a few long-ish thoughts

I am four days into my new Amazonian adventure.  It's been mostly a positive experience, and it's definitely made me think.  Rather, it has given me lots of opportunity to think, partially because my job does not require a lot of needed human interaction as I am standing in one place and filling boxes with product, and partially because it is loud in there so I am choosing to wear earplugs.  All that coupled with mindless work means an optimized thinking conditions for me.  I don't think I can pull this into any type of narrative at the moment but I at least want to bullet point some thoughts before they get pushed around by even more thoughts.

- This has been a nice respite/escape from all the coronavirus stuff.  Well, minus the fact that we are required to stay 6 feet away from each other and hand sanitizer is EVERYWHERE.  But the flip side of this is I think it makes this job easier to do because you aren't getting in each other's way at all.

- God is teaching me again what it means to be grateful.  The work I'm doing isn't bad, and it goes by quickly (more on that in a moment), and it's paying decently well considering it doesn't require any kind of special skill.  Just grab the box, tape it, scan the items, fill and seal the box, and send it down the line.  But I am constantly finding ways to be thankful, whether it's finally getting a difficult scan to take, or getting things right on the first try, or honestly just being able to look forward to doing something close to normal.

- I've had 11 hour shifts, and will go to 12 hour ones in a couple weeks (we're getting mandated overtime so they are making each individual shift a little shorter).  The time flies by for me I think for two reasons.  First, it stays busy for the most part.  I'm not really aware of time until someone comes by to announce when the break is coming, typically with a half hour heads up.  Related, I'm used to 12+ hour days this time of year anyway, so even though it's overnight, it's still just 12 hours.  But second, I think it's because the work is not meaningful.  A 15 hour day of making music feels much longer but in (most of) the best ways.  A half hour rehearsal can be an incredible experience; filling 125 boxes in a half hour is basically meaningless.

- Some people would say "well, at least you are learning to do some hard work."  That attitude is fascinating to me.  What I would rather be doing is much harder work, not even in the sense of I've been playing piano for over 20 years and so I have a specialized skill, but in actually making music.  Lots of people can play instruments or sing, but to make it into art requires much more than standing on your feet and filling boxes for 12 hours.

- I miss people.  Thankfully I have some regular in-person interaction with a couple important people which is really out of necessity but is also a nice perk during this climate of social distancing, but when I think about how my life was just a few short weeks ago, I spend intimate (I have no better word for it, but making music and rehearing with people is an inherently "intimate" situation) time with 8-10 people on a low day, and upwards of 30 on busier days.  And that's almost every day in the spring semester.  My entire professional life is linked to extreme extroversion, and that has been one of the hardest things for me about the past couple yearweeks.

- Because I get home around sunrise, I get to hear the birds, and that's super fun.  I forgot about how much morning air can be enjoyed (outside of running, which is on hold until I get used to being on my feet like this).  Also see gratefulness concept from above.



None of these are fully fleshed out but I wanted to get something out of my head before they all inflate beyond recognition.