High school was really about 2 things and maybe they weren't the right 2 things. MY first job and my girlfriend. But aint that a guys problem all his life?? Money and women??!! :)
When we got back from Edmonton with Lil Beast I got a phone call. Not to apply on a job, no, but that I had a job at a local chain restaurant. The manager had been friends with my uncle for as long as I can remember. The general manager who everyone mistakenly thought was the owner was also friends with mom for as long as I could remember. So there it was no interview no nothing, just you start Monday after school. I was a bus boy, I cleaned tables, made salads and brought food out when needed BUT I was not ready on my first shift to carry food. That requires training! HAHAHAHAHAH (No offense people in restaurants, but working in one from 15 - mid twenties no it really doesn't) AT this point I was still kinda shy and awkward. So the general manager brought all the waitresses and bus girls together. He says, this is the new kid. Show him the ropes and for those of you interested he is hung like a buffalo. I had known him for a long time, since I was a little kid so this didn't shock me but it sure did them. He said this straight faced and walked away. I can honestly still remember feeling my face go red. Probably firetruck red. (Also don't get your hopes up ladies, its not true) The sad thing or funny I guess would be one or two believed him and were more nice than needed. For a couple days until they figured it out. (Looking back I could totally have used that to my advantage now! Ah if only we had time travel) But I will get back to work soon enough.
Going back a tiny bit in time just before high school started, Ditch (Yes him again) and I went on a church bible study camp out. Here is the thing I don't recall any adults there for it. The down side everyone was "lame", the upside we had a joint or two and like a whole 6 pack! (kids are cheap drunks) There was a couple girls who were interested in sharing and that was about it. Lets call her FG for first girlfriend. Was one of them. I am not sure how it went down but we spent all night up together. Talking! Somehow we even ended up back in the city watching the 24 hour marathon. The detail are very fuzzy at this point on how we ended up there. Then holy crap she gave me her #! I realize to kids nowadays (gawd I sound old) this isn't a big deal but back in my day, ya whippersnappers we had landlines. People actually TALKED not texted and if you wanted to talk to a girl you called her house. Usually her parents answered, this was all a big deal. There was no dick pics, no sexting just real talking. Shit is a lost art. Did I call her? DUH I was a 15 year old boy!
High school, the Comp. Back then there was 2 and that was it. The Catholics and the public. Usually "squeakers" are stuck in the slums. The drafty mechanical wing. Some how we got lucky. We were in the main building. You wanna know the real truth. The world was way more innocent back then. Terrorism was something James Bond fought. Columbine was still two years away. I was pumped. The truth was high-school was the same as junior high. I was smack in the middle. Academically and popularity. But we can get back to school too.
The first yearish at work I was a bus boy. It didn't take me long to be the "best" and I was so ready to be a host (Big promotion, like almost a server) The current hostess just turned 18 and the spot was mine! I heard it even had a raise... Then one day I come in and this new chick is working. She is super friendly and intros herself as the new hostess. I was crushed. That was the truth of it, in high school my job and FG were so important to me and this was a kick square in the nuts. Then at the end of the shift I was pulled aside. The manager says to me I know you wanted to be the host but that is no good. You can't serve for another 2 years, so no tips and we can't pay you much more so you will be getting nothing more, nothing better. You would get more headaches and responsibility but no real perks. Now if you were a cook, I can give you another dollar now and more in a few months. How does that sound?? Hell ya $6.50 I was ballin.
So things were purring along with FG. Here is the thing, I can't remember the first time I got laid. I mean I imagine it was a great 33 seconds (Maybe less) but I don't remember it. I hear girls seem to remember it much more. That is getting way ahead of myself though. I do remember my first kiss. It was awful!!! I am not blaming her at all either. It was me, it was like I tried to eat her face, I remember our teeth clashing and me being embarrassed. Something else great came out meeting FG also. FG introduced me to DB, her good friend. Long after FG and I were done DB and I have remained friends.
Quick intro to one of the guys in the kitchen I was gonna work with. Lets call him Evil. That was his nick name. He just scowled and didn't say much. SO here is what happened, I had $18 in loonies from a pop machine. Pop machines should give bill change on that gawd! So this other kid slapped my hand to be funny and the money flew all over. In the end we found $15. So end of shift comes I am leaving and Evil comes over. I think it was the first thing he ever said to me. Hey these are yours and he gave me back the last 3 bucks.....
Here is another life / business truth. Hire young. Ya you are going to get some kids who don't wanna work. You have a grace period. Skid them! But the ones who do wanna work are going to be willing to learn and excel at said job. This sounds awful BUT if a person in the prime of there life is willing to work for minimum wage there is a reason. Currently it might be our bad economy but most times its a red flag.
