Snow Queens, Staff Parties and Sadness

The word of the week is indifference.

Jan 16 - Lama Life Instructions

When it comes to religion, I am a very easy-going person - live and let live and let's not waste our lives discussing it or beating each other up over it. Some religions appeal to me more than others, like Buddhism or Taoists; anyone who thinks getting along with other humans is top priority is tops in my books. Being a fence-sitter between atheism and agnosticism, I don't have much to add to the topic, as I'm too busy with things in THIS world to worry about the next one - I live a decent life, decently, and leave it at that.

One should, however, take good advice when you hear it. Like from the Dali Lama, who recently spoke of his 20 Instructions For Life that are VERY worth a read. Number 1 has especially been on my mind for years and moreso of late; now that I am 'job free' I can decide the next steps I want to take - should they be safe, or something else? Freedom, as I may discover, can be a terribly wondrous thing... but it's exactly that unknown that I've striven for in my leaving MMart.

Jan 17 - Snow Day!

It seems Mama Nature conspired to keep me home today with my cold: the roads were slick and snowy making it very dangerous to attempt to drive down the mountain for 4km until well after noon. Even then, the sun made only brief appearances between long stretches of cloud, which kept the temperatures around zero and the ice still slicking the roads. Given that I was still recovering today from my cold, it was a no-brainer that I stayed home. My family and I enjoyed each others company for the remainder of the day( when I wasn't dozing fitfully )and managed to get a good game of Scrabble in there too.

I almost, almost sat down to start watching Babylon 5 again, but I am saving such marathons for AFTER I am unemployed in a few weeks time. If you've never heard of Babylon 5, or just want to see WHY I keep mentioning this amazing show( yes, there are a ton of good reasons... )then check out the recent Everything You Needed To Know About Babylon 5 at io9.com - it's the perfect primer to start off the show with, along with The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5, the one and only source for all things Babylonian. Trust me!

Jan 18 - Snow Day Two!

The snow kept on comin' down; the Victoria Times Colonist summarized the various silly things that too much snow caused in the area today. Also, all of the MMart stores closed early( some never managed to open )as I spent some hours of my morning at home coordinating the 'close safely effort' for the day( which I billed them for! ). It meant that I could stay home again and spend time with my family; I even had enough energy to venture out for a walk in the snowbound quiet for a few minutes with my sister, which was delightful if somewhat cool( but any wind was absent ). It was definitely a day I needed to relax in addition to yesterday, so I was glad for the snow.

Bonus - One resourceful Victoria filmmaker made a GREAT video of what the city looked like ON THESE LAST TWO DAYS - have a look:

Jan 19 - The Snow Queen


Back to work today, nothing special about that. However, I DID come up with something VERY special yesterday, when the falling snow kicked my muse into gear again and my typing fingers tumbled out a new poem, PLUS searched out and found the perfect picture to accompany it. I give you The Snow Queen; enjoy. It gave me shivers when I finished it... ( click on the image for the full size picture )

Jan 20 - Big Cookie Friday!


The big thing about today was telling my co-workers that I was leaving, that ended up NOT being a big thing. My DM kept insisting that I put it off until the party this Sunday, which I WAS NOT going to do - no WAY I was going to be a bucket of cold water on our once-yearly party! So I went ahead and told everyone late today that I was leaving, thumbing my nose at my DM for the first and only time - sorry. It actually felt good, and as it turns out didn't have much effect on people; I don't think anyone was surprised, really. Some of my staff already knew or had figured it out, as they're very smart cookies and I'm going to miss working with them daily very much.


Speaking of cookies: I love 'em. Peanut butter or chocolate chip, fudge or frosty, they're a single weakness of mine in the food area. Over the years I've managed NOT to become a butterball due to cookies alone, but instead I've made them into a running joke with myself to keep on top of the things. Which is where Ormie The Pig comes in( below ); I can relate to him some days...





Jan 21 - Lazy Day? Oops.


I am hopeful that days like today are NOT the norm when I am between jobs in a few weeks, as I'll be sad if I accomplish so little in a day. Not that I mind having a day off, I just don't want to laze around EVERY day as much as I did today. Not to say that today didn't accomplish much: I got out of the house, drove around a bit with the windows cracked a touch for fresh air and had lunch in the company of other people - briefly. I even found a bargain at FShop( a $30 phone screen protector for my new HTC phone for 97 cents!! )and dropped off some surprise teas for the ladies at work.


