It's finally Friday! The fact that I work weekends when I'm here really doesn't make Friday all that special but that said the weekends are always slower AND I can sleep in on Saturday's because I don't have any flights going out Saturday morning.

Thanks to Raph and Wifey I've started watching Firefly a now defunct TV sereies on DVD. The basic setting of the show is Space Cowboy and I have to admit I find it very hard to deal with. That and the music makes me crazy, anyone who's seen 'Brokeback Mountain' and hated the music would hate this music to. Aside from those two peckidillo's I am rather enjoying the show as the stories are quite good.

Today, like the rest of this week, has been horrible. I feel like I'm in a three ring circus and the elephants keep shitting on me. Just when I think that everything is going to be ok from somewhere up above a pile of crap comes down on me. Seriously the only thing keeping me going here is the knowledge that in three weeks I won't be working for this company. In less than three weeks I'm going to be more than thrilled out of my mind to walk into my current Manager's office and say "I'm done, leaving, good-bye!" Then I will turn on my heel and walk out. Never to work in this circus again.

At some point down the road I'm sure bull's will grow wings and shit will begin to fly again but having everything I've gone through in the past while under my belt will really help. Until then I'm just going to put my head down and try to stay out of it's way.

I wasn't back for five hours and I was called into the office by my Manager and basically told that I was to behave myself. FUCK YOU! That's all I have to say to him. It blows my mind that they can tell me to behave myself when they have absolutely no idea what I do in a day. By behaving myself I assume that I'm supposed to be a good little worker bee, do what I'm told quietly and unquestioningly (is that a word?). Unfortunately that's not me. I work really hard and I do a great job I'm just not quiet about it. I'm a social person and I happen to be pretty loud. If we were working in an office tower or something then yeah I would tone it down but as far as I'm concerned until Management works with us in the office and doesn't get their impressions just from walking through they can go to hell.

I'm also being ridden about the fact that I need to arrange coverage for my vacation in a few days. As I see it I'm not a Supervisor or a Manager so it's not part of my job. Proper Staffing is an issue that has been a major problem here and there's nothing I can do about it. If Management wants someone to cover for me when I'm gone then I would suggest that they arrange to have someone around to do it.

The end of turnaround is always somewhat bitter-sweet. As I'm sitting here in the Kelowna airport typing away, listening to my iPod and sipping an ice tea I'm reflecting on what was an awesome time out. It really seems that everytime I go out I have truly fantastic times that my co-workers are generally somewhat envious of but hey that's the point of it all isn't it?

So the concert! As with every concert in Vancouver the distinctive scent of "herbal refreshment" as Mariah put it was really heavy in the air. I told my Dad that if I fail a drug test because of this concert I'm really not going to be happy. Then again if Ross Rebagliati can get away with it then it really shouldn't be a problem for me.

Oh my God what an amazing experience! Sitting in GM place I was pleasantly surprised at how many people at the concert were my age or even younger. There was an air of excitement that was just palpable. Sitting there waiting for the opening act we were very curious to see who it would be. Imagine mine and just about everyone over the age of 35 when it turned out to be Busta Rhymes! Now as far as rappers go I suppose Busta is decent but I really wasn't all that impressed by his performance. He ripped out a few songs that I recognized that were pretty good but I was pretty sick about hearing how "Hot all da' Vancouver, Canada women are" by the time he was done.

When 'The Big Bang' finally vacated the stage the air was electric as everyone was getting pretty excited about Mariah. We waited, waited, waited some more, and then... we waited! The divine Ms. M didn't take to the stage for about an hour after the opening act. I was pretty irritated about the wait because I'd been waiting for the concert for months now! Once the stage curtains parted all was forgiven.

MC rocked that stadium from the opening note of the first song to the final song. There were only a few times during the event that people ever sat down other than that they were on their feet dancing. Mariah herself was far, FAR more gorgeous than I expected her to be. Pictures really don't do that women any favours. She is just stunning in real life. After the show one of the radio commentators said that obviously Mariah had, had some problems at the airport because she performed in her underwear the whole time! True her costumes were comepletely revealing but as one of the female radio hosts said "If I had that body I'd show it off to!" Drew from Z95 the Fox's morning show summed it up best though when he called into the radio station after the concert and screamed "MAN I'M COVERED IN PINK GLITTER AND I DON'T EVEN CARE" Yup, Mariah was worth the money!

I also spent a lot more money than I'd planned to this week. Bought three new sweaters and new boots. ok, pre-boarding the plane now so I've got to go.

