Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Painter

So I'm a painter.

I go out and put a tatoo on the faces of the earth everyday.

I locate underground utilities.

The thought of ever doing that never crossed my mind until I stumbled upon the job posting for it. At the time I was working at a boys home for at risk youth making 9 an hour. Man are there some stories I could share from that gig. I would like to think that I made any inkling of a difference in the boys I 'mentored' everyday. Definitely makes you thankful for your blessings in an environment like that. I wrestled alot at that job. Which is good, because I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by nothing but females my whole life (and I have 2 daughters. Go figure. Evidence of God's sense of humor) so I never get to exert my testosterone in that manner prior to working there.

The only wrestling I did as a kid was with my little sister when she'd let me. It was super cool that I could talk her into doing that. It went a little sumtin like this:

Me: "Hey Tiff. Can I please, PLEASE, do a pile driver on you! Your head will hit the couch. Nothing to worry about."
Her: "No way bro! I'm tired of wrestling!"
Me: "If you don't then I won't talk to you at school anymore."
Her: "So?"
Me: "COME ON MAN! PLEASE"
Her: "Okay. But this is the last time."

That was it. As long as I got her to let me do the first one, I'd do wrestling moves on her the whole time WWF Monday Night Raw was on............and it was a 2 hour broadcast.

Working at the boys home was different. I usually wrestled and restrained them because of the imminent need to do so. I'm pretty sure every bit of man that needed to be released after years of captivity was done so during that job. It wasn't fun, but exciting nonetheless.

So I left that life to paint. I locate utilities. I paint blue, red, orange, green, and yellow lines on the ground all day. I deal with irate homeowners and contractors that don't have markings on the ground in time, I'm first on the scene when a utility is damaged, I rarely eat because it's so fast paced day in and day out, I see numerous black widows and wasps everyday, I open manholes, invade people's property, and weild the power of safety cones and a beacon light on my truck (amazing what power you have when you block off a lane of traffic with cones and cut on a safety beacon. People either regard you and care for your safety, or they totally disregard you and fly by, cuss you out, and throw whatever aluminum soft drink can they might have.....still full of the soft drink).

I like this job. I work outside all day. The minutes race by and the work day's over with before you know it. No punching a clock. I wake up, drive to my first job site, and work. The company pays for a take home truck, which goes without saying it a total thumbs up with gas prices these days.

I just stepped down from a supervisor position today. A million reasons why, but I found that I seem a little bit more sane when I don't have 16 different people's problems, and that's not counting contractors and homeowner's issues, to deal with on a daily. A copout? Maybe. But I know that I'll be in a better mood when I come home, and I know that the part of my job I have the passion for is locating, which I can't do as a supervisor. It was a grand experience though. Wouldn't trade that growth for all the beans in Italy.

That's my job. I'm a painter. It encompasses most of my life, which I don't like, but that's my own vice that I need to fix. I've been there 2 years now. I have now accured 2 weeks vacation. I shall now end this blog to fill out a request for said vacation. Sweet.

Peace,

T

Monday, June 16, 2008

Me and my first fish

Hello,

My name is Tony, and I caught my first bass yesterday. It weighed 1 pound. Freakin' whopper it was. I seem to be pretty attracted to the sport of fishing now. I waited 26 years to try it out, and now I'm hooked...........no pun intended.

I kinda got to thinking about it, and I'm a fisherman in more ways than one:
1. I fish for happiness in a suitable profession.
2. I fish for new and progressive music that doesn't sound the same as the last "that's now my favorite band" band.
3. I fish for knicks and knacks that I can accumulate that I know will only make me happy for a brief moment in time. i.e. Nintendo DS (and yes my 30 year old aquaintance from church. I do in fact have the same game that my Sunday School teacher's 9 year old daughter has)
4. I fish for peace and quiet in the business of life.
5. I fish for 'financial stability'. Which I'm figuring will be a never ending trip around the lake of wealth because I'm sure the more money I make, the more I'll buy, the more my lifestyle will expand, and I'll never have enough money to reach that pinnacle. There will always be a bigger 'fish'. In essence, I need to freakin' be content. Which I'm pretty sure I am, but then again, I'm pretty used to not making alot of money.
6. I fish for the ability to be the best dad and husband in the known universe.
7. I fish for the calm assurance that I know without a shadow of a doubt that I've given myself to a Creator that loves me, and that my wife and kids belong to Him. (I think everytime I fish for this it's either in the high heat of the day, or ol' calm assurance is deeper than what I'm setting my lure)
8. I fish for the relationship with and faith in said Creator that i read about, hear about, see about, and know in my heart of hearts exists. (I think relationship and ol' calm assurance probably sit tight in the same spot on the lake)

Hi everyone.

My name is Tony, and I'm a fisherman. I don't know if I started this blog this way to give you an introduction to who I am. I do know that I've got fishing on the brain right now.

It did get me to realize that I'm more of a prolifent fisher than originally thought. In all areas of life actually. You see, some fish are harder to catch than others. Some fish are easier to catch than others. But regardless of the type of fish, you've got to go to where the fish are to catch them.

So my life in a nutshell is that there are some fish that I can catch constantly. I know where they are, I know what bait to use, and i know just how to snag them. They're a comfortable catch. I tell myself all of the time that I know there are more worthwhile fish to catch, and that I need to try to catch them, but I've got to tread the waters I've yet to tread and look for the fish in places I have yet to look. I've got to really want them, and I've got to really look for them.

So that's me. A searcher for the things in life that matter and that I know are there. I've just got to put forth the effort. My desire is to search and grow and bring myself to a faith that is unshakeable, in turn to make myself a reflection of light for my family, my friends, my coworkers, my aquaintances, my world around me.

And so, we're off..........

Peace,
T