I remember back in high school a counselor once told me, as a freshman, that I had to know the direction of my life by the beginning of junior year. They expected a fourteen year-old kid to make life decisions that I haven’t made to this day. For me and Momma X (together since high school) it’s always been a matter of adapting to a situation, following our noses along a path of many twists and turns. It’s called life.
I guess we never had the luxury of goals. My first job was selling used cars, followed by delivering paint, a steel mill, the Haight-Ashbury, then three jobs in downtown San Francisco. When you work downtown in a major metropolitan city and hang around in bars, opportunities are to be found, friends to be made. Contacts to cultivate. A hustle here, a hustle there. A better job to be had.
I loved to cook, so had some business cards made up saying that I was “The Visiting Chef” a fly-by-night catering business I started just to make some extra bucks. Fooled somebody into thinking I was a REAL chef and they hired me up on the Mendocino coast. Came back to the city after awhile when the same guy hired me for a Marin County restaurant he was setting up. Sous chef in several places. Went on to have my own kitchen in a North Beach joint, receiving thirteen favorable reviews in four years. The one negative write-up was one comparing my curry to the best Indian restaurant in SF at the time. They forgot to mention Gaylord’s was three times the price.
Collected coins as a kid. Since I seem to gravitate to the most extreme, most esoteric areas in anything I do, the hobby found its way into ancient Greek and Roman gold, silver and bronze. U.S. Morgan dollars and Indian pennies, even early colonial issues, all started to look alike.
That interest led me to people who deal in ancient (legally obtained) art objects as well as coins. Loved the stuff. When you love something deeply it’s easy to learn. Became an art dealer in ancient and tribal art. Went on the antique show circuit. Met more people, important, society people. Invited to antique vetting committees, speaking gigs, consulting for auction houses. A good reputation! Can you imagine that!
I guess the closest I ever came to a goal was the vision of my name on a gallery window, an Egyptian mummiform figure centered below, and the word CURIOSITIES beneath that.
Year 2000—vision accomplished.
Cancer. Liver transplant 2004. Back in biz 2005. Retired. Write smut. Travel. Paris. Writing smut. Italy 7X Thailand 2X. More smut. Meet Susie Bright. She recommends ERWA. Lots o’ smut. ERWA makes me an editor. I get published. Another pinnacle! I’d always wanted to be a writer. Lisabet invites me here to OGG.
Would I like to go back to Thailand? Yes.
But when it comes to bucket lists, I’d just as soon wait and see what turns up. It’s the way I’ve always done it, and for sure I’m too old to change now.
Daddy X
"Maybe all men got one big soul ever'body's a part of."
Preacher Casy
"Use what you got 'cause that's all you get""
Clarence "Pine Top" Smith
Sounds like a great life, and a great philosophy. The way the world keeps changing, you never know what new and exciting prospects may open up.
ReplyDelete"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"...John Lennon. Since you didn't plan, you probably weren't ever disappointed. Sounds like a kind of zen life to me. I hope you continue to enjoy what comes your way.
ReplyDeletesavouring today right along with you, Daddy X. i was particularly fascinated by your catering on the fly biz. very fun. i do enjoy audaciousness in a man. stay wild, carry on!
ReplyDeleteActually, Daddy, my life hasn't followed my so-called plans at all. I've changed careers three times - in college I changed majors twice - happenstance has detoured me away from the path I thought I was on, much to my eventual delight.
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those people who believes you can do almost anything, if you set your mind to trying. You're one of those people who really prove the truth of that belief!
I have always been impressed by the 'Great Pretenders" of the world, those who by sheer interest and determination manage to excel in a given discipline. While I never got to any pinnacle, I have enjoyed modest success in many of the hobbies that turned into businesses. It hasn't all been easy, by any means, lots of trials in the way, but even the Buddha had to go through his beggar form, isn't that right, Fiona?
ReplyDeleteAnd good for you, Lisabet. Don't get too set in any way. Be flexible to take advantage of the barrage life throws at us.
See, that's right. It doesn't matter how old er mature we get, there's always something we haven't yet done, something new for us to wonder at. The trials and tribulations are universal and part of life, the rewards if and when they come are all the more welcome.
ReplyDeleteWhat a life, Daddy X! I hope it continues to be exciting.
ReplyDeleteWe do try and rock on.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written as always, Daddy X. They say the best of life is yet to come, so I look forward to learning what the next chapter will be. For a man "your age" I you not only try but succeed in "rockin' on." I'm so grateful to be a small part of that.
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