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.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Eleven

Hurray for going to Logic after three days of not going; I'm so far behind on my homework it's not even funny.  I'm going to see if I can't get some extra study time in for about an hour or so before I go to class; something to at least get me somewhere managable.  I suppose it didn't occur to me that every class missed is two lessons, and that adds up fast when there are close to a hundred questions for each lesson assignment.  Oh well, I need to practice getting up earlier anyway, right?

Today was hotter than yesterday, and it was kinda muggy on top of that.  They've started work repairing the brickwork on our house today, and I have to say, not a great day to be doing manual labor outside.  I was overheating just watching them.

That said, I wasn't really looking forward to working today.  Apparently, a few other people weren't either; we were short two people, and I ended up having to run the metalizer on top of trying to keep everyone stocked with their stuff and give breaks.  It was a little stressful, since giving everyone a break takes a while, and people get impatient.  It didn't help that things weren't really breaking down, either, meaning that it took me two hours to finish up the lunches, and it seemed like as soon as I finished one break, it was time to go on to the next one.  Kinda how I remember it being across the street, actually.  On the plus side, Mac showed me how to scan items out of the warehouse inventory so I can put them on the floor without having to wait for him to scan them for me.

Today I wore my last pair of Skechers in this particular style, and so brings to a close what some might consider a low point in this experiment.  I think these are actually the first pair of these that I bought, and I ended up removing the heel bubbles so I could make a mold of them so I could make several others in different styles that could be interchanged.  I've yet to put the originals back in (if I can even still find them >.<), or finish any of the custom ones I was going to make.  Hurray for not finishing things.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Ten

Monday.  This is the first time in a while I've started a week on a Monday.  Last week it was Memorial Day, the week before I was coming home from Chicago, and the week before that... I think I actually worked that Monday before departing for Chicago for the entire week.  So, two weeks since I've started the week with a Monday.  It felt normal, I guess.  A little lazy, but normal; I think I slept in until around noon-ish, did very little, and then was off to work.

I put a bit more of myself into running the floor today.  I think last week I got so pre-occupied with not being there that I just sort of shrugged it off as something I didn't want to do, but in all honesty, it's not so bad once you start to get the hang of things.  I still don't much care for the lack of material handler to get skids and so forth taken care of, but it keeps me busy, and that's really the only important part.

It's getting hotter, and as such, things are running worse.  Machines keep going up and then down, and it seems like it all starts going wrong when we get there.  This makes for some odd break arrangements, as some people are available to help give breaks during one break period, and then they all need to get breaks the next.  Hopefully they get the A/C fixed soon, but I'm not going to bet on it any time soon.

Today I wore my black SKX Skechers, the same shoes I wore for probably the first five months I started working at Hicks.  They felt familiar, and maybe that's why I felt like I was starting to get the hang of things with the floor stuff.  Ash commented that she thinks she just doesn't like white shoes, since, while these are still kind of plain, she likes them a lot better than the ones I've been wearing.  I suspect it has to do with my lack of white attire to balance out the overwhelming white-ness of some of my other shoes.

Tomorrow begins school again; let's hope I'm not horribly far behind.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Nine

While it's true that today was Saturday, and shouldn't, technically, be counted as a DPoSED day, one must take into account that I was sick yesterday, and we had work today anyway.  And so I've finally managed to get myself caught back up to the present (there's only one person who is going to care xP).  I was feeling remarkably better today, and actually managed to get out of bed at a reasonable hour.  Nixie is up in Ludington for the weekend with some of the Chicago group, and I'm sure they're enjoying themselves.  I wanted to go, but work kind of prevented that.

On that note, we had three people not show up today (I lied, Ash, I said only two, but I forgot about the new guy), and so by default I was on the metalizer, since we had no one else to run it.  The whole day seemed kind of out of whack, though.  I'm not sure if it was the lack of people, me not being used to working on Saturdays anymore, Ash coming in four hours early, or a combination of them, but it just seemed really off.  I started with my usual floor routine; got boxes and such ready, trained Mitco on a job that I'd never run before myself (thankfully he learns quick and has the ability to figure things out as needed), and then ended up running the metalizer once we realized we were, indeed, three people short (and even with them, we were still three people short for all the jobs they wanted running).  I also volunteered to stay over again today, since I missed yesterday completely and I wanted to make up for it.

