One job a day. Oddly feeling tired.

Saturday, August 21, 2021

Well, since the start of lockdown I have averaged one job a day. During level 4 my work has called off all but priority one urgent jobs, meaning my epic 14 hour days just can’t be done right now. So it’s been closer to 2 hours a day.

I miss work.

My sister, her husband, my nephew, two dogs and a giant cat are living with me. They’re between houses, and this was meant to be a brief stopover. It’s… intense. My brother in law works from home, my sister works occasionally, and my nephew has school hours. But that was ok, I work a lot! I’m never home. Ha. Now everyone is at home.

Forza. Jackjack judges me and observes.

I’m really not cut out for this. They’re not being bad housemates, but I still feel like I’m living in a washing machine full of lead bricks. With my home and even work I’m just used to having agency over what I do! But oh well, I can hardly complain - I will just treat it as a learning experience.

It’s absolutely making me a better person. If I can’t get through this, I’ll be a sad single bachelor forever. I’ll come out of this exhausted, but I know I’ll be better prepared for all the exciting life stuff coming for me in my post lockdown future.

I had big, epic plans to move in with my ex-girlfriend in the house we bought. We’d been in love for much less than a year, and now I know without doubt that if we’d stayed together long enough to actually move in it would have been worse. I wasn’t ready, or mature enough, to do that, but this experience with my family is helping me get there! I think I’d need to vibe and gel with someone for 3 to 4 times longer than. 6 months before spending every waking hour at home with them.

Forza. Jojo somehow thinks this is the best spot in the house. He also smells.

Writing it down makes it seem extremely obvious that was an unwise thing to do. I think I should spend time writing down my big life decisions and then read them back to better evaluate if they’re wise or bonkers.

My gums hurt on the bottom left side of my jaw. I got aggressive with the flossing after eating some extremely tough meat. I practice exceptional dental hygiene - I have to, it’s a family thing - so I’m sure it’ll feel better soon. Still, it’s another thing on the list.

Work might not be extensive, but I did get a break on day one of the lockdown - a job in Waiouru, about 3 hours’ drive from home. The roads are so eerie when they’re empty! It’s like a ghost movie. I took a 20 minute video of the near empty road for all of you lockdown chums to see what it’s like.

Oddly, there were a large number of campervans out there on the road. Emergency travel only! I’m sure they were just on rural State Highway 1 to go out for milk and toilet paper.

During the last lockdown I was given the only speeding ticket I’ve ever had in my life, out on those empty roads. This time I have to be more careful - I drive a super sexy Subaru Outback company car now, and if I speed for more than a few seconds my boss gets an alert. It’s okay, I can just put the cruise control on and sit back and enjoy the luxury ride.

I’m not normally on call for urgent work on weekends; those jobs get handed off to an external company that covers for me when my workload gets a bit much. I’m going to contact my boss to see if I can pick up that weekend work while this lockdown is in place.

Everyone reading this - please reach out if you need help! I’m driving around in the area a lot, so I can do contactless drop off of things if you don’t want to venture out to the store.