My friend, no trouble gets you in trouble

People in this life here in this country are used to having a hard life, and if you are not having such problems in life; these people will not have you be a part of their soceity or community. If you are without bad credit, car payments, children, girlfriend, married and house payments or notes, somehow you are too much of a free man, and you are without responsbilities. People don't change, my friend. This life is not much different from High School. The peer pressure to be of a society, whether its the "Home owner association" or your not part of "the Married society", or having 2 children groups or you are not in a relationship or you are not fucked up in the head. They will tell you my friend, that you are insane or you need medicine for your mental state of mind. They will tell you, my friend that you need professional help, you need church or you'll need GOD or that you are not living the right way in life. This is what they will tell you.

These people (often in work places or our so-called friends) will wait inpatiencely for you to fail. In fact, some of these people will try to make you fail, so they can say that you are no better than them or (hard) life for that matter. They will fuck with your emotions. By telling you that you are living in a dream world, you are not a real man, or you are without a soul or faith. People who are interested in you will want you to settle down and enjoy true life (in most cases) enjoy the same feelings as bills, work! And the idea of traveling or being free, they will tell you that you are wasting your life with that idea or concept. They will keep your friends from being a part of your life, they will tell lies about your friends, and if you are not listening to them or following their ways, they will make your life a living hell.

With our family. We don't have any kids, girlfriends, wives, estrange wives, or lovers, not too many bills, no car payment. But, because we are free to travel whenever we want or whenever we can. It takes money to do the things we truly enjoy. However, you must pay your own way for these selfish desires. Because, many have not learned to make their lives easier or in a way that we've learned and which probably only works for a person like ourselves, they would want to make us fall. They told us lies of coming back home and starting over, helping out others and so on. But, in the end, they would want to remove the rug from underneath our feet, so we can become confused, unfocus and unaware of what we're doing or where we're going in life. They remind us of our age, as though we were unaware of that fact or that we have forgotten about it. But, You've heard so many times: you're 14, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 30 and 35 years old. You know how old you are, my friend! When does the bullshit stop? We don't need to apologize for living our life, or how we have lived it or the people that we know. It took courage and guts to do the things that we do. Our friends are a testimony to the good things we bring to life, our friends and strangers.

You've been there before! Our working envirnoment are full of these types of people. If you don't have car payments or high rent, these people (your fellow co-workers) will dump tons of paper-work at your desk, or make you answer all the incoming calls, or the manager will have you work over-time and or weekends. You've seen them before!You've been there before. . .when you applied for that job! And they asked why do you have so many blank spaces of time on your resumé. You explained about your life changes, your travels, adventures and so on, they pretended to understand, sympathize, but they maintained the role of a mental therapist only to tell you that you were wrong for living your life at your fullest and without work being the main focus or purpose. Because, these people have worked or having so many responsbilites to be the center of their lives, and how will these people react once they know that you have not lived a life like theirs? You know the answer!

People overall, my friend, want to label you one thing or another for some strange reason. They will be most content giving you a title. If you don't play a particular role, they will say that you are mister easy going, aka, lazy! Or if you are not indulging in the typical man to man talk, all of sudden, you're gay. I am not going to say that avoiding labels is easy any sometimes you may fall into a label one or another. However, imagine if you are clever enough to avoid these labels or so-called responsibilites (in which they have established for themselves) think of how much of a threat you are to society! Society accepts those who are willing to follow the rules, not the law, the rules! Going to school, getting out of school, getting a job, and getting married are just the basics. But, look deep down between those institutions. Going school, (college) costs money, and even while you are attending school, your college major plays an important role with the
people you meet. Upon your graduation from college, where are you going to work with your degree versus those who majored in Business management or accounting. Where you are going to live plays another important role as well. Those business majors spend tons of money on rent and going out-on-the-night life styles of Martinis and dating. Can you match what they are doing? You'll try for a brief moment, but THEY already know that you can never stay in the game. That this life is a game.

Peace be with you my friend,

Sidney

Fight for your right, write them back!

Dear HR ,

I received a generic e-mail from JP Morgan Chase Staffing, which stated that I was not selected for this position as a Fraud Call Center Representative. This generic e-mail did not; however clearly state as the reasons why I was not selected for this position, and I find it appalling to say the least, that I have made several attempts to contact you personally, either by phone and by e-mail; you failed to return a reply. Going into almost four weeks after the fact, the only response I receive is not from you personally, but a poor impersonal e-mail.

