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sometimes i run errands in the states like groceries or pick up mail at the usps for my fellow mexicans who can't cross or don't feel like crossing the border and i bring it right up their doorstep.
if it wasn't because i ride a motorcycle i wouldn't do it. there's a special bike lane to cross US and Mex customs real fast, which also helps to give friends a ride who need to get to the states and want to save the long ass, hours-long line (i don't charge but they still give me some cash)
since 2019 i've been giving private tutoring to my friend's coworker's daughter at her home for an hour or so, and another kid too, both grade schoolers. both are real nice kids.
this alaska clerical job i do for 6 weeks at a shoreplant has been going on every summer for some years for me.
edit* early this year i went on a fishing vessel for the first time ever for 4 months to catch crab and it was brutal. the bering sea ain't no joke. the pay was nice though. hardest i've worked for the biggest buck i've earned so far. idk if i'd do it again.
Please tell us more about your job in Alaska because that sounds pretty epic.
sure, although it sounds cooler saying it than it really was (and me being a poor story teller doesn't help).
i've never seen deadliest catch but from what i gathered it's pretty much like the show minus the drama. as a matter of fact our boat was featured there when a dude from last year or so fell into the cookers and boiled the lower half of his body. a coast guard helicopter picked him up on a stretcher.
so a party of 26 strangers from serbia, russia, ukraine, sudan, mexico, puerto rico, 'muricans and i hopped on a jet from seattle to king cove, alaska this january. from there we sailed to the bountiful aka our 165ft long fishing vessel and home for the following 100 days. the quota was 1.3 million lbs. of crab. that day we hauled ass to the bering sea and i was horribly seasick for 3 hours nonstop. that sucked. the further we went the colder it got but you get used to it. especially with all the raingear and lifevest makes you sweat balls when you're working for 16 hours every single day. our face was always uncovered though so when the 38 degree water splashed on you it still kinda shocked the hell out of you even if it was already numb by the cold wind.
we catched, processed, boiled, boxed, and froze at least 25,000 pounds of crab everyday, 30k on a good day, or 250-320 cases. 16 hour shifts with breaks, restroom passes, and meals of course. but other than that it was all standing up the whole time doing manual labor and the boat was rocking all the time. the nastier the weather the more crab we catched which meant working faster.
the hardest part imo was breaking ice off the boat sometimes for 12 hours. the bering sea gets so cold and snows so much it puts tons of excess weight on the vessel so we have to go outside and break ice with icepicks and hammers and shovel or else we sink. last year 2 ships sunk and nobody made it.
the other hard part was unloading the crab to an island, 320 thousand lbs of cases put on pallets with our bare hands for 16 hours from the freezer as it snowed. us being in quarantine didn't favor us either, we couldn't get off the boat to the bar or relax, so as soon as we onloaded we sailed back and work a day or 2 later.
good thing we all got along fairly well. a few fist fights here and there but they always kiss and make up. none of the photos i took make justice how pretty the sea and skies looked. the purest air i've inhaled for sure. i lost my tan and it helped me cope with my separation and prepare for my eventual divorce. pretty cathartic times.
kinda fun fact: i asked feedback_ts if i should do my student teaching online or go catch crab on one of his stories before i went. he suggested the latter just for the life experience and cash. best advice. thanks ted!