Good Evening, Fellow Humans:
It's so odd looking back on the last few days. I can truly whip myself into a frenzy when I suppose I want to. I still stand by my points - I'm not backtracking on them at all. But... I realize there are as many points of view as there are humans on this planet. We, each and all of us, can learn a great deal from each-other. I think that's one of the reasons I link to other bloggers/writers who interest and inspire me so much.
I'm reasonably well read, but I dropped out of university and never did get my bachelor's degree. Too much acid, too many all night discos, too many men -- what can I say I was a party piggy as a young man - you might have been too if you THOUGHT you'd been given a death sentence. The man who gave me the results of my first HIV test told me 'about two years', when I asked him how long I had (here I am, 26 years later and fine). This was 1986 in Seattle, I was a freshman at the UW. I didn't tell a soul for a year, just kept it secret and tried to go on. I became increasingly messed up and ended up dropping out the 2nd semester of my sophomore year. I hung out through the summer, and then had a horrid guilt trip about lifeguarding with HIV and quit it, moved back home with Mom in Bozeman, Montana. Stayed there only a few months, then decided I wanted to go to RISD and become an interior architect (I always wanted to be an interior designer, this was a step up).
I caught a ride share back east, spent a month or so visiting family in upstate NY, then moved -- with $200 to my name, to Providence. Got off the train, spent one night with the girl I rode with's family. Next day, got a little job at a restaurant and rented a horrible tiny room for $50 a week in the 'tenderloin' of Providence. My God, was that a rude awakening! About the 3rd week there, I got very upset one day at work and pushed over a tray full of dishes and walked out (I'm not cut out to be a waiter, I find it extremely stressful). I never went back to that job! But, the next day I got a job as the assistant to the purchasing agent at a costume jewelry manufacturer. This one I held on to for a year! It was an old factory building, and I was tasked with weighing out 'findings' and hardware that made up the jewelry on an ancient ratio scale (gram weights in one cup, the items being weighed in the other). The 'jobs' would role in on a conveyor belt, I'd pull and weigh the parts the job card called for, put them in little paper bags, and send them back to production. It was a solitary job, I had my own space, and I kind of liked it!
During week four while living in the tiny room of terror, I met an older guy at a piano bar (Michael Windsor, said he was related to the House of Windsor. He had met Jackie Kennedy - had pictures of them together at the compound on Cape Cod). He invited me to move in with him, and I gladly did! He had the 2nd floor of a house on the East Side (the nice side, near Brown and RISD). Lived with him for a year, and I did apply to RISD and I did get a full ride scholarship! Hmmm, my life.
I'll continue later. I'm going to link to another blog posting by Ran, this is one he wrote a long time ago and then went back and added new thoughts --- I found it helpful to me today.
http://www.ranprieur.com/essays/saveearth.html
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