I’m Back

Well, after a number of weeks away, I decided to come back. I’ve been really busy, but I missed blogging, and I missed reading everyone’s posts. Maybe I just needed some time away…

It’s hard sometimes to understand what gets into people’s brains sometimes. Case in point, my 28 year old nephew, who lives in Ohio. He had a decent job with a big company making a little over $15 an hour plus benefits. He had a nice new GMC truck and a nice girlfriend, whom he lived with for four years.

Well, he got a new boss at work and he didn’t like the new boss. He felt that the new boss was riding him, so he quit. He did nothing about finding a new job for weeks. He went to his dad looking for a hand-out. He didn’t get one. His girl broke up with him and kicked him out. He is now working at Walmart for $7 an hour and no benefits. He couldn’t make the truck payments so it was repossessed. He now drives a beater that barely runs. He is living with his mother, barely surviving.

It’s unbelieveable to me that in this economy, someone would just walk away from a good job the way he did. He didn’t even try to work things out with the boss. I’m scratching my head over this one.

Out…

I am thinking about leaving here, or at least disappearing for a while.

I doubt much of anyone will notice.

I don’t write jokes or tell funny stories. I don’t write outrageous things. I simply write about what is going on in my life. I suppose I am boring. My life isn’t particularly exciting day to day. I don’t write about the hard times I have, or my problems, because I don’t want to burden others with it, and I don’t want to be a whiner. I am generally not prone to ranting or talking politics.

I love writing, and I write daily- journaling, writing poetry, and technical writing at work. I have done all three for years. And I really enjoy reading everyone’s blogs, but I am getting little from this right now.

A hoya hoya.

Happy Monday?

The weekend was pretty decent, but way too short. I had to work overtime on Friday night, so I didn’t get home and to bed until about 2:00 AM. Then I had to get up at 7:00 AM to take Cortez to the groomers. After I did that I went back to bed until time to pick him up, in the early afternoon. Later on, I ate, got a shower, and headed off to Missi’s for a visit. We went shopping, ate out, and took a nice long detour when a truck got stuck under a bridge right before we got to her building. We ate pizza and watched episodes of The West Wing until about 2:00 AM. Good show.

On Sunday I slept in until time to go to dinner with the kids at 2:30. We went to the Cheesecake Factory. The food was edible, and you got a lot for the money. We were celebrating the ex’s birthday early since she will be in Vegas this week and next. When I got home I slept on the couch in front of the Packers-Cardinals game. I also slept on and off through the Simpsons special episodes. I just felt so tired and worn out, probably from all the overtime last week. I talked to my parents on the phone for a while and went off to bed. I did not pay my bills as I should have.

I had to get up early today for a pre-shift meeting and still felt tired. Unfortunately, we are running overtime again this week out of necessity. The good news is that I have off on Wednesday for a poetry group meeting, so that will break up the week some. I still feel pretty beat tonight, and hopefully can sleep well later on when I finally get home.

Happy Monday.

Friday By The Numbers

1. We had snow again last night, and more today. It didn’t amount to much- about an inch maybe. It’s still plenty cold, though. Come on springtime.

2. It’s another night of overtime tonight. And we will be doing this all next week, too. It’s starting to wear thin on everyone already. They are all unhappy with me over it. Sometimes it sucks being the boss, but then that’s why I’m paid like I am.

3. I read last night that Soundgarden is going to do a reunion tour. I’d definitely like to make that. I’d rather see that than a Chris Cornell solo gig. In my opinion they were one of the best bands of the 90s. Them and Alice In Chains.

4. I pity my stomach. I have had Chef Boy Ardee products for dinner every night this week, and tonight will be no exception. There is nothing wrong with pasta in tomato sauce on the surface, but I really need to work on improving my diet.

5. I have no real plans for the weekend, except for getting Cortez to the groomers, paying bills, cleaning house, doing a bit of shopping, and getting a trim on my hair. It’s getting pretty long- hanging down off my shoulders in the back now. The boss will say something about it soon, I know. Oh, and an early dinner with the kids on Sunday afternoon.

6. I have been doing so little writing the last month or so. I feel like I’m in a rut- not much to write about, not much to say. I always do my best writing when there is some drama or trouble in my life, and I’m mostly happy right now. It’s a double-edged sword in that way.

7. Everyone have a great weekend…

Still At It

I don’t have much to say tonight except that we are still under mandatory overtime at work, and will be tomorrow as well. I don’t like the idea of OT on Friday’s, but it really can’t be helped. Based on the current shipping forecast it looks like it will be the deal same next week, too. I hate to have to run overtime because I don’t get paid for it. I do get comp time off, which is something. The employees get tired of it after a few days, too. I don’t really blame them. My boss does. “Oh, aren’t we horrible, forcing them to make more money”, he says.

I work these hours, go home and go to bed, get up the next morning and come back to work. Day after day. There is no time for anything else when it’s like this. I am barely able to find a short while each night and morning to pay some attention to the dogs. This schedule is hardly fair to them. I feel bad about not getting to spend more time with them when the work schedule is like this. Luckily, this doesn’t happen all that often.

