The Big Ole Labour Daybour: Work Posting 'Cause bored.

Ah classic me, working on a stat with very little to do and no reason to really care. Not that I every really have a reason to care, I'm not a guy who cares much about things. People yes, things no. I worry very little, which is a great way to save myself some stress.  

Anywho, it's the first monday in September and I've got two less brothers in the country to show for it? Brostralia is a go, and my best wishes go with them. Being a person who doesn't really "miss" people in the standard sense, I'm mostly just excited for them. Now to spend a month living with just me and Bella (a dog) in my little suite. I'm looking forward to it, even if sudden scheduling has me working...a lot. Oh well, it's good for the survival (and more than survival) fund. I may even do some rearranging of furniture that I've been contemplating... though I need a better vacuum for cleaning before I decide to cover change where things are (and therefore both covering and exposing potentially poorly cleaned carpet). I should do that when I get home... I'm gonna set an alarm... ... ... Alright, alarm set. Man, I love smartphones. Tiny little surprisingly powerful computers that we keep on your persons pretty well constantly. So neat and useful to the point of "I'm pretty sure we're dependant on them." 

Anywho, an hour and a half left and I'm still not doing things at work. I get the occasional phone call and people are surprised that I answer thinking that we wouldn't be open, literally saying "I didn't think you'd be open!" This phrasing sort of vexes me, I mean, if you didn't think we'd be open then why'd you call? A better phrase to say would be something like "Oh good, you are open," implying that you were calling to see if we were. Meh, it's not like it really matters. 

Hrmm, contemplating starting up a creative writing blog when I just post tiny made up things, possibly story continuations or maybe completely random stuff. I think it could be good brain excersize. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy the mental vomit that is my ramblings (I just spew it out, no real control or direction aside from into a specific container [aka: this blog] and it happens relatively infrequently...dangit I love/hate how accurate that description is), but something for a more...measured aspect of my brain could be a lot of fun. Though, to be honest, typing on this little keyboard is surpringly taxing... I may also want to get a laptop for typing purposes. Nothing major, just a little thing that handles...word processing...and...like maybe some usb audio input stuff for other projects. I'll keep an eye out for something that suits those needs. 

Unrelated: something that popped into my head just now that my family probably all knows. I'm a guy who eats to survive, yes, but that doesn't stop me from appreciating good food. I don't particularly care about what I'm eating when I'm by myself as long as it fills me up and has decent nutritional value. I don't sit down to have a meal, I just kinda grab something and go. However, I do have quite an appreciation for quality food, what with the chefdad and whatnot. I know how to tell good food from the bad (even if I'll still eat just about anything). There are some circles that call me the Garbage Cam, 'cause whatever food you'd've otherwise thrown out I will almost certainly eat. Fortunately I don't take any offense to that nickname, though I may want to be more discerning in what I eat... Meh, I keep it pretty balanced, I should be fine.

Oh, right, I was gonna get a fancy pen for drawing on my tablet...I should re-look into that. I'll add that to the label of my other alarm. Again with the "I should just be creative for a month straight to force habit" thing. I'll do that at some point, I'm just currently acquiring tools to make it easier, I'm no good at finger drawing (and drawing fingers [not 100% accurate but I'm a perfectionist]. I will say that even with my limited practice I have been doing I've noticed improvement in my linework. I need to work on EVERYTHING ELSE and I should probably do that thing where you use base shape skeletons ('cause boy howdy do I not use those, which may actually imply that I'm more creative than I think) so... yeah, practice. They say practice makes progress ('cause pobody's nerfect) so that's probably a good idea. Flip, I talk about how much I should do things that I'm not actually doing. I currently blame WoW:Legion, what with it having come out last week and me wanting to experience it and progress through it. Also the whole leadup to Brostralia involved being with family a bunch and while that's good it's rather impeding. Also also I've been working a lot and rarely want to actually do things when I'm off work. Speaking of, being at work gives me a surprising amount of motivation to do not-work things...it might be all the caffiene. I do drink a lot of tea at work when it's slow.

Alright, that's enough out of me. Happy Labour Day and whatnot, I'm out.

Cheers,

~Cam

Nonsense for the Sake of Nonsense aka: Talking to Myself

So, here we are again. Me: a guy working at a paint store and it being slow, you: a person who stumbled across my inane ramblings. The consistency of these meetings is baffling, how does it always happen like this? I mean, we keep running into each other here, it's like fate or destiny (which are almost the same thing? yeah...) that we should be in each others lives. So with that, let us being anew!

