Moments D685: Jamaica Clocks

This morning, bright and ugly (after all, I think we hit the bed around 2am after our late arrival!) the family, EQ and I were up early to meet up with our Nolitours representative Amelle.  We were all eager to hear about the offerings of the resort and what other day trips/tours that were available to us.

And though the rest of the day ended up being a very delicious lazy day at the beach, with a permanent drinks in hand, the moment that made me smile the most, surprisingly, came from this early morning meeting.

Amelle was thorough in her explanation of what the Sunset Jamaica Grande could offer us.  From free onsite kayaking to offsite tours for a small fee, she had answers to many questions.  She even had an answer for a question I asked from the audience:

"Why are there no clocks in the rooms?"

Amelle's explanation:  The outlets in our rooms were look the same as those we had at home (110 volts) but they actually cycle slower at 50 HZ.  As everyone in the audience looked around quizzically at one another, Amelle stood patiently at the front of the room.  Then, with a wink, she continued her explanation:  because the cycles were slower, digital clocks were unable to keep proper time and would always run late.  Yes, that's right, always run late.  Therefore, there really was no point in keeping digital clocks in the room when they didn't keep proper time.  She joked that we're on vacation and we shouldn't mind the time anyway!

I found it rather amusing because there is a stereotype that Jamaicans are always late.  It all makes perfect sense.  It's not them, it's their electricity causing the lateness after all, the slow cycling of digital clocks keeping slow time certainly isn't helpful to keeping on time!

Silly, enlightening moments.

Moments enjoying a silly wink.

Moments realizing how, over time (sorry for the pun!) stereotypes can be formed.

Moments D676: Waiting Rooms

Here's something you likely don't know about me. I dislike waiting rooms. I know, most people likely do.  Really, who likes waiting around for someone else?  That said, some may enjoy the quiet downtime as they wait for their appointment. For me, it's a waste of very precious time.

Unfortunately, for me, my doctor is always running behind schedule. It's not just once in awhile. It's every single time I go to visit her. I wouldn't mind so much if it were merely 5-10, even 15 minutes each time. Sadly, the truth is that she is typically an hour late - or more. It's disrespectful of my time to always be so late.

Even so, she's still my doctor. I know, I know. I should just find a new MD and believe me, I've thought about it, but it's been a low priority given that I really only see her once, maybe twice a year.

Today was a check-up. All I needed was blood work done, so, in essence a requisition form for the lab. I'd see my doctor for maybe 5 minutes for it.

And I waited for just over an hour.

Normally I would have been quite tweaked by the end of my waiting time. Today was a different story. Today I had EQ with me as he's back in town! Our hour in the waiting room was a nice mid-day treat. Bonus time.

Instead of feeling like I had had time stolen from me, I now felt like I had stumbled across bonus time with my love. Perfect really considering he came back to Toronto early.  Bonus time!

We enjoyed every extra minute we had together today because of my tardy, ill-organized, overbooked doctor.  I'm not complaining.  Instead, I'm celebrating that moment.

Moments seeing with a different perspective.

Moments appreciating bonus time.

Moments D635: Lazy Cooking Days

This morning was an incredibly lazy morning.  I awoke at my normal time, 7am.  There was no way I was getting up that early today, my weekend day home in bed for 6 weeks.  What a sweet treat it would be to sleep in.

Little did I know!

Two hours later, I awoke.  EQ and I snuggled and chatted for awhile, then promptly fell back asleep.  A few hours later we awoke and did much of the same.  Did I have a long list of things to do?  Yes, but boy oh boy did it feel good to be lazy and enjoy some quality time with my love.

And then it was time to make the recipe that Mr. B gave me yesterday.  Cabbage Roll Soup.

We ventured out to the grocery store for the ingredients, then to the health food store for more supplements for me.  By the time we meandered back home, it was time to start prepping & cooking.  It was the first really opportunity I've had to test out my new Shun knife that EQ gave me for Christmas.  OOOOh I loved it nearly as much as the end result of the recipe.

Moments enjoying a slow day.

Moments enjoying a (delightful!) new recipe.

Moments D379: Stolen Time

There are days when people manage to steal time from my. A ten minute conversation, a drop-in to my office, a request to follow up on some project that isn’t mine to own, an influx of emails to respond to quickly or a task that is handed over to me because I can find answers more quickly. All those minutes add up. Stolen time.

Today I gave quite a bit of thought to stolen time and moments. I’ve had a couple of days where many moments have been stolen and my plans shifted because of those stolen moments. In some cases, those shifted plans were incredible while other moments caused me to fall behind.

As today unfolded, I realized that it was going to be a day I was crunched for time. And yes, I was hyper aware of the time. With much to do and little time to do it, I was mindful of the fact that today could have quickly ramped up to a stressful day. That’s not to say it wasn’t stressful (it was), but it could have been a lot more so.

Instead of going with the flow and dealing with things as they came to me, I took control. I made it clear to everyone in the office that today my door was not open. Today I was not going to have time stolen from me. I set my boundaries and made sure that the one thing I really needed to get done today was accomplished. And though my interruptions were not entirely eliminated they were greatly minimized. Fortunately, it was enough time stolen back to me that I was able to accomplish my task at hand.

Today’s moment, about stolen time, had me thinking. As my Naturopath told me at my last appointment a few weeks back, being mindful is something I need to do more of. I think today was a big step towards that end. Now, I don’t believe I could do this everyday (for I came back to nearly 75 emails!), but some days, I think I have a new “mindful” process.

This also had me thinking about how I might steal time from other people. Do I linger? Do I ask more questions than I should? Do I ask people to do things that I should be doing myself? Do I take time to listen and not just dump my own tasks/problems on others. Do I steal time from people?

I’m sure I do. I think it’s only natural sometimes. At least now I’m more aware of it. Awareness is good. Do you steal time from people?

I think I’m going to have to steal time for myself! I rather enjoyed that.

Moments of growing.

Moments of giving time back.

Moments D259: Lost and Found

Today I met up with my one of my besties. I haven’t seen her in quite some time. Our lives got in the way. Our lack of words got in the way. And frankly we were a bit lost between us.

But today’s moment was about being found again. We found our words. We reconnected. We found the light in a dark time (as we both have much on our plate) and we cleared away the cobwebs to reveal the sparkle below.

That was my moment. Seeing my girlfriend smile and know that all was right with the world again. I had really missed her and though I’ve told her in the past two months that I’ve missed her, neither of us had the time to connect. It was good to reconnect and celebrate a belated Christmas & New Year’s.

Moments with friends to catchup and clear up.

Moments appreciating how you are lucky to have such incredible friends.