Latest / Corpus Christi Originals Podcast / #17 | Nick Lopez

Transcript

#17 | Nick Lopez · Corpus Christi Originals Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_01: What's going on y'all?
0:00
SPEAKER_01: It's Gladio Hernandez here.
0:02
SPEAKER_01: In this podcast episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with uh Nick Lopez.
0:06
SPEAKER_01: Nick is an avid concert goer, he loves music, uh heavy music especially, and we love heavy music too.
0:11
SPEAKER_01: He is a father uh welder and he worked for the union or with the union uh out of Houston.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: He is a corpus native, supports local, his family is local, and uh yeah, we appreciate having him on.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: If this is something we want to listen to, stay tuned.
0:24
SPEAKER_01: Before that, I want to give a quick shout out to Suscheria.
0:27
SPEAKER_01: They are going to be at Comic-Con from July 15th through July 17th.
0:31
SPEAKER_01: They have Mexican-infused sushi where they have uh you know the Mexican food that we know and love mixed with a sushi kind of uh taste.
0:41
SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, check them out.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna be at Comic-Con from July 15th through July 17th, and you can check them out on Instagram at sushiria361.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: Alright, what's going on, Nick?
0:51
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: What's up, brother?
0:52
SPEAKER_01: How you doing?
0:53
SPEAKER_01: Nice to meet you, man, by the way.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, same, same.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: It was it was good to see you in uh person too.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: You had showed up the other day.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: That was pretty cool.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you got any shows coming up?
1:04
SPEAKER_01: You going to?
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh shit, yeah.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, uh June, I think it's the 21st.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: Yes, 21st.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the come and take it uh up in Austin.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go see the uh Gaballetta conspiracy.
1:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, Igor and Dana, right?
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: That's what's up, bro.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so they're gonna play their their fucking uh Beneath the Remains and a Rise album.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh, damn.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they sound old school.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's gonna be fucking sick, dude.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh I guess I'm I met I met a dude up here uh when went when me and my wife and my daughter went to see uh Il Nino play.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: Right and um I met this guy there with uh with his girlfriend at that time.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, we just kept in touch and shit.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: We've we've gone to a few shows already, met up there in Austin.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: In Austin, yeah.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, he's like my concert buddy.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so me, him, and uh his other buddy who I met too we're we're gonna we we just got our tickets, so we're gonna be there June 21st.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's good, man.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: So were you devastated when uh Zeppeltood started parting ways?
2:14
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, I was young when that happened, but yeah, because uh my my great uncle uh we call Uncle Tony.
2:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh he's the one that really expanded uh my music interest in metal.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, of course, like you know, I listen to more like the like corn and you know uh Rob Zombie and all that, yeah.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: You know, just the regular regular uh bands that you would you know listen to, and then he started showing me like Sepatuda, he saw uh uh Blue Heia and a bunch of other bands.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: Like it really expanded uh more genres and stuff like that.
2:51
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, and it's not just yeah, yeah.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: He's done that a lot to not not only me but to other my other cousins.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: Like he's he's gotten uh me and my cousins into some uh a lot of good metal bands.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, what kind of metal?
3:06
SPEAKER_01: What kind of metal bands?
3:07
SPEAKER_00: Uh like what names?
3:09
SPEAKER_00: Like uh like for instance, like he uh he did get me into Slayer, uh Sepatura, uh Fight.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh he got me more into like Judas Priest, right?
3:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh let's see Asassino Brujia um that I can name on top of my head.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh, uh Pissing Razors, because he would burn me a lot of CDs too, yeah, and like give him give them to me when burning CDs was a thing back then, yeah.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: Shit, where it came to we like you'll just go and hustle that shit at school, yeah.
3:44
SPEAKER_00: Five five dollars or whatever you want.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: Wow, bro, for real.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: Hell yeah, yeah, and it's that's cool because it's not just the because everybody knows Metallica, right?
3:53
SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows, yeah, Metallica.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: And then when you start hearing these other names, that's different influence, boo.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: Totally totally.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, yeah, that's for sure, bro.
4:03
SPEAKER_01: Because uh, shoot, first concert was Metallica for me, and then I didn't start hearing about that type of stuff until the same thing.
4:10
SPEAKER_01: My cousin, he liked Judas Priest a lot, uh Iron Maiden, uh, stuff like that, Slayer, uh Megadeth, actually, which is you know what I mean.
4:18
SPEAKER_01: So it's all about the circles, you know what I mean?
4:20
SPEAKER_00: Which circle you're part of yeah, it is, yeah, it is because uh my my biological dad, he uh he was a big Kiss fan and Iron Maiden, so uh I knew those bands because of him.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: And Peter Chris was always like uh one of my biggest inspirations on on drumming.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: So and uh of course, I'm sorry.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: So you play drums?
4:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: I was uh yeah, I used to play well, because my dad, he uh he's more uh like Spanish, Tejano.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: Because uh my grandpa, he he was a Spanish singer, he wrote songs and everything back in the day.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: So it's like kind of like music uh went through on my dad's side of the family.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: Because you know, I played drums and then my little brother plays drums, and so like it just it just fell through like with music-wise, and my daughter she she loves instruments, she she has a drum set, but she don't really play no more.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Um she has a guitar, she has my old keyboard set from when I was a kid.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, she she's really into music and instruments and all that.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's cool, bro.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: So so she so she kind of slowed down on it.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: Would you say your daughter?
5:32
SPEAKER_00: Is there yeah, yeah, because uh yeah, because I we bought her a drum set.
5:36
SPEAKER_00: Her first one was like uh one of the little Fisher Price ones.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: I think she was like three, yeah, three years old.
5:47
SPEAKER_00: We uh me and my wife, we got her uh actual drum set for Christmas.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: So early, yeah, early Christmas morning.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: I uh set it up and talked about it, and she was like, What's like she got on it and started playing, and it was cool.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was it was always there.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: We we kept it inside at our old house, so it was in the living room, so right she'll go and mess with it.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: But when we moved, um everything uh her drums were in the garage, and then I was able to get a set of my own, and it was in the garage.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: So the only time she would go out there was if I was out there, and that's when she would play it.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but yeah, I never really forced it on her, you know.
6:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh I never really forced her to like to play or nothing.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: If she wanted to do it, then go ahead.
6:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I wasn't I wasn't no Abraham Kittenia forcing the shoe.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: Nah, but uh but yeah, uh, she and she she enjoys music.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: She she has a big old variety of music tastes, like she has her own Spotify now, so she makes her own playlist and yeah, yeah.
6:52
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so yeah, you have a podcast playlist or something like that.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: Oh uh yeah, um, yeah, because my my cousin uh my cousin is two homeboys, uh they have a podcast, uh the bullshit and booze podcast, well BS Booze podcast, yeah.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, so they always like recite songs and like sing songs, and then they're like, Man, we need to we need to do like a soundtrack and this and that.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: And they didn't talk about it for for a while, and then once I came up here and and I'm by myself, yeah.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I work, come home, like and I'm just here, you know, and then I said, fuck it.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm gonna do these guys a solid.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: So I started I started from the very beginning, and they're already like at man, like episode, they're like in the 80s, I think, already.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and uh, yeah, so I started from the first episode and started listening through you know, re-listening into it.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I just started making a playlist for them.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: So they have uh like 10 volumes of crazy.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: That's cool that y'all are related.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: I have found that out because you were on one of their uh one of their episodes.
8:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty cool.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I you know I didn't know that we were related until uh I think a freshman.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think I was a freshman and at Miller.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: So uh because his mom is is my cousin.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, so and she worked there, and uh that's when I found out that we were related, and then uh later on sophomore year, no, yeah, sophomore year.
8:33
SPEAKER_00: Uh my friend Elizabeth uh ended up well, actually, she started dating this guy in junior year, or uh so her boyfriend or fiance now, Marshall, is good friends with my cousin, so they would always hang out.
8:51
SPEAKER_00: So during my senior year and stuff, we would always hang out, uh party for the weekends and shit like that.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: So we're always hanging out and dude the fucking goofball.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: So he was always looking to laugh.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: I could tell you guys are having a good time on that podcast.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: That was pretty cool.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's he's he's a he's a fucking nutshell, dude.
9:10
SPEAKER_00: He's there's something else, yeah.
9:12
SPEAKER_00: That's cool, man.
9:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's never a dull moment with him, dude.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: He's he's he's gonna make you laugh regardless.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: Shout out you guys.
9:19
SPEAKER_01: If you're listening, we'll go.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: I'll put a link in the description to the BS.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Actually, actually, I actually have their coozie right here, too.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, hell yeah, dude.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: That's cool, bro.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I need to get a sticker or something to put it on my laptop.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man, that's what's up.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so have we have you considered doing the podcast yourself or something?
9:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh I actually kind of like thought about it, but I was like, eh, I don't know what to do.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: And then the time, and then to get the equipment and just to edit and all that.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: I was like, yeah, I mean, even though yeah, I have the time now, but I mean, I I really don't know.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Uh it's been in the air, but because uh I also guessed on I was guest on uh my cousins twice, and then with the Ruthless Villains podcast with my homeboys uh Lewis and Jaime uh man I didn't I wanna say like maybe like three episodes with them about three or four, something like that.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: And I mean those guys are are fun to to be around with too talking too.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: That's cool, man.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so your daughter does she does a Spotify list, playlist, and then you yeah, yeah, she has her own.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so of course she has her encanto music, yeah.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: Uh she has her Selena uh marshmallow.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh bunch of I think she has a Spanish on there too, more Spanish.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: And then uh I believe she added a Pinata Protest on there as well.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay, uh my wife caught her in the morning, uh early in the morning, and she was just in bed with her tablet and her iPad, and she was listening to Pinata Protest.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: I gotta hear that.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: What what is that?
10:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh dude, they're they're uh they're like um Oh yeah, they're a Spanish punk band from from San Antonio.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, dude, like man, I when he once once he thought he saw it all, like once he saw this, I was like, holy shit, what is this?
11:10
SPEAKER_00: But it it just fits so perfect.
11:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because uh we we took her to go we we took her to go see that that show and back in Corpus uh a couple of months back.
11:19
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, she she liked it, she took a picture with the singer, yeah.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: Uh she she uh got some buttons to put on her leather jacket.
11:29
SPEAKER_00: She she got uh team uh uh was it because they have a thing where the like either your your team uh rojo or team uh verde for uh salsa.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: So uh she got you know the green one, and then uh she got buttons from drastic actions uh as well.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, she she had a she had a good time, she had a good time there, so that's how she remembers that band.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's cool, bro.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so and they play, they have it's like rock, and the guy has an accordion, like the front man.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the yeah, this yeah, the front man has an accordion, yeah.
12:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's something else.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: It fits so perfect, like they just made it sound so good.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: It's yeah, yeah, it's cool, man.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy what people people what people could do with instruments, you know?
12:16
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: So that's why I was always uh interested in music.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I mean I try to play guitar, but uh it was not happening.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so yeah, so did you did you like play any instruments like at school or anything like that?
12:31
SPEAKER_01: Or you kind of just did it uh outside of school.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, actually in uh middle school, I went to I went to drill school.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: Right on.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh so in yeah, was it sixth grade?
12:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, because I got out of it in eighth.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so sixth and seventh grade, I was in uh orchestra.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: Right.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: I I played the the violin.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and yeah, so that was honestly like a cool instrument.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, I learned how to read music.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: I I already forgot now because it's been years, yeah, for sure.
13:05
SPEAKER_00: But uh, I always told my wife and uh a bunch of other friends too.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: I was like, Man, you know, I really miss playing the violin.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: It was just uh a unique sound, and it's well pretty much like you know, a little miniature guitar, you know, in a in a way, but just with a different sound, but you have a bow instead of a pick.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was able to read music and everything, and that that was pretty cool.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: That's good, man.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: And to be to be able to appreciate a lot of music says a lot because yeah, especially especially like the classical side, you know.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: So that that was amazing.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, my my brother was talking about the other day, uh like classical guitar, because we play classical guitar, or we learned it after we learned like metal guitar, right?
