T's FIFO Blog #6
I'm all for positive thinking...
Looking on the brighter, lighter side of life...
I'm all for openness and honesty...
We all know the sayings...
Do to others as you would want done to yourself.
What you put out into the world will be returned.
Positive thoughts brings positive actions.
And all the glass half full jazz you can get.
I like it.
I get it.
I live by it.
But there is a limit.
And the lady I met this morning didn't just tear this limit to shreds...
she added some rawness to it, mixed it up with some CLAG glue and built herself a new paper mache Positive Thinking Campervan - like Barbie used to have... but a pimped out version - fit for any mine site!
I'm not sure if this lovely, lovely lunatic was on a concoction of peptides, ecstasy and good old fashioned caffeine, but she was all about stretching the real situation into one that was so far from reality, that Richard Branson would be wanting to launch his 2nd Virgin Atlantic intergalactic quest to get where-ever this lady lives.
Walking across the car park...
Lunalady (whom I had never met previously) was heading in the same direction...
"Morning" I said.
"Hi - how are you?"
"Well thanks. What about yourself?" as we continued the walking/talking thing towards the office door.
"GREAT! I've given up smoking"
"Oh - good on you. How long has it been?"
"14 days"
"Good stuff. You feeling OK with it?"
"Yer - but sometimes it's really tough. Like yesterday - was one of those days"
"Yer - you get days like that hey?"
"Yer - I had 3 yesterday and 3 last night"
"Oh!!?!"
As I think...
a) I like how she's broken yesterdays ciggies down into two smaller categories (day and night) to make her self feel better,
and
b) It hasn't been 14 days since you've QUIT smoking lady!
"But I haven't had any today"
"Oh - I guess that's a good thing"
As I think...
a) We're heading to a 7:30am meeting, so high fives to you for not having had one yet,
and
b) You're a little detached from reality aren't you?
Lunalady had decided I would be her new bestie, so she sat next to me in the meeting. This meeting is a fortnightly event where we discuss all the big things in the world of mining, like the fact that another ATM machine is being put in at the wet mess at one of the camps...
I go purely for the change of scenery and the Mentos - the fruit flavoured ones:)
I'm straight into the Mentos, grabbing 2 for myself and I offer the bowl to Lunalady who politely declines with a...
"No - I'm hypoglycemic - I can't have sugar"
"Oh sorry about that"
"I'll take your one for you then"
Thinking this is a nice way to make a light little joke and score myself an extra Mentos.
After initial discussions about operational hours over Christmas I see Lunalady reaching for her very own sugar filled coated chewy candy, and as she did, she lent across...
"One wont hurt"
"Of course it wont"
For the next 35 minutes I devoured another 3 mentos whilst Lunalady did a great job of putting herself in a sure case of extremo-hypo-hyper-banana-rama-glycemia because my pile of wrappers was far smaller than the non sugar eating machine sitting next to me, plus throw into the pile one of those muesli bar's with the vanilla flavoured yogurt coatings around it (nah - no sugar in that!)
I sat there thinking...
a) You're about as hypoglycemic as I am lady,
and
b) Hello detached from reality episode 2.
The meeting continued and we solved China's and Australia's trading issues, along with a recent fundraising initiative.
$13 000 had been raised for one of the workers and their family who were battling hard times due to poor health. Lunalady - god bless her - thought even more money could be raised - which is a very pure and selfless act.
Team BBQ's, pass the hat around, raffles and shaving heads had all been done to raise the monies donated this far.
Lunalady presented an idea that had worked for her in the past - Do an hour / a day in the shoes of another... Meaning us office workers who get to sit in the aircondtioned site offices each day would have to wear even more PPE, step outside the aircon and do some physical labour out in Central Australia's dry spring heat.
Now - I wasn't dead set against this idea - don't get me wrong.
However I did wash one of the utes the other day at about 2pm in the afternoon and I tell you - 33' in a dust bowl with no coastal sea breezes, head to toe high vis and winter workwear socks turned down over my boots so my poor little tooties can breath, plus a hart hat, gloves and glasses... produced enough sweat on me to make anybody believe I had just been through a 17 hour labour or a 3 day bender - what ever imagery works best for you.
Of course the whole safety issues regarding doing something like this onsite took over the conversation and the idea was pretty much placed on the bench (ie: it would never happen)
We closed out the rest of the world issues for this week and headed off back to our own work areas.
Exiting out different doors, however, of course - meeting up again in the carpark (lucky me!) Lunalady felt the need to re-explain how successful her past "Different Shoes for a Day" had been.
"Oh - its hard to do anything out of the box on the mine site isn't it?
So - how much money did you raise last time?"
"When I did it back nearly 12months ago for one of our workers, I raised about $2000. But I couldn't actually do the work out in the workshop, as I have a bad back, so I had my son come into work for the day!"
"Ha - child labour - I love it!"
As I stood there and thought...
a) You totally jibbed all those that donated for you to get out and do the hard yakka,
and
b) You still whole heartedly think that you raised a legit couple of grand and believes in herself and the concept enough to suggest pulling the same fast all over again??!?!
LunaLady lives in a great great place.
In her mind she is clearly a non smoking hyperglycemic caring sharing charity queen that simply spends her spare time mixing with us mere mortals who struggle to cope with the day to day things of life.
God bless her and her positivity!
