Whats Going On?

October 2013

Thursday October 31, 2013

I moved out of the hotel I was staying in to explore other options. I decided to check out another hotel thats only a couple of miles from where I was staying before. Its right off the same highway, but its in a more developed area. Its a pretty nice hotel. Its actually geared toward extended stays unlike the other place so it had a small fridge, microwave, stove, and even had some dishes already there. Its a bit more expensive than the other place, so I booked it for just a week to see how it goes.

Since I had packed my car full of my crap in the morning moving out the other place, I had gone to work with a packed car. I had to do that before while moving out the apartment. Im sure people notice it and maybe think Im moving or homeless (which is technically correct at the moment). Im sure the more they see that, the more they’ll wonder why the heck my car is periodically filled up with crap. They may really think Im living out of my car. I dont care though. Thats life.

Saturday October 26, 2013

We had a half day at my job with Exel because of “Family Day”. We got off at 12 and they were holding a thing at a nearby park where workers can bring their family to participate in different activities, have fun, eat, etc. Of course I didnt go. Plus I think it was only for permanent employees anyway and Im just a temp. So since I hadnt seen mom in a while since starting this job I had to decide if I wanted to go 2.5 hours to see her and have to drive 2.5 hours back that night to work Sunday morning. I waited until prayer came in and decided to go down after I prayed. On my way down traffic was bad as I got into the metro area because of an accident so I got off the highway early and took a back way, which meant getting back on I-85 a few miles down the road. I might have made the wrong choice because traffic started picking up while I was on the exit ramp. I decided to continue my back way anyway. Anyways, so I got to moms later than I wanted. Hasheem and Ali were there so it was nice to see them. Hasheem actually stopped by my “home” on his way down the previous night to catch some zzz’s. He left after I went to work this morning. Well, it was good seeing my people again. Ali took me down play wrestling and I kicked butt in badminton playing with mom, Taahirah, Hasheem, and Ali, so it was a fun visit. After evening prayers I left, despite mom trying to convince me to get some rest there. I thought about it but I really wanted to get back that night so it’ll be easier to go to work early the next morning. So I got back safely that night Alhamdulillah. Im a little crazy but it was well worth it to go see my mama.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

I went to the local Sunni masjid for the first time in a few weeks for maghrib and Isha prayers. I’ve been so busy lately and too tired on weekends to make it out there. I had been going about every few days and for Friday prayers but since I started the weekend job I hadn’t gone. Thats one reason I need to lighten up my schedule by switching to work for Amazon, so I hope they call me pretty soon. One of the brothers there said that they were just talking about me the other night wondering what happened to me since I just all of a sudden stopped showing up. Its nice that they care. Its a pretty small community, but thats what makes it nicer compared to Greenville. About 5 to maybe 10 people including children show up every night and sometimes more on Wednesdays because one of the younger brothers picked that night to get people to come more often, trying to get people to come at least one night each week. We watch an Islamic video between prayers on Wednesday or read Hadiths on other nights. They also have a potluck dinner the first Sunday of each month, which does get more people to show up. So I like coming there when I can. I go there sometimes for afternoon prayers which nobody else usually comes, but I like the atmosphere and the solitude if Im alone. Anyways, it was nice to be back. Insha’Allah I’ll try to go there more often, even with my schedule the way it is. I may even try to make it up to Charlotte from time to time, which is a little over an hour away, where they have a medium sized Shia community and hold regular programs, including Dua Kumayl every week. Most of the people in the Sunni community that show up for Maghrib and Isha are Pakistani and Indian, so Im usually the odd one out and they speak their language to each other, but they try to talk to me or include me in their discussions sometimes. Occasionally one of the other African Americans show up, but most others show up only for Friday prayer. In the Shia community, theres people from several different ethnicities, but I dont know any African Americans, so I do feel kind of out of place. Both communites, though, are pretty welcoming. I’ve lead prayers in both communities before, so I feel comfortable in both places. Just being around other Muslims is a good feeling (especially if they aren’t racist), so Insha’Allah Im trying to make it a point to interact with Muslims in my communities, Sunni or Shia, more often.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

I went into the SMX office where many people be coming in looking for a job, even old women and men (I saw an ancient guy come in who I think was trying to get the job). Some people dressed up and all thinking it was going to be a real, personal interview, which it kinda was but not really because everyone did sit down with a recruiter but they just asked the same basic few questions and gave info to get everyone in and out. They have a little very easy skills test you do on the computer which I’ve now done several times since I’ve applied and worked with SMX/ Amazon a few times, so no biggie for me....same old, same old. They said I may get a call in a couple of weeks when they open up a new group for a weekend shift. For now, though, I’ll stick with working at Exel, but once I get the call from Amazon, so long, suckers!!!....jk, I dont mind working at Exel. The cool thing is that they are right down the street from each other so the commute is gonna be about exactly the same.