13:51
SPEAKER_01: And he said that it's popular like on TikTok.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Well, it's popular because it's not it's not popular, it's not being played on radio everywhere, you know what I mean.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: So when they listen to classical guitar for the first time, they're like, Oh shoot, what is this?
14:05
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
14:05
SPEAKER_01: And it's a guitar, and if you're a guitarist, you learn to like it because you play guitar, so you start to appreciate you know, you start to appreciate the different styles of class, you know, like classical and country and all that other stuff, or whatever.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: And classical guitar has been around for forever, dude.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh oh, yeah, 15 for a long time.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, start because it starts off with the banjo and all that stuff, and then yeah, you go bigger, um Yuki Ladies and all that shit.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right on, man.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: So so you're you work out of town, you you so you don't live in corpus.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, you do live in corpus, right?
14:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yes, yes.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm born born and raised in Corpus, but right uh right now I'm staying in Bass Trop.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: That's where I have my RV at.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: And um I work in uh at the Tesla Giga Factory in Austin.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: Nice it's like on the east side of Austin, kind of like a Del Valle area, yeah.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's where it's at.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: It's really like about 15 minutes away from right here where I'm at.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so Bass Trop is on the east of Austin.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like south southeast.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: Southeast of it, yeah.
15:12
SPEAKER_00: And it's it's a nice little little uh town, man.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh I hardly ever go into Austin, I just stay here unless I go to a show, you know.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the only time I really go into Austin.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but other than that, I just stay here.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: I have my little spot I go to every Friday.
15:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, it's beautiful here, you know, and they have the Colorado Bridge where they did the they shot the Texas Change Massacre 2.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's funny because like I tell people about it, and I was like, Yeah, like you remember in the movie, like the fucking Leatherface is on the truck, and he's like messing with those dudes in the car and everything, and it's like an ongoing bridge, but when you see it in person, it's small.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: It's so small, yeah.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: It's funny, and then of course, you know, they got the gas station too.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: It's like about I don't know, like maybe like 10-15 minutes away from where I'm at.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so where they where they shot the movie there, too.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: And that's a cool little place.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: And um, if y'all, if if you or you know anyone else listening, if they haven't uh gone to the gas station and bathstrop, it's it's it's a good place to go check out.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: They lot they have a lot of horror collections.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: Of course, they got the Texas Chance on Magic Emerge and uh brisket sandwiches are fucking bomb.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: Nice man.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: They're good.
16:30
SPEAKER_00: You can rent cabins out there too to stay out there.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: Ah, for real.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
16:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's nice.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a nice little town.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: It kind of reminds me of uh Corpus in a way.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean, even though it is smaller, yeah, but uh and it just uh it feels like another home, you know.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: I yeah, everyone's cool.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: I mean, no one doesn't really give off bad vibes around here.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: So so you're so you work in the Tesla factory.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: So how did you get that gig?
16:57
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so what do you do actually?
16:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I'm right now uh I'm in the union, I'm in the Pipe Fighters Union.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: Uh I started, I got in five years ago.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because I I uh worked at the Shoreline um hospital where they did the the the addition downtown.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh I was out of work, um what what they call uh open shop, you know.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: So and I was looking for work and I couldn't find work, you know, because I usually find work within within the week if I get laid off, right?
17:33
SPEAKER_00: And this one it was kind of getting kind of hard to find a place.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: So my cousin was uh working for this company called Grant, and uh so I hit him up and I was like, hey, I was like, um, are y'all hiring?
17:47
SPEAKER_00: He's like, yeah, he's like, we we actually do need some uh fitters.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: I was like, as a man, I was like, you don't have no welders because I'm not really much of a fitter, you know, because uh I was fitting at a shop years before, and you know, I mean I gotta be consistent on things to really keep my mind going.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: Right but uh, yeah, just we'll just uh let me talk to my superintendent.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: Got a hold of the superintendent, he called me, we talked.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: He's I'll set you up a test.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: So I went and took the written test and uh just went off of the uh my pay was just off of that test.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: So he's like, okay, well, you know, knowing knowing from what you talked about your experience and from the test, he's I'll put you at a tradesman A uh pay because you know because uh really like uh I'm considered what they call a book buyer.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: You know, I didn't go through the whole apprenticeship program where I have to do five years of apprentice, right?
18:50
SPEAKER_00: And then my after your fifth year, uh you get initiated to be a journeyman.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: So uh I took the test and all that stuff and started working, and I didn't like it at first, uh, because it was a total different world, you know, it was totally different.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: I was doing layouts on the floor for like a whole week.
19:11
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't used to that, so my back was hurting, my knees and everything.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, damn.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, I told my cousin the man, dude, I was like, I don't know about this.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: He's like, Well, I mean, uh if you want to drag up or whatever, you know, it's it's you know, that's up to you.
19:28
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna hurt my feelings or nothing and all that.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I kind of thought about as a man.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he stuck out his neck for me to get me this job, and I can't do him like that.
19:38
SPEAKER_00: You know, so I was like, fuck it, and I'll stop being a little bitch and just fight the board and just keep going.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: And here I am five years later, still still still doing it.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: Hell yeah, bro.
19:48
SPEAKER_00: Providing for your feelings, yeah, pipe fitting and welding.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: So so yeah, I'm still doing that.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I got initiated because I had because you got to do a three three months uh probation, okay, right?
20:01
SPEAKER_00: And then from there, that's when you start paying your dues.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: So and my dues at that time were like uh I think they were like 30 bucks, and that all that that money goes to uh it goes to retirement, it goes to uh insurance, it goes to a lot of the things, right?
20:20
SPEAKER_00: So and then uh so fast track to now, um my last job I worked with uh MLN and I was at the Exxon Plan in uh Portland, the Gregory, Portland.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: And uh I was laid off and uh I took a break, and it was like about four or five months.
20:41
SPEAKER_00: But uh I had caught the hall and uh told him to put me on the list.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: But then uh I had an old buddy that I worked with in San Antonio call me up, and he was like, hey man, he's like I'm I'm over here at this uh this Tesla project, and uh and uh I want to you know wanna get get you out here.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: So I was like really so we kind of still you know talked about the money situation and all that stuff, see if it's even worth it.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: And uh but at that time there was no per dim.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: But the way our contract was, you know, it was uh eight hours straight, anything over eight uh is uh time and a half, and then anything over ten hours is double time, yeah and then we're working seven days, you know, uh 19 on two off.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: So talked about it, and he's like, and it's like uh got a place for you too.
