My Past Life - Chauffeur

Whatever we do for a living these days, whether art, or CEO, or whatever, most of us probably had some "interesting" job in our younger years, not necessarily related to our career goals.

I had to be amused when I came across an old picture of me in a tuxedo. This was back when I was about 25 years old or so, working as a chauffeur in the Los Angeles area, driving limousines. I was going to collage at the time and this was the perfect job for a college student because it was mostly evening and weekend work.



I wasn't so bad looking back then. Sad what age does to you! LOL

By the way, being a chauffeur is not nearly as glamorous as many people think it is. There were many long hours driving. Weekends were busiest. Sometimes so busy, like during prom or wedding season, I would not sleep all weekend. I would be driving a prom group until 5:00AM only to have to be at a wedding by 11:00AM. Well, I got to sleep from 6:00AM to 10:00AM, right? No. The reality was, I was often cleaning vomit (and other unmentionables) out of the back of the limo during those wee hours in between, getting it ready for the next customer. Not a glamorous job at all.

It wasn't all bad though. I did occasionally get invited to some parties and night clubs, and meet some interesting people. But there were the obnoxious and unruly groups too. It was a crazy job!

So what has this to do with wildlife art? Nothing really. I'm just sharing some of my pre-wildlife-art life. So wherever you are in your life, whether you're doing art full-time, working your way to it, or working some crappy job and just dreaming about art, remember we've all been there at some time in our lives, doing something we'd rather not be doing. But whatever it is, it all brings us to where we are now, makes us who we are now. Having crazy jobs has allowed me to appreciate even more the time I spend doing my art. Had I never done anything else, maybe I wouldn't appreciate what I have. It's always good to remember.