I want you to imagine, if you would, a woman who has just rolled out of bed. Her long hair is fuzzy and puffed out from poor sleep and dry weather, creating a lion-like mane around her head. Her eyes are hazy, and there are large, dark circles beneath them. Her hands are puffy from weather she isn’t used to, and probably a little bit of dehydration. She is waking up to face her nineteenth twelve-hour shift in a row…mind, two of those shifts were thirteen hours and one was fifteen. She is, by all reasonable accounts, very tired. Very tired. But she is also surprisingly cheerful, because for the first time in ages she’s making some money, and three days ago she passed the threshold for hours she needs to make an unemployment claim when this particular job ends. So she’s exhausted, but she’s pleased.
Three guesses as to who I’m describing, and the first two don’t count.
Yes, my darlings, there is really no mincing words here; I am absolutely knackered. But, as explained above, I’m also quite pleased. Though it’s not exactly going to change my financial world, I’ve been making some money again, and I can rest easy knowing that when this job ends, I’ve got enough hours for an EI claim until the next one comes along. I can’t possibly tell you how much of a weight that is off my shoulders. Mind you now, EI hardly pays the bills, so it’s not as though I’ve got clear sailing ahead, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the alternative, let me tell you.
A few random things before I dive into the goals:
- This particular job (which has actually been two jobs, technically, since the first one is done now and I got shuffled to another part of the plant for the second) has been almost exclusively spark watch, which, put simply, means I watch to ensure nothing catches fire while other workers are doing hot work like welding. It is, by and large, quite easy work, and my coworkers have all been awesome, so that’s quite excellent. 🙂
- There were a few days there during which the service elevator in the ‘coker’ where we’re working was broken. This did not go over well, as our work site is on the top ‘floor’, which is one-hundred and ninety-two steps up. On a twelve hour shift that means that my entire crew was going up and down those 192 steps four times. Nearly eight hundred vertical steps per day. To say that my legs were screaming would be a massive understatement. Thank fuck the elevator was fixed yesterday, because I honestly think my knees and ankles were about to give up the ghost, and that would have been quite a scene…me tumbling backward down several flights of stairs in full construction gear.
- I am lately realizing, with mounting horror, that Christmas is rapidly approaching and I have virtually no presents bought, aside from a few things picked up for the kid here and there. This is not how things normally go for me at Christmas, and I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. @_@
Okay, that’s enough randomness, I think. Let’s get to the goals!
Health
Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… I mean, based on my complaining about the stairs above, you can probably see where this one is going, can’t you?
To be quite honest, I really don’t know how to report anything right now given that I: a) don’t have a whole lot of control over what I’m eating, and b) wouldn’t have the time to do any proper exercise even if I currently wanted to. Plus there’s the fact that my hands are so puffy that I can’t get my wedding ring off, but at the same time I’m yanking up my pants a hundred times a day… Yeah, no, I really just don’t know what’s going on with my body at the moment.
What I can tell you is that I’ve been trying very hard to get my daily water in, but it’s been difficult because I’m also guzzling coffee in order to keep myself functioning. I’ve also been doing my best to get lots of fruit and veggies in my diet, but if I try to keep myself away from the cookies I just end up miserable and biting people’s heads off.
All in all, I think I’m a bit of a mess at the moment, but that is unfortunately something that comes with working these weird shutdown shifts. On the positive side of things, if I make it to this coming Saturday I’ll have ‘timed out’ on the max number of days this site allows anyone to work in a row, which means I’ll be forced to take four days off. I may very well sleep an entire one of them. 😛
Creativity
My friends, I have been aching to draw for ages, but I have mostly not been able to find the time or energy to do so when I finally get back to my room at the end of the day. I have IDEAS, but I suppose they’ll just have to wait a little while longer. Maybe I’ll get to some of them during those days off I mentioned above.
I did manage to finish a little bit of line-work I’d started before I left for this job, but that one will have to wait a bit longer to show up here because I haven’t even posted it to my Patreon yet. What I can show you is this itty-bitty snake I doodled the other day when I was feeling especially fluffy:
It comes with a story concept… It was the first snow of the year in London, and it had come with an unexpected cold snap that left residents shivering. Aziraphale is opening the bookshop when he feels something wriggling in his pocket and reaches in to pull out…itty-bitty Crowley, all coiled up and seeking heat, flicking his tongue up at the angel. ❤
Yeah, I’m a big old sap, leave off.
Anyway, as far as writing goes, things have been going quite well, mainly due to my insistence on carrying a notebook wherever I go and finding every possible moment between work and sleep to scribble out a few words. Mostly last week I worked on catching back up on ‘The Prince’s Consort’ so that I would have chapters to post at the appropriate times, but I’ve also been scribbling ideas for another fic that I’ll get to at some point, as well as scenes that I’ll be sneaking in to ‘The Other World: Book Three’ when the time comes. All in all, believe it or not, this was one of my best weeks in ages. Pacemaker is being rather harsh on me now that we’re getting to the end of the year, and it demanded 16,277 words of me last week. I just barely managed to squeak through with a final word count for the week of 16,369.
Just imagine what I could do if I was also allowed to drink while out here.
Down-Time
I said it last week, and it hasn’t changed: down-time is not really something I have at the moment. In fact, I’m writing this post on the bus on the way to work, and I’ll finish it in the lunch room while waiting for the morning safety meeting to start. That said…
I haven’t really been reading (not even fanfic…gasp, I know!) but I did finish the Audible recording of ‘Good Omens’, which was pretty fantastic. I know I’m a bit biased in these regards, but honestly, I didn’t enjoy the book nearly as much as the show, so I wasn’t entirely certain about the audio book. Having it narrated made all the difference in the world though, and it was absolutely wonderful. I especially loved hearing Michael Sheen and David Tennant’s voices in it, of course, but the other voice actors were quite good as well, and the narrator was excellent. My only complaint would be the actor(s?) who portrayed Warlock. His voice was absolutely grating in the worst kind of way and didn’t sound at all like a child. I’m not sure what they were thinking there, especially since The Them’s voices were quite good and normal. Anyway, it’s another thumbs up for audio books for me! Now I just have to survive until the 24th when my next credit comes in so that I can get Act 2 of The Sandman. 😀
Games? No. No games. Just five minutes a day of ‘Pokemon Go’ to keep my streaks running and grab some coins, and some random plucking away at ‘Cookie Run Kingdom’ in the background while I’m doing other things. On a related note, though, I recently had an almost agonizing desire to play ‘Borderlands 3’, so guess what I’m going to be doing in my down-time when I get back home from this job?
Now watching, well…well I haven’t really been doing much of that either. lol The main thing I’ve been watching recently is the Leaf’s games, but even those have been in little spurts and fits because they always seem to start while I’m still at work. Other than that, I did recently set two Bo Burnham Netflix specials playing in the background while I did some other stuff back at camp. I adore the dude. He’s a bit off-the-wall and definitely an acquired taste, but if you enjoy comedy ripping on society and/or have ever experienced burnout, you might enjoy checking him out. Each of his shows makes me giggle like a fool, while also making me feel seen and desperately want to give Bo a hug. Check him out, guys.
That about covers that for another week, I believe! Now, as predicted, I am currently finishing this post in the lunch room while waiting the day to start, so I’m going to go have my coffee now and pray to Cthulhu that the elevator is still working today. Wish me luck!
Feel free to let me know how your year is going so far! Do you have any big goals? Specific plans? Anything awesome on the horizon? Share what’s going on with you! ❤
Tracey Tobin 