In 1992, I was 17, I just graduated H.S in the Spring. That Fall, I started commuting to my local community college for classes that I was working to pay for via a shitty job I had at the Clover Snack Bar.
Fun Fact: I eventually got fired, & taken out of the store in handcuffs, cause I was stealing out of the register the entire time I worked there. I never rang up hot dogs, lol.
I tripped on Acid every weekend, I was fat, unhappy, & smoked a pack a day of Marlboro/Winston/Parliament/Camel… you name it. We stole cartons from the Mobil station where my boyfriend worked the graveyard shift. I drank Snapple from Wawa like it was going out of style. And, school cafeteria cheese fries were a really crappy habit I kept even after HS.
That said, I think it’s kinda funny that underneath it all, my soul still had a secret longing even then, to do exactly what I’m doing NOW. Weird. My major was: Video Production. My roster for that semester was Audio Production class, Video Production 1, English Comp 1, Creative Writing, & a new class they were offering that year: “Writing for the religious & spiritual market,” If that ain’t uncanny.
I drove to school reluctantly every morning on windy back roads watching the misty layer of dew rise from the Bucks County fields of gold & green. My tin can of a car was an ’85 Ford Escort 4 cylinder hatchback with 4 different tires. And I DIY installed a rad CD player I pulled out of some beater in the local junkyard.
Every morning bright & early, I’d be whipping around bends, pounding coffee saturated with Equal packets & listening to the old faithful: Howard Stern in the morning. Thank God for “Baba Booey,” sidekick Robin’s kooky laugh… & Stern’s anything but PC raunchy attitude. It seriously got me through the trying, dark, shadowy days I found myself clawing to escape from back then.
I was so unhappy. My life was a serious drag, I hated my mom, my home life was beyond toxic. My dad was in his cued-up prescription pill dreamworld of sorts, paying for his new wife’s college education instead of mine. My boyfriend & I knew then we were growing apart, but managed to still stay together 7 MORE years after that. Don’t tell me that’s not totally insane. I really truly believed that the only way out was to just one day hopefully keel over. And that’s exactly what happened, lol.
I had a sharp pain strike me in the middle of an evening class up in the bleacher seats of the giant theater-like classroom & it nearly knocked the wind right out. I had no idea what was happening. So I actually raised my hand, & asked to be excused. We had no cell phones or anything, so I then rushed myself to the local ER. Turns out that I got there just in the nick of time, because I happened to be minutes away from my appendix almost bursting.
Over the years, I had sometimes wished it woulda just done so. Cause after that… they operated successfully, I eventually made a full recovery & then went on to have the most challenging life ever. I have had trials & tribulations that far exceed a movie. I’ve been to hell & back. And somehow, I managed to land on my feet like a cat. It’s quite odd.
I sometimes still feel like that chubby teenager with Tastykake crumbs in my lap, slurping coffee to Stern with a cigarette fastened to my lower lip. But I am not. I’m a book writer now… for a market that is well beyond religious & spiritual. It’s 30 years later, & New Earth is dawning, for godsake. Who knew? lol
I was inspired to write this blog, because I am about to record Audio Book versions of my books this month. I built a makeshift studio in my apt & I’m attempting to master the audio tech I SHOULD HAVE mastered in 1992, if I wouldn’t have dropped out of college. But, oh well, thats the way the Tastykake crumbles. 🙂
At this stage of the game, circa Age of Aquarius 2021, there is nothing I want more in this life at this time than my books to go viral. And this: I shall make happen, in one way or another, fam.
That said… thanks for tuning in! YOU can help the cause by commenting, tapping LIKE or FOLLOW, writing a REVIEW on Amazon or Goodreads, SUBSCRIBE to New Earth Now youtube channel… & SHARING IS CARING! Spread the love. Appreciatechya! Ciao! Cheers! Namaste
One,
JZapp
Book on fire! Love wins. 
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