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My thoughts released; a mind set free |
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These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. 
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| Another ten days since I made an entry, not very good. But, that's the way things go sometimes, especially when we are short people at work. The good news is, we have someone hired and trained, they will start next week and then things should start getting back to normal. Of course, there have been some major changes in our schedule, but I think once everyone has adjusted it will work well. Other than spending way to many hours working and feeling a bit burned out as a result, things are going pretty well. I managed to get yesterday off without having to do anything work related; I pretty much just chilled all day except for a little work on the car. The brakes started acting up Thursday so I wanted to look at things and try and figure out what it's going to take to get it fixed. Turns out, I was very low on brake fluid, but I couldn't find any leaks. So, I filled up the reservoir and will see how it goes today on my way to work. I'm sure it's leaking someplace and if that's the case, I'll have to take it in to have the leak found and repaired. But, I can't remember if I have ever checked the brake fluid since I bought it, and it could be that it's been low all along and just got to the point of being so low it became noticeable. If that's the case, the reservoir should stay full and I won't have to take it in for a while. We can always hope for the best, right? For now, it's time to get ready to head into work, hopefully I get a little time to get in here again tomorrow. Things are looking better for me having more time next week, depending on how the schedule changeover goes. Again, we can always hope for the best. And, that's what I'm going to do, hope things work smoothly and soon, very soon, I will start having more time to spend in here and trying to get something written. |
| I recently started a goal to get more active in WdC with reading and reviewing, as well as to get motivated in my writing. Things were going pretty good, I did get some reading in and reviewed a few items. I also was getting my motivation going towards some writing. The idea was, if I had nothing much to add as a blog entry, I would find a prompt and write in here a short item about it. Just when it looked like things were going to work out, things fell apart at work; someone quit. He did give two weeks notice, but also took his vacation time during the two weeks he had left, which kind of messed things up right after his notice. To understand how much, a breif description of my job. I'm a security guard for an out of state company, and I'm also the site supervisor. My job is to ensure things are working correctly and all shifts are covered, as well as all the little things that go along with supervising. Our work dictates one person on per shift, so there are no extra people to call in to cover if someone is gone; it's up to the rest to cover the open shift until someone gets hired, trained, and into the open position. This resulted in me having less time off, and a lot more to do during that time off. So much for more time to spend in WdC. Even worse, all the added work outside of my working hours has had a very negative impact on my newly found motivation to write; my mind is very preoccupied with looking, interviewing, and hiring a new guard. Just when I thought I had it going, it fell apart. It's kind of like getting all ones s*** together in a big paper bag and having the bottom tear open, quite a distracting mess. But, I'm going to stay optimistic about things, we will get someone hired soon and everything will go back to normal. Oh, I should also add that even as wee need everyone to pick up some extra hours, one of the other guards decided to take some short cuts and now I get to go in today and give him the riot act. One day off this week and I end up having to go in and find out what's going on with this person and try and get things corrected or we will be hiring two instead of just one... Wish me luck. |
| It's been about a week since I've written in here; it's been quite a week. My position as a site supervisor puts a burden on my free time, but usually it's not a lot. One time it piles up is after the end of the month and I have additional duties to take care of, but even then, it's usually just a few hours of my time. I should add that my type of work makes it difficult to sometimes impossible to do all my supervisory functions while on the job, therefor I'm required to do them outside of regular work hours. The other big impact on the amount of work I have to do outside of my regular hours is if someone terminates and I have to rehire to fill a position. That's what happened this last week. I knew the person would be looking for another job within his actual career field, but neither of us knew when that would be. We also thought, and hoped, that the work hours wouldn't conflict and we could work around the new job. That was not the case, and he had to choose one job or the other, which means we will be short one person. Because of the nature of the job, we have just enough people to provide work coverage and cannot carry another until someone quits and creates a new opening, Therefore, until the position is filled, it's an added burden on everyone else, but especially on me to provide extra coverage. It's also an added burden on my time to go through applicants and do interviews until someone is hired, trained, and can start working alone. So much for any free time for a while; it's going to take a least two weeks to get things covered, possibly longer. Even so, I'm going to try and get into WdC as much as I can, and while here, I will keep as active in reading and reviewing as time permits. I also plan on trying to keep my blog entries fairly regular... |
