I'm mostly exhausted from waking up before 6am, but still looking forward to the Bata Shoe Museum's annual volunteer holiday soiree. The pre-6am wakeups seem to be getting slightly easier, which is good as I have more to do this week. I feel as though one could accomplish a lot waking up that early - and it's nice/strange getting home from work before DOOL even starts. However, I am generally so tired that all I can muster is sitting in front of the TV/computer doing very little that could be considered productive. I've been working on going to bed earlier, but I am not helped in this quest by our neighbour. There's lots of door slamming and stair stomping and shouting and general "bro-ness" - all of which reverberates in our bedroom. I'm not sure what his career path is, but I think he works in a bar so his sleep schedule is not akin to ours. The thing is, we never go to bed early. Even when I have to get up before 6am, I never seem to make it to bed before midnight [though I'm getting closer]. I don't think it's too much to ask that things be quiet after 11pm Sunday through Thursday...is it? Even when we were university punks, we lived by those rules. The noise and disturbance that I can't control is the thing I hate most about the early mornings - I feel like I won't get a good night's rest and that gives me restless sleep. Last night the final smoke break [door slam] and bedtime preparations [stair stomping] occurred around 3:15am. Bleh.
But, onwards and upwards to festive celebration. It is indeed, a catered affair. It is catered by those who are paid employees for the volunteers. There are nibbly foods, cheeses with the appropriate accompaniments [selection of breads, crackers, lavash, etc.], an open bar and tables of sweet treats. Last year most of it was made by one woman - she also provided recipes for everything that she made. Last year I also didn't know very many people as my volunteer buddies had moved on and weren't at the party. Therefore, I spent most of the evening lurking around the cookie table and being my usual creepy, socially awkward self. Some of the volunteers have been there since the museum opened, so it's a pretty tight knit to break up. I know more people this year though...but I also still really love cheese and cookies, so hopefully I haven't made myself too popular. They also have a selection of door prizes they give out and have an increased discount in the gift shop for this one night only [there is an excellent Christmas tree entirely decked out in shoe-themed ornaments - a must-have for my new tree]. All of this is just to say how continually impressed I am with the BSM for the way they treat their volunteers. I know it pays off for them as the volunteers generally stay on for some time and I know that I gladly promote the museum all over the place. It makes such a difference - to feel genuinely appreciated and valued - you do have a choice of where you would like to volunteer in a big city and I think that they "get" that. I don't think you would ever see the AGO staff volunteering to make dinner for us lowly volunteers.
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Your volunteer party does sound like a great event. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteBTW, you could always pay back your noisy neighbor by slamming a few doors at 6:00 in the morning :-)
I would totally rather work early and have the rest of the day to do whatever I like, too. We've lucked out with our neighbors this time around, but a few apartments ago was a nightmare. They would play their music so loudly that things would literally fall off of the walls in our apt. The cops were called more times than I can remember before they were finally kicked out. I hope your sleep situation improves soon! :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't understand the whole making noise late at night thing either. I can understand being up that late (intellectually, that is - I'm usually in bed by 11 at the latest), but it is common courtesy not to make a lot of noise ate if you share walls with anyone else.
ReplyDeleteI hate being at parties where I don't know anyone - I'm not much of a social butterfly, and will also lurk awkwardly in a corner. It sounds like a good reception, though. I hope it went well.
I'm still clinging to my night owl ways [my co-workers were shocked to learn that I did see the first 30 minutes of last night's Tonight Show, knowing I would be up before 6am], although I'm so much better than I used to be. I used to deny that my sleep pattern was unhealthy, but now that I get at least 6.5 hours of sleep and I don't sleep until 5pm - I see the errors of my ways.
ReplyDeleteIn this house, there is no common courtesy - other than that which comes from this unit. Everyone just jerkasses around @ whatever hour they would like. There are nights when I would like to go to bed by 11pm [like on Monday when I had a migraine], but it's just not an option. Things don't fall off the wall in our apartment [we don't have stuff on the wall!], but things do shake and rattle due to noise - it's the Jurassic Park effect. Also, recessed lights have blown out/shattered due to stomping.
I would love to slam doors/blare music @ 6am, but unfortunately Joseph is still sleeping for another two hours - I will have to get him on my schedule!