DPoSED Experiment: Hiatus

You may have noticed that this hasn't been updated in a while (in a mass update or otherwise).  This is due to a number of reasons, the most prominent of which being that I simply find myself without the time to write out DPoSED entries as I'd like to. This doesn't mean that I've stopped the experiment; on the contrary, I'm still at it, and I continue to take pictures for my blog.  Then I stop and realise my schedule for the week looks like: School, work, sleep, repeat.  This doesn't leave a lot of time for writing how my day went.

I'll do a rushed mass-update for the couple of weeks I've gotten behind eventually, for now... have fun re-reading everything to the point of misery.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Seventeen

It just occurred to me, but I'm seventeen days into this thing... it's going by faster than I'd thought it would.  This is probably compounded by the fact that I keep doing four or five of these things at a time; much like my Logic homework, it keeps adding up.

Due to my internet failing me for some reason last night, I ended up starting a new game of Fable III, and that caused me to stay up until close to four in the morning again.  I woke up around eleven-twenty, and that would have caused me to be about ten minutes late for class, had I ended up going (I'm sure I'm going to hear it from Ash tomorrow when she reads that I skipped class again; I had the homework for today completed already, however).  Instead, I went to lunch at Max and Erma's with Nixie, which was nice in that I got to eat outside, but not so nice in that Nixie has pretty much convinced herself that I'm not the same person that I used to be, and she's desperate to get me to go back to that person.  It's troubling, and it makes it difficult when I think that she might be right; maybe I'm not so sure of myself any more.  It didn't particularly help with my detachment issue, at any rate.

Work was... well, work.  Floor wasn't especially hard today, though I did have a lot more breaks to give, and Mario also decided he wanted me to flame treat and paint 741's today in between breaks.  I only got the flame treating done, though, as we both hauled ass through two racks of them before I had to start the lunch breaks, and at that point my day kinda got away from me.  I suppose I should be pleased that it went by quickly, anyway.

Continuing with my boot theme, I went with a pair of No Boundaries combat boots today which, while similar to the ones I wore yesterday, are of decidedly lower quality, and so I didn't really worry about messing them up.  Also, wearing boots with a slight heel while working an eight hour shift has started to kill my feet... thank goodness I'm wearing normal shoes for work tomorrow.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Sixteen

Ah, another Monday, though it didn't really feel like it.  I guess having a short weekend kinda does that to you.  I actually woke up early today, possibly on account of sleeping for ten hours yesterday (though I did get my errands run and so forth, so that's good), and walked to Robert's diner for some breakfast.  This is the same diner that I had to pick my parents up from on account of rain last time; there was no chance of rain today, so I figured a walk would be a safe bet.

I'd been wanting to check out the new bike trail that they built up in a nearby park, as well as the bridge that they put in over the Clinton River in the same park.  It's a shame they didn't have the path and bridge put in when I was younger; it would have served for a nice place to spend my childhood, rather than the decidedly blah park that I got to go to as a child.  Something about a river running through a park makes it more... pleasant.

Breakfast was a nice change, as I haven't eaten breakfast in god knows how long.  After I walked back home, I went back to sleep for a few hours (I got back home at ten thirty, and I didn't really have anything I really wanted to do today), then I was off to work.

I've got class again tomorrow, so I didn't stay over today; I suspect I'm not going to pull another sixty-hour week this week, as I got a bit too cranky last week.  It was sorta the same deal as I'd mentioned earlier; there was a lot running, but nothing really needed anything after I got it all stocked up in the first hour, and then several machines ended up going down, so I didn't really have a lot of breaks to give.  All in all a pretty boring day.

There are three new people on third shift now, one of which I've met in my staying over last week, the other two just started today.  None of them really strike me as people who are likely to stick around long, though you never can tell.  Maybe we'll get lucky; third shift desperately needs as many operators as they can get.

I decided to make this a boots week, and so I went with my clunky combat boots today.  Ash was definitely showing signs of sleep deprivation today, so I didn't get any commentary (she texted me later to let me know that she'd forgotten to look at all), but I don't know that I was really in the mood for any today.  I've been feeling kind of disconnected from people lately; probably something to do with all the time I've been spending by myself lately.