I spent an entirely enjoyable day with Janet today shopping in Kelowna. I’d called her this morning to the happy news that she was just going to call me as she needed to talk. So after a brief stop at the Naturopath’s office for some desensitization I made my way to Orchard Park. Starting off with a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks we cruised on down the mall cause I wanted to go to Aldo and buy some dress boots. Wouldn’t you know it I found the perfect pair in just a few moments, bought and paid for ‘em and we were on our way down the mall. Part of the reason she wanted me there was because she is going shopping with her new boyfriend tomorrow and needed someone with an eye for fashion trends to advise. So after I got my boots we hopped in the car and went to a few other stores. At the Mexx warehouse (I’m thrilled with the fact that Orchard Park is getting an actual Mexx fashion store in a few months) she pointed out a sweater that she liked and it turned out that I did too. I tried it on and bingo I spent more money. At that point I decided it was time to stop shopping as I’d been planning on spending very little money before I go to Vancouver. Guess that idea’s out the window. All in all a fantastic day and just the right amount of time spend with one of my best girls.

I love flying, seriously I do. What I have figured out though is that charter is the way to go when your flying. Now I know most people have never had the pleasure of flying charter and I am stupidly lucky to be working in a place that flys us in and out so trust me on this, it's the way to go. Last night I hopped on one of the fabulous Canadian North 737's along with, count em, 13 other people and enjoyed an hour long flight down to Calgary. Now one of the wonderful things about flying on a charter that's almost completely empty is the fact that there's more leg room, you don't have a fat sweaty German tourist spilling over into your seat, you get whatever you want from the Flight Attendant, and nobody bugs you. Yep, if you ever get the chance to fly charter go.

Upon arriving in Calgary I was picked up at the airport by a cousin of my Mothers. I'm really the only one in my family that even knows these people because I spent time with them when they lived in Scotland many years ago. So over the years I've kept in touch and finally decided that it was time to go for a visit. He is a retired Executive with Exxon/Mobile oil and they're perhaps two of the most interesting people I've ever met because they've lived all over the world. Their gigantic million dollar plus home is filled with furniture they had custom made in Indonesia, tapestries and art from Europe, statuary and for lack of a better term knick knacks from Africa, rugs from the Middle East and stuff from Asia. Truely an inspiring place to visit. So after a fantastic meal the wine, chocolate and spirits were brought out and we spent the evening relaxing in and talking. At one point I thought to myself "These are my kind of people" so now that I'm freshly inspired I need to go about making sure that not only are they my kind of people but that I'm their kind of people. It's always good to have a fresh batch of inspiration.

I am SO angry right now. I thought that going to the gym would help and after 20 mins on the elliptical I think my anger is stronger. Here’s what happened. I was in the office working on some stuff and the French Girl was at the counter talking to her bf. Not thinking anything of it I wadded up a bunch of paper that had just come out of the printer and threw it at her. The paper bounced off her head and fell to the floor. I laughed, yelled bulls-eye and went back to what I was doing. About five minutes after this she turns around yells something at me, bursts into tears and runs out of the office with a full line-up of people waiting. So now I’m thinking FUCK she’s done it again. I go up to the window and cover for her.

The background to this is that I throw balls of paper at the girls all the time. The usual outcome is something like “ha, you missed” or “nice shot”. So I thought nothing of throwing the paper at her tonight. Now last week all of us in the office had been teasing the French Girl about this stupid midget guy that’s been hanging around her at night. Well last we’d heard she didn’t like the guy. Well apparently between not liking him and us teasing her she’d fallen madly in love with him or something. So that time she burst into tears and ran out of the office too. The difference was that time she just went, calmed down, realized what an idiot she was and apologized.

Tonight she went to our Manager and “told” on me. So I get pulled into the office where I’m told that I have to be more sensitive towards her because I’d apparently humiliated her in front of someone she liked. We’re not from the same culture, etc, etc,. Also I needed to watch it because what I’d done could be considered harassment. Now the talk I could take because fine whatever obviously I wasn’t thinking when I did something I’ve done a million times before. It was the fact that she’d told on me! I obviously need to change my approach to how I handle the French Girl. I have a feeling that she’s not going to like the new way anymore that the old way but she won’t be able to complain that I’m humiliating her. From here on in she’s an office tool to be used to get work done. Nothing more.



(I’ll probably calm down and re-think that later)

STOP! Do NOTHING!

There really is an art to doing nothing.  However you may choose to do nothing I think that it’s very important to our psyche that we all take the time to do nothing every once in a while.  I am fortunate in that I have two excellent ‘do nothing coaches’ in Raph and Wifey.  They’ve been excellent in teaching me how to relax, calm down and not worry that I ‘should be doing something’.  Sometimes doing nothing is exactly what we need.

