December 2019 Monthly Entry
It has been very rainy this late fall season and in a surprising twist, we haven't had any snow or sleet. It's common to get something in late November and maybe even December but nope, just rain and cloudy weather for the most part. They do predict a mild winter around the Lower Mainland. I certainly hope so.
For my third week of work in the Return to Work program, it was still 6 hour shifts and not much else. I later remembered that I was supposed to go to Rosser like before, but I told the Temp custodian, Sunita, to just keep going for the rest of the week. Starting the following week, I would return to Rosser at the start of my shifts. We had a Pro-D day on Nov.22 so I did some sweeping and high dusting on Thursday first. Friday, I vacuumed all rugs upstairs and we wiped all desks, then mopped all floors. Sunita mainly worked downstairs and then came up to help me when she was done. I didn’t have any problems during the Knights/VML Anniversary weekend outside of having to carry some heavy stuff to/from the room, which put a bit of strain on my arm. After the eventful weekend, I returned to Rosser and found not much has changed - Thank God! My sub-foreman, David, was happy to see me. There is some new furniture in the room for special-needs kids, but it doesn’t make things much harder. An improvement was the counsellor’s office. The computer plus accompanying table and chair that were in there before are gone, making for more room and less wiping. Again, not a hard room but it’s welcome. On Tuesday Nov.26, one of my foreman came to Rosser to talk to me. He says that I was supposed to log in “Sick/Injury” during the current Return to Work program for both the days I had off AND the cut hours each day as per the schedule. I have no memory of anyone telling me that! Worse, since I am on the program, my vacation request technically cannot be granted, and I need to talk to the higher-ups to fix this! Again, no one told me this. That night, I called and left a message with the Occupational Therapist to update him on the information and the vacation request I put in sometime ago. Wednesday, I called Gurri, my Work & Disability Coordinator, and she tells me that yes, I should cancel my accepted vacation request and re-submit it immediately given the circumstances. As for not logging in for sick time/injury during the Return to Work program? She said she would fix it. So I log into the system and cancel my vacation request, and update the current work schedule within the RTW program. This is all after 1pm and have to be getting ready to go to work. I get a call from Gurri that she got my schedule but said I did it wrong and to re-do it. No problem. But then I get this: she asked if I was going to take my vacation time the following day. I answered yes. She felt embarrassed as she thought I wasn’t going to do it (meaning my foreman thought the same thing too)! So, she made note of it and told me to call my manager to let them know what happened. Before I went to work, I tried to get a hold of HR but left a message as to what happened. After I arrived at Rosser, I called Facilities to transfer my call to my manager but found he was on vacation, so it went to my supervisor, Ed. I explained the situation and he said it was fine and to enjoy my time off. Whew! Not much happened with my arm during my trip to Madison/New Glarus, Wisconsin and then to Washington, DC. I had a major problem with my toe though, I think it was a callus as I was in a lot of pain and hobbling a bit for the first 3 days of my trip. But I overall had a nice time and my arm didn’t cause any problems.
After my vacation, I was scheduled for my kinesiology appointment on Dec.4 but I got a voicemail from the clinic that morning that for some reason, WCB wasn’t paying for it. I called them back for clarification and it was affirmed. We assumed that WCB had a limit and it was reached. So, the appointment was cancelled without penalty. I also had an appointment for physio but assumed it was cancelled too but it wasn’t. So, I get a penalty on that one though. The good news is that for some reason, WCB is paying for it again according to the clinic. What the heck is going on? Anyways, at work I was at 7 hours and Sunita was still helping me. We split the work and get done in plenty of time to spare. My stamina is still a little low but that may be because of my recent trip in which I got to relax a lot. Dec.9-13 was the final week of the Return to Work program and I’m at 8 hours per shift. This didn’t change much in the routine but I added a little more than before as I told Sunita to slow down. It’s hard to gage if I can do everything at this time when her Temp contract was to be terminated by last Friday. I did have the option to extend the program for another week but decided it was probably time to do everything on my own. So, Friday was Sunita’s final day as Temp. I thanked her for everything she did, and she was grateful. She says she’ll like going back to being casual despite the lower hours. Today, I’ll be going to my first kinesiology appointment after a 3 week hiatus.
During my visit to New Glarus, WI I got to watch a few movies at my leather family's place. Here are my thoughts:
I don't have much to say about the first Lego Movie and would need to re-watch it to get a better understanding since I watched it on my first flight to Minneapolis on the seat screen. I did think some parts are funny and was entertained by the scope of the film.
