Do you ever have a night where you just can't sleep because your mind is racing? I do. This is the result.
My adventure itself is something to behold. I have no fucking idea what the fuck is going to happen next. I know that this isn't an easy way to go about life. I also know many people that could not do what I did. I don't blame them. I must have a very strong belief that good will happen if I can just quit my job, move away from home, my friends and my family.
I do believe. I believe something great will come of this. I suppose the best part is that I really don't know what it's going to be. Seems to be my life story.
I remember working for lighthouse brewery, delivering beer downtown Victoria. I would have about twenty five or thirty stops a day. Needless to say, I was interacting with lots of people everyday. Now my job was by no means glamorous, but it was pretty decent. I got to drive around all day and deliver fucking beer. Some of my fellow beer driving friends did not feel the same why I did. I'd always run into the other beer delivery dudes around town. The main dudes I would see were from the other local brewery's, however there were a few union, big company beer guys that visited regularly as well. Those guys were classic. I had to hand bomb all my beer off my truck. These guy had it so easy, or so I thought. They had power everything. A power gate, a power jack, and power depression, The following is a monologue from a large man, from one of the large union breweries.
"Fuck man, I fucking hate doing this fucking stop." He takes a drag from his cigarette as we both stand behind the liquor store.
"Fuck this shit man. This is fucking shitty. I hate this job man, i really do. My back is fucked... My knee is really fucked. I bust my ass all day for this shit. Do you know how many kegs I had to deliver today? ?? 86. 86 mother fucking kegs on my truck this morning. Fuck that man. I don't have a fucking swamper or nothing. I did a 28 keg drop at Irish times today. That's a lot man. That sucks. I hate it when i have to do that shit man. That's another shitty fucking stop. Fucking Irish times. They go through so much fucking beer every fucking week. Fuck them man. And fucking St.Patricks day is fucking coming up soon, that will be a another week in fucking hell for me. Fucking hate st.Patrick's day. Fuck.... So... How is your day going?
How the fuck do I follow that?
"It's fine... It's fine"
Anyways, that gives you an idea of some of the weird and fucked up people i met. And that dude was a nice enough guy, don't get me wrong, he just hated his job. I remember something else he and the others would say that really disturbed me.
"I'm just living the dream man, living the dream."
I'd hear that line from a lot of people in one day. They all truly hated their jobs. They were not living their dream. That made me sick.
I do not want to become this miserable person. That is one of the reasons I was able to pack up and leave everything, and everyone behind. It was not easy, but something I had to do for myself. Whatever lies ahead must surely be beautiful if I am truly living my dream.
I know I am very lucky. Not everyone is in the position to just pack up and do whatever they want like I did. Most people have very important shit going on. They have boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives. Houses and condos, kids and school. Cats and dogs, a loan and a pool. I have nothing but love and respect for these people. I know I could lead a great life right now if I had a wife and a kid. My dreams of being a funny man would fade into wanting to watch my child grow old. I think that it would happen naturally. But for now I have no wife, no kid, and not a lot of responsibility. So my childhood dream lives on. Here I am.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Lake Winnipesaukee
Yeah, so i walked around a lot day 3. All the apartments around that area are around 1500-3000 a month. Just a hair higher then I can afford. It's a nice area and my school is just down the road, but I'd have to look elsewhere for a place. I went back to the hostel after Grant and I had a few beers after the walk to 'cool down'. I was in my room reading my book "Too Fat to Fish" by Artie Lang, which is an amazing book that I'll talk about later, when the door to my room opened and someone walked in. Shitty. She was some chick from Australia who was in town for one night to attend a 'conference'. What the fuck kind of conference drags your ass 20 hours on a plane from the other side of the planet for ONE DAY. I hope it was worth it lady. Anyways, and much more importantly, for the first time at the hostel i had to sleep with someone in the room. Cooool. It really wasn't that bad. She was very nice, i remember this conversation around 11pm that night.
By the way, I totally claimed the bottom bunk even though when I checked in I was assigned the top. Fuck that. Who sleeps on the top bunk when there is nobody sleeping on the bottom?
