taking a break

So, I know I have not posted since the beginning of the month, but it has been a weird and hellacious thirty-one days.

The new clock job has kicked the crap out of me. A Sith, by the name of Darth Numbnuts, has been dogging me for almost a year and matters came to a head this month.

Several disappointments since just before the winter solstice, culminating with the final one I wish to (not) accept on this very day.

Multiple other brooding issues and, somewhat surprising, revelations. An unavoidable (only as I have failed to overcome) isolation from the woodland.

All this, and more, has put me in a space where I need to reflect upon and analyse myself, surroundings, and interactions. There is yet more than I care to confront.

Too bad, as I had/have a few posts brewing, with notes and drafts, that I wish to put out.

Unfortunately, I have convinced myself that I need to step back, take a break, and pause from the rooster.

That is correct, I am not going to post for an indeterminate period of time. I cannot focus on the rooster right now.

My break may be a day, a week, a month, longer? I may drop a comment now and again in the interim, I may not.

I apologise to my handful of dedicated followers, but it would be an injustice to the rooster and yourselves if I force it. You few, committed, fellow travellers will know when the rooster is back to disturb your slumber.

One last parting shot: Darth Numbnuts, take a flying leap off the back of something unmentionable. Oh, and get bent, you self-serving ass. blbbl

jobbing the clock - five days - week in review

So, I think this is almost out of my system. As a new (again) thing for me. I actually had all kinds of "stuff" I was going to cover, but much has left my mind. It happens sometimes. Some of you know why, some of you do not. Oh well.


Work: Getting used to it, more and more.

No choice really. 

There is one unexpected perk.

In the latter part of the week, a box appeared on the shop floor. 

It said "free stuff".

Yup.

I took a casual gander; various crap.

There was a monitor too; I may grab it on Monday if it still there.

It is probably not so good; but the members of my Scout Troop that are going to the Great Lakes Jamboree this summer are doing an e-waste fundraiser in April.

I can add that to the pile.

I think I will call this occasional "free stuff": "Employment Bonuses"; it sounds classier.

The job does give my mind lots of time to ponder. I may have to get a voice recorder to note my thoughts before I forget them.


Socks: All the socks came in!

I was right about them; the one pair was of the smaller size, the others were thick and tall and actual work socks.

I did try on the "too small" socks and oddly they fit, albeit a tad un-tall.

I will wear these thinner ones, tall-ish and un-tall, for now and save the thick and tall ones for later.

Still not impressed with The Bay though.


Boots: I have yet to follow up on that.

For the love of my feet, I better soon as my feet are unhappy.

These old boots do not have a lot of life left in them either.

Hopefully this week sometime I will get new foot-coverings and the old ones will become yet another pair of truck boots.


My clothes jumble: Still a clothes jumble.

Another thing to move on as I know I have more crappy tee-shirts; I just cannot find them.

As with my hiking/camping socks, I will not sacrifice my hiking/camping shirts, or any hiking/camping clothing, for non-hiking/camping activities.


Well, there you have it.

I do not foresee a change on the horizon for a long time.

I just need to get my ducks in a row before they peck me to death.


I am sure most of you are relieved that I may just leave this topic for a bit.


I have a few, maybe even a bunch, of other irons in the fire as to topics to post about.

I just need to remember to remember them properly and restart taking notes, or, at least, give myself reminders.


Busy day tomorrow, the boy and I, and a couple of others, are going to start that hiking shelter repair.

I think I mentioned that before?

The boy is repairing our home-turf hiking shelter as it is not much of a shelter any longer; it is like standing under a colander of draining pasta when it is raining.

He is doing this for his Chief Scout's Award, and the fact that he thinks a shelter should provide shelter.

I also hope to get back to searching for boots for work.

Maybe even unjumble the jumble.

Plus, Daylight Savings Time comes in to effect overnight.

Spring ahead and lose an hour.


So, a very busy, and one hour shorter, day tomorrow.


Amazing though, how something as simple as work or socks, can weigh a person down at times?


Boogie on down the Road.


See you on the trail! blbbl

travailler á l'horloge - jour quatre - chaussettes!

So, for those who find my "French" incomprehensible, it is now day four with my jobbing the clock.

Things are better.

As the wife said, I appear "happier" today than all week.

I guess I am getting subsumed? enmeshed?

I am apparently there to stay. (I better get those boots!)

I have been offered overtime.

A standing offer, in fact.

Every Saturday, from early in the morning (before the Monday to Friday start time) until daytime-midnight (not my creation; a phrase a good friend of mine introduced me to).

Unfortunately, this Saturday is out; too many things are a juggling this weekend.

However, I know I will be in on more Saturdays than I can currently fathom.

Oh, yeah, the suggestion yesterday of sweeping during lulls was taken up by myself today.

I know a work area has to be kept clean and tidy, but I always find sweeping to keep, or look, busy somewhat foolish. 

