Throughout my working life, I have generally worked five days a week, eight (or more) hours a day. Today I started a period of work that will be 4 ten hour days including a fair amount of traveling, and though I do not wish to speak directly about work, I would like to say that I have liked the 4-10 schedule so far because I don’t feel that much more tired after ten hours of work than I do after eight hours with a long commute. The only part about today’s work that I was not particularly fond of was waking up early in the morning, but the fact that I am not a morning person is something that is generally fairly widely and openly known about me anyway and does not need to be elaborated in detail.

While I do not wish to discuss the sort of shop talk that my coworkers and I engaged in, both because it would be entirely uninteresting to others, as well as not really the sort of thing that one ought to blog about, there is one element of my day today as it relates to work that I find to be greatly interesting. As a contract employee, a subject I would like to write about in greater detail at some point, I do not have the accoutrements of a company card or the like, but that is not always a bad thing in some cases, as I got an upgraded room thanks to my supervisor, for which I am quite grateful, as I have a nice king sidezed bed with a lot of pillows for myself, as well as a fridge to keep food over the rest of the week, and that is quite enjoyable. I suppose it is a win-win situation for me, as my travel expenses help my supervisor get some extra rewards points and I can profit from his existing status as well. I’m all about win-win situations myself.

Although the time may come when I feel rather bored and blasè about travel, I tend to associate traveling with a fair amount of fun. I like to see new areas, meet new people, and change up my daily routine a bit, although it is also nice to have a home base to return to and be able to relax and feel at home in. While I don’t tend to be a wild and crazy sort of person, I find at lease some enjoyment in the novel and the unfamiliar. I suppose it keeps life interesting and keeps me from falling into the sort of comfortable rut that would bore me or make me lose my creative edge. While the same sort of patterns can be seen in many areas, there is a sort of enjoyment that comes from novelty when it is combined with depth and some solid roots, even as it expands what one is familiar with and comfortable with. It’s also a great way to become familiar with Oregon (and the Pacific Northwest as a whole) city by city, having already become at least somewhat familiar with the area from Tigard to Mollala to areas past McMinnville. Now, I suppose, it is time to become at least somewhat familiar with Springfield.

At this point there is the uncertain but often intriguing process by which one becomes at least somewhat settled in a routine, though at least for the moment I’d like to break up that routine by avoiding the constant going to restaurants and spending my nights alone in an oversized hotel room by getting to know some friendly but slight acquaintances, using some free time to read, and trying to eat at least moderately healthy (which is a difficult task, this I know, given my own taste in food and beverages). We will see how all of that works out. However, though I am tired and hope to soon go to sleep to at least try to avoid falling further into a sleep deficit than I already am, I am enjoying myself so far and hope to share some odd and humorous stories of my travels.