PixlBit

Disclaimer: This blog entry is one that I've worked on for a few days earlier this week but never quite finishing. Work and laziness (at home) contributed to that but it seems that I couldn't decide on where to stop. In continuing the laziness, I've decided to keep (but date) some of these portions so I don't have to rewrite them; they'll be followed up by an update.

I've been home for about 4 hours and as it gets closer and closer to midnight, I start to feel the dread of the old grind come on. Tomorrow I start the first day of floor work at the school campus where I work. While the school is still closed, my co-workers and I have to get the main hallways of every major building scrubbed, edge-mopped and waxed (about 2 coats). Before the end of the week, we also need to fit in time for a floor-stripping/waxing job that we had no time for in the summer: the lobby section of the main basketball gym. Not looking forward to that but it needs to be done.

Update: It was finished by Wednesday afternoon. It seemed dire at first because on Monday I scrubbed and mopped 3 middle school buildings with no help and it took me most of the day. I wouldn't be surprised if I was the only one on campus that day. A co-worker showed up Tuesday and we knocked out the primary and intermediate buildings and also (finally) stripped the floors of the lobby section of the main gym. It was a bit of a pain due to the sludge that had collected in the undercarriage of the heavy-duty brusher (we call it Bertha). Because it had been sitting in a trailer on campus ever since summer, all that sludge and residue had hardened. We had to take a shovel and hack away at a section between the two wheels just to get it out of the trailer! More problems arose when I started up the Bertha: the rest of the hardened sludge broke off and spread all across the floor, causing a bigger mess than the one we were trying to clean up! We ended up doing 3/4 of the lobby again due to this calamity but when we were finished and put all the wax coats on, it looked amazing. I'm just glad my boss wasn't present; he would've had a conniption.

I had to work Monday and Tuesday of last week but I had the rest of the week off and the vacation it gave me access to was just glorious. The only thing that sucked about it was the 4-hour drive it took to get there. I hate driving for that long. I got home in time for the Christmas Eve party being conducted at my sister's recently purchased home (not too far from where my parents live). It's been a fixer-upper but its nearing completion (at least to her preferences); it's also where I slept. Both the Eve and Day get-togethers were smaller affairs than usual but none of us minded. It was more managable that way.

All of the food was scrumptious. Smoked ham, turkey, stuffing, casseroles, rolls and the ever-impressive desert display. It's a good thing I had some leftovers to take home; there was enough for us to live on for a few days. 

As far as Christmas loot goes, I didn't ask for much this year so there was plenty of surprises. Most of it was money which I'll never refuse. I did ask for a couple of blu-rays so I got Star Trek: The Compendium (the last 2 Star Trek films with all supplements) and The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition. There was some great assortment of shirts (one with Johnny Cash's I Walk The Line single artwork, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon vinyl, Yoda sporting Ray-Bans), jeans and some socks. Speaking of The Hobbit, my mom, sister and I saw The Battle of the Five Armies at the local theater. We're all LOTR trilogy fans and we've accepted The Hobbit films in equal measure. The conclusion to this trilogy (and set of Middle-Earth films) was excellent, full of spectacle, tragedy, humor and warmth. My sister was even in tears near the end. My mom is convinced that this film franchise/series means more to her than any in existence. Can't wait to see what the Extended Edition will bring but I bet it'll be substantial. I'm just glad I got to spend more time in Middle-Earth. In the meantime, I've played more of Shadow of Mordor and murdered many Orcs, cause that's all they're good for.

On the way home, I stopped by a Wal-Mart and used some of the gift money to purchase $40 worth of PSN cards so I could purchase Dragon Age: Inquisition from the recent flash sale on PSN. I did bring my Vita for vacation but I think the only games I played was Luftrasers and Rogue Legacy (usually played at bedtime until I felt sleepy). 

While staying at my sister's place, I got her into The Vicar of Dibley via Netflix streaming. It's an awesome British comedy series from the mid-90s about a quaint English village where the vicar of the local church passes on during a morning service. A request for a replacement is sent and the elders/council are surprised to find that the replacement is a woman (Dawn French). I didn't realise that Richard Curtis (Love, Actually, About Time, Notting Hill) wrote most of these episodes and it's populated with eccentric characters. I think we watched 6-7 episodes over the weekend.

I got New Year's Day off and I think I'll take today (Friday) off but I'll have to return to work sometime this weekend to make sure everything is ready for the next semester, which starts Monday. I hope everyone here has enjoyed their holidays and is keeping safe and warm. I look forward to what I hope is a more promising year and I'm glad that a site like this exists where none of the bile from the rest of the internet intrudes.