AlinCanada - Merged Blog Posts

[AlinCanada]

Well this is my first blog entry ever. And to be honest I have no idea while I am doing it other then the possibility of the fact I may be bored. You see It has been 8 months since my last contract and I am faced with a public which by now may have forgotten my name or face. I am trying to start a whole new political career and I even have an issue for upcoming city council elections but I will feel cheap and lessened if I have to use this method of winning a nomination. In the meantime as I ponder the days of My hubbies income are dwindinling to a close as he prepairs to return to class in September. Once again I will need to be the bread earner and I have been considering postponning my entrance into the political arena. The stress you see. My David is bi-polar and stress in the houshold can cause unusual reactions in him and sometimes requires me to introduce some medication into him to help keep him level.

So do I make the push next week for public office the issue will be homlessness in our community which has seen explosive growth over the last few years (yes we have poverty and people that don't care even here in Canada). Or do I wait putting off to my early 40's my entery into the political arena. And what would I be willing to do to keep the bills paid. I am actually looking at buying a dollar store as a turnkey to keep income coming in. Clould we live in near poverty for almost 3 months during a campaign?

Oh well I don't really expect answers to these questions and I hope that something will come out of the next few weeks that will make it all possible.

Thanks for listening and I am sure I could begin to enjoy this particular way of passing on problems.

 

[AlinCanada]

SHIT hit the wrong key again.

A quick recap of what is now gone and I don't feel like writing again. We are getting ready to start the Adoption process. We will be using a Vancouver adoption Agency (Family Services of Greater Vancouver) we would appreciate any private messages about your experiences with same or similar.

David has one year left in his higher education curve and we want to be ready to go right after he finishes.

I have a new business idea which I think will do very well and you may hear about it in the near future.right here.

The week before classes start is always like living in a pressure cooker for David. The stress of returning to class can cause some weird shit to come out of his mouth so I like to be kind and gentle and smile knowingly during the 7 days or so before the bell rings.

It is always strange to me that people don't practice the best stress relief while they are stressed and they can't concentrate on one thing long enough to solve the problem. It is a vicious circle and to me at least seems like a negative survival mechanism. I would think the best programmed solution to stress would be a pause, and a clarity which will make things easier; but in most people it just seems to build and build until they have all these questions, concerns, and problems and cannot see a way out because they cannot put their mind at rest and concentrate on one thing at a time. Anyway maybe there is a self help book and lecture tour in that last bit (have to think about it I can see the title "The calm during the Storm Maximizing your problem solving abilities under stress)

Please tell me if you feel I am babbling because personally I sometimes feel like I need a good babble.
Once again thanks to all you Jubbers who have given us a second on line home.

 

[AlinCanada]

My brain is slightly hyper this evening as I write this entry for my blog here. Earlier today I finished my big everyone in the universe blog and now I just want to share with my friends. This week has been a madhouse. With David returning to class, me starting a new company and still looking for a community program to work with that I mesh well with. So is it any wonder why I find my mind wondering about the cosmos.

Sigh. Summer is over and all the pretty eye candy is re wrapping for the fall What a sad time of year. I don't really like the fall, the skys are grey. Here in Vancouver we don't really get the multi coloured leaves one day they are green the next they are all yellow.

I am however looking forward to our anniversary on the 26th which we will partially celebrate with the other Vancouver Jubbers. David gets so closed in sometimes. Because he cannot concentrate on to many things. It is good for him to remember that besides being a couple we are part of a community. I look forward to the next two weeks very much. I still have lots to do and a job to find even if we sell hundreds of E-kits I still want to work for my community. Anyways enough blabbing for this week. I promise next week a blog of substance. To catch my other blog please visit. http://www.myspace.com/servantofmankind.

 

[AlinCanada]

We have begun the renovations on the cabins and the acreage in Hope. Within a few days David and I as well as our cats will be on the road moving into the little log cabin while renovations continue.

It is a shame for a few weeks at least I will be without an Internet connection. Something that I haven't experienced since 1986. It will be tough and I shall miss all the Jubbers tremendously during the time it takes for the cable company to lay the fiber optics into our camp site.

On the plus side I had forgotten how good it feels to make things with my own hands and feel not just ownership but pride in our craftsmanship. I have spent to much time working with my mind and not enough giving into the pleasure of making things with my hands.

As well there is something entrancing about splitting your own wood for your wood burning stove to provide warmth and keep the electric bills down. We look forward to the day in may when we open our gates for the grand opening but the period of isolation leading up to that will be tough.

Hope the community the property is in is a whopping 7800 residents and thus constitutes the smallest community I have ever lived in. After Vancouver and Toronto it will be a while for me to remember how to fit into such a small town. However I think we are off to a good start we and the property are being featured in the local paper on Thurs. November 24th or the following week and I hope that if I can get to a computer I can post it for your enjoyment.

We look forward to having Ger up for at least a weekend as well as our other Jub friends in the lower mainland.

I will talk to you all later.

 

[AlinCanada]

Yes you heard me right. I am negligent..I am behind the times in communication in this world forgetting my blog. Still writing some real on paper letters and requests.

Any way in the last 10 days my sister and laws mother passed away. She was the black sheep of her family and was always a blast.

Today I discovered my favorite Aunt is in hospital in serious condition in Toronto. It isn't even that I feel chopped up or seperated from my extended family so much as I have had changes in email addresses, and I have dropped out of touch with my extended family since David and I got married. I am not sure how most of them stand on gay marriage let alone on it within their family directly. So we have just fallen out of touch.

Anyways that may all change fast if I find myself on a plane heading to TO.

 

[AlinCanada]

We are now experiencing our fifth day of snow. For us out here in BC we are usually used to 2 or 3 days in a year. Our general Christmas colour is green. Right now I haven't even been able to get my banking done in Chilliwack for a week and to be honest five days locked in a hundred year old log cabin even when you love your spouse does put some strain on things.

As I sit here the snow is still falling down and who knows what is next, but they say more snow. h

 

[AlinCanada]

Tonight has been a busy night. But I have been peeking in to JUB from time to time. Unfortunatly I had to breach someones contitional sentance today. I hate to use this as a last resort but some people just don't have it in them to change their lives to the positive.

The thing is that of the 17 units we use on our property 99% of them are people with Drug problems. And of those 70% also have mental health issues. So although we are a new non profit I am worked off my feet some weeks. Being a poor start up I have to be the advocate, the parole officer, the counselor as well as the executive director as well as sharing with my partner the ownership of the company that operates the property and provides other contract services in the region.

When we get a new person on intake I am usually very good at judging if they will make it or not. This woman I knew we would not succeed with but we where pressured by the crown and the transition house to take her in. Here it is only 3 weeks later and now she is on her way back to jail.

Its that I want to talk about. What makes some succeed at getting their shit together and what doesn't. With these addicts I have always found that only those that have an ability to be socially connected and who want to be socially connected have a chance. Particularly when it comes to Meth. The addiction I deal with 80% of the time out here. Less then 10% of meth addicts ever make it and strangley enough our technique has us up around 65% as long as they remain on the property. But really how many people deal with addictions and can you tell when you are going to succeed or not or am I just jumping to conclusions.

I just needed to get that off my chest.