Long Past Time For An Update…

So it would seem that I may have been neglecting my site over the past while. As such, I have decided it was time for a change around here, much like the ones that have taken place in my real life.
Since my last post, I have moved on from the world of lumberyard shipping. It was all a bit of a farce really, as I was let go because someone else built a load wrong. But you know what? I’m quite fine with that. The stress that the job was creating (I wold be scheduled from 6AM to 2:30 PM, but would be at work at 5:15 AM, often work through my lunch and leave work at 3:00 or later, then have my cell phone ring constantly right up until I went to bed) made the job less than enjoyable. I was the scapegoat for whenever anything went wrong in the yard… it was supposedly *my* responsibility, yet I was not actually given a promotion or pay raise to match the added demands. I think I’m much better off where I am now. Sure, the hours can be a little erratic, but the pay is much better, and being able to do work for the Film Industry is an awesome perk. It really says something when a National TV Show will send out a message that *you* are the one who moves their planes.

Scott White (@NightStormDraco) moves our #ArcticAir planes + posts some excellent pictures like this: pic.twitter.com/hygwl2yZ3w Check them out!

— Arctic Air (@CBCArcticAir) October 24, 2013

We decided it was time to move out of “downtown”, and relocated just south of town on a nice quiet 30 acre piece of property.  The only noise at night are the coyotes (puppies, as I refer to them… yes, I feed them, and they are happy when I do) and the occasional idiot who insists on stopping at the TV set across the road.  Yep, we have a full TV set across the street… they film “Bates Motel” there, and use the property here to park their trucks and set up their craft services.  For the first few times they were here, they would set up a tent in the driveway and put all the food there, which was fine until it would start to get windy or rain (which was all the time).  As a favour, we let them move into one of our garage bays, where they have since made themselves at home.  It’s like having a personal 7-11 right here in the house.  And the crew are totally awesome… so are the cast (yes, we have had the opportunity to meet Freddie Highmore, Vera Farmiga, Max Thieriot, and Olivia Cooke… in fact, it is a little surprising when you walk out to your garage and Norman and Norma Bates are in there… together… eyeing up the cake and the knife…

Jumping around on topics (like I usually do), I discovered something back in April last year (I am really THAT behind in updates).  You see, my mom got sick… real sick.  Cancer sucks.  They (Mom and Dad) managed to keep it from me for a while, but as all things go, eventually they had to tell me what was going on.  Within weeks, it was all over (not in a good way, but the suffering ended).  Anyway, that is enough back-story on that.  The thing I learned was rather sobering… after everything had happened, all of the condolences that I had received, even from people I had not seen in over a decade… and not one message from any of my recently-former co-workers.  I can understand one or two of them not saying anything, as they are not what one could consider “active” on Social Media… but there were others, who were VERY active on there, and nothing.  You know, these were people that I had at one time considered to be friends, a part of my social circle.  Reality rears its ugly head, and I find out who the real friends are.  Oh well, notes were made and names remembered.

The other thing that has really surprised me lately is how many people out there buy into the “reality television” crap, thinking that it’s actually real.  The company I work for is a part of just such a show… Highway Through Hell, which was pitched to us as a show that focuses on the people that keep Highway 5 “The Coquihalla” open during the often-treacherous Winters.  Well, that was a pile of bullshit right off the start… the show actually paints one particular company as the “Heroes of the Highway” and all other tow companies are just inexperienced poachers.  This is even though the company I work for has towed the Coq since it’s opening, and towed the Valley since 1964… the so-called Heroes haven’t even been around that long.  But, all because Tami’s brother signed the company up for this without properly researching the contract or even consulting the company owner, we get to be the “bad guys”… and Tami and I get to filter through all the idiots sending hate mail, Facebook messages, twitter messages… there are actually morons out there who buy into this show and its fabricated truths.  Of course, they are probably the same ones who buy into “Real Housewives of Trash City” type shows as well.

So anyway, as you probably gathered from hints up there, I’m in a new line of work.  The company that Tami’s parents own (Quiring Towing) was in need of a deck truck driver… somehow, I got signed up for the job, and now here I am… driving a tow truck… at all hours of the day and night.  But the pay is good.  That, and you get to meet some really neat people and the experiences are, well… they stick with you.  You can check out some pictures of various jobs I’ve done in the photo gallery.

I’ve gone over a year now without Mom.  We had a nice memorial service for her in August, which is when we would normally be celebrating her birthday, and her brother came over on his boat so we could put her ashes out in the ocean.  It’s been hard at times, as I still find myself occasionally referring to the property on Pender as “Mom and Dads”.  I quickly catch myself though.  I guess it still is both of theirs, as she is still there in spirit, but I have to be careful not to say it when talking to Dad as I am not sure how he will react.  My biggest disappointment in it all is that she never got to meet Dustin or Braeden.  I don’t think they even know, honestly.  Tara knows, as does her mother… but I don’t think either of them told the kids.  I guess it’s not really one of those things you can just bring up in a conversation with a 13 year old.  I imagine I will tell him eventually, I just want to spend time getting to know the man he is becoming first.  So far though, I am extremely impressed and proud of him, so I know he is on the right path.

Anyway, I really should post this, or else I am liable to just keep on adding to it and it’ll never actually go anywhere.  Hope that everyone is ding well, and  guess what… it’s almost Summer!  Good things are coming (hoping good weather will be one of them).