It seems as though this is as good a time as any to make an additional entry to my blog. A dreary day has left us painters enjoying a lazy Friday afternoon inside cleaning airbrush tips and searching parts up on the internet and such. A painter's life for me.

And before long I will rush into my bathroom, shower, brush my teeth, and transform into a grocery worker extraordinaire! Arrive at Extra Foods just in time to bag groceries for the five o'clock rush and then get the daily briefing from my manic management staff and set out a plan for the evening work. Perhaps I will be cleaning up another messy shelving unit. Maybe I will try to stay at the front end all night long and bag groceries. Maybe there will be a pile of stock to be put on the shelves. It doesn't sound that exciting, but by comparison to painting, it is quite a rush. It seems to me that there is a far greater range of work to be completed than when I am painting. I can't really complain about either of my jobs. Each one is nearly full time when it comes down to it. (about 35 hours each job per week...) So 70 hours of mostly manual labour takes a lot out of you. I find that I have been falling asleep very easily at night. Although, I usually don't finish work until ten or eleven. It's hard to find time for yourself with a schedule like that. But then, in Swan River it's hard to find much of anything to do to fill your time.

I would like to take more photographs. I would like to put my new camera to some use! It would be nice to enter some prints into the rodeo competition this year. I think I could have a chance, I don't really know if there is anyone else who really enters... I am sure there are a few. Likely the professional photographers will enter and slaughter my snapshots. We'll see. It's one of those things I will likely never do. Maybe my summer resolution is to just do things that I always think I should do, but never do. Perhaps I should just do... more. That's probably a good idea! Maybe I already do too much!?

The summer is passing quickly, yet... the days pass slowly. Work is not challenging. I feel like I am not being utilized for my skills. I am a thinker, not a manual labourer. I'm not a terrible worker. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty... (but I always wash them before bagging your groceries!) But I just feel as though I should be doing something exciting. I have worked hard my whole life, and I still work at Extra Foods... and I haven't gotten a raise in 4 years! (I have been there for 7) Painting is a profitable endeavor, since my father pays me well, but I can't say it's very intriguing. The most exciting thing is analyzing siding for moisture content and having a twenty second conversation with my dad about vapour barrier that doesn't involve him yelling at me. He is a grouch. I hope I am not as grouchy as him when I am his age. I better not be, because by that age I want to be teaching. And a grouchy design teacher is the worst thing ever.

We work to pay bills. My bills include: Phone bill, Food for consumption, Gasoline, Chicago Trip Payments... and frivilous spending, which I have yet to do this summer! I must save my money for other bills which will attack me in the coming months. Travel expenses, tuition, parking, residence (which my parents will likely help out with, for the FINAL year, I am assured by them). So, money comes and goes, and I am left with very filled days of working for the MAN. Well, two men, actually. I am getting dual-pwned.

My father insists that it's not going to rain and that I should busy myself with mowing the lawn. I think I'll strap on my iPod complete with "The Cab: Whisper War". Should be a decent time, all around.

Until the next time, remember to cross your t's and dot your i's.

Shawn.