Tag: Journal

Memoirs of an Assassin: Silentborn

Why did you decide to become an assassin?

This is the single most asked question of my entire life. Who am I? I will get to that. Eventually. I wish to start this journal off by saying no one ever makes the decision to become an assassin. Sometimes the choices are made for you. Other times you are born into it. Then there are the rare cases; You are just born.

I do not know what I did in a past life, nor do I wish to know. However I, as a rare few, can remember everything as far back as the womb. Some of the memories are jumbled, as at the time I had very little understanding of the world outside, but I did not come into the world as most. Warriors of old wished for their sons to be brought into the world kicking and screaming, the way their glories dictate they will leave this world. Any brute can pick up and swing a sword or axe. It is the children who come calmly into this world who people need to fear most. The ability to let go of the familiar, the lack of fear in the face of the unknown and the calm temperament are simply a pathway to bloodshed. Remember this as you birth your children, peaceful is deadly.

I remember the day I was pulled from my mother. From the piercing brightness of the torches in the room to the woman using a towel to wipe me off. At first their reactions are grim, I suppose they thought me stillborn. Then the woman lowers herself to my mouth and then presses an ear to my chest. She hears either breathing or a heartbeat, to which everyone rejoices. My father stands behind her, almost completely ensconced in the shadows from the pillars in the room. As the woman rushes to tend to my mother, my father leans over to get a better look at me. He is clearly disappointed. I am no warrior.

Was that why I became an assassin? Absolutely not. I am saying I was innocent at birth. I certainly had some traits that would be helpful, however it is the events that follow which shape who I would become.

You see my father had been a protector of the Emperor for several years. I learned this before I hit the age of five. I also began sword fighting and horse riding and things were mostly going well. My father was away a lot and I assumed it was due to his service to the Emperor. I figured out this was not the case as he and my mother frequently fought about his latest payment.

He was now a common thief, banished from the kingdom by the Emperor himself. He had hit the Emperor in a drunken rage and he was spared his life for all of his years of service. My father decided the kingdom still owed him payments and it would be his job to take them.

My father became a folk hero. The man who hit the Godly Emperor and lived. The man who steals from the gods and gives to the peasants. The man who was hardly a father or a husband. Sorry, that last one is not a folk tale. Just the truth.

As his thefts became wide spread knowledge, eventually the Emperor decided to stop the man he allowed to live. This would be a decision that would affect any who would cross him in the future. My father was unsuspecting and pulled off his latest theft and returned home to his loving wife and me, his ever hopeful son. The tracks lead a group of armed warriors to our doorstep.

Some people say moments like these change people. The door bursts into splinters as warriors rush in, disarming my father and knocking him to the ground. Moments like these might change ordinary people. Other warriors drag my mother kicking and screaming into her bedroom. But for me, I’m not ordinary. My father’s blade rests at my feet. Ordinary may have run away. I look down to the sword. Ordinary may have lost control of their bodily functions. I grab the hilt and enter the bedroom. Ordinary doesn’t blend into the shadows so easily. One warrior falls victim to a stab wound at the base of his spine. The shadows don’t shield just anyone. The next warrior doesn’t get a chance to react as his body falls lifeless across my mother. I’m sure if someone were to read this. I leave her scrambling with the lifeless body and make my way to the front door. They would say “How couldn’t this have changed you?” I watch as two warriors force my father to his knees, while one executes him. I say, how could it have changed me? I calmly despatch the warriors in a flurry of swipes and jabs. Especially when it felt completely natural.

I stand, slightly confused over the bodies of three well trained warriors. Three protectors of the Emperor, and my father. He had it coming, however I always had imagined it being away from us. I turn back to our home and can still vividly remember the look on my mother’s face. She was slightly battered and bruised, some of the blood hers and some of it not. Her eyes were not staring at the husband she lost, but they were filled with fear at the child she had brought into this world. Her lips quivered as if trying to utter some words, but only silence filled the air.

I was five years old.

Melbourne: Land of the Unforgiving Tourist Trap

This is mostly a writing blog. I sometimes write about my life, my choices and today I have chosen to write a piece of my surprise trip to Melbourne. As you can probably judge by the title, I had a fantastic time… actually, I did. But I think if I had gone anywhere else, it would have been a better time. Not that I am not grateful for the trip, it was a pleasant surprise given to me for my birthday from my lovely girlfriend. She intended it to be a stress free getaway… how little she actually knew.

 

It was Friday, May eleventh and the sun was shining. It was a beautiful day and the heat beamed in through the windows to wake me from my slumber. As I work nights, the inevitable daylight always stings first, and warms later. I rolled out of bed wearing my newest pair of “comfy pants”, sworn never to leave the house. I hate sweatpants with a passion, however these are like wearing clouds, so I finally made the exception. I grabbed my iPhone and checked the time. Damn, I always sleep in. One of the worst parts about working nights is the wind down time after work, which leads into midday starts. I shook my head, disappointed in myself once again that I couldn’t get up before noon.

I staggered zombie-like to the kitchen and contemplated breakfast. Then I considered getting the mail. After all, I’ve been waiting for my security clearance check from Canada for the purposes of applying for my permanent residency visa here. It seems to be taking forever. After bouncing the ideas back and forth finally I turn from the front door and head back to the kitchen. The mail isn’t going anywhere. That is when my day began sliding downhill.

