Moving the Trash Can to Make Life Better and Other Things I'm Doing As My Adventure (Maybe) Starts to Come to an End

Lest you think ALL is despair, frustration, and woe in my world, I will have you know that after being here more than 9 months, I realized that I could put my trash and recycling cans here at the end of the counter instead of under the kitchen sink and thus reduce the number of potential dishwasher-related shin incidents significantly.  #ContinuousImprovementHooray

#VictoryIsMine  #MyShinsRejoice

Me: (Waxing eloquently melancholic in my head about the fading of the light in autumn and how everything seems darker in my apartment as the seasons change toward winter.)

Also Me: Hey look, one of the light bulbs in our office space burned out!

Me: . . .

Also Me: : D

Me: It can be both.

#SortOfIssa  #ExceptIt'sAlsoNotActuallyCold

#MoreLikeThatBasho  #FeelsLikeAutumnEveNotAutumn  #NotComplaining

And while thinking about going back to the zone of despair that is my regular job is not great, I've been working with lots of folks, and we are doing a lot of great work!

#LookAtTheseHappyPeople  #IPromiseTheyAreSmilingBehindThePixellation  #GuestStarringMyThumb

Here's a fun friend I picked up somewhere driving around.  

#AnybodyKnowWhatThisIs?

Probably on the day I drove 3 extra hours due to my quest to find the mysterious salad dressing, which was not at any place I have ever shopped here somehow.  The quest continues.  I wanted to use the washroom before checking out, but apparently that is not allowed in the big city because they wouldn't want a homeless person using the facilities.  So I had to purchase my groceries and then LEAVE THEM SITTING OUT WHERE ANYONE COULD TAKE THEM before I could enter the washroom.

#BigCityProblems  #AlsoAgingEyesProblems  #CouldNotFindOrReadTheCodeOnTheReceiptToSaveMyLife

Since I didn't get my full day off the previous Friday, I took a couple hours off this Friday to head back to the St. Lawrence Market to see if the bacon sandwich tasted that good only because I was very hungry the previous time.  For science.  Science says it was just as delicious this time.  Feel free to test for yourself.

#YUM

I also really wanted to try the scratch made swiss roll I had seen the previous time and grab something festive to eat for the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday on Monday.

#Festive!  #NotYourLittleDebbieSwissCakeRoll

Then it was off to watch The Wild Robot.  I had read the book and forgotten most of it.  I expected to get choked up at the end.  I did NOT expect to get regularly choked up throughout the film.  I was not as distracted by the unique animation style as I thought I might be.  Recommend it.  Bring tissues.

Then, it was on to my big adventure at Niagara Falls.  The weather looked perfect, my time here is probably running out, and Monday is a holiday for resting up, so why not?!  It was pretty last minute, so I didn't have any meals or agenda planned out.  I decided I wanted tea, so I used my Google-fu and ended up here for . . . not brunch,

#BLunchIsServed  #IGotTheirTeaAppetizerAndSomeBaconForProtein  #ThisBlogPostIsBasicallyFueledByBacon

Hey, look, there were some waterfalls, too!  Did a lot of walking.  Rode the Ferris Wheel.  Did some poor decision-making to follow a plan that ended up in a nail-biter ending where I got back to the train station with 120 seconds to spare!

#VictoryIsMine  #WouldRatherWinMoreComfortably

#LuffySaysHiFromARestaurantIFDidn'tGoTo

Hope your autumn is bright.  Or that you are brighter than I am and notice your burned out bulbs before you way melancholic for no reason.  : D

The River, The Job (Yes Again Still), The Market

It's getting real!  2 months to go on the adventure.  (Probably.)  I do not have a long list, but I am trying to do things when it makes sense.  And also when they don't because time waits for no one.  

I ate the last of the super fancy mooncakes.  

#Sparkly  #ExpirationDateComing  #SoDelicious  #DaanGoCakeLabsFTW

When the Sunday weather was gorgeous, and I needed to move about in preparation for what will likely be a pretty grueling week (atop the pile of recent grueling weeks), I decided that NOW was the time to go walk along the Humber River.  

