Dear Stranger: This is how I live.

Writer’s block is the most annoying thing. It’s the biggest feeling of not being able to think of a subject to write about and magnifying it by ten times. It sucks. So, tonight, I’ve been using Stumble Upon in the most obscure way possible. I was asking what questions should be asked to start thinking of a subject to write about, and how to introduce something new and exciting in my blog. Well, it’s a lot harder than you may think. And, it’s not even remotely getting easy to talk about nothing. I did come up with a neat page I think I’ve seen before. It’s in relation to writing ideas. It gives you fifty ideas on what to write about and tries to get your mind active again with such functions. The page can be found here. The ideas are pretty out of this world suggesting writing a post about something that has never happened, and if it has, the experience was fulfilled in such a manner that, it should have never happened.

Having read partly through the list, I’ve came up with an interesting subject, “Write a letter to a stranger in a foreign land.”. And, really, it’s actually a pretty good topic and quite subjective to how we live and compare in unison on our earth. Many different things are different in many different parts of the world and different cultures. But, where I live, every culture is compacted with multicultural and if you don’t like the way something is ventured in the way you’re living it can be changed very quickly. I guess it’s the Canadian way. Believe in a different religion, live somewhere close to someone, or live in the middle of nowhere. Make money, be poor. Laugh and learn, be mad and complain. Eat different cuisines from different cultures. Meet people, and treat people the way you want to be treated. Grow a garden, rent a place in the local market and sell what you have to offer. Offer your knowledge, courage, and question the unknown. Compare objects, but keep equilibrium, or balance.

Here’s my first try in writing a letter to a stranger, and hopefully they’re across the world, and you the reader can learn a bit about Canada and how I live. If the subject(s) are worth questioning, don’t be afraid to ask, or comment. I’d love to hear from anyone reading this blog, and it looks as of lately I’ve been getting a lot of traffic in my blog. Thanks.

Dear Stranger:

My name is Justin. Living in Ontario, Canada. The city where I live is roughly 505,000 people. About 10 years ago, possibly longer near towns were amalgamated which means they’ve become a part of this city where I live. Although with the vastly expanding regions, construction is quite persistent and expansion is always happening. Though it stated the housing boom is over, it’s ever so clear that the market is still producing many new homes at costs a lot of people can and cannot afford. This means, the population is getting more dense, and less popular areas that were once pieces of land full of field now have erected builds for sale. There are many housing developments in production, and these developments employ people and these people are master builder companies that specialize in building homes in mass production. The construction lead(boss) employs contractors to come in and do what they’ve been educated to do. They work eight hour shifts with lunch, and two ten minute breaks between the starting of their day and lunch break, and between their lunch break and home time. It is hard work. Though this work is quite professional there are many other examples of labour.

People in Canada need certification to clarify their type of work to make good money. These credentials maintain an opportunity for a person to become highly specialized in a certified trade. With trade certification, you can go anywhere you want and have work. It’s a lot easier to find work. A resume to backup what previous work you’ve done isn’t applicable now. You need references from prior jobs that you’ve written listed off in your resume for better clarification. So if an employer is interested in such person and want to clarify the work being done, they can phone previous employers and interact on how well you did your job and why you left or were fired.

The resume, the document any employer will want to see. A resume will outline your objective, work related skills, past employers and descriptions, what your interests are and 3 or more references. Often with a resume, a cover letter is also an option. A cover letter will tell the employer all about yourself, achievements and what you’re wanting to do, and what how well you work and what skills you have, and how you plan to be the best you can be and backup what you’ve said on the resume. This document is obviously written quite professionally from a computer from a word processing program. Not only does the document count, but how it’s laid out on the page. You will want to have the document presented in a very good visual fashion to spark interest. Once presenting this documentation in an interview, you will need to posses all the certification of you education and awards you have to backup again what you’ve said on the resume. A high school diploma isn’t good enough. To impress the employer, you will want to dress accordingly and to say the best things you can say about your work related skills and how you can benefit the company in which you’ve been selected to have an interview with. If you are selected and have the opportunity to be with that company, you will have to show you skill by working. A company may not operate like your previous employer, so you will have to adjust accordingly to your new employers specifications and regulations. Selected companies or industries represent quality assurance. You will have to work within the ISO to maintain the quality of work or you risk the result of getting laid off or fired. Usually a unionized company will keep an eye on your working habits for 3-5 months and if you breach contract with your working production, you will get fired or let go. After the regulated 3-5 months have passed and you’ve paid union fees you’re granted job security. The company cannot fire you, although, they can lay you off with specific reasoning. There is also work that isn’t unionized, but that’s another blog post waiting to be written. In order to write that post, I would need to do a little research. Anyway, back on track!

