TUESDAY...
— Sleep a bit better than most first day shifts. That is to say, I get about 5.5 hours.
— Work is alright. I leave a bit early to go to supper with Janice, Cara, and Laura. It’s good... much laughter and pretty good food.
— Obama is in. It all happens while I’m working but I watch highlights in the evening. Pretty impressive how much people have been swept up in it. I hope people don’t expect Obama to walk on water... but it’s at least good to see hopefulness rather than anger.
WEDNESDAY...
— Sleep pretty good for middle of day shift. I got to sleep by 10:30ish last night and slept pretty much up to the alarm... with a little wake around 3:30.
— Work is crazy. The extra sleep helped keep my mind alive through it anyway.
— Groceries... then some napping and TV in the evening. It’s up late night again... transition time.
THURSDAY...
— Mostly a sleep day. Sleep in until 10:00. Fall asleep on the sofa off and on between 1:00 and 2:00. Afternoon nap at 2:15. Up again to get ready for work at 4:00.
— Work is pretty good. Fairly steady evening... not much down time but not run off the feet either.
— My neck and back are acting up. Tired back and muscles are tight in the neck.
FRIDAY...
— Quiet time around the house with some sleep and some laundry.
— Work is alright. Pretty steady for most of the night. I skip the gym because my neck and upper back are acting up. First time in about a year but I’ve felt this before... not horrible... I can move... but tender.
— For the first time in years... a no SPAM e-mail day. Not a one. Crazy.
SATURDAY...
— Sleep until around 11:00. Hang at home after I rise. Taking it easy and staying warm. It’s -36 in the morning with the wind chill. Blah!
SUNDAY...
— Softball... we lose... again. But at least get close this time. 14-10. Some food and drink after the game with Nick, Steve, Dusty, Dave... Melissa and Steve’s girlfriend join us there.
MONDAY...
— Some afternoon reading. It’s just still too cold to go outside for any length of time.
— Evening movie with Melissa. Slumdog Millionaire... lives up to the hype in my books. I think it’s the best movie I’ve seen this year... maybe two years.
Reasons to Turn Off the Tube
TV commercials are insanely bad. Today I saw one of those ads for bathtubs. Those walk in tubs for the elderly. Today they also include selling it to those with “larger body types”. That’s the phraseology used when a business is trying to sell an item to a fat person. They also listed the safety features that come with these tubs. Safety features such as... taps. Seriously, they list a tap as a safety feature? Well I guess it is if the anti-tap bathtub option is getting the elderly hiking buckets of boiling water from the kitchen stove to the bathroom.
There are other poorly advertised things. The car insurance with the crazy woman. She’s the one who drives up to a four way stop behind, as with the bath tubs, an elderly person. She sits in her car and goes insane. Yelling out the window and screeching off around the car giving herself a whiplash. Of course the entire ad misses the point. That some elderly person is left sitting lifelessly in the middle of an intersection. Probably dead behind the wheel. Heart attack, most likely. But at least he died with lower car insurance. If only he made it home to die in his walk in bathtub... that one with the safety taps.
There’s also commercials for useless items. But, in hopes of selling vast quantities of the uselessness, they advertise them as being state of the art. Of being things we can never get by without.
In hopes to strike a note with those of us who are losing all our money trying to heat our homes, there’s a new blanket being advertised. You see, if you’d like to keep your home heating bill down, you may want to not turn the thermostat up on those cold days. Blankets are good but those suckers without this new, futuristic blanket, will be trapped once they pull the covers up.
At this point in time, a poor woman is seen struggling under her blanket as the phone rings. Sitting so close to her... but she’s unable to free herself in time. Never fear, Miracle Blanket is here. This blanket comes with sleeves. So you’re laying there looking like a fleeced up Buddhist Monk.
The commercial continues with the insanity. People are walking through their house with the blanket left on. Sleeves allow you to go to the stove and stir the pot while blanketed. Need to take out the trash? Well it’s cold out there too... keep your blanket on. The family of fleece sleeved blanketeers even venture out to a Fall ball game. All toasty warm in the stands while other fans sit slack jawed, nervously trying to slide along the stands to give the cult family as much elbow room as possible. If people are so stupid as to get excited about paying $30 to drape themselves in blanketry, all hope for them partaking as normal individuals, in society, is lost.
We have the bearded man who sells all sorts of garbage without the aid of microphone. At least there must not be a microphone within fifty feet of him... it’s the only reason I can see for his excessive loudness. He isn’t yelling or shouting so much... he’s just got this great bellow of a voice going. I imagine him in bed with the wife, rolling over at 3:00 in the morning wanting to gently whisper a late night secret to her. He gently touches her on the shoulder and whispers “ARE YOU UP HONEY!” She flies out of the bed and collapses onto the floor with a heart attack. Soon after, the bearded loud man has to buy his wife one of those walk in tubs. Her heart can’t take the strain of climbing over the side.