I heard a loud bang and the squealing of brakes. The two combined are never a good thing. My body instinctively turned around, and what I saw was a white car with major front end damage. Without thinking I grabbed my cordless phone (which has almost zero reception inside the house) and forced myself into dialling triple zero against my natural instinct to dial nine one one. As I rushed out I relayed what I saw to the man on the other end. Luckily everyone was okay, but the lady driver of the white car began staggering down the side road and away from the accident. I told him I didn’t think an ambulance was needed, but we definitely needed the police and fire brigade as the large truck the white car had run into was leaking fuel.

I relayed all I could but as I rushed to head the woman off, my phone cut out. At this point my blood is pumping and I find myself trying to convince this lady to return to the accident. She refuses to return, as she tells me that she is too shaken up to be near the car. Her words say nothing of being too shaken to be near the car, but what ever she had been drinking at half past midday may have been quite shaken. The male from her car gets out and begins trying to distract me so she can run, but I stay in front of them. Then the man begins getting aggressive and I’m just not in the mood. He begins yelling at me, asking me why I’m keeping her there. I simply tell him I am first aid trained and she is suffering from shock. She needs to remain at the scene as well, as fleeing the scene of an accident is a crime. He gets really up in my face and screams, what are you a cop or something? My nerves surprisingly don’t back down and I issue him a statement: “Yes, now sit down and shut the hell up. Don’t make this worse for yourself.” He doesn’t slug me, but he has his doubts. Either way, he backs off completely.

Enter the driver of the truck. He comes over to give me his statement. I don’t give a hoot about his statement. I want the police to come, and now. Actually roughly what seems like an hour ago they’d have been handy. The male from the white car is listening more than I am and he begins to voice his opinion. I tell them all to calm down as I am not on duty and as I didn’t see anything I am solely a witness. I’m not there for statements. I send the truck driver to the curb and have to reposition myself back in front of the woman as she staggers further down the road. Finally I see the police car pull up, and the driver jumps out and looks around for the drivers. I flag him down with my ever so useless cordless phone and to my delight, he comes down to us. Things begin to slow down for me now, as he collects the couple from the white car and drives them back to the accident. I give my useless statement as I saw nothing, but I believe she would have run away from the accident had I not intervened. After waiting to see if they need me again, the lady jumps from the police car and begins running down the street. I turn to the officers and let them know she is getting away, to which they chase her down, cuff her and walk her back to the car.

After that ordeal I get home and it isn’t long before my girlfriend gets home. I was supposed to get one thing finished and one thing alone before she got home. The dishes. Now obviously one cannot predict a car accident, so I thought I was in the clear. However, I was in deep trouble. Upon her arrival she freaked out at the dishes around the sink. I told her not to worry about it as we could finish them after supper. She began cleaning them furiously and I shook my head. I’m not going to stress any more about today, I began to plan for a quiet night at home. My lovely girlfriend told me we were going out for a nice dinner and had to pick up my birthday present. I was fine with that, but I had my heart set on a quiet night. After dealing with drunk drivers and an aggressive, unpredictable stranger, I wanted to just crawl back into bed. However, unbeknownst to me… my girlfriend had other plans.

Enter the airport. Exactly the last place I had hoped to be was an area with screaming babies and chock full of people who all seem like their life could end at any moment, so they must blow past you as if you’re not there. I am feeling miserable for two reasons, I simply am not in the mood for a surprise of this magnitude and I just feel bad for my girlfriend. She couldn’t have predicted the accident, so I try hard to grin and bear it. As we sit waiting for the flight to Melbourne my girlfriend notices an ad for flights there being advertised for  forty dollars or so. She hangs her head as she paid a lot more for that. But that is travel, book in advance and miss the deals, but wait and miss going altogether.

The flight is late, but the happens so we laugh about the crazy drunken lady who I stopped earlier and my best police impersonation. We board,  I sit in the wrong seat as informed by the passenger who was supposed to be in that seat. Luckily the plane takes off and lands before I know it. My day is just… awesome. As we land a bit late too, we worry we may miss our connecting shuttle. My girlfriend had booked us a smaller shuttle from the airport directly to our hotel. We land fifteen minutes late, roughly quarter past ten in the evening and our shuttle is nowhere in sight. After everything else, we joke about adding it to the growing list of failures. I wait as she calls to confirm we are being picked up, and they assure us the driver should be there already. Especially considering the plane got in late. We shrug it off, she’s fifteen minutes late supposedly because she had to gas up. Fine, we really just want to get to the hotel. Sleep is calling and I seriously want off this roller coaster of a day. She says she has to pick up the next passenger, but we’d have to wait ten to fifteen minutes. Well, we’ve waited this long, so what is another fifteen minutes?

What is another fifteen minutes? Well, apparently in Melbourne time that translates out to roughly forty five minutes. She comes out to tell us roughly thirty minutes into the fifteen minute wait that he’s just waiting on his luggage. Fantastic. He finally shows and she brings him to the shuttle. She then informs us that we have to wait another ten minutes for the next passenger. My girlfriend nearly breaks down and tells her that isn’t acceptable as we have an early start the next day. I am mortified at the news of an early start, but it is to be expected if we are to get everything in. The lady apologizes but assures us it is out of her hands. The time now nearing roughly ten after eleven. After waiting an additional twenty five minutes, our driver returns sans passenger and grumbles something about him not showing. By this time we had watched roughly fifty of the airport public shuttles arrive and leave with passengers.

We arrive at our hotel at roughly twenty past twelve and by the time we check in and get our card keys, it’s pushing half past twelve. I try my card key. You have got to be kidding me. I try my girlfriend’s key. Both keys fail to open the door. I hang my head in agony as I make my way back to the elevator and down to the front desk. I miss Sydney. The gentleman at the front desk comes up as if we had used them wrong but has to use his master key to let us into our room. He is baffled by the luck we had, but we’re not. In fact, we just add it to the growing list of failures. As I lay down to sleep, she writes an angry email describing our experience to the shuttle company.