I understand that you are constantly bombarded with applications, interviews and other inquiries related to such position with JP Morgan Chase and I was hoping to become a team member of your company; but you could have taken your time to inform me of the company's reasons for not hiring me. In addition, I know that my background and work experience far exceeds the basic level of this position and might appear to be somewhat intimidating. I would have better off knowing that I was over qualified! I took the company's online assessment test, which tested my problem solving, work motivation and interpersonal skills and I was informed that I passed!

From what I learned about the position and after speaking with JP Morgan former employees as well as current, the job is basic and simple: answering high volume of calls and help customers accordingly. Is it possible that my resume was mistached or did not meet up to the company's standards for this position? Being detailed orientated is my top priority with any company as well as in my personal life. I highly doubt that anyone within your company took the time to make such assessment to this fact, which would have been as asset to your company. From our interview, I explained in great detail of my past work experiences, skills and gaps in between jobs and travels. I felt that was bit invasive, nevertheless, I gave my honest reasons and my whereabouts; I would understand if you were just merely curious.

In short, have communicated my displeasure with your company's decision as well as not receiving a personal reply to my job interest. I will not hold on to your company's URL to learn more about other careers pertaining to JP Morgan. I want to thank you for wasting my time and not providing me with a direct answer.

Sincerely,

Sidney Huff

Fuck job Interviews!

Dear Mr. Huff:


We would like to take this opportunity to thank you (oh really?!) for attending the interview for the Call Center Representative position. After careful consideration, (hmm, we already made up our minds) we regret (don't cry now!) to inform you that you have not been selected for this position.


However, we will retain your profile in our database and inform you of other jobs matching your criteria if you selected this option(wow, this is really cool of them!). We also encourage you to visit our site from time to time to update your profile, in "My Job Finder", and learn more about other possible career opportunities at same job, different name. For your convenience (even if you don't have a job or money, but. . . .) please bookmark this URL, www.samejobdifferentname.com/careers.



We thank you again for your interest and wish you all the best in your career(have a good day, you broke fucker).



Yours sincerely,

You ain't gotta Job Staffing



Note: Replies to this message are undeliverable and will not reach Staffing (this is way to avoid the realities of people who are hungry, without money and a chance to get a job and so we can go on with our lives without knowing the true affects this may have on certain people).

slave records of a contemporary resumé

EDUCATION:

B.A-from University of California at Santa Barbara, June 2000.


EMPLOYMENT:


Security. June 2004-June 2005

• Provided security for both guests and employees
• Worked late night shifts
• Montiored by Close Circuit Television
• Conducted random fire/safety to ensure compliance
• Nightly/daily report writing
• Conducted nightly security briefings and follow ups

Editor/Photo-Journalist Assistant. Feburary 2003-Current

• Research and Devlopment for Travel Destinations
• Event Planning
• Prepared Photographic Slide Shows
• Assisted in Editing for News Stories
• Conducted interviews with people in/around general area

Consultant. June 2001-January 2002

• Performed international & domestic financial audits
• Translated foreign work laws
• Educated clients on how to comply with international & domestic work laws
• Reported on workplace environment to ensure proper employee safety and compensation

Teacher’s Assistant, UC Santa Barbara, 1999-2000

• Member of Committee Board.
• Assisted Department Head for the creation of the course
• Liaison between students and staff for all aspects of the course.
• Grading students work and course projects.
• Public speaking to large groups on a range of topics.
• Lead discussion groups on diversity issues involving
• Resident Advisors and university residents.

Resident Director. 1999-2000

• Directly responsible for the management of all Resident Advisors.
• Initiated a weekly open forum for conflict resolution in addition to weekly staff meetings.
• Responsible for all administrative duties pertaining to student and staff record keeping.
• Ensure safety and well being for university residents and all Resident Advisors.
• Event planning and logistics co-ordination.
• Chief Editor for Quarterly Publication

Office Administrative. 1997-1999

• Responsible for inventory and commercial procurement for the entire department.
• Data entry and retrieval from (MS Excel & PowerPoint) databases.
• Assisted with Student with academic related services.

SPECIAL SKILLS

• Languages: Speak, Read, Write: French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
• Computer Knowledge: IBM & Macintosh Computers.
• Software Applications: PageMaker, PhotoShop, Excel, MS Word 97 & 2000, Windows 98 & 2000, Microsoft Word & Excel and Microsoft, Front Page.

anything else?

