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.

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.