Random Thoughts
Hrm, I need to be at work in about 7 1/2 hours, excellent.
Having problems with insomnia again (I've been battling it on and off since I started University in September 2004) although I think this case has more to do with all the random thoughts floating around in my head, leading me to unburden myself here on LJ.
In terms of the election, I'm probably going to end up voting Liberal. Not because I neccesarily believe they're the party most fit to govern our country (in fact I don't really know *what* I believe in that case, aside from believing that I'm sick of politician's focusing on each other's negatives rather than trying to convince me to vote for them by clearly explaining to me what they would do for the country), but because I know the Liberal incumbent in my riding and I know that he's a decent guy that's always been considerate enough to return my phone calls and e-mails in a timely manner (rare for a politician I've found). He takes his constituents seriously, and most of us appreciate him because of that. I know the one in the riding immediately west a lot better (I think Katy's old house is still in that riding, for reference) but when the borders got re-drawn I was kicked out of it! Ah well.
Although it's difficult, working in a CPP/OAS call centre, to reconcile my experiences from there into any sort of coherent thought process. Especially now when it's close to christmas, those who celebrate it with lower budgets feel the strain very acutely, and because CPP and OAS both play a huge role in the lives of seniors, they end up calling us, in a lot of cases full well knowing that they're getting their full entitlement, but hoping they're wrong. In a case like that, the conversation is almost guaranteed to be long, with the client pouring their heart out and myself listening on the phone and making the occasional sympathetic sound. It's really difficult to deal with sometimes, especially if you're the type of person that can really empathize with the thoughts and feelings for others. I had three calls thursday that had to be deferred to a supervisor, and when I apologized after the third one she sort of just shrugged and said "It's the time of the year, people are at extremes on the emotional spectrum."
I celebrated christmas when I was younger, mostly because our family was new to the country and us kiddies were trying to fit in with some customs but as I became older and learned more about my own roots, it became less important of a celebration to me. I think last christmas I slept until about 4pm, ate some instant noodles and went back to sleep. This christmas I will in all likelihood be working at the other job (the non call-centre one that I've been doing part-time since the start of the year). But her comment really struck home on me, and even helped me handle those types of calls better for the rest of the day. I still enjoy the job though, even though it can get really difficult at times.
Pretty recently, I've been thinking about the good old days at Woburn and finding that I miss them a lot. Life was certainly a lot simpler back then than it is now, which makes me go on further to think "Man, when I complained in grade 3 that I wanted to be older, what the fuck was I thinking? I had it so good back then..."
Oh well. The wall in front of the desk in my room is completely barren and painted an ugly eggshell white. I think this holiday break I'll take a little bit of time each day to add pictures to that wall, of friends and family so that I have something more pleasant to look at when I need to take a break from typing and lean back in my chair to relax for a few moments. Oh well.
In terms of Woburnites hanging out during the break, I know I was a real jerk last year about not showing up to anything planned, but I will attempt to do so this year (maybe, hopefully) should they occur.
Well, I've managed to get some of my random thoughts down on paper (well, on blog) but I still don't feel sleepy. Ah well, guess I'll just get some work done and hopefully not die from exhaustion at work. It's been a long long week, between exams and starting work the day after my last one.
Oh well. Sorry about the long entry.
Having problems with insomnia again (I've been battling it on and off since I started University in September 2004) although I think this case has more to do with all the random thoughts floating around in my head, leading me to unburden myself here on LJ.
In terms of the election, I'm probably going to end up voting Liberal. Not because I neccesarily believe they're the party most fit to govern our country (in fact I don't really know *what* I believe in that case, aside from believing that I'm sick of politician's focusing on each other's negatives rather than trying to convince me to vote for them by clearly explaining to me what they would do for the country), but because I know the Liberal incumbent in my riding and I know that he's a decent guy that's always been considerate enough to return my phone calls and e-mails in a timely manner (rare for a politician I've found). He takes his constituents seriously, and most of us appreciate him because of that. I know the one in the riding immediately west a lot better (I think Katy's old house is still in that riding, for reference) but when the borders got re-drawn I was kicked out of it! Ah well.
Although it's difficult, working in a CPP/OAS call centre, to reconcile my experiences from there into any sort of coherent thought process. Especially now when it's close to christmas, those who celebrate it with lower budgets feel the strain very acutely, and because CPP and OAS both play a huge role in the lives of seniors, they end up calling us, in a lot of cases full well knowing that they're getting their full entitlement, but hoping they're wrong. In a case like that, the conversation is almost guaranteed to be long, with the client pouring their heart out and myself listening on the phone and making the occasional sympathetic sound. It's really difficult to deal with sometimes, especially if you're the type of person that can really empathize with the thoughts and feelings for others. I had three calls thursday that had to be deferred to a supervisor, and when I apologized after the third one she sort of just shrugged and said "It's the time of the year, people are at extremes on the emotional spectrum."
I celebrated christmas when I was younger, mostly because our family was new to the country and us kiddies were trying to fit in with some customs but as I became older and learned more about my own roots, it became less important of a celebration to me. I think last christmas I slept until about 4pm, ate some instant noodles and went back to sleep. This christmas I will in all likelihood be working at the other job (the non call-centre one that I've been doing part-time since the start of the year). But her comment really struck home on me, and even helped me handle those types of calls better for the rest of the day. I still enjoy the job though, even though it can get really difficult at times.
Pretty recently, I've been thinking about the good old days at Woburn and finding that I miss them a lot. Life was certainly a lot simpler back then than it is now, which makes me go on further to think "Man, when I complained in grade 3 that I wanted to be older, what the fuck was I thinking? I had it so good back then..."
Oh well. The wall in front of the desk in my room is completely barren and painted an ugly eggshell white. I think this holiday break I'll take a little bit of time each day to add pictures to that wall, of friends and family so that I have something more pleasant to look at when I need to take a break from typing and lean back in my chair to relax for a few moments. Oh well.
In terms of Woburnites hanging out during the break, I know I was a real jerk last year about not showing up to anything planned, but I will attempt to do so this year (maybe, hopefully) should they occur.
Well, I've managed to get some of my random thoughts down on paper (well, on blog) but I still don't feel sleepy. Ah well, guess I'll just get some work done and hopefully not die from exhaustion at work. It's been a long long week, between exams and starting work the day after my last one.
Oh well. Sorry about the long entry.