The Image of working. . . . . hard!

During my full 8.5 hours of work, I stare at papers with over zealous curiosity as though I am about to break new leads or find a cure of the world's diseases and problems. I answer the phones as though I am really excited to get to know each person who calls. These same people, however, are usually pissed off, because it is my job to ask questions regarding the nature of their call. I have to maintain a sense of cool, and for the most part, I actually enjoy having people being rude and nasty with me on the phone. I usually find a professional way of saying

"Fuck You!".... or better yet "I'll transfer your call," one moment please!

I stare at the computer monitor as if I am doing research. From a different angle, it looks like I am typing something, the truth is I have nothing related to work, I'm typing messages to friends via e-mail. When a thousand e-mails have been sent, I find a way to look busy, as I hold a blue pen in my left hand (I am not right handed sorry!) to pretend to be writing something really important down. Sometimes, I make the best drawings of people and letters with this blue pen. The calculator next to my computer is also handy, I check my spending and I balance my check book. The automatic stapler is also a fun thing to have. I create beautiful art as I punch pieces of paper from different angels and positions. The stapler remover is also a fun gadget to have as well, I use this to attack all the beautiful art I just made on several sheets of paper; also its a great stress reliever.

The monthly calendars serves like a road map of life. I stare at possible dates when I want to quit my job. Oh yeah, I also get two 15 minutes breaks during my day at work and one 1 hour lunch break. That is where I sit in the employee break-room with other employees who I don't know very well and they are somewhat afraid of making some type of dialogue, so we usually talk about something work related, or if we are lucky, we would dare to speak about the outisde world of work, by pointing out the great features one can find at Staples or Office Max stores. Around this point of the conversation, I'll put on my head phones and listen to some music, some songs I put on repeat. Going back to the desk. . . . .I will mention to my fellow co-workers on how my lunch was the best, though, they probably didn't know that my lunch usually consist of two peanut butter n' jelly sandwich, and maybe some fruit. Just to make sure that we are all working equally, once in a while, I will turn around to my fellow co-worker and ask if "there's anything I can help you with?" or "How are things going?" I usually get a response of "thanks for asking, I'm okay." Its probable that my fellow co-worker is doing the same thing like I am doing, by starring at un-necessary paper-work by scrolling through pages after pages of useless information. But, we are getting paid for this image, right?

After a while, I get sick of seeing my fellow co-workers, and by sure luck, I might get some delivery person who's just dropping of some packages or letters, they may not know this, but they drive around in the streets, a world outside of the office world; and their time at my desk is maybe less than 2 minutes. But, those 2 minutes help to wonder and image what the world outside of this office is like around 2pm.

I forgot to mention that numerous of rest-room breaks I take. I often go there to hide from my work or the lack thereof. I think about new business ideas or travel destinations. The last 30 minutes of work seem to go on forever. The phones are ringing like crazy. Starring at the clock, starring at the clock, its 4:40! Turn around, look away, look away, checking e-mails again, write another one, look busy, busy, busy, busy! Score!. . . Its 5pm! Another long hardwork day is over, so now my next hardest job will be to drive along all those who probably were doing the samething I did. . . nothing!

Los Scandalous in Los Angeles

As my flight made it finally approach to LAX (Los Angeles International) there was not much a sigh of relief, the sky was orange and blue, I forgot about the supreme air quality of this great city.

Barely three weeks since I made my return to this city of Angels, I find myself trapped in traffic, pissed off and angry. My road rage is back again at full force. The radio stations don't play music anymore, everyone is trying to sell you something and everyone is trying to be the number 1 station in the southland. I have more of a work out on my lower legs, as I continually press the brakes and the other foot on the accelerator. Stop and go, stop and go, stop and turn, turn and stop. Millions of people are coming to this city everyday, majority are waiting to become the next big thing, whether its in music or acting. You see these people everywhere: Your waiter is waiting to become the lead singer in a band film. Your car deal is a part time Porn star. Your apartment manager is probably watching that porn star on some adult movie. The guy skateboarding at the beach, has been in several movies and has a house up on the hills, but you wouldn't know that or assume, because, his jeans are worn and shoes are dirty, but he drives a brand new Audi. Even the News Casters are giving you a show, they open up the nightly news with crime, local news and the great weather and they end with that great smile, "have a Good Night" Everything is great in LA, that is the attitude. High gas prices "everything is great in LA" Police Brutality, "ah, LA!" High cost of living "LA, my kinda town"

