Free! Free at last!

[TDWoj]

I did the first sensible thing in months - years, even - tonight.

When asked, at tonight's members' meeting, to run again for the Board of Directors (of the co-op I live in), I said NO!

I did not give in to pressure ("But what are we going to do without you?"); I did not give in to flattery ("You are the heart and soul of this co-op!"); I did not give in to threats ("Stay on the board or else!").

I said "no" to all pleas, entreaties, threats and flatteries. I regretfully declined, citing personal and health issues (a couple of people here know what the health issues are, they're actually fairly trivial except the news scared the hoojibs out of me and since I'm supposed to be reducing my stress, getting the hoojibs scared out of me doesn't actually help the stress reduction).

A few people were surprised and dismayed - they really wanted me on the board. But I can tell you, I'm tired of dealing with administrative issues, I'm tired of walking around with a target painted on my forehead, and I'm tired of being the only one, apparently, with the sense God gave little green apples and being the only one to pipe up and say, "this is a really BAD idea, folks". Goodness only knows what kind of idiotic things the new board is going to perpetrate on the unsuspecting members, but frankly, my dears, as of this moment, I don't give a damn.

Oh, frabjous day! Calloo, callay!
I finally got off the board today!

-TD, jumping up and down and clicking her heels in joy

Footnote: being on the board and the responsibility that went with it was just one more thing adding to the frustrations I've been feeling about the situation that I'm in. Maybe with one less thing to worry about, this creeping cynicism that has been invading my recent posts will fade away and I will return to being my usual sunny and sensible self. I hope!

 

[Amos Stevens]

Congrats TD! (applause applause) People too easily take advantage of others in situations like that,and as you said,you could do with one less thing to worry about!
Pat on head

 

[justice808]

TD-you've stood your ground,you made your choice & now you are free!Good on you!In those kind of jobs it's funny how unappreciated you are untill you are gone.I'm sure the new head of the board won't do things half as good as you did.Remember,use this new time to think,contemplate & dream of the new things that are on the horizon for you.

I'm sorry to hear about these "health issues" you speak of .I hope they are not serious.

Peace,

Leon

 

[Sleeping Fox]

The path of enlightenment beckoning?
lol, stress is fun.
I've learned how to deal with it, but sometiems it wins. lol accept it, laugh and drink some JD's

 

[TDWoj]

TD-you've stood your ground,you made your choice & now you are free!Good on you!In those kind of jobs it's funny how unappreciated you are untill you are gone.I'm sure the new head of the board won't do things half as good as you did.Remember,use this new time to think,contemplate & dream of the new things that are on the horizon for you.

I'm sorry to hear about these "health issues" you speak of .I hope they are not serious.

Peace,

Leon

Thanks, Leon! No, the health issues aren't serious, unless I don't do anything about them. But I am doing something about them, and reducing stress was one item on the list of must do's. Being on the board was about as stressful as it could get (not to mention having so much to do at general members' meetings as well, since I did a lot of - no, that would be all of - the special projects of the board).

Getting off the board is such a relief, I can't tell you how much. It's a curse, being the frighteningly competent person that I am. Now I can just sit back, relax, and turn my attention to more enjoyable tasks, like writing.

Oh, and hanging out here, of course!

-TD, already feeling better

 

[Sleeping Fox]

Well thank god it is not this board!
we need a well edumacated person to write some posts here!

 

[TDWoj]

Congrats TD! (applause applause) People too easily take advantage of others in situations like that,and as you said,you could do with one less thing to worry about!
Pat on head

Thanks, Amos! After the year I've had, this comes as a welcome relief.

Mind you, I'm still stuck on the finance committee, but they only meet twice a year, so that's hardly a hardship.

Oh, and tonight's meeting was a little livelier than most: we had threats of bodily harm amongst three of the members. We've got a little cabal of members, you see, who feel that they can do whatever they please regardless of whether it is inconvenient, inconsiderate or unpleasant for the other members, and it was one of those who started the bodily harm threats.

If I'd been chairing the meeting, I'd have thrown all three potential combatants out for behaviour unbecoming the proceedings. Let 'em duke it out in the corridors. We have to replace the carpet anyhow, so let the blood and bodily fluids fly! But I wasn't chairing; however, I did get up on my hind legs and proposed that it was just such combative issues that illustrated the point that members had to learn to be considerate of one another because this was a co-operative community, blah, blah, blah. I think a few people heard the message. The ones who didn't, of course, were the worst perpetrators of inconsiderate behaviour. (And another reason why I'm tired of the whole business and wanted off the board.)

-TD, peacemaker (and desperately wanting to get out of here)

 

[TDWoj]

The path of enlightenment beckoning?
lol, stress is fun.
I've learned how to deal with it, but sometiems it wins. lol accept it, laugh and drink some JD's

Fox, you bad boy! <evil grin>

Actually, I passed the limit of how much stress I can cope with a while back, hence the onset of the little medical problem. And, alas, JD is going to have to remain bottled up, since I don't partake of either the grain or the grape (or the potato) - coming from a background that had alcoholics in it, this is one problem I'd just as soon not acquire, especially at this late stage in the game.

However, I do have other ways to relieve my stress. They have names like Above the Law, Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, Out for Justice.... I think a little vicarious violence might be just the thing!

-TD, ready to relieve stress and.... (a whole lot of pornographic musings about a certain action hero deleted)

 

[TDWoj]

Well thank god it is not this board!
we need a well edumacated person to write some posts here!

Don' know nothin' 'bout edumacatin' no babbies, suh!

 

[Sleeping Fox]

Fox, you bad boy! <evil grin>

Actually, I passed the limit of how much stress I can cope with a while back, hence the onset of the little medical problem. And, alas, JD is going to have to remain bottled up, since I don't partake of either the grain or the grape (or the potato) - coming from a background that had alcoholics in it, this is one problem I'd just as soon not acquire, especially at this late stage in the game.

