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. 

On a brighter note, I logged into NWN a little later after getting home to a lovely dinner of meatloaf( with mustard, yum! )to find another old friend had found our server. They went by the name of Jade and we chatted for a bit, not really catching up for all that long as I was very, very tired and nursing my nose. It was great to see them after a few years absence; they found my current server via my postings on Nichneven.com, which is one of the purposes of having that site - any of my old online friends can easily find it and see where I'm gaming. Have to love the connected world we're in now... 

That's about it; I'll struggle again through tomorrow and send myself home early ASAP when the closer arrives. I feel like I need to sleep at least 24 hours to get this cold out the door, as my sister is visiting this week and I don't want to be housebound OR give her the cold, gods forbid! To bed with a pile of Fisherman's Friend tablets beside me!