A Much Better Day at Work - September 8th 2023

So, I woke up with a headache and felt pretty crappy. 

My manager picked me up and gave me a ride to work at 5:30. Between my headache and the fact that we thought we were the only people working until 8 or 9, I wasn't super hopeful for how the day was going to go. But then we realized we had the new girl at 7:00, and then another crew member showed up and another! Then we had someone else come in at 8:30 - so we had plenty of people and I didn't have to run back and forth across the kitchen because of the card reader being broken.

I progressively felt worse though, with the headache, but I was relieved that work was going so much more smoothly. 

I realized that my ankle was swelling and that probably was the cellulitis flaring up again. :(

After work, I grabbed lunch and went home to take a nap. I watched a couple cartoons while I ate and then I fell asleep for several hours. 

When I woke up, my ankle was still red and swollen, so I'm going to see a doctor in the morning. 

I worked on some projects and watched some cartoons for a couple hours. I didn't have the energy to cook, but I was very hungry (probably because I'm not feeling well) so I ran back up to Wendy's and got something to eat. Wasn't as fresh as I'd hoped, but at least I got something to eat.

Wrapped it up and called it a night a little later, after a few more cartoons. 

82 Days: Countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom Premiere

82 days until the premiere of An Unlikely Fandom!

We Thomas fans love to reminisce about the years in which the show was made with models and practical effects... but at the height of the CGI years, the show was beautiful too. This is just one example...

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For more about An Unlikely Fandom visit: Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram 

I'm blogging the countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom premiere, 

for the rest of these blogs - click here! 

New Thomas content coming soon to my YouTube. 

Click here for that!

You can visit the Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki by clicking here.

Also be sure to check out the Sodor Island Fansite and Sodor Island Forums, 

if you're looking for more great Thomas the Tank Engine content and discussion.

Another Crappy Day at Work - September 7th 2023

Got to work. Different manager, different crew and I was hoping that things would get easier. It was only marginally better, but I handled it a little better than yesterday. I turned on some zen meditation music and just carried on, though it felt like it would go on forever. After the general manager showed up, it got better. I was supposed to be out at 11, but I ended up staying until about 1:30. Like I said, it was better working with the GM. The maintenance guys came right at the end of breakfast when things were starting to get busy and started work on the sandwich station (which has been down for a few days, everything seems to be crapping out at once on us) which meant the sandwich maker had to move to the other side. The only problem - you can route dining room orders to the secondary sandwich station, but not drive thru. So the GM had to holler the orders over to the sandwich maker. It was a cluster, but it went surprisingly well. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching cartoons and working on some of my projects. Was pretty burnt out from work.

83 Days: Countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom Premiere

Some of my favorites from the seventh series of Thomas. Was going through some interesting times when these were released on VHS and I'll always remember the good times we had watching them 😊 

83 days until the premiere of An Unlikely Fandom in NYC! 😁

 

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For more about An Unlikely Fandom visit: Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram 

I'm blogging the countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom premiere, 

for the rest of these blogs - click here! 

New Thomas content coming soon to my YouTube. 

Click here for that!

You can visit the Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki by clicking here.

Also be sure to check out the Sodor Island Fansite and Sodor Island Forums, 

if you're looking for more great Thomas the Tank Engine content and discussion.

Crappy Day at Work - September 6th 2023

 I got to work on time, despite my late night. The computer was acting up, so I wasn't able to clock in right away, but the manager fixed it later. 

I forgot about the card reader breaking yesterday and this was a terrible hassle when we opened. It got crazy busy right after we opened and I improvised at first, using the front register to take a couple orders.

It was ridiculous. Eventually another crew member came and I got some help. We also got a trainee (I told her it was the worst possible day for her to start. I was worried she wouldn't come back.) The manager ended up sitting in the office on hold with support for the card reader... so the the three of us did everything by ourselves. Very rough shift, I nearly walked out several times. 

I was burnt out for the rest of the day after this. I sat around and watched some shows. 

84 Days: Countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom Premiere

Here's a fun one. I mentioned in a previous post about Thomas the Tank Engine that as a kid I was obsessed with the one-off and background characters and anyone who knows me IRL knows that I'm obsessed with bright colors - so you can imagine that I adore Molly, an engine that had like 1 episode and then was relegated to a background set dressing. I used to write stories about the character and draw pictures of her all the time. If I ever build a model engine, it'll probably be her. 

