It’s 12 degrees out there now.

I went out this morning to the hospital since I had promised to help cover these last 2 days for them, I kept my promise and made Jackson Hewitt wait for me until tomorrow. (Does that sound arrogant, or WHAT?!)  Now the hospital parking lots are quite a ways away from the building – the walk is a good long walk .. maybe half a mile from the furtherst lot to the entrance I go into. Usually, I park in the furthest lot because its the one that I am likely to find a space in. For some odd reason, Ireland Army Community Hospital is more popular than Carnival.

So anyway, I parked there this morning. It was 9am and the sun was out. BUT it wasn’t anywhere NEAR warm. On the walk to the door, I SWEAR I nearly lost all feeling in right ear lobe. Course, all the anatomy brains will tell me that it’s the part of the body with the least amount of blood flow … yea yea yea .. whatever … I lost almost ALL feeling in my right ear. I thought it was falling off .. I just couldn’t tell whether it was there or not – even when I touched it, it felt like it maybe wasn’t there.

The funniest part about this was this: the ONLY parts of my body that were feeling it were my exposed facial parts. My nose, my cheeks, my ears … everything else was nice and toasty warm. Odd feeling. I had on 2 layers – my thermal underwear, jeans over that and a sweater … my new coat over that.

In any case, the point I was trying to make was that it was FREEZING.

Well, I wasn’t totally wrong … I kept walking and driving by what used to be pools of water on the ground and were now solid blocks of ice. I kept thinking about my friend DJ and hearing his voice in my head yelling  “NO SISTREN! YUH DEH PAN YUH OWN WID DAT!”  snicker Is lie, DJ? Don’t dat is exactly what you would be telling me if I tell you is 12 degrees fahrenheit outside? Yup – I thought so.

So anyway, I apologized for yesterday as soon as I walked in. What happened yesterday? Short version of the story: I couldn’t move out of bed for pain. Long version: I got up to pee, and had to literally crawl back into bed. One piece ah pain lik mi mi seriously si sparks and ting. Oh MAN! Pain like nothing I have felt in a long LONG time. And it’s after the pain had eased somewhat – about half hour later and after hubby had to get out of bed himself and get me 2 alleve and a glass of water – that I realized that it’s just about 2 years since the endometriosis treatments were finished. Just about – not quite. Which means, the pain starts again in earnest now. Maybe. After falling back into blissful slumber once the pain was a dull ache, I didn’t leave the bed again until 1pm. And that was mostly because the pain was coming back -  I needed another shot of alleve. In total yesterday, I swallowed 7 Alleve. That’s how much pain I was in. Took me by surprise, it did. Next month, I need prepare by once again dosing myself with Alleve and Advil a day or 2 before … just so I am not caught with my tummy in the shitbox again like yesterday. Nice.

I don’t think they understood, and I thank my lucky stars that it was just volunteering. A paying job might have let me go for that. Wow.

That said, they put it behind, in the past and we moved on. I was there today and that was all that matters. How nice of you to have them wait. Well, not so much nice as showing that I am person of integrity all round. I make a promise, I am going to attempt to keep it. Furthermore, since I promised to help them in the office more, whatever days I have free in the low traffic weeks coming up, I will find one or two days to pop in and relieve them too. It’s nice working there … kind of boosts my self-esteem to work with people who actually like having me around for the skills I possess. People who say it at least once a day “Wow. I wish I could have you here all the time. You just saved the day.” That feels DAMNED good. Yes. It does.

So back to the cold, I parked equidistant between our PX and commissary (department store and grocery store on post) and walked to the 2 places. I think people must have thought me to be mad …. the wind was blowing nicely making my ears feel like they were going to drop off again. But lemme tell you, that I find it FAR more annoying to park one place and walk in for 2 items, and then drive less than a mile and park again to walk in for 2 more items. So, I got out of the truck (oh yes, I had to take the truck today), pulled my hood up over my head and hunched over, hands in pockets and headed in the general direction of the store door.

But it’s gotten a little ridiculous when I get home and I have to adjust the furnace up by 5 degrees, put on socks AND my warm shoes AND 2 sweaters. Just a little ridiculous. I think this damned furnace has issues, but I can’t get in touch with maintenance … so, bundle up, turn it up and drink more tea. raises cup for toast

I took Nala to get her stitches out today too – since tomorrow I will be occupied, I figured today wouldn’t be too soon. Well, they took them out alright, but managed to open up the wound again while doing so. So poor li’l Nala will have to go around the house with that damned Elizabethan collar for a day or 3 more. Po’ tyke. Oh she was MAD at me today for disturbing her sleep and taking her to THAT PLACE again today. Oh you could see it in the car coming back. She was giving me these looks – I swear she was muttering under her breath “Damn witch! Wake me up, take me to this strange place with all these loud mouthed other witches who poked and prodded at my poor belly and after all of that I STILL have this damn lampshade on my head!”