#HumberBumberBee  #HAHAHAHAHAHA  #I'mHangingInThere  #AsAreTheseFlowers  #AndBees  #We'reAllFineHereThanksForAsking

#AdventurePath  

#IHadToGetOffThisHighPathBecauseThereWereFolksMinorlyCanoodling  #BothTheWayThereAndTheWayBack

#TheEndOfTheAdventurePath  #ITookOneLookAtItAndTurnedAround  #ThereWereSoManySidePathsDownTheCliffThatIResistedTheUrgeToTake  #ItWasn'tAStrongUrge  #TheUrgeToLiveWasDefinitelyStronger

The joke was kind of on me because the entrance I used was the one that actually doesn't have much walk along the river.  Next time, I know which entrance I need to use.

#TheWrongWay  #IWasVeryCarefulOnTheWrongWay  #ThisFeelsLikeAMetaphorForSomething

I eventually found a second park bench surrounded on 3 sides by foresty area to do a little bit of reading in nature.  After the 4th time I heard timberwolf noises coming from the forest and the dogs in the park were paying attention to the area, I decided to go find somewhere else to sit.  It was like 5 PM and not far from the city, so actual timberwolves seemed unlikely, but I also didn't really want to encounter anyone who thought it was fun to sit in the forest playing timberwolf noises.

#PrettyNice  #VeryGreen

#RiverWalkedBy  #Official  #LookAtThatSky  #ThoseRocks  #ThatBird

#YesThatBird  #HiBirb

#AndOneLastTree  #WeepingWillowFromBelow  #VeryDramatic

#YouCan'tHearHowHardI'mLaughSnortingAtThisOne  

#WhatYouHaveNOTAllBeenWaitingFor

#WhatIHaveNotBeenWaitingFor

So.  Had that meeting with former boss.  She's still not done with looking into it, but basically my choices are what I thought and not what I'd hoped.  There is no sudden promotion to the level I have been working at since 2019.   Here are my options (highly colored by my level of frustration)

• I can continue to do work far beyond my job level that helps bring the department recognition and prestige and has effects throughout the plant and globally, and they will be happy to keep not recognizing or rewarding my work at that higher level.  Maybe they can give me a different job title at my current level.  
• Maybe possibly someday there MIGHT be a promotion if there is a "BUSINESS NEED" (a mysterious and undefined excuse they use when I am asking then to define leveling guidelines for promotion but not when they are given random promotions that they hand out to other people who are NOT me because they have been setting me up for failure for years because I have "so many other skills" they can't imagine I would want to stay in my current department despite the hundreds of times I have said I want to stay in my current department).
• Maybe if I come up with a really stellar idea in the next week and a half (while I am working on my actual work for 60 hours a week), that will impress someone (?) and . . .  Something?

So it seems like maybe one of my choices is to return to this abusive and exploitive relationship and hope maybe they have learned their lesson and will change and suddenly be better managers.  Or I could just be burned out and disengaged and choose to only do work at the level they are willing to compensate me for and stop doing the stuff I'm good at and love more because I just don't have the energy to throw into it if there is no real benefit to offset the cost for me.  

#IWish

That's not the end of it. The temporary role I'm taking could potentially be a more permanent thing if I can get the effort and time and energy and belief in humanity together to find the right person in this group and present the information to them about how I could help them.  But that role is very nebulous, possibly nonexistent, and, if this last 4 months is any indication, it might be beyond my capacity to sustain long term health and energy wise.

#Don'tWorryThere'sAlwaysThis...WeirdlySpecificJobPosting  #ThoseAreSomeVeryDistinctAndNotNecessarilyOverlappingSkillsSets

So in this very busy week, I have been crabby and feeling very discouraged.  I'm in a really negative place, and I don't like that.  The people who make decisions don't know or value what I do, and I have no energy to try again to craft a perfect document with citations to make my case.  It hasn't worked.  I feel like a huge fake, like nothing I do matters, like I'm making it all up and building the bridge as I'm walking across it, and it's all falling apart, and it all feels like too much.  I don't want to try anymore.  I just want to rest and read and go to the park and be allergic to nature and not have anyone relying on me without being willing/able to compensate my time. 

