I hope it's not a sign of things to come

Guess what I get to do to start off the new year? Switch over to night shift! Yayyyyyy!

*crickets chirping*

Okay, so admittedly I have said in the past that I enjoy working night shift. There's something quieter about the world -- even when I have to wear earplugs to keep from going deaf on the rig floor, the job just seems a bit calmer.

But really, I'm just NOT in the mood to work night shift right now. Too bad for me, because I promised my night hand that I would break him out as day hand this week. He's ready for the promotion to Cell Manager, and he certainly deserves it. At least now I can ease off some of the onus of responsibility from my shoulders onto his -- he needs to learn how to run the job, after all!

I woke up today at the usual 4am. I sort-of worked, mostly goofed off until my night hand arrived on the helicopter at about 9am. Then we had a long talk about operations and job plans, and I went to bed at noon for the "short change", where you work six hours, get six hours off, and then work twelve hours. Some rig crews have to short change every week they're out here. I don't know how they do it.

We picked today to be my short change because our new tools haven't arrived yet, we're not going to be drilling anytime soon, and we're mostly caught up on all the backlog of paperwork, etc. So it's a low-key enough night that if I fall asleep in my chair repeatedly for hours on end, nothing will go wrong.

So, have a good night to all of you who are going to be in bed in a few hours. I hope you realize how lucky you are.