One Thing After Another, But Despite That, We Continue

February 9th, 2025

Welcome to the weirdest weekend I've had in a while: from machines breaking, irritating kids, and an evacuated home. Let's begin with Friday Afternoon: I was at work when the inconveniences began to emerge. The wrapping machine decided to challenge us as it wasn't cutting the finished products. Everything came unified rather than individual packages. We struggled to figure out which piece was loose and what it was connected to, functionality wise. Finally resolved, we returned to de-moulding more chocolate bars for packaging on another day, storing them safely in their usual place, and cleaning the place before our hard out at 6 pm. Safe to say, everything got resolved by the end of the night, and the crew sighed in relief as the weekend crept in.

"Today was difficult, but at least the weekend is going to be great. Right, guys?"

I was dead wrong. Thinking back, how could I have predicted it? I couldn't.

A smaller snowstorm visited on Saturday, leaving me stuck at home. The whole building became colder than the Arctic, or Florida, should I say. I had planned the day to make content at home with a friend of mine, promptly cancelled as the material was not ready to be recorded. In layman's terms, I now had an unscheduled Saturday stuck at home in my hands. Of course, it wasn't all bad, as I was given ample time to learn about Pixieset. It still looks like a foreign language in my eyes, but one I will try hard to understand. After a while, I hopped on Discord and ended up staying up late on Saturday as I spoke with my group of photographers about my experience learning about the program, neglecting the time as I multitasked playing Minecraft in the background. After a while of talking, it was 1 am on Sunday, and I had to serve around 6 am. I'll be frank, I ended up sleeping ultimately around 3 am.

I had put an alarm for 5:30 am to get to church to assemble all the camera gear, but somehow overslept the alarm and woke up around 7:30 am. Thankfully, I made it in time for the service. But irritation came through the form of constant teasing from some volunteers. Yes, I can be a little temperamental, and yes, my Portuguese is not the best. But isn't it a kick in the pants when the joke comes from something you were trying to say? I was trying to say that an issue was ridiculous, but the translation didn't work, and I had to hear a phrase every 5-7 minutes. Then the jokes on my appearance started as I couldn't take a shower as the water was not on in my unit. Little did I know this would foreshadow something. The joke was as stale as old bread; nonetheless, the younger ones repeated it on and on. I ended up leaving irritated, but brushed it aside, understanding they were immature and didn't know better... and that I could go home to finally rest.

I ate and headed home. I tried relaxing a little by playing some video games, as the tiredness was not there at the moment; you know, when you're so tired you stop being tired? Anyways, it got worse.

I received a text from the unit below me and was asked to help as her unit's ceiling was leaking from the sprinklers and a light fixture. I grabbed pots, pans, and towels as I helped manage the damage.

Something to know is that I live at the very top of my building. Our roof sometimes piles on fallen snow, and due to my grandparents being of old age, the snow can become a hassle to deal with. A concern was that the snow can melt and lead to it being seeped into the building one way or another.

Funny enough, that's why my room was constructed. As a solution for another bigger area where the snow could do that. Normally, my grandfather would handle shoveling the bigger balconies that he could get into, but the area where it was most concerned was blocked by our kitchen and inaccessible. It would have to take a smaller and lighter person to get there. Thankfully, the unit owner from below helped us get the snow out. We also called a plumber and were informed that a pipe from our unit was loose due to the cold temperature. We got it fixed as we were trying to figure out where the leak was coming from. It was either the snow melt or the plumbing.

Mind you, a good portion of this was done in a mix of English and Portuguese. I became the translator for everyone for a couple of hours and did the best I could. That was all resolved... kinda. You see, two hours later, I'm back on Minecraft when I hear a loud drop from the floor below us. I gather some crocks and head downstairs to check on the unit owner. That's when I saw it. A huge gap in the side of the wall with water bursting out rapidly. It flooded the floor and began cascading down the stairs of the common area. I knocked on doors and helped evacuate everyone. I also turned off the whole building's water supply, remembering the words of the plumber who was there earlier.

I was beyond tired, but sprang to help in any way I could. The people who took it the hardest were the first and third units. Walls were stained, and the carpet floors became soaked. I helped Unit A move their things, cracked a lot of jokes as I cheered them up, and it was already around midnight when I ended up at a nearby hotel. Updates came and went through the night from the HOA and Fire Department. What was understood that happened was that there was a burst pipe, and one of the pipes had a puncture from a nail installed when the decks were being renovated. The decks have not been worked on for a while, and cold air entered through them. It was reported that there was little to no insulation in the area as well. This led to pipes freezing and so on. We were told that we could head back in a few days, and the units most affected were going to be dismantled and reassembled. It was around 1 am and I dropped into the fresh hotel bed. Becoming a hibernating bear, I slept till 11 am on Monday after informing my boss of what happened.

Monday arrived.

I headed to the store in person to organize some more matters I had taken advantage of completing. Thankfully, my bosses were amazing and understood where I was mentally. One of them told me, "This is a job, that is your living situation, and you are helping your elders. Take the time you need. Work will be here."

I reassured that I'd be back tomorrow, cracked some more jokes, and got updated on some news here and there. After fixing all of that, I returned to the hotel still pretty beat. For the rest of the time, I doomscrolled, ate, and eventually recalled my computer still in the car. I almost lost my keycard, but was given a new one for free.

And now I'm here writing this free write for The New Routine.

The bad weekend seeped into Monday, but I don't want that to stop the rest of the week from getting better. I'm stuck at the hotel for a couple of days, but still, nothing changes. I'll still go to work, return to the hotel, write my entries, edit what I need to edit, and hopefully start to make more sense of the adapted routine.

I know I will be back home eventually, but now I understand why I need to start saving. Expenses are getting high, God forbid something happens to the building, but I believe this could be a call for me to begin thinking of the future and going somewhere else. So, by all means. The routine has been helping me stay consistent in posting something. I am learning more ways to make bank with my skills, and I got an idea on how to grow.

Ok, now break and onto Tuesday!