Kiss My Karma

Me....Yesterday!

"Oh wad some Power the giftie gie us to see oursels as ithers see us."

Robert Burns 1786

Wasn't it a grand day Tuesday. No matter who you voted for, the force of the moment was on us.

Here's a pic of President Barack Obama from this past summer.

The two guys on his left are former students, and now anchor/reporters in Wyoming, Juan Tan Romero and Walter Allen. I don't think they had time to shoot any hoops with the big guy, but they'll have tales to tell to their grandchildren regardless.

I've had a few setbacks to whine about the past six months, but thank me for keeping them mostly to myself.

My Karma, I'm thinking, isn't that bad, you know? I'm doing pretty good.

It certainly isn't as negative as the Karma that hit my sister Brenda during the holidays.

On Christmas day she leaves her Oakland Hills home and Drives to Livermore, California so we can all have dinner together.

Literally, three blocks from her destination, my stepdaughter's house, a woman of dubious character, driving an SUV beyond her capacity, slams that monster right into the side of Brenda's little old sedan.

CAR TOTALLED...BRENDA NOT
So Brenda, Peggy and I spend Christmas afternoon and evening in the emergency room at a hospital in Pleasanton, California. (They did hold dinner for us.)

She screwed up her knee, took some hits on the chin and chest, but she is back to her aerobic self once again. Brenda is an artist, and I'm watching to see how this experience manifests itself in her work.

www.brendareinertson.com

Like I said things have been cruising right along for me. Last week, on Friday to be exact, I am down on campus for some orientation. I'm excited about the two classes I'm going to be teaching starting inauguration day. There are some announcements, some smiles, some glad handing, some process sharing.. and then I'm heading home?

Well I'm home about ten minutes, and check my email? There before me is a note telling me because of budget constraints and low enrollment my broadcast journalism class has been cancelled.

Damn!

Okay, my supplemental income is cut in half. BIG DEAL. I've been listening to Obama. This just makes me a good citizen in these rough economic times. I'm just going to get over myself and embrace the joy of promise ahead. I can't wait to hear the speech.

So Tuesday morning I jump in the shower early. What a big day I have ahead of me. I'll get ready, listen to most of the speech, rush to light rail, zip to campus for DAY ONE OF THE NEW SEMESTER.

"Paul, hey you there in the shower."

"Yeah?"

"You got a call. You want to call them back?"

"Yeah!"

ONE RINGY DINGY...TWO RINGY DINGYS......

"Hi! This is Paul."

"Huh?"

So this is sacrifice, is it? Budget cuts 'cause of the economy means no announcing class, and that supplemental income?

ZIP!

There are some things you learn working in the media over time. Really they apply to most forms of labor. Among them are: don't burn bridges; don't stay angry and bitter, you're just hurting yourself; don't say mean things in the heat of the moment you'll regret later. AND if you have to let somebody go? DON'T DO IT IN EMAIL AND/OR OVER THE PHONE.

That's all the rage I've got. I'm done. I'm calm.

Now that doesn't mean I'm without any urge to vent completely. But you'll have to buy me a beer in some backwater dive to get it out of me.

Now let me be obscure. I hope the following words will be taken as lightly as I'm typing them.

You know that poetic verse that began this treatise? In case your 1780's Scottish dialect is a little weak, allow me to translate.

"Oh would that god would give us the power to see ourselves as others see us."

And what is the subject and title of this near epic poem?

"TO A LOUSE"

A louse reportedly crawling around on the hat of a woman sitting in front of Robert Burns at church.

KISS MY KARMA! OH, I FEEL SOOOOO......MUCH BETTER NOW. What now? Oh, I'll find something to do. But you SHOULD know I am available.