McModel

Part of it was curiosity, part of it was vanity, and part of it was the lure of an easy paycheck which lead me to sign up with a modeling agency.

After weeks of the agency sending out my picture, I finally got a reply; McDonald's was looking for a model for a new Western themed ad campaign. My agent met me at the train station and escorted me to where the test shoot was being done.

Once inside it was quickly obvious I was out of my league. However it wasn't my looks that were soon to fail me, it was my lack of modeling experience. Though it is true that you just stand there and let them take your picture, the skill lies in how you stand there. I was soon to be a deer in the headlights, but it really didn't matter, because I really wanted was to see what a modeling shoot was like.

My test shoot was done in less than a minute and I soon found myself walking back to the train station in the company of one of the "professional" models who showed up to the shoot. As we talked it turned out that we had a great deal in common. He had spent is 20's bumming around the world making money by modeling, while I had spent my 20's bumming around the world making money by teaching English.

As we parted ways at the train station it dawned on me how similar we were. Though our jobs were different in the end we were using some aspect of our westerness to pay for our adventures around the world.