No Love Lost

Another “weekend” came by. “” because, the two days off can fall on any day. I had worked more than two years over there road. The pay scale and other things are all different from how they run things on the dedicated account I had just signed with. I was still going to get paid mike but they were going to pay me for additional stops as well. I did two and three stops per delivery, that means, one extra stop and two, respectively. OTR (over the road) you wanna finish early and can get the load off you if you contact customer or ask manager to have it dropped at the yard. All that doesn’t apply here. You be at Costco at the scheduled time, however you get there. Some deliveries were 200 miles away from shipper. I’d stop close to Costco and relax in the truck. I enjoyed those long afternoons of rest before my appointment the following day. You don't want too many of these because you’re not on vacation. You get paid when sitting behind the wheel not chillin in the sleeper berth. 

More of Derrick’s cooking. I bought him those Adidas slides. I also got myself a pair

Friends with NO benefits

Awesome! They have a gay safety and security manager! I thought to myself as he met me outside the training room. He ushered me in, dressed in nice fun colors. You could tell this was someone who cared about his appearance. In typical me fashion, we exchanged some personal stories; more me asking about himself, than sharing about mine. We’ll save my stories for the blog. I found out in our conversation ahem, safety training, that he used to be a truck driver as well. At some point, He said something about his wife. Stop the presses! I confessed that I was hoping that he was gay. I was like, I feel like I’m gonna like this guy. It’ll be nice to have a gay guy around here. He was like: really? I’m like, yeah, who doesn’t like a gay guy? I asked. He replied, without thinking twice: my mother! 

I’m not the Gaydar of the world, it was just a vibe I picked up before the guy even really talked to me. And then my mind stayed there throughout the conversation until I was told otherwise. Something about him telling me that his mom, who’s from the South, would have a problem with him being gay, made me really believe that he probably was gay. It also made me sad for him, if in fact he was. The guys is around 60 in age. To think that someone had to hide who is he all his life, would be such a tragedy. I saw him again the following day. First thought on my mind was: aw, there’s my new gay friend! Then I had to correct myself. That day, he gave me a t shirt and asked me to pose for photos with other drivers for company pictures. We posed next to company trucks with him as the director of photography. It was nice to do something so unusual. I did that back in the day when I worked for a weight loss company in South Africa. I worked in head office and as the only person who had reached my goal weight in that location, they always included me in things. I also got to tell my success story during events etc. Great fun! I since regained that weight and relost it! 

 All in all, Nice guy, I saw him every once in a while ever since. He would always ask how I was doing. 

I never heard back from my manager about the fridge. I wasn’t going to check back with her, because I already had the vibes she wasn't into helping me out. I did have to consult with her for another concern, however. I didn't like that I was starting off with these folks with so many demands but the situation they put me in with a truck that wasn't up to par, made me have to make all these requests. I also didn't want to make the impression that I was a pushover. No, mam, Sir! The truck I was getting didn't have curtains on the windshield. Those are the ones I prefer to use at night when I go to sleep. That way, you can walk around dressed however or not at all. But if you only have the ones right by the sleeper berth (sleeping area, if I need to go use the microwave in the driving area, I would have to dress appropriately because you never know who might be looking inside your truck. Some of these drivers carry binoculars. Some make a note of trucks with females, I have grown to experience. 

The T~Shirt from photoshoot & my new Volvo

The curtains in the sleeping area were torn, so they didn't do a good job of giving me privacy either. Girl! It was a shit show! I contacted manager and asked for curtains or something. I was hoping that the shop kept spares of these kinds of supplies, considering it's a trucking company, and all? (FYI, I later heard that they do). Manager told me, with a very pissed off expression on her face, that the company doesn't provide such supplies for drivers. It's up to us to get curtains for our trucks or not. Hilarious! The truck did come with curtains, but they were no longer there. So I call bullshit! She just wasn't in the mood for my basic necessity demands. I already knew that that was not going to be home for me, so to speak. How do you give me a condo without a  door and tell me, you're sorry you don't supply such? Are you fcking kidding me? There were three women ( I can't get myself to call any of them ladies) in the new department: one was my direct manager, the planner and their manager. Any of them would randomly call, they all sounded alike, had the same physique and pretty much shared the same brain. In my humble opinion. 

My job was to pick up a load in southern California and deliver it to Costcos across central and Northern California. I would do two or three deliveries every 2 days. After delivery 3, I would head back to base to reset my clock, so to speak. I got two days off every 8 days. It wasn't too shabby of a gig. I love being based in California. I love going to costco. They're so organized. The staff is great. I get to meet them and wait in the warehouse as someone is unloading my truck. Protocol. I didn't realize how many costcos there are in just California alone! I counted up to about 30 something different ones. Those are just the ones I went to.

First time off or so, I would hang out with Derrick. We're still not doing the deed. My choice. We were talking a lot. I am just not someone who can... uhm, how do I put this? I don't wanna say  I can't move on from things, cos that sounds bad. Put it this way, I could never be the woman who stays with their man after he cheated. I would never be able to forget that that happened. That guy would be so disgusting to me after that! Have I been in this situation before? Oh yeah! I come from a culture of polygamy and other things I don't consider cute. It's more abnormal for a guy to stay loyal to one woman than it is the other way. This is my opinion of dating in South Africa when I lived there. I left the country almost a decade ago. I had my own self esteem then, and would settle for certain situation that I wouldn't at this point in my life.  Granted, Derrick didn't cheat on me. My other reason for not wanting to be intimate with him now, is that what are we? We're not even together? I'm not trying to be friends with benefits with nobody! 

Please can I go to bed? I feel tired. I worked some and went grocery shopping. 

Chat soon, thanks for reading. #TruckerBrook on Insta

@BabalwaBrook

youtube.com/babalwabrook

Who Moved My Cheese?

Because I was switching from one account to another, I had to move trucks. I mentioned in the previous blog that I told my driver manager what time I would be at the location to do the swap. When I arrived at the location, being dropped off by Derek, because I happened to have spent yet another night in his place. I get there and I cannot find my old truck anywhere! I’m telling you I was looking underneath other  trucks and trailers for that thing. My whole life was in that truck!

I got the New Trucking Job!

 I just posted a new blog about how I lost 130 lbs / 60kg. The views are already through the roof. Thank you! I hope you will be able to take something away from that post that you can incorporate into your life. Before that blog, we left off where I was at my ex, Derrick's place. He answered most of the questions I had. He told me how he met the new girl he saw after our split. Unlike me, they met in person. He seemed different to me in more ways than one, race, marital status, the whole nine. That whole deal ended dramatically, according to D.

Carbivore BBQ in my honor!

How I lost 130 lbs / 60kg of weight!

Before and now

Dating my Ex

 So Derrick's pick me up! I had already texted him the address, so I went around to the car section to meed him at the gate. He was already in the parking lot! They had let him in! I'm like, wait! Why did you say you were here? 'they didn't ask!' He replied! Oh, the White privilege of it all! I half joked with him. Derrick was a brand new man! His hair was cut different. I loved his old one, it went well with his nerd-ishness. The new cut was more now, I liked it as well but it kinda changed his vibe, or altered my perception of him, in a weird way. He had lost a ton of weight! He wasn't fat to begin with but he had a bit of cushion in his midsection. That was gone!