Sleep soothes the exhausted soul. I wake up with a slight crick in my neck, but it goes away fast enough. We rush out and make it to our car rental place for opening. The place is already packed with people, but we get through fast enough. The man talks us into an upgrade from a compact to a wagon, and from a manual to an auto. It’ll be better on gas I suspect, so I agree. So does their bank account, an extra thirty dollars. We shrug it off and get into the car. It’s not bad, roomy, clean and purrs like a kitten. Much unlike my bucket of bolts which idles so bad it would rattle your fillings out. We begin our journey, to the Great Ocean Road!

At first the day is mildly windy and a bit cold for Australia. I grow glad that I am Canadian as the cold here feels like nothing. We stop for some scenic views, take some pictures at at a beach and before we make it back to the car, the cold and wind are becoming a bit dramatic even for me. No one controls the weather, but as we pull away we watch as the forceful winds push a storm across the roads. Considering the wind, fog, rain and lack of sun, the drive is enjoyable, but sure as hell less scenic than I had imagined. We add weather to the growing list of failures. Absolutely incredible.

The next time we stop, so does the rain. We arrive in an area called Split Point, at first we’re hesitant to stop for just the lighthouse. But I decide, ah well, if I am a tourist I might as well play the part. We pass by a road with many people parked on the grass and follow a blue P to a small dirt road with a cul-de-sac at the end. We park at the end of the line at noon, right on the money, and we are making great time. We spend some time walking around the lighthouse grounds, and take some photos but the wind begins to whip up again so we had back to our car. As we pull away, we notice some rubbish on our windscreen. I tell the girlfriend to keep driving, until I realize it seems to be a note. We pull over at the end of the road and sure enough we got a ticket. One minute after twelve. The person probably literally watched us park and then walked over to give us a ticket. Very friendly. We add this to the list and a fine well over a hundred dollars really puts a damper on the day. I swear there were no signs saying we were parked incorrectly, in fact, we followed a parking sign to what we thought was parking! I vow to dispute it when we get home as it makes no sense.

The rest of the day is cold and rainy. In fact what we thought was fog was actually horizontal rain. Our pictures make us look like we are in the middle of a monsoon and we end up absolutely soaked. We drop the car back in its original parking spot, which is the only thing that apparently went right that day. Luckily the company makes the journey one hundred times better than it could have been and I can’t imagine surviving this trip on my own. My spirits would have been crushed when the card key wouldn’t open the door, but luckily we didn’t have to do it alone.

The next day we meet my girlfriend’s uncle for breakfast, and he is an Aussie actor. He’s been in many movies and was staying at his friend’s house. His friend was one of the three original agents in the Matrix. This was a cool fact, and one I smile upon still. As we walked to a small sidewalk breakfast bar, we noted the rain was once again kicking up a stink. We order our breakfast and it comes awhile later, a time which seems to be too long. No one is fully happy with the wait, nor their meal, although the spicy sausage in my breakfast meal has me tearing it apart like a lion eating a gazelle. I leave the dissected husk on my plate, much to my girlfriend’s chagrin . He then takes us to a community owned and run garden in the middle of the town. It is an excellent use of space and the area is beautiful. The concept is something most cities wouldn’t consider, so I give it some bonus points.

After that we head back into the town for some shopping and sight seeing. We don’t really find anything too fantastic to buy although walking around the city has been fun. We stop in for some lunch, and then we head to our shuttle bus meeting spot. We are heading to see the fairy penguins! As I had only seen penguins in captivity, this was the big draw for my birthday going to Melbourne. I had been super excited to see them ever since I arrived, almost more than kangaroos and koalas. I mean really, how often does one see a penguin!? So the shuttle drove us from Melbourne to Philip Island. A gloomy drive that I was glad neither of us had to drive for. The wind and rain pelted the bus in waves. We arrived and hurried to get some good seats down by the beach where the penguins were scheduled to come in.

The darkness swoops in, but the rain and wind beats it to the beach. As the rain comes in horizontally, and the wind chills you to your very soul, it was no surprise that we both ended up with colds. However, we watched the penguins come in. This would be ultimately the highlight of my stay in Melbourne (and keep in mind, it was at Philip Island, NOT Melbourne). I mean honestly, how can anyone stay mad when penguins come waddling up over the rocks and stop to clean themselves. There is no noise cuter than penguin sounds, and they sound like a cross between a pigeon and a kitten. Just imagine a purr being delivered as a coo. But not too loud to be annoying, oh and remember, it’s coming from a penguin. As we followed the penguin parade up to the main house we stopped to examine the small groups that were making their way slowly to their homes. I slept fantastically that night, and couldn’t argue that I had a great time. I mean, come on, they’re penguins!

The next day was entirely looking around the city, we toured the jail (spelt gaol if you’re Australian), rode around on the free tram and made our way to some shopping centres and eventually made it back to our hotel. We would be leaving the next day so we made plans to check out a few places and then left our bags at the hotel. The day was fun, but we didn’t actually find anything to buy and we were both starting to get tired. My feet were sore from the dress shoes I had worn (remember, originally I thought we were going just out for a nice dinner) but overall the trip was ending off on a decent note. We managed to get a refund from our shuttle on the first day and the shuttle was directly on time and took only us directly to the airport.