Since 2009, I started a tradition to watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show on Halloween night or at least around that time of year. I did it as a tribute to my late-third, Kevin, who got me to watch it for the first time in 2002 or 2003. Since my younger sister borrowed my Blu-Ray copy this time, I decided to make an exception and watch Shock Treatment, the 1981 sequel to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. When I visited my leather family in New Glarus, WI a couple years ago, Michael mentioned that he had a copy of the movie on DVD. So, for the 10th Anniversary of this tradition, it was time to see the sequel. After viewing it, it was... meh. While it is very campy -very early 80’s campy- it is a definite departure from the original. Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick, and Susan Sarandon did not reprise their roles in this movie (Curry I can obviously understand). So, Brad Majors is played by Cliff De Young and Janet Majors (they have since married after the first movie) is played by Jessica Harper. The three major actors who returned but in new roles are Richard O’Brien, Patricia Quinn, and Little Nell. Charles Gray is probably the only actor who reprised his role as the now Judge Oliver Wright. The movie takes place sometime after Rocky Horror (I’m not sure, maybe about a few years?) and takes place exclusively inside a TV studio in Denton, Texas called DTV (Denton Television). While sitting in the audience, Brad and Janet are selected to take part in a game show called “Marriage Maze”. As a “prize” he is made captive and constantly drugged on a soap opera called “Dentonville”, which takes place in a make-shift mental hospital run by brother and sister Cosmo and Nation McKinley (played by O’Brien and Quinn respectfully). Janet becomes very popular with the audience but doesn’t realize that fast-food conglomerate, Farley Flavors, is trying to steal her away from Brad behind the scenes. To keep her in check, the McKinleys are also drugging her on orders from Farley. News anchor Betty Hapschatt (the same Betty who got married at the beginning of Rocky Horror but has since divorced Ralph) and Judge Wright investigate DTV and find that the McKinleys are not real doctors, but character actors, and Farley is a long-lost twin brother of Brad. Due to his jealously, he schemed to take Janet and ruin Brad. Brad is rescued from “Dentonvale” and he confronts his brother Farley on the show “Faith Factory”. Brad, Janet, Betty, and Judge Wright are captured but they escape by car while Farley takes the audience and commits them to “Dentonvale”. Yeah... Shock Treatment is unnecessarily complicated in its story. The songs aren’t bad, quite catchy. But it lacks the fun and style of Rocky Horror. I’ll watch it again in the future, but Rocky Horror will still be watched overwhelmingly more.
Shazam! was a surprisingly funny and sharply written action comedy based on the DC Comics superhero. Honestly, I felt like I was watching an MCU movie! It’s essentially about an orphaned teenager named Billy Baston who winds up on the Rock of Eternity and inherits the powers of a powerful ancient wizard to become the new Shazam. Years earlier, the wizard wanted to pass his powers onto a young boy named Thaddeus Sivana, but since he was not pure of heart and gave into temptation, was rejected. These circumstances immediately led to a car accident that caused his emotionally abusive father to end up being paraplegic and his cruel older brother to hate him even more. Since then, Thaddeus kept trying to find a way to return to the Rock of Eternity and be given the power needed to usurp his father and brother by unleashing the 7 Deadly Sins. To complete his power, he searches for Billy so he can take the powers of Shazam for himself. When Billy calls out the powers of Shazam, he has an adult body, but his mind is still a teenager. Helping Billy is his foster-brother, Freddy Freeman. The scenes between them are some of the better parts of the movie as they try to find out which powers Billy has as Shazam. The kids and teens in this movie are quite good too. But overall, it’s a fun DCU movie that took pages from the MCU comedic formula for great effect.
Definitely a more feminine sequel, The Incredibles 2 was simply okay. While the first movie was focused on Mr. Incredible, this one focuses a lot more on Mrs. Incredible doing solo missions. She is approached by a wealthy employer and his sister to go on secret missions so that one day, superheroes will be legally allowed to protect the world. This goes on for at least half the movie and just like the first, the whole family fights the bad guys together in the final act. Outside of a few funny parts, I don't have much more to say. Personally, I like the first movie better but this one isn’t bad at all. Mr. Incredible is still a handsome, Daddy-type. :-)
I've beaten the first four or six games in Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition. I should have the big review up maybe around or before Christmas. I haven't done much with Star Trek: Voyager - still early in season 6. I am now on the final 3 episodes of Dragon Ball and my review of the series should be up soon after.
Last Movie: Avengers: Endgame (Theatrical), The Incredibles 2 (Blu-Ray)
Last Book: The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics - The Screwtape Letters
Last Game: Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PS3)
Current Book: The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics - Miracles
Current Games: Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition (Wii) & The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX (3DS Virtual Console - GBC)