Life Continues...

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post and I figured it was about time to update on how life is treating me at the moment.

The new job at the English Composition Office is treating me very well. I enjoy the days that I get to spend there and cannot wait until the end of June when I get to switch to three days a week and only have to work a day or two at custodial. Even better will be the fall semester when I don't have to work custodial at all. Speaking of my custodial job, the supervisor that I enjoyed working with finally finished her cross-training over at Deseret Towers and is now back with us at Helaman Halls. If anything, that simply makes those custodial days a little bit more bearable.

I have undertaken a new hobby ever since my birthday. I decided to try and write a blog that had something a little more substantial than simply a journal-like feel. Grandma Chatfield gave me a few bucks for my birthday and I used it to by the "Blogging for Dummies" book that I have been wanting. After several days of reading The Flannyman's World was born. It isn't anything too spectacular, and it won't really begin to take off until I get back to school in the fall, but it does look pretty nice and I have been making a list of subject material so that I can try and make it a Monday-Friday posting endeavor. If you are interested, just check out the link above.

Not going to school is really making life a lot simpler for me over the last couple of weeks, and it was probably one of the better decisions I have made in a long time. Holly and I have enjoyed the evenings without any homework and with getting home at the same time each day. Yesterday we even had corn on the cob for dinner.

My birthday recently passed by and it was great. The actual day of my birthday was on a Monday, so the preceding weekend Holly surprised me with an overnight trip to Heber City (yes, I know, none of you will understand that, but I do) and we saw Spiderman 3, had Pier 49 pizza and spent the night in the Holiday Inn Express that has a jacuzzi outside the bathroom and in the bedroom. It was a lot of fun. Then, on my actual birthday we went up to Salt Lake City and saw an IMAX movie about dinosaurs and had lunch at Buca di Beppo's. All in all, a great birthday extravaganza.

Something Of A Routine

I've often spent a lot of time talking about how much I love to have a routine and how much better it makes my day. Well, with not taking any classes this summer and with a work schedule that does not have any holes in it, I have finally managed to get a little bit of a routine. I am waking up at about the same time each day, going to bed sometime in the 11:00 hour most nights. I am eating dinner on a regular schedule, as well as lunch, which I think has helped out quite a bit with being tired for the most part.

Sorry this post is so short, but there are lots of things to do at the moment, however, I wanted to keep my streak alive at posting each day I come into work here at the English Composition Office.

Yeah, This Will Work For Me

The last couple of days have been pretty good to me as far as my jobs have been concerned. My office job is enjoyable in that there is usually something to do and I have time to work on little things of my own. Getting this job was pretty much a miracle in my mind at the moment. As far as the custodial job is concerned, it is not so bad now that I know I won't have to go on back-to-back days anymore. That gives me just enough of a break to handle it well enough.

It has been nice this week to not have any classes to go to and to come home and not be worried about forgetting to get something done. It has taken a lot of stress off of my shoulders and now I get to have all sorts of time to spend with Holly and work on little side projects that I've shelved away due to lack of time and whatnot. Perhaps I will get the chance to work on my outline for the upcoming NaNoWriMo 2007 competition in November. I bet I can hit 50,000 words really easy if I have an outline to go off of like most people do.

My Homeostasis Is Wack

I think that there are very few people that I know who have ever given their 'homeostasis' any thought. Today I was finishing the reading and reviewing for my HEPE 129 final that I will be taking later this afternoon and I learned all about it. Apparently my level of homeostasis has to do with the balance in my life. It includes the balance of sleep, important activities, stress, recreation and free-time. Well, my homeostasis is completely wacked if you ask me. However, I think that I will soon be able to find a way to get it back into a normal state now that all of my finals will be finished before I go to bed this evening and the spring term is starting which is much less hectic around this town than fall or winter.

Holly has learned how to play RISK in the last couple of days and we have played three different games on three different boards that I currenty own. Yes, I do own three different versions of RISK and yes, I do play all of them. My favorite is the 2210 version because the playing pieces are far more visually stimulating than the other ones. Out of the three games Holly is 2-1, so she is doing quite well. She also created a Conquer Club account so that once she has finished 5 games online she can play in team games with me. It has created a healthy air of fun competition for me, I don't know if it does anything for her though.

