Week 2 and counting

It's been 2 weeks and 2 days since I've started my night shift and it's still a challenge to get used to the "time difference". Perhaps I'll get used to it some day but perhaps never. I have colleagues who shared with me their secret of staying up - drinking tea !

It's not too difficult task for me to drink tea since I'm the tea drinker as compared to being the coffee crowd. But it's still a struggle to stay awake when possible and stay asleep when needed. Hopefully time will help and change.

These are the updates for the past week :-

• I finally got my Florida's Driver License (I took the Traffic Laws twice cause I didn't read about it since I was busy playing catch up with sleep but I'm excited that I passed the Traffic Sign and the Practical driving on my first try. Yes, I did my FIL proud and we did have a good laugh at that, as in he busy teasing me and me busy laughing at the situation. It's preety cool to have a FIL whom you can joke and tease with (or at). I've been driving around with my International License since I return back to Singapore annually and it's just more convenient for me to just apply for it with no test and no hassle. Whereas in Florida, I have to study for it and test for it, both theory and practical. Considering the fact that I've been driving in total darkness, I can't believe that i still need to test for it !

• Paul finally fullfilled his dream and got his first bike - a Harley ! I was preety shocked cause I send him out on a grocery buying trip and he came home with a Harley. He's super excited about it but it's his turn to go for his riding class this week (Thurs-Sunday). Until he can really ride freely in the streets. While he's off on his riding class, I can sleep guilt-free.

We are certainly looking forward to BIKE WEEK ! Or riding around aimlessly and feel the wind brushing against our cheeks... Yah, now that I'm on the bike, I have to stay awake or I'll be thrown off the bike.

Mad Monday !

I'm just relief that I survived my Monday night and did my first cross over of the week to Tuesday. Yes, it's still insane when I think that I go to work on a Monday, return on Tuesday and still return back to work on Tuesday night. But I'm really counting down to the weekend and lookinf forward to Friday. riday night is basically the Party night for us since there's only 4 of us (including our night manager). We basically, eat together, chat and joke around. It's really cool. Perhaps it's more barely now cause I have been listening to my ipod at work. Yah, that really help to keep me awake and alive. But I'm not going to jinx it, afterall I still have 4 more days to go.



Last night, I try the Chinese Tea potion to keep me awake since my "neighbour" aka co-worker basically drown himself on Green Tea. I don't know if it's working but the fact that I am still awake now after 12 hours and still have the energy to update my blog prove some effect.



Anyway... will try to update more..... for now, I need to catch up on some sinful reality TV.

Week 1, Summary

It's been a week of graveyard shift and it's draining. More physically than mentally.

Basically here's my itinery for the past week :-

8.30am - Reached home

8.35am - Walked HatLee

9am - Home from walking HatLee (sorry boy, mummy's dead shag unable to keep up with the 45mins walk like before)

9.05am - Shower, check emails

10am - K.O (Knocked Out)

5.30pm - Woke up from sleep, lazy around

6.30pm, Prepare dinner (anything thrown into the microwave)

7pm - Finished dinner, do some housework

8pm - Return to bed for a short nap

9.45pm - Wake up, cold shower, get ready for work

10.15pm - Leaves home for work

10.45pm - Arrive work, calls Mom, text BFF

11pm - Start work and figuring "What the heck am I doing ?" cause work is a very mysterious mystery to solve.

2am - Frightened by the silence cause no one talks at work

2.15am - Take a 15 mins break and IM my BFF, Tricia (Without her, I'll be dead by now, she keeps me going with motivation, jokes and gossips).

3am - Looking forward to my breakfast break at 4am.

4am - HURRAY !!! It's an hr break time. Had Breakfast, full force on IM and chat with BFF again. Thank God for my phone and my web service !!!

5am - Back to work and already looking forward to another 15 mins break at 6.45am

6am - Fighting really really really hard to stay awake !!!

6.45am - Take 15 mins break and finally closed my eyes and blank out for a few mins.

7am - Wondering why 8am is taking FOREVER ...

7.55am - Glad I made it through the day and wonder if I have the force to drive home

8am - Hit the parking lot and mentally sing "What a Wonderful World"

8.30am - Arrived home and the entire cycle begin again....

Yah, that's preety much all, my daily routine. I basically spoke about 2 sentenses to Paul each day. To think about it, I speak more to my Mom in Singapore or IM more with my BFF than him. If I were to analyse it, my day time desk buddy leave me more "love notes" than I even speak to Paul.

Yah, there's another week to go... MAY THE FORCE BE WITH ME !!!

Day 2

I practically sabotage myself at work !

