Changed life

Was contacted by someone this week who has only just been diagnosed as HIV+. It wasn't really that long ago for me either, being 2009, but today it seems like a lifetime ago. So much has happened. So much has changed. A roller coaster ride filled with unexpected twists and turns. But in all this there's been huge support services there to help me along the way. I think it's the way you approach having HIV that makes the difference to many of the outcomes when faced with challenges. 

To be honest, I can't even imagine what it would be like being negative now. Being positive has changed who I am. It changes relationships. Plans. 

For anyone who's just be diagnosed this may be a useful link:

http://www.positivelife.org.au/newlydiagnosed 

Work went well this week. The dept head is thinking of having a chat with HR as there doesn't seem to be much of a reason for me to not work 4 days every week now. I'm handling the work fine. Yesterday I'd have lifted 4 tonnes over the course of the day. Tiring but nothing unexpected. Back is a bit sore as the Shingles have made a slight appearance again. Only one spot, following the line of the nerve near the other faded marks on my ass. Making my lower back a bit sore, but again nothing spectacular.

The agency bloke who was doing Monday and Tuesdays, got the shits and spat the dummy when I worked Tuesday the week before. So he's told the agency he's not coming in any more as he had the shits about it. WTF? He's only a casual. The place is under no obligation to keep him on 2 days. And he was useless in the end anyway, doing only about half the work expected of him, and getting paid more than me at casual rates. Must have cost the company a fortune having him there. 

And he was incompetent. He tried twice to change the knife on the guillotine (about a half hour job that gets done twice a week) and both times it took him about 2 hours and he had to get the other bloke there to help him as he didn't know WTF he was doing. I said the next day when I got in that he shouldn't be doing it if he didn't have a clue, and that he should have got the other permanent bloke there to do it for him. It's not something you do if you have any doubts. It's a metre long heavy steel blade as sharp as a razor. If you dropped it it'd slice straight through your hand.

So anyway they're getting another bloke from the agency in now. He's fine.