Later during my first week home, I met up with some old friends and suddenly realized that not only do I not fit into their world of marriage, children, but I have been falling off the marker, as some of my friends are the new members of the American homeowners society; I guess I can't take part of the full Membership of their Country Club. Everyday I was reminded that "well, everyone can't get up and travel around, some of us have to get up in the morning and go to work!" As though, I was living in a world without the realities of work and income. My travel buddy of mine, told me that I shouldn't blame myself for my situation. And he reminded me that we did took GUTS and courage. But, my dear friend knows that the sad reality is that most people won't be rewarded for such GUTS or courage, they overall want to see a return to the normalcy of things and life.

I return to a place, where I can easily find low-paying work, where I am asked to dress professionally, and have a winning personality, as though you are making millions of dollars, while my check shows a pay rate of $10.00 an hour. After work, I do a 6 mile walk along the beach, any reason doing so? To stay in or get into shape and plus, I really don't have much to do around this large city. I can't afford to drive around and I don't really have any place to drive to. My family members live in different areas of town and trying to drop by and visit everyone of them............well, with the current gas prices of $2.79 a gallon, we can chat by phone or send an e-mail. Also since being back, I lack the desire to explore or take pictures, this place is home for me and I seriously want to get away from this place. I am sure many people (and friends) go through this same feeling when you return home from seeing new places and people and suddenly you are brought back to a place where you don't belong. That is what I am going through right now.

Though, I have many friends in other places who kindly offer a place for me to go. But, having to decide on going to Boise, Phoenix, and Portland, I'm going crazy trying to figure out what place I would go to first or if at all. Many these places I just mentioned, I lived some years ago. I worry that I am chasing a past life that might not exist.

Nevertheless, the adventure continues. . . . . . . .

The Great North America, New Brunswick

My first point of entry to North America. I took every moment to experience the life and the people in this great corner of the Atlantic coast of Canada. I took many pictures of this place and still I kept asking myself what is the theme of this province. Or better yet, what is New Brunswick? In Europe, its easy to give the meaning of a particular place like France, Spain, Germany or any other European country. The definition of these countries are usually placed within the monuments, statues, language, castles, foods and cultural events, which all in all give a meaning of culture.

In North America, we have a different way to define our culture or nation. Our continent is comprised with small towns, big cities, farm lands and endless forest and lakes and streams. With this in mind, I just realized that the meaning of New Brunswick, it is the people that makes this place what it is. The friends I've made here were very kind and provided me with the greatest of hospitality. They took their time to drive me to different places (and let's not forget the parties) different towns and beautiful national parks and so on. These people are in my opinion are very simple and content with their lives. Their families are very close, as well as their community, everyone seem to know everyone else. I on the other hand, am no used to this type of closeness of family or a community. I come from Los Angeles, where my life is my life and most people don't give a damn what I do and sometimes no one really cares. This is not a cry for social change, this is the life I come from. But, there's also another side of me that wishes to have a friendly-simple life like those in New Brunswick. To Luke and his family and friends, I want to thank you all for giving me a good time and showing me around. Please, keep in touch.....



Friends,

Sidney

Confessions from a Looser/Traveler

It was about two weeks ago, I contacted family and friends to inform them that I was alive, safe and sane in New Brunswick, Canada. A sigh of relief came through, especially with my mother who dearly called the Red Cross, The US Embassy in London, probably the F.B.I and the C.I.A and other government agencies just to know if her son was one of the victims of that terrorist attack. However, that terrorist attack proved one thing, that there's still love between me and my family, though, the return of normalcy begins to take place.

This is called the normalcy of worry: about the realities of money, or lack thereof, not having a job or a career, being single, no direction and optimistically having so many great ideas, but no funds to support them. The truth is that I have become a bum, and like most bums having many stories to tell, about adventures and about people along the way and not having a single place called home. Basically, this bum is homeless. I had to ask my friends and family to lend me money, because I made some (okay, several) critical errors on my finances and risky adventures across Europe. I can already hear them saying "what the fuck was he thinking?" So, I can pretend to be outgoing, independent, adventurous and not living the typical working life of my relatives or friends. However, these same people with their ordinary lives(whom I without shame can critique their existence) seem to be there for me when I fail to meet up to even my own standards.

