Saturday morning, and here I am at work again. It seems like I’m always here on the weekends…which is partly why I’m becoming so disheartened with my work, I think.

Lately I’ve really been jonesing for a Monday to Friday gig. I’m tired of working nights when everybody else is able to go out and have a life. I’m tired of working weekends when all my friends have them off.

I’m not really all that disheartened, it’s just that I’ve been working so MANY nights in a row lately that my frustration levels have been getting the better of me.

But the Monday to Friday thing has been coming for a while—bubbling just beneath the surface. All of my friends that I spend time with lately have weekends off on a consistent basis: Lynn, Angela, Bill, Chris--all Monday to Friday. I’m tired of not being able to play with everybody else and of not having people to play with when *I* have time off. Oh, I know…I don’t really let it stop me—but what suffers then is my sleep.

I’m excited about Gaelic starting again for the fall. I got my registration info on Friday, so I’ll be submitting that on Monday. Patrick suggested that we all sign up for Wednesdays at 6:00 pm. It’s okay, but I have a really hard time getting downtown for 6 when I work until 5. I’m going to suggest 6:30 or 7. Which puts us out of class at 10 pm, but so be it. I’m pretty sure I’ll be outvoted anyway.

I’m going to try to take a night-class at the university as well. I’m not sure exactly what. I was thinking about accounting, just for practice. I did really, REALLY well in it before, but I have no real use for it now, so it’d just be to kill time.

I should really take something interesting that has more practical applications in my life; mainly because I’m already taking Gaelic as my ‘interest’ course. It has no practical application in my life. In anybody’s really, because what’s the likelihood I’m going to run into a fluent old Gaelic speaker who doesn’t understand English any time soon? Slim to none, I’m thinking.

I had a fantastic day on Thirstday—and a pretty good one yesterday.

It’s funny how well Thirstday turned out, actually, as I started the morning by spilling a full cup of coffee all over my lap as I got out of my car. I looked down at my wet, wet lap and was disgusted, angry, and soggy simultaneously. I called my boss from the parking lot and said ‘I just poured an entire cup of coffee in my lap. I’m going home to change my pants.’

I went home and changed. I then futzed around, put on some makeup, ate cereal, and meandered back to the store an hour late. It was great.

My day was rather uneventful at the store—which is a really good thing. I had agreed to stay late for one of the other managers, as he had a doctor’s appointment late in the afternoon, so I took an extra long lunch. I used this time to run a couple of errands, and go to the gym. It was GREAT to go to the gym on my lunch. I showered, and headed back to the store feeling really content and refreshed.

The meeting was cancelled in the afternoon, which made my day a bit longer, but it was quite pleasant overall. I got home around 7, had some fruit, read some blogs, folded a load of laundry, and moved some stuff out of the living room to make room for Joe.

Now, you may remember last week when I got a Happy Day present in the mail. Happy Day is a GREAT invention of my mom’s. Everyone should participate.

What does this have to do with Thirstday? Well…Julian was clearing out some toys from his house that his girls are too old for now, or just don’t play with anymore. One of the toys he brought in to the store to give away was Hungry, Hungry Hippo™. This is a fun game…but more importantly, about 2 weeks ago, Bill had mentioned this was his favourite game EVER as a kid. So when I found it in the box of toys, I very excited about the discovery. I immediately claimed it as my own. J I carried it around the office for a while, moving it with me whenever I switched work-spaces.

I tried to buy some extra marbles for it, as it was missing a fair number. The ones I found at work were slightly too big, or slightly too small. I’ll have to try and find some better ones at Zellers or something. Anyway, I wrapped the game up in snowman Christmas gift wrap and set it aside for Thirstday night.

Billy drove to beer, and I had asked him to help me move some stuff out of the apartment to the dumpster. So he came in, and we were taking the legs off my old table, and I gave him his Happy Day present. He was surprised enough to get a present, but when he unwrapped it? Joy abounded.

The grin on his face was like Christmas. He immediately took all the pieces out of the box and set it up on my living room floor to play it. He tested all the hippos, and we briefly faked a game. I left him to play with it while I dissembled the table. What a happy boy. It made me glad I’d come across it, let me tell you! There’s no feeling quite like giving somebody a gift that they really love. Happy Day. I’m telling you, it’s where it’s at!

(Aside: The funniest part was watching him unwrap the package. At first he was trying to untie the ribbon…which is impossible when I tie up a package. It’s knot central on my gifts. So then he took out his pocket knife…and he opens presents exactly like my father. I was both horrified and fascinated by this. He slit each piece of tape meticulously, on both ends and the bottom, then before opening the paper, he carefully folded up his knife and put it away in his pocket. THEN he opened up the paper, and the sun burst out on his face. It was ridiculously (almost eerily) similar to watching Dad open gifts. Spooky, really.)

I was up in the office this morning shortly after getting to work and doing my opening up stuff. My bag was sitting on one of the desks, and suddenly it started to ring. I had forgotten to turn off my cell-phone, but even so, it was VERY early for it to be ringing…6:50 am. I answered it…it was Tracey. Loaded, and calling me from Edmonton. She and Brent had been drinking all night, and decided that 4 a.m. was a good time to be calling people. She said ‘you sound amazingly chipper for 7 am! What’s up with that?!’ I said ‘I’m at work—have been since 6:30!’ So she called back on my work line, and we chatted it up for almost an hour.

They’re so funny; and such an adorable couple. And just so keenly Right together. Which is good, because Tracey would be one hell of a handful to date—let alone marry!

** Posting this on Sunday because of circumstances beyond my control. I'll update from the weekend later--after I'm finished having a weekend. Suffice to say, it's been a great one. **