Third Day

I remember working full time at some not-so-glamourous jobs...5 days a week. And getting only two days off in between. This week, I'll have worked only three days. Three 12 hour days. Three 12 hour days that finish at 11pm.

I thought they would be easier because then I'd get to sleep in before work. And, that's what happened on the first day. But the next two days didn't feel like sleeping in. I was exhausted!

I'll tell you, I'll be so happy when 2300 hours rolls around tonight.

Zombie...?

So over the last few years, I've been getting these mysterious headaches in the middle of the night. they only happen once in a blue moon and they only last for about 30 seconds, but they hurt like hell (which is why, according to what I think I've learned on the internet, they're called Ice Pick Headaches). At first I thought they were maybe the result of sleeping with my head in a really weird position which strained my neck...but maybe not...ANYWAY...

So this morning, I had one. I'm usually in a deep sleep when they occur, so I'll just writhe in pain for the 30 seconds and then immediately fall asleep afterwards. Sometimes remembering I had them the next morning is like trying to remember a dream. So I was in this half-sleeping, writhing state, and I'm thinking "OW! My brain hurts!"

Except I'd said it out loud. Loud enough that I woke M up! "My Brain!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAA. It felt better soon...but M seemed a little freaked out like maybe I was having a zombie dream....

Werkin

It's 4:23 am. 0423hrs.

I'm over the witching hour. woot. A little bored, though I shouldn't be because I've got a pile of things to do. Well, not REAL nursing things. When I was hired, I was given an 'internship,' which basically means I was given a binder with a pile of things to learn and research and do. I've done most of these things- now I just have to type out the "good copies." blah. Boring. And even though I've got oodles of time to do that stuff in on a night shift, I'm horribly unmotivated. I'm quite happily listening to CBC radio 2 on the computer while snooping through long since estranged friends' Facebook profiles. And blogging.

Oh, and to make things more exciting, there's only one patient on the unit. She's been sleeping for hours.

Only three more hours to go! And then two more night shifts this weekend....

Spoke too soon?

\While I was trying to sleep in to prepare for my night shift tonight, I got a phone call from Rogers. I listened to the phone message. It went something like this:

"Hi Sarah. You are not going to believe this. I guess all of my perstering them got them to speed things up, but anyway, your phone came in this morning from the repair shop. They made a *lot* of changes. So I'm just going to send you this device in the mail and you should get it by Wednesday next week. Thanks, Bye!"

Wait. What? I wonder what she means by "they made a lot of changes." I sent it away because of a software problem...Is it now a different colour? And why didn't she send the phone YESTERDAY after she called me? Why was she waiting until today to send the phone she told me she was sending?

Whatever. I'm going to have to call Rogers and find out what these changes are.

***UPDATE*** I called Rogers. The lady said that while they were fixing my software, they also replaced my screen and my slider, amongst other things. Not so bad, I guess...but I would have wished they could have done it all al little quicker!

Verdict

I'm getting a NEW phone in the mail from Rogers!

Success!

Now, I'll have to figure out a) if I'm going to get a mini SD card (because I have one, but it's in the old phone...) and b) if the phone will have been activated so it's ready for use when I get it in the mail next week.

It's a Samesung Gravity t456 in Green and Grey. I hope it was a good choice!

Cell Phone Day!

P.s. Today's the day I hear about my phone!!!!

This Night Shift Thing Isn't Working.

Last night I'd resolved to stay up late in order to try and keep some "up-all-nightedness" since I I have to work a couple more night shifts this week. "3am. That'll probably be a good hour to try and stay up until..." So I let Jude out of his cage for a nice long run-around and settled into some knitting in front of the tv.

Soon, M went to bed and I was left alone...

At about 1am, I realize I haven't heard any hampster scritch-scratching around the apartment. Hmm. Maybe he's curled up in a corner for a nap.


I check out all of his hiding spots. nothing.

Did he get past all my barriers and crawl underneath the fridge again? I lay down and listen for signs. Nothing.

Then, while lying on the floor near the friedge, I see the little fleeting brown head of Jude popping out from a corner of a cabinet in the kitchen! I fly over and open the cabinet door....and realize he's not in the cabinet, he's UNDERNEATH the cabinet. The cupboard right next to the wall had a hole left by the carpenters approximately 2 inches wide, and Jude had climbed in! I was getting flashbacks of how my last few hampsters died - by crawling into my beddroom walls and getting lost (I would guess) and never returning. Shit. So a put some peanut butter on a spoon, held the spoon up to the hole and blew the fumes in.

And then I waited.

And waited.

