Theme of the week: 1-6

I don’t feel like writing an entry for each one right now, especially since the DM has posted six already. So here are the first six themes and then after this I’ll do one per entry.

1. If you could pick any place in the world to live, where would it be? 

This is a tough one for me, as there are a few places that I would love to lay my hat down if I could ever afford to:

a) Toronto: If I could afford it, this is the city where I would spend most of my time. I’d like a fancy condo in downtown, something close to the dome and the ACC so I could catch all the Blue Jay and Leaf home games. I’ve always enjoyed visiting Toronto, so if I had the chance I’d spend most of my time there.

b) St. John’s: I spent 10 years in the capital of Newfoundland. I attended and graduated from the university in that city, it’s where I met my first wife, and my two sons were born there too. It would be nice to have a summer home there to visit when the weather is nice. Newfoundland summers are like autumn. Not to cold and never too hot.

c) Paris: The writer in me wants to make the city my muse, and visit places famous writers one frequented. I would love to rent an apartment and just hang out there for a few months, see what kind of writing it inspires. Ditto for places like Venice, Rome, and Barcelona.

d) Florida: I really enjoyed visiting my Dad. If my work ever lands me a boat load of cabbage, I could really see myself buying something bigger for my Dad by the beach, and then visit him often.

2. What is one thing you would like to learn about, but haven’t been able to do?

I want to learn how to play an instrument. I made an effort to do that but it didn’t work out. I bought a guitar and started to take lessons two summers ago. That guitar is still here with me, but the reason I stopped taking lessons was medical. Once the issue is dealt with, I want to try again. I will try again to at least show my kids it’s fun to have hobbies. Lead by example rather than tell people what to do. That and I want to learn how to play my favorite songs.

3. What is an accomplishment you are particularly proud of?

I’ve got a few to be proud of. I’ve got a BA in English literature. That’s quite an accomplishment for someone who was once told by a mean teacher that I would never graduate high school and spend most of my life in prison. I’ve self-published over a dozen books. My thirteenth is going to publish at the end of the month. I’ve been in a movie that was screened at the Tiff, and I’ve even traveled to other continents. I’ve got a lot to be proud of in my first 40 years.

While I hate to use a cliche, I still have to say my biggest accomplishment right now is my children. My two amazing little boys are pretty awesome, so how can I not be proud of them?

4. What is something you did as a child that you miss doing now?

There are a lot of things I did as a kid that you just can’t do it anymore.

• Slamming down the phone in anger to hang up on someone. Smartphones just don’t cut it.
• My first game system was an Atari. I miss playing q-bert, pitfall and the other classics.
• Walking to school and my friends house by myself. Today that’s ground to call the police for child abandonment.
• Saturday morning cartoons… today’s shows are so sub-par compared to what we used to watch.

5. The most surprised I’ve ever been…

There are a few times I remember being shocked beyond words:

• When I first found out I was going to be a father.
• When Joe Carter hit a homerun to end the 93 world series.
• Category 3 typhoon in Korea in 2002.
• The first (and only) time I saw a tornado with my own eyes. It was far away and small but still scary as shit.

6. When was a time you stood up for yourself?

When Ethan was 5 months old, the call center I worked at cut my hours in half.  As a new dad with mom on mat leave, that news didn’t sit well with me so I stormed into my bosses office and stood up for myself. I was one of only two people who did the night shift, so I had some leverage. I made an ultimatum: give me back my full 40 hours, or I walk. I went out of my way to warn my boss that if I walked, I would NEVER come back. The boss called my bluff, and with less than 5 minutes before my next shift… I quit. I walked out and gave the same notice I got that my hours were being cut: none.

Now when I said I had leverage, I wasn’t kidding. According to Canadian Law if your hours are cut by more than 30%, you are can quit and still qualify to collect unemployment while looking for a new job with full hours. I knew that when I made my threat and because I never started the crappy hours, my unemployment was calculated based on my full 40 hour weeks. I ended up making more money staying home with my 5 month old son than I would have staying at work for those shitty hours. I found a better job two months later. The one time where standing up for myself worked out.