(Un)Awarness

It amazes me that, when my life gets crazy busy (at it often does), how completely unaware I can be of what is happening outside my own little world.


For example, just a few weeks ago, we had a huge fire at our local mall. The story was complete with the mall closing down just before the holidays, the extensive damage, and a crazed guy that may or may not have had a bomb that started the whole thing. This happened to occur the week after our vacation, and just before my now infamous trip to DC. I worked late that day, came home thinking about dinner and Kaelyn and worrying about everything I still had left to do before I left that weekend. Roger asked me what I heard about the fire and my answer was “absolutely nothing”. To make it worse, until yesterday, it never even occurred to me that if the trip to DC hadn’t come up, I would have been with my coworkers in a class in that very location…as it was happening…and that they all pretty much had witnessed the drama unfold. As a matter of fact, until yesterday, I had forgotten that it even happened, as I had quickly melted back into my own world soon after hearing about it.

During this same period of time, the San Francisco Giants got into the World Series. I sort of remember Roger telling me something about it, but I really didn’t clue in. The first game was during my plane ride back to Sacramento. I was annoyed that the pilot kept waking me up with updates on the score. The other day, they won the championship. That, at least, I was mentally conscious enough to catch wind of. What I didn’t realize, was the outcomes or the existence of the other four games.

One thing that I do try to keep track of, regardless of what is happening to me personally, is local and national elections. I don’t love talking about politics. I despise getting into debates or sharing/knowing what others’ political leanings are. The endless phone calls, the misleading propaganda, and downright false advertising sickens me. Still, this is our system and I fully support it. I do my research, learn the issues, and sometimes even talk to my husband about what I’m thinking and ask for his opinion. I vote. Yesterday’s elections were both the most annoying and most interesting I have ever witnessed and I was interested in so much more than just what was happening here in California. I don’t want to get into details, but my job, and particularly my project, is highly political…so the Nevada Senate races were crucial to how we proceed (not if…that was a given…just how).

Now, happily, it’s over. I have my marching orders. My phone will stop ringing. The commercials will end. I can slip back into worldly oblivion and into my own comfortable little cocoon of a life.