On a semi-related note, Nixie came home from Ludington today, and asked me to stop by and say hello after work.  It was bittersweet at best, but I'm supposed to have lunch with her tomorrow.  We'll see how it goes.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Fifteen

Yeah, workin' Saturday.  What a rush.  Woo.  That aside, I'm kind of starting to miss my weekends; maybe tomorrow I'll get to spend some "me" time, but for now, back to workin' for the man.

As seems to be the theme for these days working over, I slept in until a ridiculous hour in the afternoon (I suspect it has a bit to do with staying up until six in the morning when I get home, rather than just going straight to bed).  I also think it's starting to take its toll on me, as I was getting a bit more irritated today. Oh well, only one more day, then I can sleep and not have to worry about going in for twelve hours.

Work was relatively the same as it has been today; nothing was running particularly great, so despite my initial assessment that there were going to be a lot of breaks to give, a lot of machines ended up going down, which kind of dwindled my breaks-giving down to nothing.  This isn't always a great thing, when there's so little for me to do to begin with, and then all of a sudden I don't have breaks to eat up the time, either.  The day was decidedly dragging, so much so that I ended up trying to certify a skid of parts in my down time (this ended in me just not caring enough to finish, and so it was left for someone else to finish).

As midnight rolled around, I was starting to look forward to running a press, and I suspected it might be twenty-one again, as they'd been working to get it running all day.  Then it turned out that the dryer had been left on too high, and as such they were stuck with a massive chunk of unusable material that had to be chiseled out before they could hope to run it, so I was left to clean out a grinder so that the scrap that was coming off the machine when they finally did get it running could be ground up.  Not particularly fond of doing material-handler work, and I think my irritation that had been caused initially by me staying over two days in a row was just increased due to that.

I spent the rest of the night running twenty-two, as I was cranky, and stubbornly decided that I had done the floor work for my shift already, I had no interest in doing it for third shift, especially since they have their own floor person.  I really need sleep.

Since Ash had said that she wasn't going to be here on Monday, and that I should wear something that required me to change shoes for work, I opted to wear my Volatile sneakers, since they're comfortable and good for being on my feet at work all day.  That way I'd have a pair out of the way that I could use for work (since I'm allowed to wear a pair that I've previously worn on days that my shoes just aren't practical for work).

Too bad Ash decided she's coming in on Monday anyway...

DPoSED Experiment: Day Fourteen

Today was definitely a lazy friday.  I think I dragged myself out of bed at the crack of two (working over an extra four hours will do that to ya), with just enough time to shower and get off to work.  I was originally planning to go to work as a raver today, but as I lacked the sufficient time to get ready, I just went as the usual Ryan.

I planned to stay over for the next two days, since I had nothing planned for the following days, and, hey, a little overtime never hurt anyone.  My floor duties went pretty much as they have been lately, though I got to drive the trailer across the street to pick up packing supplies for the job that was planned to run on twenty-one today.  It was a sort of fun experience, I suppose; wouldn't protest if they asked me to do it again, though I suspect it's just because it's different from what I've been used to doing as an operator.  I'm contemplating asking Mac, the shipping guy, if he'll teach me how to operate a hi-lo if I come into work early.  He's been staying over pretty late after his shift, mostly do to being busy, so I suspect he won't have time, but it never really hurts to ask.

Staying over's been giving me the opportunity to keep my edge as an operator, as I get to be one for four hours out of the day.  I actually kind of look forward to the end of the day when I get to just sit at a machine and do one job without having to worry about making sure everyone has what they need.  It's not the same kind of looking forward to that I get when I know I get to go home after my shift, but it's a bright spot, despite the twelve-hour day.

Today I wore a pair of my Skechers that I'd gotten bored with one morning and decided to sew on various pieces from a pair of old Tripp pants I had laying around, as well as installing some screws so I could screw on a pair of metal plates I had made for the fronts.  Granted, I have no idea where the plates have gone now.

The fronts used to be painted black, but it's since worn off, prompting Ash to ask, "are they supposed to be dirty?"

DPoSED Experiment: Day Thirteen

Let me begin by explaining (at least a little) why it took me so long to update this.  By this point in the week, I was volunteering to stay over an extra four hours every night to help third shift keep up production, and as such, the time I would normally spend writing out a DPoSED update was instead spent at work, and then, directly after, sleeping.  Thus, I've kind of backlogged a lot of entries.  Hopefully, I can catch up on the weekends a little better now, but we'll see...

