On a completely other website, completely unrelated and not looking for it, ran into a post that included a poem by Khalil Gibran. I know many of you are big poetry fans; I'm usually not. But this stanza really struck me:

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

So I thought I'd share.

Thanks, Calli! Swift recovery to amyth.

Epic, I love Gibran. He's one of the few poets my mother introduced me to that I fell in love with. He speaks from that soul-thing inside. Beautiful quote.

Ok, Amyth is at her friend's home now and being well cared for. All seems to have gone ok, aside from the nausea.

One of my relentlessly giggly coworkers tried to "smile!" me today.

I don't respond to that well in the best of moods, but she pretty much got the look of death and possibly the most acidic " Not.today." that I've unleashed on someone not threatening me with bodily harm. She retreated 3 steps and sat as far away as possible in the meeting.

Really, people. You get what you deserve.

Possibly not politic at this particular time, but I just can't.

And I'm basically driving dev on turning the gearless bike I got into a smart car, because while they promised me a tesla, I got a goddamned trike. And yes, reasons way bigger than all of us, but the system is called BAR for Background Automated Reprocessing, not Background Mylastname Reprocessing. And this isn't sustainable

I might start feeling out the newly appointed project lead on hiring me to main contract under her, the way this is going (I'm querying others too.)

Timelies all!

Dammit. Goodbye, Ginger.

Thanks for the update on Amyth, Calli! Glad to hear she's settled with friends.

Such a roller coaster few days with SUCH highs and lows. You know about the lows. The very, very lows.

A high is that I just learned I am getting a promotion (my boss made me promise not to tell anyone until February when it becomes effective, but you don't count, right?). But the best part was that the new process our new Chief Medical Officer has instilled is that for anything senior director and up, the promotion has to be brought before the exec committee and R&D leadership team. And he said when he put my name forth (and the slide that apparently listed my accomplishments), it was met with unanimous approval. So that was REALLY nice to hear because I've spent the last 6-7 months seriously considering quitting. It was just turning into a job too far removed from what I really enjoy doing. But knowing people high up in the company think well of me means a lot.

Also I was reminded last night that for the first years of my being on the board, Ginger used to say "javachik and I are the same person" because we agreed on so much. What at first seemed an odd thing to say later become the highest of compliments.

So my ego is doing fine today (like Maria's yesterday!!) but my heart? Remains broken.

Nanita, that’s wonderful news! Congrats!

Gentle, healing hugs to Amyth.

Fuck it, we all need gentle, healing hugs. I don’t give them out easily, but yes, free to Buffistas.

I can totally see why Ginger would say that Nanita.

And congratuWELLDONE. Unanimous acclaim is pretty sweet.

That's great, Nanita! Congrats! I'm a big fan of employers meaningfully recognizing their people, obvs.....