Out of the Mouths of Babes.

Last updated on April 3rd, 2021 at 03:23 am

“Fuckshit.”

The Life and Times of Casey and Family—NaBloPoMo Day 3—Out of the Mouths of Babes.—The Kindergarten Kid Back from Kindergarten Orientation

I didn’t know it then, but before my eldest started junior kindergarten this September, life was simple. Taking an extra eight months away from the office after her mat leave to be with the boys (and because two kids in Toronto daycare is really expensive), Sarah took the boys on various adventures as they grew. I mean, it obviously wasn’t perfect—I’m not entirely sure how Sarah finished those twenty months with her sanity intact—but for the most part, we were in control. We taught them what we wanted, chose what stimuli affected them, and saw them grow in the world we created for them.

But what we hadn’t considered was a new factor just over the horizon—something we couldn’t control that’d affect our son in entirely new ways.

Other. People’s. Kids.

Let Best Buy Canada Get You Back to School!

Last updated on April 21st, 2021 at 01:57 am

Summer’s over. Time to go back to school!

“Back to school” is a strange concept for me as it’s been about a decade since I was last a full-time student. Having worked all the time since, I barely recognize the summer vacation months when they come along, noting only that it’s a little hotter and all the fun stuff in town’s a lot busier than it was a few months prior.

Which is all fine and dandy—until you have a kid.

Because Back-to-School is Different as a Parent.

I woke up early on the Tuesday following Labour Day, getting my Facebooking in before the toils and tribulations of the day ahead. I’ve spent 9 years seeing my Facebook evolve from club kids without a clue to travel, weddings and baby announcements, but this morning my Facebook feed was plastered with kids getting ready for the first day of school. My little guy’s only creeping on 10 months old, and I already find myself thinking of all the things I’ll need to keep in mind when he’s in preschool. Then in elementary school. And later in high school.

Where I’m at.

Allllright, so where’re things at. Let’s see.

  • Back to school next week Wednesday to finish up this undergrad degree in Business & Society—whatever that means
    • I’ll need to spend the next eight months researching what people who get this degree normally do with it (i.e. what jobs they get), as well as look within my bank to see if there are any jobs I’d actually enjoy doing—I’m a bit sceptical, but I have to keep an open mind with this sort of thing—see what works out for me best.
    • After getting that Mutual Funds license, I’m thinking of getting a few other licenses and certificates so I can at least keep learning and progressing in the bank. Not to the point that I go insane though, because that would kinda suck.
  • This upcoming weekend is Fan Expo 2006. How prepared am I? The degree to which I’m unprepared this year is rather preposterous. But I’m working my ass off on putting together Bananaz: An Intro to Fish & Chimps and Gorilla Warfare 2006 / 2007 Doomz Preview in time to sell at con. I’ll put prices and such on my website if anyone’s interested in buying copies. So yeah, I should survive this year. Then hopefully in 2007, my muse will return, and I’ll draw like a fiend so that Fan Expo 2007 will finally get me into the big leagues of indie artists 😊 But time will tell.
  • I lost my glasses when going back from the barbershop to work last week, so I’m getting new ones. But my optometrist’s office (with the cute young desk clerk) hasn’t called me back yet 😔 Woe.
  • Work’s a bitch. I can’t entirely agree with many the policies and viewpoints put in place at my branch. I understand that I work for a bank, and as such, I’m in the business of making the bank loads of money. At the same time, though, I find it ethically wrong not to help people when it’s completely in my power to do so. For example:
    • I got a debt consolidation loan approved for a client for $25,000, but it got declined by my manager because she felt it was a bad deal to take credit from so many other places and put it under our responsibility. Well, what are debt consolidation loans FOR, then? I find it perturbing that I’m being denied the ability to reduce a customer’s payments from the 25-30% that they’re currently at to 10.5%.
    • I had a customer approved for a $500 secured Visa card, but once again, via branch policy (minimum of $1000 with 120% security—i.e., $1200, so that we can generate more sales revenue), I was denied the ability to grant it to him. This kind of crap gets to me since it impedes my job and my general mindset as a salesperson. It’s bolstered my resolve a bit—to get out of the branches and work more towards doing something that will benefit people and not the people I work for. We’ll see what plans I can concoct.

So yeah, that’s about it. Just peepin’ the new Timberlake album (which I have dubbed “Timbalake”), and assembling my art. Should be a decent week, only short shifts. Looking forward to a lighter load.

Until next time, peoples!

–case p.

An aside of sorts.

It was mentioned to me in an email earlier that my buddy Will didn’t see me posting around DeviantArt too much. I guess that’s true—I mean, I’m constantly trying to juggle so much, that I never really get to always do what I’d like to do. To give you a slight picture of what I do in my days, let’s break down the many faces of Doomz.

  • Worker Doomz: Works at a bank at a minimum of 20 hours a week, making a decent wage, aiming to eventually pay off outstanding debts.
  • Schoolkid Doomz: Goes to school for a degree in Business & Society at York University, with about 16 hours of class a week. Most of this is spent doodling or napping, as the majority of said classes are boring as all hell. There is also the fact that studying and homework needs to be done, so that just tacks on hours per week of enjoyment. Woop woop 😕
  • Travelling Doomz: As Doomz does not have a vehicle, much of his time is spent on public transportation getting from one place to another. A good estimate of this is about 15 hours a week.
    It is good to note that when not sleeping on public transportation, this time overlaps with reading and/or drawing time.
  • Doomz the Friend: I try to visit and chat with my different friends as much as I can—it just seems that there aren’t enough hours in the day to keep up with all of them. But they do matter, and Doomz tries to fit them in when he can.
  • Doomz @ Home: By the time Doomz gets home, he’s pretty damn beat. There’re chores to be done and pictures to be completed, things to be done on the computer and in his room—but in all honesty, by this time he’s ready to just call it a day. Between sleeping, showering, eating and all that hoopla, I’d say about 40-45 hours a week are spent in a semi-comatose state, reflecting upon the boredom that is the life of Doomz.

So, from afar, I guess it doesn’t seem like the life of Doomz could be possibly boring whatsoever, but the bad side of things is that it’s all routine and horribly irritating at times. Being too busy to write and draw as much as you’d like in a day can get to you sometimes, but I intend to keep making a strong effort for 2005. At the moment, I’m already updating more regularly than I did in 2004 in general, so we shall see.

I’m hoping that one day soon, I can stop with all this crap and do more of what I like to do. Only time will tell though, eh?

–case p.

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