Ok, so here it is. The Lady talking from the TOP bunk while I'm reading my book down below.
Lady: (imagine some crazy Aussie accent from a little nerdy redhead) So, you can just turn the light off wheneva you want to go a sleep.
Me: Umm.. what? You can turn the light off if you're going to sleep, i don't mind.
Lady: No no, you just do what you want. I'll be alright.
Me: I really don't mind... uhh.. i don't know....
Lady: No no, you just do your thing, I'll just read
Me: Okie Dokie...
So, I had no idea what to do. I wasn't really tired and was really into my book (wow, I'm a homo) I knew by her tone that she wanted to sleep, after all she did have a minor day of traveling around the fucking world. To make matters worse, the rooms weren't exactly what I would call spacious. The only light in the room was about two feet above here face. Not the best of sleeping conditions. So I ended up reading my book for what i told myself was only going to be five more minutes. What I didn't account for was that Artie telling his fucked up life story would keep me awake much longer then five mintues. I'd think I probably read for about another hour at least before I put the book down. I hadn't heard a whole lot of action above me, and when I stood up the turn the light off the lady was fast asleep, and that light was as bright as can be. She probably seriously hurt her retina or optic nerve or some shit.
Lady took off in the morning, and I fell back asleep. I slept all day long. I had some sort of cold or something, I felt like shit for three days. It was alright. So after three nights only once was someone else in my room. I felt like a genius. And I am apparently because i lucked out the night next three nights as well. Where else can you get a private bed for 25 bucks a night in downtown Toronto? I'll tell you.
The next day I went to check out some places to live. I called this dude Eric who clearly had some sort of name change or something because he had one the thickest Chinese accents Ive ever heard. His place was in the heart of China town. I like China town. It's crazy and full markets on the side walks and everyone buys fruits and vegetables. Every fucking person in china town buys fucking fruits and vegetables. Its crazy. It must be some sort of law. After I passed the parade of veggies I found the place about block later. No address on the door. Not a great first impression, but thanks to my pizza delivering days, and a little common sense, i knew it was the right place. (im a good counter) I checked the place out. Eric was a nice dude, but the place i looked at had no windows. Not exactly what I'm looking. So he said he had a few more units available to rent. I checked two more, both still had no fucking windows. I asked him how many places are for rent in this place, because it really was that big. He told that six places are available. Fuckin place only had 7 or 8 units. So I shipped outta there real quick. The next place i checked was a basement suite with a 6'1 ceiling. Perfect!
Going 0 for 2 on my search so far, I was pretty sure number three would be a smash.
I took the street car all the way past Yonge and Dundas to see my next place. Now, Yonge and Dundas is Toronto's version of Times Square. Its pretty neat-o. But a few blocks past it towards the east side it starts to get a little sketchy. Bums and hobos and white chicks with massive black eyes. The stop i needed to get off ended up being right in front of a strip club. Not the good kind of strip club. (Not a dude bar but I'd bet money the girls on stage are 45+ just by looking at the front door)
Anyways, I get to the place and I could tell that I was just wasting my time. I had to get escorted up the elevator to the place by the security guard. He opened the door and it confirmed my belief. Shit hole. The rooms was like 200 square feet. It had a little shitty bed, and tiny shitty fridge, and a lawn chair. That wasn't exactly what i had in mind when the add said 'FULLY FURNISHED!!" The stove looked like it was from 1875, and toilet was so close to the bath tub you could shit and wash your feet at the same time!
0 for 3.
More to come..
By the way, I totally claimed the bottom bunk even though when I checked in I was assigned the top. Fuck that. Who sleeps on the top bunk when there is nobody sleeping on the bottom?
Ok, so here it is. The Lady talking from the TOP bunk while I'm reading my book down below.
Lady: (imagine some crazy Aussie accent from a little nerdy redhead) So, you can just turn the light off wheneva you want to go a sleep.
Me: Umm.. what? You can turn the light off if you're going to sleep, i don't mind.
Lady: No no, you just do what you want. I'll be alright.
Me: I really don't mind... uhh.. i don't know....
Lady: No no, you just do your thing, I'll just read
Me: Okie Dokie...