Tuesday October 15, 2013

I went over to see Mumina (girl I’ve been talking to for 2 months) and her family to talk about some things and to try to move things along. Things seem to be going pretty well so we decided on contracting a Mut’ah. So, yes, I’m married again, but we’re still gonna take our time to make sure this is what we want before deciding on a permanent marriage. It’s a long distance thing so it’ll take some time before taking it further. I know it’s still a big decision to even contract a Mut’ah, but I have given it a lot of thought. Some may be critical of my decision-making and I understand that. People will certainly have their opinions about this, especially given that she has sickel-cell anemia, which is a blood disease that makes her physically weak and needs a lot of medical attention and care. People can look up what a sickel-cell patient goes through if they’re interested. It’s obviously something to take into consideration when deciding on marriage in this situation, but I’m not going to base most of my decision on something which will inconvenience me. That is very selfish if I only consider that and make it a deal-breaker. Im willing to take on that type of responsibility if it means having someone who I believe has good character, personality, and positive attitude on top of a strong faith. I have no reason to turn away from something that can be good for me. Mut’ah is just the initial phase and those qualities mentioned are the basis for entering into this contract. Obviously I have to consider her condition, too, and her suitability to be a good wife to me and potential mother before contracting a permanent marriage. She has to consider my suitability as a husband, care-taker, and potential father as she makes her decision. We’ll take our time to determine if we are who each other wants to be with in the coming months. So far things are well and I dont have a reason to not go further with this.

I have made some questionable decisions in the past regarding a lot of things, but I still expect that my family will support me in any decisions I make. People may be critical and offer honest opinions and thats fine. Everyone has that right. Just like any decision I’ve made I accept full responsibility for whatever difficulties and challenges that may arise and pray that whatever comes my way I can learn from and grow spiritually. I understand that there are consequences for bad decisions, but there are many rewards for making the right ones. We dont know what the outcome is going to be for any decision and thats why we have to trust in Allah and ask Allah for guidance in everything we do. I pray that Allah guides us all in our journeys.

Monday October 14, 2013

I woke up early planning on taking a trip up to Philly but I had planned on stopping by the office to check my email to see if anything important came up and to get an update on my two projects. Both projects are at night and the inspectors I have out there send me an update about each night so since I hadn’t been in the office since Thursday I knew I should go in, despite it being a holiday. I had already put in leave time for Tuesday so I wasnt going to be back until Wednesday. So I pull into the parking lot and notice there’s a lot of cars in the parking lot for a holiday. I know some projects still go on for some holidays but I knew we didnt have that much work going on for so many to be in today. Due to that fact I decide not to walk into the office with my flip-flops on and put on my sneakers (albeit without socks since I planned on going in and out real quick). Luckily I was dressed as I would normally dress for work (long-sleeve dress shirt and pants). I go into the office and it seems like a regular day at the office. I go straight to my cubicle and check the holiday schedule hanging up and WE DONT GET COLUMBUS DAY OFF!..... Im such a fool. Good thing I walked in a little after 8, which isnt too bad since I’ll walk in a few minutes late sometimes, but with the new 4-10 schedule Im supposed to be in at 7 (which I had actually initially planned on coming in at that time so that would have been better if I did come in then). Anyways, good thing I didnt casually go fill my tires before coming in any later or even worse, completely skip the office for two days without telling anyone (which technically I can get fired for or at least suspended). Nobody said anything to me whern I came in. It wasn’t that odd to everyone else but I was kinda in shock. So I checked my email, updated my boss on the projects, and told him I needed to take the rest of the day off. I did tell him I thought we had the day off to show my ignorance, but I could have sworn we had gotten this day off in the past. That was crazy. It could have been so much worse and I wont even mention all the possibilities. Wow! Gotta get my head in the game, Muhs. Im losing it. I think this crazy work schedule is getting to me.