No, I just want to get some things DONE while I am off work, as well as relax.


It's been so LONG since I've had free time in the form of consecutive days that I am wary of falling into the 'lazybones' trap of putting things off, watching TV and just entertaining myself, day after day. Sure, I can do what I want while looking for work, that's understood. But I ALSO want to get other things done, like writing a novel, getting some of my computer projects solidified, going through my things to prepare for my upcoming move, looking for a place to move TO in the spring... all that and more. I'll have to find a balance between having a sense of accomplishment at each day's end and being able to say I didn't overextend myself, to avoid stressing out again. Yet somehow the thought of NOT working for MMart will make me smile - daily.


Jan 22 - My Last Staff Party, With Friends!!


Alright, so much of today WAS a Lazy Day, gaming on the Xbox with friends after watching some late-morning cartoons - it's to be expected on Sunday. In all truth, I was whiling away the hours until my MMart Staff Party in the evening, held at Boston Pizza in Saanich - food's paid for but not the drinks, fairly SOP.


Which turned out to be a fun, but not crazy, affair. As things turned out seating-wise, most of the older( ne: former MMart staff )crowd gathered at one table, surrounded by the younger( ie. nobody knew everybody )groups. I enjoyed sitting flanked by friends( past co-workers )and simply enjoying their company, as I haven't done since they left - life's odd that way, in that you miss someone but somehow neither of you come up with the effort to meet up again. Weird; you don't want to 'spoil' the fun memories with new ones? In any case, a couple of hours passed fairly quickly as we reminisced and ate and laughed, and it was too early when I saw that everyone else wanted to get going - it was a company party, after all, and not a night at the peelers.


Still, it was something special, sitting there with friends; something I hope to do MORE of MORE often as I make the time in the coming years. It's one thing to sit at a restaurant and go over old memories, and quite another to DO things with friends to MAKE those memories. That distinction is what keeps friendships strong: don't spend more time reliving the past than you do in making new things to remember and share a laugh over. That's the key, and with that thought I shoved aside quite a few sad things that were also hovering in my brain, as they have been of late, and went to bed, smiling as the rain beat at the windows...



The power flickered quite a few times today( Sunday )as high winds drove rain into the area. Yet thanks to my UPS, my TV / PC / Xbox never hiccupped the whole time; totally worth the purchase, which I recommend everyone have. Even my parent's DVR has a little one, to keep their shows going in the event of a brownout. Hmmm; I could really have used a mental UPS this past year... :-)

Resignation, Reality and Robocop - Leaving Work in 2 weeks time!!!

The word of the week is perspicacity. 

Jan 9 - Technology is MAGICAL!!!!! 

Oh, wow... 

Technology can sometimes amaze me, I mean REALLY blow my mind; the video below is proof of that!! Why is it so special, you ask? 


Terran Trade Authority - Spacecraft 2000-2100AD from Adrian Mann on Vimeo.

Because it brought the pictures from my mind's eye as a child to LIFE! 

Background: In 1978, I received a large hardcover glossy-illustrated book called Spacecraft 2000-2100 AD, which I still have. Inside was page after page of fictional wonder: descriptions of spacecraft that never were, yet COULD have been, drawn in loving detail in 'action' with accompanying descriptions that told the story of each ship. Dozens of ships. It was mana from heaven to a young mind like mine was and I ate it up - I love the book still. 

Now those VERY SAME ships have been brought to life via the wonder of CGI and the dedication of one person named Adrian Mann. I cannot BEGIN to describe how PERFECTLY he has captured EVERY ONE of those drawings and brought each ship to life. Every picture from the book is replicated, from ship to foreground to background, with the exact colour palette and contextual to the description of the action going on in the scene depicted. It is truly WONDROUS to see what had( until now )only lived inside my imagination these thirty-some-odd years... to see it all rendered in motion left me speechless and applauding at the end. Remarkable. 

THAT is why I love technology, and always will: it can bring imagination to life!

Jan 10 - Joy Of Books 

I love bookstores; as much as they tempt me into NOT leaving without at least a small stack of tomes, I still just love the quiet possibilities that the shelves full of all kinds of books offer. The magic and the wonder of a good bookstore is captured in the video below, put together by a staffer of Type bookstore in Toronto. It's just spellbinding and magical to watch: 

Jan 11 - Real Robocop in Detroit? 