So, I had no idea what to do. I wasn't really tired and was really into my book (wow, I'm a homo) I knew by her tone that she wanted to sleep, after all she did have a minor day of traveling around the fucking world. To make matters worse, the rooms weren't exactly what I would call spacious. The only light in the room was about two feet above here face. Not the best of sleeping conditions. So I ended up reading my book for what i told myself was only going to be five more minutes. What I didn't account for was that Artie telling his fucked up life story would keep me awake much longer then five mintues. I'd think I probably read for about another hour at least before I put the book down. I hadn't heard a whole lot of action above me, and when I stood up the turn the light off the lady was fast asleep, and that light was as bright as can be. She probably seriously hurt her retina or optic nerve or some shit.
Lady took off in the morning, and I fell back asleep. I slept all day long. I had some sort of cold or something, I felt like shit for three days. It was alright. So after three nights only once was someone else in my room. I felt like a genius. And I am apparently because i lucked out the night next three nights as well. Where else can you get a private bed for 25 bucks a night in downtown Toronto? I'll tell you.
The next day I went to check out some places to live. I called this dude Eric who clearly had some sort of name change or something because he had one the thickest Chinese accents Ive ever heard. His place was in the heart of China town. I like China town. It's crazy and full markets on the side walks and everyone buys fruits and vegetables. Every fucking person in china town buys fucking fruits and vegetables. Its crazy. It must be some sort of law. After I passed the parade of veggies I found the place about block later. No address on the door. Not a great first impression, but thanks to my pizza delivering days, and a little common sense, i knew it was the right place. (im a good counter) I checked the place out. Eric was a nice dude, but the place i looked at had no windows. Not exactly what I'm looking. So he said he had a few more units available to rent. I checked two more, both still had no fucking windows. I asked him how many places are for rent in this place, because it really was that big. He told that six places are available. Fuckin place only had 7 or 8 units. So I shipped outta there real quick. The next place i checked was a basement suite with a 6'1 ceiling. Perfect!
Going 0 for 2 on my search so far, I was pretty sure number three would be a smash.
I took the street car all the way past Yonge and Dundas to see my next place. Now, Yonge and Dundas is Toronto's version of Times Square. Its pretty neat-o. But a few blocks past it towards the east side it starts to get a little sketchy. Bums and hobos and white chicks with massive black eyes. The stop i needed to get off ended up being right in front of a strip club. Not the good kind of strip club. (Not a dude bar but I'd bet money the girls on stage are 45+ just by looking at the front door)
Anyways, I get to the place and I could tell that I was just wasting my time. I had to get escorted up the elevator to the place by the security guard. He opened the door and it confirmed my belief. Shit hole. The rooms was like 200 square feet. It had a little shitty bed, and tiny shitty fridge, and a lawn chair. That wasn't exactly what i had in mind when the add said 'FULLY FURNISHED!!" The stove looked like it was from 1875, and toilet was so close to the bath tub you could shit and wash your feet at the same time!
0 for 3.
More to come..
T O R O N T O
Hey gang. So I've had a few requests to start up the old blog. Ok.
Where do I start? How about the beginning.
I moved to Toronto on May 18th. I was staying in this hostel for my first 6 nights. Now for those who have stayed in hostels know that its not always the most comfortable of living conditions. I rented a 'double' room which is a fancy hostel term for a shitty small smelly room with a bunk bed. The double room is half the price of a single private room so i thought id try and save a few bucks. I really didn't want to sleep in a 'dorm' room that sleeps 8. That's just not my style. So, i get in my room thinking that there would be some dude sleeping in the bottom bunk, but to my surprise the room was empty. Cool! So my first night nobody joined the bunk party and i got a room all to myself! Woohoo!