So I go on my way and take too long to get up there. I went straight to Kamau/Haajar/Sharif’s house to watch my Colts lose and get some sleep. I got there after 10pm and Sharif let me in. That was it....no party.

On my way up I reached 100,000 miles on my car. I had to stop on the side of the highway (to take a picture of 99999 and 100000 to preserve the moments) while crossing Virginia (only a few miles before VT). Luckily I was at a good spot. As I was getting closer there were a lot of bad spots where guardrail was right on the side of the road, but I ended up being in a pretty wide open spot between guardrails. So that was cool. Man, I be driving the heck outta that car. I just need to take better care of her. She’s a tough one though (but not gay). Thanks, babe.

Saturday October 12, 2013

After I finished my long, feet-killing 12.5 hour shift at my other job I saw that I missed a call from SMX, the temp agency which recruits people to work at the Amazon warehouse. They left an automated message saying they were recruiting the next week and to come in to finish the application process. The more I thought about it, I might actually switch to work for them as a weekend job for a few reasons. The shift is shorter (10.5 hours) and its only Saturday and Sunday, which leaves Fridays open so my schedule is not so gruelling. It’s fewer hours, so less money each week, but its worth it to know I can make it to Jumu’ah prayers each week or go down to mom’s for a day or take care of any other business that comes up. It just offers more flexibility. It starts at 7am and ends at 5:30pm, so I wont be going from about dark to dark (6am to 6:30pm) and it makes it easier to make prayers on time. Being able to make prayers (especially Fajr and jumu’ah) overrides the extra money, so I’ll definitely switch if I can get back on board with Amazon.

Thursday October 10, 2013

I finished up a crazy shift at my regular job as I prepare to go into my crazy weekend shift job on Friday. I came into the office Tuesday morning, but I chose to switch to a night shift to cover one of my projects. Someone else had been covering the job the week before in a different district, but the contractor had gone home to Florida and were coming back to start up in our district. I might have been able to get someone from our office to cover but I wanted to go out there myself since it was going to be a new crew and they were doing different type of work than before so I needed a lot of information that I’d rather be on site for myself. Anyway, they were only going to be this way for a coupla days and move on to the other district where I had someone lined up to cover from that area. So I ended up working Tuesday night and Wednesday night until 3am and went to the office at noon Thursday to catch up with all the paperwork that came with it, catch up with paperwork for my other similar project that happens to be going on at night in that district being covered by someone from that area too, and also I needed to get my 40 hours in for the week so I wont have to take any time off in order to work the other job on Friday. I kinda did that on purpose so I can easily get some sleep early Thursday night to wake up to go to the other job by 6am. I ended up falling asleep a little after 9:30pm (which is highly unusually early for me). Im crazy, but a nig’s gotta do what a nig’s gotta do.

I also got a call from SCDOT in Greenville to schedule an interview for a job I put in for there. It’s not in the exact office I worked in before, but it’s in the same building. It’s an engineer 2 position which I dont feel qualified for, but I do have the background and enough years of experience mentioned as minimum qualifications so why not go for it. So I scheduled it for the 28^th. Good luck me!

Monday October 7, 2013

I got gas for $2.88/gal...awesome. I had gotten a 5 cent/gal discount from Ingles (one of our many local grocery stores) and happened to be coming through an area where they usually have pretty low gas prices compared to the rest of the region. So I got off the highway at that exit and saw $2.93/gal at a few places. This was in Duncan, SC. I was coming from Greenville where gas prices were over $3/gal and I knew in Spartanburg the lowest was probably $2.99. I wasn’t sure if there was an Ingles at that exit so I pulled into the QT and checked on my phone on the Gas Buddy app (great app btw) to see if there was an Ingles nearby. There happened to be one about 2.5 miles down the road, so I pulled out of QT and got my $2.88/gal gas. I might have lost my savings going that extra 5 miles to go there then get back on the highway but I got me some (relatively) low priced gas and Im satisfied. I feel like I won the lottery since that might be one of the lowest prices in the nation at that moment and I got it. I feel special.

