Last year I was curious about how I was performing as a delivery driver. I decided to collect data and measure what I can. I made a spreadsheet and so far some interesting charts.
Next time, I might drill down one level and see if there is a correlation between specific runs and parcel density.
SPOILER ALERT
If you haven't seen the movie and don't want spoilers, stop now.
Come back after.
We'll be right here waiting.
Okay, so either you've seen it or don't care.
This movie connected with me in so many layers, notwithstanding that I am exactly at Evelyn's crossroads. I am minutely aware that all my choices have led me into this exact moment. The challenge is to be present in that moment whether it be overwhelming or dreadful.
I have moments of daydreaming, nostalgically cherry-picking moments in my life where a different choice would have led to a vastly different existence. Take for example the time I professed my love for the very first time in my life, it was the scariest thing I had ever done in my entire life thus far. Do I win her or do I lose her? I imagined a life ahead that we shared side-by-side, it all hung in the balance. In another universe perhaps that led to a completely different outcome, then fast-forward four decades and imagine how both versions of me would feel about each other's choices? Both of them equipped with the same decades of memories of struggle, triumph, crisis, and mediocrity.
Personally, I love the mundane moments most of all. All the shit that I complained about in my 30s, turns out to be the kind of things I now associate with my happy place. Like driving to the city twice a day to drop off and collect my wife at her workplace. I was mostly alone in the car, listening to radio or playing cassettes. Not unlike my current job delivering parcels.
I've started and abandoned many hobbies, just like Evelyn. Some of them I occasionally practice like Karate-do and Aikido. Some of them I have turned pro, like cooking and dancing. However, just like Waymond (such an adowable name), I have finally understood the supreme importance of kindness.
This movie resonates with me in ways so deep. I felt the disappointment of my father and judgement when I made choices he disagreed with. I wore the same wardrobe in the eighties and nineties. I also dragged my wife and child to start life in a new country, in part because I wanted to prove to my father he was wrong and I was right. But most of all I remember a moment too when I looked at the endless circle track that I was carving in time-space. Telling my daughter how to do better as an adult when I wasn't at all sure I had done any better than what my own parents had hoped for.
I have daydreamed of many versions of myself where I was a warrior, a sailor, an explorer. These other versions of me I have tried to access, not with paper cuts or butt-plugs, but by actually trying them out. Like when I learned to fly a plane. I once wondered what my life would be like if I pursued my childhood dream to become a pilot. I've flown enough hours that I'm desperately confident that I can land a single-engine light plane in an emergency.
I've also lived long enough to know that it takes time, a lot of time to get good at anything. So even if I fall in love with a new hobby, there are even chances that I may stick with it or drop it once I have reached a minimum level of proficiency. In terms of the movies, that's why they go through great twisted lengths to explain how anyone can just instantaneously learn to fight like a ninja at a convenient plot point. Because we all inherently know how long it takes to master anything from chess to surfing.
I like to believe there are an infinite versions of me coexisting in infinite universes. There are universes where I am an actor, dancer, writer, explorer, warrior, teacher, etc.
What if I take this idea much further.
What about the other people in the universe we all share? So a new universe just split off when I wrote an entire paragraph and decided to delete it all, but what if someone random decides to call in a sickie instead of going to work, which version of me would be in that universe?
Let me tell you what I am beginning to feel, and it sounds very much explained in The Egg
We practice kindness because everyone else is really us. We are all connected. Like leaves from the giant tree of the multiverse, each life in a tangled chain is one Being on an infinite loop of variations and recombinations (Jeremy Beremy?).
You and I are the same person at various points of our eternal experience.
Aloha.
I love you too.
I'm fairly confident around dogs, I just feel that most dogs would learn to like me. I mean until I have established some sort of rapport with the animal I will treat them with caution and always with respect.
My job as a parcel delivery driver, I have encountered many many dogs of all sizes and temperaments.
Addresses with vicious dogs are well shared among all posties and drivers, just card them. Always. Then there are those dogs who get very territorial crashing against doors and windows while I'm trying to write a card (obviously if the owner was home, there will be a lot shushing and trying to calm down the animals). I always heed the sign on the gate that says "beware of dog" (some even have it in Italian -just to show they have culture "attenti al cani").