Anyway, much of the floor around my work area is spotless, none the less.

I will come to terms with it all. 

As I have said, it is not where I thought I would be at this point in my life, but I  am here (there am I?)...


Hey, the first parcel of socks has come in!

They actually were at the Post Office waiting for me...


I have just opened the package...


Five pairs of socks!


Not what I ordered?!


Three pairs are the advertised size, but not the advertised socks.

Two pairs are the advertised socks, sort of, but woefully too small; they will go to the boy and the wife.

Just not really worth the hassle to send them back.

By the way, these socks were ordered from The Hudson's Bay Company (aka: "The Bay") off their website.

So, beware; you may just not get what you thought you were buying.

Also, they are supposed to be wool work socks; yeah no.

They are wool, but thinner than what I would accept as a work sock, but I will muddle through, for now - they were free-ish.

So, the next two parcels will be interesting.

The next one I should get is five socks again, but from a different manufacturer. So, hopefully, thicker and the right sizing?

The third package will most likely be the thin sock and too small. (I will never buy that brand again!)

If they ask for feedback, boy will they get it; in spades!

Online shopping is awesome!?


May we sight each other on the flipside!

I will be the guy tugging at his socks.


See you on the trail, here's hoping. blbbl

clock jobbing - the third day

"Hey, the crybaby's back!"

You bet.

"When will he stop?"

Soon.

"Well, what do you want now?"

Oh, just to check in.

Taking a very short pause after getting home and before making dinner and before our weekly Scout meeting.

The meeting will be a busy one. We are "linking" with one of our Wolf Cub Packs tonight.

There will be over fifty youth tonight.

I suspect I will not have time to stand still.

Anyway, today was better, but the other shoe dropped.

The ubiquitous, "If you have nothing to do for a bit, grab a broom."

I am surprised it took three days for that bit of instruction to be passed on.

Well, right now, too darned busy to sweep, except where unavoidable for safety or maintenance.

Other than that, not so much a terrible day.

Anyway, on to supper and Scouts. I will finish up later.


Holy crap! That meeting was somewhat chaotic!

So, to let everyone know, the socks I ordered are in transit.

Yup. In three separate parcels!?

From three different locations!?

From one retailer!?

I need to find new boots for this job too. That is the next search.

The boots I currently have are just killing my feet.

I mean, my dogs are barking!

These hush-puppies have gone well past their best before date.

The boots I wanted to get are no longer made. So, online for that now.

Oh, I will find my way to bed eventually.

I better, or I will end up crashing to the floor.

Keep on truckin'.

See you on the trail, hopefully. blbbl

clock job - day two

So, upon reflection over yesterday's post, there are probably many of you thinking:

"Boo-hoo, he has to work fixed hours at a fixed location. Everyday. Boo-hoo-hoo."

Well, you are not wrong.

"Tough luck!"

True enough, again.

"What a whiner."

Well, maybe a little.

However, everybody does not fit in the same slot as everybody else.

I have known people who cannot, or are even unwilling to, take permanent employment. They like always not knowing what will happen next.

I have known people that could not make it outside of the military. They needed that kind of structure and oversight.

I have known people who work for themselves. They just cannot abide others telling them what to do or they think they can do it better on their own.

I have known people that went to and from work at the same time every day at the same place every day. It worked for them, always knowing when, where, and what they were doing.

I have known people that just drift along with the current of the universe. They just love the universe to surprise them. Probably more fun than not too.

I have known many very different and various people who fit in to many various and different slots in the work-world. Some fit happily, some did not.

Me, I no longer know what slot I need to fit in to. I just did not think it would be this one.

Anyway, it is quite an adjustment for me. I actually was out with boy for a few hours and just got back. I am running sixteen to eighteen hours, and more, non-stop the last several days before I can take a breather. Tomorrow is much the same.

Honestly, I am baffled at how people can work a clock job for decades.

Two days in and I can barely stay awake. And I have had them before!

Well, my hat is off to all who do it. Willingly and reluctantly.

This is the new me, I guess. I certainly will adjust. I always do in the end.

Well, I have more bits and bobs to do before bed. 

Yesterday, it was confusedly ordering socks online with gift cards as I do not have enough in good repair to get through the week. I am certainly not using my hiking/camping socks; those are for the woodland.

Tonight, it is laundry. As I said, I need socks, and tee-shirts. Somehow, my clothing in general has become a jumble. I will need to take some time on the weekend, among all my other tasks, to find what the hell is going on in the hamper.

Tomorrow? Something will pop up.

Well, as I said earlier, this is the new me: clock jobber, and all the "rights and privileges" that go with it.

Don't cry for me Argentina!

With hope: See you on the trail. blbbl

clock job

So, something new-ish for me today.

I started a regular job.

Well, sort of; I did, but not fully yet.

