Well, that's different

So I'm pretty much bald now. They left me a teeny bit of stubble, and that's it. It feels really, really weird, not to mention cold. I am not used to feeling air on my scalp, lemme tell ya.

It went well, overall. I had a serious case of the nerves going in, not helped by the fact that the bus was late and I couldn't figure out how to get inside the studio. Luckily I still got in before 08:00, and found that they had already announced the RCMP on the radio, which was quite cool. I got to meet the radio hosts, Cat, Lisa and The Sheriff, and was complimented on my handshake by Murray Sherriffs.

The Sheriff: "Good handshake! Who taught you that, your father?"

Me: "No, my mother."

Everyone else: *howls of laughter*

It's true, though. My mother taught me a "proper business handshake" before I was even in my teens. My father has a good handshake, but it was my mother who taught me how to do it.


The studio was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Still, we all managed to fit in there, including my colleague Karine (not karine, bear in mind) who was there dressed as the Safety Bear, the RCMP mascot. We had a grand time, and I think I acquitted myself all right after I was told I was supposed to actually *talk*. I didn't realize I'd have to, and so I hadn't prepared anything. It was sort of off-the-cuff, and I was a little annoyed with myself for not having brought my breast cancer statistics in order to say something more informed.

Everyone repeatedly told me how good I looked, so I'm guessing that it's either true or else I look really awful and they were trying to mitigate the effect. ;) I've had the chance to glance in a mirror since then, though, and the effect isn't quite as horrifying as I thought.

My supervisor's wife (the one with breast cancer) came as well, and she did me the very great honour of shaving the first of the many locks of hair off my head. It was a great experience overall.

Many thanks to everyone who's been so supportive of me so far, and remember: it's not over yet!

Now I just have to find where I packed my hats...


Also, a friend of mine who works for one of the U.S. fire departments has asked me to link to this for her. She is remaining anonymous for purposes of op. sec. You know how it is. :)

Pink fire truck FTW!

*sigh*

I am El Tired, and do not feel like going to work. Especially not since I'll be working day shift tomorrow, which essentially guarantees me a really short night of sleep.

Bleah.

At least it'll be faster to get ready tomorrow morning, now that I won't be spending 10-20 minutes on my hair. :P

How to have a life when you're overworked

Okay, I know that I can't possibly be the only person on my flist who is seriously overworked and/or regularly has to work weekends and/or have wacky schedules. So this question is mostly directed at the people who have to contend with this sort of thing.

How on earth do you manage to keep body and soul together when all your time seems to be spent at work? If you work 60+ hours a week, and if you calculate 50 hours for sleeping (7 hours a night, if we're generous), 7 hours roughly for showering/brushing teeth/whatever (30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes in the evening) 14 hours for commuting, that leaves a maximum of 37 hours (5 hours a day) in which to Get Stuff Done. That doesn't count the time spent in transit in order to Get Stuff Done.

That means cooking, eating cleaning, paying bills, feeding the cats, patting the cats, and maybe seeing a friend or two, and very possibly going on a date. That's in a 60 hour week. In an eighty or ninety hour week, naturally, the time left over shrinks to about seven hours, or less, in which case there is far less sleep involved.

How the hell do you do it? What ends up giving way to the inevitable?

I'm open to suggestions, too, from anyone who has them. So far, I seem to lack the willpower when home to do anything other than collapse in a tired heap, and maybe do some dishes every now and then. My day "off" on Saturday was lost partially to sleeping in until the sinful hour of 09:30, then was half-spent gardening, and half-spent at a housewarming party. So, no grocery shopping, no cooking, no cleaning, no setting up of bookshelves, no unpacking, and bed at 21:00 so I would be at least moderately rested for work the next day.

I'm a little tired of having the place still messy and still full of boxes.

Suggestions? Anyone? Bueller?

Another open letter

Dear Universe,

How about you cut my friends some slack? Seriously. You know the ones I'm talking about.

Do a girl a favour, wouldja? Quit with the destruction-testing, already.

Love,

Me

The One True Haircut

So here is proof of my new 'do, as requested. Behind the cut, as always.

( Egads! Where did all of Phnee's hair go? )