Saturday October 5, 2013

Today was the first day back on the job at Exel. They had us newbies meet in the conference room to give a brief introduction to the job. The guy making the presentation called me out because I worked there before, even though I never met him. Apparently he was told I worked there before. Anyways, we were told that we were all going into receiving in orientation, but they had separated us into different departments. I was the only one who was put into overstock, which is where I worked before. Well, I was first going to just go back to scanning DVDs again, but I wasnt given a login to the computer. I didnt try my old login because I forgot what it was and I doubt it would have still worked. So they just had me doing putaway, which is just gathering all the boxes that the people scanning fill, and stacking them in the appropriate slot. So I go around all day with a cart to do that. I became ‘the putaway guy’, which for some reason there wasnt someone doing that already. Each scanning person would have to move their own boxes and stack them, which is kinda inefficient because they have a target number of scans that they have to go for. Theres around 20 different slots behind the scanning stations that different numbered boxes go into, so sometimes you have to go way down the aisle to stack some boxes. Anyways, that was weird because when I worked there before there were two guys who just did putaway all night while everone else just scanned and filled their boxes at their station. One girl told me they actually have been through a few putaway guys and they dont last very long because they get moved or quit or whatever, so for a while they didnt even have anyone to do that. I became a hero since I made their job a little easier. I’ll probably just be doing that, which is alright. I get a nice workout, too. But 12 hours is a looong time! I’ve worked regular 10 hour shifts before (including last time I worked here) but never 12. I guess I feel the same at the end of the day, but it does drag on, especially toward the end. Its gonna be tough to make it through 3 days in a row like that, but ,as I always say, aint nothin Da Muhs cant handle.

The really strange thing about this job is that in the overstock department all the workers (besides me of course) are female. So Im the only guy working there now and theres about 10 to 15 people in that department. Im their manly hero. They all want me of course, except for the few classic dykes. Not really, they dont want me. I couldnt help, though, thinking about how our society is changing where so many woman are in warehouse and factory jobs which were once exclusively a man’s job. It’s definitely a sign of the times. There are single mothers that pretty much have to do such laborious work just to support themselves and children- small petite women, too. I keep thinking “where are the men who are supposed to support the women?” Once upon a time it was the man who provided and the woman stayed home and took care of the house and children. Families are so broken and our values as a society have gone way downhill. Marriage is not valued; homosexuality, promiscuity, and feminism are heavily promoted. Women are taking or being forced to take on the role of men and men are forsaking their responsibilities as leaders and allowing it to happen. Generation after generation men are becoming weaker because they dont have proper leaders to follow. It’s really sad to witness, but thats the direction our culture is going. Its bound to collapse. I’ll stop my rant, but when I see so many females in this type of work, it disappoints me. I’m not saying females shouldnt work, but they shouldnt have to, especially this type of work. I know I have a lot of work to do on my part to fulfill my role as a man. I need to be a better son, brother, uncle, and even husband or father/step-father when Im in those roles, in regards to being there for the women in my life. Ok I’ll stop there. Insha’Allah we’ll get better.

Friday October 4, 2013

I had an orientation session at the temp agency to get ready to work that weekend. They changed it up since I came on board in January. They condensed it a lot. Last time, we had a full day of orientation. It was held at the actual facility and they went over a lot more stuff, which I found to be pretty helpful compared to the shorter version. The one held now is only a couple of hours and it just covers some basics and focuses on safety. I guess we do get pretty much all we need in both sessions to be ready to work there. The most important things you learn are with on-the-job training. The one thing we didnt do this time that I think would have helped was taking a tour of the whole facility like we did in the other orientation, but what’re you gonna do? Im ready to get started.

Tuesday October 1, 2013

I moved out of the apartment and into the hotel I had talked about. Its not great, but it works. Its just a basic small room with a coupla imperfections. It doesn’t have a microwave or fridge, but thats not too important. I didnt have a microwave at the apartment and didnt use the stove/oven much anyway, so no big deal. I probably should consider those things so I dont have to eat out as much, especially a fridge so I can keep it full of yogurt (which I’ve been back on for the last few months). I have microwave access at my jobs and at the masjid, which has a stove too if needed. I’ll be fine though. For the next few months it’ll be work, pray, sleep, read, and tv on football nights; I’ll worry about food secondarily. Anyways, I booked the room for a month. I’ll consider other options as I get closer to the end of the month, but it’ll be hard to beat the convenience of that location. We’ll see.