21 and full of balls. I apply for a senior position at a major Television station in Sydney. Way out of my league of capability, but never underestimate how far bullshit can get you.
Audio Engineer for all live content. 2500 staff, and I have a senior position. I am killing it. Sharing a house I rented with a mate in the heart of the city with about 6-8 other people on average. Time to try drugs seriously.
In 18 months my addiction to anything that could be squeezed into a needle….and I mean anything. LSD is always interesting in this format. I am fucked up. Functioning, but fucked up. I have my TV job, a motorcycle courier job, (12 on the CBD team. 1 a month in hospital, 1 a year in the morgue) a bar job, and I am on the dole. I did not sleep. I also did not have sex. The needle was my lover.
Time to get out.
We advertised a room, and one of the applicants arrived at the door. I am fairly sure my jaw dislocated it dropped so far. She was Spanish. A Flamenco dancer, and did not speak much English. The house voted her out. I invited her out. Here goes the next three years.
We lived together, travelled together and saved together. We got on a plane full of drugs in our system, and I never touched a needle again in my life. She saved me.
Footnote: I saw her 10 years later in Sydney again. We spent the day together with a mutual friend. As I am driving her to my house with my partner and baby, she says she never got over me and wanted me back. Made for an interesting dinner. I never saw or heard from her again.