Another day, another dollar
Jul. 1st, 2019 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mousme Happy Canada Day, everyone!
I am working overtime tonight. It's the National Capital, there will be fireworks, and so we're on alert in case someone decides to do something Symbolic and Memorable. It's unlikely in the extreme, but apparently we are exercising an overabundance of caution on this most festive day.
I'm working with a fun shift tonight: my old supervisor and two others. We ordered hamburgers from Five Guys, and one girl brought in 0% beer, which was a cute idea, if not especially tasty. Mind you, I'm just not a fan of Heineken, so maybe people who like that beer would have enjoyed it more. We've decided to do some admin training (both the other employees are aspiring supervisors), and otherwise probably not much is going to happen. I'm pretty grateful for that because, to be honest, I am quite tired today. it's my sixth shift in a row, and my fourth night shift, and I am getting too old for this shit. Still, I could use the money, so here I am.
Currently we're fomenting revolution against our current management. SEIZE THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION! Or, in our case, we are going to our union and weaponizing policy in our favour. Management have, uh, not exactly endeared themselves to us over the past eight or nine months, and people are getting really sick of their bullshit. I for one need to explore what unionization really entails for me, because I only have a general notion of it. If I'm going to be in a union, then I damned well better know what they can do for me, as long as I'm working here, anyway.
I talked to my therapist about the fact that I can't seem to pry myself out of bed with a crowbar on my days off in order to get stuff done. Even these days when I have to get up early so the puppy can pee, I often putter aimlessly about the house for several hours before I can really get myself to pull my act together and be productive. I was kind of hoping she'd have a magical formula or a cool life hack to make me spring out of bed like a young lamb, full of vim and vigour and ready to face the day! Unfortunately, it turns out that the cold reality is that you can't life hack your way out of chronic sleep deprivation. *sigh* I haven't been getting nearly enough sleep for... well, overall for years now, but moreso these past few weeks. Part of this is having a small puppy who needs to be taken out once per night and then early(ish) in the morning, but mostly it's my ridiculous job schedule, which means I go to bed at drastically different times during the week, and seriously messes up my sleep schedule. My Fitbit tells me I'm averaging about five hours a night, and I am a person who tends to do better on nine hours of sleep (rather than eight), so, yeah, I am living life as if I'm constantly jet-lagged.
With that in mind, one of the goals I have for the short term (and also the long term) is to try and protect my sleep better. It's extremely hard with 12 hour shifts, because on those days it's next to impossible to get even eight hours of sleep. If I choose to wake up at 4 am on a day shift to be able to get to work on time, that means I have to be in bed by 8 pm at the very latest. It's not often I manage this, and I usually count it a "good" night when I get to bed between 9 and 9:30 pm. I finish work at 6 pm (again, on day shifts), so I'm not home before 6:30, and that leaves me an hour and a half to have dinner, take care of the dog, and get anything else I need done before going to bed. So, you know, it's tricky at best. Still, that doesn't mean I shouldn't at least *try* to get enough sleep when I can. I find it more difficult in the summer, frankly. It's hot and very bright during the day, which means sleeping enough before my night shifts is next to impossible (I've had 2.5 hours of sleep each "night" for the past two days, for instance). I am going to have to find some workarounds besides my cute little sleep mask that comes off the moment I turn over in bed.
Starting next week I am going to come back from the hiatus I took from streaming for a few months. Between work, school, computer problems and puppy, something had to give, and I figured it should be streaming. It's the most expendable of my activities. I have been working with an artist and have a fun visual revamp of my channel planned, as well as several improvements to the overall production values of the stream. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things with that.
On that note, it is time for me to get back to work. I shall (I hope) check in again soon!
I am working overtime tonight. It's the National Capital, there will be fireworks, and so we're on alert in case someone decides to do something Symbolic and Memorable. It's unlikely in the extreme, but apparently we are exercising an overabundance of caution on this most festive day.
I'm working with a fun shift tonight: my old supervisor and two others. We ordered hamburgers from Five Guys, and one girl brought in 0% beer, which was a cute idea, if not especially tasty. Mind you, I'm just not a fan of Heineken, so maybe people who like that beer would have enjoyed it more. We've decided to do some admin training (both the other employees are aspiring supervisors), and otherwise probably not much is going to happen. I'm pretty grateful for that because, to be honest, I am quite tired today. it's my sixth shift in a row, and my fourth night shift, and I am getting too old for this shit. Still, I could use the money, so here I am.
Currently we're fomenting revolution against our current management. SEIZE THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION! Or, in our case, we are going to our union and weaponizing policy in our favour. Management have, uh, not exactly endeared themselves to us over the past eight or nine months, and people are getting really sick of their bullshit. I for one need to explore what unionization really entails for me, because I only have a general notion of it. If I'm going to be in a union, then I damned well better know what they can do for me, as long as I'm working here, anyway.
I talked to my therapist about the fact that I can't seem to pry myself out of bed with a crowbar on my days off in order to get stuff done. Even these days when I have to get up early so the puppy can pee, I often putter aimlessly about the house for several hours before I can really get myself to pull my act together and be productive. I was kind of hoping she'd have a magical formula or a cool life hack to make me spring out of bed like a young lamb, full of vim and vigour and ready to face the day! Unfortunately, it turns out that the cold reality is that you can't life hack your way out of chronic sleep deprivation. *sigh* I haven't been getting nearly enough sleep for... well, overall for years now, but moreso these past few weeks. Part of this is having a small puppy who needs to be taken out once per night and then early(ish) in the morning, but mostly it's my ridiculous job schedule, which means I go to bed at drastically different times during the week, and seriously messes up my sleep schedule. My Fitbit tells me I'm averaging about five hours a night, and I am a person who tends to do better on nine hours of sleep (rather than eight), so, yeah, I am living life as if I'm constantly jet-lagged.
With that in mind, one of the goals I have for the short term (and also the long term) is to try and protect my sleep better. It's extremely hard with 12 hour shifts, because on those days it's next to impossible to get even eight hours of sleep. If I choose to wake up at 4 am on a day shift to be able to get to work on time, that means I have to be in bed by 8 pm at the very latest. It's not often I manage this, and I usually count it a "good" night when I get to bed between 9 and 9:30 pm. I finish work at 6 pm (again, on day shifts), so I'm not home before 6:30, and that leaves me an hour and a half to have dinner, take care of the dog, and get anything else I need done before going to bed. So, you know, it's tricky at best. Still, that doesn't mean I shouldn't at least *try* to get enough sleep when I can. I find it more difficult in the summer, frankly. It's hot and very bright during the day, which means sleeping enough before my night shifts is next to impossible (I've had 2.5 hours of sleep each "night" for the past two days, for instance). I am going to have to find some workarounds besides my cute little sleep mask that comes off the moment I turn over in bed.
Starting next week I am going to come back from the hiatus I took from streaming for a few months. Between work, school, computer problems and puppy, something had to give, and I figured it should be streaming. It's the most expendable of my activities. I have been working with an artist and have a fun visual revamp of my channel planned, as well as several improvements to the overall production values of the stream. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things with that.
On that note, it is time for me to get back to work. I shall (I hope) check in again soon!
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no subject
Date: 2019-07-02 01:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-03 05:37 am (UTC)Also, I've found that as I get older, I just don't bounce back as well from night shifts, and can't quite get my body to adjust the way I'd like anymore. It's partly why I'm going back to school, so that I can move out of shift work. Thirteen years is more than enough, especially since my current place of work is *wrecking* my health in more ways than messing up my sleep.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-09 03:21 pm (UTC)Thirteen years is definitely more than enough! Fingers crossed you can get a better shift.