Hello Steemit!
Yes , the mood of thinking back and doing a recap of the year is still there and probably will be until we hit 2019 , It's just that time of the year where I find myself thinking more than usual .. and on a ''normal'' state I can't really shut my brain off anyways so , I just roll with it.
But why McDonald's coffee ? Well .. I have two reasons .. one is more practical than the other , the first one is that since I have been an early person since forever ( I blame my step father .. who woke me up making coffee everyday at 5 am for many years ) I am usually up when pretty much the world is sleeping , specially here in Buenos Aires , which is a city that doesn't start too early in general. I wake up at about 6am every day with no alarms and most businesses won't open until 9am .. so , If I forgot to stash my coffee at home I pretty much have to go to McDonalds to get my caffeine hahaha. I actually like to be awake early as I cherish my morning time , the silence and tranquility gives me some time to be with myself and also it is my favorite time for creativity , i'll do my regular writing in the early mornings , much before I get ''contaminated'' by the craziness of the day.
The second reason is a bit more deep , as McDonalds was my first ''serious'' job ever so sitting here with a coffee does take me back to that starting point , that 18 year old kiddo with a relentless personality who wanted to ''make it big'' but had to start somewhere.
I remember those days close to graduating high school where I pretty much had my life planned out : I was going to go to Berklee , become a badass musician , grab a top notch gig and make a successful career by doing what I loved. It was all so easy and planned out , I just needed to get high school out of the way.
Turns out life had other plans for me and my little plan had a detour: I ended up cleaning bathrooms at a McDonalds to later be promoted to the counter and make fries ( I stole more than one to be honest.. those things can be addictive ) . In order to even start as a musician I needed to make an investment in gear and as a High School graduate that only counted on lunch money as income , this was not going to be possible. Also, my family was not very supportive at those times of my career choice as there is that image of a musician just being a lazy hippie that sleeps and parties all day .. It took me many years to prove them that it is a very hard working profession. It was my mom, who always backed my crazy ideas 100% but did not have the economic means to support them that suggested I took a job and figure it out in the meantime and I am very grateful for that , I learned the value of hard work very early.
During my time at McDonalds I learned so many things , teamwork , handling customers, dealing with drama, stepping in to solve problems , etc etc. Also , I found out very early how crappy the whole work system is .. How the bigger managers constantly wanted to brainwash the employees and would rub their achievements unto us , how much they made per hour , their benefits , insurances and whatevs .. specifically a phrase they repeated over and over made a lot of noise inside me:
''If you work harder then you will get more work hours into your schedule.. and you know what that means? more money!''
Eh.... yes.... but doesn't that also mean... MORE WORK?! ... who are you trying to fool? .. to my surprise most people DID take that as motivation .. I knew I was the odd one out there but anyways.. I had a short term goal.. Once I raised the money for my gear I was out .
During my time there I did not really talk much with my ''fellow co-workers'' , everyone was very self-absorbed in getting the job done so I can't say I made friends though I did get along just fine with everybody. I also learned not to judge people , everyone is doing the best they can in the circumstances that were presented to them in life .. we are no one to judge anyone , just to help , support and give a word of advice if the opportunity arose. I could see the managers boasting about their success and the person who had spent the last 10 years working at the kitchen on a minimum wage .. yes.. fairness is not something that would describe the situation . I was watching this every day , just an audience member to this ''real life movie''.
After some time I finally raised enough money to buy my gear , I quit and embarked on my next adventure .. my musician adventure.. oh.. and what did I buy? well.. basically a pro level guitar and some effect pedals , the basic things I needed to enter ''the pro circle'' .. and yes.. I have a picture.. actually my crypto mom 
For the gear geeks , it was an American Deluxe Stratocaster that I later sold to have the ''Cordovez'' guitar built .. the guitar I still use until this day.
After I left that McDonalds door I did start my bumpy road as an adult , I got my first gig , which kicked in a second one .. after some time I ended up playing with the important artists in my country , went on tour , started a TV career, I failed getting enrolled to Music University twice but ended up moving to Argentina to get my music degree , learned some production , started a studio , started a teaching career and I am currently producing other artists while working on my own material.... well... The plan did not work out as I originally intended.. but .. it's been fun so far.. with it's ups and downs... also .. I got involved on STEEM quite heavily.. and.. that is also part of the ride now. I don't know where I read this but it rings a bell with me nowadays:
"Life is everything that happens to you while you are busy making other plans''
As I finish this coffee I can only think.. I have done a couple things ever since I left this place.. let's see what comes up in the next year...
And for the record ... I still hate McDonalds ... Coffee is ok though... at least it is strong enough to get me going.
Thanks for reading my rambling :D!