Working the 9am/pm to 5pm/am days or nights. Shifts often occur 5 or 6 times a week will produce a nice quantity of cash in your pocket, or bank account. If the work is accounted for by your earnings and the government knows, taxation will be taken off, union fees and contributions are aforementioned on the piece of paper called a pay stub that shows how much you get per hour, how many hours you’ve worked, earnings, and other confidential information. Usually you will receive a check either weekly, or bi-weekly. So the first month if you are working weekly, expect two weeks of no pay, or if you get paid bi-weekly, be prepared to wait four weeks. You’re probably asking how the government is keeping track of this information, well, in order to work and in order for the government to keep track of you, you obtain a Social Insurance Number. For short, it’s usually called your SIN number, obviously an acronym. It’s an essential card and information you must get to be employed legally. Basically, it’s just a card with a number on it that you stuff in your wallet. Very confidential. People often memorize it.

So, you’ve worked your first 2 or 4 weeks, and you’ve earned your 1 or 2 week pay. Now it’s time to save and spend the earnings you’ve made. The wise thing to do is pay for all of the things you need. Whether it be the your apartment rent, house mortgage, the utility bills you have, and the food you put in your fridge and the maintenance you have to do for upkeep of your house, or vehicle.

Owning a vehicle is like having another mortgage on a house. If you have a new vehicle, you’re either financing it or it’s paid off and it runs pretty well. But, if it’s not new, and you have problems, it’s fairly easy to buy parts and get a certified mechanic to do the work. But, it will cost you a lot of money to get the work done. And, if that’s no the case, unless you have a diesel engine running on diesel, or you’ve converted the diesel engine into using vegetable oil, you’re paying a lot for gasoline. There’s always a price hike, but it does go down a lot. My mode of transportation in my city are either my feet, bike, or public transportation. The public transportation system in my city works out quite well, and it is in the works of expansion. It’s possible to transfer from city to city or town and end up in a highly dense populated city. There are also faster modes of transportation if you’re going to that extent. It’s possible to take a bus to a major city, or even a train. I’ve never travelled on a train to go to another populated city. I think that will be in the works soon.

Consumerism. People, companies, store chains want your hard earned money. But, it is possible to avoid such industrial mess. Instead of shopping at a foodchain supermarket or grocery store, you can successfully go to a food market and buy fruits, vegetables, meats, and multicultural food from places all over the world. But, buying locally from the food market will save you a lot of money and will put the money back into local farmers pockets in which they can maximise their production in growing and harvesting. Though, a lot of stalls consist of external stores that rent space. So, there is caution on what is purchased. But, a lot of Ontario has a rich and diverse area of  farming. There are specific agricultural regions of the province that are specifically for growing food, and it can’t be changed unless you build something without a permit which isn’t adviseable. In the summer if you have the room, it’s possible to grow your own fruits and vegetables at a very low cost. And, if you want to eat healthy it’s probably the best bet. A lot of people over-fertilize, or use pesticides. But, I think as of this year, there’s a ban on pesticides.

