It's what they say, "careful what you wish for"... A year ago, last time I wrote for my other blog, I admitted to getting somewhat excited at hearing that I could lose my job, I and everyone else in the newspaper I used to work for. For the rest of the guys I felt sorry, of course, but for me, for "how-I-wish-I-had-the-balls-to-turn-my-life-upside-down, quit-and-flee-to-Latin-America-for-a-few-months" me, losing my job could be a God-sent gift. I didn't (lose my job). I kept working for the same newspaper, kept feeding myself with false promises of realizing my dream on a later date, until... until fate decided to take things in her own hands... Early January, right after I got back home from a three weeks' trip to Australia and New Zealand, I got a call-job offer. I could go work for a new newspaper, getting 10% less money than what I was used to, BUT, having the freedom to be gone for more days, satisfying my ever-growing greed for traveling. Hey, we all have our priorities, and making 1,200 euros per month instead of 1,320 seemed like a lousy sacrifice, given that I would be allowed to travel more. So I said yes. Less than two months later, the moment we "speak", I find myself unemployed. The newspaper closed down. People with families and mortgages are left without income, people I have known for years (we used to work together for my previous newspaper for some eight years), people I honestly hope they'll get back on their feet as soon as possible. As for me, for half an hour after receiving the news I was sweating, this is the first time in my 15 years in the business that I am left unemployed, it's all new to me, it feels scary, or at least it felt scary for a while, but as time passed by, I started to realize that this... drama could turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to me! I kept moaning for years how unsatisfied I felt with my life, how I needed a shock to wake me up and do what I always had in the back of my mind, leave Greece for a few months, travel, travel for a long time, not for 2-3 weeks on a leave from work. There you go... I got my wish...
A month ago, having no idea that the newspaper would only last a few weeks, I bought return tickets to the US, flying from Greece to Louisville, Kentucky, and back from New York City. I was to fly out on April 14, and back on April 30, be at work on May 2. Eham, I don't think so... I AM flying to the US on April 14 alright, but early May, I am flying from New York to Mexico City, and on May 10 I will be at Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, to start my Spanish lessons. How excited I am? Try "E X C I T E D"... But kind of scared too, scared because I am dealing with a situation unknown to me, and I guess it's in our (at least in mine) blood to get nervous when we are dealing with something we don't know exactly how to handle. I'm talking about being unemployed. I'm not rich, I just happen to have 5,000 euros set aside, plane tickets to the US already paid for, and an American friend who is generous enough to let me use her "buddy pass" (she works for one of the biggest airlines in the US), facilitating my travel plans. I know one day I will have to come back and settle, once again, for a little life, going to work every day, maybe even starting my own family (IF I find a woman silly enough to want to commit long-term with "difficult" and too damn grumpy me). But now, now I can enjoy the moment, super excited and somewhat scared. Which brings me to the post's title... If you've seen this 1989 movie, you may remember James Earl Jones as "Terrence Mann", in the end, being invited by "ghosts" to join them in their own world. He's standing at the far end of a baseball field, right on the "border" with the surrounding corn field. He's standing there, smiling and all, with the curiosity and the excitement of a little kid, but kind of scared as well. He reaches out, he pulls his hand back quickly, nervous indeed, but... you know what he did if you have watched the movie, he made that step, he did step into a world he knew would be totally different to what he was used to. Well, I decided to do the same...
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