Blog or white ... because it never is.

My first job was working at the Tourist Bureau in my beloved hometown of Dauphin, Manitoba.  The tourist bureau was a small poorly insulated shack next to the town statute/mascot, Amisk the Beaver. I used to joke that I got to spend an entire summer asking people if they wanted to see my giant beaver.  It's true.  People would come into the tourist bureau and say, "what is there to do in Dauphin?" and I would say, "have you seen my giant beaver?"  They would reply no and I would point to the statue of Amisk and say, "there, it is."  I thought it was hilarious.  No one else seemed to get it.  There were three of us working at the bureau that summer.  We were paid from a Canada Summer Jobs grant.  My friends were jealous thinking I had the perfect job.  The first day we started in May, all three of us worked that day, cleaning the shack from top to bottom and unpacking all the boxes and boxes of pamphlets sent to us from Tourism ...

When I was in elementary school, and I became old enough to have friends over, I had a choice of about 10 other children who were living in a three block radius.  I usually picked the same friend to invite over.  She was different from the other kids.  She had a complicated life.  She didn't have a father and her mother had health problems.  She had older brothers and sisters who also seemed to have complicated lives and they sort of came in and out of the house from places unknown.  She struggled in school.  I would often pick her up on the way to school and often that meant that I would be entering the unlocked door and waking her up, as no one else seemed to be able to. I don't know how much of this was something I planned, but we would always play board games at my house.  And I would always win.  Monopoly was our favorite game.   The reason I always won was because I would make the rules as I was going along.  I knew ...

It happens in Hollywood, but it also happens to nobodies. I am saddened to say this was not the only time it happened, but it was the first for me.  I had a summer job in my early twenties.  There was about 5 other summer students in an office with about 10 other employees.  All female except for the boss.  He was about 60 years old at the time.  He used to make jokes all the time about his luck being in charge of a bunch of women.  For some reason, I was his favorite.  He let me leave early, come in late, take extra time on breaks, praised my work in front of the others.  It was kind of a great job, except my other colleagues resented me.   He also took me out for lunch about once a week.  He never took anyone else out for lunch.  This did not help my colleagues like me any more, but it did not bother me.   It was a summer job.  I did not need them to like me.  One day I was at my computer screen and ...

I love ramen noodles. I rarely eat them anymore, but I remember a time in my youth where I might have eaten them 6 times a week.  By choice.  When I was a University student, or even when I was young adult in my first job, I used to love eating ramen noodles.  I used to budget spending $40/week on groceries.  For 6 days of the week, I tried to live on less than a dollar a day.  That sounds like nothing, but it was actually a lot of money.   Ramen noodles were about $.19/package and this was my dinner.  Sometimes I could buy a case of noodles on sale and it would work out to $.11/package. That would be my dinner and leave me with $.89 left.  A lot of money.  I would have a piece of fruit for breakfast.  Usually an orange, sometimes a grapefruit, some grapes, sometimes a banana. Whatever was seasonal and whatever was the best value.  Lunch also gave me options.  I would have two hard boiled eggs.  Sometimes cans of tuna ...

On Christmas morning, when my son was 2 years old, and after he had opened all of his presents, I told him that now he was going to tell me what was his favorite present.  After he chose, I announced that we were starting a new Christmas tradition and that we were going down to a Homeless Shelter and donate this present to a child who was less fortunate than he was.   Of course, I was doing this for his own good.  I wanted him to appreciate all that he had and I wanted him to grow up having a generous heart and spirit.  I wanted him to do good.    When next Christmas came along, he identified his favorite present as a pair of pyjamas.  I told him that I didn't believe him and that I would pick what would be the present that he donated. In early December of the next year, we were shopping and my son pointed out a very plain and inexpensive toy that I had never seen him have any interest in before.  He wanted this to be added to his Chris...