Friday, January 22, 2010

Creeptastic

So Convergys has gone to a 24-hour operation now. I guess all the WoW playing man-boys in their mothers' basements really need their internet to be working at 2:00 in the morning. :-) Of course, in order to be open 24/7 you need people there 24/7. Which means that Luke is now working the graveyard shift - 7:30 to 6:00, four days a week. Started last Sunday. Yay.

On the plus side, Luke is enjoying it. He really preferred the late shift he had over the summer, just not the randomness of the days off. He's a real night owl . . . plus, apparently there are a lot fewer epically stupid people late at night, and more legitimate problems. And they play movies - one of his first nights he got paid to watch all six Star Wars movies more or less uninterrupted. Now that is my kind of job! :-)

On the flip side, I am by myself all night. I hate being alone at night. I'm not afraid of the dark itself . . . I just really hate being alone. Every vaguely scary movie I've ever watched and every episode of Unsolved Mysteries (in retrospect, I can't believe my parents let us watch that one . . . ) comes back to me and completely freaks me out. Dude, just the music is enough to give me nightmares . . . and when Robert stack did those Subway commercials, or McDonald's or whatever it was - terri-freaking-fying! There's one episode I remember in particular - a ghost story in (I think) Texas. This family bought a big house in the middle of nowhere - seriously, no other houses in sight - and then, of course, the noises started. Or something. I only remember one bit, but I can still see it. This kid was either home alone or his parents were asleep or something and he started hearing things and getting freaked out. So he ran out of the house and down the driveway that was, like, half a mile long and when he got to the mailbox he stopped and looked back at the house. And then - this is the part I can still see in my head - in one of the front windows the face appears like someone was leaning from the side and looks at the kid with one of those big, creepy, "clown-style" grins.

I never ever look out/at windows or mirrors when I'm alone at night. And I always have to have my back up against something so nothing can come up behind me. I'm not sure which house was worse - the one in Idaho Falls, where the entire top half of one of the living room walls was four big windows, or in Tremonton where there was no way to get from one part of the house to another without dashing past the french doors. It can't be quiet either . . . even last year when Mom and Dad were in Washington for a week I kept the laundry room light and the TV on all night - just loud enough that I could hear it, but not loud enough to keep me awake. I'm really glad I've gotten all my music into itunes so I can just curl up and read or play online and play my music, preferably something upbeat.

It's not like I need someone to hold my hand at night. In college I could watch vaguely creepy shows like Beyond Belief or Twilight Zone all night when I knew my roommates were asleep upstairs. But when I was home alone, even ABC Family wasn't cutesy enough to keep me from freaking myself out.

Here's hoping I don't scare myself to death or something because other than that this new shift seems to be working out pretty well.

P. ost S. cript
Just in case I've creeped you out too - the antithesis of Unsolved Mysteries. We've sooooo gotta go to Japan some day. (Best part by far is the last minute)

3 comments:

  1. Me too! Get a night light. I play my radio on a special cycle that turns off at a pre-determined, by me, time Usually 3 hours after I got to bed so that I am asleep when it turns off. But if I wake up for any reason, it has to go back on.

    And I remember that Unsolved Mystery

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  2. I just might! My stereo has a sleep timer, and that was perfect, but it's in the kitchen now, and the remote is missing. And, of course, the sleep timer button is only on the remote. My life is a textbook example of irony. :-)

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  3. If you do go to Japan, don't watch "The Grudge" and then stay in a Japanese style house. Creepy! I watched that movie while living there, in a Japanese home, and I had trouble sleeping for weeks. Not a bright move.

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