However, I do have other ways to relieve my stress. They have names like Above the Law, Hard to Kill, Marked for Death, Out for Justice.... I think a little vicarious violence might be just the thing!

-TD, ready to relieve stress and.... (a whole lot of pornographic musings about a certain action hero deleted)

ah, that can't be good, but if you're willing to heal, you will!

I also come from a family of alcoholics, my grand mum...well both, you take their livers out and set em on fire, they'll out last the sun.
I don't like alcohol either, although I wouldn't mind trying Mead (honey...lol, remembering the 13th warrior for some reason)
thankfully my mother has the same taste as me for alcohol....nasty stuff.

Hey try some hippy stuff for relaxing, and by hippy I mean holistic, and by holistic I mean Accupuncture or Reiki.
Or
Tai Chi, Yoga or Qi Gong

 

[TDWoj]

Hey try some hippy stuff for relaxing, and by hippy I mean holistic, and by holistic I mean Accupuncture or Reiki.
Or
Tai Chi, Yoga or Qi Gong

I'd like to try Tai Chi. Again, it's location, location, location - there is absolutely NOTHING in this 'hood. Nearest facilities are at least an hour away by public transit.

Another reason why I want to move downtown, dammit! More stuff there! (Not to mention the Aikido dojo near to one of the places whereat I am on the waiting list.)

-TD, needing harmony and peace in a really big way

 

[Sleeping Fox]

What district you live in? On tuesday I'm going to china town on a field trip, see if I can remember any Kung Fu shooting locations

 

[Serena]

Good for you, TD! You sound vastly relieved already. Sounds like you're on the right track in starting to reduce the stresses in your life. I'm sure there were many people who truly did appreciate all the time and effort you put into this position. I'll bet they REALLY realized how much they'll miss you at the meeting tonight! Enjoy your free time.

Serena.

____________________________________

 

[TDWoj]

Thanks, Serena! Hands were even so clutching at my shirt-tails as I left the room after the meeting, but I escaped unscathed, and bolted for the safety of my horrid little apartment.

-TD, who tot she taw a puddy-tat

 

[TDWoj]

What district you live in? On tuesday I'm going to china town on a field trip, see if I can remember any Kung Fu shooting locations

Missed your message!

I live in the west end, Etobicoke, on the Lakeshore between Royal York and Park Lawn. Going west on Lakeshore from Humber Loop, there's a clutch of pretentious condos, a strip of seedy motels, more pretentious condos, a strip of low rise apartment buildings in mostly bad condition which as close as Toronto gets to a slum neighbourhood (okay, maybe Regent Park is marginally worse, since the drug dealing there is overt, whereas here it is covert), and million dollar lakefront homes.

I live in the slum.

I would like not to live in the slum. I would like to live downtown on the Esplanade, which is near the Gooderham and Woorts distillery where many, many movies are shot (it was also a location several times for Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, but not, strangely enough, for Exit Wounds, although some of the scenes in that film were shot nearby, on Queen Street).

 

[Amos Stevens]

Speaking of slums...made me think of an article someone wrote in our neighborhood newsletter-said he didn't know he had moved into a ghetto 30 years ago!hee hee

 

[TDWoj]

It's true appearances can be deceiving. I should have checked this neighbourhood out a little more carefully, but I had to find a place fast, and this co-op was the only one that had a unit available immediately (one has to wait on waiting lists at most co-ops for three to five years), and the 'hood, in early evening, didn't look that bad (note to self: check next place out in the DAY time).

It seemed okay when I first moved here; but then I discovered that almost every other little doorway on the business side of the street had a hole-in-the-wall bar, usually filled to capacity with your stereotypical individuals on social assistance drinking away their benefit. Bars open at 11 a.m., and these individuals are legless by noon.

Add to that, the building next door has entrepreneurs dedicated to the sale of crack cocaine, E is sold on the street corner and out of the coffee shop down the road (previously such business was conducted right under the noses of the cops having their way with donuts in the corner donut shop, but the cops no longer have a division in this area - you should have seen the happy dances the dealers were doing when that closure came about, as if they were much bothered when we did have a division), elderly women are mugged on their own front doorsteps (takes an hour now for police and emergency vehicles to come, because this is not considered a "serious" crime), cars are ransacked and vandalised regularly, break-ins occur like they're on a schedule (most recently one in our building), child neglect is rampant, and once a month the slum landlord (or his agent) turns up in his $60K car to pick up the rents from the buildings next door and to harrass old ladies who have lived there too long and whose units are covered by rent-control.

Oh, yes, not to mention the guy in the building next door on my side who likes to take potshots with his handgun at seagulls sitting on the roof of my building.

Add to that girl gangs, drug/needle users who used to like to sit under our playground's play structure (since torn down) and do their thing, and the new game hereabouts, which is, count how many sidewalk panels do NOT have blood spatters on them....

Oh, I forgot about the dead body they found on the grounds of the cookie factory, across from the sleazy motels.

Lots of West Nile Virus carrying mosquitoes, too, which is a minor point, but well worth mentioning.

Well, it's an *interesting* place to live, if nothing else.

-TD, thinking places like this were only found in the movies

 

[Amos Stevens]

Yep Td-next time they don't have to build that scene for a movie,we will just send to your neighborhood!

 

[Sleeping Fox]

TD:
It sounds like you live in the neighborhood like the writer of The BoonDock saints lived in, he wrote that screen play as therapy.
So when do we get to see your masterpiece on screen?

 

[TDWoj]

So far, neither character nor situation has come to mind. Some might find this 'hood good source material, but I actually don't find it interesting enough to write about. I'm just grateful I'm still in one piece....