This Grace-filled Odyssey May Make You Chuckle

I  know I am Mr. Dreamer but I believe any Miracles and Grace start from a dream.                                                                                                                                                                          I was orphaned in Japan when I was 3 years old.   I was raised by a family friend who was a gambler.   By the time I was 16, he could not support me and I have been on my own ever since.
It took only a week to become homeless from having a normal family.  I had to get two jobs to make $1200 a month to feed by myself. The only way was to work at night clubs or discos.   That is right, I grew up in 70’s.  Disco was super happy music in all of the world at the same time.   I had to work 5 P.M. to 12 A.M. at the disco and 1:00 A.M. to 6 A.M. at night clubs, then went to high school for sleep.

One day,  one of my best high school friends told me he will become a fire fighter.  I knew what firefighters do at a fire scene but I didn’t know how to become fire fighter.    My friend was a very smart guy.   I never had time to study because I was always working.  He called me almost a week before the fire fighter exam. He said he will go find copies of the last five years of the Fire Fighters exam at the Public Library.  Do I want to come?

I went with him. He was copying all the questions by hand, but I had no idea what they were asking about, so I started counting which numbers were the most popular answers in the five years. I found magic number ‘3′ was always a popular answer.   At the day of real exam I marked number ‘3′ more than 90% and I passed!

Second test was the physical exam but I had no problem because I was dancing 6 hours every night and was in great shape.  Third exam was interview but I had no problem communicating with anybody because I was dealing with different customers every day and night and I was very polite to all customers.   It was great way to become a firefighter from King of Night.

I did 2 years of fire fighting, 8 years of rescue squad and 2 years of EMT.  Then, in the 13th year I received an order and I got transferred to a 9 to 5 desk job at HQ dealing with politicians, making up budget meeting scenarios–both questions and answers–and finding the boss’ favorite girls at night clubs. It was a totally different job, compared to working at a fire station.

One night we were watching the movie “Back Draft” at our fire station.  I decided to go to New York to become a firefighter.  I didn’t know Back Draft was filmed in Chicago.   I just believed that story was about fire fighters in New York because most Japanese still have the image that New York is America.   In a month, I quit the fire department and flew to N.Y.

In New York I stayed with an Italian family.  They were a super great, big hearted family and fed me really well with pasta, lasagna and fat pizza with beer and wine every night.   My weight gained from 165 lb. to 200 lb. in 6 months.

I tried to become a fire fighter in New York, but couldn’t because I didn’t have U.S. citizenship.  I only had a green card.

The secretary at NYFD was really nice to me, and she suggested I become an Emergency Medical Technician in Westchester, NY. because there is a big Japanese community there.  So, I became an EMT in NY, and worked in very cold weather and carried very heavy patients day and night. But my wage was only $7 per hour.

After two years, I was watching the Travel Channel having Crazy Horse Beer and baby carrots.  The show was showing the paradise of Waikiki, Hawaii.   Mr. White Shiny Tooth Diving Instructor was showing off his diving skills with his brightest teeth and taking beautiful ladies into crystal clear water.

I was so envious about Mr. Shiny Tooth compared with my life at the moment.  Don’t get me wrong, EMT is a great job but it was not forever for me in N.Y. . .

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