21:39
SPEAKER_00: So I talked about it, and I was like, all right, uh let me talk to the wife and see what's up.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: And sure enough, she you know, she said, fuck it.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: So he put a request out for me, a call out.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: So my BA, because I'm at I'm out of the the local hall from Houston.
21:59
unknown: So
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Even though I'm from Corpus, uh I'm I'm out of the Houston hall.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: So uh the BA uh guy called me, and the business agent called me, and he's like, uh yeah, so yeah, it's uh we don't get much of uh superintendents uh do call-outs for people, so you know, uh Brandon sees uh you know you're good enough to go out there, yeah.
22:24
SPEAKER_00: And uh, but at that time I wasn't a journeyman, and yeah, they were only calling for journeymans and apprentices out there.
22:30
SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: So um, but he's like, you know what?
22:33
SPEAKER_00: So you already have your four years, you know, you done your four years, worked it, and um so you know, I'm just gonna go ahead and you know pump you up to journeyman already.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: You already had the experience of because uh they always put everything, type everything in the bio.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: So I had like you know, good uh good talk about me.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so so we'll get you out there.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: And uh this past April, it's it was already a year since I've been out here.
23:05
SPEAKER_00: So so yeah, I've already been on here for a little over a year already, and still going.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, we're getting more work as well.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: We uh there's another building that needs to be done.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: And then of course the company that I work for, they're they're like the biggest contractors out here, well out in Austin.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: So there's there's really a lot of work everywhere.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: So and then there's a Samsung building, another another one that's gonna be crazy built up.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so I don't know.
23:38
SPEAKER_00: Uh let's see what happens, see how long I will be out here, you know.
23:42
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, they're they're always telling me too.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: Like uh some of the local hands, they're like, Why don't you just move out here?
23:48
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're gonna be out here for a while, they're not gonna let you go.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: I was like, uh, so I don't know, man.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I mean, my wife loves it up here, she loves Bastrout.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and um, but we're like, yeah, but I don't want to take uh our daughter away from her school because she she goes to the science school of technology.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so and I mean me and my wife, we love that school, they're they're good with the kids.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh my my daughter, our daughter uh learned so much from being at that school.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: And it really amazed me how much she she learned more there quick than she did at the old elementaries that she was at.
24:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: So and yeah, her knowledge and everything is just expanding, and uh she's she's just doing so good there, and I don't want to take her, I don't want to take our daughter's good education away from her.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: She's already doing good there.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't want to take that away from her.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, do you ever just make it work?
24:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man, that's good.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: So do you ever feel like uh do you ever have like a because I when I used to be on the road, I used to come home like two two days out of the week.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: Same thing, kind of like you.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: And I used to be like, man, well, I'm not gonna spend a lot of time with my kids, you know what I mean.
25:05
SPEAKER_01: Does that ever have does that you does that ever happen to you?
25:08
SPEAKER_01: Like, do you ever think that way?
25:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, of course, man.
25:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, it's it's very hard.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: Um especially like it was a little bit easier when we first started because we know we had 19 on and two days off, and I would always go home for the weekend.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: And then uh after Memorial Day of last year, yeah, it was like it was pretty much like non-stop work.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: So there was a time, I think it was like three or four months, we were working seven days straight.
25:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: And during that time, um my wife and my daughter would just come up here every two weeks.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: They were up here for the summer.
25:47
SPEAKER_00: They were here, they were here for the summer for like two weeks straight.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:50
SPEAKER_00: And then after that, every two weeks they would come up here and visit.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, we we made it work out, and but now like we're our schedule changed again, so we are uh five tens and an eight.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: Damn.
26:06
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so Saturdays we work eight hours and then Sundays, like today, I'm I'm off.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: So um now it's a little bit kind of hard, you know, just uh go go back just for one day, you know.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: Uh because if I leave from work Saturday, get get home uh around four, do what we can there, and I usually take off then like the day before work, I usually take off like around three or four.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: So that way, because I I get here like at seven-ish, or you know.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that's tough.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a three-hour three-hour drive.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's and then my wife was like, Oh, just just stay and just leave early in the morning.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: I was like, uh no.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm not waking up like at one o'clock in the morning to drive.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: Because uh, I did that before at uh at one of my old jobs, um still with the union.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: Uh I worked in uh Port La Vaca or Port Comfort, and I would wake up, man, what time would I wake up?
27:12
SPEAKER_00: I forgot.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: I think I'm gonna wake up at three.
27:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, wake up at three o'clock and then drive, and it's like an hour or so away just to be at work, but I was going to and from, you know, I was driving back and forth every day.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, it was a short, short, uh, short time because I was waiting, I was waiting to start uh for the openings uh for MLN at the Exxon.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: So I just took my job at the uh the hall, helped me out, and put me at that job for temporary, you know, just till MLN was ready for me to go out there.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: So but even that short amount of time, I was like, man, this driving back and forth is it's crazy.
27:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, man.
28:00
SPEAKER_01: So I so how long how long have you been you guys been married?
28:03
SPEAKER_01: Like, did this happen like after y'all were married or before?
28:06
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know me.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: No, we were married.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: We got married uh eight years ago.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh we've been together, we yeah, we've been together for 11 years, and uh yeah, we got married uh eight years ago.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so this year will be nine.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: And the only reason how uh we remember that is uh by our daughter's age.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: Oh nice we got married in October, and so we got married in uh in October at the courthouse, and my daughter was born in December.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we keep we keep track of that.
28:43
SPEAKER_00: Wow, bro.
28:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, my wife does it because my wife has a bad memory.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, man.
28:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm the same way.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: Like, I forget stuff I'll forget that stuff, and my wife will be like, Did you forget again?
28:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh that's my wife, bro.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: She's probably gonna kick my ass, you know.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: But I was like, nah.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: I I gotta value her because she was like, I forgot about we brought up my age, and she's like, You're gonna be you're 32, right?
29:11
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I was like, really, dude?
29:13
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I'm my age?
29:16
SPEAKER_00: She's like, What?