After bidding Melbourne a heartwarming farewell, I was glad to be heading back toward Sydney. Even though I am not a fan of huge cities, it felt strangely like… coming home. We arrived and as we walked through the doors I noticed a car park shuttle driving by. I extended my hand, as if I could somehow force it to stop while yelling, “Noooo!” and suddenly it stopped and he waved us in. As we hopped on he said I just looked so disappointed, but I was grateful and may or may not have called him a legend. We got to our car and drove to pay for parking when the guy realized we had paid to park in a different lot. He shrugged and told us not to worry about it, he’d get it sorted. We were glad we wouldn’t have to argue that one, and decided to stop at MacDonald’s for just some snacks to make the trip home easier. My girlfriend came back with the food and said apparently their debit wasn’t working, so they just gave it to us. What felt like Melbourne rejecting us over and over was completely undone by the sheer kindness of everyone upon arriving in Sydney. It was good to be welcomed back like that!

As for my parking ticket, upon arriving home I began to request an inquiry into the ticket itself. They state that I can contest it, and send me a photo of the car and a car length away was a single sign. The sign apparently has no end, therefore the entire road must be a no stopping zone. In the picture you can clearly see that I am parked next to another vehicle who was also parked at the end of a long line of cars. As we pulled in the sign wasn’t near where we parked, so we didn’t even notice it. Also if the ticket was indeed issued exactly one minute after we got there, why were we not informed, we would have greatly appreciated mention of the damn sign and moved elsewhere or most likely, have continued on.

I contested the ticket and lost. I argued that all “zones” should have a definite end, a no stopping zone on a curb could be as long as the curb, but even that ends. On a cul-de-sac where parking is allowed on one side of the road, why did they choose to place the singular no stopping zone sign right at the end of the road? In a perfect world, everyone should stare directly ahead. But then how the hell would you find a parking spot?! I still do not understand why there is no end to their no stopping zone. Most zones in the city have starting and ending signs and as does parking. The vagueness of the no stopping sign and its placement directly at the end of the road feels more like a trap than an actual traffic sign. I believe if the road was paved, marked or even sign posted better these fines would not happen. However, as I contested it they also say you can only contest it once and now they are demanding I pay up or take it to court. As much as I would have a fantastic case in court, they know that the cost of the ticket is less than legal fees so I am blackmailed into paying up. Thanks for the stupidly expensive souvenir oh and good riddance.

At the end of the day though, I can check heading to Melbourne and seeing the fairy penguins off the old bucket list. Also I know my girlfriend loves me lots to have planned such an incredible trip and manage to keep it a secret for so long. Do I regret going to Melbourne? No. But not because it was Melbourne. No, it was because I have the best girlfriend in the world and together… we survived Melbourne.

Into The Looking Glass… (Part 7)

The final piece of Into The Looking Glass… (Click here for Part One), Brings us finally to the moments that I live in now and where I live in New South Wales, Australia. I hope you’ve enjoyed a look into my past as much as I have enjoyed reflecting upon it and I hope that you have more understanding of who I am as a writer and where I come from.

So after making the jump to Australia, we settled into New South Wales where my girlfriend’s parents live and where she grew up. She is now a teacher and I’m an aspiring writer, hoping to find my wings while I work at K-Mart. Retail is easy and fun, so it will keep my mind on the writing tasks at hand. However, despite engulfing myself in words and work, I am still a visitor to this country. So needless to say I’ve begun looking around the nearby areas and doing all those things that tourists do. Although I am still learning the language (need to go to Canberra? It’s actually called Can-bra. Melbourne? Mel-bin.) it’s still an awesome time. From the first day I arrived I began to see the sights, and I must say Australia is more beautiful than I could have imagined.

First off, I saw the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, they are as magnificent as they appear in the movies and I would definitely suggest heading across the harbour to Taronga Zoo. Not only is the zoo amazing, but the pictures you can get from the water of the bridge and Opera House together make for some fantastic shots. Although be careful, on our way up to the zoo, I saw a spider that was probably three inches in length with a huge web on a lamppost. Absolutely terrifying, if you bring children, keep them close!

The zoo was a lot of fun, but it was actually Symbio Wildlife Park where my mind was blown. Not only did I get to see kangaroos, koalas, echidnas, and a plethora of other crazy animals, but I got to feed kangaroos and pet a koala! Although the kangaroo I was feeding had a joey and if there is anything cuter than a kangaroo, it’s a joey. As I made my tour of all the kangaroos some held onto my hand while feeding them making it a definite memorable experience. Also, on the topic of wildlife, I have seen a platypus as well. Normally I wouldn’t expect them to be so well suited for the water, but those little guys just look so happy and playful that you can’t help but smile. That and it just looks plain weird, but in a cute way.

My spider count here is climbing as I have finally seen a Redback, one of the most poisonous spiders in Australia. Knowing that something that tiny can make you really ill or even potentially kill you is terrifying to the point that you will do whatever it takes to end that tiny beast. I’ve killed two now, they call me TJ “Spider’s Bane” Edwards now in my small town. Yeah, soon it’ll be known everywhere! Also white tails are in abundance around our neighbourhood, but they are actually a hunting spider. They don’t have a web, they simply prowl your house looking for bugs, which is really handy and I wouldn’t care except their bites can cause long-term skin and muscle damage.

Aside from that I’ve been laughed at, told I have a great accent (which is weird when everyone around me has an accent) and told to speak english so all in all, I think I’m fitting in just fine. Some of the place names though are hilarious. There is a place called Blackbutt, a street nearby called Wooleybutt and Kanahooka. Kanahooka? Yes they can! If you don’t get the joke, say it aloud and then if you still don’t get it… well sadly you won’t fit in.

