Four days till Christmas and it still doesn't feel like the holidays. Usually at this time of the year, I am finishing exams and looking forward to the two weeks off. This year, however, I am not entitled to that as I will be working through Christmas (with Mon & Tues off to make up for Christmas & Boxing Day) and into my last day in April... so 4 days off instead of 2 weeks. Heck... all of the senior staff here are on vacation till January. This week sucks too because I have to write and submit an article to a mining magazine for selection. I, of course, volunteered to do this... only to regret my decision when I actually begin the work.
So I'm tired and burnt out. Been working 6 days a week, and 2 of those are 12 hr days. Last 3 weeks have been meeting deadlines from Victoria preparing for Roundup - world''s largest mineral conference taking place in Vancouver for 4 days with over 5,000 people attending.
Friday afternoon I'm in the field by myself so I want to finish early and start enjoying my 4 days off. I will be relaxing reading Michael Crichton's State of Fear... just been released in paperback. Recently also read Da Vinci's Code and The Witch, the Lion, and the Warddrobe. Saw the movie last night with Joey, Geordia, Geoff and Jason... awesome movie. Can someone tell me why the white bengal tigers are with the bad guys? I've always thought them as the wiser and more noble species... if anything, the cheetas should be on the evil side (maybe not soo much)!!! I kept thinking about this during the final fighting scene instead of just enjoying it. -.-
I must say, it is so good to be back after spending 3 days in Victoria. I flew there Wednesday morning and came back by ferry at 4pm on Friday. I stayed in downtown Victoria the whole time, quite boring... the city is too small for my taste. And then there was the float plane. Float plane experience isn't complete without something going wrong. As you know, on my first trip I was fogged in half way. The 2nd trip was cancelled because both Victoria & Vancouver were covered in fogged for the entire week. Then this time they decided to cancel my flights both ways even though I said cancel ONLY my return flight. Of course I didn't know this till I checked in. In the end, they paid for my flight there with West Coast Air... they use twin otter planes instead of the smaller single otter ones.
It has been a really long week. Really sucks I only have Saturday off... 1 day is really not enough!
Well my mom is home now... came back Saturday morning from Taiwan. So glad she's home because I was getting really tired of cleaning up after my brothers. For the most part I've had to make food and do the laundry and dishes for those two. I was also starting to get hungry too...
Got an extremely busy week coming up. On Monday night I'm heading up to SFU to meet with the Sustainable Campus Coalition... I recently signed up as a volunteer researcher on energy related issues. This coming up meeting is more of a 'end of the year' social gathering though. I was looking at the resumes of some graduate students at UBC and realized I lack sorely in experience and volunteer work. It's time I get more involved with domestic issues rather than getting overseas experience. On Tuesday I am working 13 hrs... the Ministry job till 4:30 and then to the part-time job till 9pm. Next day I will be flying to Victoria for the 2 day Mines and Minerals Division conference. Back on Thursday night.
Anyways... it looks like the UN Climate Change Conference is underway in Montreal. If you recall... this summer I had a job interview with Environment Canada for the 'Climate Change Research' position in Ottawa. Well... part of the job is to help arrange this huge conference with representatives from 189 countries. I even specifically asked about this event during the interview. I didn't get the job and wasted the perfect opportunity to get experience and network with prominant members of the international community. Aaahhhhhhh!!!! I guess the next best thing is this job... I am learning first hand how industries operate. And geologists are cool.