#ObviouslyINeedAVacation  #ButIHaveTooMuchWorkThatLiterallyOnlyICanDoToTakeOne

I was supposed to have Friday off, and I managed to get away for a few hours to go back to the St. Lawrence Market at my own pace.  In the shortened time due to the work I had to do all morning on my vacation day.

#WeAreHereToHaveFunDagnabbit  #FunWillBeHad

#OrAtLeastAGlutenFreeSavoryCrepeWillBeHad

#AndSomeDAiryFreeHotCocoa  #APigeonGotPrettyBoldAndJumpedOntoTheBench  #ThenPigeonJumpedOntoTheTableAndTriedTo...DrinkMyHotChocolate?  #I'mNotSureWhatThePigeon'sPlanWasHere  #IExplainedThingsAndItLeft

#I...ReallyWantToLikeArepasMoreThanIActuallyDo  #It'sProbablyTheCheese

#LookAtAllUsTouristsRestingAndRelaxing  #SurroundedByWildArchitecture

Then back to the Distillery District for some seasonal gifts to bring back on my (possibly final) home leave: sparkly chocolate skulls.  Don't worry, there's 0% chance of rain all day!  I checked!

#DearReader  #ItRained  #NotMuchButStill  #BadWeatherGuessersNoNo  #FantasticCloudFormation

As I contemplate returning to the US, I am needing to pay more attention to things like the new mask bans that some states and cities are enacting.  As someone with a wacky immune system who masks, it is WILD to me that there will be places in the US I should not go because I could get arrested for protecting myself and others from said wacky immune system.  Some say that's unrealistic because there are exceptions for folks with disabilities, but my disability is invisible if I am not wearing any of my various braces on the outside of my clothing.  I guess I should be glad that I had to re-do my wardrobe (generous term) after the knee injury.  Now at a glance people can tell there's something wrong and maybe they shouldn't hassle me about my mask.  But what about my disabled neighbors who don't have a visible badge or sign of disability?  Why should they be hassled?  It's a bit mind-blowing and sad.

#HereIsSomeHilariousAIStupidityForGiggles

I also finally finished the audiobook of All The King's Men by Robert Penn Warren.  All the content warnings, but the man was a poet, and his fiction writing shows it.  Was it sometimes too much?  Yes.  But, oh, did it make me think.

#Wow

Stay tuned to find out if I end up actually getting any vacation or leave days I don't have to work during!  Until then, here's a pumpkin mousse pumpkin from down the road.  May you enjoy the bounty and sweetness of fall!

A Week Was Had By All

 After last week, this was the calm before the next storm and the preparing for the next storm and paying for the last one, so here are some memes.

#Murderbot'sGreatWaveOfNotCaringSnoopyStyle

#ReallyGladThisDoesn'tHappenVeryOften  #Midnight:TooTiredToThinkAndAlsoStayAsleep

#IThinkI'vePostedThisBefore  #StillSometimesTrue

Now that it's really autumn officially / astronomically / whatever, I'm looking forward to seeing this new season.

#StillNeverReallyHeardTheseGuysUpHere

#EatingTheLastOfTheSummerFruits

#NotLiterallyTrueButStillFunny

#EveryCoupleOfWeeksIReconsiderSittingWithTheOtherPeopleInMyGroup  #ThenIRememberWhyThemHavingEasyAccessToMeInBusyTimesIsBad

#Preach  #Also,I'mSorry,Everyone

I was supposed to have a meeting with previous boss this week, but she had to move it out.  So we have to wait another week to see what they will offer as a path forward when I return from this assignment.  I am definitely looking forward to having weekends again.  And actual vacation days.

#StillWaitingToSeeWhatMyChoicesAre #ThisFeelsLikeAnImportantPoint

#BeenAWhileSinceThisHasHappened  #ButYes

Hoping you get the rest you need.  And find lots of funny memes to make you laugh and snort.