Random Thoughts

• We're through another holiday.  As holidays go, Memorial Day isn't ridiculous, normally.  This one kicked my ass.  I work today, as well, and when that's done, I'll have worked 12 of the last 13 days.  We were shorthanded, which was part of it.  We've hired a lot of bodies in, which means training.  Which means no days off. since last Monday.  And in the month of May, I've had 4 days off.  I'm tired, folks.
• Summer holidays are tough, anyway.  When you work with young people, a lot of families take vacations around those summer holidays, and they go on vacation with those young people during that time, too.  It takes a body or two out of your roster.
• Then you've got those who are older, but somehow think they're entitled to that day off, despite having worked with the company for a while.  Yesterday's was a "stuck jeep."  There were other complaints of ague and ache,  that somehow seemed fine when the person was told they needed to come on in.
• And then there were real life issues.  A friend whose father was fighting cancer, and who'd had hospice called in, lost that father yesterday.
• I've been thinking a lot on that.  Dad's been gone about 15 months now.  And there are days here in the past couple of weeks where missing him has hit me like a ton of bricks.  Dad went suddenly.  While I wouldn't turn down the chance to talk with him again, I'm glad he was spared a long period of suffering.  I watched Mom deal with both parents being incapacitated for a long period of time.  It's tough.  Dad and I had a good, honest relationship.  I'm confident we both knew how the other felt when he passed--I don't think there was anything left unsaid.  
• I guess what I'm trying to say is that some days, I don't think I'm strong enough to watch a loved one die.  Most days, even.
• Working as much as I have over the past few days means I haven't been able to make it out to the movie theater lately.  I'd really like to see Deadpool 2.  I'm ambivalent about the Solo: a Star Wars story flick, but have heard a couple good things.  I'd also kinda like to see Super Troopers 2, which is currently playing at the cheap theater up in Knoxville.
• I'm off tomorrow.  Shyam's been working crazy busy, too.  April-July is pretty much nuts for her.  We see each other at night.  We've been living together for a year now.  I'm glad of that, because if we each had our own places, we'd probably not see each other that often.

Random Thoughts

• I heard the word Fuck today on Good Morning America.  They were playing an excerpt from a Howard Stern interview with Gwyneth Paltrow.  I was delighted, as I am nine-years-old on the inside.  I was also scandalized, as I am also a 62-year-old on the inside.  Welcome to the Duality of Man.  Still, it didn't drive me to insanity.  I don't think.
• Leaping from one Freedom of Speech moment to another. Making it mandatory to stand during the National Anthem isn't patriotism, folks.  It's authoritarian nationalism, and if you can't see the difference, you deserve to get eaten by a fascist regime.  Trump and his supporters are dangerous.  This is a weird time for the United States.
• I've got a couple of people I know going through hard stuff.  One had to have hospice called in for his Dad.  Another just found out he has stomach and esophageal cancer.  It's a bummer, and it's been laying heavy on my mind over the past couple of days.
• Been missing Dad quite a bit this week.  Had a dream the other night where he and I were going to some kind of show.  It had aspects of both a pro wrestling show and a concert.  In the dream, he went off to find his seats, and I spent the rest of the dream trying to find him, waking myself up when I realized he'd passed away.
• I hate holidays.  And I hate being shorthanded at work.  When I'm Emperor, blah blah blah.
• I had a meeting yesterday down in Chattanooga.  I got a text before I went that the location had changed from the store it was supposed to be in to the bank next door to that store.  I wandered into the bank, and they looked at me like I'd grown a second head that was spouting racist rhetoric when I asked where I needed to go for the meeting.  Turns out it wasn't a prank, as was my first instinct.  There's another meeting this week that will take place at a bank next to one of our stores.
• I recently listened to Alma Katsu's The Hunger, which was a helluva read.  I found a hard copy at McKay's yesterday.  It's one of those rare ones that I wanted a hard copy of, after I've listened to it.   If you haven't, it's a creepy-as-hell period piece about the Donner Party.  I loved it.

Today's Funny

Trying to get a better attitude about the job.  Trying not to feel somehow screwed over.  We're shorthanded right now, and it feels like every time I turn around, something else is going sideways.  The schedule's been difficult.  Too many nights.  Too many weekends, here lately.  It's not impossible.  It's just tough to enjoy, right now.