MidNIGHT CREW

The skies have turned from blue, to orange and then black, gray, and light yellow and then blue again yet our hands and eyes haven’t rested throughout nature’s transitions. Tired yet awake, we continued till the last invitation has been folded. It was 7 am. And we greeted each other the sweetest “Good Morning” we could utter and again laugh like we did a few hours before. The session of joking, followed by a burst of laughter and silence always keep coming back. This is the drug that keeps us going – the ease with the co-workers, the voluntary gesture of serving coffee or cooking pancit canton when some of us start to look worn-out and lethargic and the effort to crack a joke even if it would sound banal.

One cannot feel the exhaustion when under pressure and it was only when the super hot and spicy beef noodle soup settled in our stomachs that we realize it was time to park and let our over used organs to rest. And I came up with the perfect blueprint for a wedding vigil or any job that would require a group to work like the world is ending.

1. High in everything food! High in salt and pepper Pancit Canton.
2. High in quantity of cigarette puffs to break the monotony of picking up each molecular bead.
3. High bpm mixed soundtrack especially created by Jay Broce to dance to as one struggles keep sleep from over throwing him
4. Low calorie Diet coke that I discovered more potent than the regular one
5. High dosage of jokes and sarcasm
6. Vigil candles to keep away the mosquitoes
7. A working team that works with passion (and with a goal! From earning more for the son’s education to working to buy a new pair of slippers or just plainly for a cell phone load

The list may vary each time depending on the kind of work the group is cramming but one thing for sure, all of us are working for our own reasons and needs.

My reasons? The continuous greed for beautiful results, the reactions of the excited clients - more positive than awful, and the end point when our creations are worn and used with much pride. And nothing can stop us from doing another day to night to another day work.