I am thoroughly enjoying my new job in the English Composition Office. It is much less stressful than the custodial jobs I will still have to have for the remainder of the summer. There are lots of little things to keep track of around the office, but none of them are especially complicated. For the most part it is just a matter of the sheer number of things. I am still wrapping my head around the idea that the photocopier/fax machine will actually staple things for you as it prints them out. I think that is pretty darn cool.

Yes, It Is

Well, after getting the first call from the English Composition Office, I shortly received a second call with an official job offer to work Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8-5 during the spring term. I am glad that I don't have to spend 40 hours a week working in the dorms again. I wish I could work a full 40 hours a week in the office, but I'll take what I can get for the moment. I have to rearrange my class schedule for the spring and the summer, but at least in the fall I can have a job I will enjoy and not go crazy over.

I realized this morning that I need to go and get approval to enroll in the next editing class on the list. I didn't realize I needed to do that, but I still have a couple of days until I register to make that happen. I plan on taking care of that either later today or tomorrow for sure in order to get some of the other classes I need to have. Also later today I need to sit down, find the paperwork, and organize which classes I what to take because I have to take them all in the morning and not in the afternoon this fall so I can keep my new job.

The Colorado Avalanche lost on Saturday evening which eliminated them from the playoffs, but I am not too disappointed because they finally meshed as a team during the second half of the season and that means that next year should be good, especially because the team did not trade away any of their promising prospects like they have been known to do so many times before. Joe Sakic has decided to stay for next year and that is great since he posted 100 points once again this season. I'm excited for next season, but I don't have much to follow until October now. Perhaps I'll pay a little more attention to the Colorado Rockies in baseball this season and see if they get a little better this year.

Could It Be?

My chances of getting a new job yesterday seemed like they were pretty slim and that I was doomed to be a custodian for the remainder of my school-work experience. Then....I get a phone call this morning from the woman I interviewed with saying that they are looking for someone to work two 8-hour shifts, one on Tuesday and the other on Thursday. While it is only 16 hours a week, and I will have to completely change my school plans for the spring term I will not hesitate to do so in order to get this job. I will still have to find other hours elsewhere on campus, probably still as a custodian, but at least I have a potential foot in the door for the fall semester. Nothing is confirmed yet, but I am supposed to get a phone call about it in the next few hours or so. All I want is a new job, really, seriously, that would make a world of difference in my life right now.

The Colorado Avalanche are doing everything humanly possible to make it into the playoffs right now and they finally got their first piece of good luck last night when they beat the Canucks and then after the game the Flames lost to the Sharks. That puts them 3 points out of the playoffs with two games to go. It will be a great finish to the season, whether or not they actually pull it off, but I'm desperately hoping that they do in the end.

The semester is closing faster than I expected it to. Maybe I have just not been paying attention, or maybe it is the low homework load for the classes I am currently taking, but it seems like the semester never really got started for me this time. I am sure it will be different come fall semester as I begin the heavy workload of my actual major and minor classes, but still, it feels a little funny to have 7 days of class left at the moment. I have lots of things to do this weekend to stay focused for the last week of class, including an english project that I almost forgot we had to do, but it is okay, I have 9 days to complete it and it should only take 4 or 5 at the most.

And...Let's Do It Again

I'm not going to lie about wanting the semester to end sooner than later. I will get all right grades for the classes I am taking, but I wish they were going to be better. Perhaps I can get them up a little bit sometime in the next four weeks.

Today is the beginning of a new week and lately I've come to dread that. I have fun during the week, but it would be better if I didn't have to go to work as a custodian. Yes, I know I've complained about that in the last five posts, but I'm probably going to keep doing so until I either get over it or find something new. It's just getting old is all.

By the end of this week I should be caught up with everything and back on schedule normally after recovering from being sick. I think that will improve my overall stress level somewhat because I don't like to be behind on things.

Upswing Perhaps?

I'm sick again today, but luckily it is not as bad as the last time I was sick. One good dose of Nyquil and a good nights rest makes a world of difference. I still have a not-so-nice cough to deal with but I think today will be a little bit better and I may make it through an entire day of work.

