It was around ten years ago when I decided to look for a new permanent job. I wanted something different from my writing vocation as I've always managed to devote time each week to this calling ever since I can remember. I wanted and continue to want my writing to be devoid of any commercial goal or influence. I opted to work in the education field and found an office position at a high school where I worked with administrators, teachers, parents and students.
In the fall of 2010, I learned that the school district's budget crisis would result with extensive layoffs. Among remaining employees, many would be transferred to new schools based on seniority and other complex reasons. Upon learning that I would find myself relocated to a new school among hundreds of potential sites, I considered where my new assignment might be located. I had heard accounts of staff members being reassigned to locations requiring extensive freeway commutes. The first possibility that came to my mind was perhaps I could find myself at an elementary school in North Hollywood. Weeks later, I was notified of my new assignment and the location was indeed an elementary school in North Hollywood. The new work site was located in a more distant subdistrict. This unusual 'psychic' instance reminded me that our innate intuitive abilities may be experienced as part of our natural thought process, sometimes perhaps without one even noticing it.
In my case, I was soon notified that a "match" had been found in regard to my application for reassignment closer to home. I accepted this opportunity to work at a high school without realizing that the school wasn't actually located in the subdistrict I'd authorized.
The following summer, another reduction of staff and services was ordered. The union divulged that in my job classification the latest cuts would result with what amounted to an estimated 61.35 percent elimination of positions during a two and a half year period. A certified letter informed me that in fifty days I would be relocated to a middle school in the farther subdistrict and my full-time position would be reduced to a half-time position.
This fall I had just begun working at the middle school when a new union agreement returned me and a group of other office workers to full-time positions. I received a phone call from an assignment coordinator and had to immediately select a new work site. There were no secondary schools with an available position in my residential area so I realized that the new job would be quite different. My new school is a model elementary school with a high Academic Performance Index score.
My personal perspective about Christmas is that every day is Christmas if you are in good health and have beneficial work circumstances. Although I have no time for reading or viewing fictitious narratives these days, I recall the ever-timely messages of the ghosts of the 1843 Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol that has been dramatized in many versions over the years. Writers Mitch Glazer & Michael O'Donoghue befittingly updated the story to a corporate milieu for the Paramount movie "Scrooged." The comedy's cast and filmmakers included actor Michael J. Pollard, production designer J. Michael Riva and director of photography Michael Chapman. Previous blog posts have considered the 'Michael Pattern' and testimonials about so-called ghosts and poltergeists, including "Greenbrier Ghost" and "My Search for the Ghost of Flight 401 by Elizabeth Fuller".
For me, the holiday season has always been a time of reflection and hope. This year—as during the previous few years—the world's economic and environmental problems must be on one's mind. Public services are seemingly being cut everywhere. It is my belief that a new world economic order is needed to replace the intrinsically feudal system that has become antiquated over the centuries. An evolved, more 'spiritually aware' world economic system should allow wealth to derive from services provided by people to others in all capacities, including environmental conservation and enhancement.
In the fall of 2010, I learned that the school district's budget crisis would result with extensive layoffs. Among remaining employees, many would be transferred to new schools based on seniority and other complex reasons. Upon learning that I would find myself relocated to a new school among hundreds of potential sites, I considered where my new assignment might be located. I had heard accounts of staff members being reassigned to locations requiring extensive freeway commutes. The first possibility that came to my mind was perhaps I could find myself at an elementary school in North Hollywood. Weeks later, I was notified of my new assignment and the location was indeed an elementary school in North Hollywood. The new work site was located in a more distant subdistrict. This unusual 'psychic' instance reminded me that our innate intuitive abilities may be experienced as part of our natural thought process, sometimes perhaps without one even noticing it.
In my case, I was soon notified that a "match" had been found in regard to my application for reassignment closer to home. I accepted this opportunity to work at a high school without realizing that the school wasn't actually located in the subdistrict I'd authorized.
The following summer, another reduction of staff and services was ordered. The union divulged that in my job classification the latest cuts would result with what amounted to an estimated 61.35 percent elimination of positions during a two and a half year period. A certified letter informed me that in fifty days I would be relocated to a middle school in the farther subdistrict and my full-time position would be reduced to a half-time position.
This fall I had just begun working at the middle school when a new union agreement returned me and a group of other office workers to full-time positions. I received a phone call from an assignment coordinator and had to immediately select a new work site. There were no secondary schools with an available position in my residential area so I realized that the new job would be quite different. My new school is a model elementary school with a high Academic Performance Index score.
My personal perspective about Christmas is that every day is Christmas if you are in good health and have beneficial work circumstances. Although I have no time for reading or viewing fictitious narratives these days, I recall the ever-timely messages of the ghosts of the 1843 Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol that has been dramatized in many versions over the years. Writers Mitch Glazer & Michael O'Donoghue befittingly updated the story to a corporate milieu for the Paramount movie "Scrooged." The comedy's cast and filmmakers included actor Michael J. Pollard, production designer J. Michael Riva and director of photography Michael Chapman. Previous blog posts have considered the 'Michael Pattern' and testimonials about so-called ghosts and poltergeists, including "Greenbrier Ghost" and "My Search for the Ghost of Flight 401 by Elizabeth Fuller".
For me, the holiday season has always been a time of reflection and hope. This year—as during the previous few years—the world's economic and environmental problems must be on one's mind. Public services are seemingly being cut everywhere. It is my belief that a new world economic order is needed to replace the intrinsically feudal system that has become antiquated over the centuries. An evolved, more 'spiritually aware' world economic system should allow wealth to derive from services provided by people to others in all capacities, including environmental conservation and enhancement.
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