Seattle freewrite!

Coming to you from 34,000 feet above the Rocky Mountains, mid-flight Steemit posts have become a traditional way for me to effectively use my cramped time in economy seating. Sorry to break the news to all the aspiring photographers out there, but if you want to upgrade to preferred passenger class, you need a different life path than pinup photographer. The career defining years, though [2013 through about 2016], I flew Spirit or budget airlines every single time. Most of those trips made with @guthrie in tow. I won’t be flying first class in the near foreseen future, but I’ve come far enough along that I’ve kind of put my foot down and ponied up the extra money for Delta flights, so far, without regret. That’s the kind of progress a freelancer makes.

I don’t have a specific thing to talk about in this post. Call it a freewrite, I guess. I’ve mentioned at exhaustive length in previous Steemit posts, that I hate flying. Yes. I’m afraid of it. Sad predicament to be in given my job and it’s requirement for me to go where the work is [...Los Angeles and New York, mostly]. I’m asked all the time by my LA friends, “....when are you going to be moving out here?”. I always reply, “I won’t.”. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, eventually, the work would stop. Much of why I’m hired is because I don’t live in LA and New York. It makes me that much more of a commodity. Secondly, I live in a three bedroom home in Minneapolis that was purchased for around $118,000. I love my city and that’s our home.

After confessing my fears of flying, I’ve committed to a work trip to Australia in August. I’m super terrified of this. Being in a plane is nail biting stress for me during 3 - 4 hour flights to either coast. Twenty hours on a plane sounds as close to a living Hell as I can imagine. Work in my usual big cities has slowed. I’m not sure if that’s because of my rate, or that I’ve made one too many trips in recent years. That’s actually why I’m flying to Seattle right now. I’m telling you, if cryptocurrency makes a 2019 resurgence, I would gladly sell enough to to refund all these deposits and stay home. That’s not realistic [...even if it does recover], but it helps to vent about it.

I’m thinking about @lovejoy right @wolfcat right now. In all likelihood, they were at Minneapolis/St. Paul International airport the same time as me. They’re about to embark on a truly unreal journey to the jungles of Chile, trying to recover the history of his Uncle’s downed plane. It’s a remarkable ambition that only @lovejoy would be capable of putting together. We’re of similar age, but his thirst for adventure far exceeds my own. Granted, my travel has been excessive and all work related, so it’s hard to quantify either in comparison. I’m wishing safety and success to my friends and a safe return. Read his blog and fundraising post, “The Disappearance of US Navy Plane 17254 - Chile, 1969 [Our Search]”.

I’m grateful for Steemit, as much now as I was over two years ago when @mada tried and failed to explain this revolutionary technology. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster, but enriched my life in my ability to reach new people with my art, be rewarded for that which I create, make friends like @mada, @lovejoy, @tarotbyfergus and @bryan-imhoff, and mentors like @roadscape, @robrigo, @eveuncovered, @gringalicious and @anomadsoul. I’m feeling the rough air over the Rockies, so I must return to white-knuckle clenching this arm rest, but thank you for always giving me a platform to share my art, my thoughts and my life.