Friday 5: Intense intents in tents

Happy Friday! Today is National Random Acts of Light Day (this is lovely!) and National Golf Cart Day. I believe golf carts are a scourge and do not belong on streets. From a car driver’s AND a frequent pedestrian’s opinion, they are worse than the WORST cyclists. Too slow for streets, too fast for sidewalks, and really freaking dangerous for the people inside.

It is also WM’s ACL repair surgery day. I’m posting this from the Ambulatory Surgery Center. I walked across the street to the hospital for breakfast and to have a cry about the state of the world (those are all links to CNN) in the reflection garden before coming back here. I took today off, even though I *could* have worked remotely from here. I still can’t wrap my brain around being able to bring my job with me anywhere I go. I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate anyway. I’m also off all next week as a weird sort of caregiver staycation.

Let’s move onto the Friday 5! This week’s theme is Intense intents in tents, which means we’re talking about the circus! I went to the Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey Circus when I was small. It was before my brother came on the scene. I also saw a Cirque du Soleil show and while the acrobatics were fantastic, I wasn’t wowed. There was a storyline that I couldn’t get into, and I was also unnerved by the literal children being employed as acrobats.

1. When have you recently been the ringmaster?
   Yesterday I conducted a software training refresher at work and to continue the circus theme, it’s a real juggling act to do that kind of thing online. I had to deal with a PowerPoint presentation, switching to the actual software, and keeping an eye on the chat for questions. Microsoft Teams also tries to be extra helpful and integrate with PowerPoint and thank you but no.
   
2. When have you recently walked a highwire?
   I am a pretty risk-averse human, so I try to effectively manage people and situations so that I’m never walking a highwire.
   
3. When have you recently been an acrobat?
   I have a hammock in my backyard. Because it’s fabric and outside, sometimes it has more elasticity and ‘give’ and sags closer to the ground. Trying to get out of a hammock that is inches from the ground without rolling onto the ground requires skill and ingenuity!
   
4. When have you recently been a lion tamer?
   Answering this at a very high level: sometimes people call me at work and they aren’t happy for one reason or another, especially if they are having trouble navigating our website. I have a small but effective arsenal of tricks to tame the lions. All of them include acknowledging their frustration and not minimizing it. I am thankful that I worked in retail for many years because it really helped me to learn how to deal with people.
   
5. When have you recently been the strongman or strongwoman?
   I have been mentally and emotionally strong for months now. Relatedly, with all that’s going on, please keep me and my family in your thoughts, as I am a terrible caregiver. The people I care for will disagree with that, but that’s because I’m a very good actor.
   

WM’s in recovery! Have a great weekend!

Webkeeping: even though this is complete at 11am, I’m going to post it later this afternoon because we are troubleshooting the newsletter feed and I want to make sure Friday’s newsletter is generated BEFORE this hits the RSS feed.