It happens once every six weeks, if I’m lucky. Or if the supervisor is glared at hard enough during scheduling by the Union Stewards to remember to follow the regulations instead of personal pettiness.
But it happened this time, and I get a weekend off! A whole three days without a 12-15 mile (19-24 kilometer for any metric readers) walk in the heat and weather, or having to navigate the social morass that is office politics while being the awkward introvert.
Unfortunately, a downside to working 60-hour weeks is that when you do manage to get time off, you have to cram everything else into the little time you have. So, we’re off to run errands throughout the state (because of course, you can’t have everything in your little town) after dropping off the kids.
They’re starting to get involved with my postings. The 4yr pointed up at the cloud formation and said “Dad, take a picture!” So, that’s for all of you.
Last night’s writing attempts were interrupted by two things: exhaustion and a conversation with the local union steward. He replaced me after I had suffered burnout from holding that post for 2 years. I can’t stay that angry all the time and I’m just not skilled with verbal conversation. That makes grievance negotiations…annoying. But I give him advice when he texts me and explain organizational matters.
I wasn’t expecting that conversation to end with him saying bluntly “Why aren’t you the Local President?”
Eh…because that’s terrifying? I don’t want that kind of power and I’ve never pursued it. But we’re down a President, and the Steward is asking what we need to bring in the younger workers, and my organizing brain couldn’t help but rattle off what we’d need.
So…yeah, he’s wanting to put me on the ballot. Just putting that on the list. The exhaustion from the day-job knocked me out at my desk, soon after.
The morning was greeted by new information on an old project: genealogy. There was an email from Ancestry letting me know that my previous research had brought up a possible relative.
This is the furthest I’ve gone down the family’s timeline, and with him I have two other possible relatives that’ll get me into the 1500’s. One of these days, we’ll have to travel to Sandwich, MA and see the place where my family tree started in the US.
With that, I’ll be whittling away at my writing throughout the day. I’ve found two short stories in the Sidewinder Stories that need editing and posting. They’ll help tie everything together and explain things that the players were wondering about. Then it’ll be final prep-work for tomorrow’s Main Arc session.
Now, let’s see if I can actually get all that done!
Stay safe, readers!
-JB Swift
Swift's Corner 