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Long winded update

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Barklessdog:
I am sorry I have not been around, but I have sailed on life’s journey and will share my experience.

I do miss Uwe, but everyone else I keep in touch with on social media.

Anyway, as some of you might remember 4 years ago my sister died from blood cancer, I had to put my dog down, and I lost my company.

So I took a step back and re-evaluated my life. Realized I can’t play bass anymore due to my unorthodox style which was giving me carpel tunnel and tennis elbow.

So I always like sports cars and some guy near me offered to sell me his 1985 Toyota Mr2 for a crazy price. I bought it without my wife’s blessing. She read me the riot act and I decided to pay for it by selling all my basses, but this is its own story for another day.

I found in my industry- Toys, no one wants to hire anyone over 50, at least not without relocating, which I did want to do, since I would more than likely get laid off . Also I would rather live near my kids.

I got hired by another toy Invention studio that lasted 3 years, but the owner decided to liquidate the company and its staff.

So I was unemployed once again. My bank account was trickling down so I took a job selling Windows inhome. Guess what?

I loved doing it, it was a great experience and did fairly well. Now don’t go all sorry for the inhome sales guys, they make big money, some make 6 figures!

I also was really good at it because I didn’t care if I sold them. They had a sales training system that really worked. Each sale took at least 4 hours!


They taught us all these negotiating tactics, but I rarely used them, because they would all say (the ones who really were serious) - John I really like you and I know I told you I never buy anything on my first quote i’ll do it!

It was crazy!

It was good money too, but creativity I felt empty and felt like I was faking my life.

I would drive all over Chicago and get to meet all these cool different people, enter their houses, see their decorating styles, see cool new neihborhoods, and hear their life stories. I bonded with these people like I was family in the end. I could tell you about their grandpa, their dogs name - which I would stop anysale when they had a dog and just play with their dog.

If a sale was not going well I would say to my sell f*** it and try something crazy, and it work 90 percent of the time.

I also learned sales is an emotional rollercoaster. When you sell a big order of Windows for a house, say $46,000 for window doors etc and get 15% it’s intoxicating. However when you can’t sell it is really depressing. You can tell right away when it’s a waste of time.

I had 2 weeks of no sales and started looking at jobs again.

I found a local company that does children’s Educational products and they hired me!
It’s been one year and things are going well.

I handle all their product Development, and they are a great company. So far so good at least.

We got two new basenjis (yes I need my head examined), my son got married and moved out of town and my daughter graduated collage and moved back home.

She bought a bearded dragon that is an anazimg pet. Who knew they like to be with people and are almost dog like.

That’s my long winded story.






I you want to know what it’s like, watch the first couple of episodes of white powder on Netflix.

TBird1958:

 Nice to hear from you John! 
Glad things are going well for you and your family as well.


I've watched that show "White Gold" on Netflix - Pretty funny! 

Pilgrim:
Sounds like you're in a better situation now.  Glad to hear it.

doombass:
Hi John, nice to see you're doing good. I've sometimes thought of you and I've seen hints that you're doing fine, just not so active here. Thanks for the update.

Barklessdog:
I will try to hang with you guys more as I miss it as well.

I will say that my sister used to be my support, when I lost that, I felt lost. But my son who has become a Buddhist, has become my new life support. As he reminded me, it’s not about where you end up but the journey you take. Change is always difficult, and full of anxieties.

I learned to enjoy whatever I am doing, and being happy with what I have. My life is like my Toyota Corolla, it may not have everything I want, but it has everything I need.

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