It's the long weekend here where I live.  This Monday will be Victoria Day which is supposed to celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria, a famous British monarch.  I think (if I remember correctly) it is also supposed to be the day on which we celebrate the current monarch's birth, regardless of which day is his/her actual birthday.  Canada is no longer a colony of Britain but we still retain the Queen as our Head of State (although she is, in reality, only a figurehead) and so we celebrate such things.  To most Canadians though the reason(s) behind the Victoria Day holiday are forgotten and unimportant.  It is simply another holiday, a reason to take an extra day off work and have a long weekend.

In my case though I will be working through this long weekend.  Actually, between the two jobs I'm doing right now, I now have worked just shy of two weeks without having a day off.  That's good because I can use the money but it's also bad because I'm starting to get a little burnt out.  My feet are especially killing me.  Working in security involves spending a lot of time on your feet, either doing foot patrols or standing at attention.  If you're on duty it is generally frowned upon for you to be seen sitting down because people associate a security guard who is sitting down as being lazy and not working.  So, you really only can sit down if you're on break and away from the public eye.  Plus, I'm expected to wear dress shoes at most places because runners do not look professional. 

Dress shoes however just aren't designed to support your feet like runners do.  I've even purchased inserts for them but, after 8 hours a day of walking or standing in them, my feet are always hurting.  It's such a relief at the end of my shift to get them off.  I've noticed that the pain in my feet has translated somewhat into my lower back as well.

On the positive side my attempts at getting into better shape seem to be having some success.  I've lost another 2 lbs. since last week and my pants have become so loose I've had to bring them into the tailor to have the waist taken in.  The walking and reduction in junk food seems to be having some effect.  I think I need to kick it up a notch though and start working with weights.  I know nothing about that sort of thing though so I expect I'll have to see a trainer which is going to be expensive.  Oh well, I suppose I should just look at it as an investment.  It is necessary for me in order to meet my career goals and it will be good for my health as well.

Taking a detour from my previous line of thought for a moment... I think I'm going to ignore the forums on here for a while.  I haven't had as much time for reading through and posting to them lately because of all the shifts I've been working.  Additionally, I've found that some of the discussions and debates on there are not all that productive and I'm not sure I should bother with them.  I'm not saying that all of them are useless but some people seem to go on them simply for the purpose of getting into arguments and spewing emotionally charged and provocative statements.  I'm not againt a debate on issues but I dislike it when things devolve into name calling and tit for tat exchanges.  If you want to have an exchange of ideas and perhaps test your theories through logical debate then that's one thing but simply going on there and stating what your position is and then closing your mind to any criticism, or worse yet, resorting to petty insults against those who disagree with you, is .. to me... a waste of time.