Also for anyone living in Canada, remember the robins and blue jays we used to see and those were really exciting come spring? Well you know those cockatoos at the pet shop for a pretty penny? They fly free here in flocks of twenty to a hundred or more! There are also beautiful birds called Rainbow Lorikeets that are literally a rainbow of colours. There are just so many gorgeous birds here that I could spend all day just naming off amazing birds. Although pelicans are much stranger to look at in person than on cartoons and television shows. I saw one using it’s neck to scratch it’s chin, it did this by leaning it’s head back and pushing its neck up into its floppy neck. Such a weird sight to see!

However I am still trying to get my bearings while driving, I have only driven on the wrong side of the road once and I am terrified of roundabouts. These circular free-for-alls are pretty much the most terrifying thing in Australia, seeing as how people blow through them at eighty km/hr. Getting to and from work would make me bald, if I wasn’t already! But for now that brings you up to speed on this canuck’s adventures amuck. Feel free to leave your comments below or email me! Thanks for reading and thuc concludes Into the Looking Glass!

Into The Looking Glass… (Part 6)

Part Six of Into The Looking Glass… (Click here for Part One), which is a look back at where I’ve come from as both a person and a writer. I’ve been through many trials in my days, however I will leave full disclosure for perhaps a professional autobiography if I manage to make it as a writer and worm my way into media somehow. For now, enjoy my path, picking up as I make the decision to leave my homeland behind and undertake my longest journey yet, to the land down under!

After leaving my friends behind at the HMV in West Edmonton Mall for my shot at management with my own HMV, I found myself enjoying the challenge of business again. As I arrived I found a decent staff awaiting me, just lacking focus, motivation and passion. It wasn’t their fault as they didn’t really get along with the previous manager. Lucky for me, we may not have seen eye to eye on a lot of things, but we all got along well enough to get the store trending upwards and actually watching what we spend our money on. Even now I miss some of the hilarious times we had and the great challenges we managed to overcome as a team. I also miss my boss, who was very respectful, knowledgeable and an all around great guy. If things may have happened differently, I might still be there… enter… the love interest!

As time passed one of my friends from working at the old store grew closer. We began to spend more time together and really found ourselves enjoying each other’s company. As I watched her head off on a trip across Canada, I began to wonder if I should pursue her. Her being Australian would put a damper on the career path I had begun building in Edmonton, but since when does anything go as planned as I learned from my previous relationship. I was heading home that summer anyway so we discussed it and I figured I would meet her in Nova Scotia and show her around my home town. After all, I would get to play tourist all over again and see all those sights I hadn’t seen in years!

The time flew by, as I travelled around with her in Halifax for a few days I decided that I did want to pursue this. She was great and I didn’t want to be that guy who lets the girl get away and spends the rest of his life wondering, “Oh… what if?” I asked her out and she agreed, but it would mean she’d need to stay in Canada for an extra six months on her visa. I told her if she made that commitment for me, I would come to Australia so long as she still wanted me to after her visa was up. She agreed and we both decided to fly back to Edmonton. Lucky for me my Dad was able to sell her van with no back seats, and my parents got to meet her at the same time.

Only a few short months after that, my Dad tragically passed away. The iron man was no more, and I was especially glad that he had the chance to meet my girlfriend. I decided I had to go home, but it was going to cost me quite a bit. Lucky for me my girlfriend and her parents helped pay for my trip back and I will always be grateful for that. At times like those, it’s so hard to focus when something has happened so close to you. As the trip back was planned, my boss at HMV told me to go home from work, although I couldn’t leave my store knowing that no one would be covering. I worked the next two days and then had a day to pack. As we travelled back to Halifax, it was an awkward moment for everyone as it would be her first time meeting my entire family.

This is where I found out my family mostly has facebook and stalk me regularly. Everyone mentioned to my girlfriend they recognized her from facebook. Social Networking 1, Funeral Service 0. However it was a wonderful service and I will definitely miss my Dad. But my family is always super awkward at these kind of events. We are a group of people who love to laugh and we do our best to make jokes, no matter how much worse it makes things. For example, when my Mom told me we were having my Dad cremated, I had no idea what to say to make things better, so I naturally asked “Should I bring the marshmallows?” These jokes cropped up all week long as we struggled to maintain some semblance of sanity in the chaos things had been thrown into. In a moment of my uncle and I forcing my Dad’s ashes into a much smaller box then the bag of ashes we looked at each other and laughed. I couldn’t help myself, “Difficult in life and in death, at least he was consistent.”

After that passed, Christmas was a blur and suddenly I found myself selling all my worldly possessions and moving to the great land down under, Australia. Despite not drinking tea or alcohol, having an overwhelming fear of spiders and not understanding the national language of Australia (English, Well… Kind of); I feel like I’m beginning to fit in. But I’ll definitely tell you all about Australia in my next and most likely final piece of Into The Looking Glass. If you have any questions or comments leave them below and hope you enjoyed the stay!

Into The Looking Glass… (Part 5)

Part Five of Into The Looking Glass… (Click here for Part One), which is a look back at where I’ve come from as both a person and a writer. I’ve been through many trials in my days, however I will leave full disclosure for perhaps a professional autobiography if I manage to make it as a writer and worm my way into media somehow. For now, enjoy my path, picking up as I make the move across Canada from Nova Scotia to Alberta.

After we decided to move to Alberta, I found myself going up a month ahead of time to get things prepared for when my girlfriend got there. As I made the move to a place I had never been before, I met up with my best friend and it was like no time had passed. We got along perfectly right off the bat and I began venturing out into the city looking for jobs and just scouting the territory. Edmonton is a huge city and I managed to get lost downtown fairly quickly. However as the month went on I felt extremely energetic and cheerful. I had never felt so alive! Perhaps it was because I had moved to a new city, perhaps it was because I was reunited with my best friend. I brushed it all off and continued about my business.

