Yes, all of this sounds super cool and yes for awhile it was. Truth is, verbal abuse on top of intense physical labor for at least 16 hours a day just about every day can take its toll on a person. Especially if I wanted to be subjected to that I could have easily stayed in the states. On top of that, the only thing I was able to experience in these great cities, well….you’ve already seen everything I saw. Come to think of it, it rained every day of each of these events. I should have paid more attention to the signs. They were really nice people but because these events could make or break them, their creed and what they yelled at me every day was “do or die”. I loved the work ethic but because I was breaking even with the pay (always starting at $0 if I was lucky) instead of actually making any profit on top of the fact that I was more ill in the short time I worked with them than in my entire life meant I had to go. My last straw was when I cut my hand really badly and was bleeding all over everything. I don’t have insurance to be getting hurt so frequently. I’d put pics up of my injuries but I don’t think anyone should be subjected to looking at my disfigured body parts involuntarily. So, either I learned a very valuable lesson while putting myself in a position where I could find something better or screwed myself entirely. Ha I guess we’ll find out the answer together.
Although…..the coup de grâce (big phrase for me considering my feelings about the French) was being in Adelaide and meeting in person, face to face with a big hug and a kiss, yet another of my top 5 writers. Robert Rankin autographed a flyer for me and was surprised that an American my age would know who he was let alone be one of his biggest fans. In fact I don’t think he believed me until I said, “I had to get going in order to work out the transperambulation of cosmic pseudo anti-matter”. Thanks Lee Fester for putting me onto him and thanks Melinda Hatcher for helping me to continue his legacy.
