This morning, I went to bed fully expecting to go to work the following night. I have been sick for the past couple of days, but was feeling well by early morning. I even went driving in the fresh snow before I came home from Aaron’s house. It was awesome, and there were close to 6 inches on some of the higher roads.

I went to bed at around 6:30am, as I usually do, in order to reset my internal clock for the following week of graveyard. When I woke up at around 4:30pm, I could tell that something wasn’t quite right. I was still sick. In fact, I was tired, nauseous, achy and generally feeling sickish.

I usually take about 7-8 hours of sleep in order to feel rested, even during my weekend, though I stay up all day after getting off of work on my Friday. I do this, so that my weekend feels longer, and so I can spend more time with my family who doesn’t get to see me all that often anyway. I sleep late into the morning the next day, and then stay up all that next day AND night so I can work graveyard the following night without feeling sleepy.

By about 9:30pm, I could tell that my headache and nausea wasn’t going to subside enough to let me work that night. I called in sick.

I hate calling in sick. It uses up precious time that I have built up in my sick time bank, but I guess that being sick is THE reason I have it. What’s funny, is that after I called in, I checked my calendar and saw that I was scheduled to be booking again. At least I get to miss that ‘little gem of a position’.

Speaking of Booking, I never did follow up my previous article about my 3 day jaunt as booking officer. Suffice it to say that I didn’t get into any trouble to speak of. At least, I haven’t been informed of any trouble I may be in. For now, I’ll just assume I’m in the clear. Let’s hope it stays that way.

I’m not the typical “gamer”, as in, I don’t own any new consoles, and the last console I did buy was the PS2 so I could play “Tiger Woods 2003″. I have recently been playing XBOX 360 at a friends house, and have really enjoyed it. I’m not exactly planning on buying a console for myself (yet). For one thing, I don’t have the MEAN$, and for another, my wife would probably kill me. The second reason is notably the largest factor. I would probably enjoy it TOO much, if you know what I mean. Seeing as I already spend quite a lot of time with the laptop on my lap and the TV remote in my hand, the last thing I really need is another distraction from my family. Time is precious, especially when I’m working shift-work.

• So, Joel, why are you even talking about gaming? This blog is usually about your work. What’s going on?

I hadn’t even thought about gaming except I recently saw a video of a young boy’s birthday. I actually laughed out loud while watching it. It depicts a boy opening presents, and the first two are the usual, but THEN, he opens the first BIG box. To his absolute amazement, and while telling his dad that it “must have cost a fortune”, he unwraps a brand new 360. Hilarity ensues forthwith. (+10 points for big word usage) Check out>>The Video<<.

• That video was funny, Joel, so what games do you like?

My friend has some great games, and the one I absolutely LOVE is Valve’s “Portal”. Sort of a mix between a first-person-shooter and a puzzle game, Portal was familiar to me from a Flash game I’ve been playing on line. It was made by some fans of the game and is basically a side scrolling version of it. It’s called f-portal (as in “Flash Portal”). Give it a try>>The Game<<.

• Awesome game, Joel, I even bookmarked it so I can play it later. What do you and your friend play other than Portal?

Unfortunately, Portal is only a single player game, so we’ve been killing terrorists or other such bad guys from other games. The first game we played was a horribly reviewed, but fun multi-player game called Kane & Lynch. While not exactly kid-friendly, it WAS scarily satisfying to kill me some bad guys, and sometimes a bystander or two… or three, I lose count. Does that make me ripe for mass-murderer yearnings? I hope not.

• Yes, Joel, you are now technically a murderer, and I will never read this blog again. Other than that, what kind of a gamer ARE you?

I guess I’m a… “partial” gamer, or maybe the term is half-gamer, either way, I’ve been having fun. But, really, who cares?

• Nobody cares, Joel. Nobody cares.

Just thought you should know.