Music was a big thing for me, always has been but high school it hit an all time high. Before that I was into two musics. Country, like everyone I knew and 80's rock. GnR was my fav! (Grande Prairie had shit for radio back in the day. CFGP and CJXX.... Ya the country station was way better) Even though by now they were way past done. AC/DC, come on who doesn't like Thunderstruck! But this new-ish sound had come around. Seattle and grunge made everyone THINK they could play guitar. So I got one and started lessons. By that I mean I had 1 lesson. Anyone remember GP music? Is it still on main or gone a decade ago? Anyways, the very first lesson this cunt (Sorry mom / ladies but that is the only word for him) tells me he is a virtuoso. Maybe he was but he was not meant to be a teacher. I never went back. I bought an FX pedal and music books. Ditch and I tried starting a band. Somehow DB even got us a practice room in the Comp at night. She was a drummer and FG had a bass. I think we only ever did play 3 - 5 songs. And it fizzled out. Never try starting a band with a girlfriend. Plus actual talented musicians had Ditch join them. They were pretty good, played in a few battle of the Bands. Even against an early version of Emerson Drive.
Home life was good. It wasn't Alberta 2007, crazy busy but it was busy enough dad was always running. Mom stayed home, Biggs and Lil Beast are lucky that way. A stay at home parent is something I think is great but unlikely in this day and age. Beasty was on dialysis we had a machine in his room. Also he had a feeding tube all night. Now don't get it twisted, to look at him you wouldn't know he had these problems. However we all had to get flu shots and everything had to be clean as he was more susceptible to sickness. Like I said Biggs didn't like FG coming over. He was content to hang around me.
Let me tell you about kitchens, everyone has a nick name. Everyone looks to insult everyone. If you're not running your mouth something is wrong. Plus we had "cooler death matches" 2 or more men go in first one out wins. I dunno if I ever won, I was less than 5 and a half feet tall and couldn't break 100lbs. Of course that never stopped my mouth from running and it ways always a good time. If I could actually make money at it I would still be in one. The first one I worked in though is still my favorite. So there was Evil. There was Vicious, he wanted to be a ninja. Still does. There was Digits, cause he was missing fingers. There was Big Mur, every Murray I have ever met is a big dude. There was Gspot, he could do like Houdini. We all took turns punching his gut but he never flinched. The penguin, he actually looked like the penguin. J-ray that wasn't original cause his name was pretty much just J-ray. The Great One..... lol not really that great, but a nice guy. Many others came and went but that was the main people. Plus the German Kid, his nickname was his last name so I am just gonna call him the German. Evil, Vicious and the German will come up a few more times! But this was great. I was making $7.75 which is peanuts now but back then it was way more than minimum. Plus I was working way more than I should. 32 hours at least on an average week. So I had money, bought my first car at 16 for $1000. It was a tempo, my grandma drove. So it was in great condition. Not the Iroc I wanted but....
Bad News Cuz showed back up. This was my first (only) time I tried to make money illegally.(Ok it was the second. We tried selling smokes in junior high. That worked for a week until our supply ran out. Terrible businessmen we were) Bad News has an idea. He is going to steal designer clothes. For example $90 jeans, then sell them to me for say $30 then I could sell them at my school for $60. Everyone wins!! Never happened though, he did steal stuff but it was crap no one would buy. Sure the jeans might say Guess but they would be a size or a color no one would ever wear. I told him no, we didn't talk after that. A year or so later I was riding with the delivery driver to drop off my pay cheque (Remember the days before direct deposit?) when we noticed a guy passed out by the machine. The driver laughed and said I ain't coming in with you BUT I am watching if anything happens I will be right in. He kept a bat in his car so I was okay with that plan. It turned out it was Bad News..... I gave him a 20. Awhile later some guys let me know they planned on beating up his little half brother. They wanted me to react, so I did. I laughed and told them Bad News was a big time coke dealer. They could beat up his brother but what might happen to them would be bad. They never actually followed through. They were scared. Good thing they never found out he was a wanna be coke dealer living in the streets. It would be another decade before I heard from him again....
It was about ten one night when I was just about to get off work that a waitress came into the back saying FG was there in tears. Of course I go see and then I got pissed. She had cut through the fields to surprise me after work. Someone grabbed her in the field, pulled a knife on her tried to assault her. I remember for sure at least Digits and Vicious were working that night. We grabbed a pizza knife and the industrial spatula and ran into the fields. We gave up after a bit, but maybe it is a good thing we never found him. I don't often lose my temper. That night though I was a rage ball. Police did look into it but nothing did ever happen in he end. Except she didn't surprise me at work at night anymore.