Interestingly, I ended up on a job I've never run before, and there were only three of us for third shift; two of which spent more time sweeping and tidying than running their machine on account of the heat being so much that it starts screwin' with our technology.  I was not one of those two.  Also, a note on the heat: it was bad.  The fan in the breakroom was all you had to look forward to.

Today I decided to keep to my theme and wore another pair of my Skechers, this time ones I assumed were suitably themed to the gawdy surf-shop t-shirt I was wearing.  Ash remarked that they, also, were kind of plain, and that they were also kinda girly (not really sure what I'd do without Ash's daily commentary).  I think she put it as "Are you sure you got those in the guy's section" to which I my only response was "honestly, I don't think most of my shoes have come from the guy's section.  I go with what I like, not with what gender its meant for."  It felt good, sticking to my convictions like that.  I only hope I can keep that in mind while I attempt to work out this whole deal with Nixie.  I have a feeling the end result is going to be considerably less pleasing than I want it to be.

DPoSED Experiment: Sick Day

Some Friday this turned out to be.  Things started on a bit of a sour note with Ash texting me, and me being asleep at Nixie's house due to being so tired from the night before's work.  This, I'm told, led to a huge text argument between Ash, Gloria, Stef and Nixie.  All of this before I woke up, in fact.  I had some hint of it, as I was half-awake, and Nixie said something like, "why is she still texting you?" and I maybe mumbled something and went back to sleep.

I woke up later to her acting very strangely, and found that both Ash and Stef's numbers had been deleted out of my phone, along with any of the texts she may have sent, and that I'd recieved.  I didn't much feel like dealing with her prying, as I was undeniably sicker than I had been the night before, so I went home, and proceeded to try to get some rest, while still talking to her via text message.

Truth be told, I'm sick of her blowing up on Ash every time she talks to me; I've made remarkable progress as a result of talking to Ash (and Sean, also, but I think at this point that's just a given).  And so I pretty much just told her that I was choosing Sean and Ash's friendship over our "relationship".  She didn't take it especially well, but seemed to get over it towards the end of the day, though I suspect I'm not out of the woods yet.

I called in sick to work today, on account of my throwing up repeatedly this morning, and pretty much stayed in bed all day, so I didn't really count this as a day for the experiment.  Instead, for the half hour in which I actually went out and did anything (mostly just went out and fetched my computer, which I had let Nixie use on account of both hers being fried), I decided to test out some of the repair work I had done on Ash's shoes, as I'd finally gotten around to installing the second heel-patch on them today.  I figured it was also good symbolism for my decision today, even if me wandering around in some girl's shoes does sorta seem a little weird.  Mostly, they reminded me that I have people in my life right now that I can count on to be there.

Woo, we work Saturday this week.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Eight

For the third day in a row this week, I didn't go to class.  I was too tired, and just couldn't find the motivation to drag myself to class.  It's not that I couldn't wake up; I got up with plenty of time, and I left the house well before I had to be there, but for some reason I just couldn't convince myself to go.  Maybe it's just been an off week; we'll see next week.

Day three of me on the floor began with the painful realization that the job that had been acting up on the metalizer was, once again, running on the metalizer.  Ah, and something I forgot yesterday, but we also have a new guy: Anthony.  He initially struck me as someone who would be pretty self-sufficient; he's a little older, and looks like he's got some experience (maybe).  Now, he strikes me as someone who is a little out of it.  He kind of has this "surfer-dude" way of going about things, which kind of throws me off.  He's also a pain to train, as he gets angry if people keep telling him to not do something that his insists on doing.  We'll see how long he lasts...

I also started having doubts about my ability to perform my job as Floor Person today.  Everyone expects me to just knows things now, and I'm getting material work thrown at me, too.  it's a bit stressful, especially when I need to stage things, someone has left a hi-lo in the middle of the aisle I need to get through, and Mario is too busy fighting with a machine that refuses to cooperate to even fix another machine that was running, let alone move a hi-lo ten feet so I can get through.  I'll give it another week, and see how I feel about it; I feel I'm meant more to just do the jobs, not show other people how to.

Today I also volunteered to stay over an additional four hours, despite my early warning to never do that.  I was to be running M2 again, and after the eight hours of working the floor, I needed something easy to calm my nerves.  It felt good to be doing one thing for four hours. 

