over my journal to you when I finish this sentence. Then I waited for her reaction. Within three seconds, I heard a sharp polite gasped, and the leaning over me decreased . I turned to her and said, Thank you, I appreciate it. She stiffened and looked ahead. But her face was as red as a beet.

Anyho back to my busy month, I've already been to two workshops and two monthly meetings in the city, I went to meet a Hearing Officer with a client at local housing agency in Downtown, I  a Probation Officer at Boston Municipal Court with a client. .

Three days ago I sat down with a new client who has a half inch thick of CORI report for the intake. He has tattoos all over his arms, neck, (he offered to show the angels and devils tattooed on his back too, but I politely declined. I told him, perhaps next time). He also wore nose ring, upper lip ring and an eyebrow ring. And read this, he wrote poems and he recited one of his favorite poems, called,  And for No Reason by  The Great Sufi Mater, Hafiz.

And

For no reason

I start skipping like a child

And

for no reason

I turn into a leaf

That is carried high

I kiss the Sun's mouth

And dissolve

And

for no reason

A thousand birds

Choose my head for a conference table,

Start passing their

Cups of wine

And their wild songbooks all around

And

For every reason in existence

I being to eternally

To eternally laugh and love!

When I turn into a leaf

And start dancing,

I run to kiss our beautiful Friend

And I dissolve in the Truth

That I am

During the intake session I learned that he has and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) when he kept arranged and rearranged all his written poems and documents (it is very,very, very rare a client has documents let alone carries a folder) in two separate worn out folders. When he was happy with his arrangement, he tried to arrange pens and pencil in a jar sat on my desk while he was sharing with me a lit bit about his life in prison.

Well, gottogonowtodomylaundry.brb.

The Invaders

Sometimes I feel my privacy has been invaded since I joined men's inpatient treatment facility eleven months ago. Most of the staff at this program travel to Boston from their sub homes. I live in this city. I roam, wander, explore and run in the city on the weekends. Running into residents outside my working hours is something I try to avoid.

One of unwritten rule in some human service agencies is when you run into clients outside your working hours is to let them initiate the greeting. Acknowledge them by a slight nod if they are with a person you don't know. If they don't see you or pretend not to see you, you are lucky.

They are curious like everybody else. And men like women too, they talk. Either they are homeless in recovery or homeless and drunk, they used to have another life too. They used to have families: houses, wives, children and jobs.

When the counselors know almost everything about them, I think it is natural they have a curiosity about their counselors private lives too.

None of us has any family member photos in our offices. Nothing that indicates that we have another lives.

One or two of them were a little bold after a couple of months I joined The House.

During a weekly session, a client in early fifties, who was well known to other staff as a big flirt, pointed at my thumb rings, "Is that your wedding ring, Ana?"

"Ohh....it can be any ring.""

"Seriously. Is a woman in your culture wear a wedding ring on a thumb?"

"Seriously, lets get back to our discussion. Why did you think he was disrespectful to you? He was 100 miles away when it happened."

"Very clever. You always change the subject."

I've lost count how many times I run into residents at the grocery stores, malls, running trails along Charles River, in subways, on the streets, bookstores and Copley Public Library. And these men, I'm telling you have a way to appear in front of you from nowhere. Sekejap takde, sekejap ade.

Mutt What?

      Unconscious Muttering Week 248

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Assets ::                     Personality
2. Concern ::                 Lines above eyebrows
3. Over the top ::        Ready
4. Supplies ::                 Consumers
5. Mustache ::              Ticklish
6. Doug ::                       A bus driver
7. Coach ::                     Pot belly
8. Bleachers ::              Smelly
9. Stripes ::                    Bill Murray
10. Assortment ::          Tea

Where Have I Been All These Years?

I was in Downtown with a client to meet a Hearing Officer at a local housing authority. The meeting went well. The Hearing Officer was pleased with a determination possessed by my client and the documents we prepared a week before. The decision was reversed and he's back on the Section 8 Waiting List.

After the meeting, we parted outside the building. He went back to work and I, headed to subway station in downtown. It was 11:15 am, Monday morning and they were hauling up a gigantic Christmas tree on Macy's. Darn.......wasn't it too early to put up a Christmas tree on the first week of November? Perhaps they have been doing it for years, and I happened to notice it this year.

Come Christmas, Hari Raya or any other holidays that have turned into our ways to escape from work. Some of us are fortunate to earn a living by doing what we enjoy. Perhaps enjoy is not too accurate to some of us, but we learn to like what we do, the work that we bring home a paycheck.

A co-worker at work says, "Ohgod, I can't wait until Friday..." every Monday morning while sipping a big cup of Dunkin Donut black coffee with three splenda.

I've been hearing the darn same phrase every Monday morning since I joined the program eleven months ago.

Tell me, should I have a duct tape in my hand next Monday before she opens her mouth?

"