Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Frederick Ceely (1948- ) Biography, Part Three

(This is all true, by the way)

Fred has worked as a Production Controller
in two factories, done Inventory Control too,
he has done Engineering Drawing,
and he was actually good at it,
he has delivered the U.S. Mail,
driven Taxi Cabs in New York
and Los Angeles, managed
an Air Freight office,
expedited purchase orders for factories,
mixed chemicals in a Photo Laboratory,
done stock clerk work in a major
Drug Store, floor-sales and stocking
for record (musical record) and tape stores,
and one major Department Store,
he has sold women’s shoes,
done Quality Control for
electronic components in a defense plant,
served in the United States Navy,
worked as a Disk Jockey, driven trucks,
been a Day Care Provider,
been the receiver for food items for a major hotel,
filled and prepared orders
for retail stores, received freight
in wholesale and retail settings,
forwarded freight by truck, bus,
ship and air,
given seminars in law,
teaching techniques, and
academic skills, been a tutor,
been a manager, supervisor, and laborer
in warehouse settings,
is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer,
taught grammar school and high school,
published a text book,
written fiction, non-fiction and poetry,
he is a lawyer, admitted to practice
in the State of California and in the
District Courts of the Northern and
Central Districts of California,
he has taught university classes
in language and American Law,
has served as thesis advisor to
graduate students, served as a
Volunteer Attorney for the indigent,
and he has never made a success of any of it,
except that the Peace Corps, it is believed,
remembers him fondly.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just couldn't hold a job, could you Fred?

Anonymous said...

I always like to say
"If you Are what you Do,
then when you Don't,
you're Not."
-P.N.

fred c said...

I had one job for three years, with four or five months off in the middle for a non-job related nervous breakdown. And I think I made it twenty months on another one. Those are the longest.

I'm hoping to hold on here until the end of September, 2009, which would be twenty two months, but sometimes I wonder at my chances.

I don't mind hard work, it's all social anxiety.

Anonymous said...

Depression has de-railed more than one life. So many things I would have done, but the clouds got in the way.

Anonymous said...

How would you write your own Obituary?

fred c said...

An obit? How about "He was a lucky man, and happy."

That I have been lucky is indisputable. I always had friends and was very interested in things. I had a great family, and I have had many great opportunities. And I am happy, in my way.

Or, my flippant favorite, "He was never the best man, but he was usually as good as anybody in the room."

Anonymous said...

I would have given you more column inches for your obit. No mention of the sensitive little boy who survived the brutality and the grittiness of College Point, a place that had done-in so many others? How about how you transcended it with some dreams and humor intact? The bitterness was a natural consequence, of course, once the scales fell from your eyes. As they say today, "Man, if you're happy, you ain't paying attention." -PN

Anonymous said...

Good for people to know.