At Least We Have Good Weather: A Life of Love and Loss

Chapter 15

I had been a working man since the month I finished high school back in 1996, and I'd never had the luxury of freedom to pursue what I was really passionate about.

I looked at being fired from Microsoft as the chance to follow my dreams. I most certainly would never have left there on my own, and even if I did, I would most likely have ventured into yet another IT job of some sorts. Helpdesk work had been all I'd known for almost eight years.

However, that excitement of finally having the shackles taken off lasted less than a month, as my mom had lost her job of 10 years as her company was looking to wind down the business and cut costs.

Suddenly, we had gone from a two-income house, to a zero income house. If my mom wasn't angry at the world before, this certainly did the trick.

She hated everyone and everything, and refused to look for more work, immediately defeating herself by being a "50-year-old white woman in South Africa".

The pressure was right back on me to take care of two people.

During the year of 2004, I spent around eight months being unemployed. The odd job here and there, consisting of working as an extra on well known TV shows and adverts, as well as a few freelance writing jobs, which revolved mainly around chasing up payments clients, but nothing permanent and certainly nothing that brought in nearly enough money for two people to survive.

It was stressful. And I felt selfish for pursuing my dreams, but I had to try.

After getting booted out of an eight-year career in IT, I took this time to really go for what I wanted. I wanted to be a writer, I wanted to be in media and most certainly I wanted "The Burg" to truly become a brand.

During this period I lost a lot of friends as my resistance to taking jobs - mainly involving starting from the bottom again in a call centre, was met with criticism and anger.

I begged, borrowed and sold what I owned in order to survive, repercussions of which I still feel today. I almost packed it in the night my mom and I had stale ice cream cones for dinner as there was no food or money, but I promised myself I would never let us go that hungry again.

I pursued employment ever more aggressively than I had before, but still, I avoided IT jobs.

Then, suddenly I got a job interview with a media company that was looking for a content writer for their entertainment website. I was perfect for the job, but had zero experience or qualifications in their eyes.

I felt the interview went well, and I made a memorable impression when I was asked what my salary expectations were.

My answer was simply "I'd be willing to work for a bucket of chicken". Which was actually a line I'd heard Matt Damon use in an interview once.

A few days later I got a call that I didn't get the job, but if anything came up they'd let me know.

I wasn't just disheartened, I was heartbroken.

However, I was right, I did make a good impression, and a few weeks later they called me with another job offer.

The role was for that of a content writer for an upcoming reality show called Project Fame. The South African version of a popular UK series called Fame Academy.

It was a contract job that allowed me to be a writer for a website. This was the closest I had gotten to my goal and I was eager to make the most of it and make an impression and be noticed.

For the next three months I lived the dream, and more importantly, I was writing.

Because of my ability to use my wit and humour in both my writing and interactions with everyone, I also got "The Burg" attention. I developed a character - which was pretty much an extension of myself. I often compared it to the other me, the guy who would go to school or work and make people laugh with my silliness and wit, but inside was bottling up pain - almost like I was a real actor!