So this guy sells all sorts of things. Today, his main product is Mighty Putty. This is play dough that can be used anywhere. It sticks handles back on cups. Sticks towel racks up on walls. Plugs leaks in pipes and puts legs back on chairs. I’d like to see an entire house built of Mighty Putty. That thing would be indestructible!
There’s Sham Wow. An absorbent cloth made by Germans. As said in the commercial “You know German’s make good stuff.” What? Why would I know that? Like those suckers under sleeveless blankets, those who don’t buy a Sham Wow are “throwing their money away” on paper towels. Yes, many an empire has been lost due to excessive paper towel purchases. The Sham Wow is even washable. Just throw it into the washing machine after you use it. Although I’m often left wondering how the machine fills up with water if this super absorbent cloth is soaking it up as it pours into the basin? I wonder if a Sham Wow folded in the corner of a room could be used as a dehumidifier? Sucking the moisture right out of the air. Ah, thank God for those Germans.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Making It Up As I Go Along #354
MONDAY...
— Long day at work. Pretty busy and my mind is fuzzy with tiredness... so not much comes easy today.
— Late supper... a little TV... and bed.
TUESDAY...
— Sleep was bad again. When I went to bed Monday, I lay awake for two hours and slept about four hours all total. A fuzzy day at work again.
— At 7:00 PM, it was -1 outside. At 8:00 it was -12. And by 9:00 it was -17. Wind chill went from -8 to -30 in those two hours. Nasty turn.
— I sleep much of the time between 9:00 and 10:45. Needed to try to keep me going late tonight for the night shift tomorrow.
WEDNESDAY...
— Caught up on some sleep. In bed until 10:00 this morning. It’s cold cold cold... -39 with the wind this morning. Bah!
— Some TV before a nap in the afternoon.
— Simpson’s on TV post nap... shower and get ready for work. Not looking forward to stepping out into the cold.
— Work is fine... not much out of the ordinary. I stay out of the gym cause I can’t handle the thought of the cold when I walk back from there. Greek for supper is nice with Annick, Melissa, and Phil.
THURSDAY...
— Pretty good sleep. A fairly laid back late morning/early afternoon. It’s still freezing out there. -25ish.
— Afternoon nap followed by the Simpson’s and a shower.
— Work is fine. A bit busy for a while and calmed later on. Have a couple of interesting things to deal with too. But overall, it was a tricky week. I don’t know if it was a group of things happening that I hadn’t seen much of, or a lack of sleep, or a combo of things... but this week felt like I was, experience wise, about two months ago.
— Hit the gym tonight... it’s cold going over though.
— Real cold driving home. The car says -25 at the office... it’s at -29 by the team I reach home. Good thing there’s no wind in the early morning.
FRIDAY...
— Up around 11:00... which means I sleep for about 4 hours. Surprisingly, I’m not too sleepy today. I stay in and lay pretty low though. Watch some DVDs. A little nap in the evening and some more movies.
SATURDAY...
— Laundry day. I was supposed to go to the movies and supper with Karl but he has to postpone. So I just stick home and watch some movies and hockey while doing laundry. Pretty dull day... but relaxing.
SUNDAY...
— Finish off the laundry in the morning. Nap some as I was up shortly after 7:00 this morning... so I need the sofa to finish off the sleep. Softball... we lose again... not as bad as before but still a loss. After that, a bit of supper with Nick, Dusty, Steve and Dusty’s friend who played with us.
Bedroom Floor Lunch
There are few firsts or lasts that I have firm memories of. First birthday party? No idea. Last day on the job with Fisheries and Oceans? It doesn’t stand out. Then there are also those trivial things. Last time I ate a bag of Doritos chips? I don’t know. First time I played a game of softball? The memory doesn’t exist.
There is a last that does stand out to me. I remember the last time I ever ate liver.
Now I couldn’t tell you the date or the year. But I know I was young. I was probably about six or seven years old.
Occasionally, liver would be made for a meal. Dad’s a fan of the stuff and, at an age when you aren’t old enough to know what you do and don’t like, I had little say in the matter. I ate liver in the same way as I went to church for a few years fairly close to the same time. I was to go and give church a try... and if it didn’t stick with me after a year or so... I was no longer obligated.
I haven’t been to church for quite some time. Taking away weddings, it would be a good seven or eight years. And taking away Christmas Eve... just making it a regular Sunday trip to the church, I probably haven’t gone in at least fifteen years... probably more.
So it was with liver. I choked it down a few times because that’s the food that was on my plate and a kid of six or seven never had the option of not eating at all or making your own food.
The last time I had liver was for lunch. I can’t remember what day of the week it was. I don’t know if it was a weekend or if I was due to go to school after eating. But I do remember taking the plate into my parents room, plopping down on the floor in front of their little yellow TV that showed my favourite early afternoon shows in black and white, and forcing the red smelliness into my mouth.
It was probably during Sesame Street when I was nibbling on this meat, swallowing minute pieces that were drenched in ketchup.