Please Observe the following and say`what the fuck!` after each entry:
1) I went from having $5,000 dollars to $200 dollars
2) I could go be a school teacher? I really don't have a place to live
3) Take a temporary job and get treated like shit?
4) Realize my ideas of living are not giving me a permanent address?

Should I stop exploring the world? Should I settle down and follow the rules of life? Help me!

London Calling

On July 6th,

Hey dude,

Just figured i would send u a quick one to say have a good and safe flight and i'll see ya tomorrow at 5:45 well around 6 I suppose. anyway keep it real, safe travels.
Peace,

Luke


On July 7th
Are you alright? Just heard there were bombs gone off in the train tunnels in London, what the fuck happened?
-Caz

Hey dude! I just heard about the attack in London! Just making sureyou're alright. E-mail me back soon! Stay safe!
-Stephen

Hey Sidney...
Are you still in London? Or have you left? Just heard about all of the bomb shit going off in London & wanted to make sure you were ok...I don't have any other way of getting ahold of you!!!
-Christina

Hi sidney, I just wanted to send you an email to make sure your notdead. I'm sure your geting a lot of these so just send me a hello whenyou get time. Other than the carzy shit in london I hope everything isgoing well. I got to go but I hope your safe. take care
-Zak

Sidney,

How are things going? What is the experience like after the bombings in London? How much longer will you be staying in London? I guess the whole world is suppossedly on the terror alert now, with the entire media covering it. This would be a could chance for you to document and write about this experience in London. I pray you are safe and unharmed. Take care and write back to let me know how you are doing. Peace.
-Nate

Sid-Hey i heard about the bombings want to make sure your ok. Write me back and let me know! Be safe. Cheers!
-Jagger

Are you ok? Mom and Dad are worried about the subway explosion in London.You know we should have a contact # when you are out of town. Email me back to let me know what's up.
-Sherri

Good thing, Mom told me you called and said that you are in Canada. I am glad about that. I really am happy you are ok. Auntie Ann, Uncle Jerry, Kim, Mikki, Branko, Grandma, Uncle Paul, and especially Dad said that they were so happy you are ok. I can't wait to see you in California!!! We love you.
-Sherri

Meet your new family, your co-workers!

Welcome to orientation! find a chair and take a seat’ Yeah, go ahead and look around you, you are stuck in a room filled with balloons and colorful flyers and table with plates of chocolate chip brownies, bags of Doritos, cans and upon cans of Coca-Cola, but you don’t see, tofu, salads or ‘Go-Lean’ bars. Suddenly, you begin daydreaming about the treadmill at the 24-hour fitness center near your home; you finally realize that your membership is about to end today. You also begin looking around at your new co-workers, your company rather that you address them as your associates. You look at your associates, you wave, smile, shake hands, because, you know that the first day of kind gestures and positive encouragements will immediately cease to exist when orientation finally ends in a week. The guy next to you has already determined to have you fired, but why? Because your company is competitive, don’t you remember?

Traveling while Black. . .Race Matters

Yo soy el Rey de Las Negras!!
Originally uploaded by la legione di resistenza.

I was asked some years ago, what is it like travel abroad.....while black? At first, I found the question to be ridicilous and racist. But lately, I found myself asking that very same question. I have noticied a few things when dealing with other American travelers, particuarly white americans. This is not to say, that racism is only unique to America, however, I encounter more of the classical american racism both at home and abroad. However, while encountering Europeans or anyone else in the world, I find myself indulging in dialogues, which are usually amicables, heart-warming and welcoming. I don´t get that same feeling from my white american patriots. I pray that one day this will change.

Even with these difficulities, this does not hinder my relationship with Nathan and with Attila. We are best friends and travelmates. We help each other out, we try to be honest about our feelings, we watch each other´s back and we do as much as we can to deal with the struggles while being abroad. With this in mind, as far as I being black and they being white, the idea really doesn´t have any weight on our friendship, in many ways, we agree on the same issues in regards to race and equality. However, this is not always the case with other fellow white american travelers. I am usually confronted with questions of how I was able to make it out of the states (as though, I escaped from prision), or what type of program helped me to get to travel (International version of Affirmative Action.) At times, our friendship is not really valued by these inividuals and they try to provide white privileges to my travelmates with hospitality, friendship, sex, romance and such daring positions as get away from their older black travelmate. When I am in this situation, I someties ask myself, "where are other black travelers in the world?" I never been a person that really cared about the race of a person, but it sucks that others take that really to heart.

