{"id":3343,"date":"2014-12-05T02:52:39","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T02:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=3343"},"modified":"2014-12-05T02:53:31","modified_gmt":"2014-12-05T02:53:31","slug":"better-than-i-thought-i-could-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=3343","title":{"rendered":"Better than I thought I could be"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was a pretty damn lucky kid.<\/p>\n

From the day I was born, my parents paid into a trust fund for my post-secondary education.\u00a0 Whenever the time came for me to choose a college or university, my only worry was making sure I chose a field I would actually enjoy studying.\u00a0 There was a bit of paperwork to fill out and faxes to be sent to and from the Registrar\u2019s Office at STU, but when I eventually chose Journalism as a major, everything was pretty much paid for.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Except<\/a>

Except textbooks.
So damn expensive!<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Because of this, I didn\u2019t feel pressure from my folks to get a job while I was still in high school.\u00a0 I had friends working at restaurants and big box retail stores, and although they were making good money, they\u2019d sometimes show up to class absolutely exhausted.\u00a0 My grades were only decent as it was, and I didn\u2019t need anything to hinder them any further.<\/p>\n

In the spring of \u201902 after writing my last exam of the year (at university \u2013 I graduated high school in \u201901), I decided that being 18 without anything noteworthy on my resume was not good at all.\u00a0 I applied at a few different places and landed a couple interviews, but being new to that process, I was nervous and stutter-ey enough that I didn\u2019t get a call back from any of them.<\/p>\n

I started my second year that fall, and it wasn\u2019t long afterwards that I managed to snag a job at the liquor store in uptown Fredericton.\u00a0 I learned pretty quickly that having a job is a lot of work (duh), and that working 8:30AM to 10PM shifts was as hard on the head as it was on my feet and back.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Arch<\/a>

Arch supports – the best investment I ever made, in that it helped me not quit that job.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Working on a regular basis was quite the wake-up call.\u00a0 I went from being a lazy kid who lived at home to being a young adult who had responsibilities.\u00a0 Crazy!<\/p>\n

Six months into it, I was getting into a pretty good rhythm.\u00a0 I was well-trained, did a good job (I thought, anyway), got along well with my co-workers, and even decided to take a year off from STU to save money before going back a year later.<\/p>\n

On one Saturday morning, I went to work feeling particularly good.\u00a0 It was nice and sunny, and my shift was only from 11AM to 7PM.\u00a0 This allowed me to sleep in in the morning then get home in plenty of time for that night\u2019s NASCAR race in Charlotte, NC.<\/p>\n

Almost immediately as I walked into the store, one of the assistant managers called me into the office with a serious look on his face\u2026\u00a0 I was going to be asked to work an extra three hours until 10PM.\u00a0 I just knew it.<\/p>\n

I had to put my foot down, though; I had some serious plans!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\""Serious<\/a>

“Serious plans”: watching cars go around Charlotte Motor Speedway for a couple hours.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I took a seat and was promptly told that a fellow employee\u2019s father had unexpectedly passed away, and that she was out for the day.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure how, but I was the only guy available to cover the time she was out.<\/p>\n

Now, if you were to put me in this situation at 31, I would have said \u201cyes\u201d in a heartbeat.\u00a0 At 19, however, I had to \u201cthink about it\u201d.<\/p>\n

I went to the lunch room for a bit and mulled over missing at least the first part of the race, the very thought of which made me grumpy.\u00a0 I then thought about what the other person must be going through with the loss of her father, which made me feel awful about playing hardball at a time like this\u2026 I then walked back to the office and agreed to work until closing time.<\/p>\n

It was a decision I wasn\u2019t happy about, but at the same time, I knew deep down it was the only sensible decision for me to make.\u00a0 Having the job was evidently changing me more than I thought it would.<\/p>\n

Back in the office, the \u201catta boy\u2019s\u201d and “thank you’s” I got from my superiors only made me feel marginally better.\u00a0 I decided to treat myself to a bit of retail therapy on my supper break, so \u00a0I went to Zellers next door and bought myself a frickin\u2019 Xbox.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Celebrating<\/a>

Celebrating maturity and growth… by going out and buying a new video game console.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I picked up Enter the Matrix<\/em> and Star Wars: Obi Wan<\/em> to go along with the pack-in duo of Jet Set Radio Future<\/em> and Sega GT 2002<\/em>.\u00a0 When I got home that night, I was torn between unpacking my new toy and watching the race\u2026\u00a0 then this happened.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Gor-don't<\/a>

Gor-don’t spin the other guys out, they get mad.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

My favourite driver making enemies by spinning them out made my decision to stop watching the race a whole lot easier.\u00a0 I hooked up the Xbox and games well into Sunday morning, and I kept playing it the rest of the week as well\u2026 I could get used to this “making mature, adult decisions” thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was a pretty damn lucky kid. From the day I was born, my parents paid into a trust fund for my post-secondary education.\u00a0 Whenever the time came for me to choose a college or university, my only… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar","category-xbox"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3343"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3357,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3343\/revisions\/3357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}