Now get me in this ute and the hell away from her!
Looking on the brighter, lighter side of life...
I'm all for openness and honesty...
We all know the sayings...
Do to others as you would want done to yourself.
What you put out into the world will be returned.
Positive thoughts brings positive actions.
And all the glass half full jazz you can get.
I like it.
I get it.
I live by it.
But there is a limit.
And the lady I met this morning didn't just tear this limit to shreds...
she added some rawness to it, mixed it up with some CLAG glue and built herself a new paper mache Positive Thinking Campervan - like Barbie used to have... but a pimped out version - fit for any mine site!
I'm not sure if this lovely, lovely lunatic was on a concoction of peptides, ecstasy and good old fashioned caffeine, but she was all about stretching the real situation into one that was so far from reality, that Richard Branson would be wanting to launch his 2nd Virgin Atlantic intergalactic quest to get where-ever this lady lives.
Walking across the car park...
Lunalady (whom I had never met previously) was heading in the same direction...
"Morning" I said.
"Hi - how are you?"
"Well thanks. What about yourself?" as we continued the walking/talking thing towards the office door.
"GREAT! I've given up smoking"
"Oh - good on you. How long has it been?"
"14 days"
"Good stuff. You feeling OK with it?"
"Yer - but sometimes it's really tough. Like yesterday - was one of those days"
"Yer - you get days like that hey?"
"Yer - I had 3 yesterday and 3 last night"
"Oh!!?!"
As I think...
a) I like how she's broken yesterdays ciggies down into two smaller categories (day and night) to make her self feel better,
and
b) It hasn't been 14 days since you've QUIT smoking lady!
"But I haven't had any today"
"Oh - I guess that's a good thing"
As I think...
a) We're heading to a 7:30am meeting, so high fives to you for not having had one yet,
and
b) You're a little detached from reality aren't you?
Lunalady had decided I would be her new bestie, so she sat next to me in the meeting. This meeting is a fortnightly event where we discuss all the big things in the world of mining, like the fact that another ATM machine is being put in at the wet mess at one of the camps...
I go purely for the change of scenery and the Mentos - the fruit flavoured ones:)
I'm straight into the Mentos, grabbing 2 for myself and I offer the bowl to Lunalady who politely declines with a...
"No - I'm hypoglycemic - I can't have sugar"
"Oh sorry about that"
"I'll take your one for you then"
Thinking this is a nice way to make a light little joke and score myself an extra Mentos.
After initial discussions about operational hours over Christmas I see Lunalady reaching for her very own sugar filled coated chewy candy, and as she did, she lent across...
"One wont hurt"
"Of course it wont"
For the next 35 minutes I devoured another 3 mentos whilst Lunalady did a great job of putting herself in a sure case of extremo-hypo-hyper-banana-rama-glycemia because my pile of wrappers was far smaller than the non sugar eating machine sitting next to me, plus throw into the pile one of those muesli bar's with the vanilla flavoured yogurt coatings around it (nah - no sugar in that!)
I sat there thinking...
a) You're about as hypoglycemic as I am lady,
and
b) Hello detached from reality episode 2.
The meeting continued and we solved China's and Australia's trading issues, along with a recent fundraising initiative.
$13 000 had been raised for one of the workers and their family who were battling hard times due to poor health. Lunalady - god bless her - thought even more money could be raised - which is a very pure and selfless act.
Team BBQ's, pass the hat around, raffles and shaving heads had all been done to raise the monies donated this far.
Lunalady presented an idea that had worked for her in the past - Do an hour / a day in the shoes of another... Meaning us office workers who get to sit in the aircondtioned site offices each day would have to wear even more PPE, step outside the aircon and do some physical labour out in Central Australia's dry spring heat.
Now - I wasn't dead set against this idea - don't get me wrong.
However I did wash one of the utes the other day at about 2pm in the afternoon and I tell you - 33' in a dust bowl with no coastal sea breezes, head to toe high vis and winter workwear socks turned down over my boots so my poor little tooties can breath, plus a hart hat, gloves and glasses... produced enough sweat on me to make anybody believe I had just been through a 17 hour labour or a 3 day bender - what ever imagery works best for you.
Of course the whole safety issues regarding doing something like this onsite took over the conversation and the idea was pretty much placed on the bench (ie: it would never happen)
We closed out the rest of the world issues for this week and headed off back to our own work areas.
Exiting out different doors, however, of course - meeting up again in the carpark (lucky me!) Lunalady felt the need to re-explain how successful her past "Different Shoes for a Day" had been.
"Oh - its hard to do anything out of the box on the mine site isn't it?
So - how much money did you raise last time?"
"When I did it back nearly 12months ago for one of our workers, I raised about $2000. But I couldn't actually do the work out in the workshop, as I have a bad back, so I had my son come into work for the day!"
"Ha - child labour - I love it!"
As I stood there and thought...
a) You totally jibbed all those that donated for you to get out and do the hard yakka,
and
b) You still whole heartedly think that you raised a legit couple of grand and believes in herself and the concept enough to suggest pulling the same fast all over again??!?!
LunaLady lives in a great great place.
In her mind she is clearly a non smoking hyperglycemic caring sharing charity queen that simply spends her spare time mixing with us mere mortals who struggle to cope with the day to day things of life.
God bless her and her positivity!
Now get me in this ute and the hell away from her!
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