About several months ago, I was hanging out with Attila and Nathan and other travelers from NewZealand, we were talking about who-knows-what. And there was a guy sitting among us, let´s call him Jim. Jim was about 44 years old, white and he was from Texas. He seemed like a nice guy, but I noticied how he spoke to my best friends. As soon as he learned that I was traveling with them, he seemed to change his vernacular or better yet, he talked more as though he was from the black inner city. "Hey man! yo, yo, wat´s up, what´s going on, or going down" there were so many words being used. The first word in response to his black choice vernacular was "Hi!" I tried to give him a chance and it was taxing doing so. Jim, for some strange reason wanted to ask me questions of what I think of Europe, Spain, political, and cultural perspectives on these issues. I told him that I enjoyed the cultural enrichness and diversity and so on. Jim, was searching for the Americana culture in Spain. He asked me if I felt more at home with the Spanish than with the Americans? I told him, "yes, I feel at home with the Spanish, considering that I am a guest in their country." Jim tried to limit my cultural exprience that evening, as I was trying to enjoy watching spanish women dancing Flamenco.

Jim, wanted to establish that I was outside of my norm and that I needed to return to the good Ol´United States, where he and I would probably not cross paths both in social and work life.

The "Race matters" even get worse with American white females. There is no doubt that my friends may have a certain look, which most american females search while traveling abroad, but yet at the same time, these same american white females will ignore my friends if they were walking down the street in any city in United States. However, these young, white college girls who were able to get some money, sorry, a lot of money from their parents to exprience different cultures in Europe, somehow have abandonded all their diversity courses and cultural classes to only find other white people who speak the same language, wear the same clothes, come from the same area or region and watch the same television shows; so they think! Though, my friends don´t even watch these shows or even wear the same clothes or really care for what these american females are looking for. In any case, my friends are white and somehow these white american females have all of sudden decided to consider themselves my friends as their best friends, by natural selection. I am usually taken as "that´s cool, your friend, the black guy" or "okay!" or even more overt comments such as "that guy? well.... he doesn´t act black!" And suddenly, I remind them of some other black guy and there is a possibility according them, that I even know that other black guy. Or somehow I have become an expert in dancing, singing, and even an interpretuer of black literature and also I am hiding the infamous book which has all the information and names of every black person in the world. And since, I failed to provide them of entertainment or I have disappointed them by not giving them what they expected from me, all of sudden, I am the invisible.

Where do we go from here? When we see each other, my american travelers, let´s understand that we are both caught in the same place, we will be asked about our current government, our state of mind and everything about America. These curious people, which we will meet, don´t really care if you are white or that I am black, to them, we talk the same, act the same and we somehow support George W. Bush and his policies, is that fair? I am traveling to exprience new cultures, not to exprience the American racial problems. So, let´s be friends, share stories and adventures. . . .

Five weeks ago....

Bons amigos
Originally uploaded by la legione di resistenza.

I left my job. With the over-stressing lack of opportunities to travel or even move up within the company, I knew that it was time to leave. Though, at times I think that I should have given it more time and wait for my chance. But, that thought was not working for me either, as I watched my fellow co-workers not having to endure a long wait for their chances to make more money or have the chance to truly travel. I guess my patience ran out, my life there was a farce, as well as my living conditions.

Though, at the moment, Attila, Nathan and I are still without work or a mailing address. In any case, I rather be moving around like the middle-class vagabonds that we are than the life I had back in Germany. This journey has been a strong test of confidence, life and friendship. There have been times where I was waiting for the worst to take place with me and my friends, and I know at times, I was probably the most difficult person in our journey. I think my friends understand that it was fear rather than anger that was making me feel this way. I also know that even with the struggles to find a job, or to catch the next train out of town cannot be explained to my family and friends. For them, having the opportunity to leave a good-paying job and adequate benefits just to find something that is not guaranteed or promised, will not hold very well.

