July 2010

I would love to tell you all about work – and about the people who live in the group home. I would love to tell you about some of the weird, wild, and sometimes fabulous, things that I am experiencing.

And I can’t.

You have no idea how much this is killing me, people.

Or, maybe you do? At this point, those of you who’ve been reading for a while have likely gleaned my love for “sharing”.

I’m not even comfortable, yet, with talking about the residents, or some aspects of my job, in veiled terms or with details obscured to maintain confidentiality.

And it’s killing me.

–

I am struggling with the night shifts. I have no idea how I’m going to manage this with school, too, and I’m trying to figure out whether I need to prepare to hand in my 2 week notice.

If I do, I’ll still be able to work relief – but I won’t have a regular rotation.

And I hate the idea of quitting the rotation almost as much as I dread the overnight shift.

To be clear, it’s not the work itself – it’s the hours and my inability to function with disturbed sleep patterns. I feel half-deranged and that’s making work itself feel stressful because I’m so groggy that I worry more about whether I’m doing a good job (though, rationally, I know that I’m doing just fine and dandy).

Yargh.

AND I CAN’T EVEN TELL YOU ABOUT IT!

Jeeesh.

1. Running errands with Coffee after getting home from work this morning. I was exhausted but it was good to spend time together.
2. I’ve got Monday (a holiday) to look forward to – helping me get through my overnight shifts.
3. A new duvet – so I can stop stealing Coffee’s for my naps (I have determined that I sleep better under TWO fluffy blankets. Hello, Princess!)
4. Ginger cookies.
5. Playing DS games against Coffee before heading in to work.

1. Coffee got me some new DS games!
2. My purple hair makes me happy.
3. My purple hair also seems to make people flirt with me more. ;)
4. I do not have to work on Monday, which is a holiday, so I’ll have at least a bit of a weekend despite working night shifts.
5. Ear plugs that I am getting more comfortable with wearing for (daytime) sleep.
6. The antics of our chipmunk. I will aim to blog more about that shortly.
7. Finding a few minutes to do this list – even if I’ll be backdating it.
8. My husband.
9. Can I just say, again, that the library is my favourite place on earth?
10. Remembering to charge all of my various electronic doo-dads AND take the cords with me to work. Phew.

1. A little bit of Facebook hilarity. I have good friends.
2. Homemade yogurt with strawberry jam.
3. Getting the garden weeded, fully, in time to start over again. Ha!
4. Sitting on the sofa, playing DS, with my beloved husband.
5. Remembering to take my vitamins.

I spent a bit of time out in the garden today, ripping up the weeds that have invaded. My style of gardening can at best be described as “wabi sabi” and, at worst, “neglectful”.

I have harvested two zucchinis, though, and a very fat cucumber. There are a few more of each growing and a lot of flowers on the vines. I’ve been eating the cucumber in my salad all week.

The cherry (or was it grape that I planted?) tomatoes have exploded far beyond the reaches of the tomato cages. Once again I have failed to pinch the lower growths and the plants are each about 4 feet wide and 3 feet tall. They’ve covered in flowers and I am no longer mad at OneBun and her babies for eating the other plants before they had a chance to grow much.

The jalapeno peppers, however, were sacrificed to the weeds – I couldn’t find them, literally, and yanked them out along with the invaders. The loofahs died on the vine, for the second year, confirming that we’re not making them happy in our garden.

In lovely surprises, however… A few years ago we planted some sunflowers. Last year we had one spontaneously grow – we didn’t plant anything at all in the garden, and it was nice to see that flower show up. This year there are three of them with trunks – no, they’re not stems – about the circumference of my fist. Coffee is a bit giddy about that.

Now that most of the weeds are cleared, I can go back to neglecting the garden for a few more weeks. This pleases me.

I may need to rethink my plans of owning a farm someday.

Often, computer geeks who started programming at a young age brag about it, as it is a source of geeky prestige. However, most computer geeks are oblivious to the fact that your parents being able to afford a computer back in the 1980s is a product of class privilege, not your innate geekiness. Additionally, the child’s gender affects how much the parents are willing to financially invest in the child’s computer education. If parents in the 1980s think that it is unlikely their eight-year-old daughter will have a career in technology, then purchasing a computer may seem like a frivolous expense.

Read the rest here.

1. Sleep. Sweet, precious sleep.
2. Spending a bit of time on the treadmill didn’t kill me.
3. My husband. He is a good egg.
4. The most amazing salads for lunch every day for the past few weeks. *drool*
5. That “hope” thing again. Still clinging to it.

1. I got my eyebrows threaded, my nails painted, and my hair dyed. Phew.
2. After a long delay, I finally re-setup one of my domains (it’s my last name + .ca – but there’s nothing there, yet!)
3. My husband and his infinite patience and willingness to stay up FAR too late.
4. Hope. I am struggling to keep it, but it’s still there anyway.
5. Love.

The problem with Mondays is that, eventually, I have to put on pants.