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Career Fair
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Rants
- Hits: 2408
The daughter lures me in, there's a career fair at her school she wants to go, see what's on offer...
I know that her school, it's convenient, handy to her home, but it has a pretty bad reputation otherwise. Not the best school. Not by a longshot. The demographic of the students, it's ranking province wide on the tests, not my choice, but as always her mother knows best. Sure.
We go, and it's filled with stalls advertising such companies as Mr. Lube, Part's Source, AutoValue, Earl's, WTF? Where's Law, Medicine, Engineering? But no, this is a school exclusively devoted to raising it's students above the level of their parents, any of these jobs would be "success" in their terms, and I'm filled with despair...
Never mind. She knows better, she's there to grab a few free treats and snacks and then we leave, she gets it as well, laughs, shrugs it off, for me it's not so easy...
Fevered Dreams
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Dreams
- Hits: 2186
No surprise, then, when the restaurant was finally done, finally, finally closed, that I should fall sick. It's been 4 months of back and forth, couch-surfing the most challenging of situations, and no sooner than the restaurant is finally done and I'm waiting for my cheque than I fall sick.
Chest, flu, hot, cold, fever. But I'm hanging on for my cheque, once I'm paid I can get out of here, wake up early, get out of the house, see daughter, go to cafe's, errands, thrifting, pass the time until it's late enough and safe enough to return. The cheque, due any day, but not, and every day passes with the disappointment of another day in Calgary...
I'm sick, but I'm suppressing it.
Finally, late Saturday night the final cheque, Sunday morning I'm off. The temporary setback of no banks open is overcome by the fact I have a release on my bank account, I'm surprised, cautiously check it out, withdraw enough to pay my host for the past few weeks, then I'm off...
Not nearly as happy as I should be, all things considered, but the weather is cold, drear, blizzarding in spots, the roads good and then treacherous, and this return to the Kootenays, I'm not sure this will be home either, where is home?, and this gets me thinking...
Wildlife, bighorn sheep, deer, moose, caribou...
The drive, long, exhausting, I'm sick, lacking in inspiration, imagination...
...and finally, home "ish", the woodshed, turn up the heat, wait, the next 2 days sleeping 20 hours per day, fevered sweats and dreams, of restaurants, filled with unexpected customers, unannounced, paper napkins heaped over on Corelle plates...the customers aren't ready to order, everywhere I look new tables that haven't been served...
...a funeral, 4 young indian girls carrying the black coffin of their schoolmate...
...looking for the restaurant, the new restaurant, on 4 street, they need my help only I can't find it, the new restaurant, don't care, don't want to...
Waking up, every couple of hours, the sheets soaking, falling back asleep, it's to be expected, this has been the longest 4 months of my life and I'm glad it's over, but now, perplexed as to what should come next, and I know but this is the natural detoxification...
Get Out
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 1894
Saw this with the daughter, it was brilliant and perfectly captured the experience of being black in America. Not that I'm in a position to know, but the general tone - the references to "I Voted for Obama" and "Tiger Woods was the best Golfer" - the pure vanilla of the girlfriends family, the scene where he's forced to watch the "happy white american family" on the TV - it works on a lot of levels. The twist, well, it's good, but hardly necessary, all the horrors of cultural appropriation and assimilation are there well beforehand...
Brimstone and Treacle
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 1937
An oldie but a goodie, Uncomfortable, visceral, for a time banned, easy enough to imagine the Nephew in the role of Sting, it shows just how valuable a competent writer is to a script. Which is not to suggest you'll like it, most probably you won't, it deals with any number of uncomfortable issues, but some would argue that's the point...
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