Sometimes, I think, no language on Earth could help a conversation.

Patient: "I don't know who my Social Worker is, but is she in today?"
Me: "Well, I can page the Social Worker on-call for you."
Patient: "Well, what good is that going to do?"
Me: "He or she can find out who your Social Worker is."
Patient: "Doesn't anybody have a list, or something, they can look up and tell me who my Social Worker is?"
Me: "Yes. The Social Worker on-call has the list. They'll look it up for you."
Patient: "That doesn't make any sense! Why can't you just tell my Social Worker that I want to see her?"
Me: "Do you know who your Social Worker is?"
Patient: "No, that's what I want to find out!"
Me: "Well, I'm sorry, but I can't page someone if I don't know who I'm paging."
Patient: "You're saying I can't talk directly to my own Social Worker?"
Me: "Not at all. What I'm saying is: Since we don't know who your Social Worker is, I'll page the Social Worker on-call, tell them you want to speak with your Social Worker, they'll find out who you're Social Worker is, and your Social Worker will come out to speak with you."
Patient: "I thought that when they put in the new phone system, things were supposed to be getting simpler, but you've just made it more complicated."
Me: "Would you like me to page the Social Worker on-call?"
patient: "Do whatever you gotta do, I guess."

(Later this evening) Lisa announced that tonight is the end of the current session, and the next session starts in two weeks. That surprised me - I'd been thinking we still had one more week to go. Did I miss it when Denise made the announcement?

I have decided to not sign up for Denise's class next session, and just stick with Lisa's. I like Denise's teaching style, but the Wednesday class felt too crowded to me. In Lisa's Friday class, I can extend my arms out to the side without having to modify it to a "cactus pose." I like coming in to Friday's class and finding a nearly empty studio, with just my class setting up. Wednesday's very full 7:00 class comes right after the very full class that ends at 6:45 - there's always that hectic jam of people leaving and setting up at the same time. Plus, Friday's end-of-the-week class time just makes more sense to me.

I came very close - closer that I've ever come - to doing The Wheel. I may have actually achieved it for a brief moment, but I'm not sure. It's not one of my favorite asanas. but it's one that I haven't been able to do. The sense of accomplishment, of course, felt good.

Two Conversations
(In English, y Español)

Early in the afternoon:
My supervisor: "How do you spell 'choosed'?"
Me: "You mean 'chosen.' No, wait, it's..."
My co-worker: "Chose."
Me: "Oh, right: 'chose.'"
My supervisor: "That doesn't look right." (then, reading from the email she was writing) "These are the candidates we did not chose."
Me: "Oh, it's 'choose.'"

Later in the day, my co-worker was checking in a patient. The patient's name on the schedule was Jose, but the person who had walked up to the desk was a woman.
My co-worker: "Where is Jose?"
The woman didn't seem to understand.
My co-worker: "Jose. Where is Jose?"
The woman looked confused.
My co-worker: "Where. Is. Jose?"
I looked around for any of my Spanish-speaking co-workers, but none were in sight.
Me (to the woman): "¿Donde es Jose?"
Woman: "Aquí."
Me (pointing to the floor): "¿Aquí?"
I didn't understand most of what the woman said next, but I caught the word "silla" and I understood what she meant when she pointed to the waiting room.
Me (nodding my head): "Ah! En la silla!"
Me (to my co-worker): "Jose is sitting over there."
My supervior (rather surprised): "I didn't know you could speak Spanish!"
Me: "I can't. Not really. Just a word here and there. Solamente un poco."

I chose the western route home this afternoon. The streets were unusually busy. Normally, I'd be sharing the sidewalk with three or four other people between Union and Pine. This afternoon, there eight or ten people walking along both sides of the street. There was a solid line of buses and cars along Bellevue. There seemed to be an abnormally large amount of traffic and people everywhere. I kept glancing at my watch, checking to be sure I didn't leave work too early or too late.

Traffic along 15th tonight, too, on the drive to yoga class, seemed unusually heavy. What was going on? Was it just my state of mind?

My body felt tired during class. It was difficult to hold asanas long enough. I think it was the strain of my recent illness.

I spent part of my day off yesterday geocaching on the UW campus. I sought three and found, um, just one.

The rest of my day off I spent typing the minutes from last week's Council meeting. I felt very inspired to do it, and I finished them in just one afternoon. It's funny how much good a switch from Times New Roman to Courier New can do.

As much as I'm still loving my job, it felt good to have had six days off. (No, I just realized, that's not a contradiction - it felt good to return to work after six days off.) As I scheduled for a one week followup appointment today, I realized that Phillip's and my trip to the ocean is just a little more than a week away. I'm excited.

I had a case of blogger's block last night. There seemed to be so much to write about last weekend - or, rather, so many angles to approach it from - that I didn't know how to begin.

On the drive back home on Sunday, Barbara commented on how peaceful Lopez Island felt. "Yeah, I liked it," I replied, "But I think that the quaintness would wear off for me after a while. After about a year, I think I'd want to be able to have more than two restaurants and one museum to choose from." Barbara replied, "You'd get a lot of writing done." "That's true."

We got church business accomplished. We produced a mission statement, and got a vision statement worked out, but not polished. I was reminded of what a rare church we have (although not as unique as it was a few years ago) in its liberal viewpoint and its open and affirming policy. It remains the only church in its area to have an inclusive language liturgy. I was shocked, as were several other Council members, to learn that, ever since 1991, our church has seen a steady decline in attendance. I wondered how many people are feeling the same lack of welcome as I have been.

During Saturday night's Communion, a Council member officially announced that when her term is over, she will be leaving the church and joining her husband's Quaker faith. I wondered about my own future in our church.

I saw three of the famous Lopez rabbits, as well as three deer.

I brought my yoga mat, as well as my blocks and my OM yoga flash cards. It rained a lot over the weekend, and I never found the opportunity to use them like I'd planned. I did some yoga stretches during our work sessions, however. I missed last Wednesday's class, because of illness. I missed Friday's class, because of the retreat. I didn't go to last night's class, because I was tired (I think this illness is lingering, actually).