1995- 2009 i should be a doctor

On the 19th of August i had a job interview with the Regina Public School Board. The interview was for a custodial position with a starting wage of about 17 dollars an hour. The interview went well; I had all the necessary experience for the job. And i got along well with the three men that interviewed me. At the end of our interview when we stood to shake hands, one of the interveiwers said in passing that he would need to see a transcript of my grade twelve marks. My heart sank and i shook hands and left.

It was easy for me to leave school. I started high school in 1995 at Sheldon Williams Collegiate. I immediately was more interested in the social aspects of school than the subjects. At the end of grade nine i was smoking pot two or three times a week and had failed all my classes. It was the same for grade ten. After my fourth year of high school i still needed to get 11 credits. i was already the guy in the back of the class that everybody knew. And i was eighteen in a room full of fifteen year olds. I got a job delivering pizza and that was the end of high school for me.
Leaving school didn't put me at an immediate disadvantage. I was working full time while my friends were in university. I had lots of money and was able to drive a nice car. It wasn't untill my friends finished university that i realized i wasn't ahead at all. I was stuck working as a concrete labourer out side year round with no real future. It took the birth of my son for me to realize that i didn't want to live like this forever. I was tired of telling people that I was a high school dropout and hearing them say " You're a smart guy, How come?"
i needed to get a career instead of a job. I couldn't do this without a grade 12 diploma. After the job interview i went down to the office of the Minister of Education and applied to write my GED. About a week later i got a phone call from the School Board saying that i had got the job. I explained how i was signed up to write my grade 12 but did not yet have it. The man i spoke to said that once i had showed him that i had passed, I could start working. So here i am. It was easier to come back than i thought.

morning brain

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I am an early bird, up before the sun most days. I am a greens keeper and riding my bike to work at 5:45 am is a wonderful thing. I love when my bike reaches the point where i don't have to pedal anymore. Work is about two hundred and fifty feey lower than by house. I just have to pedal up my block and around the corner. when i get to the corner of the trans-Canada and Kenogami street i just coast and listen as the wind changes from a low whisper to a full out howl.
The downhill portion of my trip has three distinct stages. Number one is the initail speed gathering stage when i am flying past the house with the beautiful giant Alaskan Malamute. Every morning i wake the outdoor guard dogs of terrace-bay. stage two has be leveling of after about six blocks of mid range speed. i race past the abandoned apartment buildings and the empty Navy scouts hall. Stage three involves the most interesting part of the ride. After i pass the Scouts hall I get a real good view of the Slate Islands but I can't look to long as the road turns and really starts to drop fast. At this point i estimate i am travelling at about sixty- five kilometers and hour. On wed morning while traveling my fastest i had to swerve around a rather large black bear. the road is paved as it is the only access to the Terrace bay Beach. if it was gravel i would have a very intimate relationship with Ontario's king of the jungle. The bear was only there to eat wild rhubarb that grows on the side of the road.
After the hill there is about a five hundred yard slowdown zone. it is in this area that i see the black and grey fox who steals golf balls from work. I then spend my day returing the golf course to the way i left on the previous day( that pesky Mother-Nature keeps changing things). During my day I see the two foxes who live on the course. I give one dog cookies, he has earned the name Foxy foxerson. ( dont ask as he is probably a she). The vixen is Red and suede coloured and Hauntingly beautiful as all wild animals are. As i cut the greens I gradually end up with wet feet from the heavy dew that soaks the morning grass. After i have mowed my nine i often stop to enjoy a drink as a large white tail deer runs and bucks in the ninth fairway. after i am done cutting back what grew overnight I get on my bike and start the long and slow ride back up to my wife and son. This trip has only one phase, heart pounding cardio. one the way up I always get angry as i pass the small brook that runs through a culvert under the road. there is always garbage in the water. I stop and pck the bottles out and throw them in the waste bins up the road but every few days there is more. I wish everyone would stop and look around before they threw crap into the tributaries of north-america's largest fresh water reserve. Stupid humans. Animals are so much nicer to mother nature.

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I have been thinking allot about whats in a name. I have a four month old son and he of course carries on my last name. I watched a special on the discovery channel a while ago about tracing the human Genome. The show mostly focused on DNA passed down from mother to daughter. This made me wonder about my last name. How important is it to the world who my father is if the unbroken line of DNA goes back through the mothers side?
It seems like humanity has made a mistake as to which name should be dominant in our family tree.

I don't understand why?

One of the main reasons that I moved to Terrace bay was to get to know my father better. We went along time without speaking when I was a teen. My Father drove a transport truck for a living and was not home very much. needless to says we never got together from the time I was 16 until about 18. Alot of tings have happened since then that have brought us together. My step-mother Passed away suddenly a few years ago. The following spring my Step-brother lost a long battle with cancer. These two things changed the dynamic between my father and i profoundly. I let go of the anger i had harbored for so long about growing up without him around. I know alot of people have to grow up without a parent but for a teen-age boy it is hard not having someone tell you the decisions you are making will affect you for life. My mother was the only one who was there to do that for me.
I am married and have a new born son. I don't Know why my dad exactly left( everyone's story is different) but i do know that I couldn't leave my son. ever. I think that sometimes people just get fed up and decide that there is nothing left to fight for, but i don't understand why?

hymning and hawing

well my wife and I have decided that we don't like northern ontaro as much as we thought. Well let me rephrase that; We like northern ontario, it is stunningly beautiful. the shore of lake superior always draws my stare as i ride my bike to work. The rock that seems to just thrust itself out from the mossy earth is really amazing. the fresh air and the bird song are so foreign to me.
I grew up in a city with a population of 200,000, the town i live in now has about 1,200 people. Dont get me wrong i love this place, it's just hard to make a living here. There are about 800 people here that are on EI. that means that any good jobs that open up are attacked feverishly. i wonder what we are going to do when my wife's maternity leave runs out. our in come will drop by 50%. and life is only getting more and more costly. My son needs clothes I need clothes and so does my wife. I own my home and think that i am going to be stuck with it for a while. that means that i will have to pay the power and property tax on it. I think that for the sake of my family i have to try to move and if i own a house that i don't live in then i guess thats the way the cookie crumbles. hmmmmm

random things i can appreciate.

1. Stopping on the way to work to see the sun light up Lake superior.
2. smelling the rain hours before it comes.
3. my son always smile when i ask him where he hid my keys.
4.trying to make my house look better.
5. phone calls from friends.

Ahh Sunday

today is sunday. all day! i have untill noon to do what i want then my wife goes to work. then i do what my son wants to do. lately chris wants to jump in his bouncer and scream with joy. sundays rule