Productive weekend, perhaps a sign of a mood swing for me. Better energy level, less tendency to give up on a task, sit watching TV, etc. Some practice, more work on the Gavotte and Hammerhead First Primary. No leaves, as it snowed Friday. I resisted buying tools. This was difficult.

Posted two "aphorisms" for the AAD theme this week:

With an Aim, there is Hope
With Change comes Opportunity

A good amount of work done tonight at home: about 2 yards of compost moved off the driveway and the auger drive bely fixed on the snow thrower. Of course, I looked three times at mechanics gloves while I was out on Sunday, but didn't buy any. I now have two pretty good chunks out of my right hand for my lack of foresight.

Some good practive, learning the first 18 bars of the Cello Gavotte from the AAD. It isn't familiar, and does not come immediately to me, and this is a good thing. I am finding the music in this piece, but it will be interesting to hear the "right" way to play it. I need to step back and review the other new pieces of repertoire. Perhaps this crappy, rainy day will help that along.

Did manage to do one thing that made me feel useful: I took apart the snow-blower this morning to see why the auger wasn't turning, before hauling it in for repair. I discovered the belt that had slipped off the pulleys. I should be able to fix this myself this weekend, rather than spending more to fix it. This gives me a bit of personal satisfaction, as if I can actually accomplish something. While I was there, I also swept the leaves out of my wife's side of the garage.

Having a challenge with this week's Theme in the AAD. How to express something positively. Right now, my aphorism for Phase II:
Aimlessness begets Hopelessness.

Perhaps better to say, With an Aim, there is Hope

So, no Kitchen Course this January, but there will be a kitchen. This does not change my plans for attending.

Long drive home last night, but fewer events on the ride. A good bit of practice in the morning, more Hammerhead-style first primary work. No joy on some of the repertoire, but Blockhead was working.

Apparently our department layoffs are being strung out over a 2 to 3 week period. Why cut off your hand in one clean stroke, when you can shave it off a layer at a time?

For whatever reason, my migraines have stopped.

Down-time after class. The guitar calls.

Long day at work today, changes to be made to two systems. I'll be here late. The ACE, Electric Gauchos and Steve Ball keep me sane.

Some discussion with one of the managers at work. His mother-in-law just passed away. Her mental state seemed to sharply decline just four days before she died. In that time, she was seeing all of her dead relatives, coming in to visit. She was quite lucid, but was naturally having some difficulty convincing those around her of what she was seeing. Now, a "sane" person will say that she was hallucinating, and was out of her mind. What if, in her last moments, she was able to see something we "sane" people cannot, or are unwilling to see? What makes this even stranger, is that there was another woman in the same room, experiencing the same thing. She died a day later.

What makes this very much more interesting to me is a similar thing happened to my wife's grandmother when her husband died. She was in the hospital at the time, and swore that she saw Stanley in the hallway that night. This was before we told her that he had died. She basically shrugged it off and said, "Well, that explains it then.".

Lamentable lack of foresight in not bringing my guitar to work today. Something clicked into place regarding the Enneagram and GC today.

My "lesson" didn't show last night, so I spent about 2 hours on the guitar while other things happened in the background. Good work on the First Primary, working a variation of Hammerhead. Four finger variations, and a degree of freedom I haven't ever experienced.

The aphorism on the diaries page this morning: The future is what the present can bear.

If I had to pick two of three events below:
- Red Sox Beat the Yankees/Win the world Series
- I keep my job
- Democrat in the White House

I guess I'll take the first two. Keeping my job is important, and I expect to see another Dem in the Oval office again in my lifetime...

(That's a joke, people...)

Fulfilled my civic duty.

Watching the Daily Show for election coverage. Bummed.

A pleasant weekend: Saturday to the Pet show, where some new puppy-maddening toys were purchased. A good rainy day activity. Sunday was spent on leaves and the yard. Much warmer than expected.

A new arrival in the mail Saturday is being perused: Bennett's Enneagram Studies. Just getting into the chapter on the Kitchen. More available to me right now than Beelzebub.

Preparing for the Big Decision tomorrow. Sad that every Election Day I spend more energy looking at who I'm *not* going to vote for, rather than who I actually *want* to vote for. I wish I had the force of conviction that so many people around me have.