Dream Job

Blue has found his dream job! ... A Mullet Man!

Starting next month, he'll be on a team of beach fishermen, netting mullet. It involves lots of sitting, waiting and looking for the dark spot in the distance that is a school of mullet moving up the coast. When spotted, everyone gets on their radios and meets at the next beach where they jump in their small boats and wrap a net around them. The net is then hooked to 4WDrive trucks and pulled up the beach. The fish are then sorted into the back of trucks and taken to the Fisherman's Co-op. Blue's best mate Pete is also on the team and (like everyone else on the team) they'll both be using their trucks and earning a percentage of the catch. The work should last about 6 months.

He did this job in Nelson Bay for a couple of years before he met me and then as a volunteer when we lived there for a while (his other best mate Mick is a beach fisherman) and has always wanted to do it again. In my mind, that dream involved moving back to Nelson Bay which I didn't want to do because of the kids, but this job is just up the road in the Tweed so it's perfect. I'm really happy for him.

The other night, his mate asked him if he won the Lotto if he'd still fish for mullet.

"Bloody oath!" he said. "But I'd buy a brand new truck instead of fixing up my old one."

It's funny, because we are both Librans born in the Year of the Rat. He is only 6 days older than me. So our lives tend to be in sync.

In that regard, I've got my dream job this year too! My book is at the printers as we speak and will be in the warehouse by mid-April. I'm a children's author!

It's really very anti=climatic but hopefully it'll get exciting when I get my first chepue in July. Guess it'll depend how big and fat it is. I only gst 7% per book, which sell for $10 or less, depending on if you buy it alone or in a set. But they already have a huge market in the schools, so I'm feeling pretty good about it all. Now I just need to get some contracts to write the books the publishers want instead of trying to sell them something they're not looking for.

I'm also studying to be a librarian and my first 2 days back at sub teaching went really well.

Our dreams are coming true right before our eyes. Gotta love that!