So life went on. It was shortly after lil beast turned two that he was going for the big surgery. He was getting a kidney from my mom. They flew to Minneapolis for that. I had to stay and keep at school. It was a long day but then we heard that they were all good. It had been a success. It is crazy what happens in life. I had never thought much about transplants organ donation or anything like that until he came along. Now my card says take anything from me you can when I go. Now I have a real problem with religious nuts who are against science. It was the first time I ever really thought about death and the soul.
Lets talk about Evil for another minute. I dunno why he has the name Evil. He is far from it. Even when he was just a scowling dude. I hit it off with him pretty quick once I was in the kitchen. First he introduced me to new music. System of a Down, Hed P.E, Korn. I learnt there was more than country, grunge and 80s rock out there. He was into comics and get this there was more than super hero comics out there. Preacher, like on AMC ya he showed me it a decade before the show was fanboys wet dreams. Unlike a lot of guy do in GP or want to he didn't have to be macho (Sorry GP its true every dude thinks hes tough and women all think they are hot) I started hanging around with him more often. He met DB, fact was they hit it off and started dating. In high school the slight age difference was kinda strange but now. 20 years later, they are married with a kid.....
I got another life lesson. Assumption is the mother of all fuck ups. I do it, you do it, everyone does it. You assume you know someones story, all people pass judgment and we shouldn't. Everyone has a story or a reason they are the way they are.
Oh and another one. Sears ends in ears.... Makes no sense to you? Me either now. But I remember one time smoking weed and giggling for hours about sears ending in ears. WTF!
Stompede! You're not from GP, then you probably think I spelt that wrong. I didn't. We have a rodeo and it is the stompede. Anywho two memories from that. 1, we are in the parking lot with a bottle of crown. The goal, to come out and have a drink every hour or so. The result, to two cops see us and grab the bottle. They give us a stern warning and send us on our way. 2 days later one of the cops is drinking in the lounge in the place I work! I tell the bartender, spit in his drink! (No, no one ever did!) She laughed and said she was dating this dude! SO she introduced us. He was actually pretty nice and remembered me. Couple days later the bartender gives me a bottle of crown, not cause he was wrong. He was doing his job but cause I was a nice kid.
Next year FG and I met the German and his friends out there. We partied had a good night then it got late. The German says don't worry you can sleep in this tent. So we crawl in, and start to do what teenagers do. Watch Friday the 13th if you need to know what teens do. The zipper flies open and a woman peers in. I can hear some dude yell what the fuck? I yell the same, what kinda pervs are they?! But we are out and running. I don't remember how we got back to town that night but we did. Long story but the German was so drunk he showed us the wrong tent. We were in one of his friends tents. Later on the guy was okay with me but think his wife still don't like me.
Grade 12 started and I started to think about the future a bit. First I was starting to think FG and I were going to be together forever. Good ole Ditch was 18 now. Meaning he could buy Mikes Hard lemonade and we could skip Friday afternoons drinking them with FG and DB. I really dunno how my boss didn't suspect it on Fridays at work, maybe he did I dunno. It was Evil some nights so maybe he let it slide... Life was as good as a 17 boy can dream. (I wish 8 coolers would get me and 3 friends drunk now!) Another thing I also I started thinking about what to do with my life. I kinda thought I was going to end up in the oil patch. My grades weren't stellar and I was told I did not have the build to work the rigs. I started looking into what I would need to get into college, it turned out I would need to upgrade. Sure English and Social I had highest levels but I would need math and science to be better. Well I did kinda clamp down. I got my 30 levels in math, English and social. Because I had been kicked out of chem and put in modules I had way more credits than needed to graduate but I didn't have a science. Two things happened academically. I chose to go back for one class next semester after I graduated and we went to a college fair. All I knew was I wanted to write, all they offered was journalism. So I put that down as what I wanted to do. Looking back that was wrong, I wanna write fiction. Tell stories, I watched the news every day but I didn't want to write it.
Columbine changed everything. 420 day! Even back then we all knew 420 day. Blaze da Blunt! Then these two psychos changed it. They took what was supposed to be a safe place and put fear into it. The next day in every class we talked about it. We had a lock down drill. Something died, something changed that day. I am not gonna get into it but I blame parents. I don't blame music, TV, Video Games though I freely admit they don't help. It starts at home....