| How's that for creating a new term? Mojo Interruptus; at least I think I coined a new term. I discovered this condition earlier today when I logged into WdC. I had found a few reviews in my email on an item that had been showcased in Newsfeed Highlights, thank you for the honor. I was replying to one of the reviews and feeling quite motivated to reply to the reviews, then do some reading and reviewing. Just as I was getting a good start, I heard my cell go off, "...Chimes... You have a text message." That was all it took, my concentration was interrupted and I had lost my mojo. I stopped my reply and looked to see what the message was. A text from my beloved asking me to cook her up a couple of chicken breasts. "Mojo Interruptus!" It was all innocent, no harm meant, but the damage is done, the mojo is gone and my intentions of reading and reviewing are scattered through the cosmos. I did finish that reply, then took out some chicken breasts and started them cooking. I did the next reply and then checked on the chicken, and now am in here to write about my Mojo Interruptus as I wait for it to cook, then put it in a container and into the fridge for her. For other's, this is likely no problem, but for me, it's disaster. When my creativity is flowing, my mojo, I need to stay focused only on my mojo. Interruptions draw me back out of that place I go when I'm creative. Yes, I get completely lost in my creativity; when I'm writing, I forget to eat, sleep, and function outside of writing. I can handle some interruptions, if they are light and far between. But, one that dashes my mojo to thousands of little pieces is the phone. It's nothing new, I have never liked to be interrupted, especially by the phone. I reckon if ever I had a pet peeve, this would be it. I don't mind talking on the phone, or even texting, for that matter, when it's the point of focus. But when my focus is elsewhere, it's nothing short of an immediate shut off to my mojo. So,m turn the damn thing off! Right? I wish I could, but my position as a site supervisor means I need to be able to be contacted if there are any problems on site. I can live with that, it's my job. Unfortunately, most of the texts that come in are non-work related. For most, the cell phone is a wonderful way to stay in contact, but for me, it's Mojo Interruptus. Being the introvert that I am, I turned inward and enjoy peaceful, quiet alone time. I thrive on it; it's where my mojo resides. But that damn phone... |
| It's that time when we work at undoing all the Christmas decorating we did after Thanksgiving. In the process, I'm filled with thoughts and images of my wife bustling around the house putting up garland and decorations to the festive sound of holiday music. I help out a little, but I enjoy watching her too much to get very involved in the decorating myself. Christmas is her favorite time of the year, and seeing her youthful excitement as she fills each room with holiday decorations fills my heart and soul with warmth and holiday cheer. Of course, taking things down always is less festive, but I can't say either of us feel depressed by the end of the holiday season; I know some who are. We enjoy our Christmas and New Years celebrating and once they have past, we start looking forward to the next holiday we can celebrate together. Since neither of us are of Irish heritage, we don't do much for St. Patrick's Day except enjoy the festiveness of other's who do celebrate. For us, the next celebration is February 8 and 9. This is the anniversary of our meeting. We met, for the first time on the 8, so that would be our official anniversary, but it was nothing more than an introduction that afternoon. The following day, however, we spent most of the evening and night talking, lost in conversation. Therefore, the 9th is actually the first day we spent together. Well, actually we spent the evening of the 9th and it carried right on into the morning hours of the 10th, lost in conversation with each other. We've been lost in each other since. Of course, there's plenty of other special days, holidays, and birthdays for us to celebrate. For that matter, we don't need a special day or a holiday, each and every day we spend together is wonderful. Of course, some days are just typical days, others are spent doing something memorable. Soon enough, we will be back to putting up Christmas decorations and I will watch this wonderful lady filled with youthful excitement and think, "Another year passing way too fast, but another year about to start; another year of celebrating life with my best friend, my lover, my wife, my partner and soul-mate. |
