PART 3
Previously; I had just left for Christmas 2002.
Call it a ROAD TRIP, on the Solo tip.... All by Myself, once again. It's funny how some of the biggest events of your life happen on your own.
I left Toronto with a ONE-WAY Bus pass, on Greyhound headed for Whitehorse, YT in December 2002. One-way because the Blackout dates wouldn't allow for round trip, and my 86 hours bus trip would have to have been completed within two weeks.
The initial bus trip was rather uneventful, until I arrived in Edmonton and found out that I had a lay over for 46 hours. I got myself a room at the YMCA Residence down the street, to stash my stuff and headed out to look around the city in Winter/XMAS. I headed down to Millwoods, the Neighborhood where my grandmother lived. I just dropped in to say Merry Christmas, but the first thing she told me was that I couldn't stay with her. So, I gave my holiday wishes and was on my way. Unfortunately, that was the last time I saw her, she past away a little over a year later.
Next day, I made my way to West Edmonton Mall, Where I became bored with just wandering.... So I looked into a couple of the Tattoo studios, but couldn't make any decisions, so I wandered into the Bingo Hall, and ordered a bunch of cards and a dabber.
I played for about a hour and a half, won about $65... and kept on my way. Afterward, I decided to hit up the Casino just for laughs, and to see if I could continue. I spent about $5 on the slots and won $25 more, than I was playing the 3 dice Roulette type game... Not sure what its called, but it was the same game I had played years before on a New Year's Eve in Vancouver. I only won a bit, and decided to stop and go back into the mall.
Feeling kind of Grimey from my trip, I bought a new Sweater and a vest and headed back to my residence room. I just watched a couple movies, and headed to bed, for about 4 hours before I had to get back to the bus station.
The Bus left, headed out from Edmonton, towards Whitehorse, Dawson Creek, And many other places that are very cold at that time of year, but everything looks very nice, the trees are like giant ice sickles sticking up out of the ground. After Watson Lake at some point, I had been taking sleeping pills to relax and try to sleep, I was in a daze and then the bus broke down..... and then it started running, and I went back to sleep... a little while later, the bus broke down again.....This process repeated itself the rest of the way to Whitehorse, but we did make it, A little later than the scheduled time but still very early in the morning.
Upon arrival, nobody was waiting for me, I did make plans to be there, I just didn't tell my mother when I was getting there. So, I just showed up at some places where I knew she might be, or at least her friends would be there. Luckily, I was right and found them and we went out for lunch.
Over the next couple weeks, I helped my mother with her work. She was running a contract cleaning company, Cleaning a few houses, a bingo hall, and a Canadian Legion Hall. I also went Snowmobiling way up in the mountains, for an afternoon. The scenery from up there was something I will never forget. Sitting at the top of the mountain, on one side you have a huge frozen lake, where other sledders were building a race track, and on the other side you could see the city, through some very low cloud cover.... we passed through what seemed like an abandon fishing camp, but maybe just for winter. Raced across the lake a few times, by that time my toes were frozen through my steel toe boots. We headed back before the real dark set in, and good thing too, one of the Skis on my machine was wobbly, and as soon as I mentioned it to my friend he switched machines with me. Soon after the ski broke, and completely turned around.
We enjoyed a fairly quiet Christmas, Me, my Birth Mother, And the two ladies that owned the house... To my surprise, I received a lot of gifts, something I had not planned for. I had packed my bag to be prepared for the cold weather. On Boxing day we got it, -26 plus a wind chill that I don't want to think about, but it was still really nice. We took the dogs for a walk in a nearby forest...
A few months prior to my trip, I had been accepted into a school for the coming March 2003 term, I was supposed to have an interview in early January with the administrator of the school, So I had talked to my mother about this and explained When I would have to leave. It so happened that I would have to leave before New Years Eve, but Before that... She decided to take me to a friend's place on a wooded acreage, basically, a year round home, in what looked like a Cabin in the woods. It was really nice, imagine having a Bonfire in the woods in the middle of the winter. Because of where we were, North of 60, and the time of year, the days were very short for sunlight. I remember sitting in front of a roaring fire and not being able to see the trees around us, and the sky was pitch black... The Friend's Dog was also black, and damn near impossible to see walking around us in the woods, it was about 4pm in the afternoon.
A few days later, I had to head back to Toronto, this time in reverse, and only a stopover of a few hours in Edmonton. It was New Year's Eve by the time I got to Edmonton, so I wondered over to the Downtown Casino for some memorable fun times. Only thing was, I only had $2 in cash on me, my wallet was in one of my bags or something. I didn't do much at first, then I found a game that looked interesting. It was a Horse Track, Miniature sized, that had about a dozen or so terminals around it where you could make bets on the results. Odds, and everything, just like the real thing just in a size that would fit in a Casino. I split my $2 coin, into singles, and gave it a try.... First I won enough to keep playing, then lost most of it, then I started winning over and over, lucky me... in about 4 hours and change, I made that $2 into over $200. Enough to have something to eat, all the way home, and maybe a little more.
I got back to Toronto in January 2003, and went back to work. At the time, I was working for Magna as a temporary worker making autoparts. Everybody I met there really encouraged me to get out of the factory and go back to school. About Half way through the month of January, I was working a production line and totally destroyed my rotator cuff in my left shoulder. So I spent the next couple months preparing for the start of school. I moved out of my parents house upon my return to Toronto, but I moved to Hamilton because It was much cheaper and I sort of had enough money to afford it.....
