Late Night Shifts...

Yay! The Saskatchewan Roughriders just won the Grey Cup. What a game. I was lucky enough to accept a shift at work today (4:30pm to Midnight), so I got to watch it on the HD tv in the corner of the call centre. It seems that most people were watching the game, as I only got three calls during the entire football game. Then, as they arrived at home and realized the phone wasn't working.. I got lots of calls.

This job is interesting. I speak to all kinds of people. Very few of them are yelling at me, and once the call is over, I can pretty much dismiss it from my mind.

As it's pretty dead in here at the moment, I've decided to update the blog with what's been happening in my life lately.

I have one hour left in my shift tonight, and I'm not quite struggling to stay awake, so if this blog seems to wander, that's why.

Basically, I've started to renovate my basement. With three others and myself living in the house (it is a 4 bedroom) the single bathroom is in high demand. I've always had plans on adding a second one in the basement, but hadn't gotten around to it. Now I am. Along with the bathroom, I'm going to convert a cold storage room to a small office. I can move the computer that are upstairs down there and have all of them together again.

The first roadblock we're got to hurdle is the plumbing. Sewers need to go BELOW the cement floor. That means... JACKHAMMER! That's going to be a loud and messy job. But once it's done, the rest should be easy. Keep your fingers crossed.

I've already bought a shower stall, sink with taps and cabinet, toilet, and various other necessities (like a ventilation fan). So far so good. I'll let you know how the jackhammering goes when were done.

With Christmas coming up, my Mother has asked me what I want. Every year I can't think of anything. I know, sounds stupid, but my mind just goes blank. Same thing on my birthday. Go figure.

I want to throw a Christmas party for my friends, but things seem to be working against me. Everyone isn't available for the same weekend, I have to work, they have to work, or I'm broke. Maybe I'll just forget about it for now.

Speaking of working on holidays, I have to work New Year's Eve. This doesn't bother me in the least, as for the past five years I have pretty much been in bed by 10:00pm on New Year's anyways. I guess about the only holiday I wouldn't want to work is Christmas.

In the relationship department, I'm still single. No dates recently, but with the new job and getting used to shift work again, I'm finding it difficult to schedule anything more than email chatting. Things will settle in after the holidays, and I hope to be out and about a bit more.

Movie Review: Beowulf

I was really looking forward to this movie. An all CGI movie, like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but with a more mythological storyline. Wow.

The movie started out without a hook. It wandered into a bit of an action scene. Then it got intensely BORING. I was bored. If I had rented it and was watching it at home, I would have turned it off. I dragged on for more than another hour, inflicting an urge to fall asleep.

The CGI was intense. At time I couldn't tell it wasn't actually filmed. Other times it was pitifully apparent.

Don't bother going. If you must, rent.

Remembrance Day

As today is November 11, 2007, I feel I must say a few words about what it means to me. I have never been in the military, and the only conflict I have seen is the odd argument with other people. Ninety-nine percent of them ended without violence (the odd one was escalated, but generally, not by me). I have however, known people who served in World War II, and various other conflicts including Bosnia, Golan Heights, and Cypress. I also know many people who currently serve in the armed forces of Canada

I respect each and every one of these people. They chose to place they're lives and bodies in the path of danger to ensure I can sit here, in my house, and place whatever I want in a blog. I encourage these people to tell me of their experiences, so that I can understand and express a true thanks for the sacrifices they made to guarantee my life as it is.

Allow me a bit of your time. A man named John Z. (my great uncle) served with the Regina Rifles in the second World War. John was in the first wave up Juno Beach. He was one of the lucky ones to make it to the shingle with his officer. He looked back, with bullets whining overhead, at people who had become his close friends through training. He saw many of his friends for the last time that day, because they didn't make it to the shingle with him.

He was a communications operator, or as is more modernly known, intelligence. His job was to assess, compile, and disperse to the various people he answered to, all of the information that was brought into his unit. He did his job meticulously with pride and care, because he knew that a single mistake could well cost not only his life, but also the men who depended on his information.

Through his war time experiences, he had many adventures. As he used to say, "I liberated a lot of congac in France!" Even to his final days, he enjoyed congac immensly. When he returned to Canada, John would remember his friends who did not return, and the ones who did. He remembered the people who died beside him, and the ones who died fighting him. When I was very young, Uncle John explained what Remembrance Day meant to him. Why he would always say the same toast, and drink a glass of congac in silence, tears running down his face.

John's gone now. He left us almost 9 years ago. To this day, on November 11, I remember the words he told me, and the feeling he showed. I think of my friends who put their lives on the line, and the people past who lost theirs. Ever year, on Remembrance Day, I have a drink, I raise my glass, and I say John's Toast to the Soldier:

"To all the friends who fought, to all the people who died. To all the soldiers who gave their lives so that we can live and remember."

To you, Uncle John.