| Back from our winter vacation and time to get back into WdC... it's been way too long since I was very active in here. Where to start? Well, I've done well at getting in here to check through my mail and look at some of the daily activities, but my reviewing is almost non existent. I did one review last month, and that was an improvement. Just one review, and I ranked in at 99 and got a merit badge. I like getting them, but I don't feel this one was really earned. Still, I ranked high enough to get one, which indicates I'm not the only one not doing many reviews; all the more reason to get back into doing some reviews for my fellow writers. Of course, I also need to get some writing done; where of where has my mojo gone? One place to start is in here, in my blog. I kind of add entries haphazardly instead of trying to write on a regular basis. The problem is my mojo, again. I mean, what the hell do I write about? There's usually something work related I could share, but who the hell cares? Besides, why should I be spending my time off thinking about work? I need my mojo to get something going, and just an idea would help. I'm thinking of trying something different, when I can't think of anything to enter here. I'll look for some prompt on the site and see what I can come up with to kind of jump start the old mojo. Today, I do have something to share, the results of our vacation. We headed over to my mother-in-laws Christmas day. We had a late start, but not too bad. The weather was good except for the extreme cold and wind. If you consider the old vehicle we drive, it's easy to understand how the wind whipped right through the doors and windows. Of course, a good heater would counter act the frigid cold, but we don't have that, either. After the water pump was changed, we lost most of the heat in the thing. Luckily it was only a four hour drive or I think we would have suffered hypothermia; the ambient temperature was a minus sixteen with a stiff wind gusting to nearly twenty miles per hour. We made it no problems, well except for being mighty chilled. Normally, it's so stuffy and hot at my mother-in-laws that it's almost unbearable with all the people packed in. This time, however, it felt good and helped to warm us back up. The visit was short, just the afternoon, evening and then off again the next morning, but the time there was well worth the cold drive. We left a bit late again the following morning, to head farther north to my daughter's house to spend a day with her and her family. It was another cold day, but sunny and mild winds. Another four hour drive, but not as cold as the previous day, thanks to no gusting winds. Even so, we were well chilled by the time we got there. Another afternoon and evening with family, good times and then off the next morning to my wife's sister to see some grand children that are in foster care. It was minus thirty when we got up, very cold. We left a bit late so we would have a little warmer drive back, since my sister-in-law lives close to my mother-in-law. Again, no wind, so it didn't blow through the old truck as bad, but still mighty cold. Once we arrived, we were greeted by two dogs who just refused to get along with our dog. In fact, the entire time we were there, they continued to bark and get out of the front room to attack our dog. No serious injuries, but quite an ordeal for the few hours we were there. To add to the discomfort, she has cats, lots of them. Our dog doesn't like cats so when we weren't protecting her from the other dogs, we were restraining her from going after one cat or another, since they had free run of the house. I should also add that even though I like cats alright, I can't be around them, they trigger my asthma, I break out in miserable rash, and I get genuinely sick. Yes, I'm allergic to cats. My daughter has two, but did a good job to keep them away from me. My sister-in-law did nothing to restrain them and I got a terrible case of cat-fever. The visit with the grandchildren was pretty good considering everything, but by the time we left my eyes were itching, watering, and nearly swelled shut. I was suffering from constricted breathing, coughing, and hacking. I itched all over and knew I had a hell of a rash starting, and I felt like crap. After leaving there, we headed over to St. Cloud to visit my son and his family for the evening and then head home the next day. It was a cold drive and it didn't take long once we reached the metropolis to remember why I don't like big cities. Luckily, just as we entered the hectic mass of buildings and people, we stopped at a gas station to call him and get directions. He had an escort come and show us how to get to his apartment, only about four or five blocks away. They have a dog, and of course our dog and his didn't want to get along, although they didn't actually fight, they just grumbled a lot. Well, except for a few times when they forgot their differences and seemed to buddy up only to return to some grumbling and mumbling moments after. It was a good visit and we had a terrific evening and stayed until afternoon the next day before finishing our vacation and taking the long, cold drive home. All in all, it was a terrific time and spent with wonderful people. My only complaints would be the extreme frigid temperatures we had through the whole time, and after we returned, and the time spent at my sister-in-laws. We enjoyed the visit, but she was not a host at all; it was as if she really didn't want us there, even though it was her idea to have the get-together at her house. In fact, the last time we had been over to my mother-in-laws, she had wanted us to come over and see her house and visit. Now, we do, and she makes it as uncomfortable as she can for us? All I can say is, it's just the way she is, nothing meant by it, she just doesn't have the hospitality thing. Anyway, enough about the vacation. We had a fun time, survived the cold, the dogs, and the cats. We got home late Thursday, enjoyed a quiet day Friday before returning to work on Saturday. The cold continues, but at least it got above zero the last two days. Yesterday it was a balmy sixteen degrees when I got off work and today hit a high of six. By the weekend, we may be at a tropical twenty five degrees and out sunbathing. |
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