Not sure a ton of teens will ever read my blog, but here is the only advice I can offer from high school. First actually work at it. Yes it is only high school, it ain't much (I mean hard, other than math everyone hates math) BUT getting them good grades is going to open the post secondary doors. Second CALM - is a joke. Do kids still have to take Career and Life Management to grad? Any one can slide by on this but don't. More than any text book, this class should teach you the BASICS of real life. For most of us managing bills is more important in day to day life than who the 3rd Prime Minister was. PS I have no idea who the 3rd PM was.
Of course my high school romance ended. I hear most do, if not they are married for life. NO need to go into details but it was a week before grad. I did the grand march with my ex cause everyone else already had dates. That really kinda sucked! But we were together for 3 good years. I will admit for a few years after I was bitter but even that is long gone. She is a decent person that I talk to now and then.
This is getting longer than I thought, so I will try ad keep the last bit short. I did one more semester and only took one class. This was dumb. Sure it was easy enough, I was done school by 11 and could work 12 - 8 so I had my nights free. Those I started filling by hanging with the German. He was renting an apartment with some friends while he was at GPRC. It was a good place to go party and it was only a few blocks from the bar we went to, come on who remembers Snappers? Thursday nights were ladies nights! The place was always packed, it didn't seem like they ever ID'd anyone. What a hole! But a good part of the money I had saved was slowly going into it. Side note that was the one time in my life I was making decent money. My friends were still in starter jobs at maybe $6 / hour and I was up to $10. I was supposed to be saving but I think most of it was going back to snappers. We had a few adventures there but I will leave them out. I think most people have some dumb drunk stories.
I quit my job, I wanted to be a server and they said no. So I went to this fancy new place that was opening, they planned on being high end for us Alberta Rednecks. Seriously they failed, you cant come to Grande Prairie and be an asshole and think your better than us. Give us some real class and culture. They went tits up quickly (I quit before that) It is a steak house now that does well..... Interesting eh? So I got a part time evening job and during the day when mom got a job I became a full time babysitter
I talk to my brothers weekly. Texting has made that way easier. I would say I am close with them sadly we were far apart as they grew up. I mean they were like 3 & 4 I believe when I left. But my time babysitting was actually awesome. Except for the Barney. Most days started the same. One of them would run in and steal the change off my night stand and shove it in a piggy bank. They liked robbing me. I would get up, about then mom would be leaving and Barney came on. After a couple of them it was breakfast time. Lil Beast like microwaved eggs. I offered to fry them but he liked them like that. Biggs had to have real eggs or anything really he was a growing boy.
There was another girl, the artist. She had a Poe poem scrawled on her wall that I thought was cool as shit but knew my mom would freak if I did something like that. I had known her for a few years through work (BTW I quit the restaurant game) people had always teased us. I guess they could see I had a crush. We started hanging out a lot. But this is how it was for an example, she invited me to stay over one night when I was intoxicated. I said no but she didn't let up so I said yes. She says you can sleep in my bed. Again I said no and curled up on the floor. She laughed and fell asleep. Who does that??? I mean about me! There likely would have been nothing happen but two friends fall asleep but I couldn't do it! So I "borrowed" a steak knife. One which I still need to return 18 years later and walked home. I wasn't a fan of walking through the woods in the dark.....
Another time her and I went cliff diving. Good fun! I mean at first I was a chicken but she just pushed me in. Everything was great till we drove home. Stupid boy was driving like a twit, likely to show off when my car went off the gravel road. Thank fuck we were wearing our seat belts. Ever hung upside down in a car. I have, it was on its roof when the rolling stopped. We jumped out and walked down a dusty dirt road until we found a farm house. Real horror movie style BUT they were nice people and call us a tow truck.
I drove that car for another couple years. I moved to Edmonton in it. It was smashed to shit, a tall person couldn't ride shot gun but it still ran like a dream. The windows were cracked, I am surprised it was still street legal. Lets keep a tab 1 smashed up car....
Ditch found a lady friend! Lets call her Shwa. She was an alternative chick from out East. Which was the perfect match for Ditch. Courtney to his Kurt. She was pretty cool but the fact was I didn't really hang around them all that much. He was trying to do his band thing, I was doing the bar thing but we did start planning. We were going to move to Edmonton.To the 3 of us it sounded like a great time.
I put out applications to NAIT, U of A and GMCC. Only GMCC said sure, come down and write a entrance exam. I did, I took the greyhound stayed with moms friend for a night and wrote the exam. It was crazy easy. Which worried me, it should have been hard. I guess I got 3rd overall that years exams though and would start school September 2000.....
There were many more adventures in those 4 years. Some would be a good story, some I am not willing to share! But the day did come that we packed up our lives and moved to Edmonton. As of this writing it has been 17 years since I left home. That was the hardest day ever. My brothers were crying, they didn't understand really. Mom was upset and hell I was a mix of sad, scared and happy if you can be that. But it was a new chapter....
