Sharing Your Joy and Happiness

Do you let people around you know what makes you happy? Do people know how much you appreciate different aspects in your life?

Today at work I took some time to make a call to a friend of my coworker who passed away nearly three months ago. This friend of her's had unfortunately just found out about her passing this week because he had limited contact with my coworker. Anyways, after I had broke the news to him and several of her other friends in Houston who hadn't heard the news, this friend in particular asked for me to call him, so I did today.

As I talked to him he shared with me about how my friend/coworker had always told him how much she greatly LOVED her job with us. She would tell him how she just LOVED the people she worked with and how she was so happy working with us. [Note: Apparently she had told this to more than just him, as another of her friends from Houston had told me the same thing...how she spoke so highly of our place of employment and our staff].

So as we were talking, I discovered that it had been him who was one of the many calls I have taken over the past few months of people calling our office and asking to speak with our now gone friend/coworker. Typically when I receive these calls I say, "_______ is no longer with us." It is typically taken as "she no longer works here," which is true, but it also has a stronger meaning. Anyways...

This friend of her's that I was on the phone with mentioned how he had called once trying to reach her and I had told him that and he of course said, "Oh okay." and hung up. Well today on the phone he was telling me how that day when he hung-up he immediately knew something wasn't right about that. He explained it as, he just KNEW that couldn't be everything because she loved her job so dearly that she would never leave and had she had been fired, he just knew she would have contacted him and told him. He continually expressed to me how it was just so weird for him, as he just KNEW something wasn't right when he got that response as he called our office that day.

I don't know. I just thought that was really interesting. I really don't have a witty way to conclude this post (as I originally thought I would have when I decided to write it...HA), but I can say I wonder how many of our friends would know the things we love so dearly and we would know that something just wasn't quite right if we heard our friend was no longer a part of something he/she loved.

I can tell you this, there's really not much of a salary price you can place on a work environment that you get to share with people you love to be around and people you find yourself looking forward to seeing each day. Loving the people you work with is what makes a job GREAT. Apparently my dear coworker let others know how much she loved the workplace she was a part of and the people she got to labor alongside.

UPDATE: I'm not hurting in the same sense I was when I originally posted this post. I've since decided it's ridiculous to allow myself to hurt each day and having to just wait for other parties involved. I'm moving on with my life and being happy for now. When the time comes that those involved decide they want to talk to me, I'll talk to them. I'll most likely make my point about how I feel the level of anger towards me for my behaviors I feel is outweighing my actions; I feel this has been ridiculous--THAT is why I'm choosing to move on rather than allow myself to be miserable and just having to wait... [9-26-07]

Not again...

...it hurts when all you want to do is talk to the person, but you know they don't want to hear from you right now...

Thoughts

The friends I'm the closest too do not read my blog.

That point alone gives me a lot to think about at times. It's interesting. What makes it even more interesting is when I think about the regular reading audience I DO know I have--those that I am aware of as regulars. When I think about that group it always makes me smile and makes me think thoughts like, "people are very interesting. I can really appreciate how internally we may have greater levels of appreciation and respect for people than we sometimes outwardly show."

Just some thoughts.