Only 8 more days until I get to Vancouver and get to watch and hear that Fantabulous Mimi! Yes kids it's true I'm going to see Mariah Carey live! I bought my tickets MONTHS ago and I'm getting pretty stoked to see this concert. I'll admit it's probably kind of weird that I'm as much of a fan of Mariah's as I am but hey, we've all got our guilty pleasures. Hell even if Mimi wasn't involved I'm super excited about getting out of here again! I'm really looking forward to just sitting around the house and doing very little. Sleeping, watching movies, visiting The Baron, hanging out outside and going for walks. Yup, those are the things you'll find me doing this turnaround. Hopefully by the time I get back I'll have some news on the results of my meeting last week.

I realized that I've been up here in the not so frozen (yet, anyway) North for six months now. It's already been half of the one year time line that I promised myself I would stay for. The months up here whip by like nothing and it's seriously amazing what has gone on here. Since I've arrived we've lost all of the Managers, gained a few new ones, I've gained another job title (with no pay raise I'll point out), I've paid off all of my debt, camp occupancy has sky-rocketed, the weather has warmed, the bugs came out, the weather got cold, we've added nine new return flights at the airport, and I've had a pretty good time. When my year is actually up I'm really not sure what I'm going to do. Will I take a massive pay cut and move somewhere different, will I stay up here and float along, will I move to Cuba, become a communist and reject my family? Likely not. Either way I'm optimistic that things are going to be good.

Night, that special time of day when all goes quiet and rest is available for the taking. It is night when we're supposed to give up all the shit that has gone on during our day. Forget about the insanity of the phones ringing, the people whining, the numbers crunching. Now is the only time that is supposed to be truly ours. If this is the time that we are supposed to use to refresh, re-juvenate, recycle as it may be... why can't I do that. My mind starts to race, I can not seem to block it out. I dwell on every minute detail of my day. It makes me crazy. It keeps me up. It makes tomorrow more difficult than it needs be.

I’m feeling down in a way that I haven’t felt in quite a while. I’m not sure if it’s just the inability to get to sleep while I’m here or what but it’s really taking a toll on me. I can’t wait to get out of here again!

Ack! I forgot to tell about my important news. I had a meeting with the Manager from the 'other' company that I work for on Monday before I left for my time in Edmonton. I'm hopeful that I may be working for a different company soon. I'm very excited about the whole prospect.

What happened was I wrote up a job description and responsibilities for a job that I know is needed on site yet we don't have yet. I then presented this document to him while doing my damnedest to sell the idea to him. I serioualy think that he bought it and is looking into what I proposed. He told me that he REALLY didn't want me to quite and that I needed to leave this with him and he would see what he would do. So cross your fingers for me!

Well after an all to short time in Edmonton I’m back at camp. Let me tell you about my super expensive haircut. After struggling not to fall asleep I made my way down to the salon (Swizzle Sticks) and after waiting for a few moments in the lobby I was introduced to a total cutie of a “prep girl” (I have no idea what her actual title is) who handed me a roll of black fabric and directed me towards a change room with the direction that I could “take my shirt off in there”. I think the way my voice broke and the look on my face when I said “take my shirt off!” gave her some indication that I had no idea what was going on. After a casual glance around the salon I noticed that everyone was wearing the “smock” so I figured that it must be ok. I entered the room and got into the smock and tried to calm down.

Leaving the relative comfort of the change room I entered the main salon area where “prep girl” told me that now she was going to give me a ‘relaxation massage’. Well the relaxation massage consisted of her rubbing her hands over my neck, shoulders, biceps, and scalp. Well let me tell you there was very little relaxing about having a random hottie ‘massaging’ me while I was wearing a smock not knowing exactly what I’d gotten myself into. Thankfully the massage didn’t last long, as I suspect that ‘prep girl’ was just about as uncomfortable as I was. She led me over to the sink and proceeded to shampoo my hair. I have to say that I enjoyed the shampoo and condition much more than the massage. I think the ‘prep girl’ did to as she started to open up and chat quite a bit more. After getting my hair satisfyingly shampooed and conditioned I was ready for the main event.

This was when I met Galina! Galina was to be my Stylist for the duration of my time at Swizz. Galina was the epitome of what one would think of when they think about a Russian stylist. She had the accent, she had the pink dress, she had the stiletto’s! Just watching her run around the salon made my calves want to beg her for mercy. Galina is of that breed of stylist who seemed to feel that it was necessary to chit chat while she did my hair. I, being as tired as I was, was really in no mood to chit chat or be my regular charming self so I tried to keep it short.