Eventually, he did come out. I figure that the space was only a few inches wide and extended only the length of the side of the cupboard, so he was bound to get bored eventually when he realised he couldn't go anywhere else. And I put him back in his cage right after that. I think he only spend about another hour on his wheel before he tucked himself into bed.

At any rate, I stayed up until 3am by watching some ramdom matchmaking show on mtv. I crawled into bed, happy that maybe I'd sleep until the afternoon.

But no such luck.

I woke up at 11am. exactly 8 hours later. Damn my circadian rhythm and it's decision to have me need exactly 8 hours of sleep. NOW what am I supposed to do!

I'm going to go and dress for the day and clean the apartment. Lame.

Photo Archive

Canyoning in Switzerland. I'm abso-freakin-lutely frozen, but incredibly happy to be jumping off cliffs...
Monument Valley, 2009 - the view from the Cessna (M almost can't believe my little brick-like camera took this photo. It did)
M and Me at Highschool graduation!
T and B at the may wedding of a friend!

Raine Maida at the Our Lady Peace Concert in May. Yes, I was that close. Wicked show, too!

Awake Now

It took a cold shower and a few more hours of being lazy around the house, but I think I'm finally awake.

The only lame bit is that I'm going to have to try and stay up late when everyone else is going to be going to bed. Maybe I'll catch up on some knitting and some letter writing.

Yesterday I had to prep for doing a night shift. Usually, I try to stay up really late the night before so I can sleep in, but I woke up at 8am. I decided I'd try to just tire myself out so I'd nap well in the afternoon. Off to Stanley park for the morning! I wasn't in the mood for a run, so I geared up for a nice long walk all the way around the park.

Ok. This picture was supposed to illustrate my planned route, but it's impossibly small and hard to read. Anyway, it's supposed to take 8km to walk along the seawall around the park. I wanted to take a path through the centre of the park to get away from the cars and people, but I ended up getting lost, and found out that I'd missed the only crossing of the major road through the park, so I never made it to the West side of the park. But I did find Beaver Pond!

It was a nice walk, but by the time I came back to the bus loop, it was 1130 and getting really hot. I suppose all that sun and sweat worked for the best, though, because I slept all afternoon!

Night Shift

uuugh.

Night shift last night. I have three more to deal with this week. It's three pm. I feel wretched. I won't pain you with much more blogging today.

Monday Morning Musings

Back in Vancouver.

I suppose I never mentioned that I left. I went to Kamloops for the long weekend with M and we signed up for a car co-op to get there. Drove a little red Mazda protege. Rather cute. On the drive home, I told M: You know, I don't really mind using public transit around the city, but I have a feeling that in about a year we're going to want to get a car of our own. He agreed. It's true. Getting to work on the bus is a breeze, and I don't have to pay for parking. But it sucks not being able to just go anywhere else, or hop in the car and go on a tour of the coastline. Two weekends ago, my dad came down for a visit and we didn't have any real plans for things to do, so we jumped into the Subaru and drove up the sea-to-sky highway to Squamish. When we got there, we all got ice cream at McDonalds and then promptly turned around and started driving back. A pointless trip, but I'd never been that way before so it was a fun adventure. So we're here now, but have little means of getting out of the city, which by the way, we're both learning we're not actually all that fond of anymore....

While back in Kamloops, we both talked about how nice it is to have so much free green space, and lawn, and trees and open sky. The little apartment has trees outside, yes, but neither of us realized how much having a concrete-covered world was getting to us. Our lease is up in a year, and I'm thinking that we won't end up renewing it in favour of finding someplace that isn't directly downtown...

I also think I'm starting to gear up my knitting. I started thinking about Christmas already...ee!

OH! CELL PHONE NEWS! After much ado and calling the store and telling them I was coming to Kamloops last weekend, I went to the store on Friday. Lady at the store knew me - apparently my name's been floating around the office. No phone yet, but it "should be coming, sorry." I told her I'd only be in Kamloops until Saturday and that I'd be back.

On Saturday I went back with M in tow. One of the first things she said was "Oh, is that who I talked to on the phone (referring to M), the mean one?" The mean one? What!? The whole interaction was rather weird because she called me the "nice one" and flip flopped as to what she could and couldn't do for me about this phone, and wouldn't committ to anything. The poor girl was obviously flustered and I could tell she was trying her best -which I told her - but I just wanted my phone back. Without M along, I likely wouldn't have had much for results, but with him there, we got her to committ to something! She promised that on Thursday of this week, *A* phone will be sent in the mail to me, whether it's my old phone, or the new phone I picked out in the store. She's going to call me on Thursday and let me know which one I'm going to get. I have a feeling it'll be the new one, because from what she told us, for the phone to be taking this long, it must be unrepairable. I'll let you know.