a day in the life of a bicycle repairman

hmm... i have a feeling this will become as much 'journal' as 'blog'
oh well, i know you'll bear with me :)

lemme start by giving you a rundown of my lifestyle these days

in the wee hours of the early morn' i awaken to begin my big day
i arrive before the sun at a small warehouse next to some railroad tracks
they are nice tracks
many-a-smoke-break i enjoy their comforting presence
i then proceed to spend approx. 50% of my waking hours utilizing 99.5% of my daily allotment of energy
and it's COLD inside the warehouse
my job description consists basically of:
- printing orders made over the internet (we call them 'pick lists')
- collecting all of the product purchased on the order ('picking')
- packing the orders into boxes ('packing'^^)
- restocking product onto the shelves when it runs low
- other odd jobs on the warehouse floor
on occasion i work upstairs in the 'call office' where warehouse management takes place, where calls are received, and where orders are approved and processed in the system (the most significant feature to the call office is that its heated) - sometime, i'll DEFINATELY have to go into more detail on this; did you know that high school golf coaches are idiots?
really, i can't complain about the job much - it's satisfying and the pay is GOOD (especially for part time, temp work)

the rest of my day is comprised of a generous ration of leisure activity
although i have been known to be productive from time to time
my higher-order-intelligence activities consist of the following:

• reading
  (mostly fiction - i simply love it; someone once told me that "great fiction is like great art; sometimes it's the attention to detail that makes it good; sometimes it's just real and beautiful")
  (nonfiction too - biology material - i read textbooks, yes, textbooks and published articles when i really have some extra mental energy - and stuff on asia pretty often - now im reading China: A Macrohistory)
  (more on this later)


• ARTing (i did recently finish a comic for my friend chris's publication entitled Chaotique which i will post up here SOON)
  (i also enjoy sketchin' and watercolorin')


• writing (fiction, mostly, but also academic stuff, when my determination and diligence are strong enough - i'll put up some fiction too, when i have it; unfortunately, i have nothing completed - because im neurotic i have to work on several stories at once)
  (more about this coming soon)


• language study
  (japanese cuz it's SO MUCH FUN - ive been studying for 4.5 years and have very piddly skills to show for it, so i keep at it; plus, i love the language - right now im reading a children's book that's a storybook version of 千と千尋の神隠し - Spirited Away)
  (korean cuz im planning to move to seoul, south korea THIS FALL to teach english and hang with all my wonderful friends)
  (if you're not in seoul, dont worry, you're still wonderful - probably)


• keeping in touch with my wonderful girl
  (she's in hong kong now, in school)
  (much more about her coming soon)

less productive activities include:

- movie watching (probably lots on this later)
- playing with my cat, cocoa (she's about as insane as cats come - adorable and ferocious simultaneously)
- emotion-juggling (this eats up more time than i'd like, often enough, but it's an important part of being 'me')
- writing this blog

yup, that's about it these days
not so bad, right?
it doesn't sound too difficult when it's all laid out like this
things tend to run pretty smoothly, i guess
...until something slips in my juggling and everything flies in all directions

bear with me
i foresee a disorienting and random array of subsequent postings
FUN!