For 6 months I worked as a food runner at one of the top night clubs in Los Angeles. The money was okay and the shifts went by quickly. It was supposed to be a temporary gig, but the service industry is a time machine of the worst sort - one moment you are rolling silver… then suddenly five years have gone by and you’re transported from one side of the room to another. The fork in your hand is now a martini glass; not much else has changed.
That was my biggest fear, and so I kept a camera in my locker. Whenever I felt afraid that life would remain stagnant - that years into the future I'd still be working a dead end job, I'd get my camera out and take some pictures. It was therapeutic... a way of moving forward just one half inch at a time - one new picture created, one small thing to be proud of…. one more educational experience to leave fondly in the past.