I still have some more studying to do, but I think I am going to give it some more of a break tonite and start in earnest in the office tomorrow morning. I HOPE those machines aren’t retarded and I can use them without wanting to smash them through the walls.

One thing I need to remember is that life is a LOT slower here than in Kingston. I don’t need to be operating at blurr-speed here at all. And it’s better to slow down and take my time and wow them, than to operate like a whirly-gig, risk looking like a fool for overlooking something and making mistakes. I find if I slow down, the perfectionist in me can be satisfied without having to go back over my work and re-do it. I more often than not get it right the first time.

So anyway, I am excited about tomorrow. I can’t WAIT for it to get here. I’ve armed myself with a calculator and a new mechanical pencil.  Oooh, I am going to have SO much fun. Be assured there WILL be a blog post tomorrow. So, see you then.

YUSH

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Yep.

I went into the Red Cross office today – just because things were on track now with the job hunt and stuff. May took my resume and sent me on to the hospital office where they have been having trouble covering down the days there. (the Red Cross office on the hospital grounds, not the clinic). So I got the whole tour from the manager of that office. And while we are sitting around getting acquainted, I am telling her about my predicament where I don’t think too many people will want to hire me based on my Jamaican qualifications and experience – just because it represents to them an unknown quantity that they more than likely won’t want to take a chance on. Not to mention my somewhat complicated immigrant status.  It’s amazing to see how many people really want to help me out here … she thinks for a minute and tells me that the tax companies are hiring about now because it’s just on tax season and “why don’t you walk into one of the companies h&r block and so on and see if they’ll take you on”.

And so I did. I walked into a Jackson Hewitt office here just off post and said “I am looking for a job”. The girl who greeted me went to go get the manager and when he comes out of the back office, I walk up to him, stick out my hand and say “Hi I am <insert-name-here> and I am looking for a job”.

Anyway – long story short, he pretty much hired me on the spot. Well, there are some screening tests I will have to pass, but for the most part, I am temporarily hired to Jackson Hewitt for tax season!

I am going to be working my ASS off for the next 4 months or so, but you know what? (1) it’s that US experience I need to put on my resume (2) it’s going to help ME understand the whole tax process here a little better AND (3) money, baby! Can’t forget that part, eh?

I have NO idea what my schedule is going to be like – store/office hours are ridiculous (Monday -Friday:9am to 9pm; Saturdays:9am – 5pm; and some Sundays:12noon – 5pm). He specifically said he had trouble filling the nights and weekends, so it looks like I’ll be doing a lot of nights and weekend work…. BUT he said it could vary a lot and I should be prepared for a 3 day work week or a 7 day work week. All depends on schedule and how many people he gets in.

Wewt!

Cam is a HAPPY camper!

Where’s that damned bottle of wine to celebrate with?

wanders off in search of alcohol for celebratory aid

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Even though I am only there for 5-7 hours, I am DOG TIRED when I get home. Yesterday was the worst of them all. My feet ached, my back ached, my head ached … some of that, I am sure, was the Hep-B vaccine I had gotten the day before (they have me on the “fast track” Hep-B plan) and piled on top of that the lack of a good night’s sleep due to WoW-itis.

/sigh

The newest patch? Oh boy. I was telling my mother, maybe slightly under-stating, that I think my WoW days were running to a close before this patch … now I am set and ready to get into the new content. I think Blizzard knew this was the case with their players. Bored with the new content of the Burning Crusade already? Here comes Wrath of the Lich King to save the day.

Ugh. It’s greed – wanting to keep their current monies and probably get a few more subs in at the same time.

Nevermind, this expansion looks to be a rather spectacular event. Already half my characters play that much better. I can’t wait.

In other news, it is frickin’ 48 degrees here now. I woke up, put on socks, sweat pants, t-shirt AND pullover in the house. OMG …  But I’ll tell you something. This is something hubby and I have in common, something I have almost never encountered before in anyone else I’ve met. Something that makes our relationship that much more solid because of this: we BOTH prefer the cold. And he said it this morning to me “I’d much rather be cold than hot.” Ya. That’s it right there folks. It’s what I’ve always said: I HATE THE HEAT and would much prefer cold. You can warm up with the cold, you can pile on layers and layers of clothes. You can do shit-wad when you’re hot. It’s just impossible. And oh yea, I’ve got the “Wait until you have to deal with the cold of North America. You’ll say different then.” the know-it-alls who just refuse to believe that I could be different. “You born in Jamaica – there is no way you can LIKE the cold.” … Guess what? MUCH easier to cuddle down with hubby swathed in blankets and warm clothes with a hot cup of cocoa beside me than it is to COOL down beside hubby (both our body temps tend to be high) when it’s a steaming 80 degrees. So there.

Ok – rant done. Those who know me will recognize in that rant the old Fyr who just hated people telling her what she would think, feel or say under certain circumstances she may not have experienced before.