84 days until the premiere of An Unlikely Fandom!

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For more about An Unlikely Fandom visit: Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram 

I'm blogging the countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom premiere, 

for the rest of these blogs - click here! 

New Thomas content coming soon to my YouTube. 

Click here for that!

You can visit the Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki by clicking here.

Also be sure to check out the Sodor Island Fansite and Sodor Island Forums, 

if you're looking for more great Thomas the Tank Engine content and discussion.

First Movie Day of the Month - September 5th 2023

Had a hectic morning at work which unfortunately included the card reader in the drive thru getting broke. It fell on the floor one too many times and quit working. It was unusually busy (holiday traffic, I guess). I was supposed to be done at 10, but I didn't get out until after 11:00. Fortunately, I still had time to get home and get ready to meet my parents at noon.

We had plans to go to Pittsburgh and see some movies. We had a nice drive down and were early for once, as crazy busy as it had been at work and over the last couple of days seemingly everywhere, I was expecting traffic jams and so we left about 15 minutes earlier than usual. Funny enough, the traffic leaving Pittsburgh was intense, but we breezed right in with no delays.

We got our popcorn and settled in for our 3 movies of the week...

The Equalizer 3 - great conclusion to the trilogy, lots of great action, beautiful locations.

The Hill - probably my new favorite faith-based film, a sports movie with real stakes and heart.

The Good Mother - this one was full of surprises and one of the best movies I've seen recently. 

Had a nice drive home and then got ready for bed so that I could get to work in the morning. 

85 Days: Countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom Premiere

85 days to go until the premiere of An Unlikely Fandom! 

For those of you that are just tuning in, An Unlikely Fandom is a documentary about fans of Thomas the Tank Engine and the impact our favorite little blue engine has had around the world. I'm an Executive Producer on the project, and I'm really excited to see the finished product. :) 

The premiere screening of the film is sold out, but as soon as I know when/where it will be available, I'll let you know. 

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For more about An Unlikely Fandom visit: Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram 

I'm blogging the countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom premiere, 

for the rest of these blogs - click here! 

New Thomas content coming soon to my YouTube. 

Click here for that!

You can visit the Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki by clicking here.

Also be sure to check out the Sodor Island Fansite and Sodor Island Forums, 

if you're looking for more great Thomas the Tank Engine content and discussion.

Labor Day - September 4th 2023

I slept in until 8:30 and it took a little while to get up and get going. I watched The Equalizer, because I have a reservation to see the newly released 3rd one tomorrow at AMC Waterfront 22, one of my favorite cinemas. 

I continued working on unsubscribing from junk emails and I started closing out tabs in my browser... I have a crazy habit of leaving tabs open. I used to bookmark things like a normal person, but somewhere over the years, the crazy cuckoo part of me won out and I started leaving hundreds of tabs open. 

Had requested an 11am to 5pm shift around a month ago, because I knew I'd be getting in late on my return journey from Versailles. I really wasn't feeling it today. It was very busy and very hot. I couldn't wait for it to be over, even though, thankfully, we had a good team. (I also found something to wear that will keep my legs from chafing in my work pants! Huzzah!) The first half of my shift was spent on grill and the second on orders. 

Wasn't very productive when I got home and ended up in a bit of a funk. I should have just went to sleep at 7 like I initially planned. 

I didn't realize how hot it was until right before I fell asleep, maybe that's part of why I had a difficult day? It was almost 80 in my house with the air on high 😬

Beautiful day tho 

86 Days: Countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom Premiere

With 86 days until the premiere of An Unlikely Fandom, I was thinking about Thomas again and this popped into my head - something I never got to see, but apparently these were/are popular. There have been a number of Thomas stage shows around the world, but I distinctly remember seeing this one advertised. Never got to see it, but wondering if any of my fellow Thomas fans did and what it was like?

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For more about An Unlikely Fandom visit: Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram 

I'm blogging the countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom premiere, 

for the rest of these blogs - click here! 

New Thomas content coming soon to my YouTube. 

Click here for that!

You can visit the Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki by clicking here.