In fact, I probably finished the ketchup portion of the meal. But ate very little of the cooked organ.
I still remember the taste. A bitter tinniness. Perhaps liver doesn’t taste that way at all. The taste has morphed into bitter tinniness over a thirty year period of time.
But on that day, when I finished my lunch, I remember telling mom or dad (who I told, I forget) that I don’t like liver. And since this wasn’t the first time I’d ever had it, and they seemed believing of my convictions, it has never been offered to me again.
Yet anytime I hear of, smell, or see liver, I think back those thirty years. Of me sitting Indian style on my parents bedroom floor, watching black and white kids shows on the yellow TV and returning to the kitchen with my ketchup finished and my liver attempted... telling my parents I don’t like it... and having them accept it. It’s my best childhood memory of me proclaiming something and having my parents take it seriously. Who knew that that day, while watching Sesame Street on my parents bedroom floor, I would take my first step to becoming a man.
— Long day at work. Pretty busy and my mind is fuzzy with tiredness... so not much comes easy today.
— Late supper... a little TV... and bed.
TUESDAY...
— Sleep was bad again. When I went to bed Monday, I lay awake for two hours and slept about four hours all total. A fuzzy day at work again.
— At 7:00 PM, it was -1 outside. At 8:00 it was -12. And by 9:00 it was -17. Wind chill went from -8 to -30 in those two hours. Nasty turn.
— I sleep much of the time between 9:00 and 10:45. Needed to try to keep me going late tonight for the night shift tomorrow.
WEDNESDAY...
— Caught up on some sleep. In bed until 10:00 this morning. It’s cold cold cold... -39 with the wind this morning. Bah!
— Some TV before a nap in the afternoon.
— Simpson’s on TV post nap... shower and get ready for work. Not looking forward to stepping out into the cold.
— Work is fine... not much out of the ordinary. I stay out of the gym cause I can’t handle the thought of the cold when I walk back from there. Greek for supper is nice with Annick, Melissa, and Phil.
THURSDAY...
— Pretty good sleep. A fairly laid back late morning/early afternoon. It’s still freezing out there. -25ish.
— Afternoon nap followed by the Simpson’s and a shower.
— Work is fine. A bit busy for a while and calmed later on. Have a couple of interesting things to deal with too. But overall, it was a tricky week. I don’t know if it was a group of things happening that I hadn’t seen much of, or a lack of sleep, or a combo of things... but this week felt like I was, experience wise, about two months ago.
— Hit the gym tonight... it’s cold going over though.
— Real cold driving home. The car says -25 at the office... it’s at -29 by the team I reach home. Good thing there’s no wind in the early morning.
FRIDAY...
— Up around 11:00... which means I sleep for about 4 hours. Surprisingly, I’m not too sleepy today. I stay in and lay pretty low though. Watch some DVDs. A little nap in the evening and some more movies.
SATURDAY...
— Laundry day. I was supposed to go to the movies and supper with Karl but he has to postpone. So I just stick home and watch some movies and hockey while doing laundry. Pretty dull day... but relaxing.
SUNDAY...
— Finish off the laundry in the morning. Nap some as I was up shortly after 7:00 this morning... so I need the sofa to finish off the sleep. Softball... we lose again... not as bad as before but still a loss. After that, a bit of supper with Nick, Dusty, Steve and Dusty’s friend who played with us.
Bedroom Floor Lunch
There are few firsts or lasts that I have firm memories of. First birthday party? No idea. Last day on the job with Fisheries and Oceans? It doesn’t stand out. Then there are also those trivial things. Last time I ate a bag of Doritos chips? I don’t know. First time I played a game of softball? The memory doesn’t exist.
There is a last that does stand out to me. I remember the last time I ever ate liver.
Now I couldn’t tell you the date or the year. But I know I was young. I was probably about six or seven years old.
Occasionally, liver would be made for a meal. Dad’s a fan of the stuff and, at an age when you aren’t old enough to know what you do and don’t like, I had little say in the matter. I ate liver in the same way as I went to church for a few years fairly close to the same time. I was to go and give church a try... and if it didn’t stick with me after a year or so... I was no longer obligated.
I haven’t been to church for quite some time. Taking away weddings, it would be a good seven or eight years. And taking away Christmas Eve... just making it a regular Sunday trip to the church, I probably haven’t gone in at least fifteen years... probably more.
So it was with liver. I choked it down a few times because that’s the food that was on my plate and a kid of six or seven never had the option of not eating at all or making your own food.
The last time I had liver was for lunch. I can’t remember what day of the week it was. I don’t know if it was a weekend or if I was due to go to school after eating. But I do remember taking the plate into my parents room, plopping down on the floor in front of their little yellow TV that showed my favourite early afternoon shows in black and white, and forcing the red smelliness into my mouth.
It was probably during Sesame Street when I was nibbling on this meat, swallowing minute pieces that were drenched in ketchup.
In fact, I probably finished the ketchup portion of the meal. But ate very little of the cooked organ.