As a general rule I would call out "Parcel delivery! Is anybody home?" before opening a gate, sign or no sign. Usually, dogs would come running out barking as it's probably the most interesting thing to happen to their day. If there are no dogs, I enter, but maintain caution. Just because there is no beware sign, is no guarantee there isn't any animal to beware of. I keep an eye out for food or water bowls, or toys.
In one of my deliveries while still a rookie, a greyhound came to the gate when I called out. He was friendly, sniffed me and let me pat him. So I figured I'd be okay to drop off the package at the front porch so I opened the gate and let myself in being careful to keep the dog in the yard. He was so excited he kept rearing up and put muddy pawprints all over my chest, I also realised how his mouth was level with my neck when he did that. I was about five steps in when a second greyhound I wasn't aware of arrived next to me like the velociraptor in Jurassic Park. I froze and made a quick re-assessment of my situation. I can handle one dog, but two dogs make a pack. Discretion was the better part of valor so I walked slowly backwards and let myself out of the gate while pretending to play with the dogs. At no time did the greyhounds bark throughout the whole encounter. The customers can go pick up this package at the post office.
Not long after, I started carrying dog treats with me. If a dog was nice to me and responds to the "sit" command, they get a treat. If the owner is present, I'll ask permission first and that usually wins over the human as well. Sadly though, not all dogs accept bribes.
A couple of months ago, a dog surprised me just as I finished taking a photo of the card I had jammed into the front door. I was turning on my heels to step off the veranda, I had to change direction quickly to create distance between me and the dog. The edges were lined with potted plants so I dived over the plants into the garden floor below. I still clutched the package in one arm so I couldn't put an arm out to break my fall. I tucked my chin against my chest planning to roll on impact. Oof! There was no roll, I landed on my side and had the wind knocked out of me. The dog was friendly and just wanted to say hi. My ribs were sore for a few days.
I do have a few favourites, there's Murphy in Hazelbrook who is is just always happy to see us and will be up for a sniff and a pat, maybe a neck rub.
There's Banjo in Wentworth Falls who is sometimes wandering a few houses from his own and he comes up to me when I'm delivering to any of his neighbours.
And of course there is Ratchet in Lawson. When I first delivered to his house, he was lying on the front step trying to stay cool in the summer heat. He heard me call out and silently ambled toward the gate. I realised he was old and his eyes were a little cloudy. He let me pet him so I decided to enter through the gate. As soon as I closed the gate behind me, Ratchet rolled over and presented his belly. I get it, it's a shakedown. You wanna deliver? It's gonna be a belly rub to get in and another one to get out.
Today was another canine adventure. Usual protocol: Call out. Listen for barking. No barking. Enter through the picket fence gate with a little picket archway. About 10 meters in, another 20 meters to the front door, the backdoor swings open and the homeowner steps out. Okay cool. Then a big white dog dashes through the backdoor, barking and headed for me. Another quick assessment of my situation. I can outrun this dog, it's only 10m to the gate, and I have a 20m headstart on him. I turn and dash for the gate. 5m to go and I could hear the barking dog closing in. I look over my shoulder and make a re-assessment of the situation: I won't have time to open the gate, I'm going to have to vault it parkour style. I planned out my strides, -left -right -one -two -three -four /right foot on the wooden bench, -five / left foot on top of the gate post, -six and-seven would land me outside the gate... my right foot catches on the picket fence pointy tip and I fall head first outside. Luckily this time I did roll and avoided injury. The owner apologised for the dog chasing me, but I was too busy hysterically laughing because I didn't break my neck or crack my skull.
When I first settled in the mountains, I had in the back of my mind a desire, a dream to have a salsa dance community in the community I'm in. Well then that led to the next thought which is why don't I teach classes? Well it was difficult to find my feet since I just started a new job as a chef instructor. Also the rosters were quite unpredictable -I never new until 3 weeks before that I have to do dinner shifts on one or more nights. And then the pandemic happened.
Fast forward to now and I have a great job that leaves my weekends and my evenings available to -do what I want. Right now I want to dance. I want to share my passion for dance. I want to build a salsa dance community in my community!
And I will need anybody and everybody to help. That's kind of the point.
It might take a while.
That's okay.
