Junior Printer Extraordinaire

I suppose that previous post deserves some background. I can't just randomly post something and expect you to know that I have to cope with ink and grease collaborating in attempts to soil my pale skin on a daily basis.

On May 21st I began work at a small Christian printing company, henceforth referred to as NLL. I work in a three story building, in particular with the huge printing presses on the ground floor. The floor is home to four presses. I don't want to bore you with technical details, so I will refer to the presses as A, B, K, and T. I work on K, which can print in two colors. Basically my job is to take the printed paper off the machine, bundle it into neat little packages, and place it on a wooden palate. When the machine is not running, I am in charge of cleaning the ink off the machine's rollers. Printing machines are home to a host of rollers of all sizes (but only one shape, round). This is what I do for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Most of the time I work with a Nigerian guy named Gbenga Damola Mosaku, or, as he prefers to be called (and as his bling around his neck so boldly reinforces) 'G'. This dude is unbelievable. He was a semi-pro/pro boxer for 18 years and is unbelievably ripped. I'm talking like a perfect triangle torso. He does pushups when there are lulls in work. He has scars all over, most noticeably above his nose (which is to be expected) and, get this, in his left cornea. If that's not hardcore, I don't know what is. He used to be a street merchant before he took up printing (and by 'took up' I mean 'started last December'), and has that impeccable sense of style that goes along with being a black man who traded fashion accessories for a living. He's working extra hard to support his wife and two kids because he wants his wife to be able to stay at home and be a good mom. I really admire him for that.

NLL is too far away from my house to commute every day. Luckily, the third floor houses dorm rooms which are available for tenancy should a employee require such quarters. There are about nine rooms, and I fill one of them. I am the youngest person staying in the company dorms by at least 20 years. It's all a bunch of old guys. My dorm room is quite nice, and I find the time by myself relaxing. With my work being on the first floor and my room on the third, I find myself perpetually drawn to the comforts of a sit-back-and relax lifestyle.

Last week I did not once venture outdoors.

Here are some iSight-quality pics of my room. Enjoy.