When we got back from Edmonton with Lil Beast I got a phone call. Not to apply on a job, no, but that I had a job at a local chain restaurant. The manager had been friends with my uncle for as long as I can remember. The general manager who everyone mistakenly thought was the owner was also friends with mom for as long as I could remember. So there it was no interview no nothing, just you start Monday after school. I was a bus boy, I cleaned tables, made salads and brought food out when needed BUT I was not ready on my first shift to carry food. That requires training! HAHAHAHAHAH (No offense people in restaurants, but working in one from 15 - mid twenties no it really doesn't) AT this point I was still kinda shy and awkward. So the general manager brought all the waitresses and bus girls together. He says, this is the new kid. Show him the ropes and for those of you interested he is hung like a buffalo. I had known him for a long time, since I was a little kid so this didn't shock me but it sure did them. He said this straight faced and walked away. I can honestly still remember feeling my face go red. Probably firetruck red. (Also don't get your hopes up ladies, its not true) The sad thing or funny I guess would be one or two believed him and were more nice than needed. For a couple days until they figured it out. (Looking back I could totally have used that to my advantage now! Ah if only we had time travel) But I will get back to work soon enough.
Going back a tiny bit in time just before high school started, Ditch (Yes him again) and I went on a church bible study camp out. Here is the thing I don't recall any adults there for it. The down side everyone was "lame", the upside we had a joint or two and like a whole 6 pack! (kids are cheap drunks) There was a couple girls who were interested in sharing and that was about it. Lets call her FG for first girlfriend. Was one of them. I am not sure how it went down but we spent all night up together. Talking! Somehow we even ended up back in the city watching the 24 hour marathon. The detail are very fuzzy at this point on how we ended up there. Then holy crap she gave me her #! I realize to kids nowadays (gawd I sound old) this isn't a big deal but back in my day, ya whippersnappers we had landlines. People actually TALKED not texted and if you wanted to talk to a girl you called her house. Usually her parents answered, this was all a big deal. There was no dick pics, no sexting just real talking. Shit is a lost art. Did I call her? DUH I was a 15 year old boy!
High school, the Comp. Back then there was 2 and that was it. The Catholics and the public. Usually "squeakers" are stuck in the slums. The drafty mechanical wing. Some how we got lucky. We were in the main building. You wanna know the real truth. The world was way more innocent back then. Terrorism was something James Bond fought. Columbine was still two years away. I was pumped. The truth was high-school was the same as junior high. I was smack in the middle. Academically and popularity. But we can get back to school too.
The first yearish at work I was a bus boy. It didn't take me long to be the "best" and I was so ready to be a host (Big promotion, like almost a server) The current hostess just turned 18 and the spot was mine! I heard it even had a raise... Then one day I come in and this new chick is working. She is super friendly and intros herself as the new hostess. I was crushed. That was the truth of it, in high school my job and FG were so important to me and this was a kick square in the nuts. Then at the end of the shift I was pulled aside. The manager says to me I know you wanted to be the host but that is no good. You can't serve for another 2 years, so no tips and we can't pay you much more so you will be getting nothing more, nothing better. You would get more headaches and responsibility but no real perks. Now if you were a cook, I can give you another dollar now and more in a few months. How does that sound?? Hell ya $6.50 I was ballin.
So things were purring along with FG. Here is the thing, I can't remember the first time I got laid. I mean I imagine it was a great 33 seconds (Maybe less) but I don't remember it. I hear girls seem to remember it much more. That is getting way ahead of myself though. I do remember my first kiss. It was awful!!! I am not blaming her at all either. It was me, it was like I tried to eat her face, I remember our teeth clashing and me being embarrassed. Something else great came out meeting FG also. FG introduced me to DB, her good friend. Long after FG and I were done DB and I have remained friends.
Quick intro to one of the guys in the kitchen I was gonna work with. Lets call him Evil. That was his nick name. He just scowled and didn't say much. SO here is what happened, I had $18 in loonies from a pop machine. Pop machines should give bill change on that gawd! So this other kid slapped my hand to be funny and the money flew all over. In the end we found $15. So end of shift comes I am leaving and Evil comes over. I think it was the first thing he ever said to me. Hey these are yours and he gave me back the last 3 bucks.....
Here is another life / business truth. Hire young. Ya you are going to get some kids who don't wanna work. You have a grace period. Skid them! But the ones who do wanna work are going to be willing to learn and excel at said job. This sounds awful BUT if a person in the prime of there life is willing to work for minimum wage there is a reason. Currently it might be our bad economy but most times its a red flag.