I then decided to catch a bus and head to the self proclaimed “Greatest Indoor Show On Earth”. As I arrived at the West Edmonton Mall, I found myself in awe of it’s sheer size. As I headed off the bus I simply followed the crowd into the closest entryway. I was immediately shocked as I saw what seemed to be a llama just standing all on its own in the middle of this huge mall. As I got closer, I did see a short person holding onto it’s collar but it still unnerved me. Why was a llama here? As I marched around the mall, I found out why. It had a petting zoo, and that wasn’t even the best attraction. The mall had a plethora of sights and even an indoor amusement park! I had to work in here, and I applied at HMV.

Now when I first applied, the guy hiring me took a look at my resume and asked me if I wanted to do the interview now. I needed a job so I agreed, and shortly thereafter had a shift scheduled for the next week. Edmonton was definitely looking up. I wouldn’t be doing anything too special, just working in the receiving area. I thanked him for the opportunity and continued on my way around the mall where I met two mall staff walking a penguin, the llama again and hung out around the wave pool and the skating rink for a bit. I didn’t even mention the pirate ship, but who needs to, right?

As I started at HMV I found myself complaining a lot, I was just getting to know these people and they were taking notice of how unhappy I must have been back in Nova Scotia. It wasn’t until my girlfriend arrived in Edmonton that I began to believe them. Even my best friend said he watched my batteries drain after she arrived. I stuck up for my relationship and continued on in complete denial of what was all too true. I was depressed when I was home, however when I was at work I was pretty much whistling while I worked. HMV liked the work I was doing and I was offered a promotion shortly into my career there. I was taken aback, but after my previous experience in management with EB Games, I was very cautious. Not every company will treat their managers well.

As the days wore on, so did my patience and eventually the household I was living in had to move. We almost lost someone during the winter as we found the house had no heating in the basement, so that meant we had to leave before we signed another lease. We up and moved the ship that was our little group to another part of the city. During this time I took on a supervisory role at HMV and I was really enjoying it. The people I worked with were great fun, and I loved the challenges the job presented me. As I flourished at work, I would do anything not to go home. I worked extra hours, hung around the mall and generally just seemed to be avoiding my girlfriend. My best friend told me that it was over between my girlfriend and I, but I still wanted to try and work things out.

Suddenly Christmases passed and it was over a year later. I found myself looking around and hanging out with anyone who wasn’t my girlfriend. Eventually, I had to give in. I had been sleeping on the couch as her and I couldn’t talk about our day because it was becoming a heated argument. After much discussion, I decided I had tried hard enough and it seemed she wouldn’t try more. It was always “this time I will” and I couldn’t hear it any more. I decided we should end it, and try and be friends. Being friends with your ex is near impossible, so don’t bother. I helped her find a place, helped her move out, helped her buy two kittens and drove her to get them checked up at the vets. But eventually, I began to feel that she was still using me and decided to sever all ties. It’s hard when a person has been in your life for several years, you still care about them, but the feeling has completely changed.

Lucky for me, my friends were right by my side and even though I had asked for it, it was still very hard. HMV however had a new plan for me. Within a very short time frame after that I had a whole other world of concerns to deal with as I transferred to another store where I was to be the Manager. I loved the store, the dynamic, the staff and the fact that it was mine! It felt good to be in control again and I did very well as a store manager. Also, thanks to HMV I met my current lady friend, and many great friends I still keep in touch with to this day.

I’ll leave you with that for now, and soon you’ll find out where I am now and why I’m there! I’m also going to talk about the dramatic change in cultures and things I’ve found crazy or odd coming from another country! Thanks for reading and if you have any comments feel free to email me or leave them below!

Into The Looking Glass… (Part 4)

Part Four of Into The Looking Glass… (Click here for Part One), which is a look back at where I’ve come from as both a person and a writer. I’ve been through many trials in my days, however I will leave full disclosure for perhaps a professional autobiography if I manage to make it as a writer and worm my way into media somehow. For now, enjoy my path, picking up where I left off amid the turmoil of working two jobs and attending university as well as throwing a lady into the mix.

If you’d allow, I’ll back track a little bit. As I graduated high school I was still working at the theatre and a friend of mine was setting up a huge movie night with a bunch of our co-workers. I had been actively chasing after this one young lady, who did enjoy my company and the fact I always paid for snacks. But as I began to realize things weren’t going to actually turn into a relationship, I got frustrated and just abandoned that ship before it began to sink. My lovely friend swung by and saw me all dishevelled and I told him what had happened. He looked around and guaranteed me he’d find me a date for the movie. Impressive, I thought to myself, I can’t even get myself a date but he’s confident he can find me one. I believe he may have had some insider information, because that night I had a date.

Now we can zip back to where I left off last time during university and working two jobs. It was a struggle juggling all of that and a relationship but somehow we managed to make things work. Well, by work I mean we just managed. Not everything went smoothly as both of us were working hard to achieve something. I was dead set on being the first in my immediate family to graduate university. She was heading into working with special needs children. But as my girlfriend got more stressed, she starting getting sick. Eventually she caved and told me she had an auto immune disorder and it flared up once in awhile. After seeing many trends of her getting stressed and then sick, I had to break my own routine and tell her what I was observing. She knew it was happening but she couldn’t stop it, so I had to step in. Many a night did I clean the house, make supper and put her to bed against her will before she got sick. Eventually she hadn’t been sick in a very long time which was a win for the both of us.

