Holy Moses

I'm writing this post while sitting at a picnic table outside. The view:




This is the beauty of technology: that you can use voice activation software on a tablet computer while sitting in the middle of nowhere. My only irritation is that the technology keeps translating the sounds of the wind through leaves or of birds chirping. For your information, the rustling rushes in the pond sound like the word 'will' and leaves sound like the word 'one.' Life's a bitch, ain't it?

And now, random facts about Viv! Why? Because it's my fucking blog, wanker/oh gracious one[reader's choice], and I RULE HERE.

Three cheesy things that I love:

• First of all, McDonald's. Every week I drive an hour south to Brampton to play music in a friend's basement. The band plays everything from Santana to classic rock and the odd original. We have two drummers, a saxophone/recorder, 3 guitarists, a bassist, and myself, the keyboardist. It's the only musical environment that I've ever worked in that is healthy. I used to play classical music with the royal conservatory of music and a more neurotic, competitive atmosphere you'll rarely find. I'm sure a lot of this is my own overly sensitive temperament. Somehow this group has a very happy and exploratory vibe, whether we are jamming on a twelve bar blues or hammering out a rock song. Every Thursday however, there's a little part of my brain that's looking forward to going through the McDonald's drive through at the end of the session. There is no greater pleasure than driving up highway ten at 80 kilometers an hour while everyone is passing you, listening to overly loud rock and roll, eyes peeled for animals on the road, chomping on a quarter pounder wit' cheese.
  
  [I had to come inside to finish this. Too much interference from the wildlife. The computer was spazzing. Gaaah! A biiiiiirrrd! Nooooooooo! Is that 'will'? or 'one'? or, 'in' or 'an one will an one @#^&*&@' Sobs from the Toshiba... ]
  
  
• Music from the 1930's and '40's, usually sung by jazz musicians years later, like Sarah Vaughan or the King Cole Trio. I like the melodies, the smiling way they are sung, and the simple arrangements. But most of all I like to imagine how people felt when they were listening to this music, during the Depression and the war. These songs must've been like memories of something sweet, like sucking on candy when you couldn't afford supper to begin with. The sunny side of the street, tangerine, honeysuckle rose. Make love to me tonight, baby, "because men is scarce as nylons, and if you can't smile and say yes then please don't cry and say no."
  
• And now for my piece de resistance: Keanu Reeves. Oh no, you say, can it be true? Oh but yes of course, Mr. Reeves happens to be my very favorite actor. But I think that I have already blogged about this. Sass, have I covered this ground before? Watch This Space for the startling conclusion!
  

I had a great job interview today with a company that specializes in teaching high school equivalency and college preparation to injured workers. Typically the students come to the program via workers' compensation, which pays for their tuition. They've lost the ability to do their jobs, most of which are in manual labour, and in the middle of life have to find a new way to feed themselves. Some are highly motivated, some believe that they're too stupid to do it, some try to take cigarette breaks every ten minutes. The teachers have a maximum of three students in a classroom and their job is to teach the students whatever they need to accomplish their goals, from accounting to writing to customer service. You get a workbook for each subject and you teach it.


I can identify with these people. For most of this year I believed that I would be unable to do anything that I had been trained to do because of my disability. I have an English Literature and Creative Writing degree and all of my work experience involves computers, specifically typing. Workers' compensation is still processing my claim [ by the way, I did those italics, like, totally just with my voice, man]. I met the manager and the regional team leader and I could tell immediately that they knew what was important in life, like food, shelter, employment that makes the employees feel useful. And get this, they made sure to tell me not to show up in a business suit. Holy Moses. "It doesn't make our students feel comfortable." It's a part time job and the pay is bad ($12.50 an hour for twenty hours a week) which means that I would make enough money for gas, my bills, food and nothing else, which is kind of perfect, because I'll still have that kick in the pants to get me to do my artwork. So here's hoping.