Top-Earning Dead Celebrities, Sniffing Books, and Dead-End Jobs

After breakfast, I sat down at my desk with my notebook. I use it every day, filling page after page with my erratic, jostling hand - I really must use a pen, or pencil - my knuckles are sore, and my hand interrupts my concentration with snide remarks, for example," Wow, hand me the spoon, please", "Turn the page over, please" or "Are we going out today?"

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The thirteen icons on the eighth annual "Top-Earning Dead Celebrities list" collectively earned $194 million in the last 12 months. What do they know that most of us don't? In fact, I'm not included on the "Who will make the most from the great beyond?" list - my family and I are devastated. Is that a rational reaction? I don't fear death, but my subconscious does - the passage of each day brings me another day closer to not achieving all the the things I want to do.

It began with a letter addressed to the man of the house, so my wife was the first to read it. The letter stated a car would pick me up at eight o'clock tonight. No reason, no signature. Mysterious, yet I waited with "eager anticipation", and I was grateful for its company. My wife was spending the evening in the loft rearranging her collection of "airline sickness bags".

A black car, with tinted windows, arrived and I got into the back seat. The driver told me to put the black hood, on the seat, over my head, and after that he didn't speak. Finally, after about twenty minutes I heard the car travel over gravel, and the car stopped. He opened the car door and lead me up a path. Once we were inside a building, he removed my hood. I was standing in the reception of a large, stately house.

A portly, red-faced man stopped talking to a couple, walked over, smiled at me and said, 'Hi there. Glad you could come. I'm Gordon. I know all about you. Welcome to "The Book Sniffing Club". We've been expecting you'. He took me to a large, round table were six people were sitting, and he introduced me. The table contained a pile of books in various stages of decay. 'As you see,' Gordon continued, 'you are in the company of fellow book sniffers'. Decaying books are wondrous. The chemicals ... the volatile acids. The emissions combine to make the musty smell!' His face became redder as he spoke. He immediately lifted a book from the table, raced to a chair, sat down, and buried his nose in the book.

A lady, called Casey, smiled at me and said, 'It's open seating. Here, sit beside me.' She described how her habit had developed through different stages; sniffing newspapers, pamphlets, then progressing to the slicks: "Elle", "Cosmopolitan", "Marie Claire", then "Horse & Hound". I paused, and though how ludicrous the situation was. Some of the group were using straws to delve deep into the spines of books, and took long, deep sniffs, then sat back in exhilaration. Casey said fresh books were alright for beginners, but nothing beat an old, crusty book. I asked if they had ever been raided by the police. No - in fact - one of the group was a high ranking police officer.

Casey give me a straw, smiled, and pointed to the books, ' Stop glancing, and start sniffing.' I placed my straw deep into the spine of an old book. I believe it was a first edition, first issue copy of "Grimms Fairy Tales". The last thing I remember is inhaling, felling drowsy, and losing consciousness.

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Reflections: I advise my children to expand their exposure to different experiences, ideas, perspectives, cultures, people, and be sceptical of most things they read and hear, whether it's the mass media, other people, advertising, Also, to find a job that is genuinely fulfilling and engenders real passion and enthusiasm.

I wasted valuable years' working for an organisation that left me unhappy and unfulfilled. I realised over time that some of the jobs - especially, the last one - were sapping my energy and time. I knew it was not the way I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I was spending more time at work than doing the things I really wanted to do.

As we are all individuals there is no single direction, position, action for each person to take. Don't put off making changes in your life, and living to regret not making them.