.- quantum uncertainty -.

Finally got a statement of earnings from my company and did the math and I believe that I come in underneath the maximum allowable income without taxation...

Which would be AWESOME. Like, as awesome as Barney Stinson is.

Also, I have decided that I am still totally Ted from How I Met Your Mother, but in addition to that, I also have a healthy dose of Dave Lister in me. And no, not based on the new series of Red Dwarf that's been airing. It dawned on me while re-reading Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers. And no, it's not the slobby part of Lister, thank you very much. :)

Three things occurred to me today, during my last day at work.

1) It's been almost ten years since I've been at a job on my last day, and known it was my last day there.
- My last few jobs have seen me laid off unexpectedly. The last time I made it my choice, I was doing tech support for a small ISP in town. And it was because I was moving to Virginia. In fact, my last day was just before my birthday.

2) I loathe quitting something I'm good at.
- Part of me is downright pissed that I'm not going to get to improve my productivity scores or get listened to again and be able to raise my objectivity/research ratings. I did good work, dammit, and I will now miss the proof thereof.

3) I now feel useless, in that I am not remotely helping society.
- At least when I did Ipsos/AP surveys, I was getting public opinion stuff. Today, I was on an Avon survey that was disguised as a general makeup survey. Granted, it was better than beer, but not by much. And it was a billion times better than an ASI survey, so I'm glad for that. But it would have been nice to do an AP poll or Air Canada Jazz or something that I enjoyed or meant something, you know? (That recent Bush approval poll, BTW? Done by Ipsos/AP, by the Montreal call centre. In fact, if you check out the site, you can download the PDF. It's got lots of neat questions. I did the August version of it, and this is the September version.)

So I did five completes tonight, which puts me roughly around 1.35 per hour for the day. That's much better than the 0.64 average per hour they wanted us to aim for. :)

Then I had coffee, or, rather, hot chocolate with JB.

Then I came home. Talked on the phone. Watched bad TV. Ate nightmeal. And am going to go to bed soon, because I have to get to school at a reasonable hour tomorrow so I can buy my Italian book and do my Italian homework before Italian class.

Friendslocked entry coming up.

Kind of. I feel sort of jealous. Everyone I know at school has class today. Except for me. I have Tuesdays off. Work tonight though (and Thursday and Sunday) and class tomorrow.

I am terrified of Italian. Why? BECAUSE I HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO SPEAK IT.

Seriously. Conjugation of simple verbs? All out the window. I can usually say something in the "I" form, but not ANY OTHER person. Just the title of the class "Intermediate Italian I" scares the bejeezus out of me. How can I be intermediate level when I REMEMBER NIENTE (that's "nothing") from my first two courses? Eep.

But that's my only class tomorrow. Then Thursday would be Research Design & Analysis (but I have work, so JB is going to pick up the outline, etc, for me. As such, I am not so terrified as I should be, because I don't face it until next Thursday) and then Friday is Contemporary Sociological Theory. I got an A- in the dreaded Classical Social Theory, so I am feeling relatively confident that I can kick the ass of this class as well. At the very least, the readings have GOT to be easier than wading through Kant, Weber and Marx. Right? :)

Next Monday is Italian again, along with my English class: The Creative Process. Which seems very cool.

I'm really excited to go back to school, on one hand. New classes, new stuff. But at the same time, new books, new readings, new lectures, new tests, new papers, new exams.

The plus side is this -- if I continue to do 6 credits each summer, as I did this past summer, I will graduate a FULL SEMESTER before my baby brother. As long as he doesn't do summer credits, too. Seriously, he's five years younger than me and he must not be permitted to graduate either before me or simultaneously. I must beat him. (We will not think about the fact that an ex of mine is also five years my junior and already has an MA, because I get irrationally peeved by that fact. As well as very proud, which, I must say, is a very odd combination of emotions. But anyways!)

Speaking of the brother, he's got his first class of the semester in about ten minutes. He's going to call me when it's over (or I'll just leave at 3:30 to be there for 4 anyways) so I can meet him downtown and show him where his next class is. The building, you see, is a huge-ass building, but it's not marked with anything to indicate it's a building the school uses. This was where my Italian class was last fall. The building I WALKED RIGHT BY about 17 times without knowing it was that building, because it wasn't marked ANYWHERE that it belonged to the university. My brother was like... "Where the hell is THAT building?"

"Remember how I got lost looking for Italian?"
"Oh, no."
"Yep."
"Can you show me where it is?"

I then said that it was between these two streets on this other street.

"... but can you show me? Please?" And then he sounded really pitiful in saying "I don't know where it iiiiiiiiis."