In keeping with my initial plan, I opted for another pair of my Skechers, this time the very first version that they came out with.  Despite my colourful choice of laces, Ash said they were just too plain and she didn't like them, which is fine, since I don't really want to get rid of these.

Also had a, as Sean put it, "much needed talk" with Ash during her lunch, and after I'd completed my twelve hour shift.  Got some things out in the open and probably came out with a better understanding of each other as a result.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Seven

Day two as Floor Person at Hicks; it's getting hot in the plant, the A/C doesn't work, and the machines are starting to protest. Due to the job on the metalizer acting up so much yesterday, and, consequently, today, we are now way behind schedule on these hellish parts and I had to run the parts myself for a little while today, as we were also short a few good men.  After a while, Mario shut one of the presses down, and told Alecks to come over and run the machine for me so I could do my job (giving breaks and so forth).  Alecks is the old Albanian who is definitely reputable as being one of the slower operators (though, given our current stock on operators, you take what you can get), and so I found myself wondering if I might lose my promotion due to necessity (I went past Nick and said, "So, you miss me being on this thing yet?" and he sorta smirked, and rolled his eyes at Alecks).

As I've got a lot of similar pairs of Skechers, I figured I'd get them out of the way early on, so I can get into some of my more interesting pairs.  The ones I chose for today are actually the last version they did in this style, and it occurred to me a bit later in the day that our quality control lady wears a pair that are very similar (luckily I don't own that particular pair).  if I think of it, I'll see about getting a picture for comparison.

Also, due to the heat starting to get to me, I decided to rid myself of my pesky leg hair.  It honestly didn't make a huge difference, though Ash seems to think it's "adorable" that I do it.  Not so sure about that... 

DPoSED Experiment: Day Six

Today was my first day as Floor Person on second shift.  Today I also decided not to go to class because I was still a bit tired from the barbecue.  Hopefully I can get myself caught up on my homework, and figure out what to do about the "shmest" we were supposed to have today.  I guess I'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Being that it was my first day working in a position I worked pretty hard to get, I decided I'd wear the shoes that I worked pretty hard to modify for use as my work shoes (I hardly ever wear them to work anymore >.<).  As I suspected, training people as the floor person is a difficult and time-consuming process, one that usually isn't finished when you say, "So, you think you've got it?  Okay, I'll check back in about ten minutes and make sure you're still doing alright."

This is usually followed by going back, and them having parts strewn about everywhere.  We'll see if my patience can take it.  I also found out that Nick and everyone else expects me to just know what I'm doing now that I've got this position; if I was still in Plant One, sure, I'd know what jobs require what, and where all the totes and packaging are.  In Plant Two, however... it's new to me.  I also know far fewer of the jobs here than I think Nick thought I did, as I spent a good amount of time having the operators train me so I could break them and not screw their jobs up entirely.

All in all, a tiring, but somewhat eventful day.  We'll see how tomorrow goes.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Five

So, just as I suspected (a bit too late to question), today was Memorial Day, and as such, no work.  Also no school; a week that doesn't begin with Monday is sure to be a good week, no? Due to the holiday, and the fact that i never plan anything more than an hour or two in advance, I was invited to a Barbecue at Ash's dad's house out in Capac today.  This I accepted with some enthusiasm, as I was told I'd get the opportunity to meet the cousin's of hers who Sean and I volunteered to be marrow donors for (should I even turn out to be an elligible donor).  And so we headed out at around twelve-thirty, stopped a couple times to re-fill Ash's power-steering fluid, and made it there stupidly early.

As this was also an opportunity to meet Ash's father, who had apparently stubbornly argued the fact that I was gay due entirely to the pair of Converse I loaned Ash while I work on her's, it was decided that I wear those very same shoes to prove that I did, in fact, wear them, and hopefully present myself as someone of non-homosexual nature (not that there's anything wrong with it).  I'm pretty sure the first part of that went according to plan; I did in fact show up wearing them, and proceeded to do so for some time afterward.  The second part, well... I know I came off as different, and I suppose if you're hard-pressed to slap a label on it, I guess the easiest route would be to assume I was gay.  Or peculiar.  Or both.  I think Her dad best summed it up for everyone, though, "You're like a cross between Lady Gaga and John Lennon."