29:17
SPEAKER_00: So you're not 32?
29:18
SPEAKER_00: I was like, man, when we were in the pool, I was like, we're almost I'm a fucking down you know, uh Yorona on you and everything.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man, damn, that's awesome.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she's she's crazy, dude.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh but yeah, she's my backbone, bro.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, I honestly wouldn't have achieved so much if it wasn't for my wife.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man, that's good.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: So we we we push each other a lot and uh to better ourselves.
29:45
SPEAKER_02: So right now, yeah.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: So right now she's going uh she's going to school for cosmetology in uh Portland.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: So uh she will graduate in October.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she'll graduate in October.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: That's when she'll be done.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: So pretty excited for her um for her new career that she's gonna take on.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: So see how it goes.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, help help help bring some more money in, huh?
30:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it was it was just a good, you know, good cause that I'm out here, you know.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she was uh able to leave her old jobs and then uh take care of our daughter because uh she would my wife would go into work at six in the morning, and I did too at that time.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, back then I was uh at my old job, I was going in at six o'clock.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: So we both had to go in at six, and she would have to take our daughter to uh a babysitter in the morning to one of her friends, and then the friend would take her to school, and then the friend had a shift change, so she could she wasn't really able to take our daughter, and then uh we ended up finding a way, but whenever I came up here, she's like, I don't know what's why we're gonna do this, and but uh with the money that you know I'm making out here, she was able to still leave her job and uh be able to attend to our our daughter, and then she just had a decision just to try cosmetology.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I was like, I can see you doing that.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: I mean, because my wife, she's very artistic, right?
31:18
SPEAKER_00: She she's very artistic and things that she does, and um I mean shit, like the way she does our uh our daughter's hair, yeah.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh there's things I I mean I could barely do a ponytail, but I could do a braid with just a single braid, a regular braid, you know.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, put in the ponytail and braiding, and then that's it, you know.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she does all the kinds of braids and everything, and then uh uh she will color uh her hair sometimes, but um, but yeah, yeah, ever since she's been going to school, uh been seeing her progress in it.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I was like, dude, I was like, you got it.
31:53
SPEAKER_00: Of course, she needs more help with man's haircut because that's what she really wants to do.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: She wants to do man's haircut.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: Nice.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: So um, but yeah, I mean she she just needs more hands-on.
32:03
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm her guinea pig.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, she says I have a weird head, so that doesn't make it easy, right?
32:12
SPEAKER_00: I was like, well, at least you're lucky I wear caps.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: But it's on it's really honestly not that bad.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: She she she still puts, you know, uh gives herself a hard time.
32:26
SPEAKER_00: Right.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: But I mean, that just shows you know you you care about it, you have a lot of pride to your work.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I respect that because I'm the same way.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'll be one day I'm like finish a weld or whatever in a very bad spot or something, or I just have an off day.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: Right.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, man, I already fucked that up.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, ah, it's alright, as long as it don't leak, right?
32:53
SPEAKER_00: Put some duck, put some duct tape.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, put some bubble go on it.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: But I was like, uh yeah, but still it's just uh it's because it's a it's a craft, it's it's it's craftsmanship, you know.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: Right, right, right.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, I mean people could just throw shit on it and yeah, it won't leak or whatever, but you know, it it shows the character of the pr of the worker, you know.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, whether you whether you're welding or pipe fitting, painting, and painting too.
33:21
SPEAKER_00: Um uh my stepdad, he's a painter.
33:24
SPEAKER_00: And uh I've helped him a few times too.
33:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, being out of work, I would help him.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, it's more uh more than people think it is, you know, when it comes to painting.
33:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's there's a lot more to it than just rolling and moving a brush, you know.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: There's there's craftsmanship in there too, and everything takes craftsmanship.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: So for people to take uh pride in the work, I mean it shows a lot on the character.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: So that's awesome.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: Dude, that's what's up, bro.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you so you mentioned your stepdad, you're a stepdad as well, yeah.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm a stepdad to two kids.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, my stepson is 19 years old, David, and then um my stepdaughter uh Maddie, she is 15.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I met I met my stepson when he was eight, and my stepdaughter when she was three.
34:17
SPEAKER_00: Wow, bro, crazy.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, so man, just seeing them now is crazy just to know how fast time has gone.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, even at that, uh I'm I'm also a grandpa.
34:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, dude, that's crazy.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like I already got where is it at?
34:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right there.
34:40
SPEAKER_00: It's already starting.
34:41
SPEAKER_00: I already have the connas from on my head from my wife, but now I'm getting ghana's right here for being a grandpa.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: That's funny, man.
34:50
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, we're we're uh we're blessed to have uh our chance on his uh just a big old chunky monkey.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: Little Michelin baby, man.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: He's he rolls after rolls, yeah, man.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: Hell yeah, dude.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's a new kid.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: He's a good baby.
35:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it makes me think about my son, man.
35:09
SPEAKER_01: My son, he's gonna be two, bro.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: God, he's a he's an awesome little dude, bro.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, I grew up, I don't have any sisters, I grew up with all brothers, and my first child was a a daughter, so that was kind of a change for me.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, very new, bro.
35:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, see, like for me, like um I I grew up, I grew up in uh my grandma's house and uh from my mom's side, my mom's mom.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: So um my my grandparents, they had four girls.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: So the only male in that house was my grandpa, but he was always he was always at work, you know.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: He was he worked uh at the warehouse for HEB.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he worked there for 36 years.
35:53
SPEAKER_00: And um, so yeah, I grew up with a house full of women, you know, my grandma, my mom, and my three Tia's.
35:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, so yeah, um, so yeah, it was just crazy being being like the only boy in the house.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: And of course, my grandparents spoiled the hell out of me because they're they had four girls, you know.
36:15
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like their son as well.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, they they tell me too, like, you're like our son.
36:20
SPEAKER_00: We you know, we always wanted a boy, and you know, but your mom ended up having you, so yeah.
36:27
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, yeah, it's kind of like in our co like I don't know in our culture to where the the grandparents like if your grandparents, if your parents are still around, the grandparents are around, right?
36:39
SPEAKER_01: And like you said, they're they're kind of like helping to raise you with your parents, yeah.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
36:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't know.
