WOW, I felt a need to write a post and explain my disappearance off the face of the Earth and think of what the hell is going on with my lifeDecember 2nd of this year hit me like a ton of bricks... Got notice that I will be having to go take over another site on a different project... "Sure No Problem," I replied to my boss.
"He said with a very serious tone " It's in downtown Los Angeles ... my stomach fell to my feet.. I imagined the congestion the smog and the crazy people that awaited me..
I could only imagine... This was about to get insane... So I thought I would explain why I have not blogged or emailed my team in almost the entire month. With all new jobs you need to get a routine down...
I work as a EMT ( emergency medical technician) by trade and have done so for the past 10 years. So the opportunity to have consistent work for the next 5 years I jumped at it. Little did I know what lay in store for me..
My "normal" work day starts out with me hearing the alarm clock go off about 2:45 am so I can can get up and get dressed and head out the door at 3:15 am. I then get into my little suv that does not have a working heater (gets cold in the high desert) and proceed down the hill literally to the valley.
I arrive at the commuter rail station at the last stop of the line and hop on at 4:06 am it makes about a dozen stops before pulling into Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.
This is where the fun begins. I always sit in the front of the train
I look around and its the same people on the same route doing the exact same thing. You got construction workers and business suits and police officers going to and from work everyday doing the same thing..
With all my knowledge that I have upstairs I know that I would be literally insane if I choose this lifestyle and moreover I would deserve to live a insane life If I did nothing to change it.
I made it a point to keep my family out of the city... and if at all possible keep them from having to uproot themselves...
It's not that I despise the city except I have a problem if I can literally see my neighbor from across the way via windows. Not to mention if I can spit from my window and hit my neighbors house then I am too close.
Every day I take the same route and every day I see the same people. I transition at Union
Station to the subway. This is a experience all in itself. It seems to be filled with 2 types of people the sane that are hard working Americans and the insane..
The people that are "bums" It's not uncommon to see them sleeping at the top of the street like a piece of trash waiting for the sun to come up so they can go about their day.
I see little makeshift shanties along under the bridges of the commuter train route I just shake my head in disbelief at the conditions people live.
Why the hell would I want to give to foreign relief to help a child some seven thousand miles away when we have the under employed and displaced Americans in this city...
Whoa Scott, little off topic here... let's refocus here. So after three stops from Grand Central Station I pop up in the middle of the financial district where you can look in any direction and see the building of a bank.
As I come up the escalator I can see the project site directly starting at me. Its amazing to me that its like ants just going all over the place and doing their own thing in their own little world. To explain the job-site I work on is really that hard. The picture below does not do it justice that is literally how my job-site looked when I first came on board..
The small modular trailer in the upper left hand side is the medical trailer ( First Aid Station )
I work in a large hole... let me be more clear on that. It' an entire block they carved out of the city three hundred feet down at its lowest point.
This was the former site of the Grand Wilshire Hotel.. and will be once more however this is going to be the largest skyscraper West of the Mississippi. Seventy Seven (or so) stories of glass and steel set to open in 2016.
This is a huge undertaking achievement, and I find myself in the middle of all the excitement. I want this to be my last project. I don't want to continue this daily existence of a grind... I am so tired by the end of my day all I will say that the commute going home gives me the opportunity to reflect on my life...
I am happy to be working providing for my family but as the old adage goes " You got to be willing to do the things today others wont do in order to have the things tomorrow others wont." So I get out at now 4:00 pm to get on the subway make the transition over to the commuter train and get on so I can arrive at 6:00 pm at the station.
Its going to be a good commute home as I have already missed the daily gind home and manage to be standing in the middle of my living room by 6:32 pm just in time to sit down to a good evening meal with my wonderful family
I sit with my family for the evening meal and then I start after eating on my business for the day devoting up until my eyes fall down and then get ready to do the same dance the very next day..
I hopefully can get to sleep by 9:00 pm with gives me the 5 hrs of sleep that I need to function It goes on 6 days a week 10 hrs a day...
So If I haven't had a post or a tweet or Facebook update.. that's why... It's been crazy.. I have tried to keep my sanity and get into a "rythem" I can work with.
It's taken everything in me to start back up again and I don't know why. I believe that there is a secret entity at work here... something that is doing everything in its power to keep me down and have a broke mentality.
I feel like I have to make a break for it or I will never get out alive... I want to scream to the top of my lungs and get this over with... Next year is going to be a year I will never forget... My life is going in such a positive direction for the first time I can see things more clearer then ever before. I am either going to make it or die trying.
One tip I have noticed when in the subway system and around various people have your head on a swivel and don't stare at the crazy looking people ( normally mumbling to themselves) or having complete conversations with themselves... just have sunglasses on and walk on by like normal.
So what is the purpose to this post? That life is difficult its going to be hectic... we have to all do things that we don't want to for a greater good... In this life
"You have got to be willing to do the things today others wont do in order to have the things tomorrow others wont."
I am encouraging you to see other options if this post struck a nerve and understand there is a better way and I will not ever tell you its easy.... is it worth it hell yes! Click here and you will see my team and how we are expanding our vision to include multiple 6 figure earners this year !
Take care and see you on the other side
Scott Lindstrom
