hello from sunny fort mcmurray

That is where I have disappeared to in the last couple of weeks. Fort McMurray, perhaps a chemical/process engineer’s haven, is not my type of place. I. Hate. It. Here. Daily, I wake at 4am (or pm, depending on which shift I work- and yes, by shift I mean I sometimes need to work nights) and trudge to the McKay river to work on this super important project for Petro-Canada. I wear coveralls, goggles, hard hat, ear muffs, three pairs of gloves (two nitrile, one leather) and my ugly steel-toed boots that hurt my feet a million times more than my high heels because it rubs against my ankles and gives me huge blisters. Then I work twelve hours, which doesn’t include my two hours commute from Fort McMurray to the McKay River site. Half of my shift is spent in a 53 degrees celcius plant. The other half I am probably spilling 85 degrees celcius bitumen (unrefined oil) on myself. And I am doing this all for the sake of “gaining oil industry experience to become a well-rounded environmental consultant”. Wise or foolish? My bleeding ankles say the latter.

And so, I return home today. Dear beautiful Toronto where there is culture and food and family and Daniel and 8 hour work days! I return to my small cubicle, exactly the same as the one beside it and the beside it and the one beside that one. Some people hate desk jobs, but I love mine! I really do! I now also love my desk! so much!

And then I am to go shopping and spend all my hard earned overtime money on a pair of four inch heels that will hurt my feet so but, at the least, won’t make me bleed! I am also debating between purchasing a pair of seven of all mankinds or a extremely girly dress with lots of pink and florals. After wearing will-fit-a-300-pound-six-foot-man coveralls (they didn’t have remotely close to my size) for two weeks, I just want to revel in feminity.

Oh, and on Sunday, the much dreaded Sunday, I am to return here to Fort McMurray for another two weeks to “gain oil industry experience to become a well-rounded consultant”. Bah.