Attack of the blisters

It was a sad, sad day in Jane-land right from the get go.

First off, I seem completely incapable of adjusting to the time difference and I was wide awake (again) at 5 in the morning. Second, I walked thirty minutes to work in a pair of brand new work shoes and when I was about six blocks away they started to hurt, at five blocks they were killing me and by four blocks I was hobbling (not a joke, ask anyone in the office. They laughed- a lot).

It was not a good time. Luckily I got a ride home (but my last one for the week) so tomorrow I need to prepare. Rob has suggested I wear running shoes and bring work shoes in my bag and I think I will be doing just that, otherwise my poor feet (I now have four blisters, the kind that not even double layers of band-aids and socks can mask) will die and I need them since I lack a car and the city of Kelowna appears to lack any sort of reliable transit system.

Work, however, was it's usual good time. Today they were ready for us, so I spent most of my day writing briefs, copy-editing and chasing down interviews for a story about a city construction job gone wrong (a woman has been without water for four days now).

The humour (for me, at least) in writing this blog is that all the crazy, specific things from work (the ones that make really good stories) I can't share online. I can tell you about my experiences, that people were nice, about my adventures (and my blisters), but I can't really delve into it much more because online is a little too on the record (to use a useful journalism term).

The one thing I will say is that working 8:30-5pm with a police scanner on as background noise can be fairly stressful, but can also provide opportune comedic relief (when you get past the numerous hobbling jokes that were made at my expense - I like to think that so far I have been a good sport).

It can be stressful when you're doing an interview and you hear voices on the police scanner talking about trucks rolling over, car accidents, arrests, etc. but there were two moments of note today that made me laugh (although whether or not they are actually humorous remain to be seen).

At one point a reporter out on assignment trying to find a car accident and a person who supposedly needed to be taken to the hospital kept calling in to ask where it was and everyone was trying so hard and you could just hear the voices on the police scanner also asking each other where it was and saying they couldn't find it.

Later, the whole office just started vibrating (before 3, so not the printing press starting up) and one of the reporter's put her head on the table and said, 'I hate when it does this.' Turns out that sometimes the police scanner just relays some sort of weird static for long periods of time and sometimes it's well-timed during a crazy day.

I'm sort of reading what I wrote and it sounds a lot less funnier than it was today and as it was in my head when I was trying to figure out how to write it - sorry, I hope you still read my blog.

As for life in general, there have been several changes to my itinerary and life that I won't really go into too much depth explaining (although I'm sure once my parents read it they will follow up with a demand for an explanation, typical parents).

I am now heading home (for Toronto work) two weeks earlier than originally planned (I leave June 10, instead of June 24). Instead of visiting Granny and Nat in Victoria June 24, I am instead spending a weekend there in two weeks (May 19). Also one of my favourite new itinerary changes? Rob will be spending a week in Kelowna after my visit to Victoria.

And now? Glee.

Glee, sleep, using this blog as some sort of weird de-stressing, post-work therapy and more sleep will save me.

:)