Ain't Nothing But A Sandbagger

Literally...

Here's a brief video kinda detailing exactly what I'm up to right now, though the work sites have gotten progressively less attractive and more difficult along the way...we even got hailed on today...which means I have officially started my countdown to Hawaii in January!



I also managed a new pet fox, but we had to part ways after just five days as Roxy became insanely jealous.



I have more to say but my brain doesn't currently function. 70-80hr work weeks, consisting mostly of physical labor, can really take it outta ya. Having said that I must admit that ten days in, as tough as this job can be, it has proven to be better on all accounts than I had prepared myself for. I definitely wanted to ready myself for the worst case scenario, and after just a few days I was most certainly having trouble getting my body to do what I needed it to, and getting my mind to stop wishing I were elsewhere. By day four however I had fully accepted my decision process and was even starting to embrace it.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, you can have the best job in the world, but if you work with assholes it's still gonna suck. Conversely you can tolerate a completely shit job if you're surrounded by really good people. So far, the crew of ten that I am in this with have proved to be the absolute highlight for me. The job isn't that bad, it's just different and like everything in life you take the good with the bad. There are enough positives within a 10-12hr day that I rarely return back to camp without a smile upon my face. Having internet and currently staying in a nice hotel for a few days between camp locations is simply an added bonus.

Life Lesson Of The Week

As the 'sample sites' get harder to access and consist mostly of overgrown bog and slightly receding rivers I am often confronted with entangled willows the likes of which I have never seen before, nor knew existed. Bush whacking has taken on a whole new meaning for me and if I had my Central American machete with me right now it'd be put to good use on an hourly basis. Yesterday while trying to access a river bank and emptying my vocabulary in the process I looked ten feet forward and thought to myself, "there's no way", I then said to myself out loud, "just keep moving forward dammit". To look three feet ahead was to confront defeat, to look one step ahead however was to continually find a path.

This was followed by a translucent moment as I tied this struggle to everyday life. How often do we find ourselves looking too far ahead and simply thinking, "there's no way", "I'll never get there", "it's impossible", "I have no idea how to make this happen", and with this thought process we often cease to pursue things without ever having given them a legitimate shot.

Take the first step. I'm confident there will be a second awaiting you once you arrive there. And the willows are never quite as bad as they appear at first glance.

GR