I still remember the taste. A bitter tinniness. Perhaps liver doesn’t taste that way at all. The taste has morphed into bitter tinniness over a thirty year period of time.
But on that day, when I finished my lunch, I remember telling mom or dad (who I told, I forget) that I don’t like liver. And since this wasn’t the first time I’d ever had it, and they seemed believing of my convictions, it has never been offered to me again.
Yet anytime I hear of, smell, or see liver, I think back those thirty years. Of me sitting Indian style on my parents bedroom floor, watching black and white kids shows on the yellow TV and returning to the kitchen with my ketchup finished and my liver attempted... telling my parents I don’t like it... and having them accept it. It’s my best childhood memory of me proclaiming something and having my parents take it seriously. Who knew that that day, while watching Sesame Street on my parents bedroom floor, I would take my first step to becoming a man.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Making It Up As I Go Along #353
SUNDAY...
— Work. All alone today but, being a Sunday, it’s a fairly quiet day at work. A couple of perked up times but, overall, an easy pace. I’m sure tomorrow won’t be the same.
— Use my GPS going home tonight. I knew how to go home already but haven’t used the GPS yet and wanted to test it out. Good stuff.
— Watch a movie in the evening and off to bed. 4:45 will come too soon.
MONDAY...
— Work isn’t super busy for a Monday day shift. Busy... but not run off our feet.
— World Junior finals. Canada 5-1 over Sweden for their 5th straight title. Been a good tournament... the games against America and Russia were great (besides the shootout silliness in the Russia game).
TUESDAY...
— Sleep until about 9:30. Watch a movie, “No Country For Old Men”, on DVD, have a little computer time... then back to bed for a nap at 2:00. Simpson’s on TV and a bite to eat before heading to work.
— Work is fairly quiet. We have lots of DNA forms to work on, so we’re kept going most of the night, but not much else happened.
— Hit the gym for an hour tonight. A bit on the bike and some weights as well.
WEDNESDAY...
— Stormy day outside. I hang out around the house, sleep until about 11:00 in the morning and get another hour from 2:30 to 3:30 in the afternoon.
— Work is alright. The drive in was better than expected and the evening went by pretty well. Some time at the gym and then drive home Thursday morning while all the poor people are bumper to bumper trying to get into the city at 6:00 AM.
THURSDAY...
— In bed by 7:00 AM... up at a few minutes before noon. Lazy around the house until 6:00 then it’s off to the movies with Missy and Nick. Down to the Dirt is good... dark and not a pretty movie but still good. Mostly filmed in Newfoundland but not aiming for the scenic look. St. John’s is mostly back alleys and the docks. Melissa’s cousin is the writer and star of the movie... and that’s cool too.
— Gas and groceries picked up after the movie.
FRIDAY...
— Annoying time getting to the hockey pool supplemental draft today. Get a fool parking too close to me at the bank... too much traffic going in to the office (partly due to the bus strike and partly due to the fear of too many of snow on the side of the road even when the road itself is clear)... get to the RCMP mess at about 3:25 only to find the door locked. Go to enter from inside the HQ building but I get lost in the maze of hallways and end up having to go back outside in order to get through the formerly locked door 15 minutes later. Get there in time for my pick but the bar isn’t open and people leave when it’s all done. So that leaves me to drive back to Orleans in peak rush hour... a trip that takes more than a half hour.
— Watch Batman’s The Dark Knight in the evening. Good good movie. We need more Heath Ledger in this world.
— I believe the kids on the Sportsnet “I Believe” Olympic commercials will be the death of me. I CAN’T believe that I’ll have to endure a year of six year olds trying to talk inspirationally about the Olympics with a catchphrase being repeated over and over and over again. I Believe... I’ll be sick.
SATURDAY...
— Home day. Do some laundry and watch some movies.
‘Tis the Season
Yes it’s true, Christmas is gone by yet again. So it ‘tisn’t that season. No, this season is one I wrote about last year and that has crept back again this year. ‘Tis the season of electrocution.
I don’t understand the differences in static electricity. In Newfoundland, while getting in and out of the bed that was sheeted in fleece, I’d see a little fireworks display at my feet as sparks glowed the sheets without jolting me. It almost made me want to climb in and out of the bed over and over again just to see the electric show.
My house in Ottawa is a different story. I also have fleece sheets, but I see no spark, bolt, or light show on my getting up. This doesn’t mean the electricity doesn’t generate. I know this because when I go to my bathroom and flick the light, the jolt of electricity that charges through my finger and into my body is enough to fire me backwards... over the bed... through the window... and down into the snow three stories below. My charred remains left to sizzle in the winter blanket atop the ground.
Last winter ended with me thinking I must get a humidifier in hopes this will keep my house from becoming a two story execution chamber. But the summer warmth and moisture softened me and I went into this winter forgetting about the horrors of light switches, and lamps.
I was reminded in November. Small spicks of electricity, not enough to hurt but just enough to wave at me... “remember me?” Oh yes... the fear slowly crept back into my soul.