Also be sure to check out the Sodor Island Fansite and Sodor Island Forums, 

if you're looking for more great Thomas the Tank Engine content and discussion.

Rock & Metal Legends - September 3rd 2023

I woke up at 4:30 and got a shower and a few things done around the house before my manager picked me up and we went to work. I worked 5:30 to 10am today, as I'd requested to leave an hour earlier than usual so that I could get to a concert on time. 

Work was pretty uneventful, being a Sunday morning and the manager was kind enough to take me off cash register at 9:00, so that I could spend the last hour stocking and cooking so that I could make a speedy exit. 

I made it home, changed clothes and waited for Mom & Dad to pick me up. The plan was to drive the four hours to Versailles, Ohio and attend a Christian metal music festival. I had heard that my childhood favorite, Whitecross, would be playing along with a couple other notable bands. 

We had a pleasant drive with great conversation and snacks. (I got to try Little Debbie pumpkin spice donuts 🍩 😋) One of the managers at Wendy's tried to call me and asked if I'd come back in to help and I told her that I was on the other side of the state. 

We arrived in Versailles and the venue was amazing, the BMI Event Center.  We got to hear legendary guitarist Glenn Kaiser perform and, of course, Whitecross. 

In between Kaiser and Whitecross was Daniel Band's performance. Daniel Band is another iconic band that I listened to as a child, particularly the Running Out of Time album, which we listened to on repeat on an audio cassette in the car growing up.  

They blew the performance right out of the park! These guys sounded absolutely amazing, as if it was a studio recording. I loved them all, but Daniel Band ended up being my favorite performance of the night! They even brought a bunch of fans up on stage to help sing their final song. 

Then Whitecross, who have always been a favorite of mine, but I was saddened to find tonight that their long time lead singer had been replaced in 2020 (I was previously unaware). That's not to say that their new guy isn't great, because he is, and I'm very eager to hear their forthcoming album. 

After Whitecross there were two more acts to come, but we opted to leave early because of the length of the drive home. 

An amazing day all around! 

87 Days: Countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom Premiere

(initially published from one of my other profiles, republished from this account)

Another cool item from my Thomas collection, a Wooden Railway freight car with "gold dust" that was a promotional item for the 2000 movie. I grabbed this photo off the wiki though, because I'm missing the gold dust piece in mine 😅

87 days until An Unlikely Fandom!

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For more about An Unlikely Fandom visit: Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram 

I'm blogging the countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom premiere, 

for the rest of these blogs - click here! 

New Thomas content coming soon to my YouTube. 

Click here for that!

You can visit the Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki by clicking here.

Also be sure to check out the Sodor Island Fansite and Sodor Island Forums, 

if you're looking for more great Thomas the Tank Engine content and discussion.

Crazy Day at Work - September 2nd 2023

I'd forgotten that I was working a longer shift, until I checked the schedule for the week and saw that the shift was 5:30am to 2pm. (I have to check the schedule regularly now, as recently they decided to experiment with some different shifts, having me come in at 6:00 and 6:30 some days. I made the mistake of showing up early a few times.)

An eight and a half hour shift doesn't sound like much, but it feels like a lot when you're used to 4 to 5 hour shifts. Not so long ago I was working a minimum of 12 hours a day (and frequently longer) and I'm very appreciative of the slower pace I'm now living at - even if I'm broke all the time. 

So work wasn't so bad at first, I was working with the general manager, who is one of my favorites at any job and is proficient in her work. We had one of our best on grill as well. 

I got to go outside for a few minutes and change the sign, which is always a highlight of my day.

As the day went on, the other two openers left and though we got some of my other favorite coworkers, including the new shift manager, we had a couple call-offs. Staffing was tight before the call-offs, so some sucker was going to be stuck in the second drive thru window taking orders and collecting payments, which is a real bummer if you're wondering. You got to make the drinks and help get the food bagged and out as well as cashing out the orders...

It's a real quagmire, but I volunteered for it as I figured it would help my day go faster. I also figured I'd handle it better than anyone else. I wasn't wrong, but boy was it rough. Admittedly, I thought I was going to have steady help bagging orders when I volunteered and while I had help they were spread thin working a couple positions to make up for the missing crew members. 