However working with special needs kids can be both rewarding and exhaustingly stressful. I watched her mother do it day in and day out and with her illness, she would spend a month working and then a month not. As we discussed her future, mine came up as well. At this point I was beginning to get sick as well, mostly from pushing myself to do school and work until I could literally do neither. She suggested I take some time off and I suggested she change career paths. So we both took some time to relax and think about where we were both headed. I decided that one more day in front of a computer screen alone in a cubicle would break me as a person and decided to take a more creative route despite enjoying the problem solving of programming. My girlfriend on the other hand began short courses in art and design, and found she was really finding a passion for interior design. As I saw her designs unfold, I pushed for her to pursue it professionally as she had a knack for it and she was a people person.

That fall I switched from Computer Science at a reputable university, to 3D animation through distance education. I loved the program and I loved creating things from scratch, and turning simple objects like cylinders into sports cars or even people! Sadly for me, as the program neared a close the recession began in Canada so getting a job with my portfolio was near impossible. Especially after I saw some people from Pixar had moved back to Nova Scotia and had been hired over me. I understood, he made a little animation of Nemo which blew me away. All I had was a funky animation mimicking a rube goldberg machine (No idea what it is? Click Here) of what happens when you turned on a Nintendo Entertainment System (Watch the video here!). So sadly I focused on my career in retail. Lucky for me an Assistant Manager position opened up at the EB Games I was working at so I cut the theatre and got the job there.

My EB Games years would prove incredible. My passion and knowledge for the product made me a shoe-in for the sales position and my attention to detail and hard working nature made me fantastic for management. As the two sides blended into one, I eventually claimed ownership over that store. I grew the business from less than half a million dollars the year before I took over to over a million and beyond before I left. I turned a small store that was only considered an overflow store into a competitor in the neighbourhood. I had a charming staff and I picked a bunch of gamers and taught them business and professionalism. Through this my store was the most knowledgeable and arguably the smoothest running with little to no turnover of staff. The clientèle I gained were some of my favourite customers, some would come work for me, and others would remain as friends even to this very day. But as all good things must come to an end, my girlfriend found a school for interior design out near my best friend and we began planning the move.

As we moved across the country, I got excited to see my best friend again and for a fresh start. I wouldn’t be staying with EB Games, however a new chapter was about to begin. Sadly what I couldn’t see was another chapter closing right before my eyes. But I’ll save that for my next entry. For now, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy both the video and the post today! Remember comments below or email me!

Into The Looking Glass… (Part 3)

Before I get too into today’s piece I would love for someone or anyone to read My Father’s Scrapbooks and let me know what they think via email or comments below! Now for today’s article, Part Three of Into The Looking Glass… (Click here for Part One), which is a look back at where I’ve come from as both a person and a writer. I’ve been through many trials in my day, however I will leave full disclosure for perhaps a professional autobiography if I manage to make it as a writer and worm my way into media somehow. For now, enjoy my path, picking up where I left off after Junior High.

As Junior High came to a close I found myself among a very tightly knit group of friends. We all got along and there was next to no conflict. I helped one of them bury a goldfish, helped another weed his mom’s garden and had my best friend wake up to me eating breakfast at his computer because I rushed to school way too early. Sometimes a six looks like an eight, especially when you’re extremely tired. But as times went on one friend moved away and we all began thinking about high school. What classes would we take, what would we end up in together, etc…  We eventually coordinated and kept on with french immersion. It kept the majority of the morons in our school away from our classes and allowed us to learn unhindered.

However grade ten was relatively easy, I found myself struggling with math. Suddenly it was a challenge? I thought back to all my learning from elementary school and realized, I coasted through until grade nine, grade ten was new. Math beat me down and despite my passion for it I barely made a mark of seventy percent. As I looked ahead to grade eleven I realized french immersion was no longer an option. It had none of the classes I was interested in taking so I decided that despite coming this far I would drop it. I didn’t want to ruin my chances for university just because I needed to take Astronomie. I also decided since I wouldn’t be taking classes in french, I could focus on my math and asked to enter the Advanced Math classes. My teacher from grade ten fought valiantly to get me banned from the class, but the teacher for my next class let me in. She warned me though, if I wasn’t trying my best she would not allow me into the next class. That seemed rather fair.

The year went on and my friends began getting jobs. I searched and applied everywhere but to no avail… eventually taking up a job as the Easter Bunny. Free chocolate and ten dollars an hour for a sixteen year old was the greatest job ever. Sadly, it was only for a few days. As that job ended I got a call back from Burger King and took the job for a lack of options. Lucky for me, my trainer was the High School President for the graduating year. Him being an awesome guy, he taught me quickly and we had some hilarious times. No one else really took a shine to me but he really made it bearable. As summer came, he informed me that he would be heading off to volunteer at a youth camp for the summer, but he’d be back. Needless to say, I didn’t last the summer as I found the rest of that group hated me because he liked me immediately. Jealousy in the workplace was extremely annoying, and eventually they forced me out.

Finally my best friend had managed to secure himself a promotion at the theatre he was working at and asked me to come work with him. Of course free movies and working with my best friend sounded awesome, so I applied and got the job easily. On my name tag, they wrote my name as TIM E but the space was almost non existent. Logically, the first customer I had on my first shift had to ask: “Is your name Time?” I didn’t want the lady to feel embarrassed for asking the question, so I rolled with it. I told her my parents had their hippy phase a bit late, and had named me Time. Of course my trainer was already in the back room spreading laughter about that whole situation and the nickname stuck. Even the owner of the theatre only knew me as Time, so when I was eventually promoted to Supervisor he received a new name tag for me to which he asked, “Who’s Tim Edwards?” Before I got promoted however, I was working quite a lot and I had worked really late one night and got to work for about six in the morning the next day. I got to work, groggily made my way upstairs to the change rooms and got changed. I felt really cold, but who doesn’t when they wake up in the morning. As I made my way downstairs into the lobby I made eye contact with the supervisor and cash office manager across the lobby. As we met eyes, I watched as both of them burst into a ridiculous fit of laughter. I stopped a moment and looked down. Sure enough, I was pants-less, however my socks were hiked up to my knees and I still managed to put my belt on and tuck my shirt into it. My Darth Vader boxers made quite the impression, I simply looked back up at the two laughing hysterically and nodded as I turned to go and retrieve my pants. That might be a sign you work too much.

