July 2021 Monthly Entry
I believe most of you heard about the heat wave we had around the Pacific Northwest a few weekends ago. Yeah, it felt like Hell with record-breaking temps of late-30's to just above mid-40's celcius (98-116F). There was no cool breeze to bring some relief and in fact, almost all wind was non-existent for those 4 days. My room felt like a sauna and I was dripping sweat on my keyboard! I have no air-conditioning so had to rely on both a regular fan and a ceiling fan to get a slight amount of relief. Even the following Monday at work, there was an email sent out that allowed us to leave early because of the heat if we so choose - provided we finished disinfecting the schools and called our foreman to let them know we were leaving. Despite the heat, the schools were much more cooler than at home so I stayed and worked on some high dusting while taking more break time than usual. I let my coworker Jay to leave whenever he wanted so he left over half an hour before the scheduled end of his shift. School was canceled that day too so it made for an easy shift. After the heat wave subsided, the weather has been very good with nothing but sunny days and temperatures in the 22-28C field.
In the final week of June, it was finally revealed of what my afternoon shift during the summer scrub was going to be like... and I didn't like it! Instead of doing eight hours of wiping and scrubbing, they want me to spend about half of my shift cleaning TWO day cares for the whole month of July! This really angered me as this was nothing more than a money-saving ploy by the higher-ups. Typically, casual custodians are the ones who are tapped to clean after summer schools, camps, and day cares. But since the majority of casuals are not getting shifts this summer to save on funds, they've now thrown the responsibility onto the permanent custodians! The two day cares I have to do are Duthie Union and the one next door to Montecito that opened last summer. At the very least, they are in the same area (Duthie Union is 1.7 km north of Montecito), but it sucks having to commute to three places a shift. Duthie Union is pretty difficult to do, taking around two hours to clean while the Montecito day care takes about an hour and a half to get done. To include sufficient break time, I need over four hours to get both of them complete and be able to have my late lunch. I'm sure this will all bleed into August and up to the 11th - which is my last shift until my three weeks of vacation kick in. While it is great to be working with past coworkers again, it's still a lonely shift when I have to tackle the day cares later in the afternoon. And speaking of the afternoon: I found out from one of my foreman that the main culprit that caused us to stay in our shifts this summer was from our own union! Our manager took advantage of this and it's the reason why we were not given the choice in the matter! I don't know if this is true, but it may explain why the issue was never brought up during the union monthly meetings via Zoom (I skimmed the minutes for the past three months and it was never mentioned). Nobody I know wanted this to happen, we prefer to have a choice in which shift we want to work during the summer. I want to work mornings and given how I got fucked in this year's summer scrub by being forced into the afternoon, this affirms the reason why I don't want to work afternoons. If I can take anything good from this, it's that cleaning the day cares makes the shift go by faster, but I am under pressure to get so much cleaning done and try to salvage some break time before my shift ends. My co-worker at Monteicto, Jay is off for the summer, but I get to work with my previous co-worker from last year, Dean. I also recently got Ben, our temporary morning sub-foreman from Rosser too. I do like the people I'm working with, a lot more than what I got in 2017. So it's not a total downer. We finished the main floor of Lyndhurst within a week and we are now working on Forest Grove. Montecito is being done by a day crew and funny enough, while I'm at Forest Grove, one of the custodians of that school is at Montecito! Wouldn't it be better if we stayed at our own schools and led the cleaning effort? *facepalm*
As of today, there are 17 more shifts until my 3 weeks of vacation time. I'm still waiting on what the federal government will say on travel to the US - if it will be at all possible next month. I still have plans for Toronto and Vancouver Island again, but if I can squeeze some more out of doing US travel, I will.
About a couple months ago on Recon, there was an advertisement sale on DVDs from Male Mania Store. Curious, I saw what they offered and it seemed they had a nice selection of bear and leather DVDs. It was 50% off and I got 6 of them as one of them was free (I guess a "buy 5 and get 1 free" deal was included). One of the classics from BearFilms that I had to get was Bear Juice. I originally bought it at a Spring Thaw weekend in Seattle around 15 years ago. I used to know a few of the bears in that film back then, though never played with them before, sadly. Sometime ago, I'm very sure my father found that DVD and trashed it. Of course, he said nothing to me. So I got a replacement as part of my order. Bear Instincts can be a rough watch if you're not into leather and BDSM, but some scenes are very hot and a couple of the Daddies are very woofy! My Hung Daddy and Backdoor Bare were pretty good, but Bareback Playroom and Rock Out With Your Cock Out were just okay.
A few weeks ago I had a strawberry (I forget) shortcake or cheesecake donut from Tim Horton's. Quite nice, but the fine sprinklings on top scratched my throat and felt that for the rest of the day.
