I want to make a movie recommendation to you... The secret life of Walter Mitty.

SPOILER ALERT: It's about a guy who is always daydreaming about what he wants to do but, one day, right before his work place shuts down for good he has to step outside his comfort zone and track down an item he thinks he misplaced. This results in shark fighting, skateboarding towards an erupting volcano, jumping onto and out of moving helicopters and the list goes on.

Point is, that movie was a perfect reflection of my life and had me in tears every time they played Major Tom as this movie shows what my life COULD have been like if I actually lived it. A guy, stuck in a boring life, living in a fantasy world who is forced out to experiences life...and then some. Both my life, my dream and my greatest regret all in one movie.

Me? I have lived an interesting live, that is to be sure. Let's sum it up as briefly as I can: First, before I was old enough to remember, my stepdad beat me for asking for a slice of bread and thus I was placed with my grandparents for my own safety. There I was safe but as soon as I left the house I would get beaten, dropped down stairs, dropped on my head, beaten till I was barely conscious, choked till I turn blue etc... For the 11 years that that went on I was too afraid to leave my bedroom so I lived in my own fantasy world and had NO CLUE how to speak to people... One day I just decided "Enough!". Since I'm getting hurt every day anyway, why not stand up for myself and get beaten for that, rather than being beaten while cowering. Since then I don't care what the stakes, even my life, I would not stand for any abuse or intimidation. I would hide my fear, act brave and stand tall. At 18 years of age I finally looked a girl in the eye...

As you can imagine, I longed to get out but I was too afraid to leave my bedroom. When my grandfather's new girlfriend got him to kick me out of the house because I didn't remove the potato salad from my plate before microwaving it (yeah, true story), I moved in with my mom, her new husband, my brother and sister and lived in a 3x6 meter outhouse. That lasted for about 2 weeks before I quit my job as a security guard due to the guy who stabbed my predecessor in the neck (creating the vacancy for me) putting his sights on me. I left there and went all the way to the UK. Two weeks later my mom's house burnt down and all my worldly possessions were down to what I had packed into that suitcase to bring with me to the UK... where I found myself sold into slavery. Oi!

Dinner would consist of mashed potatoes with chips and potato wedges and pay was about 50GBP per week for doing 12 - 18 hours days 7 days a week going wherever they decide to place me that day. One day I heard a rumor that they were looking to train someone to operate a machine at the one factory so I mustered up the courage to go ask the managers if I could be trained... A few days later they came to fetch me.

At that point I was in charge of the back end of the system that provided canned foods to all of Europe and international export. My programmer brain got that job so down to a T that I had most of the process automated and just checked my watch every few minutes to interact with the system. Oh how this annoyed the others. lol. So one day I went in and told the factory owners that I am fleeing from my captors and taking my chances in London. When they said "Oh, great. Now we need to train someone else" I said "Well, if you offered me the job I would be happy to stay"... and so they bought me for 2000 GBP and gave me back my freedom (later I got them to buy my future wife also. We moved in together, got married and have been together for 14 years now).

Anyway, life was good then but then my visa expired and I was forced to go to college to remain in the UK. I had followed the visa guidelines thus far and continued to do so now. I had to attend college for 20 hours per week and work for a max of 20 hours per week. Thus I had to leave that job and I got a job putting bread on shelves and working the till. Did that for 4 years. As for going to college, that was in London and was a 2 hour commute involving a bus to the train to the underground to another bus. Again, I got that nailed to a T...

I stayed at the same hostel (paid in advance), took the same bus to the same train to the same tube line at the same times every week. I would eat the same food, go to bed at the same time and live by my watch. With my accommodation and travel paid for in advance I managed to travel to London for 3 days a week and I would go there with no more than max 3.50 GBP in my wallet... not all of which I used every week. That's right, 1 Pound a day to live in London.

One night there was a false fire alarm at 2am so I overslept by 10 minutes and was off my routine by 10 whole minutes the whole morning. Meaning I missed the bomb that went off at the tube where I normally get on... by 10 minutes... And the one that went off where I normally got off by 10 minutes also. I walked my usual route to the bus station and walked past where the 3rd bomb went off 10 minutes after I had gone past there... I got to class and they sent us home. I spent 8 hours walking through London trying to find a way into the hostel where my belongings were or trying to catch the train home. The police had cordoned off the access the hostel so I had to return home without my car keys/house keys but found that the police were saying the train station was closed while my wife was calling me on my nearly dead phone to tell me they are saying on the radio there is one train left... my charger is at the hostel, I am wearing shorts, have 50 pence in my wallet and nowhere to go and no way out... and in true movie style, then it started to rain. lol But of course. lol :) So I walked AROUND the train station, found an entrance and got on the last train out of London just 2 minutes before it departed...

Unfortunately the college was made for foreign students and with them all leaving the college closed down. I met with the dean and was allowed to continue at his other campus which involved a 3 hours commute daily but again, I had my routine down. This day, that time, that road, arrive by X, leave at Y, get home by Z. Did that for the next 3 years.

Then they changed the rules on me and said that to get my new visa I had to apply in my home country but from here the UK embassy came up with the most ridiculous reasons for denying me back into the UK. For example, they did a cost estimate for how much it would cost to live in London and they estimated the cost at double what I have been paying for the past 4 years in the rural area where I lived. Since their estimates exceeds my proven expenses they accused me of working more hours than allowed by my visa. After I proved my expenses it was a back and forth until they eventually said that I don't have enough pictures of me laying on the beach... at which point I finally gave up.

My days of making canned foods for all of Europe and international export as well as my days of putting bread on the shelves were done. 1 month later I got my first freelance job as a game developer based on the success of the game I had released the previous month.

After about 3 months of trying to get back to the UK and having all our money stolen by the lawyer who showed up in his brand new BMW to deliver the news that he has declared bankruptcy, it seemed that my wife and I would be stuck living in my cousin's spare bedroom since work was not coming our way.

Eventually I landed my first job as a programmer and I shined! I worked as a game developer at night and as a COBOL programmer by day doing around 20 hours of work a day. And I loved it. Even after I blacked out behind the wheel and nearly killed my wife and I, I still kept at it. After being the scapegoat for the loss of a few million Rands while I was on my 3 day vacation I said "No. I'm not taking this". My boss tells me I am too confident in my skills and must not trust in myself like I do but rather become subservient to my peers (whom I taught stuff even though they were my seniors at the company by 4 decades!) ... I quit and became a full time freelancer.

Now I spend all my time doing what I love but living in fear because our government is insanely racist and openly state they want to "drive all white people into the sea" or sing songs about shooting all the white people. Hell, even the president sings the same song. So yeah, I live behind 5 gates and only leave the house to go shopping or to fetch my wife from work.

I love what I do and sacrificed the rest of the world and all semblances of a social life to do only this. I do dream of getting out of this country though and have 3 things on my bucket list:

1. Get an autograph from Maddie Ziegler
2. Take a road trip across the entire width of the USA
3. Grow old and die in Japan

Until then, my work is all that matters to me. :)