Now I’m back to full on electrical warfare. Electric fences at farms keep livestock hemmed in. They get to a point that they won’t even near the fence as they know what awaits them there.
Well my home is that fence... and I’m livestock. I enter rooms hoping not to have to flick on a light. With more nightlights throughout my house, I can sometimes get away with living in a perpetual dimness.
But on those occasions where light is a necessity, fear grips my soul. A cold sweat beads against my skin and my heart races with anticipation.
On those rare occasions when I escape the zap coursing through my body, I lighten and breath a sigh of relief. I’ve actually gotten to a point where I can turn on lights with well insulated elbows or, if more dexterity is needed, I’m wrap my sleeve over my hand and poke the light with the nub of a knuckle. Anything other than a fingertip. Fingertips seem to gather electricity with greater efficiency than any other device known to man. I wonder if lightning rods are tipped with human fingers? It would only make sense.
And those times when I’m too confident in my abilities. When I think I haven’t scuffed the carpet with my feet or that I rose from bed without much friction, I’ll go to the switch without protection... and blue lightning jumps out to bite me... right on that lightning rod atop my hand.
I now know why the saying goes “cursing a blue streak”. Because after that blue streak of electricity, I transform into the most foul mouthed hate filled being you’ve ever seen. Every four lettered, colourful adjective you could imagine is blurted out of my mouth within a three second period as I shake my charred finger. The echo of the electrical zap hangs in the air.
So what do I hate most about winter? Is it the cold? The winter driving? It used to be either of these things. But now it’s the fear that comes with it. I walk through my home afraid of the light. For I know the price I must pay to bring winter light to my world.
— Work. All alone today but, being a Sunday, it’s a fairly quiet day at work. A couple of perked up times but, overall, an easy pace. I’m sure tomorrow won’t be the same.
— Use my GPS going home tonight. I knew how to go home already but haven’t used the GPS yet and wanted to test it out. Good stuff.
— Watch a movie in the evening and off to bed. 4:45 will come too soon.
MONDAY...
— Work isn’t super busy for a Monday day shift. Busy... but not run off our feet.
— World Junior finals. Canada 5-1 over Sweden for their 5th straight title. Been a good tournament... the games against America and Russia were great (besides the shootout silliness in the Russia game).
TUESDAY...
— Sleep until about 9:30. Watch a movie, “No Country For Old Men”, on DVD, have a little computer time... then back to bed for a nap at 2:00. Simpson’s on TV and a bite to eat before heading to work.
— Work is fairly quiet. We have lots of DNA forms to work on, so we’re kept going most of the night, but not much else happened.
— Hit the gym for an hour tonight. A bit on the bike and some weights as well.
WEDNESDAY...
— Stormy day outside. I hang out around the house, sleep until about 11:00 in the morning and get another hour from 2:30 to 3:30 in the afternoon.
— Work is alright. The drive in was better than expected and the evening went by pretty well. Some time at the gym and then drive home Thursday morning while all the poor people are bumper to bumper trying to get into the city at 6:00 AM.
THURSDAY...
— In bed by 7:00 AM... up at a few minutes before noon. Lazy around the house until 6:00 then it’s off to the movies with Missy and Nick. Down to the Dirt is good... dark and not a pretty movie but still good. Mostly filmed in Newfoundland but not aiming for the scenic look. St. John’s is mostly back alleys and the docks. Melissa’s cousin is the writer and star of the movie... and that’s cool too.
— Gas and groceries picked up after the movie.
FRIDAY...
— Annoying time getting to the hockey pool supplemental draft today. Get a fool parking too close to me at the bank... too much traffic going in to the office (partly due to the bus strike and partly due to the fear of too many of snow on the side of the road even when the road itself is clear)... get to the RCMP mess at about 3:25 only to find the door locked. Go to enter from inside the HQ building but I get lost in the maze of hallways and end up having to go back outside in order to get through the formerly locked door 15 minutes later. Get there in time for my pick but the bar isn’t open and people leave when it’s all done. So that leaves me to drive back to Orleans in peak rush hour... a trip that takes more than a half hour.
— Watch Batman’s The Dark Knight in the evening. Good good movie. We need more Heath Ledger in this world.
— I believe the kids on the Sportsnet “I Believe” Olympic commercials will be the death of me. I CAN’T believe that I’ll have to endure a year of six year olds trying to talk inspirationally about the Olympics with a catchphrase being repeated over and over and over again. I Believe... I’ll be sick.
SATURDAY...
— Home day. Do some laundry and watch some movies.
‘Tis the Season
Yes it’s true, Christmas is gone by yet again. So it ‘tisn’t that season. No, this season is one I wrote about last year and that has crept back again this year. ‘Tis the season of electrocution.
I don’t understand the differences in static electricity. In Newfoundland, while getting in and out of the bed that was sheeted in fleece, I’d see a little fireworks display at my feet as sparks glowed the sheets without jolting me. It almost made me want to climb in and out of the bed over and over again just to see the electric show.