I showed up to this new job today and spent most of the day in training and paperwork.

I actually, in the end, spent less than two hours "working", counting breaks.

The funny thing is, I actually stayed a bit late. The guy I was working with was not completely done at the buzzer (yes, an actual buzzer), so I, personally, could not just leave on him.

Anyway, this is very different from many jobs I have had over the years.

It is a true and solid clock job.

That is, a fixed start time, a fixed end time, a fixed work locale.

I have had them before, but many clock-type jobs I have had in the past had many liberties, or freedoms, if you will.

I could move my start and end times around, I could work off-site, I could, generally, choose what days to work.

I have also had more rigid clock jobs as well, but it has been a very, very long time.

Honestly, I never thought I would end up in a true clock job again.

Well, I have, it was not so bad, but I am limited in many options I have freely exercised for a good many years.

In particular, access to the woodland will be very limited to me; that will be tough.

Recently, I found a fantastic coffeeshop that I could do much of my other, sedentary, pursuits from; that avenue is shut to me now, except, if on a weekend I need to change venues from my home.

Too bad, I just started a book exchange thing, with the coffeshop as the "drop"; good thing I left a parcel just yesterday.

It is not that I hate it (the clock job, not the coffeeshop) or despise it. It is just I did not really see a return to this type of employment.

I know not if my new employer is aware the rooster. They should, if they researched me.

However, I cannot concern myself with that; I am who I am.

The rooster is an extension of myself now; even if, currently, I am posting much less frequently.

I have no intention to reveal my new place of employment, for so many reasons; we both need our confidentiality and arm's length from each other.

Sorry, but that is how it is; in my "me" link with my bio (which needs some tweaking and updating), I do say I will not tell all, nor will I lie about myself either.

So, there.

You will have to excuse me though; I have homework; more paperwork to complete for the clock job.

Plus, I need to resolve myself to this new path I am on.

Probably for a very long time indeed. (The clock job, not the resolution. Then again...)

See you on the trail; I hope. blbbl

a killer supper

Okay. Some years back, I took part in one of those murder mystery dinner parties. The ones you did at someone's home before restaurants, whose business was flagging, started doing them in an attempt to forestall bankruptcy.

Here is a brief telling of that event:


So, it was thrown by the girlfriend, at the time, of my best friend. She did not like me very much and most of the people there were her friends that he had already met.

So, I felt a little weird being invited and it was supposed to be a surprise too. She called and asked if I would come. I said I would and we got our characters ahead of time. I think in the mail. The setting was turn of the last century or so and I was a bartender in a saloon/tavern, where the murder took place.

Me being me, I took my part seriously. I read my physical and psychological description several times. I secured a white bar-style apron, a bar towel to sling over my shoulder, a striped shirt with big sleeves, my dad had a pair of sleeve garters for some reason, which I used and I still have, the works.

Sadly, it takes me a very long time to grow significant facial hair. (Probably as I am an immortal of the woodland, it keeps one quite youthful; but that is another tale altogether.) No way I was going to grow enough of a moustache for the role in the time I had.

So, being pre-interweb, I called all kinds of places and drove around to all kinds of locales. In the end, I think I ended up in St. Catherines or Niagara-on-the-Lake; bear in mind this is heading out from Hamilton, not so very far, but certainly not close. I bought a really cool soup-catcher that was close-ish to my hair colour at the time. Hell, I even slicked my hair back as it was longish at the time too.

We all got to the dinner ahead of my friend and he was quite surprised by the reception; especially by my presence as he knew of his gal's dislike for me. Anyway...

At the dinner party we got more of the scenario and the guilty party was informed in their final document package. Only the murderer knew, not even the hostess had an inkling.

There was much back and forth. There were accusations. There was deflection. Shouting. Outright lying. Fingers were pointed in many directions. Yet, other than a couple/few idle comments, no one suspected the true killer. Right to the end.

All but one in the dinner party selected the same person as the murderer, with much assistance from the actual doer of the deed. The lone person, some joker, stood out with their selection. They were so way off in the end, one had to laugh. Some did, including the murderer. The rest? As I stated earlier, were utterly wrong as well.

When the last bit of the documentation was opened stating the who-done-it, all but one were in disbelief. This criminal mastermind had fooled all. Some demanded to read the card revealing the truth for themselves. That is how convincing this blaggard was. To be able to sway all, that it was not themself who was the actual culprit. To hook all but one, that it was a particular individual? Dare I say they were a mastermind? A genius? I dare! And applaud their confidence and audacity.

In fact, the murderer, in true bizzaro-world fashion, turned the tables with one of the earliest known reverse "Scooby-doo ending" admissions of guilt. Yet, there was still much disbelief and many were agog at this adroit assassin's prowess at guile, subterfuge, and outright trickery.

I think some, to this day, still do not believe the declared and official result to be so.

I can certainly say that that supper was a delight. blbbl