So, naturally, I'll go down and show him. Besides, I have to be down there for work anyways. I'm just leaving a half hour earlier.

And then work. My third-to-last shift.

And then, maybe, meeting up with JB to come back to my place to watch Weeds, which I got last night, but haven't watched yet. I'm watching it tonight, though, come hell or highwater, with or without JB.

But of course, it would be a lot more fun with JB. :)

Okay, I've procrastinated enough. Time to go get dressed.

I have to leave for work in like, half an hour. At the latest. And I am sooooooo tired. Also, headachey.

My idiot brother is, as usual, nowhere to be found. You'd think his having a cell phone would enable us to reach him more easily. But no.

See, I've got "his" car sitting in the parking lot of my building at the moment. (It's really not his, but he seems to drive it the most and refers to it as his.)

The plan was this:

I'd come back to town Saturday night, then Sunday afternoon, I'd drive to the house and he would drive me to work, thereby regaining possession of "his" car.

It all makes sense, doesn't it?

Alas, my brother is not reachable at this time, which means I get to drive to work and park there and then, after work, IF I've been able to reach him, I'll drive to the house and he'll drive me home. As it stands, I might just keep the car until tomorrow evening when our parents come home.

Also, I really don't want to go to work. I called the scheduling line to see if there were any cancellations and, interestingly, they don't say anything about Saturday or Sunday, only Friday. Normally, they update the message on that line for the whole weekend at once. This has given me the teeniest ray of hope that there is no work today. I'm sure there is, though. Last week, the welcome message upon logging in was "Remember, the call centre is closed next Monday, September 5th, for Labour Day".

Didn't say anything about Sunday the 4th. :P

Prayers/happy thoughts/good vibes for a short and/or cancelled shift, however, are very welcome.

I don't know why I dread the 7 hour shift so much. It really wasn't that bad last week, and we often get a short shift on Sundays. All told, I probably only work for five and a half hours, since I have 45 minutes of breaks and I take washroom breaks a LOT since I drink an obscene amount of water while at work. Each washroom break is 4-6 minutes, depending on if I fill up my water bottle or which bathroom I go to... And that adds up. So, really, I don't work THAT much, even on a Sunday.

I'm looking forward to the paycheque I'll get not this coming Friday but the next. I think I'll clear $350, which will be nice.

... yeah, procrastination doesn't mean that you still don't have to GET OFF YOUR ASS AND GET TO WORK, unfortunately, so I'm going to go get dressed and head out.

Have a good Sunday, peoples.

Must:

a) shower
b) go to bank
c) go to school and beg and plead for them not to cancel my fall/winter classes because I haven't paid for my summer class yet AND beg them to let me add a course, too
d) hightail it back home
e) pack
f) go to the cottage

The bad news is I don't even want to do a, much less b through f. Actually, doing b would be nice, because, hello, money. But c-f can bite me.

The good news about the cottage is that we're taking two cars to go up. This means, ladies and gents, that I WILL NOT BE TRAPPED up there! I can just take the car and come back on Saturday evening, if I want! (And will probably do, because I have to work from 2-9 on Sunday, and, please, do you see me attempting to drive on the highway at 11am on a Sunday? Yeah, I didn't think so.)

The scary thing about the cottage is, OMG, DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY ALONE. I have never done that before. I've driven with my dad, my mom, PF, James-the-driving-instructor... but never alone on the highway before. If you hear about a 40-car pileup either tonight or Saturday evening in Montreal on the Laurentian Autoroute or Decarie Expressway? That's probably me. It was nice knowing y'all.

And now, to shower, because... b, c, d, e and f await.

Oh, and randomly, I had my 3 month evaluation at work last night. They love me. They really love me. And I felt bad informing the assistant field director who gave me the evaluation that I was leaving in less than two weeks (apparently, he didn't hear about it), after he kept telling me I was sure to be able to test for level 2 ($9.25/hr) by the end of the current evaluation term (ends in November). He seemed really disappointed to have to tell me that 2 days a week is not possible, but he was all "if your classes change, we'd LOVE to have you back" etc.

Also, I am known as "***THE*** [real first name]" and "the FAMOUS [real first name]". Apparently, my team leaders (both A and A in Elements and A, L and D in Fire) have been extolling my praises and I am a delight to them.

It sucks to get such awesome feedback and then have to quit.

Only four more shifts there. 23 more hours.

And I am torn.

Okay, REALLY need to shower, 'cause the school is closed on Monday, classes start Tuesday, and I need to get this taken care of TODAY. This may call for a cab ride downtown.

The mother issues have been cleared up -- there was a voice mail this morning from my mother apologizing for having misunderstood. All is good.