Everyone have a good night, and a decent Friday.

New Poem

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted any poetry. Here is a new one that I have been working on:

Two Artists

Art (noun)- the creation of beautiful or thought-provoking works

On a night like this we would be in a studio,
remove our paint-stained smocks and
abandon our easels for another type of art—
A collaboration of two like-minded masters.

Together we create invisible paintings
on the sheets, masterpieces made with hands,
fingers, legs, bodies as brushes, both
writhing in a pleasure that is only ours.

Affection and intimacy are a palate that we
share. We sample the tones and hues.
We enjoy the colors, the shades, the textures,
and I am always left wanting more, more—

Then you remind me that we are two artists
working the same canvas, and our perspectives
are different: you move in close, examine details,
every brush swirl and sweep, observe what others

would surely miss, while I stand back and take in
the whole piece as if seeing one giant stroke
through one large eye. Like most artists, you find
things that you would change, were the paints not

already dry. I believe that the process is the real art,
and like dust patterns on a dance floor, the strokes
are a recording of the performance, something
to remain untouched once laid down.

These differences might break some partnerships,
but we continue to work through the night, attempt
to get it just right, attempt to find where and how
this particular painting belongs in the world.

I don’t know where or how, but I know the answer
is there somewhere. I don’t know what to call
this thing that we have together. I only know of the
beauty of it, and I marvel at our masterpieces.

Just Checking In

I don’t have tons to say today, so it’s a typical Tuesday for this Knifeboy. Work is hectic and I am short workers, plus training new people. I will have more new people to train in the next few days, which will take away from getting the actual work done. I see lots of overtime in my immediate future, even though the boss is on a campaign to cut it down quite a bit.

They are getting snow again at home. It is just cold here in Jersey. Too cold. Speaking of the cold here, I heard from Billy Boy, who is currently residing in Ft. Lauderdale, and he is thinking of moving back here again. It sounds like working for his cousin’s computer business is not working out like he had planned. That and he’s unhappy that they are not spending weekends fishing in the Keys like they were doing the first couple of months he was out there. Who knows what he will really do in the end, but he still has a room at my place if he wants it.

Well, time to get back to the business at hand. More tomorrow night. Everyone have a great Hump Day.

Rang It In Right

Well, first of all, Happy New Year to everyone of my three or so readers. I hope that this year is a better one for us all. 2009 will not go down as such a great year for me. That’s why I was so glad to party like crazy on New Year’s Eve with my great friends at the Lube Faerie’s. I was very happy to ring out the old year and look forward to a much better one in 2010. I got pretty loaded on pinot grigio and shots of blueberry liquer at the party, but not too loaded to drive the block and a half to Missi’s to sleep for the night.

I spent New Year’s Day on the phone with family, watched the Rose Bowl (My Buckeyes won!), and later went to dinner with the kids. The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. I cleaned the house and ran some errands inbetween taking naps. I was feeling under the weather on Saturday night and going into Sunday with a bad cough and just feeling drained. The laying on the couch in front of the TV watching Law And Order must have done me good, because I feel a lot better today.

The first shift on our new work hours has been a real challenge. I walked into a real nightmare left over from the first shift this afternoon, and lots of system problems. My boss also called mandatory overtime right off the bat for at least the next two nights. I don’t get paid for overtime, but I do get comp time for it, which is something, and better than nothing.

I know that this is going to seem like a long week after all the time we had off the last two weeks. Here’s to a better tomorrow and rest of the week.

Happy New Year

Well, tonight is the last night of the work week for me, and I am beat. I had to be in at 10:00 this morning to run, of all things, a fire drill in 25 degree weather. I had to get up at 8:00, which is way early for me to be up based on my usual schedule. I have to stay the full shift tonight- until 11:30.

While at work today, a lady friend who used to work here came by. She now works at an animal shelter, and has some sad stories to tell about that. We all went out with her for a nice lunch at a local restaurant, which is something I have not done in a long while.

Tomorrow I am off to beautiful Seven Valleys, PA for a New Year’s Eve party at the home of one Lube Faerie. I’m going with Missi (SWG). The required attire for this event is pajamas and bath robes. It should be a whole lot of fun.

Friday evening I will be having dinner with the kids and watching my Buckeyes win the Rose Bowl.

I’m glad this year is over. I hope that next year and the next decade are better to me.

Everyone have a great New Year’s. Enjoy.

Illness Sets In

I am at present fighting off illness. It started last night with a bit of a swollen throat. By the middle of the night I had that achy, big-headed coming-down-with-something feeling. And mucus. This morning I threw up with nothing on my stomach. Fun, fun. I am taking cough syrup and popping zinc like crazy. And it’s turned colder here, and the air is damp. I didn’t eat dinner tonight because I just didn’t feel like eating.

As Missi told me, I may just have some bug that is going around. I hope that’s all it is. It just couldn’t be the flu since I got my shot.

Maybe I’ll feel better in the morning, but I somehow doubt it.