As someone who has been a student for 21 years, my working career has mainly consisted of what would be considered student jobs: camp counselor (8 years), Wal-Mart employee, landscaper, banquet server, and a number of other part-time gigs.

My career path has changed a number of times, and with weeks away until graduation, I’m more unsure now than I have ever been. Three years ago I was intent on moving to a city and entering the corporate world, in the hopes of getting into sales or marketing. The thought of that seems like hell to me now. What changed was my appreciation of the opportunities given to me in life. Not only am I fortunate to simply be a Canadian, but also to have the support and love of my 3 parents (step mom since I was 8) and brother.

After taking the MBTI test in David Cram’s leadership class, my outlook started to change. Is selling widgets really the best use of the opportunities in my life that I have taken advantage of? Instead of thinking “what do I want to do for a living”, I started thinking about “how can I be most beneficial to society or my community.” The passion that came from my time spent with children as a camp counselor came flooding back, which is has pushed me to exploring a teaching career (which I can try this year by moving to Japan.)

My desired professional image is someone who is reliable, trustworthy, loyal to his values, approachable, and stands up when involved in something he doesn’t agree with. However, I don’t think I have always been perceived that way. Many people in my professional and social career have perceived me as being a push-over, which I usually am. Is their a fine-line between being a push-over and willingly helpful? If someone asks me for help, it is usually just my nature to give them help.

The social-identity group I belong to is not usually perceived as negative. With some of the landscaping and factory jobs I’ve had, employers have usually been happy to hire post-secondary students. In fact, I would say that almost all my jobs I’ve had managers who are genuinely considerate and accommodative when working around a school schedule.

How will I separate myself from my social identity group? I guess the perception of college students being party animals might be in the minds of many, but I have taken a large detour from that route. Whether working as a teacher or for a business, I would probably subtlety let it be known that I don’t drink alcohol (probably less than 5 times in the last 3 years). I am also an early-to-rise, early-to-bed type of person (6am everyday, don’t ask why, I just love mornings), and exercise daily. I’m like a boring old man, and spend a lot of time reading. So in some senses, I think that it would be possible to separate myself from any negative stereotypes associated with my social identity group.

What I have found is that I want more out of my professional career. I need to know that I’m making a difference somehow, and am contributing to the greater good of society. It is definitely possible to get that satisfaction in the business world, but it may or may not take longer than expected to find that righteous company to work for. Until then, I will explore the teaching path, or possibly open a small business dedicated to the community.

Of course, having children will probably de-prioritize my feelings of putting personal satisfaction above money, and I will happily work at a Taco Bell just to put food on my kids plate (but not any of that tubed-meat garbage that Taco Bell serves.)

Peace out.

My consciousness has received a lot of attention in the last few years. Being the introverted hermit that I am, most of my time is spent alone. On top of that, my excessive use of marijuana has lead me to spend a lot of time in deep reflection.

A quote from Mr. Bob Marley: “When you smoke herb, it reveals you to yourself. All the wickedness you do is revealed by the herb. It is your conscience and gives you a clearer picture of yourself.” I believe there is a lot of truth to this. A lot of times after smoking, I will recollect something deep in my past, and analyze the way I reacted and the choices I made. Simply, it leads me to finding the root of a problem.

I believe that imbedded in every human is a complex value system that is common among every race. I think that those who have made many unethical decisions have simply become comfortable with ignoring their inner voice.

My father is a very ethical man, and growing up in his presence made me really curious about my inner voice. At this point, my gut feelings are the driving force in my decision making. It is usually relatively easy for me to make decisions, as I have just gotten used to doing what feels right. I have also become very focused on what some people call vibes, in which someone almost seems to radiate a positive or negative attitude. I usually just try to avoid people who give off negative vibes.

I often must ignore my brain when it is in conflict with my gut feeling, as many of the decisions I make are illogical.

Around this time last year, I was hired by a private landscaping company. I was enthusiastic to start to working outside, and get a chance to seem some beautiful areas of Kelowna, as my boss targeted higher-end clients.

Things were going great, and I really was enjoying the job. The pay was about $9 an hour, yet most landscaping jobs advertised in newspapers were paying about $10 or $11. I didn’t mind though, because I really got along well with my boss, and I always felt a positive vibe from her.

Two or three months down the road, she started hiring more people. I could see that she wasn’t really managing her business well, yet spirits remained high. One incident in which she backed up into a clients vehicle became a defining moment. Not only did she refuse to leave a note, but she told us not to tell her husband. An unethical decision that ultimately changed my perception of her. . Later, I found that she was overcharging customers ridiculous amounts, and refusing any chances for staff raises. Something was wrong with the formula. Underpaid landscapers working for a company focusing on high-end homes.

After a week in which my boss was on edge more than usual, she ended up firing an employee. This employee was a hard worker, and had no idea that he was going to be fired. On top of this, our boss knew his financial situation, and didn’t even consider giving him two weeks to find a new job, let alone a second chance.

When I found out that Josh had been fired, my attitude changed completely. I was broke, and had very little money. I had no prospects for a new job. I had been out of work for over three months. I enjoyed the work, and got along well with the staff and my boss. There were opportunities for promotion. I could have at least gave two weeks notice.