Sooo, how are things? Mhmm, mhmm, oh that's neat. Go on, yeah, yeah? Really? Huh, never woulda thought. Good for you, glad things are turning out that way. Me? Oh, you know, same old same old, still alive and still making colours and stuff, I live a pretty consistent life but I'm mostly content. Only mostly? Oh, yeah, well, I figure I could be better at some things I do and I wouldn't mind if I was better at friending and/or staying in contact with people, but those things aside I'm pretty happy with who I am and the people in my life which is all that really matters, right? Yeah, I think so too. The things I want to improve on? Oh nothing really important, just creative type stuffs that I haven't been making a big effort to work on, probably 'cause I've been working a lot and don't have a lot of alone time. Nah, it's not that big of a deal, I just tend to be more open and creative when alone, I find it hard to really let loose when there are other people around. I think I might be unconsciously choosing to avoid interfering with whatever they're doing by being quiet and out of the way, so I kind of turtle into my own little world. It involves a lot of wearing headphones and not-talking, this little world of mine, but it's a place of my choosing where I can escape from people. Nothing against my roomy and his dog, they're great, but I'm a super introvert and would happily live alone if it was a feasible option for various reasons. I feel far less confined when no one's around, inhibitions just fly out the window, there's much more grooving and singing and playing things at a not-headphones level of sound...I mean, it's not constant, but the likelihood of those things occuring is increased quite drastically.  Being less inhibited tends to get more things done, just in general, I seem to be struck with inspiration and motivation more frequently when I'm by myself. You know how the really extraverted people tend to not know the difference between being alone and being lonely? I'm super the opposite of that, I rarely if never feel lonely by myself but it has occasionally happened when I'm with a group of people. I bet some people can't even fathom that idea, being lonely while with a bunch of people. Granted, that only really happens if it's a group I'm either not very familiar with or don't know at all, but it's not exactly a common occurance (possibly because I don't actually go out much if at all, but that's another topic for another day). I've officially lived alone for like less than two months, during which I was working six days a week 'cause a coworked had left for a rial company and we had literally no time to replace him (it took like 3 months, plus then training that person, I was working 6 days a week for a solid 4-5 months, I got very tired), so I haven't really had time to just be in a place by myself when not tired constantly. Actually, as it so happens, for like a month starting in September I'll be living alone (with a dog, so only sort of alone) because of a certain Brostralia trip that's happening, so I guess I'll have a decent chance to see what the solo life's like...hopefully, we may also be looking for/hiring a new person to train around then, so I may again be doing the six days a week thing. I know it's not really a tough job and it's been pretty slow lately, but it's still working retail and people suck (in general as a broad statement) so stress levels get pretty high... especially if there's a big sale in the middle of it (which means we'd also be open on sundays, so that's rotating 13 days straight for us [we trade off so that we don't actually go insane]) and september seems like the time when the company might spring another one on us. 

Unrelated, you know how life is hard sometimes? Yeah, sure is... Actually I had nowhere to go with that statment, my life isn't that hard currently. I've got relatively few expenses, I'm in relatively good health (I think, I haven't had any issues that I'm aware of... I should probably get a check up at some point), I sleep fine more often than not, I've got people in my life that care about me which is swell, other good things that I can't think of right this second. So yeah, life's treating me alright for some reason. I have no idea why though... I mean, I like to think of myself as a nice person and treat people well, I'm fairly certain I could be classified as generous and helpful, so I've got that stuff going for me, but there's a part of me that feels like I haven't earned what I've got. I don't really think that, but there's a small nagging doubt about it, kinda like how I've got this small part of me that's all like "What if I'm actually super dumb and people are just humouring me?" I guess nagging doubts are just part of a human experience, and they probably don't really mean much, but if I weren't as cheerful and jovial as I am already I'm pretty sure I'd just be sad and guilt-ridden constantly. Granted, eliminate the cheer and joy out of most people and you'll probably end up with sadness incarnate or just straight raw fury, so I guess that's kind of a moot point. Bummers aside, I think it could be worth it to explore these nagging doubts at least enough to find evidence against them so they can freakin' shut their dern mouths. Silly little brain mouths all spouting garbage and trying to make you feel bad for no reason. Ugh. Regardless, not now, maybe elsewhen. 

Have I mentioned recently that I love the term "elsewhen?" It basically just means "later" in most contexts because time (as we experience it) is linear, but nobody uses it. It's like "elsewhere" but for time. I'm the only person I know that actively uses it, which is fun. Added perk of nearly everyone immediately understanding it because it's so similar to a fairly common word.

That seemed like something I've said before. I mean, I know I say that to people fairly regularly, but I'm having a reasonable amount of deja vu involving typing it. I've probably put it in the blog at some point, but since when have I been one to go back and look at things I've written before? Basically never, that's when...except maybe for some stories I never finished. Continuity's important for good longterm story telling, yo. Barring those exceptions that may very well never see the light of...internet... I rarely if never look back to prior posts, especially for these rambly type ones, kinda defeats the purpose of rambling, don't it? Rambling AND fact checking? Bah! Ain't nobody got time for that! Heck, I barely fact check in real life, I just say things with confidence and people believe me more often than not. Granted, I rarely talk in such ways without actually knowing, and people can basically look up anything anywhere thanks to phones and internet. It's kinda crazy how powerful these tiny computers have become, sitting in our pocket is more computing power than was even available like 15 years in desktop PCs, and while this is probably common knowledge it kind of blows my mind a little every time I think about it. The pace at which technology is proceeding is...well it's very quick. So quick that I'm a touch leery about where technology's going to end up, because one of the next big milestones for it is physical integration. This could go all sorts of ways, both good and bad, being anywhere from restoring people's lost appendages with tech that you can actively feel with and control with your brain (good) or so heavily integrated that theoretically people could be controlled to do things they otherwise wouldn't (bad). It's still all very up in the air, and I'm not really gonna swing one way or the other, the technology itself is not inherently good or evil, it's what you do with it that matters. I'm just an advocate for seeing things from multiple points of view, don't take one person's ideas and opinions to be the be-all end-all for your own.