Work was great -- I did Air Canada Jazz tonight. Five of them done in 2 and a quarter hours. That's a flow of... 2.22 or so, and the target is 1.55. So I kicked ass.

And then I did another beer survey (a short one, thank GOD), and did a handful of those, too, so I'm doing well at work.

That almost makes up for the fact that I have to go in tomorrow. Four days in a row, when my previous max is two. Yay.

Day was good -- JB and I hung out, watched Weeds (1x04), then I went to work.

I'm very boring, have nothing else to say, and I'm tired, so I'm going to bed. Buona notte.

I really didn't think my day could get all that much worse after I woke up, was annoyed, cranky, PMSing and then had to take a cab to work.

I was wrong.

( Work. )

( Work & JB. )

( Work, Part II. Or III, if you're picky. )

( Commuting home and Hattrick. )

And then I watched TV while writing this entry, but I watched more TV than I wrote, because I started this at like, 1am, and it's nearly 3, and it doesn't normally take me this long to write an entry of this length. Which I'm going to add cuts to, now, because ayoy, it was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be.

Soon: requested icons.

Later: bed.

Was very bummed today, as I woke up and remembered I had to go to work today, to make up last Monday's shift that I missed.

Got dressed, shoved a toast in my mouth, caught the bus, went downtown.

Had a (bad) hot chocolate at Second Cup, wandered in to work at ten to five, and went to sign in.

... my name was not on the sign-in sheet.

I look at A (the cutest of my team leaders). "My name's not on the sheet."

"Go see Jacques [in Human Resources] now! Run, like the wind, like your life depends on it!" (She's adorable.)

I nod and walk away.

L, another team leader, calls out "Is THAT all your life is worth? A slow walk?"

Me: "Yes."

L: "Okay, then."

I see Jacques who asked me if I'd managed to sleep (he's the recipient of my "I AM TOO TIRED TO BREATHE, much less come to work" messages from last week) and I giggled and said I had. He then checked the schedule and said that because I gave a short-notice cancellation, I am not eligible to make up the shift from last Monday.

Huh, said I. "So I'm not working tonight?"

"Nope."

"Huh. Am I working next Tuesday to make up for last Wednesday?"

"Yep."

"Can I get my vacation pay added to my next paycheque?"

"Sure."

That was it. I walked out, said bye to my friend V, informed my team leaders there'd been a scheduling error and it was my mistake, and I'd see them tomorrow.

"Don't you WANT to pick up a shift?" L asked, with a smile. "Be part of Team Fire! Be part of the GLORY!" he said, almost convincingly.

"I LOVE being part of Team Fire," I replied, "and I WILL be part of the GLORY. Tomorrow. At 5pm."

A tried to convince me to stay too, just a little bit. "But you came ALL the way HERE and now you have to go ALL the way HOME."

"Yes, I know, the 15 minute commute is just horrific. But I'll grin and bear it," I said. She laughed.

And then I came home, although I swear I saw JB waiting for a bus as I rode past this one street on my way home. I'm pretty sure it was her. And the silly thing is my heart actually leapt.

Oy.

I am now going to relax. :D

Happy:

1) Waking up to a voice mail from my grandmother who made her special rice, just for me, which means I can have it for lunch (well, brunch, really).

2) Calling my parents to ask if I can have the car 'till Monday afternoon, and them saying YES, which means I don't need to leave for work in 20 minutes AND there is the added bonus of not taking the bus home tonight, which means I may get to go see JB.

3) Getting a bid on a player so I can buy another one, then not getting outbid on the new player I want, who is actually a Canadian player. (Hattrick stuff. I know, I know, I'm obsessed. Shut it.)

Sad:

1) Waking up way too early on a Sunday.

2) Hearing that JB hasn't quite finished her paper yet.

3) Hearing that RM (the person, not the subject) was not altogether nice to JB this morning.

4) Gas prices. (I have to stop to put some gas in the car before I go to work today.)

5) Downtown parking. :P

---

Pray for a short shift, people. It would help the Happy column outweigh the Sad column.

First day back to work was of the unfun. A very short survey in which I called up people who had received a mailing and then I asked them if they planned on filling it out.

Seriously. That was it. I got close to 60 completes in the four hours or so I worked.

I am now at my parents' house, since they're up north and my brother's away, and I am doing laundry. For free. Past 9:30pm.

Ahhhhhhh, how I WISH I could have my own washer/dryer at my building.

Anyways, it's clear to me that I need to meet more LJ people IRL, because this quiz was kind of funny to do...

1. Go here.
2. Pass it on.
( my answers )