Homework is not so bad right now, I did really well on the grammar test I had been stressing out about for a week and because I did all of my other homework early I didn't have much to do yesterday so I could take it easy and try to get better.

Other than that there isn't a whole lot of news to report at the moment, but I feel like I should post something today. My NCAA bracket is tied for third in the BYU Bookstore pool so maybe I'll get lucky and place in the top three at the end for a prize, who knows. I also joined an online RISK site known as Conquer Club. You joing a game and take a turn for two minutes once a day and that's it. It's pretty fun and it gives me something to do other than just watch TV all the time when I'm not doing my homework.

Pressure

If this is what happens every time I get sick for a week, I pray that I never get sick again during my life. Four days of missed class, no homework, and no work makes my life miserable. I wasn't expecting to wind up so terribly far behind in all of my classes. Even after looking at all of the syllabi I still don't understand how it happened to me, but I suppose there isn't much use in complaining about it.

I have a very important test on Monday morning and I'm still terrified that I'm not going to be prepared for it. I completely bombed the first half of the test last Wednesday. I've been trying my best to get all of my catch-up done in every other class so that I can concentrate on this test 100% over the weekend. So far I am all up to speed in HEPE and English 195, but German still needs a little bit of work. My Family Life 100 paper is finished, so I do not need to think about it anymore except to remember to turn it in on Tuesday. As of when I post this entry I will be able to do nothing but focus on the test for the rest of the weekend, but we'll see how well I do at that. I'm exceptionally bad at doing my homework on time, even with a full load of easy classes this semester.

March Madness began yesterday and thankfully two of the games actually wound up interesting. Holly was thrilled that she was the only person in our Facebook pool to pick Virginia Commonwealth University to beat Duke University in their opening round game. I thought Duke would win at least one before bowing out, but it turns out that Holly's instincts proved correct. VCU won it on a last second shot to give the NCAA's it's first dose of excitement all day. BYU vs. Xavier was also close and came down to the last second but unfortunately the result was not what I wanted. Xavier pulled out the win and moves on to face Ohio State, so they won't be around much longer anyways. I've always enjoyed the NCAA Tournament for some reason and this year I'm even more interested because I've been following a few of the teams more closely than before.

Yesterday I handed out another $500 to Firestone Auto Repair to fix the coolant system, thermostat and water pump on my Saturn. What I don't understand is how my father who owned the car before me could own it for 2 years and never have any problems but as soon as he signs the title over to me everything breaks. I'm getting tired of paying for it, and I'm getting even more tired of having to ask my father for money to help and fix it. It's not his fault though, and in all actuality it isn't my fault either. I make as much money as I can it just so happens that the car made the decisions to be uncooperative for the last six months.

This week I've finally resigned myself to the fact that I really, really, really don't like my job, but there isn't anything I can do about it. I'm tired of cleaning dormitory bathrooms and warehouse floors. I want a job where I don't have to wear rubber gloves for hours and can sit down at a desk from time to time. All of that is too much to ask though seeing as how nobody on this campus feels like giving you a job without previous experience. So it looks like I'm stuck in a dead-end custodial job until graduation. I don't like it and I'm not going to pretend that I do anymore. Especially since I can't seem to work the hours that I want to anyways.

I'm sure everyone will tell me that I need to stop beating myself up about everything and that I will turn things around soon, but I don't want to turn things around, I want inconvienient things to stop happening to me and I want something to go the way I want it to for a change. Finding a new job for example.

Minor Reflections

Students elections have begun this week on campus and due to the connections I have with one of the candidates running for office I guess I already know who I need to vote for out of loyalty. The campus paper is going to be flooded with complaints about the ridiculous nature of the campaigns all week long which means there won't be anything worthwhile for me to read each day but I can live with that. I might care more about what these candidates have to say if the BYUSA organization ever did anything that mattered to me. I am all for the parties they throw (if I went to parties) or the new syllabi on the website (if I cared that much about the professor's I sign up for) or the number of clubs available on campus (if I was social enough to ever actually join one of them). The BYUSA program won't ever effect me in a way that I pay attention to, so I don't really care about what the candidates have to say, I'm just doing my job as a loyal friend. I am fully aware that they do make a difference in some circles and that they do make improvements to the way of life for BYU students but I refuse to accept that those improvements matter to more than a few individuals here and there. Maybe if the BYUSA President was actually a student body president (I still don't understand why BYU doesn't have one of those) then I would care a little bit more. As it stands however, they don't do much more than organize service projects and I have to say that I have better things to deal with than that in my life at the moment.