My house in Ottawa is a different story. I also have fleece sheets, but I see no spark, bolt, or light show on my getting up. This doesn’t mean the electricity doesn’t generate. I know this because when I go to my bathroom and flick the light, the jolt of electricity that charges through my finger and into my body is enough to fire me backwards... over the bed... through the window... and down into the snow three stories below. My charred remains left to sizzle in the winter blanket atop the ground.
Last winter ended with me thinking I must get a humidifier in hopes this will keep my house from becoming a two story execution chamber. But the summer warmth and moisture softened me and I went into this winter forgetting about the horrors of light switches, and lamps.
I was reminded in November. Small spicks of electricity, not enough to hurt but just enough to wave at me... “remember me?” Oh yes... the fear slowly crept back into my soul.
Now I’m back to full on electrical warfare. Electric fences at farms keep livestock hemmed in. They get to a point that they won’t even near the fence as they know what awaits them there.
Well my home is that fence... and I’m livestock. I enter rooms hoping not to have to flick on a light. With more nightlights throughout my house, I can sometimes get away with living in a perpetual dimness.
But on those occasions where light is a necessity, fear grips my soul. A cold sweat beads against my skin and my heart races with anticipation.
On those rare occasions when I escape the zap coursing through my body, I lighten and breath a sigh of relief. I’ve actually gotten to a point where I can turn on lights with well insulated elbows or, if more dexterity is needed, I’m wrap my sleeve over my hand and poke the light with the nub of a knuckle. Anything other than a fingertip. Fingertips seem to gather electricity with greater efficiency than any other device known to man. I wonder if lightning rods are tipped with human fingers? It would only make sense.
And those times when I’m too confident in my abilities. When I think I haven’t scuffed the carpet with my feet or that I rose from bed without much friction, I’ll go to the switch without protection... and blue lightning jumps out to bite me... right on that lightning rod atop my hand.
I now know why the saying goes “cursing a blue streak”. Because after that blue streak of electricity, I transform into the most foul mouthed hate filled being you’ve ever seen. Every four lettered, colourful adjective you could imagine is blurted out of my mouth within a three second period as I shake my charred finger. The echo of the electrical zap hangs in the air.
So what do I hate most about winter? Is it the cold? The winter driving? It used to be either of these things. But now it’s the fear that comes with it. I walk through my home afraid of the light. For I know the price I must pay to bring winter light to my world.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Making It Up As I Go Along #352
WEDNESDAY...
— Wince’s for lunch... to Wayne’s for a visit when mom and dad go to church. A fairly nice Christmas Eve.
THURSDAY...
— Merry Christmas.
— Mom, dad and I are up at the gifts by 9:30. Nice morning with good gifts and good family times.
— No more getting lost or having to figure out trips ahead of time. My main gift today is a GPS system.
— To Wince and Brenda’s for supper. More good times with too much food, too much heat, and little room around the table. But that’s what Christmas is all about.
FRIDAY...
— Boxing day around home. Easy going morning. Visits from Bev and Wayne and Sylvia in the afternoon. Wayne and Sylvia stay for supper with Dave. Watch junior hockey with dad after they leave.
— 1 SPAM e-mail day. I like it!
SATURDAY...
— Busy day. Shop in the morning with mom. Visit with Del in the afternoon... a quick visit at Jim’s house after that... then a visit at cousin Peter’s in the evening. Pack the bags after we get back from that.
SUNDAY...
— Wake a few times overnight due to too much junk food eaten in the visits yesterday.
— Fly out. Watch the end of Ghost Town (which I started watching on the flight to NF) and it’s good. Then watch all of Waitress and that’s also good.
— By the time I get home from the travel I’m tired and have a headache. Get some groceries... unpack most stuff... and stay up late to try to get ready for night shift tomorrow.
MONDAY...
— Pretty lazy day. I feel drained and like the cold is beating me in the morning... but get an afternoon nap that kicks me back into gear.
— Work goes well. Pretty quiet night with me and Phil there.
TUESDAY...
— Pretty lazy day around the house... mostly sleep and eat before work. A good Simpson’s show is on tonight... Milhouse becomes Fall Out Boy... some good stuff in that one.
— Work is fine. Pretty busy for the first few hours... sort of levels off midway through... quiet for the last few hours. I do the gym today... see that I gained 4 pounds in Newfoundland so I hit the bike for a half hour.
WEDNESDAY...
— Cold in the morning. I’m in bed by around 7:15 and sleep about 4 hours. New Years Eve is Hockey Day for me. I get a pizza and watch the World Junior game (Canada over USA 7-4 in a good one). Then it’s Montreal Canadiens on DVD... the 1975 New Years Eve game against the Red Army. I never saw the whole game before, so that was good. I took a break between the 2nd and third periods of the DVD game to look out the window for the coming of 2009. No big deal.
THURSDAY...
