Being a worker ant doesn’t seem as bad as it used to be.
I’ve blogged about how reconciling steady income versus my art has been the central struggle for most of my adult life, one that contributed to my divorce and nearly all the upheaval of the past five years.
The conventional minded people in my life used to say I was just picky, or lazy, or just never satisfied with anything I was doing. Maybe that was slightly true, but definitely not the whole picture….
Writing for the Market, instead of against it? It’s more than just novelists having this problem…
After meeting so many of you on Tumblr who’ve gone or are going through a divorce, I was inspired to reactivate my Blogspot, called “An Odd Place for a Hill”. I started this about two weeks after I’d found out about my ex and her affair, during that crazy time immediately after you split from the love of your life.
Most of the entries don’t deal with divorce directly, some not at all, but many serve as primary evidence of my mindset in that first year. The real bitch of it is, I had written some really deep, dark shit in February and March, but prior to declaring the blog dark the first time, I went back and deleted them. I was starting to do a lot of online dating, and I didn’t want to scare away any potential girlfriends.
Of course, now I could give a shit and expect any potential girl to accept me as I am, warts and all, so I regret that i don’t have those visceral, first-hand entries as a guide to how raw and smoldering everything was during that crazy time.
My current “official” blog, “Another Odd Place for a Hill” on Wordpress, doesn’t deal nearly as much about divorce as it does other things, and it too is getting revamped as I prep my freelance business and its homepage.
For now, what I do have here, I will share with you, fellow Tumblr peeps. I hope you find something to help you in what I wrote. Much love and fellowship to all o’y’all!
First, thank you for following me! I’ve gotten quite a few since I started on Tumblr, so it’s now officially time for a quick CV:
Name: Jody Aberdeen
Age: 31 years old
Sex: Male
Status: Single (Once Married/Divorced)
Home: Toronto, Canada (in the ‘Burbs)
Occupations: Writer/Occasional Actor for Film and TV/Sparkling Conversationalist
Day Job: Part Time Bookseller (previous jobs include: government crony; phone concierge; logistics clerk; truck dispatcher; travel sales guy)
Citizenship: CANADIAN!!
Ethnicity: Indo-Trinidadian
Religion: Spiritual Secular (Former Presbyterian)
Orientation: Straight (or, to use a word I first learned from Nikkisaurus, “heteronormative”)
Education: Hon. B.A History and English (Minor: Political Science) from McMaster University.
Memberships: Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, one-time member of Toastmasters.
Sign: Libra
What’s My Deal? Biggest story to date is I crushed on a girl I met in Grade 10; finally got the balls to ask her out in our last semester of high school; followed and dated her through university, lived with her for most of our twenties; married her five years ago; three years ago started having problems in our marriage, leading her to cheat on me with a friend; two years ago caught them, and got a divorce, which finalized last year, around the same time I moved back home with my parents and sister to regroup. And a month ago (today, in fact, I just realized), she married the guy she cheated on me with.
Understandably, this story sucks donkey balls and I’m getting tired of telling it when people ask “what’s your deal?”, but it’s the biggest single thing that’s ever happened to me. So, I’ve decided to bring this story to an end by telling another, more awesome story: the time I went to Hawaii in late 2012 and threw my wedding ring, engagement ring, and a silver jewel bought on our honeymoon featuring my name, into an active volcano. Hence, this blog, called “Jody vs the Volcano”. After this, I will start again.
Current Projects: This one, plus two science fiction novels. One is complete and requiries some re-vision, the other is in progress. I also audition from time to time for acting gigs in the Toronto area: my last booking was a corporate training video for a major company in Toronto, about five weeks ago. I’m also looking for new career opportunities in personal development, web content, and maybe even coaching. You can find my other home here, on Wordpress.
Relationship Status: I’m also actively looking to date. My ex is currently the only relationship I’ve ever had, lasting nearly half my life. I have taken three women out on dates since becoming single. So far, nothing has stuck for various reasons, but I’m always hopeful my soulmate is out there. I’m an unlikely introvert: I’m outgoing in work and social settings, but only to a point. I’m only now learning the flirting and dating skills that I never got to learn in my late teens and twenties because I’d already secured the girl I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with. It’s like being the slow kid in class, but I’m a quick learner. Thus, I’m not one-night stand guy: I may look like a bouncer on the outside and talk a bit like Michael Douglas in “The American President”, but inside I’m still that nerdy, awkward fat kid who never knows what to do with his hands, and I think that’ll always be that way.
Anyway, that’s my CV, which turned out to be not as “express” as I’d intended. Oh well. If you’re still reading, thanks again for following me, I’ll try to keep it entertaining. Stay tuned, you know where to find me: Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel ;)
This ain’t no Tom Hanks movie…