Finding myself and my favorite cult all in one weekend

It all began with one freelance job. I answered an ad on media post and ended working for this shady character, who of course promised me an insane amount of money to compose a commercial print piece. I was going to develop the content, a lay it out and negotiate production cost. This would have been a labor of love.

What I actually did was serve as a second on a pitch. The shady character needed to sell his vision for an African American publication to a huge publishing house. In the meetings we negotiated an insert in an already published magazine. All is good until the time to pay the freelancer. On that day I received a sealed envelope with a gift certificate to take a seminar. I was pissed to say the least.

I dealt with it and accepted it as a loss. I would get paid upfront next time when dealing with shady folk. So the day for the seminar comes along. It just so happened that I had nothing better to do, so I went.

I walked in picked up my name tag and looked around at a million very odd looking people. Not one person in this room would fall into my peer group. A couple overweight women, chain smokers, an obvious gambler (he asked me to bet on how many people were in the room), and yep my favorite was the recovering drug addict with the twitch. Those were only a few of the ones I paired up with and shared my experiences with so I know all of those fine details.

I found a seat in an unpopulated row in the middle of the bank of seats. It was across the room from an entrance, I was hoping no one would sit next to me. I’m anti-social by nature. It happened, even though I tried to look unwelcoming. I was sandwiched between a very heavy woman and a beautiful real-estate broker, the Grande Dame of Real-Estate in CT. The heavy woman to my right kept on overlapping to my chair so I picked the chair up and tried to move closer to the broker. This didn’t go off well, I receive a glare from both ends. So, I resolve to slump down in my chair and pray for the end of this ordeal, kinda like the time I was talked into going on a rollercoaster and kept on calculating the probability that the coaster seats would derail. I’m not kidding it was the same feeling!

So a few minutes pass and out comes the leader. He is perky and has an unnaturally high voice for a man. He is also wearing a short sleeve shirt with a tie, which causes me to remember my grandfather in his banking days. He proceeds to introduce himself. I sit there and try to remember my grandfather’s recipe for rum punch and then it happens. The guy actually looks at me and asks a direct question. I didn’t hear the question because I instantly start to wonder if my strategy to avoid eye contact and my body language was actually making me noticeable. So he repeats, “Why are you here? Do you live with integrity?”

I figured I would never see these characters again and I might as well tell him the truth. I was tricked into this. I assure him that my intention was not to be there but since this was the only compensation I was getting I was going to make the most of it. The last question was tough I wanted to say yes I live my life with integrity but I was lying to everyone in my life about my marriage. I was telling people I was divorced. At the time I was just separated but that is a whole different story. I said for the most part my integrity was in tact and he laughed.

So begins the 1st day a 12 hour ordeal. I am told I am only allowed 5 minute breaks and most return for two more days. In those remaining days I managed to listen to many people talk about the plight in there lives and share some of my life. On a positive note I found myself and gained a new perspective. Even though the group still contacts me and pushes me to recruit others, I have refrained from it. I think we each will come to it if we were meant to attend such a seminar in life.

Neutrality: How to Raise Your Very Own Stripper

Neutrality: How to Raise Your Very Own Stripper

The update

I have survived a business trip, wedding, and many roller coaster rides in the last week or two. No bones broken and positive feedback so I'm counting all of this as a win. Just trying to keep up with the pace of life at the moment. It's the same old story so much to do and not enough time.