I’m not really sure if it was a communication / culture gap or if she just felt like insulting me but if it was the latter of the two she was a master at making you feel like an idiot while giving NO indication that she was doing it. First she asked me when my last haircut had been, when I told her it had been just less than three weeks before she brought her hands up to her perfectly ‘O’ shaped mouth (almost poking herself in the face with her scissors) and said “Wit all of de split endz I sought it was MUCH longer zan zat!” Then she asked me if I used a flat iron? Later she advised me to stay blonde as my natural colour isn’t all “zat appeeeling”. She finished off with a round of “so many girlz would LOOOOVVVEEE to have your hair it’s was shame that I wasn’t a girl!” The final salvo might or might not have been a dig as she told me that she was sure when I was liiittle I must have beeen ahn Anngellll.

Now quite honestly I think that Galina did a fairly mediocre job on my hair and I’m not just saying that because I’m bitter or something. It’s just not the best haircut I’ve ever had. I do have to say that I would consider going back to that place just because Galina herself was so damned entertaining. Hell I even left her a $10 tip just because it was so strange to see a salon full of people that uncomfortable because I had wandered in wearing a bright yellow and green Old Navy t-shirt and jeans. Obviously these people were used to catering to Edmonton’s “elite” and thank what powers that be I’m not one of those. Next time I go I think I may grab a random homeless guy and treat him to a ‘relaxation massage’ and haircut!

I'm in Edmonton having a lazy day. Originally I'd planned on coming to town and doing a little shopping at the mall. Then I started to think about it and realized that I'll be going to Vancouver in less than two weeks so really what's the point of going and wandering around by myself in the mall.

This morning Raph and I walked down Whyte Ave and had coffee at Starbucks (I'm pleased to announce that Pumpkin Lattes are back!). Then we came back to the apartment and sat around and chatted for a bit. I tossed around the idea of going to watch a movie and getting a haircut but the whole movie idea seemed a little bit to ambitious. So after I had lunch I stopped in at a local salon and booked an appointment, for what I suspiciously believe could be the most expensive haircut of my life, then since I had an hour to kill I decided to come back to the apartment. I've been avoiding laying down because I'm pretty positive that if I do I'm going to fall asleep and miss my appointment... and we wouldn't want to do that.

Why are my feet cold?

The Devil you know is better than the Devil you don’t... wise saying or great cop out?  As I am looking into the possibility of switching companies that saying is marching through my head.  There are many things that I really like about the company that I’m working with now.  I adore the people I currently work with (which is a direct result of the work of my good friend that the higher ups in the company fired on Tuesday), our current GM is awesome (I fear he’s not going to last all that long either) and the benefits package is really good.  The things that make me crazy about this company though are how no one ever really knows what’s going on, the insane amounts of overtime and lack of gratitude on behalf of Management, the fact that I have two full-time jobs and I’m only paid for one, that Managers and co-workers cycle through the company like crazy and finally the general feeling of instability.

I had a meeting with some people from another company that I work directly with yesterday and I outlined the reasons that I would like to stay in this job as well as the reasons that I wanted to do this job for another company.  I must have made a good case because they are going to set up a meeting with one of the higher ups that could be very beneficial for me.  This meeting is on Monday and I leave Monday night, for two days, so I’m relatively happy about the timing of this venture.  I am of course concerned about a few things, there’s the possibility that the higher up won’t go for what I’m proposing, my current company could find out that I’m working on getting out or that everything could go my way and the situation is much worse.

There is of course the other aspect that I am getting excellent experience here.  In the past six months I’ve accomplished more on the job than I think I ever have in a workplace.  So am I throwing all of that away to soon?  How is it going to look if I do make the jump and I’m not happy?  Then I’ll have six months worth of experience at one company and maybe a little more with another but that’s still not all that much.  How much pain and suffering on the job is a resume worth?

Politics

Because life in my company is getting more and more uncomfortable and the decisions made are just more and more insane I’m starting to sniff around looking for another opportunity up here.  The thing is I really enjoy my job, I really like most of the people I work with and I actually quite enjoy the lifestyle I’ve got up here.  So the fact is I’m in a interesting position it’s the politics that are making life unbearable… and I’m absolutely not a political animal.

Sick

Yeah, I’m still alive.  I’m taking a sick day today because I’m so worn down that my cold is threatening to shut me down for good.  Currently I’m semi-planning on being in Edmonton next weekend.  I’ll arrive in time for the feast and leave gawd awful early in the morning.  Will update any affected parties ASAP.