Don &
Phoebe
Lord got to be almost 13 years old, but when he was gone I
thought it was time to test the possibilities of my native country.
In the autumn of 1993 I headed for Laguna Beach, California, where
my old aunt Phoebe lived. I didn't find employment immediately, but
just before the new year I began as room service cashier at the
luxury hotel Surf & Sand. After a short time I managed to be
transferred to the switchboard (they called it the PBX department),
where I liked it much better. However my living quarters grew
troublesome once again; my dear aunt had become senile and living
with her didn't work out in the long run. All of a sudden I was
forced to quit my job and travel to friends in St George, Utah.
Desert climate, pioneer spirit and plenty of mormons - but not much
to do for a singer and PBX operator. A few stray jobs was all I
could get; mainly I remember a printing house, where I joined the
workforce for a few nights stuffing supplements into the local
paper. But it never worked out financially, and come fall I had to
go back to Sweden. I sold my fine photographic equipment to pay for
the ticket.
Since my return work has been scarce. I have been unemployed for
long periods of time; on the other hand I have become a computer
expert all on my own. Macintosh has become my lifestyle, you might
say, which unfortunately has affected the music and my nature
interest somewhat. In 2001 I wound up at Datorteket (a "computer
activity center") as so many unemployed do, and there I took the
European Computer Driving License (ECDL) without difficulty - and
despite it only being about Wintel and Microsoft and not Apple and
Mac. A few months later however, I was allowed to return and lead a
Macintosh project; I became an instructor and taught Mac OS X and
other software for almost a year. After that not much has happened;
I am still unemployed, although I continue to study mac programs
and other things. In the summer of 2007 I also studied accounting
at Kunskapscompaniet.