I'm back to school this week and will admit that I was starting to get a little bit of cabin fever while spending four straight days in the apartment. I would have enjoyed the time more if I had been able to accomplish anything, but the nastiness of my sickness prevented me from doing anything other than lounging around feeling sorry for myself. Holly deserves and award for kindly dealing with my personality while sick. I don't wish that on anyone. Several days off of school and work have left me with a long list of things to do over the next few days and I'm glad that I seem to have the motivation to cross things off of that list for today at least. Tomorrow may be another story, but today is looking good so far.

This coming Wednesday marks the next floor hockey game for me to participate in and now that the teams have been properly ranked according to skill-level for the various tournaments I am looking forward to the challenge of playing goalie this week. The team finally figured out how to move properly on the offensive side of the court during the last game and while it may not be as easy next time around because we will more than likely play other guys and not girls; I think it was a large benefit to the team. Now my only worry is that with almost two and a half weeks off from playing goalie with any kind of pressure I may not be up to par during the game. Nothing to do about it but wait and see I suppose.

I returned to working one night a week at the SAS Custodial last Friday and have had mixed emotions about the experience. On one side I definitely can handle the kind of custodial work they do over there much better than I can the kind done in the dorms where I currently work, but at the same time the SAS Supervisor is not exactly the easiest person to get along with. Helaman Halls Custodial allows me to come home at 4 o'clock every day during the week and spend time with my wife which is something the SAS didn't allow, but the co-workers at the SAS are of a far better quality than those at Helaman Halls. In the end I guess I don't really care which one I work at as long as I get paid and find a way to get my 20 hours each week, but I would greatly prefer finding a new job that doesn't require me to pick up after other people all day long; especially not immature college students who I am positive are much worse than the ones I lived with in the dorms four years ago. The world really is going downhill with no sign of relief.

That's all my thoughts for today. I was feeling a bit reflective this morning and decided to comment on a few of life's interesting adventures.

Welcome To The Breezy Season

I think that if it takes until 4:00 in the afternoon for the temperature to slide into the double digits that there must be something inherently wrong with the entire balance of the cosmos. Such has been the weather lately and I will admit that if I was in charge, there would be no winter, but rather just a breezy season where the wind blew all the time. I'd rather it be windy than cold.

Today I made it official and did something about the fact that I am beginning to dislike my current employment more and more each time I clock in. Hence I went to talk to Sheyla over at Helaman Halls where I worked this past summer to see if she would be interested in allowing me to work for her instead to which she readily and heartily agreed seeing as she had tried several times previously to lure me over there. The upside to this new arrangement is that I get to be home at 4:30 in the afternoon each day and since Holly works during the day that works out perfectly. I will also not have to deal with Gayle any longer. She isn't a bad person, in fact she is a very decent person who strives very hard to do her best at her job, however, blame it on a personality conflict if you wish, I do not think she has very great managerial skills. It finally got to be too much, simple as that. I will do the right thing and give her a full two weeks notice however, I feel that is only fair seeing as how most of her employees think it prudent to just quit unannounced half the time. Unfortunately I will have to take a pay cut from 7.75 an hour to something lower from what I can tell. Luckily it will be no lower than 7.10 but I'm hoping for something in the middle, we'll have to see.

I signed up for classes this semester thinking I would make some solid progress towards graduation, but due to scheduling conflicts and a slightly abnormal slot for priority registration I will be making no quite so much progress towards actually finishing my major, but significant progress in improving my overall GPA. That's good news. I enjoy my classes, some of them more than I thought I would, English 322 for example. I'm not someone who normally makes comments in class or even asks questions, but something in that class excites me to want to actually learn it and learn it well besides.

On a personal note: Peter Budaj is the starting goalie for the Colorado Avalanche. He makes $650,000 a year. His backup? The over-rated and extremely overpaid Jose Theodore who makes $5,500,000 a year. Does it make sense...no, not exactly. Is it extremely cool that Budaj is the starter...hell yes.