Today my Quality Maintainence Manager told me, for newbies, we're basically expected to only handle 25 files (case). So out of curiosity, I asked her how many files I've done yesterday. When she run the report, apparently I've done 80 files and she was like "That's a very good number, keep it up and that's what expected."

My second question was "So out of the 80 files, how many bounced back (i.e wrong). And she was like "Only 13% which is a very good number."

Inside my heart, I was secretly cursing myself for doing so much files. Now that I've set it at 80 files, if I did a sudden dip like only 40 files, she would think I've skive big time. Bloody !@#$%^&&*()

It's still a struggle to stay up all night and I have a different admiration for those who worked the graveyard shift. There is a co-worker who have been there for slightly more than a month told me she is having break out on her face, getting dark eye bags and eye rings which she never have before and she caught herself dozing off when driving home (which is a super bad thing). She confuses me with her reply when I asked her "So you know what you are doing (ie at work and on the files).

Her reply was "I know the business and how it is and work but sometimes I still don't know what I am doing."

GREAT ! Just great ! I was having the same question to myself that I don't know what the bloody hell I'm doing 70% of the time but if I only get 13% of it wrong, it can't be too bad right ?!

Thank God for my cellphone, I can get online and chat with my BFF during my breaks and breakfast break at 4am (florida time). Without her entertainment and encouragement, it would be beyond miserable !

*sigh* I need to overcome and get over this upside down lifestyle....

NO DARK EYE RING OR EYE BAG !!!!

On the Job ! - Day 1

It's 9am (Florida time) and it's been 24 hours since I had a wink and I am totally drained... But at least I made it home and still uses the last of my energy to update my blog for the curious folks out there.



I had a feeling that my brain shut down 2 hours ago when I'm still at work and I seriously don't know how I get through the night. It's like an out of body experience but somehow the fear of making mistake kept me awake.



I didn't take any "5 hour" energy drink , Red Bull nor any drugs. Just pure determination ! Not forgetting at my weakest hour at 4am, I managed to get online and chat with my BFF from Sing, Tricia who kept me entertained for an hour. Yes, that was the darkest moment, I told her if I were to take a nap, I may not wake up....



It's insane that I'm driving in the total darkness to get to work. No street lamp, no nothing ! The street practically belongs to me except for a few vehicles who shine pass me... At least I don't have to fight with the traffic. So that's a good sign.



Work = My Supervisor basically left me alone to fend for myself and I have to ask/bother/harrass my co-worker who was sitting beside me. I know he's secretly suffering from internal bleeding but hey, it's my first day and I don't even know what the heck is going on. At least my supervisor did not complain about my work.



So no news is good news right ????



Okie.... I'm getting sleepy.... very very sleeppppyyyyyy ..... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Drive, drive, drive

I think sleeping at 9pm last night and waking up at 7am this morning really charged my battery up to the brim. Today I feel so fresh and rested. Well, 10 hrs of sleep wouldn't kill you right ?

FYI, we have to sign a confidentiality agreement at work thus we can't discuss or post anything in our blog or on involve in any form of "publications" pertaining to work and anyone at work, thus I basically can't comment too much.

I can however mention it's fantastic that we have a break room with cable tv. It's also not that bad when we have a pool table or free pop corn, free chicken soup or free hot chocolate with mini marshmellow. I know there's people out there who have even better and more fancy stuffs but hey, beggars can't be choosers. I know for sure, a pool table is unheard of in Singapore.

So I've been driving to and back from work and I'm still nervous but I try not to think about it. It's like the more I process it or the more I magnify the fact that I'm driving and I drive worst. Thus when I have that negative energy, I start thinking about other stuffs and paying more attention to the songs on the radio. Since I'm born without a GPS in me and neither am I known for my sense of directions or rather I am known for having a bad sense of direction. Till now, I still worry if I'll miss my turn or I'll make a wrong turn. But hey, when that happens, we'll worry about it then. I really detest the part that it's been raining in the evening and that makes me nervous. But I reckon, that's how life is in Florida. My fellow colleages who are from Brooklyn, New York and Chicago tells me how much they miss the train and the buses up North. I am like "Hey, me too, driving sucks" *lol*

It's 6.45pm now and I told Paul, I need to watch some reality tv to perk me up and play with HatLee a little since he's all by himself for most part of the day.

Day 2

Day 2 of work and I am exhausted. With 8 hrs of lecture/training I had a hard time trying to stay awake by the time it's 3pm.

Okie, it's 8pm now and I NEED my sleep.

Yes, I've been driving to and back from work and I still get nervous but I'm getting the hang of it. I know just someday I will be this F1 driver but for now, I just want to be accident free.

It's going to be another day tomorrow but I love working or at least I am for now hahahha

Night Folks, have a pleasant day ahead !

To be continue......