Holi-Daze

Tupac’s “Skandalouz”. DMX’s “What’s My Name?” Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy”. Metallica’s “No Leaf Clover”. Baby Huey’s “Pop Lock and Drop It. Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church In the Wild”. Marilyn Manson’s “This Is The New Shit”. Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality”. The opening intro theme to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Roxy Music’s “Mother of Pearl”. NWH’s “Fuck The Security Guards”. And Radiohead’s “Creep”. These are the exact songs I had to listen to in a loop on my bluetooth to survive working at the shipping depot Tuesday night.

The absolute worst time to work at the shipping depot is the holidays, or peak season as they call it. Tuesday was the worst day because it came after Black Friday AND Cyber Monday. It was one truck after another and my body was completely drained by 6pm, with 6 more hours to go. Truck drivers from Albany, Utica, Rochester, Syracuse, Pennsylvania, Chicago, and just about every other place in the United States were coming in not knowing where to go and what to do. Every time I heard one of those truck engine brakes, I cringed. To make things worse, Annabel was at her all-time idiotic. She would turn off the heater in 29 degree temperature, and then complain that the guardshack is too cold 5 minutes later. I wanted to kill her that day. If it wasn’t for that loop of songs from different genres, I don’t know how I would have kept my energy (and spirits) up through Tuesday night. The same amount of work happens on Sundays during peak season as well, except that I’ll be working by myself to handle all the work. No NFL football and no rest. I was seriously considering taking time off. But obviously I’m not gonna do that.

No matter how bad it gets, I have to be there and get the work done. I need that money now more than ever. I may have to cut back on going to the gym for the month of December, going maybe once a week instead of 3 times a week. I push myself extremely hard during those workouts, and it takes a lot out of me the next day when I have to work at the depot. I also have to sleep on time. I haven’t been sleeping too well the past few months, so I decided to remedy the situation. I found a Star Wars audiobook that used to put me to sleep back when I lived in Brooklyn and started playing it around 10pm when it’s time for bed. So far it’s working and I think I’m ready for the chaotic shipping depot tonight, even working with Annabel’s dumb ass. All that's left to do is to make a new loop of songs. When times get tough, I have to adjust to the new current and keep going. Like water, remember? Otherwise, I’ll be stuck spending holidays at the shipping depot for the rest of my life. No thanks.