They say it takes two weeks to develop a habit, but two consecutive three-day workweeks is a habit I picked up quite easily and adapted to almost immediately. Unfortunately, it won't be a habit. In less than 12 hours, I'll be back in civil service mode, with such pressing concerns as typing lump sum advancements and ex parte orders, transcribing doctors' reports, and so on. Then, once 5 p.m. rolls around, I'm trudging the near-mile to Discovery Exchange, and facing the first-day-of-class onslaught. Customers have arrived consistently in the few days that I have worked at Columbus State's bookstore, but there were periods of time when I did nothing but walk around the shelves and straighten the spines of projecting books, put silver security strips someplace inconspicuous on the book covers, and re-shelve stray buybacks. My work day will end 9 p.m.
Someone asked me why, just for this week, didn't I end my Industrial Commission day at 4 p.m., so I'd have some "breathing room" between one job and the other. He pretty much answered his own question when he phrased it that way. I won't say it's fun to go straight from one job to the other, but it's better because I'm still in work mode, and haven't had time to lose the momentum and mental energy that's geared toward work. (The same issue arose in the summer of 2001, when I was working full time as a header entry clerk at Medco Health, and three or four evenings a week I worked in the stock room and loading dock at Sears near Westland Mall. I insisted on going straight from one job to the other.) A Marietta friend of mine used to be an operator for AT&T, and he often worked split shifts. He'd work four hours, was off for four hours, and then back for another four. That would drive me up a brick wall backwards if I ever tried a schedule like that.
Susie and I were out until 2 a.m. this morning, going to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Studio 35. The movie is crazy enough, as we all know, but in Columbus the madness increases a thousandfold, thanks to the antics of The Fishnet Mafia, who host the show the first Saturday of every month. Susie prevailed upon me to buy the movie kit for $1 (complete with toilet paper, a piece of toast, newspaper, a glow stick, and a noisemaker). I was glad that The Fishnet Mafia posted prompts on the screen, as to what to throw and when, etc., because I hadn't been to the movie since 1980. (For years, I had always wanted to rent it from Blockbuster and watch it at home, throw my own toilet paper, wear the newspaper on my head in the privacy of my own living room, etc., but never did.) Susie eagerly took in all the activity around her, but she wants to see the actual movie at home, so she can see what actually happens in it. (I did see it on cable once, when I was up here visiting my mother, watching it on QUBE.) She enjoyed it all, except she was seriously creeped when she realized that Riff Raff and Magenta were both a couple and siblings.
Sleep-deprived though we were, we both made it to church by 10:30 a.m. Susie went to her class, and I went to the service. The service had been going for about 10 minutes when my cell phone vibrated. (They always ask you to turn off and/or silence electronic devices when the service begins. As far as I know, that does not include pacemakers.) I was receiving a text message, Look behind u. Sure enough, it was Pat. I went back and sat with him. He was in the service by himself--his kids were in class, his wife was at a birth (or resting after having been at one).
My stamina collapsed once I came home. Steph had taken her laptop and gone to a coffee house on High St., so the house was quiet. Susie immediately went on Facebook and her blog. I made a cursory check of my Facebook page and my email, and then around 2 p.m. went upstairs and collapsed in the bedroom. I was asleep the moment my head hit the pillow. I took off my glasses, cell phone, and shoes--that was it. I only meant to sleep for an hour or so, but it was dark by the time I finally woke up. So I don't completely skew my body clock, I'm afraid I may have to resort to melatonin to sleep tonight. I do this reluctantly, because I always feel hungover once I do awake.
Melatonin - the centerfold
Writing has proved to be a task so far this year (when has it not lately?), but to get myself in the mode (or mood--either word will work), I started listening to the B-52's' "Planet Claire" when I began typing this entry. That's a good typing song, as I discovered on fall afternoons in Athens when I earned a little extra beer money typesetting The Athens News. Other than the radio, the music selections were quite limited. The office had about three eight-track tapes, and one of them was The B-52's. I wished there was a way to fast forward an eight-track, because I had heard "Rock Lobster" so many times on Boston radio that I wanted to scream, but "Planet Claire" was an excellent song for typing. I know that junior-high typing classes often typed to music, and that would be a great choice. (Currently, Santana's "Soul Sacrifice" is playing in my ear buds, and that is another song I'd add to the list.) Leroy Anderson's "The Typewriter" would be up there as well, but I'm not sure it'd occupy the top slot.
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