2 a.m. Musings

First of all, someone needs to tell Twitter that I can't think of three people that I'm less likely to follow than anybody in this group. For various reasons, they're all douchebags.

So it's after 2, and I'm pretty wide awake because, for the second weekend in a row, I stayed in bed all morning and much of the afternoon. I'm talking 3 in the afternoon. So, unless something odd happens and I magically fall asleep or I take some medication, I'll be up all night. That means Sunday will be difficult, and Sunday night and getting up for work Monday is problematic.

Last week I stayed up all night, and finally drifted off for a couple of hours or so early Sunday afternoon. That should have made it easy to fall asleep Sunday night, but I was shocked that I had so much trouble sleeping that night. I did get up on time Monday and made it through the day at work, though. But it was rough. Actually, every day was kind of rough.

That won't be a problem, though, because this Monday is my last day of work for a while. With the heating season over, the money's pretty much spent and all of us who were hired (or recalled, in the case of most of them) in the fall are now being laid off. We can file for unemployment, though. This is new for me. I've never filed for unemployment before.

What this means is I'll have free time again. To see movies, to go walking around the city and take pictures, to blog...the only caveat is that I do plan to do a job search. I'd like something that would be a better fit for me. A job that's either much closer to home, only 2-3 days per week or only 4 hours per day would be perfect. If I don't find that, though, then I'll have to hope that the evil politicians don't kill off LIHEAP or drastically cut the funding so that I'll be recalled come September or so. In the meantime, though, my time will be my own again and I CANNOT WAIT.

Oh, and I'll have more time to sleep.

50; No Softball

So here's a magazine cover from fifty years ago, on the day I was born...

Or if you're a little less highbrow, like me...

50. Yikes. So far it isn't really any different from my 40s. Except I can join the AARP and start benefiting from my advanced age. (And dammit, why can't I find a video of this Grampa Simpson clip?)

Anyway, if you've ever checked out my Twitter profile page you've seen what I wrote for a bio, at least since I began my job in October: "I may have a job now but I will still spend way too much time online, on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Oh, and blog. And play softball..." But I've made a change. It now ends with "...but not this year." The softball league's season begins this weekend, weather permitting. However, this year I'm not playing. I had been planning to, but there was a problem with my team's practice schedule that led to my not making it to practice. (We talking about practice! Not a game, not a game, not a game -- we talking about practice!) I won't go into the gory details; suffice it to say there was an exchange of negative emails and, had I decided to play, I probably would have preferred finding a new team.

But I got to thinking (which is always dangerous). If I did play I wouldn't be as effective pitching as I've been in the past. One of the things that spurred me to rejoin the league in 2008, after a 20-year hiatus, was the fact that I had been dieting and lost a lot of weight (eventually the total loss reached 50 pounds), so I felt more able to do things without overtiring. Unfortunately, since then, slowly but surely I've been gaining it back. And if anything, with the stress from my job schedule and commute to and from work, I've probably eaten worse over the last 6 months.

Self-Promotion And Other Randomness

I once thought, not seriously, about wearing a t-shirt or hat with the URL of this blog, just to see if people asked about it or if it created more traffic. I suppose I could still do that. It's certainly a better method than this:

That's on a stall in the men's room at the AMC Franklin Mills theaters. (Yes, I actually saw movies this weekend! I may write about them someday.) And it's an actual Twitter account, although not one I'd ever follow, unless they followed me first.

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting for the heating assistance funding to be completely spent so they'll lay me off from work. As I understand it I would be eligible for unemployment but they have a bunch of rules for new applicants requiring them to jump through hoops applying for other jobs. I'm not sure I want to bother with all of that. I'm going to look for work once I'm laid off, but I want to do it on my terms. Does that seem weird?

Anyway, until then my free time is still rather limited, and with other stuff going on lately I've really been struggling mentally. I just need to hang on a little while longer.

Just wanted to throw a TV note in here: I tried to watch the premiere of "GCB," but after two different attempts I just can't get into it, so it's now deleted from my DVR. Sorry, Kristin Chenoweth.

MixBlog 2-26-11: Such A Mess

Let's see...where to begin...

Two of the last three nights I've fallen asleep in front of my TV for at least two hours, thus affecting my sleep patterns. Happened Thursday night, and somehow when I went to bed and slept, I didn't set the alarm properly and didn't even wake up until 8:30 am, which is when I have to arrive at work. Last night, and I ended up staying up really late and then stayed in bed until a little after 5.

5 pm.

