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- Written by: Rod Boyle
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Work, the past few days, long days, and they scheduled me Saturday despite my having other plans. Work should not interfere with them but - well, I'd rather work wasn't on the table.
Talking with the owner, he's got a plan. A light at the end of the tunnel for me that might see me off and about the mountains this summer. Something to look forward to - I have nothing to complain about, only that this has become untenable and I need change.
Then there's the curiosity over the next few days - the US midterms - voting "as usual" except I'm certain (as are a number of better informed countries and individuals than myself) that something's up. There's no way he's relinquishing power without a fight - too much at stake for both him and the rest of the .01%. So - expect something - whether it be an "AI Escaped the box and tampered with the elections" or a full on attack on Iran and the imposition of martial law. The air-defence missile batteries installed outside Mar-A-Lago - unprecedented - are a fair warning, as are the instructions now being provided troops on how to dig mass graves. Really. Look it up.
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Workmen in to clean my filters on Tuesday, meaning today I was up, light clean in the bathroom, kitchen, the island, sweep, laundry, more to do when I get home ... I need it to be rudimentarily tidy when the workmen arrive.
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The neighbour invites me over for some Chicken soup. It's about time, really, it's good and saves me cooking for which I'm grateful - my own food can grow a bit boring. After that I go to take out my garbage when I run into the neighbour downstairs who - get ready - invites me over for some Chicken soup.
The plus side of community housing.
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And "Burger Month" has arrived. Work will pick up, scrolling FaceBook and all the offerings - some look amazing. A shame I don't love burgers so much that I can try them all - typically I eat a burger - max 2 - per month. And so I have to choose carefully, but some of the cafe's are going all out. This is no-doubt a result of the CBC documentary on Burger Month that's airing - I met one of the producers - he came in to the restaurant to complain that our kitchen was making too much noise, that his production had paid $1000 to use the space downstairs and we were ruining it for him...
He was one of those pretentious artist types. I mean - we're a business, we also pay to be there, and - while we will do our best, come-on and respect that we've all got jobs to do and his should have been to figure out that he's filming beneath/beside a busy restaurant. And why he's paying $1000 for an otherwise empty place to film for an hour? Well, his problem...
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We close early on Halloween - we were dead, no point. And from work I headed off to a showing of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" at the Capitol Theatre - complete with a shadow cast of 22 people. The theatre is packed. It was interesting - well done, after it's fashion, certainly a lot of work - and - sublime as only the Kootenays can be - but - give me the film or give me the play, but this shadow-casting - it does nothing for me. Although I was greatly impressed by the introduction of "Dolly" - the Angel of Dolly Parton - who appears to remove Brad/Janet/etc to heaven at the end. Completely absurd and irrelevant. Which was the point, probably, I'm hoping...
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Coming back from the show - 12:30 AM, and the neighbour 3 doors down is being yelled at by a Police officer. He had a crisis, called the police - for what? The cop is asking, getting increasingly annoyed, and he has no ready explanation. He's been to rehab twice the past 6 months, once for a full 6 weeks, and every time he gets back he cuts his hair (it was a shoulder length mess before) and immediately begins hanging out in front of the Hume and with the midnight-on-Baker crowd. Not a recipe for sobriety I gotta say.
***
And this catches me up to the present. More to be done at the library, then back to cleaning the flat and with luck maybe a bit of painting when I get home.
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The next few days doubles, the weather, cool, rainy, the patios rolled up on Baker last week all of a sudden - 1 day they're there, the next day they've all vanished.
It's perfect weather for my melancholy disposition, and there's been enough rain that I have to take a day and find my way to Balfour - there will be some arrowheads exposed, I can feel it, and if not soon the ground will freeze and the snow will fall...
Work, well, it adds up. As do the bills. I'm still swimming in debt, the irregular payments from work are taking their toll - late fees and charges just pile up and build a mountain of debt where there should be - well, nothing, really.
So the days, grey, rainy, or if sunny then still cloudy and cool, snow's on the mountain, work goes.
All the news sites I routinely visit have taken to demanding I subscribe. I'm a little too much panicked about the current events, and all the countries warning of dire things coming November 2nd - Russia, Finland, UK, others, all advising their citizens to stock up on food, fresh water, probably it's nothing but I can't help but think this is a warning about the American Midterms.
That might well be a shitshow.
Other than that, nada. My social feed (doomscroll the evenings away) - has filled up with Gordon Ramsay videos, and having watched them all I'm now getting Marco Pierre White. Marco is definitely the more charming of them and he gets the job done with a much better temper.
What amazes me is how the shows glamourize the Chef's - and how much competitions there is for a thankless, high-stress job that - for most of them - will never pay them well, and those that get to "The Top" would have been better off going to get a degree or keep a peaceful job in retail. But - the world needs chefs, and doesn't care to pay them, so making all these competitive cooking shows, well, it's keeping people in the culinary arts.
But I've been inspired to get back to a poem I started a while back, and Gordon Ramsay's endless inspiration for that.
Now, at the library, time to download a few hundred pictures from Google Photos - my account - "Filled Up", but it's not, not by a long shot, but better to be safe than sorry. Then home to make what will be a delicious Spaghetti Carbonara, not A-La-Ramsay, but to my taste for sure.
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It's been almost a year getting rid of most of my books.
