I grew up on a farm. This meant when there was work to do you did the work. No weekends, no sick days, no rotational days off etc. After the farm I went to university, I was trying to complete a four-year university program in three years. This meant no weekends, no sick days, no rotational time off, etc. After University I went back to working oilfield construction. This meant as long as the weather/temperature permitted we worked. Summers were seven days a week and 12 to 14 hours a day all summer long. After putting a chainsaw into my kneecap I recovered and went back to work as a contract designer/drafter for oilfield facilities/equipment. As a contractor the faster I got through a project the quicker I’d move unto the next, which meant more money faster. So once again no weekends or days off. Or at least I’ve rarely had scheduled days off since before I was a teenager. But on the other hand when I had time off I had a bunch of it all at once not scattered two days at a time every week all year. Would you trade eight months of seven days a week work for four months guaranteed days off with pay? I sure would.

So now I find myself in a job where the work load is cyclical. Overloaded one month and twiddling my thumbs the next. No worries about being laid off because when projects for my type of equipment comes in there are only two of us here that designs them.

But … man I hate being slack at the office with nothing real to do and you can’t leave or go look for other contract work because they don’t know day to day when we’ll either get a quote approved or when a new request for custom equipment will come in and poof the two of us are swamped.

Now I find myself sitting here watching the clock creep ever closer and closer to the weekend and closer to the day when my time is my own again for a brief period. Gods I hate to think how many people must go through this most of their lives.

I think I’m depressed now :-(