Hello there, My Name is
Joseph J.Perkins. I
grew up in a town called East Islip Long Island, New York. My parents
are John and Sharon Perkins. I have 6 brothers and 1 sister. (John,
Joseph, James, Joel, Artie, Daniel(DJ) and Jodi my sister). It was
great growing up as kids, because there was someone around to play with
or just hang out. As we get a little older we ALL start to do our own
thing, and that is why I am writing this is to tell you how I ended up
where I did.... In Rincon Puerto Rico..
In 1983 I started
working as an auto
mechanic when I was 15 years old at John Guelfi's Wheel Alignment. The
place was family owned for
generations since 1939. This was my family for 20 years, Monday -Friday
7am-5pm. As a youngster your too naive about taking vacation time, I
was..I didnt go on vacations, I'd rather have vacation pay and work the
week..To me it was a double paycheck, whats better than that..
In 1997, I started working
for my friend
Charlie, as a Drill Rig Operator for his he Environmental Company. I
went to classes to learn how to operate the Truck and Drill Rig. I got
the hang of using the Rig fast, guess it was because I already had a
background in mechanics. I became Charlies go to guy for drilling. So,
this became my weekend job, Saturday and Sunday 7am-10pm and locally
Monday -Friday 6pm-10pm.
In 1998, I worked
in a Bar on Fire
Island, New York, From Memorial day to Labor Day. I was the Bar
Manager, bartender, bouncer, doorman, bar back. This was a
night
job for Friday -Saturday 7pm-4am. At this point I was still
working with Charlie doing the Drilling. I was making some serious
money. Not ever thinking about the long term effects on me from working
long hours, everyday with hardly any sleep... I had no life outside of
working, banking money, working banking money.. etc...
My
schedule:
- Monday:
______wake up 6am go to Guelfis Auto Mechanic, 6pm Drill Rig Locally
with
Charlie usually 10pm
- Tuesday: ______wake up 6am go to
Guelfis Auto Mechanic,
6pm Drill Rig Locally with
Charlie usually 10pm
- Wednesday: ___wake up 6am go to
Guelfis Auto Mechanic,
6pm Drill Rig Locally with
Charlie usually 10pm
- Thursday: _____wake up 6am go to
Guelfis Auto Mechanic,
6pm Drill Rig Locally with
Charlie usually 10pm
- Friday: _______wake
up 6am go to Guelfis Auto Mechanic 5pm (shower) catch the
6:15
ferry
to Fire Island,work
till 4am
- Saturday: ____4am go
to ferry dock and see if I can catch the ghost ferry 6am back. To
work the Drill Rig
by 7am and work till 5pm, (shower)
catch the 6:15 ferry
to Fire Island, work
till 4am
- Sunday:______4am go
to ferry dock and see if I can catch the ghost ferry 6am back.
To
work the
Drill Rig by 7am and work till 5pm or Till Dark. TGI Fidays
with
my mom I had a couple drinks and sleep till
Monday
morning and start it
all again..
Drilling is on a
different schedule while working on Fire Island, Seasonal, Memorial
Day- Labor Day.
My schedule was a demanding
one it sucked
the life out of me and I got burnt out working 3 jobs at the same time
for 6 years. One day I have decided that I need a Vacation, dont know
where I was going but I will be going. I got the courage up to tell my
boss at Guelfi's that I need some time off, with a little arguing he
said its about time..Told Charlie, and he said OK...Fire Island dindt
start yet..
My Journey
Went on a Cruise Ship with
someone,
things didnt work out. So, I bailed out when we came to the first port.
It just happened to be San Juan. Not thinking that this might have been
the stupidest thing I have ever done, but pushed forward and rented a
car, didnt know any spanish and asked the renal car lady, about a map
of Puerto Rico, I said Route 2 ...This road looks like it goes around
the whole Island.. She said it does...cool, I will drive around PR, for
my vacation, I have 7 peaceful days by myself, cause that was when the
Cruise Ship would be back, and I have to get back to home and work..
