roadtripnation.com

I've been watching this show on KPBS saturday nights at 11.00 p.m. called "road trip nation". it's about three college grad students that somehow decided to choose a different career beside from the nine to five ordinary job. (Freelance photographer, sport inventor, audio technician -from the 'star wars' movies-, writer for HBO's "six feet under", CEO of Levi's, surfboard manufacturer, etc) obviously these people didn't fall out of bed one day and by divine grace became what they are today. Some of them had to stay in school continuing out of fear of going out into the real world to look for a job, so they got a BA and then went for their masters degree, others just decided to stand up, take aim and shoot for what they could only see themselves doing, without any academic background.

The objective of the show is to portray all the questions that we all have as human beings:

-what do i want to be in life? -what job makes me happy? -what career suits me best?

All three college students make these questions not always getting the same answers; some are vague and without any substance, but mostly all of them are encouraging, inspirational, and full of hope. But really what the half hour show does, is: to make -you- as an audiance member, create your own questions and answers, about where you as an individual would like to see yourself in a couple of years, and what choices to take.

Listening on people's knowledge and personal experiences it made me feel as: if i set my mind to it, I, could also do it. Thinking back on it, one day i decided to write on my desk a set of short stories i had running around in my head for a while, connecting them, creating an abstract story line, about different characters that live in the borderline between USA and Mexico, my creative flow kept running for months, in the process my hair and beard grew long and when i finally looked back i had finished what i started (172 pages long) with an extra bonus i dared to neglect: my bladder. I was so busy writting that i forgot to drink water regularly, and had to rush over to the doctor's office, thinking i could die, (over dramatic, really) everything worked out good after some tests an all-i'm better now; but, that's when i knew that unconsciously i had already become a writer [a mexican writer, with a fictional novel written fully in english], consciously knowing of course that my unpublished book will not pay my rent at the end of the month, but knowing for sure it will make me happy and content at the end of the day I had made the right choice...

Paulo.

visit the web site: www.roadtripnation.com

p.s. -you are, what you do- tune in ... KPBS.