But I had to make a statement. I couldn’t continue to let her think that employees were an invaluable part of the company. This is the part where my brain shuts up.

I called 15 minutes before my shift and quit the job. The very next day, the City of Kelowna posted a number of jobs for its parks department, in which I applied and was hired at almost $14 an hour.

Have you ever wished you lived in a different time period?

When you’re riding the low tides of life, it feels natural to find the root of negativity in our surroundings. I have often yearned to live in a different place and time, but I am quick to forget how exciting these times really are.

I read once that humans have accomplished more in the last 40 years than in all of history. Things are changing at an alarming exponential rate, yet even the technologically challenged seem to be adjusting. All you have to look at is recent boom of iPod-using seniors.

Most of us have probably heard our parents talk about the differences in their childhood and growing up. However, even their generation who have grown up constantly adjusting to technology are having a hard time keeping up now. My father (who has owned a computer since the early eighties and is very technologically literate) took longer than most to make the VHS to DVD transition.

“The Human Factor” is a book that shows there is often a broken link between the technical engineers who design new technologies and the everyman. Why is DVD better? With VHS, you just stick the tape in and hit the big green button. With DVD, you have menus, and chapters, and the DVD itself which is extremely sensitive to being scratched. Technology should be making things easier, but it often just complicates things.

So, in 2026, I’ll be lecturing my son about how I couldn’t rely on a driver-droid to get me around, or how we didn’t have holo-vision, and we actually had to type our homework instead of transferring brain waves to our wristwatch PC’s. Of course, he’ll just be busy trying to ignore Outkast playing on the oldies station.

We will see a lot of crazy things in our lifetime. Affordable trips to stay on a hotel on the moon. Full reliance on alternate sources of energy (solar, hydrogen). The continuing effects of global warming (supposed to last another 100 years, even if we got off fossil fuel today.)

Some towns are being built in the Arizona area to be vehicle free. That is, everyone gets around by foot or bike, homes are built underground to save on energy, massive windows provide light. Did anyone see that pyramid they were proposing to build in the ocean just off Tokyo? Supposed to be a city of 1 million, with full residence, shopping, employment, etc.

Being the video game nerd that I am, I’ve been following the news about the new Nintendo console coming out this year. Its codename is “Revolution”, and very little has been revealed. We do know that the controller is fully virtual, meaning that it detects hand movements on screen. Many rumours point towards the console supporting stereoscopic 3D vision, which is supposed to be in all IMAX’s and many theatres by 2007. (stereoscopic is a way of displaying movies in full 3D, as in objects coming at you, but more advanced then the old school red/blue glasses technique.)

Things I can’t even conceive I will see in my lifetime. I just hope I can keep up.

How far can technology go? Only as far as the imagination.

A few years ago, I started to come to the conclusion that by maintaining a positive attitude, I would likely experience positive outcomes (if anything, I would appreciate the positive life experiences more.) Not that I have ever really considered myself a negative thinker, I did still occasionally have my down days.

A quote I heard really hit home. I can’t remember it exactly, but it was something along the lines of “If you have a problem, there’s no point getting stressed out. If there’s nothing you can do to correct the problem, don’t dwell on it and move on. If you can fix it, then fix it.”

After some random exposure last year to Buddhism, I picked up a book at an airport called “The art of forgiveness” by the Dalai Lama. My stepmom has been with my Dad since I was 7, and she really made a self sacrifice of not having children by marrying my Dad. My relationship with her is good now, but it wasn’t until a few years ago. She was very unreasonable, and often cruel to my brother and I. She was also a major barrier that caused almost a ten year period of minimal contact with my birthmother.

It took me a while to realize that in order to maintain any relationship with my father, I would have to have a good one with my stepmom. Anyways, I have a really good relationship with both my moms now, but they still have bitter hate for one another which is sometimes bothering (can’t wait for the weddings.)

So that’s why I got the book. (Went a bit off track there.)

Anyway, the book explained the concept of karma, and discussed ways to reduce negative feelings. One of the concepts explained was that instead of not liking someone, we should feel sorry for them (empathize), as it was probably the environment they were in or a certain event that caused the person to behave a certain way. Those concepts are always on the back of my mind.

As I’ve said before, I have moved a lot, especially in the last 5 or 6 years. My first move to Texas in grade 5 was painful to be taken away from friends, but it made every move afterwards that much easier.

I have met some amazing people in the last few years, and made some really close friends. But I never keep in touch with them. I feel like I’ve gone through the cycle of making friends then moving on so much that I naturally think of friends as a very short-term thing, and I detach from people way too easy. (Which has caused some angry emails from ex-girlfriends.) I do find that a lot of friends seem to have strong feelings of resentment when I decide to move to a new town.

I am very open when people ask me personal questions (volunteering I’m not so comfortable with), and I’ve found that people often share themselves with me, or come to me with problems.

My L-factor score was in the average range. So I guess what I’m getting at is that people seem to like me, and I get along great with people in the moment, but it all goes to hell when my attempts at maintaining a relationship when distance separates us are minimal.