Best-laid plans gang aft agley
This last weekend I missed the Fire for the first time in years. I was pretty darn disappointed, though we managed to spend our time here in good ways. But as Friday night came closer I had to confront the reality of the situation: the engines couldna’ take the strain.
For the last two weeks, 2 of the early-shift typesetters have been absent from work: one on vacation, and one on family emergency. Doesn’t sound too bad, except I’m the only other one! For those 10 work days, my shifts ran from 10-12 hours apiece.
I kinda rate my combined mental, emotional, and physical energy levels as “main power”, “reserves”, and “emergency”. Reserves is a subjective 25% of capacity – enough to supply me comfortably for an hour’s drive home at 3am after a good party. Emergency is about 5-10% of capacity – if I expect to do anything useful in that state, adrenaline or caffeine should be involved (preferably both).
Well, I’ve been working on “reserves” since two Wednesdays ago, and all I was getting from a night’s sleep was back approximately to that 25%. After a 10-hour Friday shift, I was running at close to emergency levels again. Oh, technically I’m sure Rain and I could have made it to Blacksburg. We’re tough. But did I really want to attend an event with my friends while I operated in total zombie mode? No. That was more fun when I was 18… which was some time ago.
So, we stayed home, and did some cool things around Norfolk and Va. Beach, which I’ll talk about later. Kind of a mixed blessing, to be honest; while we had enough fun to make up somewhat for missing our friends, it was still energy-consuming fun. Even by Sunday evening, I didn’t feel recharged much past 30% or so.
Last night, OTOH, I came home from the shift, nuked some very tasty leftovers, and plunked myself down in front of WoW for about four hours. Say what you want about gaming too much, this was 4 hours of physical rest, endorphin production, and frankly not too much challenge at any point. This morning? Why, I may be up to 40-50%.
Just in time to go to work…
Ah, the wind in my knees
I wore the Utilikilt to work on Friday. Everyone liked it much, and I got lotsa compliments. The shirt I picked out to wear with it was pretty weak, but then I’m pretty sure no one noticed I was wearing a shirt.
Everyone wanted to know what I was wearing beneath it – I told them it was $5 each to find out. One of my co-workers was visibly tempted by the deal. (Yes, I was clad. I’m not going ‘regimental’ to my workplace, no matter how cool my co-workers are.)
Web video link-of-the-day: A City of Heroes performance troupe in Bobbo Number Five.
“I yam a jalapeno onna steeek.”
raininva and I went to the Virginia Beach Funny Bone to see Jeff Dunham tonight. Lots of you might have caught part of his act, because he’s been doing it for a while – I swear I saw him on “Solid Gold” once. I haven’t laughed that hard since the first time I saw Eddie Izzard do his act. The tickets were pricier than usual, so it’s good to leave feeling like we got our money’s worth.
Our oil heater, once again, isn’t working right. In what I think is an intentional snub, it’s getting air in the line and failing every time the weather gets cold out. I woke up this morning to a 50-degree house. On the bright side, I got a couple points to spend in “Driver’s Seat Replacement” today and made the skill check just fine. Rain’s Pontiac should be much more comfortable to drive, now.
A few weeks ago, I bought the first book of Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy, thinking if the first one was any good, I’d buy the rest. It seems Pullman knew I would do this, because the first book isn’t a bad start at all, but the second two fall apart almost immediately. The books are being marketed to the Harry Potter crowd, but while Rowling does a fair job of writing about adult themes from an adolescent’s viewpoint, Pullman tries to stuff in philosophical observations of the nature of good and evil, the way that people’s souls change over time, and a literal war to destroy Heaven. Throw in a large cast of characters we’re given no reason to care about, and I’m reminded of Steve Martin’s line: “I’ve written a number of children’s books. Not on purpose.”
Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” is a slightly better read, but only if you are willing to assume that everything you saw in the movie (I haven’t read the original books) was a propagandist’s lie. At this point in my reading, the WWW isn’t any more evil than your average misunderstood goth chick, while the Wizard is a fascist dictator bringing all the worst kinds of “progress” to Oz. If the writing wasn’t pretty decent, I think I might have moved on from this one by now… and I can’t imagine this being the Broadway musical that’s it’s been adapted into.
It’ll take a while to load, but you should watch this Flash animation. Any non-geeks on my friends list (are there any?) may understand the rest of us a little better 🙂
Speaking of web video… Rube Goldberg meets Half-Life 2 in the “Doctor Breen Butt-Kicking Machine“.
Oh, and over the course of Thursday and Friday, I put 22 hours in at work. Yeek.
Feeling like a ‘Prisoner’
All the typesetters here have code numbers that go on the printing plates, to assist with correcting errors. (I’m Number Nine. Turn me on, dead man.)
Still, when one of the pressmen walked in asking, “Who is Number Four?” it was difficult to resist answering, “You are Number Six.”
(Wouldn’t be accurate anyway. Number Six hasn’t come in for the day.)
People who dress odd
I suppose it’s not very convincing to call in sick when one’s already reported for work. Darn it. It’s nice out, and has been for the last couple of days.
An offhand comment about fashion (and the broken air conditioner in the typesetting room) led to my co-workers discovering I own a Utilitkilt. Now everyone wants me to wear it to work sometime soon – including my supervisors. (This is a workplace where one person has actually come to work in her pyjamas… so there’s not exactly a strict dress code.)
My jacket is currently sporting a button that reads “Paranoia, n. A healthy understanding of the way the universe works.” This made the day of a clerk at FYI Music over Christmas… apparently it hadn’t been a happy shopping morning. That same day, a customer in Red Robin went nuts over the “Team Banzai” emblem on the back of the jacket, and we spent about ten minutes swapping Buckaroo trivia.
Finally, I managed to watch “The Christmas Invasion” last night. That’s one of the darkest Dr. Who episodes I’ve ever seen. Someone makes a very nasty decision at the end, and though my knee-jerk reaction was to condemn it, I can sort of see both sides. I have to say that the new direction for the show impresses me… I never before expected to call an evening with the Doctor “thought-provoking”. I know I’ll be looking forward to “Torchwood” when that comes on. (Also because it’ll have Captain Jack Harkness in it.)
Somebody call Lunch Rescue
Last night, for no clear reason, my energy levels just evaporated. I had plenty of food, caffeine, and good company… but suddenly I just wanted to lie there, watch TV, and then go to bed. This morning was the same… I had to drag myself from bed to shower to desk. I only now feel like my head is clearing and my body is beginning to function again.
The main fallout from this is that my lunch for today is still sitting at home, neatly packed on top of the kitchen pantry.
D’oh.
I did get to watch our recorded copy of Thunderbirds over the holidays. Frankly, I expected it to be remarkably lame, but it wasn’t bad. There were some minor issues, but the production design was great – when the kids were climbing over the auxiliary craft, the vehicles all looked like Gerry Anderson models blown up to life-size – and the actress playing Lady Penelope understood that she was supposed to have fun with the role. I’d pick up the DVD eventually, even if the hardware didn’t get enough screen time.
Over-revved
12-hour shift last night, the last 3 hours of which were performed in ‘panic mode’. Errrrgh. If I’m 5 or 10 minutes late this morning, somehow I won’t feel too guilty.
Here’s a movie for you – Rendezvous. 140 mph though the streets of 1978 Paris with no permits or permission, and an early gyro-stabilized camera mounted on the hood.