Advertising is a huge factor as well. Just like anywhere advertisements are everywhere. On a country road, billboards in a city, bus shelters, reading mediums, or in your mailbox and on television. There’s always an advertising campaign on television when you’re watching television. Advertisements play a huge roll in this society. They tell you what is popular, how major industries want you to look, what to buy into telling you what the best product is. Meanwhile the product offered is like everything on a store shelf, it’s just a consumeable product that companies want you to pay so they can sustain and maintain their integrity and become more advanced and to get even more popular by advertisement. And, the product offered isn’t usually a necessity, though they tell you it is. Whether it be lipstick, a childrens toy, or some sort of drink formula that makes you lose weight. It’s disgusting to see so many advertisements and how much people buy into them and how people are unaware they’re buying into uselessness. What happened to living the simple life and being sustainable? Apparently, the Canadian government doesn’t want you to sustain, but go indebt quickly and retain nothing but horrible thoughts on how it’s your fault you’ve gone indebt. Although, there are people who are specialized in psychology who will listen to you and your problems. If everything was correctly attributed to, there wouldn’t be any need for the extensive health care we have.

Healthcare isn’t all it’s ammied up to be in Canada. People do work very hard in the industry, a very large industry. Even though people who love to have the healthcare Canada has, it still has many holes. I have a family doctor, health card, sustaining health documents, and emergency healthcare at my disposal, but, again. Heavy Canadian Taxation takes care of it. Prescriptions are not free, usually your work will take care of it, or if you’re really in need of it, there are other options in getting it free since there are low income opportunities which the government acknowledges provided the documentation of income they store on your behalf.

Anyway, I’ve stumbled in unknown territory and I need not write anymore. And, I shall either expand my letter, or write more on how I live.

Love Justin.
Hugs & Kisses.
And, a kick in the ass!

Carbon Monoxide Detectors: Subtle Decisions;

Here I am, bored and debating what I should do while drinking a couple beer and elaborating what I did and had to be done today. No, it wasn’t a yes or no situation. A “Got To Get Out” type of situation. Not that I like to tell people what to do, but, it was relevant to a situation where potential harm could have been done, and people could have suffered both physically and mentally by either loss of oxygen, or someone dying because of CO2 poisoning.

There I was procrastinating on the computer totally focused on the computer listening to music, and chatting on Internet Relay Chat like I always do. Blocking everything out of my head. Seamless time rolling by, yet nothing to show and account for. Faint beeping I hear in the background. No, it wasn’t the smoke alarm that I’ve heard more than a dozen times. But, it was the Carbon Monoxide Detector going off.

Rushing out of the room deliberated and focusing on others, I tell my mother and her friend to get out of the house with my dog. My mother grabs the dog, while my neighbour puts on her shoes and my mom slips on her shoes and exits without caring. Happy wasn’t even part of my emotion, I opened the back door in relief while airing out the back part of the house, then I went to the front of house and opened my front door. My mother and her friend were already in the house next door. So, evidently everyone was fine.

While keeping the doors opened for a little while longer, my mother phones in a frantic emotion stuttering and splurging out words of worry. I told her I was fine, and everything is alright, and the house and alarm are alright. But, that wasn’t enough. While on the phone I went out to the local hardware store, and bought a brand new Carbon Monoxide Detector.

Walking home at a nice pace almost arriving at my house. I see this slum of the earth walking by. Greasy hair, holey jeans, and probably missing teeth with a smoke in his hand. He says, “Pull up your jeans, you’re going to freeze your ass off”. Well, I wasn’t in the mood for some comic relief, so I uttered back, “Hey buddy, go smoke another cigarette”. Which that evidently shut him up, and put up his defence mechanisms up on high alert, and bowed to my honest self, “Oh, hi man. Have a good day.” he mutters and carries on walking. I’m surprised I said something. But, I wasn’t really focused on those consensus. I wanted to get back home, put the battery in the Detector and plug it in and see if the house had any ratings of monoxide and point out anything that was wrong and start troubleshooting.

A short time after arriving home, and putting the battery in the detector, my mother calls back, and she told me the fire department will be arriving shortly. Four or Five firefighters arrived in their massive tank, knocked on my door, and began investigating the source of the cause with a Carbon Monoxide/ Natural Gas meter and a bunch of questions upon arrival. They tested every part of the house including points of interest including the water tank, and furnace since they are only the gas inhibiting futures of the house. Nothing came up. A sign of relief, and a situation well handled both on their part, and mine.

