Today is finally my Saturday, after what was a long week of abnormal days off and switching from second shift to first shift and back to second shift. Very discombobulating.
At 911 our weeks start on Saturday, and every 4 weeks, our days off shift over 1 day. This Saturday was the shift shift (haha, see what I did there?). What ends up happening on these weeks is you work 6 days in a row. My days off were supposed to be Sunday and Monday this week, but I opted to move one of my days off to Wednesday in order to accommodate a training class I had to attend Thursday and Friday. So I was already tired after the 6 day week and didn't get a full weekend. On Tuesday I went into work 2 hours early so I could attend a TTY training class, which is one way deaf and hard of hearing people can communicate with 911. So I got off 2 hours early that night, which was nice.
Wednesday I had a hair appointment bright and early at 9:15 am with my friend Katelyn, who I went to esthetician school with. She's gone back to Aveda for cosmetology, which suits me just fine! She gave me a nice, much needed hair cut, and it was nice to catch up with her after several months, too. I also bought some new shampoo which is meant to balance the pH of the scalp. It's great to have some professional quality shampoo again. The difference between it and drug store brands is so evident and my hair feels so much better.
Since my hair appointment was so early after a sort of late night, I decided to go home and take a nap... what I didn't plan for was that I'd nap for FOUR hours. The whole reason I took Wednesday off was so that I wouldn't have to work until 11pm and then have to be up for training on Thursday at 6:20am. But my long nap meant I couldn't fall asleep at a decent time and I ended up getting about 4 hours of sleep anyway. Oh well.
Thursday and Friday, my training was at the Academy starting at 8am with the entire recruit class. I was the only other one in the class, which was pretty awkward. Here's a group of more than 30 people who have spent 23 weeks together and bonded with one another... and then me, hah. The first day was pretty lonely, about 3 or 4 talked to me very briefly and that was it. On Friday, though, I guess they became a little curious about the strange person in the room and talked to me much more. I actually found one guy who went to the Citadel, and another who either is from or lived in Charleston. We talked about Charleston and it made me feel all nostalgic and a little giddy just to be able to talk about it with someone who understands. The Citadel grad was there at the same time I was, too.
The training class over those 2 days was to learn about NCIC and DCI, which are criminal information systems run by the FBI and the state, respectively. Even though most of the class was lecture I found learning about it pretty interesting, especially because I'll be using it daily in my job soon. The instructor was a very seasoned officer and a NCIC/DCI expert, and I enjoyed her stories about the ways she's used the systems to her advantage over the years.
On Friday I passed the final exam with a 97% and so am officially certified to use NCIC and DCI for two years! :)
After I got out of training on Thursday, though, Katie and I met up at the movies and saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I have been looking forward to seeing this movie since last year, when I spontaneously decided to re-read the book and then immediately discovered it was being made into a movie.. with Tom Hanks! And Sandra Bullock! And John Goodman! Ugh, so good. The movie was really, really well done. The quirkiness of the main character and Jonathon Saffron-Foer translated to film so well. I have a lot of respect for the person who adapted it. There were elements that were missing, as is always the case, and I especially wished the man with all the nails had been featured, but overall, I was impressed.
After the movie, Katie and I headed up to Uptown to have dinner with her fiancé and his friend at Nothing But Noodles, which I can never turn down. Originally I thought we were going to the location nearest to my house, which I've eaten at several times, although not since the pregnant manager of the restaurant next door was murdered by a coworker and stashed behind a dumpster a month ago... I'm glad we went to the other location.
So, yesterday was my Friday, and my first day back to work in 3 days, which felt strange. Near the beginning of my shift, a man called in and said he had just heard from his elderly mother who lives alone, and she was saying that something was on fire. He wanted officers to go check on her and make sure everything was okay. I looked up her address and saw that there were actually police and fire on the scene of a working house fire across the street. I explained to the gentleman that the engines would be across the street from her at the moment but we'd send somebody over to speak with her if he wanted. He declined, saying that he had not been able to gather from her what was going on but that she was probably just telling him what she was seeing outside her house. He was very appreciative that I explained to him what was going on and got my name before he hung up. Several minutes later, one of the supervisors called me up to the bridge to speak with him. He asked me if I remembered the call and told me the gentleman had called back to say that he so appreciated my service and had never been treated so nicely by 911. I could tell just speaking with the man earlier that he was thankful for my service, but it meant a lot that he called to speak with my supervisors and compliment me to them as well. I actually teared up as I sat back down--PMS much? The supervisor told me to keep up the great work and I was very happy.
I printed out the fire call and wrote the story of what happened on it and asked the supervisor to put it in my file for my eventual yearly review. :)
I have written so much now and almost none of it is that interesting. Sorry about that. I've actually been really bored since I woke up and was looking for something to do, and this has occupied me now for a little while. Back to being bored! I have no plans for the Super Bowl tonight unfortunately, but I'll still watch it by myself in my apartment. Looks like it'll be a lonely night.
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