The barbecue itself was quite enjoyable, and my biggest regret is not taking more pictures, as I'd brought my camera with me (hell, I didn't even take any of me wearing the shoes... I guess that stays between me and the people that were there).  I found out that I don't have near the energy I did when I was younger, and that Nerf wars tend to die down when everyone's guns are jamming and we'd all rather just swing on the swings.  There were a few moments where I started to feel like I didn't really know the people around me as well as I wanted, but not nearly as many as I had in Chicago; overall, the people I met were good people, and despite them not really getting me, I still felt like I was welcome there.

The day ended out with me being slightly sunburned (a couple days later and you couldn't even tell), Ash's dad being slightly intoxicated and insisting he could fix her leaking high pressure line, and me getting home around one.  All in all... fun times.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Four

Today was Friday.  Right now I kind of hate myself for saying that.  Today was also my last official day as an operator at Hicks Plastics Company, Inc.  As of next week, I finally get my promotion to floor person.  I'll have to remember to tell Sara... only took a little over a year and two transfers to get it back.

I slept a lot today, probably due to the strain of starting my class back up and due to the fact that I actually didn't have class today.  I'm curious how this class is going to go for me, seeing as how I've been out of school for what seems like ages.  Adjusting is gonna take some work.

In keeping with the laid-back theme of Friday, I chose to wear my Heelys today.  For those "not in the know", Heelys are roller-shoes that have a single wheel in the heel of them that, in theory, allows the wearer to sort of scoot around without having to walk.  This is somewhat the case, as I've managed to learn the method, though I have fallen a time or two.  At work, however, such frivolous activity seems a bit hazardous (much to Ash's dismay).  Nevermind Mario rolling around on rollerblades.

Nick tells me I'm to begin my floor position on Monday; Monday is a holiday.  Hmm...

DPoSED Experiment: Day Three

Today was the last day of Logic class for the week, and today's class was a bit less unnerving than yesterday's was (first class jitters might be a factor, despite it being the second day).  I made the decision today that I'm going to sit in a different seat every class; a very simple exercise to help oneself adjust to paradigm shifts.  This is actually not an original idea, to be perfectly honest, as the concept was originally proposed by my eleventh grade hippy English teacher.  I have to say, despite the holes in her brain from the LSD, she was actually pretty good at getting us to think outside the norm.  And so I'll see if I can manage with sitting somewhere new every day.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll learn something from it.

The lesson itself was a simple one, though I'm beginning to delve deeper into arguments and their form; this weekend requires me to pick apart arguments and diagram them in terms of what premises relate to which sub-conclusions and how the whole picture whittles down to the main conclusion.  I'm a tad nervous about it, as it does not look easy in the least, but I'm sure I'll be fine.  In the end, it's really just math, right?

In an effort to step away from the decidedly blah feeling that gets imposed by abnormal-lower-garments Wednesday, I went the opposite direction and wore my Dereon Royale Strap sneakers, possibly some of the most obnoxious shoes in my closet.  Given that I don't really have a lot that goes with neon green, I opted for my Green Lantern shirt and hoped for the best. Former-raver James was the first to comment on them, pretty much saying "I like your style." Next up was Plant Two's head of Quality, Anita, who stopped mid-sentence to say, "Those are pretty wild.", next was Fred, who didn't say so much about the shoes as the whole ensemble, "You look like the real Green Lantern!  Or like someone who plays for the Boston Celtics..." and, lastly, was of course Ash, "Why?"

The work day ended with me being the One Break Wonder, as I was somehow forgotten for two of the three breaks today... yeesh.

DPoSED Experiment: Day Two

Today was my first [second] day of Logic class.  I had originally told my dad to make sure I was out of bed at seven in the morning, as I was positive I had to be to class by eight (much in the same way I was positive that today was my first day of class).  Upon returning home from work last night and reviewing my schedule, however, I came to the realization that I didn't have to be to class until noon.  Hurray for sleep.

I scribbled an explanatory note stating I would wake up at ten-thirty and taped it to my door at eye level, figuring it would keep me having to wake up at such an un-godly hour.  Unfortunately, my dad has trouble reading billboards from two feet away, so my text wasn't large enough and I ended up getting woken up anyway.  Upon returning to sleep, I was once again woken up by my mother calling to ask if I could come and drive them home, as they had decided to walk a mile or so to breakfast, neglected to bring umbrellas, and it was currently pouring rain.  All in all, an eventful morning.

