Social Experiment III

I'll be keeping the beard, at least for the summer. Reception has been quite positive, and any naysayers have kept silent. Right now I'm trying to figure out the appropriate length at which to keep it. All I can tell you right now is that the first setting on my trimmer is too short, and I've never used the second. I've only just recently figured out that I've been using it improperly (revealing the inadequacy of the first setting), so perhaps the second will suffice. I need to balance sufficient body without significantly altering the shape of my face. I'm just vain like that.

In other news, my body has finally rebelled against its physically exacting regiment of No Down Time. Since the beginning of May, I've been pushing myself continuously, and today is really the first day of the month where I can sit around and do nothing. It began as it usually does, with a faint dryness in a tonsil. Then the dryness spread to both, and developed into a full-blown sore throat, which was accompanied by moderate nasal congestion and a light cough. These symptoms developed over 3 days, with almost one full day devoted to each. Now I'm in a phase of heavy congestion and an occasional chest cough. The good news is that the soreness in my throat has disappeared, which usually indicates that I'm on the mend. I predict a full recovery by Tuesday, at the latest. The dryness started on Wednesday evening, following a short day at work, and a trek into the Gatineau hills. I suspect that my body had relaxed prematurely due to the short day, and was left vulnerable thereafter. Could have been the French air. One never knows.

5 Days in May

They met in a hurricane
Standing in the shelter out of the rain
She tucked a note into his hand
Later on they took his car
Drove on down where the beaches are
He wrote her name in the sand
Never even let go of her hand

Somehow they stayed that way
For those 5 days in May
Made all the stars around them shine
Funny how you can look in vain
Living on nerves and such sweet pain
The loneliness that cuts so fine
To find the face you've seen a thousand times

Sometimes the world begins
To set you up on your feet again
And ohh it wipes the tears from your eyes
How will you ever know
The way that circumstances go
Oh its going to hit you by surprise
But I know my past
You were there
In everything I've done
You are the one

Looking back its hard to tell
Why they stood while others fell
Spend your life working it out
All I know is one cloudy day
They both just ran away
Rain on the windshield heading South
Ohh she loved the lines around his mouth

Sometimes the world begins
To set you up on your feet again
And ohh it wipes the tears from your eyes
How will you ever know
The way that circumstances go
Ohh its going to hit you by surprise
But I know my past
You were there
In everything I've done
You are the one

Three Years If It's a Day

So more than a week has somehow slid by since my last post, and I hardly even noticed it. I quickly got back into the swing of things at work, although the company appears to be in overall decline. In the years that I've worked there, I've seen a steady bleeding away of contracts, starting with Canada Day and Winterlude, and followed this year by the Sussex North area and the downtown banner contract, which was a personal favourite of mine. Canada Day I won't miss, as it required weekend work and the liklihood of evening and night shifts. Winterlude never affected me, as it happened during the winter while I was back at school. Sussex North was the company cash-cow: a low-maintenance area that brought in a high profit, so although I didn't form much of an attachment to the area itelf, the loss of the contract will hurt the company. Combined with the current recession, the amount of employees hired for summer work will be lower this year, and I suspect wages will remain stagnant. The banner contract I will miss, as it was a welcome change from the usual paint-and-property repair, and its upkeep was generally a leisurely way to spend a Friday morning.

My usual crew-leader and trainer is no longer with the company, so the odds are good that I will become the de-facto replacement, once more help is hired. In practice, this won't change my job description much, although it is looking like the hired help will be older on average this summer, meaning that I may be one of the youngest members carrying the most seniority. I don't know how such a position will make me feel. More on this as it develops.

Transition and Transformation III

So my fears of boredom and gloom in the early part of May have proven groundless. I got the call today, and I start back at work on Monday, which is a good two weeks earlier than I had initially been told. Now it's just a matter of transforming my rather liberal rising time from 9:30-10am to 5am over the course of three days. Let the good times roll.

Social Experiment II

The social experiment that is my beard has moved past the planning phase, although the poll that I operated saw only 6 Yes votes to 4 No. With numbers so small, I can't really make any initial judgements, although I can make some interesting observations:

60% of straight women who participated voted Yes
100% of straight men who participated voted Yes
100% of gay men who participated voted No

These figures don't tell me everything I'd like to know. I suspect that reasons for voting varied in the Yes cases, but not in the No cases. The former could have been either caused by simple curiosity OR the belief that beards look good, while I'm more inclinded to believe that the latter all come from the belief that beards are unattractive. I say this based particularly on the gay vote, as those voters presumably have a better idea of what looks good on a man than any straight man does. Democracy has carried the day, however, and now data will have to be collected by research in the field. I'm such a nerd.

Transition and Transformation II

I've been busy lately- far busier than I would have guessed a week ago when everything seemed to be moving so slow. The exercise and social activity has kept me in good spirits, yet I am apprehensive of the lull that must inevitably follow. Even during the last few hectic days there have been moments when I sensed that all the flurry of activity surrounding me was masking a decline in the more normal forms of my social interaction- Facebook and MSN have been dead for some time now, as people move away or get into the summer routine. When my social schedule dries up- as it will shortly- without work, and without the usual interaction that comes with school, I fear that a sort of gloomy boredom may become my new norm. Among the solutions offered to this problem, I have been told that I should find a woman. I admit that I would love that sort of companionship, but there is no reason to think that it will simply fall out of the sky. In the meantime, I think I shall construct some sort of routine. My bus pass will activate on Friday, meaning that I can essentially tour the city at whim, should I have nothing better to do. My spending needs to be reigned in, but there's still a lot I could do for cheap or free. I could also stand to devote more time to reading or practicing my German. Trouble is, once the summer comes, the leisure activities that are so relaxing during the school year seem far more mundane. I'm sure I'll figure something out though, and once mid-May rolls around I'll be back at work full-time anyways. Yee-haw.

Transition and Transformation

I had some fun tonight, and I'm happier than I've been in awhile. Having been relieved of my latest burden, I feel that I am ready to meet summer head-on. That's figurative, but walking home tonight I had the energy to attempt it physically. I haven't sprinted in a long time, and I ran fast enough to have stuff fall out of my pockets. I imagine it was quite a sight. I think this summer shall be a good one.