I woke in the morning and walked around town. It was like 25 degrees at 9am. Fuck me. I found a little spot the has 2.99 breakfast. Now for those who have read my previous blogs from last summer know how much i fucking love 2.99 breakfast. With my expectations set higher then virgin on prom night, i ordered my breakfast with a large creepy smile. Now this breakfast said it came with two eggs, toast and hash browns. Not bad, not bad. I ordered that with a coffee and sat down ready to enjoy. When my breakfast arrived, i looked down at not the beautiful morning meal i expected, but two shitty looking scrambled egg, a shitty greasy McDonald's style hash brown, and two pieces of brown toast that were not toasted(which is not fucking toast). Now, granted I should have ordered my eggs over easy and not scrambled, but i figure the bitch that took my order could read my mind, which clearly she couldn't. I smiled awkwardly as the food was placed in front of me. I ate it... it was sub par. I will have to try another place for a good 2.99 breakfast. So far, Ottawa 1, Toronto 0.
Back to the hostel.
The second night i was also graced with the presence of nobody and got a 2nd night alone. It was awesome. I walked around a lot, looked for places to live and work. Found nothing. The third day in Toronto I met with my friend Grant. We walked around for about 6 hours. It was a freaking amazing day. We walked down lakeshore road, which oddly enough, runs along the water of Lake Ontario. Now... when the average person thinks of a lake they think of a little water mass that you can see the other side of. Maybe you could swim across, but definitely paddle a canoe across. Yeah, fucking lake Ontario is not that kind of lake. Its fucking huge, which is probably why it's one of the 'great lake' (along with lake Winnipesaukee.. dylan) There are huge mother fucking tanker ships on lake Ontario. Its crazy. There is an air strip off of Toronto Island that huge mother planes land on. I've never seen a plane land on the tarmac on langford lake. it was crazy. its not a lake, it's a small ocean.
i have to run, sorry. I'll continue day 3 soon!
good luck!
Where do I start? How about the beginning.
I moved to Toronto on May 18th. I was staying in this hostel for my first 6 nights. Now for those who have stayed in hostels know that its not always the most comfortable of living conditions. I rented a 'double' room which is a fancy hostel term for a shitty small smelly room with a bunk bed. The double room is half the price of a single private room so i thought id try and save a few bucks. I really didn't want to sleep in a 'dorm' room that sleeps 8. That's just not my style. So, i get in my room thinking that there would be some dude sleeping in the bottom bunk, but to my surprise the room was empty. Cool! So my first night nobody joined the bunk party and i got a room all to myself! Woohoo!
I woke in the morning and walked around town. It was like 25 degrees at 9am. Fuck me. I found a little spot the has 2.99 breakfast. Now for those who have read my previous blogs from last summer know how much i fucking love 2.99 breakfast. With my expectations set higher then virgin on prom night, i ordered my breakfast with a large creepy smile. Now this breakfast said it came with two eggs, toast and hash browns. Not bad, not bad. I ordered that with a coffee and sat down ready to enjoy. When my breakfast arrived, i looked down at not the beautiful morning meal i expected, but two shitty looking scrambled egg, a shitty greasy McDonald's style hash brown, and two pieces of brown toast that were not toasted(which is not fucking toast). Now, granted I should have ordered my eggs over easy and not scrambled, but i figure the bitch that took my order could read my mind, which clearly she couldn't. I smiled awkwardly as the food was placed in front of me. I ate it... it was sub par. I will have to try another place for a good 2.99 breakfast. So far, Ottawa 1, Toronto 0.
Back to the hostel.
The second night i was also graced with the presence of nobody and got a 2nd night alone. It was awesome. I walked around a lot, looked for places to live and work. Found nothing. The third day in Toronto I met with my friend Grant. We walked around for about 6 hours. It was a freaking amazing day. We walked down lakeshore road, which oddly enough, runs along the water of Lake Ontario. Now... when the average person thinks of a lake they think of a little water mass that you can see the other side of. Maybe you could swim across, but definitely paddle a canoe across. Yeah, fucking lake Ontario is not that kind of lake. Its fucking huge, which is probably why it's one of the 'great lake' (along with lake Winnipesaukee.. dylan) There are huge mother fucking tanker ships on lake Ontario. Its crazy. There is an air strip off of Toronto Island that huge mother planes land on. I've never seen a plane land on the tarmac on langford lake. it was crazy. its not a lake, it's a small ocean.
i have to run, sorry. I'll continue day 3 soon!
good luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)