All in all, it went pretty well, but I caught myself clenching my jaw again and my head felt like it was going to explode a few times. When I finally got out at 2:00, I was so relieved. I bought a Biggie Bag deal with my discount and then went home. I should've stopped eating then, but I started stress eating leftovers and that only made my discomfort from the day even worse. 

Though I felt "off" for the rest of the night, I watched a couple episodes of Star Wars Rebels, Dad came up and gathered up all the excess wood and supplies from my porch and then Mom, Dad & I watched an episode of Fringe. 

I wrapped up the day after that, writing a brief An Unlikely Fandom countdown post. 

88 Days: Countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom Premiere

(originally published under the other profile, reposted to keep them consistent)

Soon these countdown posts will all be scheduled in advance so I can focus on some of my other projects, but I love writing these posts counting down to our documentary premiere and reminiscing about all the fantastic Thomas memories I have - so this is one of my favorite things I have going at the moment and no way was I gonna give it up. :) 

Today's post is about Season 6, with episodes and VHS releases that were favorites of mine when I was a kid. I was obsessed with characters like Salty the Dockside Diesel and Harvey the Crane Engine and it felt a bit different to season 5, but that was fine by me, as things were different for me too - having moved from Dennison to Jewett. I remember my first season 6 episode was Salty's Secret, which I got on VHS from K-Mart. I begged and hounded my parents for it the entire shopping trip until they told me "no." Once we got home, and I calmed down, they revealed that they'd got the tape AND some new toy trains. :) 

Just 88 days until the premiere of An Unlikely Fandom!

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For more about An Unlikely Fandom visit: Website • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram 

I'm blogging the countdown to the An Unlikely Fandom premiere, 

for the rest of these blogs - click here! 

New Thomas content coming soon to my YouTube. 

Click here for that!

You can visit the Thomas the Tank Engine Wiki by clicking here.

Also be sure to check out the Sodor Island Fansite and Sodor Island Forums, 

if you're looking for more great Thomas the Tank Engine content and discussion.

Social Media, Cartoons and the New Porch - September 1st 2023

With the beginning of September, we begin what I believe (and hope) to be my last four months in Ohio. Having begun to make plans to begin traveling full-time over the past month, and set January as my estimated departure, I have quite a few goals and projects to complete before that time. 

In order to have the most time and headspace to accomplish everything, I recently made the decision to take a social media break and focus on my projects. Granted, a lot of my projects are social media related, so I've got a few things that I will continue updating but I will be taking a break from most of my personal social media accounts - with the notable exception of the An Unlikely Fandom countdown on Facebook (which I'm working on scheduling in advance) and my daily Instagram posts. 

I worked from 5:30 to 10:15 today, no idea why the odd hours, but I was eager to leave by the time it came to an end. Was sad to say goodbye to one of my favorite coworkers today, as it was her final shift. 

Upon returning home, I began work on a few of my projects. I wanted to get to scheduling the An Unlikely Fandom countdown posts, but I ended up working on some more mundane tasks first, like uninstalling some apps and unsubscribing from a number of email lists. I also did some housework. I'm trying to create an environment that encourages creativity, by eliminating as much clutter as I can from my physical and digital workspaces.

I also made some edits to my An Unlikely Fandom blog posts and caught them up with the Facebook ones. 

While I was working, I streamed some cartoons on Disney+. One of the unfortunate habits I've acquired in recent years is starting TV shows and then not finishing them, while being haunted by not knowing the complete story, I go on to watch other things. This is another thing that I'm trying to change, by finally finishing shows I started ages ago. Yesterday I finally finished the DuckTales reboot. Today, I finished the first season of Ultimate Spider-Man. I'm also watching Star Wars Rebels for the first time, though I started that recently to prepare for the Ahsoka show (which I'm not watching until the entire season is available.)

Even though I didn't get everything done that I wanted to, I did have Mom and Dad over and Dad finished my porch for me. A month or so ago, he built me some new steps, but I still needed a rail around the porch to keep people from falling. Thanks to his help, this project is now complete. 

After this, we got Subway sandwiches, made some tentative future plans and watched an episode of Fringe together (s3e16). I watched an episode of Liv & Maddie (my secret favorite show, I'll know if you read my blog if you mention it) while I finished work on my projects for the night.