— Way too lazy a New Years. Watch the outdoor hockey game for a while... but get sort of bored of it by the end of the 2nd period. Nap... watch Mythbusters... nap... nap some more.
— Watch When Harry Met Sally on DVD in the evening. It’s a very New Years type of movie to put on.
FRIDAY...
— Watch A Christmas Story on DVD. Not much else going on today.
There And Back Again
Borrowing the title from J.R. Tolkien. But it’s true. I was there and back again. There being Newfoundland and back being Ottawa.
It was a nice trip home. Amazing how fast eleven days can go by. It felt like a three day weekend really. And yet there was so much I didn’t do. No hikes, no downtown strolls, no visit to Cape Spear. I saw four friends and one of them was a chance meeting at the mall while two were seen on my last day in town... one of whom I saw for an hour.
Yet with so little done, it seemed I didn’t have time.
CPSIC has been a good change of work for me. It’s more interesting. It makes you think more. It gives you more responsibility. And I have enjoyed my time there.
But I guess the shift does wear you down and I found my first five days in Newfoundland was to me what those decompression chambers are to deep sea divers. For days I averaged between eight and ten hours of sleep and the times of wake had me more relaxed than I have been in Ottawa for quite some time.
Trips home usually bring with them questions of moving. Would I go back? Do I feel like Ottawa is now home instead? It makes me think of those people you see interviewed. Those that say they just came to visit a place and loved it so much, they decided to make it their home. It sounds so easy. It sounds like the whole world is there for you to pick a spot, any spot, and it’s yours. There’s a commercial for California on TV now and it ends with Arnold Schwarzenegger asking us, the viewer, “what are you waiting for?” I don’t even want to go live in California, but with Arnie’s suggestive tone, I feel like a sap for not taking him up on it. It feels like all I need to do is show up, as to see Governor Terminator and he’ll set me up.
Sometimes Newfoundland feels the same way. You see politicians saying how they want to bring the island’s sons and daughters back. And you hear how it’s now a “have” province. And it makes me think I should just pack up, head back, and ask to speak to Danny (Williams that is).
There’s something solid about it for me. To be able to look out my dad’s study window (my childhood bedroom window) and see the same hills that I saw when I was eight and taking a break from playing games on my floor. To see Signal Hill maintaining that same shape. To see the hills on either side of it knowing that there are inlets of ocean in those invisible gullies.
I go by parking lots where great seasons of street hockey were once played. Emotional tournaments were all day affairs... sometimes weekend affairs where the round robin was played on Saturday and the playoffs took place Sunday.
Every hill, street, tree and home seems to carry memories. Creativity blows in on the salt wind and etches itself into my brain.
Ottawa has none of that for me. It’s a nice city. I always seem to come back to “nice” when I describe Ottawa. And nice always feels like a holding pattern term to me. Not down and out. Not top of the world. It’s simply nice.
I feel more content with the work now. As content from that standpoint as I’ve ever been in Ottawa. But even with that, this is the ideal work for the single person. Twelve hour shifts, both day and night with sleep needing to be fit in at different hours on different days.
When others have pushed at me to make more friends, I’ve entered a job that makes me spend less time with the ones I’ve already got. Holidays are just another day in the week now. If the schedule says you’re due to work than you’re due to work. It doesn’t matter if it’s Easter or Canada Day or Christmas. Others share in a day off. It’s universal and inclusive. And I check my schedule and figure sleep schedules when plans are made.
It’s always give and take. Want some interesting work? Give away a piece of that already minimal social life and it’s yours. Want to live back home? Contract work measured by the month or part time hours in a medial task await your return.
So in niceness I stay working a good job with access to good movies and a multitude of restaurants. Life isn’t boring... it’s just not the one I planned on. Schwarzenegger and Danny make it all sound too easy.
— Wince’s for lunch... to Wayne’s for a visit when mom and dad go to church. A fairly nice Christmas Eve.
THURSDAY...
— Merry Christmas.
— Mom, dad and I are up at the gifts by 9:30. Nice morning with good gifts and good family times.
— No more getting lost or having to figure out trips ahead of time. My main gift today is a GPS system.
— To Wince and Brenda’s for supper. More good times with too much food, too much heat, and little room around the table. But that’s what Christmas is all about.
FRIDAY...
— Boxing day around home. Easy going morning. Visits from Bev and Wayne and Sylvia in the afternoon. Wayne and Sylvia stay for supper with Dave. Watch junior hockey with dad after they leave.
— 1 SPAM e-mail day. I like it!
SATURDAY...
— Busy day. Shop in the morning with mom. Visit with Del in the afternoon... a quick visit at Jim’s house after that... then a visit at cousin Peter’s in the evening. Pack the bags after we get back from that.
SUNDAY...
— Wake a few times overnight due to too much junk food eaten in the visits yesterday.
— Fly out. Watch the end of Ghost Town (which I started watching on the flight to NF) and it’s good. Then watch all of Waitress and that’s also good.