I mentioned in the past about a court case I was supposed to go through later this summer, based on my first at-fault car accident I had June 1, 2016. I received a letter two Mondays ago from the lawyer, thinking it had to do with my August 30th court date in Chilliwack. I opened it up and it was a single page. It said that the case has been dropped and thanked me for my assistance and in complying. No reason was given as to why the case was dropped. My only guess is that the plaintiff's lawyer must have went into negotiations with ICBC and came out with a satisfactory offer. I was prevented from saying anything about the case publicly these last 3 years, but that is now lifted. The only thing I can say was that the plaintiff was suing for "soft-tissue damage", very likely whiplash. I thought it was because she hit her nose on the steering wheel during impact. She must not have been happy with what ICBC had offered her in compensation so she decided to go after me 2 years after the accident. Because I was insured, ICBC got me a lawyer to defend me and try to minimize the financial damage that could occur have the court case went through. It was set for August 30th and could have went all the way to September 8th. The lawyer told me it was highly unlikely to be drawn out that long, usually one or two days is typical. I was not looking forward having to commute to Chilliwack for 7 days (Labour Day is a holiday)! I'm so glad it is over with as this was a worry over my head for almost 3 years! I will email the lawyer that represented me to find out what happened and bring this all to a close. I think come time for my annual car insurance in September, I should be paying less as one of the penalties of the accident was a significant increase in my premiums for 3 years (this began in 2017). Guess I'll know in a couple of months.
I got my second Covid shot on July 3rd at 4:30pm, same place as before: The Langley Events Centre. Thankfully, it was Pfizer again as I would rather it be the same vaccine than mix with others. It was just as easy as the first time, so nothing complicated. I got a sore arm again by the following day and lasted for a couple more. But I did notice some fatigue on and off during the first week. Thankfully, it didn't affect my work, but I was tired a lot when I would get home and for the rest of the night. It would not surprise me that a third vaccine will be required on the horizon, to boost against the variants. But for now, we'll see how well these current vaccines will fare. At least travel will be easier now.
On Saturday I went and visited Daddy David's burial as it would have been his 73rd birthday. I spent over 10 minutes standing by him, reading the 23rd Psalm, and telling him how much I missed him and how life has been like lately. It has been just over 5 years since he has been buried into that spot and wish life didn't hand that to me. If he were still alive, we would have went out to dinner together as his birthday fell on a Saturday so it would have been perfect. Sigh... I then walked over and said hello to my mom's parents and letting them know mom misses them.
A few nights ago I finished Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 on Crave TV. I don't know how to compare it to the previous 2 seasons, but it still has the same problem: a total focus on Michael Burnham. This show really wants to force upon the fans how special she is. Doing impossible feats and being the universe's saviour. As YouTuber The Critical Drinker calls her: Diverse Space Jesus. The show has to tick off every single SJW diversity checklist: majority of cast are anything but Caucasian? Check. Almost all positions of power and leadership are held by women? Check. Introducing gender non-binary characters? Check. Introducing a paraplegic (Aurellio, though played by the woofy Kenneth Mitchell!) character at the end of the season? Check. Unlike past Star Trek series in which diversity and feminism wasn't forced upon the viewer but came naturally and respectfully, Discovery and Picard really hammer it in. Most of these characters don't earn their successes - they come prepackaged and we're supposed to suspend our disbelief on how intelligent, strong, and brave they are. This season has Discovery hundreds of years in the future and everything has been decimated due to the destruction of all dilithium crystals from an event called "The Burn". The Federation still exists but is a shell of its former self. Throughout the season, we see what has progressed since "Old Trek" and of course, there are a few throwbacks to link the events of the past. I'll give the season credit in that we get to see futuristic technology be intergrated and there are possibilities for expansion, but I believe it will do what season 1 of Picard did - technology will solve any problem and not logic and intelligence will win the day. Remember in Picard that doohickey that can repair anything just by the power of your thoughts? If that was nearly a millennium ago, how much better would technology be way in the future? I predict bad writing and plot holes galore from here on out for "New Trek". Unlike Picard, Season 3 of Discovery wasn't insufferable to get through, but it still hasn't converted me to "New Trek". Guess we'll see what Season 4 will bring us. With that said, I may look at Lower Decks but I'm going to continue with Season 3 of Enterprise.
I'll be starting Super Mario Galaxy 2 soon and it's a good guess I won't be completing it until next month. Bravely Default will likely begin afterwards. I took a break from Hayao Miyazaki animated films for the month, but will continue with them again this summer. As for Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac, I haven't finished it yet but will soon. I'll try to get a review of this classic anime series up by next month.
Last Movie: Avengers: Endgame (Theatrical), Howl's Moving Castle (Netflix)
Last Book: The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics - The Screwtape Letters
Last Game: King's Quest: The Complete Collection (Xbox One)
Current Book: The C.S. Lewis Signature Classics - Miracles
Current Games: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) & Bravely Default (3DS)