So, today was my last day of class for the week.  Kind of a quiet day, by usual standards, I suppose, but I guess I learned a bit.  Today we covered emotive statements and emotive value, which, in short, means that emotionally-charged arguments are usually so because they don't hold any real backing, and use the emotion they convey to make the one on the receiving end go along with the emotion, rather than the statement itself, thus concluding an argument.  It's an interesting concept, really, and one that I hope I can use to gain a better understanding of things around me.  If I can learn how to weed out the emotive statements and get to the base of an argument, maybe I can apply some logic to my situations.

On the topic of things that need logic applied to them, I really do need to figure out how I'm going to get myself caught back up on my assignments, because I don't think my weekend is going to cover it...

Today, I was requested by Ash to either "wear something exciting, or wear my purple TNBC shoes"  Since I wasn't feeling especially exciting today, I ended up going with my TNBC shoes. For the first half of my day (going to class and the subsequent errands I ran on the way home), I wore my older pair, which I've admittedly kinda worn into oblivion, and as such, decided I'd be nicer on my feet and wear my newer pair to work.

Work today was pretty cut and dry, honestly.  Not really a lot to do, aside from having to run press twenty-one when I stayed over, a press that had, originally, been run by two operators; I was a little peeved that I was running it by myself.  However, it ended up getting shut down at four, due to a lack of operators to run it, and so I was allowed to catch up all the tasks I was otherwise unable to complete while I was originally running it.

I think I'm going to stay on as floor person for a while longer; I'm definitely starting to get a routine down, despite it seeming like I can never get everything I need to get done done before I have to start breaks.  I'll get there eventually.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Twelve

(I've really gotta start doing these on the days they occur >.<).  I tried going in early for class today, to try and get some of my homework assignments from last week finished up, but I was apparently not early enough, because I barely put a dent in them.  I'm starting to think I might have to withdraw from this and try it again next semester; I don't want to, but I might have to.  Ash would say I brought this on myself (in fact, she did say that, when I mentioned how behind I was).

Tomorrow's the last day of class for the week, and also the start of me being able to stay over for an extra four hours at work; not really sure when I'm going to find time to work on the homework I have to work on, but I'll hopefully figure it out.  It was another hot day today, though it felt like it was more of a dry heat; I was really hoping what Mario had said was true, and that they had fixed the air conditioning at work.  Then I remembered that I work at Hicks Plastics.

I feel like I'm starting to definitely get the hang of the floor now; I know where to find a lot of the totes and packing materials, I'm getting along pretty good with Mack, the shipping guy, and he's been really helpful when it comes to where to put what and where to find things.  I'm a little frustrated at the other jobs I'm required to do from time to time: running to get material from across the street, certifying parts that need to be shipped out ASAP because no one else can be trusted to do it right, and so forth.  it seems like just when I think I have everything set and can go on my break so I can start giving breaks, someone comes up and asks for something, so I get a late start on things.  I don't think I've taken an entire break since I've started on the floor.

I also learned that the metalizer reels get very hot when it's hot in the factory, a fact I learned the hard way when I had to change one of the doors today (this I don't mind doing, since I used to do it when I ran the metalizer anyway), and consequently ended up burning my palms pretty good.  It'll be all better by tomorrow, and the lesson will have been learned... hopefully.

Today I wore a pair of shoes that were a bit more "me" than the ones I've been wearing for the past several days.  While they're still Skechers, they're a little less subdued, and I think I felt a little more myself in them.  Also helps that they aren't a style that looks suspiciously similar to the pair that our quality control, Rose, wears (somewhat thankfully, I don't have a pair of the particular style that she has in my collection).  I stenciled on the Skullcandy logo a while ago, as well as some crossbones on the tongues, and I laced them up all complicated.

This experiment has started me noticing some things about the shoes I wear and how I feel while I do so.  I think constantly wearing a different pair of shoes, some of which I haven't really worn all that often, has made me more conscious of what's on my feet and what my thought process is when I walk out the door in something every day.  In much the same way as Ash has a pair of shoes that she wears when she just doesn't care and wants to be comfortable, I'm currently forcing myself outside of my comfort zone.  Instead of wearing the same two or three pairs of shoes every day, I'm in a constant state of fluctuation, and I think I'm starting to learn something from it.  I'm not really sure what, yet, but I'll be sure to post it when I figure it out.