I made a list. Not complete, but as close as I'll get. It's a long list, so I'm throwing in a "Read More..." so it doesn't fill up the blog...
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Today my phone - yet again, is cut off because of reasons of non-payment.
As will be my power soon.
Work, 4 pay periods behind for a total probably around $2500. My account is empty, my meds running out, and I'm behind on every bill. This is absurd. The sum of my paycheques alone would see me out of debt, but - I have to be patient. The stress is humming in my ears.
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Last week, after my big day of chores, work - OK, then off to the Dosed Party, which is fine, only I'm a little annoyed about the state of my finances, and having been up all day and working am less about the party and more about making an appearance.
The party is fine, but I've no appetite for going hard.
***
News; one missing person found dead, another person gone missing, it's fall in the Kootenays. In the paper a despised customer is doing a reading at the library, she's written a book, all about the power of horsies to cure intergenerational trauma, her "Author's" photo shows her supercilious half-smile, she's rude and entitled and - when possible I let others serve her. But she's an "Author" and published, so - clearly a little more efficient than I. I find her book at the library - all the libraries have a few copies - it's a Vanity Press where the author has paid to publish and then provide copies to all the local libraries and hope to make a few sales. I scan it, but I so despise the author I can't bring myself to read it.
Work has gone from dead-slow to busy, checking my phone every day in the hopes I'll get paid, apparently tomorrow but I've heard this so many times before...
Yesterday, the municipal election and all the candidates are promising the same things, reading up on all of them and I can't make a decision, If I could have attended their debates I might have a better idea, but I didn't get a chance to, and so - being familiar with the issues, and the candidates all taking a similar stance, I abstain from voting. I'm not in this educated enough to make an informed decision.
And the upstairs neighbour, back together with her man, and in the wee hours I can hear her upstairs stumbling around drunk, dropping thing, heavy footsteps, in the morning there's the vacuum as she cleans up from the night before...
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Other neighbour, coming over to install coinbase and crypto wallets on my phone, she's convinced hers has been hacked, it takes me hours to set up an account, scans of my drivers license, this after work, or on my days off, hours of no-conversation, of watching her fuck with her phone, with mine, finally getting her crypto deposited only to lose it all in a matter of minutes...
Meanwhile she's making herself pasta, leaving me the dishes, and when I go to make my potstickers she woofs them down as well, the potsticker, in the pan, on the stove, I'm turned to do something else when the pan slides off the stove, crashes to the floor, potstickers, water, oil, everywhere, and I'm pissed and wasn't I just complaining about the extinction of Poltergeists and yet here it appears I have one of my own...
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Then there's the Alberta Separatist referendum, refer-a-friend-dumb, Alberta, the dip shit version of our country, when they're done I say the rest of the country should have a vote to expel them; let them live a few years with their leaders and folly, charge them all passage to leave that god-forsaken province, charge visas to visit the rest of the country, and when they change their mind charge them all $100, 000 each to reenter the country...
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Yesterday, a garage sale, a tonne of art supplies only I'm broke at the moment, and probably I don't need more art supplies and while it's hard to pass on a bargain it's pretty easy when your wallet is empty. Tonight when it wraps up I'll visit again, see if there's a free pile to raid, although when I was there things were vanishing quick...
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Yesterday, coming upstairs after work, C*****, just out of a 6 week rehab program, is letting a suspicious girl out of his apartment.
A new face in town, street person, and I run into him again later, in front of the bank with the rest of the homeless, and I'm inclined to point out this isn't the way to discard bad habits, but who am I to say and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't listen.
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Today, a modest payment on a large balance outstanding. Having done two days off with no food, cigarettes, vodka, and I have some priorities...
First is get me to the grocery store. Lots of groceries, a full bag. Pot-Stickers, Pasta, Gnocci, sauce, coffee, etc.
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A word about the Pot Stickers. The brand - "O'Tasty" - patently absurd, I mean, I'd trust it a lot better if was something like "Golden Dragon" or "Wings" but - well, the proof is in the pot-sticker. And the other - well, they're made in the USA - not a fan at the moment, but - if you want a pot sticker this is what you have to buy. I heartily endorse this product, which, when taken as recommended (instructions #1, pan fry, steam, fry again until golden) are delicious and - not on the package but trust me you'll thank me later - a tablespoon of crunchy chilies with garlic or shallots, a dash of soy sauce and a couple diced Thai chilis for dipping.
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The Second priority is to get more groceries. For this I head down to the Co-op and get some Bison meat and mushrooms and sausage and some sparkling water and other essentials. Another full bag of groceries.
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Having dropped these off at home I'm off to the third priority; which is get more groceries, sparkling water, juice, capers, etc.
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It's just 11:00 AM and my chores are done-ish, there's more, there's a few weeks of stinking laundry piled in the bedroom to be sorted and washed and so I charge the laundry card, then sit down to scroll the interwebs, read the news, make potstickers, etc.
***
The groceries, well, go a few days with Mother Hubbard's cupboards and you'll understand. Food. I don't mind the intermittent fasting, but it's become too much of a thing as of late, and I'm done with all this, my figure's trim as is, I don't need it any leaner.
There are still a multitude of bills outstanding, but there are as well a multitude of cheques outstanding, and until I'm paid they'll have to wait. No bills will be paid if I've starved to death...