Today is an off-day. I am home until Monday morning when the rush starts again.  My body better start getting used to the routine of getting up earlier than the worms, working HARD until 1 or 2 and then coming back home to wind down. I predict that’s the kind of day I will be having continually for a while. I really wonder though, whether this work is something I might get bored doing after a while. I really wonder. Good news is that I have at LEAST another 2 months to try it out (and them to try me out) before I have to make a decision. Should be good experience anyway.

My good friend DJ says this kind of work has always been in my nature … and considering how well he’s read me over the years, I think I might have to say “Amen” to that. I mean, didn’t I say it a few blog posts a-back? That I felt like I could finally settle down into being who I REALLY am instead of the front I put on for 10 or so years? Well, let’s just play it by ear before we make a ruling on this. Shall we?

Wonder how confusing it must have been dealing with me? My exit interview hinted as much. I was a confusing personality, an unknown quantity that people weren’t sure of from minute to minute.  I thought it bizarre back then … now … I wonder…

Anyway, enough of that blather; comment if you will on these little suckers.

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You tell me: how sweet is it to call your hubby (wifey?) on your way home from your “job” to say you’re going home and have him (her?) say: “Well, you can pretty much just go home and stick your feet up hun – I fed the kittehs and myself and everything is good at home.”

Wasn’t that just the greatest?

Well, day-2 officially over … day-1 if you don’t wanna count the couple of hours I gave yesterday before heading into the city for my Biometrics appointment.  I’ll tell you this – the guys at the clinic call it day-3 … cos the hour I was there last Thursday for intros and initial orientation counts as a day for them. Ha!

Top it off with “Oh! You’re lovely. No one has anything to say about you but good things – they love your energy, your attitude and you’re always smiling … AND you came back after day 1.”

Oh yea – I’m doing great.

Know what else?

Hectic for them here means a slow day for us yaadies. I wonder how many of my colleagues will be shocked at how long putting together paperwork for 200 patients takes? Took in excess of 5 hours – why? PLENTY of pauses for jokes and stories. I mean I got an EARFUL today about everybody and everything connected to that clinic. Paperwork is easy to put together … all-told, we yaadies could have it done in about 2 hours MAX – assuming we have to stop to answer the phones or check in a patient.

They were asking me today … I mean, I keep saying I feel useless cos I am sitting around staring into space for long periods of time .. .and lots of stuff I COULD be doing, I can’t do because I don’t have the access. They laughed at me so hard … telling me I helped already even though I don’t know that I’ve done anything at all.

Well … if this is the case .. I am going to have to watch myself and learn to slow down … unless I will be hated for my ability to do ALL their jobs without much ruffle… I mean, this has been my training. Fast pace so fast that even the pace itself is manic. I am not used to this much idle time on the job. If this is how it is in a general sense, I am going to be a-ok. ESPECIALLY if I like this place enough to stick with it even after I can work-work, instead of volunteer-work. Yea … gotta slow the pace down. Clearly they aren’t used to whirlwind days full of impossible demands and even more impossible people to deal with.

Bah! I am luvin’ this!

Best part of the WHOLE day is having my itty bitty Nala jump into my lap, with her silent meow, but her loud as a truck purrs (her purrs are louder than her meows – I tell you no lie) and her INSISTENCE on being petted. She is becoming a regular little cuddle bug.

Ah… this life… sigh

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After that hectic run-around on Tuesday, yesterday was a little anti-climatic. When I wasn’t sitting in the office answering phones and listening to other volunteers talk about their experiences and lives, was about a wonderful 45 minute stretch when I got a tour of a couple of offices elsewhere and then a tour of the historical district here. Awesome old structures. Lucky for me, my tour-guide happens to live in one of the old structures and was able to confirm that they were old in almost every sense of the word too – from drafty to hidden rooms under the stairs that are kept locked due to superstition. FASCINATING.

I came home after all that, and just collapsed in the recliner in front of the TV. Not so much cos I was tired, as just a little overwhelmed with so much to take in and absorb in such a short time after being insulated for so long.

Today, I went to get my PPD test read. And contrary to what I had imagined, I passed. So with the all clear on that front, I went and got all my paperwork signed, got myself assigned to the family care clinic, got my ID, headed on over to the clinic to introduce myself and get some kind of preliminary intro going on.

Oh – it’s going to be fun – good fun and bad fun all rolled into one. I get to be active (good), but it means being on my feet all day (good AND bad considering I am SO out of shape), I am gonna be mingling with all sorts and conditions of people (good and bad), and I get to really contribute and be helpful (good). It feels good, I gotta tell ya.

So anyway, tonite is the Ball … and I think I am going to get up from in front of this computer and go start getting ready. Cos I have a headache and I don’t wanna be feeling weary and headachy later on.

So, tell you all about that later on …

YUSH

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