Bon Iver - "Calgary"

I couldn't sleep. So naturally I read, played Tiny Wings (another addictive bird game app), and checked my Facebook. Thanks to Rachel's hype, she shared Bon Iver's new single "Calgary" with me from their soon to be released second album, self-entitled Bon Iver. Should be a sweet record!

So... ya, want a free song?

8 Crazy Nights

(Dan wouldn't get out of the loader to let me plank in it.
Chuck however finished the job. Look down below!)

We're done. It's finished. C'est fini! ... For us at least. After 4 days of mosquito extinguishing and 8 straight overnight shifts of filling sandbags, WE ARE FREE. It feels good to have a life again. Throughout this period I've felt like I was in a different dimension, a limbo - if you will. Sleeping from 6am-4pm, then resting indoors before going back to work at 8pm (seeing no one during the day). What a sad work schedule. The beginning was miserable; I was pissed off after the second night. Though I finally adjusted a few nights ago so the last few nights were a breeze. Now I have to transition back... wooo (slightly positive sarcasm)!

Here are the things that got us through those 8 straight days of purgatory:

- Throwing objects at people and trying to keep a straight face afterwards. These objects included zip ties, bags, and pebbles.

- Trying to attach zip tie chains to people's clothing without them noticing.

- Collecting the free earplugs and protection glasses that they gave out every night.

- 20 questions! (Which ended up being however many it took to get the answer.)

- Our lunch table community in the conference room. Great people, great laughs. (We performed a group plank our last break. More on that below.)

- Respecting Cory, one of the awesome foremans at our machine who would always let us know when we had to get back to work. (When I planked the sandbagging shoot, he saw and said that he had heard about this planking thing. Cory would know about it.)

- Being awake to see the sunset and sunrise every night/morning. (Driving home would be blinding.)

- Harry Potter audiobooks (for Malech).

- Our "lunch" break runs to McDonald's.

- Routine.
--> For example, the first four hours consisted of 20 questions, which made it fly by. The "afternoon" (for myself) consisted of alternating Apple and Shure earbuds with earmuffs and earplugs, listening to podcasts or music.
--> Also, we would rotate to the next position after every load, switching things up so that we would never get (too) bored. (There was apparently one girl at a table who stood at the shoot, filling the sandbag every night for the full 10 hours! That's 80 hours doing that ONE THING. Unreal!)

- Our 80 year old, Moses looking, front-end loader driver. Pretty sure he was hot-boxing that thing in between loads...

- Blasting Europe's "The Final Countdown" in the last hour of the operation.

- Darcy's car. That Honda S2000 made my first ever plank very special.

- And of course planking itself:

As our final break prank, we all hid from our usual conference room and placed clues for Cory to find and follow. These clues were two drawn arrows on paper. One on the podium we placed in front of the door and the second in the hallway pointing toward where we would be... planking on the floor. Disappointingly, another foreman was the one who came to get us. But the mission was accomplished; he was very confused. Pictures to come.

To celebrate the closure of our operation, most of our community lunch table went out for breakfast at the Salisbury House. Half of us will now go our separate ways as the others our now based at a different yard. However, our sandbagging bond will never be forgotten.

~~~

Now it's back to killing mosquitoes...

Plank Fever

My first ever plank.

Planking is unreal. It's simple and pretty stupid looking... but it is hilarious! It involves face-down rigidity and obscure locations. So much fun. It got us through night 6 of sandbagging EASILY! ... 20 questions is also a big hit. Two more nights and then we're DONE for good.

Happy planking everybody!

p.s. This is like the opposite of people-watching. You act, and other people watch in bewilderment.