life's ups and downs - metaphorical and literal, part 1

hey all,

man its been a drama of sorts the past month and a bit (isn't it always!!....)

all was going swimmingly for me after a slowish start to my life in vancouver. i was working a decent job, meeting interesting and fun people, taking long-weekend holidays, and had exciting plans for the year ahead and beyond.

then my work contract got cut short by a cuppla weeks with pretty much zero notice (the life of a temp, eh!), and the agencies didn't really have anything concrete lined up for me. i was kinda miffed about the whole thing, and was left lazing about the house with little to do while i waited for the phone to ring for a job. i got a few odd days here and there paying between $9 and $11 per hour (wages I hadn't accepted since my Uni days) - I'd get 1 day retail, which would be followed by nothing, then a 1/2 day's photocopying, 1 evening table waiting for an enormous function (more on that one later!), more nothing, some sandwich making and dishwashing, more nothing, and then 2 days light industrial packing maple syrup jars into boxes for export to Japan. not exactly promising stuff.

It was around this time that the news of an incredibly popular and talented Australian drummer for Aussie/Kiwi band Crowded House named Paul Hester had committed suicide in Melbourne. I, like thousands of others in Oz and around the world, was a pretty big fan of the band, and the news hit me like a ton of bricks, It actually affected me more than any other event since Jeff Buckley died I think, and was sorta surprised and just how deeply it did affect me. Maybe it was just the timing. I was already a little (lot) down about myself with the way my own life was panning out, but it did send me into an ordinary downward spiral........At one point I didn't leave the house for 4 days, kept the curtains closed, lay in bed til 3pm - what reason did i have to get up - and generally became a miserable sod surfing the net reading all the Hester obituaries I could find.

Those that know me well know that this just isn't like me. I'm usually pretty proactive about things, but i just felt very, very ordinary and let myself feel sorry for myself. fortunately I eventually was able to 'snap out of it'. On finishing the last of the crappy jobs - for the maple syrup company - I fired off a couple of strongly worded emails to my agencies stating just how badly I needed to be working solidly on a decent length contract, and the the work they were getting me simply wasn't enough - wasn't challenging enough, wasn't paying enough and weren't long enough.

Suddenly, I got a phone call offering me a 4month contract, till the end of August, at $14 per hour. Coincedence? I'm sure these jobs were around before, but I was just not getting them. One email later and "all of a sudden" this contract "just happened" to come up. It's amazing what a bit of proactivity will get you!

So that's the metaphorical ups and downs. Now wait for the second instalment for the literal ups and downs.