Interesting Times
Tuesday, August 1st, 2006In a speech in Cape Town, South Africa, on June 7, 1966, Robert F. Kennedy said, “There is a Chinese curse which says, “May he live in interesting times.” Like it or not, we live in interesting times…” Journalists picked up the phrase and it has become a commonplace.
However, the popularity of this “Chinese curse” puzzles Chinese scholars, who have only heard it from Americans. If it is of Chinese origin, it has somehow escaped the literature, although it may be a paraphrase of a liberal translation from a Chinese source, and therefore unrecognizable when translated back to Chinese. It might be related to the Chinese proverb, “It’s better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period.”
Stephen DeLong, who has been researching this quotation for several years and details his quest on his own website, has traced the quotation back to a 1950 science fiction story: “U-Turn” by Duncan H. Munro, a pseudonym for Eric Frank Russell.
Well, despite the accuracy of the curse, I seem to be living in rather interesting times. Yes, I did hear back from Out and Equal, and I begin tomorrow, so there won’t be a period of down time. On the other hand, the first few weeks will be freelance contract work. I’ll actually be earning more per hour, but we’re only starting out at 30 hours per week, so it sort of balances out to the salary I was making at Compass… sans benefits however.
So tomorrow I’ll be jumping in to a new job where there’s already lots of work to do, but at least I have a clear idea about what that work is and won’t be spending my day trying to create projects from nothing.
You know what I hate? Emotional blackmail. Why can’t people just be fucking professional? After having lunch with 
masqthephlsphr, where I expressed how I was kinda feeling guilty, I got back to the office and had to deal with wildly erratic displays of emotion. First there was the near-tears, then there was the almost angry demand that I make notes of anything the woman I replaced had trained me to do, then there was affectionate “let’s keep in touch,” and finally awkward jokes at the end of the day. Bleh. I’ve been there two weeks, people, there’s no reason for hysterics.
As if that wasn’t enough to keep me living in interesting times, Joanna and A-I-L got a note from CPS today. Of course, Joanna called my mother hysterical and through a relatively easy process of elimination, my mom figures out that I’d called them. She’s not mad, but she wanted to talk to me and make sure it really was me. I fessed up and told her I’d gladly do it again. What’s more, I told her that I’m glad A-I-L knows he’s been reported but isn’t exactly sure who it was. I want the fucker to know that he has to watch his step, because someone isn’t afraid of reporting his bullying. During my mom’s investigative work, though, it came out that Jacki and Patrick reported him to the animal abuse people (he’ll never be able to adopt a pet or buy from a credible breeder again); Jared’s therapist made a report to Adult Protective Services because of the times he’s assaulted Jordan; and there’s basically no one in the family who isn’t ready to report him the next time anything happens. My Uncle Drew, who lives about 3 minutes away (and at 6’5″ is one of the few people in our family larger and more intimidating to Brandon) has said that he’d personally escort A-I-L out of any family gathering if it even looked like he was losing his temper. Yeah, the family is rallying. I guess Joanna and A-I-L are going to avoid contact for a while, which is unfortunate and I’m afraid of what might happen during that time, but maybe it has to happen.
Jacki has an ovarian cyst that’s bothering her, Jasmine hurt her arm at work and now has to file a workman’s comp report, Jordan lost his temper and split Jared’s lip last week (but, to his great credit, Jared’s only response was to pin Jordan down and keep him immobile until help arrives… the young one is learning), and Jayne is frustrated enough about being seperated from her husband (who is in Iowa at his new job) that she’s dropped the selling price on her house in Phoenix to almost $40k below appraisal. It was a rare conversation with Mom that actually included that much info on how the rest of the family is… although I guess it would be nice if we could have one of these conversations without the litany of medical drama.