On getting ready for class, I found myself still reeling from Ash's outright rejection of the pair of shoes I had chosen to begin my experiment with, so I opted for something that catered more to her interests: The Nightmare Before Christmas.  These shoes were sold at Hot Topic circa 2003 or so (the style should be a bit of a hint, I'm trying to recall when this style was popular).  I had initially intended to do a whole red-and-black theme for today, but then I recalled that it was abnormal-lower-garments Wednesday, and that it was cool enough outside to comply with it, and so I wore jeans.  I suspect I looked drably normal entering class today.

My Logic professor is quite the character; he's got a huge mess of hair that he keeps tied up in a sort of pony-tail (though it's really too big a mass to count as such), and he's definitely got some strong opinions on certain subjects.  I also found out that I had already missed my first homework assignment, so I have that added on top of the double-section homework assignment we were assigned today.  Yippee.

I found myself feeling kind of detached from the rest of the class, as the majority of them seem very on top of current events and politics, and I've been admittedly out of touch with these things lately.  Hopefully this feeling will subside as the class goes on, as the study of logic does very much intrigue me, and I would love to be able to contribute something to the class; time will tell.

Class got out a bit later than it was supposed to, so I didn't leave campus until around 2:50, just enough time to go straight to work.  M2 was running 757s today, which, despite the mind-numbing amount of time you spend standing idle, actually seem to make the day go by pretty quickly.  I suspect it has something to do with each door being between ten-and-a-half and eleven minutes long.  Area Manager Nick came and asked me if I had decided to be the floor person or not shortly before he was scheduled to leave, to which the head of Plant Two quality objected, saying "He can't do that! Who else is going to certify my parts?!"

And so the offer to become second shift quality got put on the table.  I think I'm going to stick with floor person for now; Erin went straight to quality, and she ended up messed up beyond comprehension.  I'm not much for making the same mistake.

DPoSED Experiment: Day One

Let me start by saying that this is actually a day late.  The experiment actually started yesterday, but I forgot to take pictures/post an entry for the beginning.  Off to a good start, no?  But, for now, let's pretend I posted this yesterday, and switch tenses to the present.

Today was a bit of a lazy day; I stayed in bed relatively late, as I was still pretty exhausted from my trip to Chicago the week before.  I got a call from work, which went to voicemail (I was asleep when they called).  They wanted to know if I could come in early; I considered calling back and telling them that I had class until 2:40, which would prevent me coming in early, which wasn't really the case, but I was tired.  Ironically enough, I later found out, upon checking my schedule, that today was my first day of school, not the twenty-fifth like I had thought.

Due to my sleeping in, I ended up running a bit later than I had intended for work, and so in my dash to leave, rather than picking something cool to wear for my first day of the experiment, I grabbed a my pair of previously un-worn Airwalk Kicks Highs.  These are pretty much generic Converse All-Star knock-offs, and are the second version of these that has been produced (the originals had a different pattern on the rubber strip on the front of them, and had a different sole pattern).

Work was relatively boring; we were running 900's, and the paint line was screwing up somethin' fierce, so much so that it had to be shut down twice (not that it did any good; the parts were still running like crap, long into third shift I'm told).  I also learned that some changes had occurred while I had been away: Martina transferred to first shift across the street, Jeff (the originator of the infamous Jeff-bomb) and our floor-person Nick both quit, and the remaining foremen have been switching around like crazy.  I was also asked by Area Manager Nick if I was interested in becoming the floor person for second shift.  I'm considering doing it (we'll see how well it goes this time around).

My day ended with Ash, who was enthusiastic about my starting this experiment when I first described it to her, coming over to the metalizer and stating, quite matter-of-factly, "Those are horrible shoes! They're an abomination! You should just burn them."

Ash is so tolerant of knock-offs of her beloved All-Stars.

The Different-Pair-of-Shoes-Every-Day Experiment: Prologue

For those that know me, you know that I have a bit of a problem when it comes to collecting shoes, and that I have amassed quite a collection.  A few weeks ago, I decided that I would try to see how long I could go without wearing the same pair of shoes twice, and I plan to start this project this week.  I'll be documenting each day in this blog, so as to prove my findings, and I'll also probably give a brief description of my day and whatever happens to pop into my head.  Upon completion of my experiment, I plan to do a mass clear-out of all my shoes, since I've got too many that I have simply for the sake of having.

And so, let the experiment commence...