Today

Today was one of those days when I really could not get anything done at work, my boss pissed me off, my plans for tomorrow got screwed which puts a damper on the things I would have liked to achieve tomorrow work wise thanks to guess what… work.

Today was also the day after I found out the insurance company will only give me life insurance coverage of a third of what I would have gotten (for the premium I can afford to pay) if I had not been honest and told them I had been to the doctor in the last however many months. I guess it is no use telling your children to be honest because it apparently does not get you anywhere except screwed.

I am only insured for the value of a car because I just might be sick. I have yet to be diagnosed with anything and they just could not wait until I actually had a diagnosis and “it was a hard decision whether to insure me or not”. So I suppose the underwriter wanted me to be grateful. What do you know, because I might be a little dented (no major damage, no engine trouble, no water damage due to Gustav) I am worth only the grand total of the cost of a car and maybe not even a new one depending on the model. But I think the thing that really gets me is that they will not review my case for two years and even if I go to the doctor the week after next (which is when I am due to go back) and he tells me I am perfectly fine and I am more likely to die from a bullet or have a vehicle mow me down than from any illness, I will still be labelled as sick by the insurance company for two bloody years.

Today was also the day that I found out I am invited to a wedding next February. I like being I invited to weddings by non-family and not as the person after the and, as in “so and so and guest”. Family feels like obligation but with non-family it means that they really thought about it and they really wanted you to be there. I am a girl so I am all into the wedding thing. Of course you have to have the obligatory invitees but for the most part I want my wedding (if I ever have one) to be witnessed by the people that really matter in both our lives no matter the number, unless there are way too many people that matter to us both than we can afford to feed. In that case, we will have to elope and hope that all the people who will be mad at us for eloping will come around once the first child enters the picture (should we be so blessed).

Today was also the day I discovered D. H. Lawrence’s poem “The Elephant Is Slow To Mate”. Maybe I belong to the elephant family, but that’s an aside. The poem piqued my curiosity about elephants and thanks to good old Wikipedia I found out that female elephants are usually attracted to “bigger, stronger, and, most importantly, older males”. This is a strategy to increase their offspring's chances of survival. I suppose us ladies could take a few lessons from the elephants and adopt it to human life. Let’s face it this whole finding a mate thing is more about reproduction than about, dare I say it, love. Do not get me wrong I am not a cynic when it comes to love. I think love is a very wonderful thing and an even more wonderful thing is the realization that the person that you love loves you back with equal (never less) force.

Let’s look at it objectively. The female elephants do not necessarily go for the nicest looking male elephants or the one with the nicest car. Just humour me; I know elephants do not drive cars. I suppose we could equate the car thing to the fastest elephant. The fact is the strongest elephant may not be the fastest. A weaker elephant may have to be faster so he can outrun the enemy whereas the stronger elephant can stand up and fight. Maybe I am taking this whole elephant thing too far, but the bottom line is this, the whole mating thing is not all frivolity and one should be smart. One last elephant thing, even though they are huge they are gentle lovers and they are not exhibitionists. When they are ready to mate they usually go away from the herd for a while.

How did I end up at D.H.Lawrence? Apart from the fact that I have not finished reading “Women In Love” (one book of many I have started and put down for more frivolous, however, less interesting ones), I found a quote attributed to him today – “Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.”

Today is also the day when it is out with the old and in with the new. “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” has been replaced by “When life gives you lemons you have the beginning of a great gin and tonic”.