43 of 45 - Some Characters

   Back on the tarmac today, but this time we were at the airport fuel station. And the airport lackey who showed us the swarm totally had an employment-stiffy for our job. I think he's really going to apply.
   This is kind of ironic because Bobby, the guy I've been riding around with, had just been telling me that when he was younger he had applied to work for these people, Signature Aircraft Services or something. He didn't get the job, but now the guy who did wants HIS job.

   I rode around yesterday and today with Bobby, the technician who got run off the road the first day. He's my age (23ish), lives in Huntington Beach (HB) (NW OC), recently bought a BMW, and in addition to the 14 hour Bee Busters workday he has a set design company with six employees. He had to leave work early yesterday to go to a meeting in LA with MTV suits. He recently designed the sets for MTV's new show "the 70s House."

   The first day I rode around with Dave Mardner. He looks maybe a little bit like a really gnarled Harrison Ford... or maybe I was just around toxic chemicals too much by the time I had that thought. He owns the "Bee Busters" company, he is the bee buster himself. He's been doing it for thirty years. Ironically he loves honey bees, but bee busting is where the money is if you want to work with bees around here. He recently bought himself a second roadster for $25,000.
   He told me more than once the first day "I may be an asshole but I'm fair." This caused me some trepidation at first, but my conclusion at this point is that he's the opposite of an asshole, and his referring to himself as such is merely a reflection of feeling guilty whenever he does snap at people. He snapped at some other technicians and the dispatcher when I rode around with him on Monday, but for the most part it sounded like they deserved it at the time, and he was stressed out. The whole enterprize is 100% his investment, one can't blame him for being easily stressed out about it. When he works on bees he works in a t-shirt and shorts.


   Today once again I was off work early. And by early I mean after only 9 hours. Our workday is officially from 7am to 9pm. Bobby's last few jobs were in HB though and he didn't want to have to come back to HQ in Laguna Hills again to drop me off and then return to HB. When you're expecting to work 14 hours, 9 hours really does feel short.
   With my copious extra time I visited The Frenchman, who worked literally three doors down from me in the same building, at Water Ventures. There I learned some interesting "inside" information on Wild Rivers I hadn't even heard from my Wild Rivers contacts, via the water entertainment industry grapevine.


In Unrelated News: Blehtahepdakorum rules right now! "The government snoops on private internet connections, poets and writers are regularly rounded up and shot for entertainment, the government is cracking down on subversive groups, and citizens are regularly shot for parking on the double-yellow line. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force. Blehtahepdakorum's national animal is the saber-toothed snail, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the bogon. Blehtahepdakorum is ranked 1st in the region and 8,358th in the world [93rd percentile!] for Largest Defense Forces (per capita)."

Previously on Emosnail
   Year Ago Today: Photo Essay: Top of the World - Wow the picture quality from photobucket hosting is a lot shittier than I remember. I'm inclined to think their service is continuing to slide downhill. I recommend viewing the photo essay at flickr instead. In fact, I ought to replace the current pictures in the entry with the pictures as hosted from flickr... but not now because then there'd be no point in complaining about it. So someone remind me later and maybe I will.