Well, the world certainly didn't take a break this week, and neither did I...
We've got a new pope, a B.C. election has been called, a Federal election call is being threatened, more Canadians have been 'accidentally' killed by American gunships in Iraq, the world's largest airplane began regular flights, he had a killer train wreck in Japan, the Michael Jackson trial is wrapping up with some twisted developments, the Millenium Bomber may actually "get off" after helping the feds with other terror invistigations???, and some crazy old Thai guy complaining to his doctor of an 'itch' had over 50 maggots removed from his ear. Yum.
Yup, quite a week for news - and I'm not even mentioning the half of it...
As for me, I've worked four 12 hour days in the last week, with many, many more to come... hopefully I'll get paid for it... apparently my job has been deemed 'essential service', and during troubling times (I'm prohibited from talking about it) I can be ordered to work with no promise of compensation. My peers and I are optimistic that our next paycheque will be a doozy though, even though we have'nt been told if we'll get paid yet.
Other than that, I've had a pretty nice weekend - the weather has been absolutely stellar - Friday and Saturday were 27 degrees, and every day since has been at least 22. Friday night the band had a party at our rehearsal spot for our drummer's wife's birthday, and we ended up playing an awesome set, including a couple of brand new songs. I've only had a couple rehearsals since my recovery, but, we pulled the whole thing off really well - especially considering all the alcohol consumption!
Carole had gone to the Island for the weekend, so I was left to my own devices. Saturday I got up early and went for a long walk/hike. By 10AM it was already close to 20 degrees, so I packed it in after an hour and a half, but spend the remainder of the day working in the back yard, weeding, gardening, etc. It was nice and relaxing, and felt great to finally get out there.
Saturday night I had a poker tourney, and I did terribly. Out of the 20 people there, I was the 7th out (13th place?) terrible... but I just couldn't catch a break, and, well, them's the breaks.
Sunday was nice again, and I was sure to get a little tanning done - also made sure to cleanup any mess before Carole got home! Mostly a down day though, as I prepared psycologically for the intense work week ahead of me. I couldn't even sleep at all that night... all that went through my head was "gotta be up at five, gotta be at work at 6. Working six am to six pm for the forseable future. Need my rest, gotta sleep, gotta sleep, gotta sleep..." But by 5AM I was still just staring at the clock, thinking "gotta sleep..."
As it turns out though, it hasn't been all that bad yet... of course, today is only day three... and the savng grace is the weather. I had initially thought that I wouldn't see the light of day this summer (I work indoors) but with a 12 hour shift, you get three breaks, plus a lunch, so I get out three or four times a day and go for a 20 minute walk. Sure, It's a total farmer's tan, but with an hour of mid-day exposure every day, I'm actually getttin' some good colour! lol.
I ordered a poker table from eBay a week ago, and UPS tried to deliver it yesterday, but of course, nobody was home, so I didn't get it. I called 'em, and said I'd come pick it up at their Annasis Island distribution centre. They said "That's great, it'll be waiting anytime between 2pm and 8pm today" - so after my long shift, I drive all the way through rush hour traffic, and what do they say? "It's still on the truck, we've paged the driver and she can be back here in 45 minutes. Would you like to wait?" - Geez, 45 minutes is about all the time I get to spare in a day now, after getting home, making dinner and watching 1/2 hour of TV, I'd be lucky to have 45 minutes of free time before cashing out for the night... so I said "no, I can't wait. Can you deliver it to my work tomorrow?" - "Oh, sure! Of course we can! So, hopefully I'll get that today. That'll be fun - having a real life poker table, now I can hold my own real-life poker tournaments! That is, if I ever get a day off...
Well, anyway, I've wasted enough company time workin' on Da Blog, I've gotta split - but talk to y'all soon!