Regrets continued

The thing I like about posting my regrets is that once I have them on here, I think about them for a couple of days afterwards and then poof they are gone. Its like a mental cleansing.

This one does not have to do with anyone other than myself. Oh man, being 18 was sweet. Lets look at some of the highlights.

First I dropped out of school to basically play Counter-Strike at a LAN cafe. Not the worst mistake an 18 year old could make I am sure, however it was not the smartest thing I could have done. There is a gigantic difference when you say "I graduated from high school" to "I have enough credits to be considered a graduate, I just never got the piece of paper" although in the final analysis it is the same thing, but one has a psychological effect on me and one would have been nice, You can figure that bit out.

Second taking the easy route and moving to Calgary with my mother in October of 2003. This one is a tad more complicated. When I was 18 I saw two options one was live on my own in Vancouver, or move to Calgary and live with my mother.

Obviously the last thing I really wanted to do was live with my mother. Not that I did not love my mother, not that I hated my mother, but I was lazy. The initial news that my mom was moving to Calgary came some time in August at the time I think, late august makes more sense looking back on it. So that would have left me with September and two weeks in October plus a week in August (if you are counting thats 7 weeks) to go from 0 money in the bank to having enough for a down deposit and one months rent, move / throw out all of my stuff, and grow up and become an adult. Versus enjoy 7 weeks of hanging out with friends, going to LAN, partying, and letting some movers do all of the work. You tell me what sounded easier? I can even remember the hilarity of saving money for when I got here, by the time all was said and done I had 50.00 in the bank when I got here. That money was gone in about 3 days.

One option I thought of once I was here was I could have moved in with my poor aunt, she could have used the money I would have given her for rent. Finding a place to live was going to be real hard. I was making 8 or so dollars an hour working the standard 40 per week. With 7 weeks I was looking at 2240.00 if I did absolutely nothing all of that time. That would not have been realistic once you factor in my two pack a day of smoking habit at the time, Yes I could have cut down but I mean we would be looking at a pack every 24 hours at the least. I could not for the life of me tell you how much a pack of cigarettes were back then, but it was probably 8 something. Bye bye close to 400 dollars at the best woo-hoo 1840.00. factor in food/lan/life/friends for 7 weeks good by 600. hello 1240, cell? bye 40 hello 1200.

Sadly had I done this when I was 18 I might have seen this would have worked out. I mean paper and life are different yes. but at Minimum wage I would have probably had enough for 600 a month tops for rent and then the rest for food and the like. And if I had made an effort to cut back on the hedonism I would have done quite well.

Actually if you can get through all of the Josh writing this is a valuable lesson in planning. Because if I had done this 4 years ago, I might have stayed in Vancouver. But I was blind and everything seemed so damn hard. Well, I do not know how to close this one off. But I will try and think of something clever and maybe post a comment.

Sorry about the terrible writing skills, but they get the job done.

Joshua