TO BE CONTINUED.... Q1 2003
Previously; I had just left for Christmas 2002.
Call it a ROAD TRIP, on the Solo tip.... All by Myself, once again. It's funny how some of the biggest events of your life happen on your own.
I left Toronto with a ONE-WAY Bus pass, on Greyhound headed for Whitehorse, YT in December 2002. One-way because the Blackout dates wouldn't allow for round trip, and my 86 hours bus trip would have to have been completed within two weeks.
The initial bus trip was rather uneventful, until I arrived in Edmonton and found out that I had a lay over for 46 hours. I got myself a room at the YMCA Residence down the street, to stash my stuff and headed out to look around the city in Winter/XMAS. I headed down to Millwoods, the Neighborhood where my grandmother lived. I just dropped in to say Merry Christmas, but the first thing she told me was that I couldn't stay with her. So, I gave my holiday wishes and was on my way. Unfortunately, that was the last time I saw her, she past away a little over a year later.
Next day, I made my way to West Edmonton Mall, Where I became bored with just wandering.... So I looked into a couple of the Tattoo studios, but couldn't make any decisions, so I wandered into the Bingo Hall, and ordered a bunch of cards and a dabber.
I played for about a hour and a half, won about $65... and kept on my way. Afterward, I decided to hit up the Casino just for laughs, and to see if I could continue. I spent about $5 on the slots and won $25 more, than I was playing the 3 dice Roulette type game... Not sure what its called, but it was the same game I had played years before on a New Year's Eve in Vancouver. I only won a bit, and decided to stop and go back into the mall.
Feeling kind of Grimey from my trip, I bought a new Sweater and a vest and headed back to my residence room. I just watched a couple movies, and headed to bed, for about 4 hours before I had to get back to the bus station.
The Bus left, headed out from Edmonton, towards Whitehorse, Dawson Creek, And many other places that are very cold at that time of year, but everything looks very nice, the trees are like giant ice sickles sticking up out of the ground. After Watson Lake at some point, I had been taking sleeping pills to relax and try to sleep, I was in a daze and then the bus broke down..... and then it started running, and I went back to sleep... a little while later, the bus broke down again.....This process repeated itself the rest of the way to Whitehorse, but we did make it, A little later than the scheduled time but still very early in the morning.
Upon arrival, nobody was waiting for me, I did make plans to be there, I just didn't tell my mother when I was getting there. So, I just showed up at some places where I knew she might be, or at least her friends would be there. Luckily, I was right and found them and we went out for lunch.
Over the next couple weeks, I helped my mother with her work. She was running a contract cleaning company, Cleaning a few houses, a bingo hall, and a Canadian Legion Hall. I also went Snowmobiling way up in the mountains, for an afternoon. The scenery from up there was something I will never forget. Sitting at the top of the mountain, on one side you have a huge frozen lake, where other sledders were building a race track, and on the other side you could see the city, through some very low cloud cover.... we passed through what seemed like an abandon fishing camp, but maybe just for winter. Raced across the lake a few times, by that time my toes were frozen through my steel toe boots. We headed back before the real dark set in, and good thing too, one of the Skis on my machine was wobbly, and as soon as I mentioned it to my friend he switched machines with me. Soon after the ski broke, and completely turned around.
We enjoyed a fairly quiet Christmas, Me, my Birth Mother, And the two ladies that owned the house... To my surprise, I received a lot of gifts, something I had not planned for. I had packed my bag to be prepared for the cold weather. On Boxing day we got it, -26 plus a wind chill that I don't want to think about, but it was still really nice. We took the dogs for a walk in a nearby forest...
A few months prior to my trip, I had been accepted into a school for the coming March 2003 term, I was supposed to have an interview in early January with the administrator of the school, So I had talked to my mother about this and explained When I would have to leave. It so happened that I would have to leave before New Years Eve, but Before that... She decided to take me to a friend's place on a wooded acreage, basically, a year round home, in what looked like a Cabin in the woods. It was really nice, imagine having a Bonfire in the woods in the middle of the winter. Because of where we were, North of 60, and the time of year, the days were very short for sunlight. I remember sitting in front of a roaring fire and not being able to see the trees around us, and the sky was pitch black... The Friend's Dog was also black, and damn near impossible to see walking around us in the woods, it was about 4pm in the afternoon.
A few days later, I had to head back to Toronto, this time in reverse, and only a stopover of a few hours in Edmonton. It was New Year's Eve by the time I got to Edmonton, so I wondered over to the Downtown Casino for some memorable fun times. Only thing was, I only had $2 in cash on me, my wallet was in one of my bags or something. I didn't do much at first, then I found a game that looked interesting. It was a Horse Track, Miniature sized, that had about a dozen or so terminals around it where you could make bets on the results. Odds, and everything, just like the real thing just in a size that would fit in a Casino. I split my $2 coin, into singles, and gave it a try.... First I won enough to keep playing, then lost most of it, then I started winning over and over, lucky me... in about 4 hours and change, I made that $2 into over $200. Enough to have something to eat, all the way home, and maybe a little more.
I got back to Toronto in January 2003, and went back to work. At the time, I was working for Magna as a temporary worker making autoparts. Everybody I met there really encouraged me to get out of the factory and go back to school. About Half way through the month of January, I was working a production line and totally destroyed my rotator cuff in my left shoulder. So I spent the next couple months preparing for the start of school. I moved out of my parents house upon my return to Toronto, but I moved to Hamilton because It was much cheaper and I sort of had enough money to afford it.....
TO BE CONTINUED.... Q1 2003
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