The first test: the big departure, money, no income, jealousy and friendship.We left Garmisch, Germany to catch a connecting train to Munich, which didn´t cost much since one ticket can hold up to five passengers. However, as soon as we got into Munich to catch the connecting train to Paris, the guys were lucky to get Eurorail passes and a low cost for youth, or anyone under 26 years of age, I was fucked! €100.00 for me to take the train to Paris and that was about eight hour train ride. From Paris, we left for French Basque country to the city of Bayonne, that was about €46. From Bayonne, France we headed to San Sebastian, Spain also known as Basque country, €20. After three days in San Sebastian, we took a twelve hour train to Lisbon, Portugal. And from Lisbon, we went to the southern region of the Algarve in the city of Lagos, also in Portugal. That was where Nate was able to find work at a bar, while Attila and I were left with empty bullshit possibilities of passing out flyers and not making a dime or €5 cents, nothing! Jealousy and envy dominated our time in Lagos. Nate was also able to meet girls, make friends in this small portuguese town, and at the same time, he didn´t know how to speak the local language.

Attila and I spent most of our time listening to music, reading books or walking around town, basically, we had nothing else to do. We spent about one week in Lagos and it was evident that Attila and I were not going to find a job, and passing about flyers and trying to get at least ten people into the bar and possibly making ten euros was not enough. There was even thoughts of leaving him there while Attila and I go somewhere else to look for work, because maybe Nathan´s style was going to get him ahead of us. That same night, Nate came back to the hostel early that evening, he got canned and it was probably because Nate was hooking us up with free beer or €cents worth of beer. We agreed that we must stick together as agroup. We left for Huelva, Spain.

The Great Get Away!

Nate ready for the next trip to Spain
Originally uploaded by la legione di resistenza.

Finally,

we are away from the cold world of Garmsich, Germany. With all the false promises of travel and adventure. Instead of spending all of our money on the local bars, we were able to save money and get the true chance of traveling. Even though, there were many things we didn´t like about our working environment, but we left some good friends back, and we will always remember them. But, even with friendship the adventure must continue...

The Classified Ads

Have you really looked at the job classified ads lately? You’re most likely to see the following words or phrases: competitive, highly competitive, salary to be determined (aka, determining and finding a way to pay you less), or even "20 years, 100 to 200 years of work experience." However, you are less likely to see: Full medical or dental insurance, childcare, friendly working environment, or vacation. Above all, you’ll be asked if you can work everyday of the week professionally eight to fifteen hours a day and maintain a competitive work ethic (in other words, can you fuck over your other co-workers and get those reports in on time?) And what about those job interviews? You say to yourself ‘yes’ or ‘me, they chose me!’

It’s a great feeling to have that job interview, but what happens when you finally get dressed up and get ready to meet that job recruiter? Well, that person's job is essentially to look over your resumé and congratulate you on your accomplishments and your college degree. You are smiling by the way, but, everything you’ve done in school and your past jobs will somehow be shot down or competely examined suspiciously. And for some strange reason, you’ll even agree with the job recruiter, because you don’t want to offend anyone nor loose your chances for this job, so you begin to wonder if whether or not you’re qualified for this job or any. Keep smiling! In addition, during your interview, you will not really learn about your boss is a bitch or an asshole, or that new manager has just been released from the psycho ward for trying to convince people that he was once Karl Marx. Your interview is over, the recruiter shakes your hand, you thank him or her, because you really need this job, yeah, you know this job sucks, but what else can you do? Drive around for more job applications? Nah! You go home and you call your friends to tell them about your new job, because that is all you and your friends can talk about…is work!
Just another thought from the world of work....

a different path...

just thinking not sad
Originally uploaded by la legione di resistenza.

Sometimes, I need a break from the world. Often I am asked what is wrong, why aren't smiling or why do you look so down? The truth is I want change in my life, I want change in life.

As many of my friends already know, I work the late night shift with my best friend, Nathan. And at times, we can get on each other's nerves, usually we don't have such problems, but with the cold snowy weather and the lack of indepth conversations, things have not been working out.

Suddenly, a change in pace came about from a good traveling buddy of ours named Justin. He has spent about two weeks with us and gave us a peace offering: living and traveling around Spain! So, we will leave our work and our boring lives and to leave for the sunny side of Europe-La España! We really don't have any idea where we will live or work, we're just going....I know this is not the safest of ideas, but sometimes (and I will quote it from a cool cat named DB) "fuck it." I will face this fear as I will be traveling around with my buds, Nathan and Justin. Three guys just moving around, finding new adventures, places and women. Finally, I just realized that there's no need to worry "The journey has already begun."