The theatre years would prove some of the most hilarious times of my many jobs as I shared many moments in a team atmosphere. From Coke Bag-In-Box Boxing to getting stuck up to the waist in popcorn, laughs were easily daily and the job was super easy. As I graduated high school I made the tough choice not to follow my best friend to University in Alberta. Instead, I chose to stay back in Nova Scotia and take advantage of my Dad’s half off at Dalhousie University because he worked there.

Even still, half off for university was still expensive as I didn’t really plan for university. I had a pay-as-I-go method that would cause me to apply at EB Games and hope for the best. I managed to graduate high school with not as good a mark as I had hoped, (Switching from french science to english science was not easy in the slightest) however that mark was the one that kept me from making honours. Despite that I got into Dalhousie and applied for student loans. I was shocked to learn that I was ineligible for government loans. After they denied me, I looked to my bank for anything and they granted me a line of credit. To anyone reading this, just don’t. I worked two jobs and tried to start university.

As a young guy I really came into who I wanted to be in high school. I learned where I needed to go and stopped worrying about getting a girlfriend. I figured it would just happen when it happened. So I managed to get a keyholder position at EB Games, held down my Supervisor position at the Theatre and started school. It was going to be hard, but I was determined to be the first in my immediate family who would graduate from university. However… fate as it seems had other plans for me. But I’ll get to that in Part Four. For now, thanks for reading!

Into The Looking Glass… (Part 2)

Hello again everyone, thank you for swinging by my blog. Last night I celebrated a moment of personal victory as my blog passed two hundred views. Thanks to everyone who has supported me thus far, I really appreciate it. It definitely motivates a person to keep going knowing that someone out there may actually be reading!

Today’s article is Part Two of Into The Looking Glass… (Click here for Part One), which is a look back at where I’ve come from as both a person and a writer. I’ve been through many trials in my day, however I will leave full disclosure for perhaps a professional autobiography if I manage to make it as a writer and worm my way into media somehow. For now, enjoy my path, picking up where I left off after elementary school.

So at the end of grade six, I had managed to get myself into quite a lot of trouble and made more enemies than friends. Even my parents wanted to trust me, but I had broken that trust. Luckily for me, my french teacher commended me on my passion for learning and excelling in her class. She asked me if I would join french immersion. She explained to me that I was fit for the task and being bilingual would get me jobs easier than someone who wasn’t. I saw it as an opportunity to get away from the majority of my old friends, and I would continue on with the few good friends I did have. I remember asking my mother if I could go into french immersion, she was shocked, but said it wasn’t up to her it was up to me. I said I wanted to, I just needed her signature. The next day I handed in my note and anxiously awaited Junior High.

However, before the end of that year one of the relatives I was closest to passed away. My grandfather on my mother’s side, sadly passing away on Christmas Day. It was a tragic moment for me, as I told him lots of stories and problems I had at school that I hadn’t spoken to my parents about. I knew things were changing that year, but I hadn’t anticipated losing my support. As we stood there, I could barely understand what was going on, but my young sister was crying because everyone else was. It wasn’t the best of my many Christmases, but it is by far the most memorable. The year got much longer as I found myself with fewer people to talk to about my problems. Everyone says you can talk to them, but you know how much of it is already a burden on you. You almost feel compelled to keep it in so as not to bother anyone else. However Junior high would be a fresh start, it would be better. I just knew it.

So as junior high began I had cut myself off from my friends who didn’t go into french immersion, not on purpose, but there were many new faces among the crowd. As we all began new cliques and I was seated at a table completely separate from my friends from elementary, I was forced into making new ones. Lucky for me, I can get along with just about anyone. As I met a guy who would easily become my best friend and two of his friends, our friends all managed to get along and soon the group had formed and solidified. These would be the friends I would carry straight up through and into high school. Definitely the best group of friends I had ever had, especially up to this point. One of the problems I was having though was I had no real values, no idea how to be a good friend and I was still being bullied around school. The bullying didn’t bother me, but it did toughen me up. Eventually, it grew from two on one bullying to more and eventually it would take four guys to successfully bully me around. I always thought to myself, these guys are so lame, and I pitied the fact that they felt they needed to do that. Whatever made them feel better about themselves, I guess they needed it more than me.

As junior high continued I loved french immersion, and decided I would continue it into high school as well. Despite being bullied, I had some incredible times and made some of the best friends I may ever have. I mean, those people you meet throughout life you may have a lasting affect on forever. A girl I liked, ended up dating one of my friends instead and through the connections she made there, is with another of my friends. Who would he be with now if I had never met her? Who knows? But at the end of the day things worked out. No matter what though, I learned how to be a friend, and forged my own values and personality from those around me. Every one of those people made an impression on me that makes me thankful I ever met them, even if we didn’t always get along.

That’s it for today’s entry, tomorrow will be Episode Two of Unbiased Law and this article will continue on every second day. Please feel free to leave your comments below or email me from the top right! Thanks for reading!