What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.

I’m a writer & have been one for over 2 decades, when people ask me what I do I almost feel like I get laughed at. I have one book published in 2018 called “Greylight” it’s a book of poetry. Being a writer means you end up working lots of odd & ends jobs, waiting for my break.

My dream is to write full time & submit pieces for publication. If it’s electric or on paper something that shows that I know how to submit pieces & get published.

So the question I hate the most is “what do you do?” I have worked lots of weird jobs & have had lots of odd ball bosses. My last “boss” used me because I was on unemployment & I was just Free labor in his store. Even though I was a fast learner & good with customers. It forced me to go off unemployment & stopped receiving benefits.

Apparently this is a common problem in Norway & it forced me to go off unemployment & seek a part time job on my own. I found the practice by a supposed “boss” unethical & coming from someone that called himself a cafeteria Christian person he shouldn’t have behaved that way.

He magically quit the store not 2 months after he had used me for free labor in his store. He found a religious organization to work for. Somehow I think his behavior most likely followed him there. That’s called Karma.

Yeah so what do you do? How I hate this question. Period.

What experiences in life helped you grow the most?

In 2007 I was renting from a slumlord that refused to change the lock on my door after I had complained that people were entering my apartment. In the end I ended up on the street in a shelter for women.

Earlier in the Summer I had ingested second hand pot smoke which made me paranoid & in the end I ended up in the hospital. When I got discharged I had nowhere to go.

I was heavily medicated that Summer so walking became something for the first time in my life was uncomfortable. My doctor became acutely aware that I was homeless & took me off the medication.

Later that Summer in August I managed to get into a poorly run transitional program where I was harassed for wearing the clothes I owned. I’d have women coming up to me in the hallways telling me they were getting whatever clothes I was wearing that day.

In the end I ended up leaving with all my clothes intact & my possessions.

What it taught me is that you shouldn’t take anything for granted. I may have a safe roof over my head now but I often think about if that all disappeared would I be okay? I think so as long as I have my stability & my health.

Having nothing but the clothes on my back that Summer helped me see the world through others eyes. Maybe that’s why I have so many jackets because I remember the women in the transitional shelter that often didn’t have coats or jackets.

Being grateful for what I do have is something I am every day. I no longer take people for granted but I also don’t stick around if someone takes me for granted. Life is too short to put up with that kind of behavior.