— By the time I get home from the travel I’m tired and have a headache. Get some groceries... unpack most stuff... and stay up late to try to get ready for night shift tomorrow.
MONDAY...
— Pretty lazy day. I feel drained and like the cold is beating me in the morning... but get an afternoon nap that kicks me back into gear.
— Work goes well. Pretty quiet night with me and Phil there.
TUESDAY...
— Pretty lazy day around the house... mostly sleep and eat before work. A good Simpson’s show is on tonight... Milhouse becomes Fall Out Boy... some good stuff in that one.
— Work is fine. Pretty busy for the first few hours... sort of levels off midway through... quiet for the last few hours. I do the gym today... see that I gained 4 pounds in Newfoundland so I hit the bike for a half hour.
WEDNESDAY...
— Cold in the morning. I’m in bed by around 7:15 and sleep about 4 hours. New Years Eve is Hockey Day for me. I get a pizza and watch the World Junior game (Canada over USA 7-4 in a good one). Then it’s Montreal Canadiens on DVD... the 1975 New Years Eve game against the Red Army. I never saw the whole game before, so that was good. I took a break between the 2nd and third periods of the DVD game to look out the window for the coming of 2009. No big deal.
THURSDAY...
— Way too lazy a New Years. Watch the outdoor hockey game for a while... but get sort of bored of it by the end of the 2nd period. Nap... watch Mythbusters... nap... nap some more.
— Watch When Harry Met Sally on DVD in the evening. It’s a very New Years type of movie to put on.
FRIDAY...
— Watch A Christmas Story on DVD. Not much else going on today.
There And Back Again
Borrowing the title from J.R. Tolkien. But it’s true. I was there and back again. There being Newfoundland and back being Ottawa.
It was a nice trip home. Amazing how fast eleven days can go by. It felt like a three day weekend really. And yet there was so much I didn’t do. No hikes, no downtown strolls, no visit to Cape Spear. I saw four friends and one of them was a chance meeting at the mall while two were seen on my last day in town... one of whom I saw for an hour.
Yet with so little done, it seemed I didn’t have time.
CPSIC has been a good change of work for me. It’s more interesting. It makes you think more. It gives you more responsibility. And I have enjoyed my time there.
But I guess the shift does wear you down and I found my first five days in Newfoundland was to me what those decompression chambers are to deep sea divers. For days I averaged between eight and ten hours of sleep and the times of wake had me more relaxed than I have been in Ottawa for quite some time.
Trips home usually bring with them questions of moving. Would I go back? Do I feel like Ottawa is now home instead? It makes me think of those people you see interviewed. Those that say they just came to visit a place and loved it so much, they decided to make it their home. It sounds so easy. It sounds like the whole world is there for you to pick a spot, any spot, and it’s yours. There’s a commercial for California on TV now and it ends with Arnold Schwarzenegger asking us, the viewer, “what are you waiting for?” I don’t even want to go live in California, but with Arnie’s suggestive tone, I feel like a sap for not taking him up on it. It feels like all I need to do is show up, as to see Governor Terminator and he’ll set me up.
Sometimes Newfoundland feels the same way. You see politicians saying how they want to bring the island’s sons and daughters back. And you hear how it’s now a “have” province. And it makes me think I should just pack up, head back, and ask to speak to Danny (Williams that is).
There’s something solid about it for me. To be able to look out my dad’s study window (my childhood bedroom window) and see the same hills that I saw when I was eight and taking a break from playing games on my floor. To see Signal Hill maintaining that same shape. To see the hills on either side of it knowing that there are inlets of ocean in those invisible gullies.
I go by parking lots where great seasons of street hockey were once played. Emotional tournaments were all day affairs... sometimes weekend affairs where the round robin was played on Saturday and the playoffs took place Sunday.
Every hill, street, tree and home seems to carry memories. Creativity blows in on the salt wind and etches itself into my brain.
Ottawa has none of that for me. It’s a nice city. I always seem to come back to “nice” when I describe Ottawa. And nice always feels like a holding pattern term to me. Not down and out. Not top of the world. It’s simply nice.
I feel more content with the work now. As content from that standpoint as I’ve ever been in Ottawa. But even with that, this is the ideal work for the single person. Twelve hour shifts, both day and night with sleep needing to be fit in at different hours on different days.
When others have pushed at me to make more friends, I’ve entered a job that makes me spend less time with the ones I’ve already got. Holidays are just another day in the week now. If the schedule says you’re due to work than you’re due to work. It doesn’t matter if it’s Easter or Canada Day or Christmas. Others share in a day off. It’s universal and inclusive. And I check my schedule and figure sleep schedules when plans are made.
It’s always give and take. Want some interesting work? Give away a piece of that already minimal social life and it’s yours. Want to live back home? Contract work measured by the month or part time hours in a medial task await your return.
So in niceness I stay working a good job with access to good movies and a multitude of restaurants. Life isn’t boring... it’s just not the one I planned on. Schwarzenegger and Danny make it all sound too easy.
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