The Smoke Clears Finally

New found Health, Wealth and Freedom

Another high point around 2000 was that I bought myself a new Apple Mac computer (my first one!) and a Digital Audio Workstation for recording music at home. On reflection it’s crazy that I went so long without a decent way to record my music. It’s what I love to do the most!

My room consisted of a bed a corner with a clothes hanger and about every other inch of that room taken up with guitars, amplifiers, speakers, microphones and cables.

The biggest news of 2000 however was a personal achievement, aided by sickness: I gave up smoking! I am going to write a separate account of that because it is a story in itself and demonstrates the true power of intent and the laws of the universe in a very profound way. Lets just say that the sayings "There is no such thing as an idle thought" and "Be careful what you wish for, it may come true" have more than a thread of truth in them.

My prayers were also answered in 2001 with regard to my job. The company went out of business, filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy (I have no idea what that actually means) and I was asked if I would stay on with the company on full salary whilst it was in the hands of the administrators and because that would mean me not being able to take a new job somewhere else (like I wanted to – how little they knew!), they offered me a rather nice payment at the end of my final sentence!

I tried to look solemn when they told me and I think I managed to conceal my joy at this news, but I accepted and the next 6 months I would arrive at work with a few colleagues and we simply sat there, surfing the internet and chatting about all sorts of things, sometimes even related to the job we could be doing if there was actually anything to do! I don’t think I’ll ever understand why they kept paying us all that time, but I’ll always be grateful!

In fact I was sitting in that office on the day of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. I will never forget that day.

Not knowing how long this situation was going to last, but knowing it was just months I decided to exercise incredible discipline (for me) in saving my money. Since giving up smoking about 6 months before I had already become much wealthier. I was amazed at how much money I used to spend on something that is made to be set fire to and destroy your health. Wow – burning money and killing yourself in the process. Not the best idea in history.

Another side effect of not smoking was that I stopped going to the pub after work every evening, which had become a habit. I didn’t dare go in there because of the possible temptation to smoke, so as a consequence I was drinking about 90% less alcohol than before too, so I was not only healthier on two counts, but that saved me even more money. I think giving up smoking was about more than just my health at the time. It seemed like a definite message about how much of my income was being willingly handed over to the tobacco and alcohol industries, not to mention the taxes!

By the end of the year I had a big stash of cash and no job. It felt great. I decided to pursue the music full-time, but I had no idea of what was waiting for me down the line; something that turned life on it’s head for me and would leave me with a totally new set of glasses and a whole new stack of challenges.

I will resume at April 2002…