while you were sleeping

this week, while you were sleeping, i was up at work. conquering my first ever week of night shift. i decided to diarise my experience seeing this was to be a great challenge for me; in my normal life i'm up with the sun and down with the moon, no compromise.

sunday in preparation:
i tried to stay up until midnight, knowing that the following day of travel would be a difficult yet necessary tiresome day. by 10:30 i was getting anxious knowing that my alarm was set for 4:30am so triple checked that i had packed everything and got ready for bed. made it in bed by almost 12. win!

monday:
4:30 alarm goes off, slept well, still wish i had more.
5:30 an hour wait at the airport for the plane, buy two trashy magazines to occupy myself. board at 6:40.
7:40-ish wake just in time for breakfast on the plane, eat it, sleep.
9:30 arrive in sunny broome. i wish i could just stay here and laze on cable beach. its almost torture to go and check in at the heli-port (is that even what its called?) leave within the hour for the 2 hour chopper ride out to the rig.
13:00 arrive on the rig, a little too amped to sleep, am skittish walking around unpacking and then moving things from draw to cupboard, cupboard to draw. decide to shower and pretend its night time. have a little nap, awake at 18:20 and get ready for dinner. its strange having dinner at 'breakfast time'.
19:00 head to work and arrange my week.
22:55 travelling ok, have decided to run a midnight yoga class from tomorrow night which i am excited about. unsure as to whether i feel anxious or excitable, perhaps both.
3:00 have hit the wall, decide to nap, awake worse than when i went to sleep. struggle through the next few hours snacking on cereal, fruit and water.
hit the hay at 7:30, setting the alarm for 4pm...


the next few nights followed a similar schedule: wake up at 2-3pm and catch the last few hours of sunlight, have dinner and work through to midnight. run my yoga class for the guys finishing work (they work 12-12 here on the rig) and struggle through the early hours of the morning before sleeping from 7:30.

amazingly, i'm a lot less emotional than i expected. yes, my fatigue levels are sky high, but there is a newfound respect for just how difficult this type of work can be. i imagine it much worse where a high level of attention to detail is necessary, all those doctors and nurses, i salute you!

some photos of my experience: 

midnight yoga on the heli deck: so cool! 

me looking and feeling less than amazing before bed time

my bed after the lovely cleaners came through. made me go awww!

there is a light that never goes out

its funny how fashion comes and goes and then comes back again. looking at the latest bright and colourful and crazy designs from sydney fashion week has made me nostalgic about some of the things i adore and have adored for some time. so i wrote a little list and thought i'd share it with you dear friends... some things i think i will never get over include:

skulls, maybe an occupational hazard from all those efforts of studying anatomy? and perhaps something to do with my pirate obsession

studs and spikes, from my years as a wanna-be punk (at the time i was certain i was a punk)

brightly coloured hair, see above, and also my hair idol lauren conrad. gee thanks LC!!

the fact that i think i should be a hat person, and try on hats to have people tell me they look good, only to never wear them... from alex mack?? she was a hat person, i never thought i was as cool as her!

painting my nails a different colour every few days. i have rules: i can never use the same colour twice in a row, unless its black; and i can never let them become chipped to the point of looking unkempt (i have been known to be out and about and purchase polish remover to avoid this)

fashionable shoes that are impractical, rarely comfortable but oh so beautiful/interesting

consequently i have over thirty different nail polish colours, at least two bottles of nail polish remover, numerous clothing items with skulls or studs or skulls made from studs (the best combination), and have coloured my hair blue recently (peach or purple could be next, although i swore i was through with unnaturally coloured hair and threw out my hawaiian blue fudge). not to mention the shoes that i own and constantly seek to add to my collection.

see some things i am currently crushing on:

see more things i love on my pinterest.
side note: i rocked double denim last week. denim shirt, and jeans. and i loved it! i was once a child of the late 80's/early 90's and she lives on deep down!