36:46
SPEAKER_01: I never really had that because we we I would live with my dad and then we would go to grandma's house to hang out, but I can't, you know what uh now that I'm thinking about it.
36:54
SPEAKER_01: My grandmother used to discipline us too, bro.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: She'd be like, Don't yeah, hell yeah, bro.
36:59
SPEAKER_01: She she wasn't afraid to use the chunk lao for sure.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: Bro, my my grandma is it was a discipliner, you know.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: She she whooped my ass.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she denies it now.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: She denies it, but whooping my ass.
37:14
SPEAKER_00: And uh, my grandpa only whooped my ass once, dude, and I was scared shitless dying.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, bro.
37:22
SPEAKER_00: And uh sure.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh I bring it up and he just laughs.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: My grandpa's real laid back, dude.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: He's she's chill, man.
37:30
SPEAKER_00: And uh my grandma, she's she she's a tough woman, dude.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: I I love her.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: She's a she's a damn tough woman, dude.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: She she wants to shit for nobody.
37:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure, bro.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: That's how that's how really uh all my my T's are too.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: My mom, my mom's very calm too, but piss her off, you open a whole can of worms, dude.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna come out, yeah, for sure, man.
37:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and come to think of it, dude.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: All my i and they're talking about on my dad's side, because my dad has a big family.
37:59
SPEAKER_01: There's like shoot, like 12 brothers and sisters or something like that.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but all of them, bro, like it seems like they're all work hard, you know what I mean?
38:08
SPEAKER_01: Even the women, like it seems like they were trained to like work, work, work, you know what I mean?
38:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh, and that's some that's a work work ethic that I had learned from my dad's side of the family.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: Because my dad was like that too.
38:20
SPEAKER_01: He's like, nope, you're gonna get up, you're gonna do something, you know, you're not gonna just be here all day doing nothing, you know what I mean?
38:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I I got yeah, I got the work that they from uh my grandpa.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: Well, both of my grandpa's at that because uh my grandpa uh from my dad's side, he was uh he was a truck driver for Bay.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: Oh, right.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: And uh so yeah, like he he would always work, and then of course he works on uh he worked on the truck and of course cut the grass and all that stuff.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: He was always staying busy, just like on my other grandpa from my mom's side, right?
38:55
SPEAKER_00: You know, he would work and of course do the same thing, he'll work on the cars, you know, just being typical old, you know, uh classic man, you know, staying busy.
39:06
SPEAKER_00: And seeing that growing up, you know, okay, you know, that's what men are supposed to do.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
39:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh shit.
39:14
SPEAKER_00: Even even at that, whenever my grandpa from my dad's side, he uh he passed away from cancer uh when I was a senior.
39:22
SPEAKER_00: Was it yes?
39:23
SPEAKER_00: I think it was a senior when I was a senior.
39:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh he passed away, and uh, but even when he had cancer, he would uh before it got him worse, he was still working.
39:35
SPEAKER_00: He was still out there getting it, and then once it got a little bit uh harder for him, he was at home.
39:41
SPEAKER_01: Crazy.
39:42
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then my grandpa on my mom's side, um yeah, he's he has uh you know, was it I think it was glaucoma, and then he's starting to like lose feeling in his uh legs, like it would get numb.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: So he had operation on that, he had an operation on his shoulder, yeah.
40:05
SPEAKER_00: But he slowed down a little bit, but he still keeps busy, you know.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: Right.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: So I mean, both of my grandpa's they were just iron horses, you know, they were just still getting it, yeah, bro.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh but so that's that's where I get all my hard work motivation is because of those two men right there, and then also because of my stepdad, too.
40:26
SPEAKER_00: My stepdad always busts his ass too to provide for my mom and then and uh my siblings as well.
40:33
SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, seeing him work his normal job and then uh leave from there to go do side work or on the weekends when he's off, he's still doing side work on the side.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: Crazy um to just you know, just uh provide.
40:49
SPEAKER_00: And on the I saw that growing up, you know, at 14 years old.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you know, like fuck yeah.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: So that's whenever well, the only reason why I got into welding, um eighth grade at drill school, you know, you gotta just you know fill out your paperwork for uh electives, right?
41:08
SPEAKER_00: And you know, just being a you know ignorant kid, now what the hell is this?
41:12
SPEAKER_00: Welding, ah fuck it, just check it off and get it out of my face, you know.
41:17
SPEAKER_00: Wow, and then um shit man, and then I got my schedule freshman year, uh welding intro.
41:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
41:26
SPEAKER_00: And then of course we went to the classes and everything, and once we were able to step in the shop, uh my instructor uh was showing us how to strike an arc, so we we will of course be in line, and uh of course he had to like hold our hands and like show us how to do it, right?
41:45
SPEAKER_00: And then ever since I I struck that first arc and started you know trying to throw a bead, I was like, shit.
41:53
SPEAKER_00: I said this is what I want to do.
41:54
SPEAKER_00: Wow, bro, cool.
41:56
SPEAKER_00: So so yeah, so I've been going going here, started at 14, freshman year, and now I'm 31, still still going at it.
42:06
SPEAKER_01: So wow bro, dude, that's awesome.
42:08
SPEAKER_01: Dude, you started in middle school, yeah and no and no college, bro.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, uh, yeah, no college.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh my I don't know if you would still call it trade school college.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah, yeah, for sure.
42:21
SPEAKER_00: But uh, I did go to the crack training center for a little bit.
42:25
SPEAKER_00: Uh they would have classes like three times.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: I would go in the summer.
42:32
SPEAKER_00: Uh it was like three days out of the week I would go.
42:36
unknown: Yeah.
42:36
SPEAKER_00: And then of course the summertime, it was like all week.
42:39
SPEAKER_00: And then uh I went back.
42:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, when I was working at this fab shop, I started going back because I wanted to weld start learning how to weld pipe.
42:49
SPEAKER_00: I was more of a structural welder, and I never really got more on the pipe side.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: So I started going back to school to learn how to weld pipe, and uh, I got in a work accident.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh I broke my ankle, and I had just started school too.
43:05
SPEAKER_00: I had started going there with not even a week, and then I got hurt at work, and of course I had to be out for about four months.
43:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
43:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh but you know, they reimbursed in my money and all that, and uh, I never went back.
43:20
SPEAKER_01: Crazy, bro.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: But I pretty much just picked up more on the job, you know.
43:25
SPEAKER_00: Once I left once I left the fab shop and I worked at another one, and then I went to go test out uh for a company called PMI, and I was at it was at the show and alumina plant uh in Ingleside.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's it's not there anymore, it already got demolished.
43:44
SPEAKER_02: Right.
43:44
SPEAKER_00: Um so I had to go practice.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: So one of my buddies, uh Lupe, he's he's uh he's an older cat, you know, damn good welder too.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: He told me to go buy his uh his place and practice on pipe, and I practiced, practiced, and he showed me.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: a few tips and uh then the next day it went out to back out to Ingleside and tested out and shit I passed and then started started doing more pipe at that job and then you know so I I guess it like I guess everything happens for a reason but it kind of sucked like how I had to get hurt yeah I mean I I'm still uh fucking recovering from that day dude that might I still have cross my ankle so it's gets oh don't you hate that bro you break something and uh never goes away winter time winter time gets worse uh because of the cold uh rain yeah um if I work on ladders or being a scissor lift or man lift or whatever if I have to climb the pipe rack to get a get a good spot yeah yeah I'm sore the next day dude or if I get in the mosh pit I'm sore the next day too regardless yeah and your throat too for yelling and stuff oh yeah yeah and then the head for all the drinking oh your body's like you know yeah like dude we're getting old that's like yeah well you go to shows and that's like the only exercise you get right from going to shows yeah yeah but even thinking because he he like here at this uh this uh factory man it's it's it's huge it's big dude and uh there's a lot of walking on that place and then crazy yeah and then there was you know there's a lot of stairs you have to climb to but uh now we got there there are elevators some of the elevators are working so finally we got a break after all these you know through this time you know the stairs stairs finally got an elevator that's uh that works or like finally got a relief like damn we could finally calm down a little bit yeah for sure yeah because yeah it sucked because like there's times like either we're on the first floor working but we're missing stuff and we have to go all the way to the third floor oh shit get it and bring it down or vice versa like you know we're up on the third floor uh something's downstairs or they bring something yeah we gotta go down and go get it and then bring it back up there's a time that me and uh me and my homeboy Joe uh we had to take all these chain falls and everything back upstairs yeah and we were on the second yeah we were on the second floor and there was still like maybe I think like fuck like five or six flights of stairs where we're carrying these uh I think they were like two ton or three ton chain falls no I think they were two ton two ton chainfalls so with long ass chains so we put the chainfall around us wrap the chain around you know and then go back down and bring up some more and then more chain falls and clamps and uh I was like fuck man who need the gym when you can just do this no kidding right yeah because I I have people tell me man dude like let's go to the gym I was like fuck that I don't want to go to no gym gym's at work bro work out every day dude it's funny so yeah man it's it's it's crazy dude like uh but it's true you know like you get you get so much uh physical shit to do I mean it depends on what kind of person you are too like if you're a lazy fuck then you don't do a damn thing right with the finger but you know if you got them hard workers that are just getting it you know yeah you know you put your body through a lot of uh physical stuff yeah for sure man so yeah it's it's crazy but it keeps you busy yeah it keeps you busy bro you gotta I mean it's like you're going to work for me in my mind it's like okay I'm going to work I gotta work you know what I mean why else am I here you know some guys it's just like they just show up and they don't want to do nothing I'm like dude I don't understand why are you here you just want to hear to do nothing you know it doesn't make sense to me bro but I mean that's just how some people roll I guess you know what I mean I know the for me like we we have a foreman a foreman there that don't know shit he don't do shit he he don't he can't even read prints and he's a foreman yeah man that's like man he's fucking brown nosing motherfucker just yeah yeah it's it's just people like that you know it it's people like that that kind of brings down some of the motivation is like fuck you know why am I busting my ass and this motherfucker is getting paid more than us and you know he's supposed to be the fucking leader you know yeah yeah it's so would you say would you yeah would you say it's like difficult cu that that's gotta be difficult because or even stressful too because you're like damn what the hell you know what I mean does that ever happen to you to where it's like affecting your work and you're just like trying not to think about it you know what I mean?
49:03
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah pisses me off yeah like how do you yeah how do you not like be pissed off while you're working you know what I mean because yeah yeah it's a bunch of bullshit but uh but my homeboy he he's uh I I met him out here uh Adam he he's our foreman so and he's a bad motherfucker dude uh he uh works his ass off yeah and um talk a lot of shit talk shit back just to pass past the day you know yeah yeah yeah that's that's the only way we can pass pass the day man just talk shit to each other you know be stupid and yeah but still get the work done and get out of there you know yeah for sure bro that's a good point yeah it's definitely a good point you got somebody to talk to that can relate to the you also you know they know what's going on they see what's going on and to be able to relate it's like all right it helps it yeah for sure it helps the day go by faster for sure hell yeah yeah if not that that that day's gonna fucking drag yeah bro for real dude I mean there's been some days too like well yesterday you know we were working eight hour day and we're working and all that stuff and then look at the time it's like fuck man it's barely nine o'clock it's just like 11 and you're all eating the taco hoping the time goes by faster right yeah yeah as uh our our uh site superintendent he he buys everyone tacos on saturdays so yeah so it's like we get that after our first break and our breaks at eight o'clock so so that yeah that's what I meant like you know we just got off a break and we're working and you know getting you know doing stuff and it seems like at least two hours has passed and it's only been an hour you're like what really like come on it's funny man wow man yeah well you know it's it's just you know the people who you work around with yeah you know is what makes it better even though it could be either a shitty ass job site or with you know shitty uh leadermanship you know as long as you have your fucking brothers next to you who uh have your back and work as work as hard just you know as you do and everything you know it makes it all better it makes the day better makes it worth it it makes it worth it because um you know we work with with our guys more we're with them more than we are with our families you know which is true you know regardless if even I was working back home in corpus right you know we spend more uh days and hours with our coworkers than we do with our families so that that just brings a strong a bond you know with every everyone yeah it's that that brotherhood you know and uh you know I've seen that you know