Try Outs

My eyes rested on a picture of four friends and myself  in our freshmen year of college.

The picture was taken during Spring Break in front of the Lincoln Memorial. 

It was taken as a reminder to be great and to follow our dreams.

It was after I received my diploma that the changing of dreams developed into nightmares.

At first, I wanted to be a western pioneer.

The dream soon turned to drunken cowboys playing cards, wooing women,

and singing in off tune pitches with the piano inside a jumpin' old-fashioned saloon,

showdowns between gun-slinging, no respect for the law bandits, and another

country-wide gold rush.

I was left in the settling dust after being trampld on, stamped on, by human

and animal alike, and shot at for amusement.

I decided that being a pioneer was overrated

Besides, all of the firsts were had already ben performed anyhow.

I drew a blank for some time after that.

So many to do, so many things I could do, and yet

I could not think of a single one. 

 I was extremely frustrated, but  I didn't need to pull my hair out

because my body decided to shed some of my hair for me.

The next big thing hit me when I least expected it 

It came to me while I had involuntarily walked in on a bank robbing siutation.

I decided to try my hand as a fashion designer.

That idea soon turned into a disaster. 

All the material that I could buy was plaid!

The manager explained to me that this was all he had left and that

his next shioment doesn't come in the next month on the first. 

"All the other amatuer designers," he said, "said they would rather

scratch their eyes out and become a leaper than to touch anything plaid."

I agree with them. There was no way I could turn that into a trend.

So I'm back where I started.

This time with a Polaroid in hand.

Maybe I'll try being a photographer next.

This photo of Time's Square is not half bad.