my life

The joys of shiftwork.

One of the rules of work here is that once you're qualified as a crew commander, you remain a crew commander "on call" until you leave. 'Tis an unwritten rule, but one that bears noting.

It isn't so bad, being called in to "sit the desk" once in a while. I don't even mind working a string of shifts here and there. If nothing else, it's an ever-present reminder of what a good job I have, generally speaking, if only because I no longer have to live and breathe shiftwork.

That's the bugger of it, see. Only one letter separates "shiftwork" from...ah, yes. You get the picture.

At or around this time in the morning, my body begins to scream for a bed. I have things to work on, such as revision of my thesis background, but I find it hard to concentrate because every cell of my body is in league against me, and I fight to keep my brain active and interested in something...anything, just to make it 'til dawn.

Sleeping during the day is its own challenge, and one my body is ill-adjusted to to begin with. I may have mentioned that there are two houses going up beside me. I think I may have managed six hours of sleep today before my body simply refused to settle, so I gave up and got up, went for a run (what a gorgeous afternoon!), showered, cleaned the kitchen, did a load of laundry, cooked my breakfast and packed my lunch.

Now it's coming on 0300 hrs and I'm hurting. I alternate between walking around and talking to people, drinking tea, checking my emails and logs AGAIN, watching the basketball game on the distant tv, and yawning violently. You'd think after what will be another three hours of this that I'd go right home and crash.

Alas. I must pick up some groceries and perhaps have a discussion with the home-builders about their lack of mud-control and how it's impacting my parking pad. Whenever I lay me down, I'll be very lucky indeed if I score seven hours of shuteye before I'm awake and restless again.

I've tried every trick in the book, I think. I put giant cardboard blocks in the windows, but some light still seeps through. I turn on the ceiling fan for some white noise and tuck wax ear plugs into my ears (very effective), and put something over my eyes, and sleep well for about three hours. The rest will be a fight.

The crew I was working with when I first got here three years ago made jokes about the midshift blues. We all talked about how mids would work great with those of us going to school, because they wouldn't interfere with school hours and because they tend to be slow and we could get schoolwork done.

HAHAHAHahahahahaha. *wheeze*

The reality? Come 0200, there you'd be with a stack of unopened books beside you, staring glassy-eyed at a computer screen, and mindlessly surfing the internet out of sheer desperation for something to wake you up.

It's still like that. As mentioned, I have something to work on. I have the papers spread on the desk before me, and places I've been proofing and marking, but my eyes keep crossing and my brain keeps drifting irresistably to the belief that I'm warm in bed somewhere....

Urg. Now it's time to build the brief. Maybe that will help.

Ciao.

d