Well things didnt work out
for me..On my way
across the northern part of PR, I was tired and went to a little hotel
to rest and start the journey again tomorrow..woke up, thinking I have
to call my mom, to tell her what I just did, even though I am 35 years
old, my cell phone didnt work, never updated it before I left..Dam
Verizon..So I had to buy a phone at Sun-Com..They were great, Girls
were hot, And I didnt understand a word they were saying..their boss
got on phone discussed things prices etc...And said sign paper and the
girls gave me a phone. The guy was from Rincon, I said OK, I never
heard of it. He said its where all the Americans go, He told me he had
a couple vacation rentals to rent if I were interested. I told him im
on a vacation to relax and do nothing. He explained to me that Rincon
is the surfing Capital down here, he told me if I go anywhere go
there.. Im off...about a hour into the ride phone rings..I said "who
the hell" ..no one has this number, its brand new..it was Miguelle,
owner of the mobile phone store, he said are you in Rincon yet, I said,
are you kidding, I dont know you..and I dont know where Im Going, He
said meet me at Walgreens.. What the Hell, I seen the Walgreens up the
road and decided to meet him.. He was kinda a cool old surfer, he told
me dont worry about speaking Spanish, in Rincon, there are mostly
Americans, and tourists. So, I decided to follow him to see the rental
units he has, first one..too big, second one, to far away, the third
one was a perfect 2 br 1 bath place, up the road from the beach and a
couple local bars...It was awesome...But, didnt discuss prices yet.. He
said when did you get here, "I told him my story, kind of a fast
version", he said.." NO WAY" , put your bags down and lets go for a
drink and I will introduce you to some people...WE WERE OFF....Well let
me tell you after the 5th bar in Rincon, I was hammered... I Woke up
the next morning, to talk money, how much its going to cost me to
stay..Well in the long run he told me the more I stay the cheaper it
was..so my stay went from a week of $600.00- to getting a price for 2
weeks to a month than to the big one.. Asking for a six month
lease..how do you like them apples...we bartered back and fourth about
the price for a few minutes cam up with a number we both agreed
on and it was a done deal..
The next day..Dec 24, I
went out and met a
girl named EV (Yvette). How about this for fate, we talked for a couple
days for my first part of my vacation and found out she was also from
New York. Where she was from...about 20 mins from where I lived..can
you believe that...Never seen her in NY, went to the same places..AND
My brother James sold her a car...He was working for a dealership on
sunrise highway...What a small world..Being that we were both New
Yorkers, we had a mutual attraction for each other. We would hang out
almost everyday of my New Vacation for 6 months and fell in love, guess
I was fired from my jobs back home, never called them to say I wouldnt
be back.
Well it came time for me to
head back to
New York for my Fire Island job, since it was seasonal and couldnt pass
up the money. EV and I talked a couple times everyday, when I came back
to NY..We talked about everything, and the biggest one is after Fire
Island am I coming back to Rincon for her...Well I told my mom, friends
family..and everyone, that I was moving down to Puerto Rico...Finished
up my summer job bartender/manager on Fire Island and packed up my
stuff put it on a cargo ship and took a flight back down here to sunny
Puerto Rico.
I have been living here
with EV for a
little over 6 years now, married, own 2 houses, we have our own
Vacation Rental and Hair Salon and my life couldnt be any
happier....AND you can never go wrong with seeing the Sun Everyday and
the blue water of the Caribbean Sea everyday out from my balcony .. I
guess getting burnt out from working a lot, didnt turn out so bad for
me...
You know what, I would never
have met EV if
it wasnt for Miguelle, Well if any of this happened differently I would
have never met EV......Miguelle was right, you dont have to know
Spanish there are so many Americans here, and to this day, I cant speak
Spanish, but do understand a lot, well some..
Thank
god this was a short conversation.
Joei
Perk
prVacationRental@aol.com
www.prVacationRental.com