Music was a big thing for me, always has been but high school it hit an all time high. Before that I was into two musics. Country, like everyone I knew and 80's rock. GnR was my fav! (Grande Prairie had shit for radio back in the day. CFGP and CJXX.... Ya the country station was way better) Even though by now they were way past done. AC/DC, come on who doesn't like Thunderstruck! But this new-ish sound had come around. Seattle and grunge made everyone THINK they could play guitar. So I got one and started lessons. By that I mean I had 1 lesson. Anyone remember GP music? Is it still on main or gone a decade ago? Anyways, the very first lesson this cunt (Sorry mom / ladies but that is the only word for him) tells me he is a virtuoso. Maybe he was but he was not meant to be a teacher. I never went back. I bought an FX pedal and music books. Ditch and I tried starting a band. Somehow DB even got us a practice room in the Comp at night. She was a drummer and FG had a bass. I think we only ever did play 3 - 5 songs. And it fizzled out. Never try starting a band with a girlfriend. Plus actual talented musicians had Ditch join them. They were pretty good, played in a few battle of the Bands. Even against an early version of Emerson Drive.
Home life was good. It wasn't Alberta 2007, crazy busy but it was busy enough dad was always running. Mom stayed home, Biggs and Lil Beast are lucky that way. A stay at home parent is something I think is great but unlikely in this day and age. Beasty was on dialysis we had a machine in his room. Also he had a feeding tube all night. Now don't get it twisted, to look at him you wouldn't know he had these problems. However we all had to get flu shots and everything had to be clean as he was more susceptible to sickness. Like I said Biggs didn't like FG coming over. He was content to hang around me.
Let me tell you about kitchens, everyone has a nick name. Everyone looks to insult everyone. If you're not running your mouth something is wrong. Plus we had "cooler death matches" 2 or more men go in first one out wins. I dunno if I ever won, I was less than 5 and a half feet tall and couldn't break 100lbs. Of course that never stopped my mouth from running and it ways always a good time. If I could actually make money at it I would still be in one. The first one I worked in though is still my favorite. So there was Evil. There was Vicious, he wanted to be a ninja. Still does. There was Digits, cause he was missing fingers. There was Big Mur, every Murray I have ever met is a big dude. There was Gspot, he could do like Houdini. We all took turns punching his gut but he never flinched. The penguin, he actually looked like the penguin. J-ray that wasn't original cause his name was pretty much just J-ray. The Great One..... lol not really that great, but a nice guy. Many others came and went but that was the main people. Plus the German Kid, his nickname was his last name so I am just gonna call him the German. Evil, Vicious and the German will come up a few more times! But this was great. I was making $7.75 which is peanuts now but back then it was way more than minimum. Plus I was working way more than I should. 32 hours at least on an average week. So I had money, bought my first car at 16 for $1000. It was a tempo, my grandma drove. So it was in great condition. Not the Iroc I wanted but....
Bad News Cuz showed back up. This was my first (only) time I tried to make money illegally.(Ok it was the second. We tried selling smokes in junior high. That worked for a week until our supply ran out. Terrible businessmen we were) Bad News has an idea. He is going to steal designer clothes. For example $90 jeans, then sell them to me for say $30 then I could sell them at my school for $60. Everyone wins!! Never happened though, he did steal stuff but it was crap no one would buy. Sure the jeans might say Guess but they would be a size or a color no one would ever wear. I told him no, we didn't talk after that. A year or so later I was riding with the delivery driver to drop off my pay cheque (Remember the days before direct deposit?) when we noticed a guy passed out by the machine. The driver laughed and said I ain't coming in with you BUT I am watching if anything happens I will be right in. He kept a bat in his car so I was okay with that plan. It turned out it was Bad News..... I gave him a 20. Awhile later some guys let me know they planned on beating up his little half brother. They wanted me to react, so I did. I laughed and told them Bad News was a big time coke dealer. They could beat up his brother but what might happen to them would be bad. They never actually followed through. They were scared. Good thing they never found out he was a wanna be coke dealer living in the streets. It would be another decade before I heard from him again....
It was about ten one night when I was just about to get off work that a waitress came into the back saying FG was there in tears. Of course I go see and then I got pissed. She had cut through the fields to surprise me after work. Someone grabbed her in the field, pulled a knife on her tried to assault her. I remember for sure at least Digits and Vicious were working that night. We grabbed a pizza knife and the industrial spatula and ran into the fields. We gave up after a bit, but maybe it is a good thing we never found him. I don't often lose my temper. That night though I was a rage ball. Police did look into it but nothing did ever happen in he end. Except she didn't surprise me at work at night anymore.