open shop you know but and when join the union it's it's even stronger right there there's actually like people that who would stick up for other people like we had this journeyman stick up for uh apprentice because apprentice can't really do much at all because they're they're apprentice a first year second year whatever yeah and one of our journeymans uh stood up for for one of them against uh uh a foreman crazy and always like can't be fucking threatening this this apprentice's job like that like the fuck he's a fucking apprentice yeah you're gonna fucking threaten someone you know threaten me dog like you want to try to get get someone's money try to get mine you know yeah yeah so you know like so yeah uh the the brotherhood and the union it's it's it's totally different um but ever everyone's cool with each other and in certain ways uh of course you know local hands are more together than it is with travelers see like over here I'm I'm a traveler so because I'm not from the Austin hall right um there they're their halls are 286 and you know I'm from Houston the crazy is 211 so but we get people from all over all over the states you know wow yeah uh New York Cali you know Chicago you know Pennsylvania Florida all over you know so you meet a lot of people from from different states and all that and but the thing about that what's cool is that you know you meet these guys and if you do tend to like go to another state and you still keep in contact with that guy you used to work with you know they're gonna help you out they're gonna help you out uh find a place or whatever you know or uh yeah it's just it's just crazy like it's good to have to know people like that so that's why I was saying like you know when my friend was a superintendent out here he knew how I worked because we worked together and he wanted me out there because he he liked my work ethic you know I worked hard and yeah you know so that's the reason why he did a call out for me to go out there well come out here so yeah yeah man it pays off it pays off to be a uh a hard worker even though like sometimes you feel like damn is is is my enough enough you know like right yeah that's that's a good point yeah yeah that's a really good point because like I mean especially what you do like there's it seems like the welding is everywhere you'll you'll have a job in welding which is a good craft to have and when you work when you have a good work ethic you're always gonna have a job you know what I mean like like I tell my my daughter I was like if you if you learn how to solve problems you'll always have a job like in in no matter because when you get to the job they want you to solve problems right um and if you have a skill that people need that that's a need that's in demand and you know how to solve problems and you work hard you're always gonna have a job you know either at that job or at a different job you know what I mean you don't have to stay at one job forever I'm not saying that to job hop you know what I mean but that's the reality for for different trades that you have like you have to move around go to different jobs network and all that stuff too yeah yeah I've never been a fan of job hunting I I I knew a few guys when before I went union is like they would job hop like like work I don't know the I think the longest well the earliest I've seen someone work was like a week and they're like I'm gonna go to this other job fucking crazy you know it's crazy yeah it's like man I can't do that you know yeah it's crazy that people can do that and and or like that you know they just they just job you know jump from job to job and it was like man that's that's it's too much dude right but uh I've been I've been lucky to like oh hold a job for a good while right um because like at one shop I was there for three years uh and then at Sherwin I was there for two years and then I worked at uh this company called core they started at the the Voltapina uh plant right there in Portland as well and then they had a they had a another job at the jumbo project I don't know if you remember that one uh it was called the jumbo but if it was uh it was called the MNG plant right and um so they had two jobs there so I would I would worked at Voltaine for like a little over a year there and then they transferred me to the other job but I was being transferred to go back to help help you know the other guys over there so I was almost with them for like almost two years and then once I joined the union at the hospital I was there for about a year and a half yeah and then uh went through like two more companies and MLN I was there for like a year and a half and then now here you know going a little over a year so I was able to I'm the person just to ride it out you know right go to the wheels fall off fuck it you know you know if they they want to let me go then let me go if they don't then hey keep on working keep on trucking yeah bro it's cool yeah it's cool because you have you're not it's not like uh like a job at the refining refinery like where guys stay there for like 10 years you know I mean 20 years 30 years yeah it's more like a like a maintenance job if you get a maintenance job there like you're pretty much set because that's what my cousin did uh you know he was when the one that got me uh with Brandt you know that got me in the union he uh he ended up dragging up and went to this other company non-union and he got he got set at a maintenance job and he don't have to worry about shit he he's set so he he's doing good but you know like uh if it wasn't for him I you know I still wouldn't you know be here I probably wouldn't have never joined at that you know man I wouldn't have known about it yeah bro shoot that's cool bro that's what's up man appreciate you coming on Nick oh yeah thank thanks for having me dude dude uh is there anything else you want to share um shit man I just want to say um you know hopefully everyone keeps spreading the word of y'all you know your podcast you know your brand because your brand's fucking amazing it's dope uh support locals you know podcasters business agent you know whatever you know shout out to my to my cousin BSB podcast yeah shout out to Brittany leading ladies uh I finally got to meet her at uh Cedher which was fucking awesome yeah cool so yeah I met her finally she was she was awesome uh the ruthless villains podcast you know there's they're still going at it so yeah just you know everyone listening could just support these guys support everyone who's who's local and shit man that's really all I gotta say just appreciate that bro yeah so you support look you I mean you like supporting local man that's awesome yeah you know um oh also to uh red giant prints you know the homie Eli from Red Giant Prince yep uh they they do they do some uh shirts stickers banners and they do a lot of shit there too you know yeah some restaurants too like the homies at Fresco uh Tony and Oneida like they're doing good there too shout out to them as well so yeah man it's it's good as it's good to support your friends and what they do instead of you know being jealous and hating you know not like you know people gotta survive too you know so help help them out you know help out your friends help out your family who owns and of course you know help out others you know because on owning a local business is fucking hard yeah it is so sure man yeah appreciate that bro I'm pretty sure y'all these people that you shouting out man they appreciate that and we appreciate it too so yeah definitely check out those people anybody we forgot uh shoot man just uh leave it in the comment or something like that we appreciate y'all yeah yeah man Nick appreciate you bro be safe out there man thank you dog appreciate it man okay have a good one you too bro later all right y'all that was Nick Lopez we appreciate you guys listening to the podcast if you want to find Nick we'll leave uh links in the description where you can find him on Instagram um and some of those other uh people that we mentioned on the podcast hopefully I can remember all of them to put a link down in the description if you want to support this uh podcast uh go check out corpuschristy originals dot com and thanks a lot you guys have a good one bye