Perpetual Ruminations

Monday

Just got home and had some dinner after another long ten hour day at work. Being so tired, I just grabbed some Chines food to bring home and heat up. It was alright, but fresh is always better. I picked this up at the grocery store, out of the cooler. They do have a buffet there, with an Oriental section, so I could have gotten fresh and hot, but I was too tired to wait for it.

As it was, I dozed off on the drive home. It's been quite a while since I found myself nodding off while driving, although I have been very tired and fighting it a lot recently. This was the worst, I didn't just nod off for a second, I fell asleep and started drifting off the road. Luckily it was towards the right side and not across the highway. Also, they have a rumble strip along the edge of the road and this is what brought me back out. It woke me up pretty good, and since I was only a couple miles out form home, I continued. If I had been further away, I would have had to stop and get out for a while to wake myself up.

Now, I have my tummy full of food, I'm sipping a cup of coffee, but it's not doing anything to ward off the tiredness I feel. It's not just sleepy, my whole body is starting to feel exhausted from going so much. I should go soak in a hot bath, but since I'm home alone, I suppose that wouldn't be a very smart idea. Instead, I'm going ot find something on Netflix, snuggle into the love-seat,and sleep through a movie.

Currently, I have a seven or eight hour day tomorrow, then I should have two days off. It's not certain yet, and considering the situation, it won't be certain until the time is over. I hope it works out, I really need some down time.

XXX

Two entries today, I'm doing good.

Well, actually, I should be in bed sleeping, but I woke up to the phone ringing. My first thoughts were that the schedule had changed yet again and I was now working  Wednesday and Thursday. I'm so used to things going this route, I think this way automatically, even in a sound sleep.

But it was't bad news, it was Rhonda calling from work. She was doing the training today, and the new guy passed his test. That means he's alright to work alone now. Yes, that's the system they have for us, set up by the store we are hired to work at; eight hours crammed down our throat and then we are put on our own. I remember well how little I knew and how unprepared I was after the two four hour sessions they call training. At least now we can do it all in one shot, instead of two, four hour days.

But, it's still a lot of information stuffed into our heads, and it really doesn't make sense to put a person on alone this quick. During the nine months out of the year that we only have one person working at a time, I go in on their first day and oversee things for them. I'm not on the clock, and not working, but I'm right there to lend a little support, answer questions, and give a little hind if needed. Usually by the end of this first shift, they see they do know enough to handle the shift on their own, and now also have a little confidence, too.

Right now, we are working  two guards on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday afternoons. It's called double coverage and is available from ten until six, as needed. This also gives us the opportunity to give a new guard some hours with an experienced guard. That's what we are planning for this new guy. He passed, but Rhonda said he was pretty stressed and feeling overwhelmed with so much information. I think he will feel much better with a few days of working with someone, and putting things into perspective now. And, it will free me up for more time to write and get caught up on other tasks here at home.

Well, it will once we get the other new guard back to working his scheduled hours. He's the one with the little boy who got hurt and is in the hospital. We are all hoping that they find the answers soon so that the little boy can be healed and the family can get back to a normal life. Until then, it's very hard to set up a schedule, knowing that it may very well change at any time.

Like I mentioned, it will be great once everyone is back to a normal schedule, but now that we have this new guy hired, we have a little help covering the extra hours as needed, so it's also easier to accommodate the changes as they come. The end of this week is looking a lot better already. In fact, as of right now, I have a pretty easy week ahead of me. I work a normal shift tomorrow, then should have Wednesday and Thursday off, if nothing changes. I go back to work on Friday, but it will be my normal morning shift, as it will be on Saturday as well.

Now that I have gotten all this out, I remember that I wasn't going to use this for a work journal, and yet here I am, talking shop. Only this time it's not stress and all that my life is, it's excitement to have a full crew, and to know there is some relief in sight. It's been a long time since I could even consider scheduling back my hours to make time to have a life outside of work. In fact, and this is kind of scary, I find myself nervous about having some time outside of work. Yes, you read that right, I find I'm having second thoughts about scheduling myself for fewer hours.

Even though there are these second thoughts, they will be short lived. Once that new schedule becomes reality and I have a little time to  adjust to having a little time, I will have those second thoughts on the run. I already know just what I want to do to chase them away, I want to delve into my true profession and write!

I don't have anything sitting on the back burner to write about, but I'm sure I will find plenty of things to write about. What I'm even more excited about is working at the mechanics of writing. I've always been a poor speller, and my grammar is nothing to write home about, either. My biggest downfall in writing is the mechanics and editing my work. So, I went out and invested a little money in some material to help me learn better grammar and editing.

I started working through one book about the time that everything fell apart last fall. I was already struggling with time, but it was slower at work and I was able to do some reading and studying at work in the mornings. At least, I thought I could. But, as it turned out, there were just enough interruptions from my job to make it very difficult to study and do the lessons. So, I brought it home, and had just started to plan out a new schedule to allow me a little more time to work on this at home. Then, things went from no time, to even less time. Now, it's finally looking like I may be able to get back on task with that, too.