So life went on. It was shortly after lil beast turned two that he was going for the big surgery. He was getting a kidney from my mom. They flew to Minneapolis for that. I had to stay and keep at school. It was a long day but then we heard that they were all good. It had been a success. It is crazy what happens in life. I had never thought much about transplants organ donation or anything like that until he came along. Now my card says take anything from me you can when I go. Now I have a real problem with religious nuts who are against science. It was the first time I ever really thought about death and the soul.
Lets talk about Evil for another minute. I dunno why he has the name Evil. He is far from it. Even when he was just a scowling dude. I hit it off with him pretty quick once I was in the kitchen. First he introduced me to new music. System of a Down, Hed P.E, Korn. I learnt there was more than country, grunge and 80s rock out there. He was into comics and get this there was more than super hero comics out there. Preacher, like on AMC ya he showed me it a decade before the show was fanboys wet dreams. Unlike a lot of guy do in GP or want to he didn't have to be macho (Sorry GP its true every dude thinks hes tough and women all think they are hot) I started hanging around with him more often. He met DB, fact was they hit it off and started dating. In high school the slight age difference was kinda strange but now. 20 years later, they are married with a kid.....
I got another life lesson. Assumption is the mother of all fuck ups. I do it, you do it, everyone does it. You assume you know someones story, all people pass judgment and we shouldn't. Everyone has a story or a reason they are the way they are.
Oh and another one. Sears ends in ears.... Makes no sense to you? Me either now. But I remember one time smoking weed and giggling for hours about sears ending in ears. WTF!
Stompede! You're not from GP, then you probably think I spelt that wrong. I didn't. We have a rodeo and it is the stompede. Anywho two memories from that. 1, we are in the parking lot with a bottle of crown. The goal, to come out and have a drink every hour or so. The result, to two cops see us and grab the bottle. They give us a stern warning and send us on our way. 2 days later one of the cops is drinking in the lounge in the place I work! I tell the bartender, spit in his drink! (No, no one ever did!) She laughed and said she was dating this dude! SO she introduced us. He was actually pretty nice and remembered me. Couple days later the bartender gives me a bottle of crown, not cause he was wrong. He was doing his job but cause I was a nice kid.
Next year FG and I met the German and his friends out there. We partied had a good night then it got late. The German says don't worry you can sleep in this tent. So we crawl in, and start to do what teenagers do. Watch Friday the 13th if you need to know what teens do. The zipper flies open and a woman peers in. I can hear some dude yell what the fuck? I yell the same, what kinda pervs are they?! But we are out and running. I don't remember how we got back to town that night but we did. Long story but the German was so drunk he showed us the wrong tent. We were in one of his friends tents. Later on the guy was okay with me but think his wife still don't like me.
Grade 12 started and I started to think about the future a bit. First I was starting to think FG and I were going to be together forever. Good ole Ditch was 18 now. Meaning he could buy Mikes Hard lemonade and we could skip Friday afternoons drinking them with FG and DB. I really dunno how my boss didn't suspect it on Fridays at work, maybe he did I dunno. It was Evil some nights so maybe he let it slide... Life was as good as a 17 boy can dream. (I wish 8 coolers would get me and 3 friends drunk now!) Another thing I also I started thinking about what to do with my life. I kinda thought I was going to end up in the oil patch. My grades weren't stellar and I was told I did not have the build to work the rigs. I started looking into what I would need to get into college, it turned out I would need to upgrade. Sure English and Social I had highest levels but I would need math and science to be better. Well I did kinda clamp down. I got my 30 levels in math, English and social. Because I had been kicked out of chem and put in modules I had way more credits than needed to graduate but I didn't have a science. Two things happened academically. I chose to go back for one class next semester after I graduated and we went to a college fair. All I knew was I wanted to write, all they offered was journalism. So I put that down as what I wanted to do. Looking back that was wrong, I wanna write fiction. Tell stories, I watched the news every day but I didn't want to write it.
Columbine changed everything. 420 day! Even back then we all knew 420 day. Blaze da Blunt! Then these two psychos changed it. They took what was supposed to be a safe place and put fear into it. The next day in every class we talked about it. We had a lock down drill. Something died, something changed that day. I am not gonna get into it but I blame parents. I don't blame music, TV, Video Games though I freely admit they don't help. It starts at home....
Not sure a ton of teens will ever read my blog, but here is the only advice I can offer from high school. First actually work at it. Yes it is only high school, it ain't much (I mean hard, other than math everyone hates math) BUT getting them good grades is going to open the post secondary doors. Second CALM - is a joke. Do kids still have to take Career and Life Management to grad? Any one can slide by on this but don't. More than any text book, this class should teach you the BASICS of real life. For most of us managing bills is more important in day to day life than who the 3rd Prime Minister was. PS I have no idea who the 3rd PM was.
