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I also got to work the canner. This was a conveyor machine that canned oil. On one end you took boxes of empty cans, tipped them onto the belt and made sure they were all right side up. That was the job. It was mind-numbing work and I learned that I liked numbing my mind. It was meditative, and after a couple of hours I would feel surprisingly calm.
I noticed that at Pizza Pete's too, washing dishes. We did them by hand, and I found I liked it. Later in life I realized if comedy failed, I could always be a dishwasher.
I learned there is no such thing as a demeaning job. You do what you have to do and you do it well. In time, if you follow that path, you will rise in your profession.
My dad taught me a respect for investing and taking care of money. Even when I was drinking and carousing I managed to put a little of my wages aside. I'd invest in mutuals funds, just a little bit of my money, and then forget it. I never traded stocks and I was warned very strongly about the dangers of commodity investing. Nope, just mutual funds. I invested the most when I was working cruise ships, because I was making good money and the expenses were minimal. I was never rich, but I had enough to retire when the time came.
You know what the biggest money move was? The one that put me in fat city? I never had kids. It's not a good way to go and I missed out on a lot of life's greatest joys. I just thought it wouldn't be fair to the kids. I never knew if I'd have a job two weeks down the road and I knew I would never be home to help raise them. It wouldn't be fair. Financially it saved me thousands, but I would never, ever, advise anyone to not have kids.
Now I live in Thailand. It's getting prosperous here but there are a lot of very poor people and foreigners are considered rich. I've never thought of myself as rich and it's weird. In the states I'd barely be middle class, but here I'm rich and I don't think I like it. I just want to be normal and have enough for green fees.