From books to bad guys: the cyborg cop of fictional film is going to get a life-size statue in Detroit! The Kickstarter.com project got full funding earlier this year and apparently is in full production swing this spring. Check out their blog page to see how this fascinating project came into being - it's not every day that a fictional character gets such support and following to turn them from an idea into reality. I'm tempted to take a detour through Detroit( scary as that is! )to snap a pic of myself and Robocop sometime in the future - which I am sure is just what the city's showrunners want people to think of doing. Go Robo! 

One person's concept... NOT mine!!!

Jan 12 - Super Dreams 

I don't usually talk about my dreams, which almost always are intricate and not that exciting( ie. violent or scary ). No, my dreams often reflect what my subconscious is going through, so for the last long while it's been a lot of longing for old days( repeat dreams from years ago, if you can believe it )and anxiety. As in the kind where you're suddenly standing naked in front of a huge crowd for no reason. Tonight, I had the 'Airplane Dream' again, where I was the pilot but I didn't know how to fly. Yet I was expected to take a plane full of unsuspecting passengers up into the sky without them knowing I wasn't qualified. There were more layers to it than that, though; something else was going on where I couldn't TELL anyone I wasn't a pilot, and I also knew that if I DID try to take off, I would crash the plane and kill us all. So that's the kind of 'anxiety dream' that I have, similar to other ones where I have to make a getaway in a suddenly-tiny car, or I am about to take a test and realize I didn't study nearly hard enough. I really hate those sorts of dreams... I much prefer the far-rarer ones where I'm a superhero! 

Not for the tights though; it's always about the cape, and flying free... speaking of which, the next entry below sums up that sentiment!

Friday the 13th - LEAVING MONEY MART !!!!!! 

BIG DAY.

It was a double today; open at Colwood, close at Cloverdale. Last one of those EVER that I will have to do though, as today I handed in my resignation to MMart, with 2 weeks notice. 

FINALLY.

I wanted to shout it out on FBook, out the window and to every customer that came in the door... but I kept my composure and spoke to my DM first to see how he wanted to handle it and make my decision then. He took the time to briefly speak to me at Cloverdale, so I had to wait until the afternoon; we both decided to leave the announcement until the staff party, which seemed all right to me. Staff will still have a week to get used to me leaving, and after that they'll only see me when I drop by on occasion with coffees... at least until everyone gets switched around or leaves, both of which are inevitable. 

It was tiring; I worked 13.5 hours, with a 30 min 'break' on the bus between stores. It was steady but not crazy( save for a few rushes )but I still crawled into bed exhausted well before midnight; I've picked up a cold this week from another manager and it's really socking it to me, starting with a sore throat. 

But I am DONE. The end is in sight. Shockingly, nobody has tried to talk me out of leaving, which I think is a clear sign that they all KNOW I need to go. 

Rather telling about the stress levels of the job, isn't it? 

Jan 14 - Why is it so BUSY when I'm already so tired? 

It's fitting that the day after I'd given my notice that I feel totally exhausted, like a marathon runner, perhaps. The cold is in full energy-draining swing and though the sore throat is lapsing, the runny nose has started. I was alone today at Colwood and the people would NOT stop coming in the door ALL day - by the end of my shift I had served one freakin' customer every 6.5 minutes; that's 6 customers an hour, not including all the usual phone calls that pour in. Toss in a fair number of 'please fix this' situations and I was VERY glad to go home to nurse my nose and doze on and off all evening 

I should mention I HATE colds; I really do, as I use the anger and annoyance that I've caught someone ELSE's germs to fight back against the tiny little buggers. A simmering annoyance throughout the day really kicks the body into getting rid of the cold, as long as you keep your energy levels up, I find. Sitting back and letting them have their way with my immune system smacks of surrender to me, and I fight against things I can't control with all my energy, when it makes sense. So far, my colds have all packed it in in just a few days, when I give them the Immune System Glare Boost... and take care of myself with fluids, rest and things like chicken soup and herbal supplements. 

Jan 15 - Damned Colds!!! 

My cold was in full swing today, but I went into work anyway - ALL the area staff were at a training seminar for tax season today, so there was no-one to spare. I had my trainee with me though, so she handled all the customers( a steady stream today )while I did my best with paperwork and tried to stay focused as my nose ran, plugged and ran again randomly. My trainee got me some chicken soup for lunch( on her! )and that helped for a while, but by day's end it was all I could do to keep focused to help her close on time.