Chapter 1032 The Guilty Conscience: #2
- After a year, I had to leave for 60 days, part of their rules. I went home, did some more work for Dad's company, and then returned to the frozen south. Most people would give the place a try for the experience, and we'd never see them again. For me the forced solitude, isolation, and shortage of 'new' people to meet was like heaven. During winter the place was mostly evacuated, and I was depended upon as a jack-of-all-trades, which I didn't mind.
- With nothing to do with my spare time, I studied, worked out, and spent my off hours learning some weird stuff, from whoever was willing to teach it to me. I mean it, I had a lot of spare time, a lot, and had to do something. I got interested in magic for a while, and for the better part of a year always had a card deck and coins on me. I loved impromptu magic, doing tricks with whatever was at hand. I liked rubber band magic, and stuff with ropes and strings. Nobody had explained to me yet that magic was the kiss of death when it came to women. The ultimate badge of desperation.
- I was taught to play the guitar by one of the short-timers working there. Nice guy, patient. He even sold me his old Martin when he left. He swore it wouldn't survive another change in environment. When he left, I found out from a burly Hawaiian dude that a ukulele was pretty damned similar, but easier to play, and a lot more portable. I got halfway decent on that. Thanks to YouTube, I had no shortage of instructors when he moved on.