Rant while you work

I feel like writing, but I don't know what to write about. I guess really, I feel more like reading. I'm working again, this makes it nine days straight, so I can't really read a book. The websites I frequent for short reads, Fmylife and text from last night, are updated too slowly for my current work-binge. I have read the whole sites I believe. Every text, every fmylife. I stop by givesmehope now and then, but it just doesn't hold my interest like fmylife or text from last night. Does it make me a bad person to prefer reading about life's little fuck ups over life's unexpected good fortunes?

I wonder what the psychology grad students are theorizing about fmylife as a cultural phenomenon. What kind of indicator is it? I know I have started hearing about world events from txt from last night. For real; I heard about the VMAs (sort of) through tfln, and even Patrick Swayze's death, and Kanye's outburst at said award show. This may not be the most important news of the day, but still, it's where I heard it first. Mind you, I don't have cable, so I don't get much information from the tv anymore, but certainly i am not alone. My generation, that refuses to pay for music, is likely switching more and more to streaming and downloading their television programs rather than enduring the commercials and volume changes and censoring so annoyingly present on network television.

What was I going to say? I though I had an idea worth sharing, but I can't seem to recall what it was. Dang work, always getting in the way of my slacking off! The calls, they just never stop. One after the other, I must be dreaming about ringing phones these days.

It will be nice to work in the health sector as opposed to the market research/phone jockey crap I do now. Don't get me wrong, it's better than some work, but it's hard to do more than get by doing this. I can't imagine trying to raise a family on my wage.

Talking to people on the phones, asking how many hours per week people are working, I've come to notice that people work too much. 60 hours, 80 hours or even 100 hours a week spent working is more and more often the norm. It's like we're working so much we hardly have time to enjoy our lives. We spend money for convenience, because we've got work to do and things to take care of before that, and only so many hours in a day, let alone business hours. So we buy what's close, what's easy, and we pay out the ass for it. Then we work more, to try and get ahead, but now we can't make the grocery store, so we have to buy our food at whatever store is open after 1am. So, now we're dealing with less selection, buying food we don't really want, so we can work more shifts we don't want to, at our job we don't really like, so we can pay our bills, so we don't get kicked out of our shitty apartments or lose our crappy cars. Our health suffers as we don't eat well and we lose sleep trying to get ahead. This costs us more money, as we lose time from work and need medications. So we work more to make up, which means less relaxing, less sleep, and less quality time with loved ones. Our health suffers, mentally and physically.

Anyway, no one wants to hear someone else complain about work. Things are pretty good in a lot of other ways, just the whole monetary system kind of gets me down. You know, how it's designed to create inflation and scarcity to increase profits forever, to benefit those with power and at the cost of those without. But, what are you going to do, move off the grid? Live in a shack in the woods? Come on, you know you want sneakers and goretex and teflon and penicillin, you can't just up and quit, right?

...Right?

Not much, you?

Working lots. Everyday for a week now. Put in extra hours yesterday, probably again today. As long as my shifts for the next few days aren't cut, I should be making some overtime on my next check. Which is good, because it will be coming conveniently on the first of the month. And we still have to pay our damage deposit, so yeah, it's a good time to work a lot.

I've still got to make my way to Training and Skills Development Canada, as well as Employment Insurance, in the near future. I need to see them to finalize my student loan before class starts in November. I'm a little nervous now thinking about it, as it's getting to be pretty close in the temporal sense, and I don't have all my necessary plans laid out. I haven't studied the bus route to determine how I will get to school yet. I haven't told work yet that I'll be going to school, so I'm not sure if I'll be keeping my job with reduced hours, or quitting to go to school, or if I'll get 'laid off for the season'. I haven't looked at the stuff from the school in months, I don't know if there are other things I should be doing or taking care of. I think I just basically have to arrange the money situation and buy my school supplies. I don't know where you buy lab coats or hospital scrubs really. Actually, as I recall, there is a local supplier listed with the required supplies. Also, my mom, working in a hospital lab, definitely knows where to get scrubs and lab coats. She even pointed out a scrub shop in North Tetagouche not long ago, now that I think about it. I always thought they sold like sports equipment to the local teams.

Ok, so, I might have freaked out a bit for nothing. I still have a good month and a half, and I'm planning to go to TSD this week some time. I guess EI doesn't take as long when you aren't accusing your former employer of criminal activity as well, so, that might be on the go in only two weeks. Still, I'll try and get a move on with it.

Besides that stuff, we're doing pretty good. Not spending a whole lot of quality time together, but it's good when we do. Playing Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door again, that's fun. Michelle is playing through for the first time, I'm just doing side quests and stuff on my old save game. We're a little short on funds, as usual, but we have food for a few days yet. We bought back one of my guitars, or picked it up at the pawn shop, whatever you want to call that. It was still mine there, in the back room or whatever, not for sale. It hadn't been forfeited I guess you say. Nice to have it back anyway. Though, I haven't had a chance to play it yet with all the working. After my shift today, I don't work until 6pm tomorrow, so I'll have some time to hopefully play some guitar, and watch a movie with Michelle before work. If we don't end up playing Paper Mario all day that is.

We've got a few things to look forward to down the road. We might go see Louis CK when he comes to town this month. Depends how we're doing. Jon Lajoie got pushed back to January, which is alright, something to do then that isn't ass-cold. Going to Bathurst for a family visit at the start of next month if all goes according to plans. I don't know, I could go either way on this. I like visiting, but I don't like not being able to work, as well as spending money that could be used to buy a new tv or dvd player that Michelle has expressed an interest in acquiring. Don't get me wrong, I want them too, I just don't want to be disappointed if we don't get them maybe? Maybe I know I'd rather watch our old tv with the knobs and no remote and go visit the family and go out to do things and have a drink or eight now and then. I guess Michelle just knows better what's important. That last sentence looks like, Yoda-speak or phrased Frenchly. Oh well, *shrug*.

There are some things we didn't buy this week, laundry stuff and kitchen stuff mostly. We'll have to try and get them soon, but we're not suffering or anything. We still have clean clothes, and we can wash dishes as we need them. We're not down to our underwear eating out of cans with our hands, yet anyway. And would it be so horrible to be trapped semi-nude with one's girlfriend? I think not.

Well, things to do, calls to take, you know how it is. Have a good one, and may random find you well.
\m/