I have to be up for work tomorrow morning, so I've got the choice of trying to drug myself to sleep (with cold medicine or Tylenol PM) or stay up between now and at least 6 pm tomorrow (when I get home from work). As I have no leave time to use, skipping work is not an option (and as I already was late for work Friday I don't want to do that again).

Then there's the credit card I've been using regularly.

Photos And Such

After work I went into center city and decided to visit Five Guys. I got there shortly after 5 and it was virtually empty. Just one customer at a table eating. Possibly because it was a slow day and they had lots of potatoes to get rid of, possibly because I put a dollar in the tip jar, possibly both, I got a huge amount of fries thrown into the bag on top of the cup inside. Such joy.

Then I took a look at their bulletin board, where you can have a card tacked up exclaiming your feelings for Five Guys.

Ummm...excuse me?

Not sure whether a child wrote this or a smartass teen or adult, but... (On the odd chance that it was a kid, I covered up the name written in the lower right corner, even though I can't really tell what the name is.)

After I left Five Guys I walked west on Walnut St. to 15th, on my way to the El, and I passed a UPS Store, with a front door that is still anticipating a Christmas rush.

Or maybe they're planning early for Christmas 2012?

Meanwhile, let's talk about cramps. No, not those cramps. Leg cramps. I've occasionally gotten them in the mornings when I wake up, although it hasn't happened much in recent years. But I got one. Last night, while sitting on my recliner. I just moved my leg some way and it hit. Just awful. And then this morning I didn't wake up until 6:50 am. That's the latest I've awakened on a work day since I started the job in October. I won't go into the details of how little and how quickly I washed up before getting dressed. I still managed to get to work on time, though.

Just realized that, with the comic book post I did last night, I have only one overdue story to blog about. Of course, it's now been simmering for just about a year. I actually started on it a couple of months ago and then put it aside. Seriously. The 17th of the month is the one-year anniversary of the tweets that started this particular idea percolating in my head. I may try to finally puzzle out my thoughts by then. It has to do with a singer, a former U.S. Postmaster General, politics and...a board game.

My iTunes Shuffle Baker's Dozen 1-30-12

The date is correct. These are the first songs played by my iPod in shuffle mode after I got to work on Monday morning. I sent the list to my home email and promptly neglected to post it. Yikes.

Lovers Rock - Sade

Dancing Machine - Jackson 5

U Sure Do - Strike

A Long Walk - Jill Scott

Shame (Dance Mix) - Eurythmics

Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand

Real Men - Joe Jackson

Cupid Boy - Kylie Minogue

Get On Up - Jodeci (Excerpt - from DJ Jazzy Jeff and Mick Boogie's "Summertime: The Mixtape")

Only Love Can Break Your Heart (A Mix in Two Halves) - St. Etienne

Don't Talk About Me - Tony Toni Tone

My Phone's On Vibrate For You - Rufus Wainwright

I Know What Boys Like - The Waitresses

And speaking of work, I missed the last two days, yesterday and today. It's the first time I haven't made it in since I began this job. (My perfect attendance is ruined. Ruined!) I've been struggling with a sinus infection and that, combined with a lack of sleep, compelled me to call in sick Wednesday. I was informed that I needed a doctor's note when I returned. I couldn't get a doctor's appointment until today as the office closed early yesterday, so I didn't get any prescriptions until today. I'm assuming I'll go back tomorrow.

Weird Christmas

I was watching the NFL Red Zone channel, the one that switches between every game going on, and it dawned on me: it's Saturday. And it's Christmas Eve. And I'm watching NFL games. There's a bit of a surreal feeling to the day (although this has happened before, of course). And for me, the holiday season itself has been unusual.

Normally I'd be trying to get through my stash of Christmas movies or TV shows (as listed here). This year, I haven't watched even one. The only Christmas shows I've watched were new holiday episodes of "Glee" and "Community." The "Community" episode was excellent, as it basically attacked "Glee" all night. I have listened to every bit of Christmas music in my iTunes, but that was in part because for the last week or so I've been taking my iPod to work and listening to music during the day. Having a job and a commute that's over an hour each way has really cut into my time. Besides the holiday TV problem, and the difficulty I've had in finding time to go to movies, I only added 12 new posts to the blog last month and just nine so far this month -- and a number of those are quick "post a picture and add a brief comment" posts. It's really frustrating.

I think I'd have an easier time if I had bought an iPad or other tablet PC, and gotten a 4G data plan to go with it, instead of the laptop I bought in September. That way my time on the bus and El (at least before it goes underground) could be more easily spent surfing the web, reading Twitter, etc., and that would allow me more time at night to blog and such. The more I think about it, the more I want to buy a tablet, but now I have this perfectly good laptop.

But I digress.