Of course my high school romance ended. I hear most do, if not they are married for life. NO need to go into details but it was a week before grad. I did the grand march with my ex cause everyone else already had dates. That really kinda sucked! But we were together for 3 good years. I will admit for a few years after I was bitter but even that is long gone. She is a decent person that I talk to now and then.
This is getting longer than I thought, so I will try ad keep the last bit short. I did one more semester and only took one class. This was dumb. Sure it was easy enough, I was done school by 11 and could work 12 - 8 so I had my nights free. Those I started filling by hanging with the German. He was renting an apartment with some friends while he was at GPRC. It was a good place to go party and it was only a few blocks from the bar we went to, come on who remembers Snappers? Thursday nights were ladies nights! The place was always packed, it didn't seem like they ever ID'd anyone. What a hole! But a good part of the money I had saved was slowly going into it. Side note that was the one time in my life I was making decent money. My friends were still in starter jobs at maybe $6 / hour and I was up to $10. I was supposed to be saving but I think most of it was going back to snappers. We had a few adventures there but I will leave them out. I think most people have some dumb drunk stories.
I quit my job, I wanted to be a server and they said no. So I went to this fancy new place that was opening, they planned on being high end for us Alberta Rednecks. Seriously they failed, you cant come to Grande Prairie and be an asshole and think your better than us. Give us some real class and culture. They went tits up quickly (I quit before that) It is a steak house now that does well..... Interesting eh? So I got a part time evening job and during the day when mom got a job I became a full time babysitter
I talk to my brothers weekly. Texting has made that way easier. I would say I am close with them sadly we were far apart as they grew up. I mean they were like 3 & 4 I believe when I left. But my time babysitting was actually awesome. Except for the Barney. Most days started the same. One of them would run in and steal the change off my night stand and shove it in a piggy bank. They liked robbing me. I would get up, about then mom would be leaving and Barney came on. After a couple of them it was breakfast time. Lil Beast like microwaved eggs. I offered to fry them but he liked them like that. Biggs had to have real eggs or anything really he was a growing boy.
There was another girl, the artist. She had a Poe poem scrawled on her wall that I thought was cool as shit but knew my mom would freak if I did something like that. I had known her for a few years through work (BTW I quit the restaurant game) people had always teased us. I guess they could see I had a crush. We started hanging out a lot. But this is how it was for an example, she invited me to stay over one night when I was intoxicated. I said no but she didn't let up so I said yes. She says you can sleep in my bed. Again I said no and curled up on the floor. She laughed and fell asleep. Who does that??? I mean about me! There likely would have been nothing happen but two friends fall asleep but I couldn't do it! So I "borrowed" a steak knife. One which I still need to return 18 years later and walked home. I wasn't a fan of walking through the woods in the dark.....
Another time her and I went cliff diving. Good fun! I mean at first I was a chicken but she just pushed me in. Everything was great till we drove home. Stupid boy was driving like a twit, likely to show off when my car went off the gravel road. Thank fuck we were wearing our seat belts. Ever hung upside down in a car. I have, it was on its roof when the rolling stopped. We jumped out and walked down a dusty dirt road until we found a farm house. Real horror movie style BUT they were nice people and call us a tow truck.
I drove that car for another couple years. I moved to Edmonton in it. It was smashed to shit, a tall person couldn't ride shot gun but it still ran like a dream. The windows were cracked, I am surprised it was still street legal. Lets keep a tab 1 smashed up car....
Ditch found a lady friend! Lets call her Shwa. She was an alternative chick from out East. Which was the perfect match for Ditch. Courtney to his Kurt. She was pretty cool but the fact was I didn't really hang around them all that much. He was trying to do his band thing, I was doing the bar thing but we did start planning. We were going to move to Edmonton.To the 3 of us it sounded like a great time.
I put out applications to NAIT, U of A and GMCC. Only GMCC said sure, come down and write a entrance exam. I did, I took the greyhound stayed with moms friend for a night and wrote the exam. It was crazy easy. Which worried me, it should have been hard. I guess I got 3rd overall that years exams though and would start school September 2000.....
There were many more adventures in those 4 years. Some would be a good story, some I am not willing to share! But the day did come that we packed up our lives and moved to Edmonton. As of this writing it has been 17 years since I left home. That was the hardest day ever. My brothers were crying, they didn't understand really. Mom was upset and hell I was a mix of sad, scared and happy if you can be that. But it was a new chapter....
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