As my thoughts journey back to when I became disillusioned with high school, I asked why I was there? Knowing that if I quit then, I could go back, but it would be much harder. I wasn’t about to give up on learning, just high school with all its problems. Why do I talk about this event now?   Over the past years I have tried to start fresh with a new job market but it has left me with the same feelings of being disillusioned. Long hours followed by well it is just not working out or the wages can’t pay my rent. My latest job is in a retail lumber yard the wages can’t even pay my rent. Bad enough that it is a long bus ride to and from work. Of course, you’re outside all the time which didn’t bother me much in my early 40’s but now just seems to hurt more and bother me even more. At age 50 plus you think you’re worth more and when I ran my own painting company, I was making a lot more. I have looked around for more in pay but in the Kootenays of British Columbia (BC) and in BC it

Susie ( my wife ) put up the tree to make it feel more like Christmas around the home. She wants me to feel different about Christmas butsomehow the magic has left me with a void. As the New Year rolls over me it is a time for review and planning.  I ask the same of you as to what are “WE” looking for in the new year? That resolution or promise that we all make every year or is this year to really step out? My answer, I review my whole year or further back to see what has worked and more importantly what hasn’t. One of the big focuses is going to be more on the crafting work. We both want to do more with her Stain Glass work and my Wood Working. I know there are several projects that need to get done around the shop. The local markets have been hit/miss with no real high sales… both of us are wondering about this so we are going to more “skill” projects that most people haven’t seen before at the markets. For me personally the job I am now at is like I was back in high scho

The summer started with promises yet again of full time work. Starting back in Flagging I went and took the course which I just passed with my Learning Disability.  After just a few calls out I was let go ??  Never was told why or what I did or did not do. Again I went with the flow and got on with another flagging company which had more work locally. Until they needed me in the interior of British Columbia Canada that job was the final straw with flagging as a new career. Working more then 12 hours a day and just getting paid for 11 hours. Working 7 days a week in the hot sun. Being verbally abused on a regular basis. That promise of full time work ended too, but they still need people. This is a pattern of "silly" labor jobs. It has been the case for the last 4 years I had 6 jobs which seem all or in part promises of FULL TIME work only to be let go. Yes, all were paid in wages getting less then $ 20 per hour which doesn't cover the $1,500 you need per month for rent.

It is now 2018 and a host of celebrities have died, not from age or car crashes, but from the darkness that has taken so many. The latest one was Anthony Bourdain, and for me personally, one of the most interesting men around. Yes, celebrity chef but the “Parts Unknown” show was engaging. Not just someone trying to cook or eating but with real depth. Robin Williams, a comedic   genius, will not grace the screen or the end of the band the Cranberries with singer Dolores o Riordan and let’s not forget Kate Spade.   Avicii’s death was much like a lot of these celebrities who got lost in their craft. In our own life that darkness of life can come at any time, swallowed up by debt, going through a divorce. Where does this take us? We are talking about Mental Health just like your physical health. I have often said you would never tell don’t exercise but with Mental Health we keep in that toxic environment hoping to change the person or pay off the debt with one more job. For m

I have been wondering what I should write on this month. I also have been busy in my shop as I am starting to see spring is coming slowly. Working around the self-employment   theme my wife and I have been working on the craft projects which works with my woodworking skills.   Now mainly because of my age / job market I have started down the path of heading back to school to do Small Engine Repair Course. So Susie ( my wife ) has been sorting stuff and she came across this paper:   We both have used the “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.   One of the topics in that book talks about Paradigms & Principles. “ We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit” – Aristotle   Our character, basically, is a composite of our habits. “Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character , sow a character , reap a destiny.” the maxim goes. Habits are powerful factors in our lives. Because they are co

It is with a sad heart today I must post about the recent shooting. I don’t want this to be about which side anyone is on. I want this to be about what I had to deal with in my own high school, my good friend, and what I see today with the “world”. Obviously like many youth today he had a Mental Health issue. If you start there, it would be wonderful but we come around to Mental Health and yet again dodge this topic on a national level. Remember it is not just the shooter or the ones he kills. It is ALL the families as well the community who now have to somehow come to understand this day. I remember my own high school where I never fitted in. Some days my wish was to have super powers to make me invisible. It never happened. In that journey I was chased after by bullies. I tried to commit suicide as I rode my bike to school one morning.  Then I had enough so I started a fight with one of the main bullies which led to the office, asked by many teachers “You TKO” so &

Happy Holidays   -- Sort of : If you are like me, this can be a tough time or it can be filled with joy. On the other hand, it can be a dark time filled with messages of doom. Let us not even think about the New Year, which is only one month away. It is not all lost certainly you can bring life back into the holidays. Last year we went to my brother’s place, away from the shopping buzz, and add to that the non-stop Christmas caroling in every store. If you have children, that buzz will be just a little more but as a family, start or do your own traditions. Maybe look at what has worked with birthdays. One of my activities is to review the last year. Then plan out my new year in a broad way. This doesn’t need be about goal setting as you just want to see when things might happen. All the Best… Chris at the Rippling Pond.