Stuff

• I have NEVER jumped so quickly online to hit iTunes and download a song as I did following this song for the first time. I'm not sure what it was besides my thinking it was just such a BEAUTIFUL sounding song! "The Only Promise That Remains" by Reba McEntire and Justin Timberlake. It was on the Oprah episode from Wed. that I just finished watching. What can I say? Oprah can truly sell authors' books and Oprah can really sell artists' songs! HA!
• When I was a little girl I used to think Reba McEntire was the prettiest of all ladies. HA! Which is funny looking back on it now because of that hair...HA! No really though, she just has AMAZING eyes! It was always her eyes that I thought were beautiful (well, and probably that fun southern sounding accent...maybe that's why I'm in the south now! HA!). But nowadays, my opinion of her goes beyond her looks and well, uh, I had heard she isn't easy to get along with...she's one of those big-headed big-shots, if you know what I mean. And well, when I watched her being interviewed on Oprah...I kinda got that feel to her (but she still has pretty eyes!) ;)
• What the crap happened to the St. Louis Cardinals these past few weeks!?! Dangit boys!
• I love chatting fantasy football with all the boys at work! HA!
• I want to see the new movie that's coming out at the beginning of October which is directed by Sean Penn. It's based on a true story. It's called "Into the Wild." It's apparently based on the book with the same title. It looks really good. I saw previews of it featured on Thursday's Oprah episode! HA! Sean Penn is cool. He is Oprah's favorite actor (well, possibly tied with Sir Anthony Hopkins). She showed clips of her favorite parts of some of Penn's films and it made me remember how much I love "I Am Sam." What a great movie!
• I have a new "daily-record" show. Oprah's not alone anymore. My VCR (yes, I still use one of those) is now set to record from 3 PM till 5 PM. I just has to switch from NBC to ABC as the 4 o'clock hour. That's because it now records the Ellen show! After I had MULTIPLE people...that are NOT friends with one another (so they were not conspiring on this)...tell me that Ellen and I are a lot alike, I decided I had to check her out (well, not in that way! HA!). So after deciding to tune-in to her season opener this season, I've been hooked! This woman has a GREAT sense of humor and is so optimistic! I once came up with my own description of what TRUE humor is and it centered around humor that is not made at anyone else's expense. Ellen is GOOD at "true humor" in my opinion. She isn't about cutting others down to be funny. Now, I openly admit that I do not literally "laugh out loud" at TOO many people's humor....just typically at my own jokes...HA!...but Ellen literally has me smiling the whole show through and laughing on many occasions! She's good folks!

PersonalDNA

I took this really cool personality test online today. I found the test itself to be interesting and it really allows for you to make your answers personally unique, instead of having to try to fit into a cookie-cutter response. So that's cool. And then the results seem like they are very well put together because they seemed pretty accurate to me.

I was an Animated Leader. You can read more about my results here. You can also go take the test for yourself here. Enjoy!

Random Thoughts

Just some random thoughts I had today...

• I think bluetooths are corny. And I do not like how people walk around talking on them and you can't see the ear-piece and you're first reaction is that they are talking to you. Or like you see someone approaching and they are just rambling along and you're thinking, "Hmm...there's no one around for them to be talking too. Who the heck are they talking too..." THEN you get a glance of the annoying blue blinking light. Yes, the one you see on people that leave them attached to their ears in settings such as church or wedding venues. YES, I sure did see a lady wearing her's through a wedding ceremony this past weekend. Come on now folks!
• If there should come a worthwhile use for bluetooths it should be the idea I came up with today. People with auditory hallucinations who choose to respond back to the voices verbally (i.e. that's basically my nice way of saying most severely schizophrenic individuals) should wear them when they are out in public. This would at least give them what appears to be a legitimate reason to be talking-out-loud when there is no one else around them. ;)

On a deeper and more serious note...

• When was it that watching someone shoot and kill someone became entertainment? Seriously? I was thinking about this today. Think of how just about all "R"-rated movies nowadays involves some sort of violence, many times being someone getting killed. Why do we find it entertaining to watch people shooting people? Sure, maybe guns are a hobby for some--such as hunting, but I don't know many that take up the hobby of shooting mankind? Yes, I'm just as guilty as most to watch a violent movie, but at the same time, I can't help but think right now, "why is it that in today's society violent movies do so well in the entertainment business, when you would have NEVER seen a 'shoot'em up and kill'em' type movie in the theatres 50 years ago." Hmmm...

Dilemma -- Job Interview Question

Here is a dilemma for your consideration:

You are driving along on a wild stormy night. You pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for the bus:
1. An old lady who is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect man (or woman) you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you choose, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car?

This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application. You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first; or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. However, you may never be able to find your perfect dream lover again.

So, imagine you're at the job interview and posed with this question. Record your response in the comment section. Be sure to arrive at your response BEFORE going to the comment section and reading what others have posted.

I will come back later and post the response given my the individual who got the job position over the other 200 applicants.