Super unrelated: I get a decent chunk of comments at work about how, when hammering paint lids on with a rubber mallet, it must be a good way to vent frustration to do that. This is utter and complete bullhonkey, if I were venting anger/frustation on the paint lids I'd have broken a lot more paint cans. I'm hitting these lids with very, VERY controlled strikes in order to minimize unnecessary effort and get them on quickly. I'm a pretty large guy, if I were to take the mallets and swing with large force things would probably not end well. So yeah, definitely not exerting my full force on these cans.

Anywho, I got busy at like 4:30 and now I'm just wrapping it up at home base.

Cheers!

~Cam

Bored and More Bored, aka: Work Is Slow Again

Ahh, November, the time of the year when painting ceases to be something people want to think about doing and instead begin their hibernation rituals to prepare for the coming winter. The start of November is the harbinger of the slow season here at "Cam works at a paint store" town, so there may very well be more BloPos (Blog Posts [taken from NaBloPoMo, which I'm pretty sure is a thing]) especially if the pace of sales today is any indicator...

I am currently reclined in the office typing on my phone which decided to turn on magically after many hours of being plugged in but showing no signs of life. That was a weird phenomenon, it was working fine for years (literally) then it just up and bricked itself for hours. First thing I did was plug it in and see if anything happens, which normally does even if it's just a screen indicating that it's charging, but there was just blackness this time. It only came back after I had already placed an order for a new phone (which was immediately canceled after I got ole phoney back) an put a Facebook post up about how I was phoneless for a while. The real kicker is that my friend Lish said commented "get your phone fixed!" And then within minutes it turned back on. Freaking magic, I now think she's a technomage, and have told her as much. Regardless, I don't need a new phone quite yet, and good old Cphone Sr. Is still truckin' along nicely. 

Now down to brass tacks... Not really. I just wanted to say that, it's a fun turn of phrase. Speaking of turning, daylight savings did something over the weekend and now my internal clock has been mildly screwed up, and closing time will be even darker than it was already. Pretty sure that's the same for most people nowadays, but this is my blog so I'll talk about what I want to talk about. I've also got to change a few clocks yet, mostly the ones I don't use, so it's not a big deal, but they should still be accurate...I've also got to figure out how to change the time displayed on the phones in the store, they're all off because the guy who knew how to change them left. As the store techy, it falls to me to figure it out... later, after blog post, 'cause I've still got 2+ hours to kill. Yaaaaaaaay.....

Okay, next topic. Let's see here... dum de dum... thumbing through the topic wheel in my mind... Ah! This'll do nicely. Ahem, the topic of this next ramble is... Hair!

So it's that time of the year when my hair is long enough to be both fluffy and frustrating. I already trimmed off most of my beard (and need to clean it up again), and next comes the mane. It's a little unruly and curly and floof, which can be nice, but I like the "buzzed short enough to be toque Velcro" hair for exactly that purpose. Seeing as I only wear toques in the fall and winter months, this is the ideal time to take it all off. The only issue is: where and/or how? I could go to that old timey barber shop place that opened on 31st ave and see what the deal is... and I may do that this week. Actually, yeah, I should do that. I promise nothing, but it might happen. Regardless, I've gotta figure out how to get rid of all this hair I've got on top of my head. Hopefully I feel motivated enough to do that this week. 

Secondary issue: Motivation. I still need to find a source of motivation for myself. Being easily content has its drawbacks I guess. I like who I am, I do my job well, I've got friends and stuff, I'm still alive, I haven't fallen in with any bad crowds. Seems like I'm doing pretty alright, and I tend to agree with that. I don't see any personal need to do things too differently. Whatever, I don't want to get too deep into repeated introspection when all I'm doing is trying to kill time. So I won't. What do we say to introspection? Not today! 

I should really do some laundry, it's a little in the piled high side right now. I'll make an alarm for it for tomorrow at a time when I'll probably be awake. Then because I've started cleaning it's just gonna spiral into other things and my room'll end up rearranged and all the recycling will be processed (it's kinda out of control right now). Alright, tomorrow goals set, now to execute them and be a productive member of my living quarters!

Okay, that's enough out of me today. Gotta keep something in the stores for when I'm bored on other days of work, which is very likely to happen...possibly a lot.

Cheers!

~Cam