Now, I’d like to thank all firefighters. Thanks for being the people you are and helping such communities. Prevention and action to such things as relieving people, and determining the state of the situation. Fire prevention, and helping when the time is needed. Saving lives is the best thing anyone can do, the gratitude of what you do and the situations you put yourselves in to save people, animals, buildings and forests.

–Justin

Quebec: A Slip in the Right Direction. Ontario: A miscombobulation;

A few weeks ago confronting my television on an occasional time frame. I don’t watch television too often lately. But, when I do it’s either for obscure rations, or to watch local, or world news. This time while tuning in it was about Quebec and how it is now mandatory for a vehicle to have snow tires on all fours.

The News Broadcaster doing their job explaining and examining why All seasonal Radials are not good enough. I can’t directly quote from the news, I don’t even know if it was a male or female who was broadcasting. But I can explain myself on what I think they said. All Seasonal Radial tires tend to have harder rubber which means with higher air pressure it’s like skating on ice. Normally, every person with a license who drives in winter should at least drive their car with a bit less air pressure than normal in the winter to grip the road a lot better. But, now people can throw that out the window as people in Quebec essentially need to directly apply winter rubber on their rims. To further explain myself; winter tires have a lot more rubber on them with thicker treads and the rubber is a lot softer to grip the road a lot better with the recommended PSI obviously.

I, myself an Ontarian think that is a great idea. It’s essential as Canadians to have snow tires and people will benefit from it because we do normally get a lot of snow dependinf where in Canada you’re from. I’m sure Quebec gets a lot of snow as I think it said it is the first province to have that perquisite at stake. I don’t think anyone wants to get into accidents, or slip on black ice on a major highway. For example; The Trans-Canada Highway a huge super-highway going from B.C., to N.F.L.D.. It’s essential for a productive Canada, and productive entities to ensure shipment gets from point A to point B. Which means Transport trucks use it as a mainframe for shipment, for products. Imagine getting into an accident with a huge Semi in a small light car? It would be disastrous. Snow tires may not prevent accidents, but the tires will ensure a safer ride.

Now Ontario’s point of view which is completely bollocks. Ontario’s Premiere, and Highway Safety Act will actually start productively ticketing people who get into accidents. How can such things happen? Are all predictions correctly simulated, and leading? I don’t think so one bit. The technology is out there, the education is there, and everything is referred to on paper and pen. But still, there still has to be a small percentage rate where things go wrong and people who do their job are not right.

I think the first step for Ontario Legislator to step in and say, “Hey we have to do what Quebec did, and make snow tires mandatory in the winter from this day, to this date.” That way, the percentage of people getting into accident directly correlates with how they are driving, instead of driving into one another with semi-bald almost blown out all seasonal radials that spin on ice, snow, and slush. It’s an obtrusive way in saying, “hey we need more money, so I will start ticketing people every which way I can”, when in fact the stiffing is persistent in Ontario. Higher taxes, less jobs, no alternatives and so much more.

When prices start skyrocketing because of the mandatory need from major tire companies to make the better buck, why can’t Ontario write off a percentage each year new tires are bought? That way it evens out both your taxes, my taxes, our costs in buying the tires, and the government still cashing in from prospective companies striking the deals when tax time comes again, and also putting government ads up on billboards/ television and other such media telling people what tires to buy? It would all work out for everyone, and everybody would be happy. There wouldn’t be a viscous cycle of conflict with everyone both literally and physically.

Please, give me your feedback. This I think is the best blog entry I’ve made so far on any of my blogs. I’m thinking of sending it to my local news station so people can hear what I have to say, and hopefully I can change some minds. If it becomes relevant to people on this network, and other networks I have posted my URL on, I will do it. I just need your feedback.

Disclaimer: I don’t know the traffic act laws in Canada, I don’t drive. But, I would like to learn them on a per province basis.

Thank You.
Yours truly,
Justin C from Canuckistan.