Okay, so we’re probably around a month away from when I start school. Obviously the money thing is my biggest concern at the moment, but what about the other things I’m nervous about? I think I’ll talk about some of those this week.

First up: Daytime.

I have made sure that the earliest of my classes is scheduled at 11:30, so at least I don’t have to wake up with the sun like some chumps out there, but even that is pretty early for someone who has spent the better part of a decade living in the nighttime. And while I’ve got the excuse of working nights to explain why I was never up in the day, it is also a true fact that I prefer the night. It’s nice and quiet and I don’t have to put up with that terrible bright ball that is so intent on blinding me. I’m going to miss nights.

And what’s more, I’ll still be working two nights a week. That means I probably won’t be able to settle into a nice schedule. Not since the unhappy year of 2006 have I had to switch back and forth between days and nights on a regular basis. It was not at all pleasant then, so the fact that I will have to do it again now is not something I can look forward to. It could be rough. It’s not gonna be good for my morale.

The best way to deal with this is to look for upsides, so here is my upside for today: Five nights a week, I’m not going to be working. Sure, I’ll probably have homework or whatever, but apart from that I’ll actually be able to see some nights (even if I have to go to bed sooner), whereas most of my years of working nights meant that, while I was awake in the hours I like, I spent them doing this I didn’t. So who knows? This one could go either way.

I wonder what I wrote on Contains2 on October 3 2002

I Can Finally Not Enjoy Life Again!

“I’m sure I’ll be employed again by October…”
– Patrick D Ryall, September 2001

I just didn’t realize that I meant October 2002. But I just got a job. So now the scales have turned and over half of Contains2 is employed. We’re somewhat less cool.

I’m going to be a flyer inserter. I don’t know what that entails exactly, but I’m going in with the attitude that it will suck hardcore, that way if it does, I’m right and if it’s actually pretty mediocre, it’s better than I thought. I’ll be working Tuesday to Fridays, so I’ve got three off, that’s good. I start at eight in the morning and go until we finish that day’s work apparently. I make six bucks an hour, which is leaps above what I’m making without a job.

And I start tomorrow, so I have to try to sleep tonight. This is gonna be very hard, because I have to get up about two hours (or less) after the time I’ve been getting to sleep for the last few months. O, woe is me.

But I’ll have money!

Oh, that’s what I wrote. I guess I should check out October 4 2002 as well.

The Lowdown on my Jay-Oh-Bee

Well, it doesn’t suck hardcore. It’s just mediocre. Whew. I basically just show up in the morning (way too early by my standards) and then they tell me what job I’m to do. I can be doing any number of things that result in grocery store flyers being taken from their boxes to the sorting machines, or from the sorting machines to a different box. It’s very, very easy and of course very boring. But they give me money, so I guess it’ll do for now.

Most importantly, I was given free earplugs. Score!

I’m amazed that I only had three hours of sleep yesterday, and I wasn’t only not tired at work, but I’m still not. Go being awake!

And now I’m watching the TV shows I taped while trying to fall asleep then. Oh, Stephen Colbert, you crack me up.

Oh, I see now. Say, I wonder why I’m looking up stuff about the start of my current employment situation.

Okay, so, over on the Secret Government Robots I am starting a four page story today. Here’s the thing, though. This story was actually made a long time ago, like, before I started doing the 22-page stories that have become the norm. I’ve had a couple pages that were similarly done at work with MS Paint on boring nights, but this story was made before any of them. I was saving it in case I ever needed to whip out a few pages because of missed deadlines or whatever, but that time hasn’t come yet. Instead I am using it up because it works in the current spot of the story, and I just got sick of having it around. So, anyway, this is my justification for how simple it is, at any rate.

Haiku!

I won a camel.
You also won a camel.
We all win camels.

Anyway, they’re doing a preventative spray for bedbugs in my building today, which is okay, I guess, I mean, I haven’t had bedbugs yet and I think I’d prefer to stay that way. But it also means I have to be awake at the wrong time of day, and spend four hours out of the apartment where there is sunlight and people, some of my least favorite things. And to make matters worse, I thought it was yesterday that this was happening. I spent four hours outside in the daytime yesterday and now I have to do it again today? There is no justice in the world.

I have purchased and partially eaten something called an “apple pie cake”. I am sad to report that it is not as good as one might hope from something by that name. Ah well, at least now I can say I tried it. In fact, I think I just did.

Nothing much else to say today, except that we’ve reached the part of the year when my apartment gets uncomfortably hot and it causes me to lose sleep. This will likely cause me to post more stupid, fog-brained thoughts on my website. In fact, I think I just did.

After three decades of anticipation, I somehow expected my first broken bone to be more dramatic.

So anyway, I’ve been all splinted up and had some sleep (though not as much as I expected). I have some feeling getting back into the fingers and, as one would expect, it is sore.

Still, I think, probably the worst parts of this for me are yet to come. For one thing, I’ve got to take antibiotics four times a day, specifically with food. I do not generally eat food four times a day. I predict a week of feeling overly full.

I am due to go back on Thursday to get it checked out and until then, I’m not meant to change the dressing or anything. That’s gonna annoy me too.

Also, I’m told it would be a good idea to keep the hand raised above the level of my heart at all times. Like, even when I am sleeping. It is bothersome having to mentally remain aware of my hand like this. It takes up brainpower that I should be using to think about prehistoric mammals. And the stranger part is that during my first visit, right after the accident, I asked the guy working triage if I should keep it elevated and he literally replied “If it makes you feel better.” The actual doctor made it sound less optional.

In any case, the whole thing could have been much worse, so I’ll just be happy in spite of the above annoyances.

Finally, and be sure that I don’t like to objectify anyone, but I feel it is important to note that the doctor who did my sutures was easily one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Is it possible that hospitals breed some sort superhumanly attractive doctors to make treatment more tolerable? Because I’m not wholly against that.