This week wasn't bad, it was all night...

Are you a hedgehog? Would you like to be? I can already see you shaking your head, but what if I threw in some gold rings too… maybe a chilli dog or three? Still no? Well then, there’s just no pleasing you. It's been a while since I worked night shifts. I am not sure how I feel about them. They tend to pay more per hour and I do find it easier to stay awake during them compared to other shift patterns, but they are the hardest ones to start and recover from purely from a sleeping perspective. The night before my first one I tend to stay up til 6am and sleep all the way through (in theory, sometimes I need snack breaks) til about an hour or two before I need to leave for work. On the last one, once I get home, I try and stay awake all day til at least 8pm (I've done longer, the record is 27 hours awake). Hopefully that explains things, even if you didn't ask, and if you're still confused, leave your questions in the comment section and someone will be right with you. Anyway, let's get on with what occurred this week. Saturday started with a lazy morning where I did nothing much, just playing on my phone and doom scrolling. On a whim I decided to see what was on at Omniplex Cinema Sunderland and Vue Cinema Gateshead, but nothing really grabbed my attention. I remembered Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle existed and since they are an independent cinema I thought they might have something unique to watch. I found a showing for Akira (4K Rerelease) at 15:15, so I booked my tickets, which was a sort of beggy experience with an option to round up your purchase to £15, asking if you would like to donate £5 and the £2.50 fee on top. I grumbled, but I paid due to the fact it was a chance to see anime on a screen bigger than my telly. After the tickets arrived in my inbox, I decided to get ready and leave the house, skipping breakfast even though I was hungry because I had Burger King's King's Kick Off Bundle for two to myself the night before. I may not drive, but I am not without transport options when I decide to travel. I decided to catch the bus instead of taking the metro because I believe it offers better views and seating, even if it's slightly slower and prone to delays. Once I arrived in Newcastle, I realised I had chosen the busiest day to come: Match Day. The streets were packed with people wearing football shirts. I decided I could no longer ignore my grumbling stomach, so I decided to head somewhere cheap to eat, Eat 4 Less, but once I arrived I found it closed (apparently it's been closed for months, a little bit of digging revealed it was due to unpaid bills). After a couple of minutes of thinking, I decided to go to Burger King because the three Wetherspoons would be absolutely packed and I didn't want to deal with crowds. So for breakfast/lunch I had a BBQ Stacker King Box, which I ate on the steps of Grey's Monument. I assure you I was not part of the flash mob that happened there that day, nor did I see it. After I was finished eating I still had some time to kill, so I went to nearby Poundland for movie snacks and Forbidden Planet to browse all the things I was unwilling to pay the price for. When there was half an hour til the movie started, I made my way to the cinema, showed my ticket and found my seat. The screen wasn't massive, but it was still at least five times bigger than my TV, and the sound system was amazing (despite there being some glitches during the trailers). Seeing Akira on the big screen wasn't a life-changing experience, but it was definitely worth the price of admission. I can't really say if the 4K resolution made any difference because I haven't done any real comparisons, only judging from what I can remember and what I saw on the screen. The music sounded better, but that's not really a fair comparison considering I can only judge it against my TV speakers, my Bluetooth speaker tower or my £20 headphones. Once the film was over and I told Maximus Decimus Meridius I had been entertained, I made my way home. Once I arrived safely in my bedroom, I noticed the display boxes for my Hot Wheels had arrived and were waiting on my armchair. So I set to work putting all the loose Hot Wheels into them, which didn't take long, and adding them to the car wall. I decided to watch Naruto for the rest of the evening, but I quickly got bored with being repeatedly hit with the same moral lessons that I've heard before in earlier episodes. So I looked for something else to watch to get me through til bedtime and settled on watching Golden Boy, which I found on YouTube. I managed two episodes before turning off everything and going to sleep. Sunday was a chill day, but a long one, which I did my best to make the most of. I know this implies physical activity, but in reality it just means I watched as much as I could until my eyes hurt. I may have woken up at a normal time, but I didn't do anything of note til 2pm when I went shopping, which meant a trip to Aldi and Lidl. It was more expensive than I thought it would be, but I did buy some treats for myself and I picked up a Hot Wheels (Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R). Once the shopping was put away, I retreated to my room and watched Beavis And Butt-head Do America because it came up on YouTube. After that I moved on to Crunchyroll where I watched Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, Mistress Kanan Is Devilishly Easy and A Misanthrope Teaches a Class for Demi-Humans. Some of these choices were fuelled by tiredness, a litre of iced coffee and curiosity. At 5am, I could no longer keep my eyes open or my brain focused, so I turned in for the night… well, day I guess. My final thoughts before I drifted off were how modern anime feels like it’s stuck in its own version of the project management triangle—you can have fast, cheap or unique, but you only get to pick two. Most shows pick fast and cheap, which is why half the cast look like they’re played by the same actors rather than being distinct. My third week at this job wasn't eventful, just less hand-holding as the week went on, with occasional pointers on where I was going wrong and how to improve. The only hiccup that's worth mentioning is that I will be going onto another team next week and I will be doing night shifts again. I don't mind them, but my stomach does. Before I leave for work I have porridge and when I get home again all I can face eating is a big bowl of cereal. I have tried eating real food before, but there's something off about eating a pizza at 7am and then going to bed for the day. But it's Friday now and I am playing the stay-awake game now that I'm back from work. I wanted to start the day with a Reese's Iced Coffee, but I couldn't be bothered to wait til the shop opened so I went home and watched the latest episode of The Boys. After that I could feel myself getting sleepy, so I forced myself to down a coffee and give my room a quick tidy up before I settled down to watch the rest of Golden Boy. After I finished that, I decided to watch Download: Devil's Circuit to try and quieten the screaming of my body to just go to sleep. It wasn't too bad despite the plot being paper thin, it kept me entertained and alert throughout. The temptation to have a nap was there, but I ignored it and stuck on Silent Möbius: The Motion Picture to get me through another hour. It was worth not sleeping to watch, but I needed to break up the day and give my eyes a rest, so I decided to go on a little shopping adventure. Not that I needed much, but if I'm going to be stuck eating cereal for another week it's going to be delicious and nutritionally bankrupt. So from the lesser three (B&M, Iceland and Farmfoods — Aldi is number one and I will accept alternatives only in dire circumstances): vape juice (so I can keep filling my lungs with popcorn), two boxes of Krave, a box of Frosties, two boxes of porridge, soap powder and a colour-changing Hot Wheels (Baja Truck). Shopping is thirsty work, so I bought a Más+ Berry Copa Crush by Messi only because it was finally a reasonable price at £1.25 (down from £3.50), but it wasn't worth it. It smelled as bad as it tasted. I somehow found myself outside Barnardo's as well and bought myself three mystery bags because they were only £1.50 each, and they were all terrible. What was I thinking? I will not share what I got because that will just make the experience worse for me. To finish the day in style I ordered myself a 12-inch chilli salt munchie box from Master Chef and watched a few things on Crunchyroll. The sun shall not smite I by day Nor the moon by night And everything that I do Shall be upfull and right And if it's all night It got to be all right!