Imagination @ MindSay

Not content to stare at the clock in the corner of the computer screen whilst vainly attempting to will time itself to accelerate, Emile's Imagination proposed to him a new activity. He would catalogue the surmountable obstacles he encountered in his working routine, and devise a method by which he may overcome them. Insurmountable obstacles would become extinct when faced with Emile's Imagination.
In his response to his working life Emile's Imagination had mutated to become the most prevalent and potent portion of his mind. It was an almost Darwinian process. Those portions of his brain that were ill-equipped to deal with office life (logic, reason, and analytics were some) withered and became sickly. Emile's Imagination had climbed to the top and secured itself a place at the forefront of his cerebral faculties. So dominant it was that Emile found himself unconsciously capitalising it in writing

With his new task in mind, Emile began the short search for inspiration. He had to do naught but check his e-mail to strike gold. There, glowing in his inbox, was the subject of the first entry: the company's "leave" process.
Presently the "leave-beast" existed with a most labyrinthine anatomy. First, one must make the decision to go on holiday. Emile Imagined this process starting in the head of the leave-beast; he might have envisaged it had his Imagination had a less significant control of his diction. Secondly, the aspiring pioneer must resolve to undertake the arduous journey to gain the vaunted "approval." This would occur in the leave-beast's courage gland.

Now resolute, the pioneer would approach the immediate superior in the lesser control gland to ascertain the availability of his leave at the proposed time for holiday. This was a critical step, as without this initial approval the pioneer's journey would be terminated prematurely.

With this approval in hand or, more correctly gland, the pioneer who was once resolute would now be both resolute and slick with approving control slime.

Lubricated in this way, the pioneer would travel swiftly through the leave-beast's stomach of second thoughts and arrive at the entry to the greater control gland, home of the greater superior. This was another critical point in the journey, as gaining entry to this gland could take days, or even weeks. It was here that many times a process would fail, as major delays could hold the flagging pioneer at bay until the intended date slid past. However, once access had been granted, approval would most often follow swiftly. Only in rare cases would the approval from the greater superior be denied.

With the precious greater control slime travel was much easier. It was no more than filling out a request form at the memory controller and notifying the administrative brain cluster of the travel dates. The greater control slime allowed pioneers who obtained it in time to slide with urgent speed down the slopes of bureaucratic inanity, and out the exit to muck-covered freedom.

Considering the process in this way Emile found himself to be feeling quite disturbed and not a little ill. How anyone would ever manage to successfully navigate this horrible creature would remain a mystery to him. So it was that he set about contriving two alternatives to the present unpleasantness.
Number one was to simply shoot the leave-beast in the head retiring it instantly. Replacing it with hierarchical responsibility would expedite the matter greatly. With the superior to provide initial approval, then themselves gaining full approval from the greater superior, the burden on the once-pioneer would be greatly reduced. From there the greater superior would notify all relevant parties thus taking full responsibility.
Emile was satisfied with the simplicity of this process, however his Imagination was not. The problem here was that this was mundane, boring, and only two minutes had passed when he again checked the clock. It was simply too simple. So it was that another more fantastic alternative was devised. All employees of whatever rank there may be would go through the same process.

Firstly, they would take to the "games master" to sign up for one of the trial teams. They would then engage in a gruelling regimen of training, and physical and mental improvement to prepare themselves for the trials to come.

The first of these would be to fight a minotaur. If any member of their team survived the terrifying hand to hand combat with the bull-man they would go on to the next round.

Round two would be a taste test to determine which of three plants provided to them was poisonous. The determination of any one plant must be made in less than three seconds to avoid fatal poisoning. An incorrect guess would see the competitor fired out of a cannon at the competitors in the third round, specifically aimed at their own team should any surviving members be competing.

Round three would be a running race made more exciting by the addition of swiftly-spinning, all-desiccating blades that would gain quickly on the competitors. The last team standing would have their leave approved, after being assigned to them at random from the requests of the remaining team members.

The greatest benefit to this approach, Emile marvelled, was that it would ensure that the longest it would take for leave to be approved was a mere week. The only requests that must wait until the next week were those made during the competition itself. Such an increase in efficiency was exactly what this company needed.

Emile’s task was unenviable, but he understood that it must be his responsibility to develop the means by which his company would rise to the top, and bask in the glorious light of eminent prestige.

Weather dot com gave us a forty percent chance of rain. I say this as I have had to cross the Red Sea (green sea? Yeah, probably) to get to my mail box.  Shells, just walking down from my porch sent my sandals under water. 

Also, my toes.

If I had forded the lake in front of my house, it would have covered half of my calves.

Still, there are water restrictions. Fortunately, with over six inches of rain in the past three days, we have no need to water anything. At all.

Today, we are engaged in a long-running imagination scenario of Cartoon Ranger's. He has created an imaginary friend, of course.  Who lives on Coronado Island, California.  Not only does this friend have an address, but we have found his house on Google Earth.  And his church (his idea) and his OLD house here in Florida (Jacksonville) and we have planned an itinerary for a visit to him. Including first class (of course!) air fare and a one-night stay at the Hotel Del Coronado. 

It has been, of course, a busy day!

Cyclone has played, too, serving as airport personnel, a flight attendant, and the captain of the plane.  He was also the "bell hop" at the notional hotel, bringing our luggage up to the hotel room.

These adventures take a great deal of paperwork and computer time, oddly enough.  CR likes things to look right.  <smile> He has a keen eye for detail.  Cyclone has a keen ear for voices and each of his personae today has sounded distinctly unique. 

I am going slightly insane and wishing that the next few weeks would hurry by until school starts again...but... I am also having fun.

Flying first class in the rain, with my feet wet.

.Is skipping school to write a book ok? I would think it would be ok at Bennington...

.I don't normally feel so inclined to sit down and just allow my imagination to just spill out. I really wanted to write the other day, but I need a long period of time of nothing to do it.

.I have class in the morning. And homework for it. Maybe I'll just stay home...

My son is the best at pretending. Earlier, when he was supposed to be taking a nap, he decided to be part of a scuba diving group. He was the Technomarine watchman as they swam through the deep blue sea. This kid is too much. I had so much fun with him today. I wish every day was as fun as today.