...?

How unspecial I am and how I'm okay with it. I awake each day knowing full well that it could be my last. I am just one soul lost amongst many on this grand planet trying my best to survive. The rigours of our society have caused me to develop a greater appreciation for the little moments and journeys each day brings rather than trying to become something I am not. I am not special and I will never try to be. I am just me and I love who I am. As my twenties have passed by I've developed a wonderful undertanding of what true happiness is...

The State of the NBA and much more...

So it's off season time, the players and their families are soaking up much needed r&r and well people like myself are here late one night writing mindless dribble about how much we love/hate things about the league and its players. Here's a few thoughts brewing in my mind currently.

1. I'm excited at what next season will bring for Kobe and LeBron. Who's team will dominate the most? Which will suffer that one key injury first? Who will be MVP?

2. I'm going out on a limb and predicting the following:

MVP = Wade - just because the voters will believe it's his turn to win the damn thing. I hate this award. Kobe will never win one again, even though he should have 4 by now.

The Lakers win 68 games.
The Cavs win 63
The Spurs win 62
The Celtics win 60

Kevin Durant will go nuts. He will be 2nd in scoring behind Wade, and become a bona fide stud.

Portland will take a step backward, slightly.

Dallas will surprise more people than was to be expected.

Greg Oden will still suck.

Allen Iverson will have a great year and be a good boy.

and Kobe will average 28ppg, 5, 5, 1.5, 85%, 46% and play all 82.

The Lakers win the ship over Cleveland in 6.

3. While the owners and players union discuss a new collective bargaining agreement, here are a few items I would change in the process.

a. Raise the age minimum to 20. I know most disagree with me on this one and in a way they do have some great examples of players who have made the leap at 18 (ie. Kobe and LeBron), but my point is this, most players at that age are yes physically capable of playing in the big time, but most lack the requisite intelligence to grasp the competitive NBA game. There's a reason why veteran teams win in the NBA and why young ones don't, it all comes down to games smarts. Also I hate seeing so many teams pay these young players exorbitant amounts of money based on potential. It ruins the league and destroys teams for years if said player doesn't amount to the money they're being paid.

b. Guaranteed contracts should be lowered to 5 years. And all players in their first 5 seasons in the league should have team options only per season. This would help eliminate all the crap young players in the league as well as shorten the length of any horrible contract. The fact that Gilbert Arenas received over 100 mil for 6 years on a bum knee is beyond me. Or how Rashard Lewis makes more than Dwight is another.

that's enough for now. more later.

My Journey: 16 and oh so young.

For the past year or so I've been writing on this here website about all my love, hate and everything in between for the restaurant bus. It goes without saying that my using the words ."love and hate" very much aptly apply, for there is much love and hate flowing within me as my 13th year in the bus. quickly approaches. But today is not going to be one of those days where I rant or rave on about this and that. Today I want to recount for you (and myself) the lasting moments, memories that have shaped my restaurant journey, a journey full of...well you'll see.

Part 1. McDonald's

It all started back in September 1996, I was a young, very naive kid of just 16 years, who was about to start his first real job (well I was a paper boy two years prior but who's counting that...I'm not) as an employee of McDonald's. I was starting grade eleven at the time, a grade and age I wasn't too fond of, so insecure, shy and all that jazz. Any who, my mom called me by her side one day and said "son, you need to go and get yourself a job, I can't afford to pay for everything you need these days. Plus it will be good for you, you'll meet some new people, make some friends and learn a little discipline" Well okay so she didn't quite put it that eloquently, to be honest I remember it being more "Hey get off you ass and go get a job, NOW!!!" but I believe my version sounds a lot better so I'm sticking with that one. So then there I was, a young kid with no real skills now forced to fend for himself in the real world as a (gulp!) adult. Let's just say I wasn't too thrilled about this. Being a kid is fun and easy, you wake up, go to school, do whatever you want, the rents pay everything, life is perfect. However, after much thought and deliberation between my best mate Harry, we both decided that working would be good for us, we'd finally have some money and well we'd finally have some money. We decided that working in a restaurant would be our best bet to landing jobs quickly and easily. Also being the dedicated athletes that we were (him tennis, me track and field) we ate a tonne, so we were hoping that a restaurant job might help us kill two birds with one stone, that being our money woes and our appetites. It's funny how the mind of a 16 year old works, thinking back on it, I thought primarily of 3 things, food, girls and track...no really! that was about it. So there you have it ladies, written proof that us men are really as simple minded as you make us out to being. You can have your moment just this once. Got it? Good. I want that moment back in 3 minutes you hear. 3 minutes!!

Before I headed out I realized very quickly that I had no idea as to where I should apply. Turning to the source of my current dilemma, my mom (there she is again) suggested I try McDonald's since she'd heard they have great training programs and they hire young workers. Not having any reason to argue with her on this one I went on over and applied. With that I must profess my hate towards this humiliating process, the dreaded "Resume Drop Off". This to me is the most awful experience ever. Think about it, when you apply for a job you're usually broke, completely nervous and totally unsure of yourself. So what does our society make us do? Beg for our next job. Yeah that's right, we BEG, dropping off resumes is like begging. In simplified terms when you hand in that resume you're basically saying "Please give me a job, please! I'm broke and if I don't get a job soon my girl is going to dump my sorry ass to the curb pronto" and the worst part about all this is, they (being job owners/managers) KNOW IT AND LOVE IT. Fuckers! The whole process is awful, right from the creation of the "I'm full of shit and this is all lies"resume to the dreaded meet and greet with said low level employee who a. could care less that you're here wasting their time and b. is totally sizing you up with the look, you know the one, the "yeah right dude there's no fucking way you're working here" up and down stare as if you'd just pissed your pants and he was so grossed out that listening to anything you said was beyond reality. What also makes this process awful is the manager whom you should be meeting is usually and often in the back pretending to be busy because he or she is so sick and tired of talking to beggars that having said low level employee around has not only become their go between but also their buffer. We all hate beggars almost as much as we hate begging. This is also why I truly believe that most people who get their jobs now days through friends and referrals do so not because of the connections but because the sheer humiliation of the "Resume Drop Off" has scared them into doing whatever is needed to avoiding going down that road. And man have I had some awful experiences doing the "Drop off". I remember once going into this restaurant in Toronto and having the manager say to me "Is this how you dress in real life?" as he was taking my resume, seriously not a word of a lie, the guy had yet to say his name to me, let alone let me introduce myself to him. I was so shocked by the comment I was speechless. He took my resume and did one glance and said "sorry but no thanks". I walked out of there depressed and yearning to punch something. And that wasn't even that bad, I've heard countless other stories far worse and humiliating. There has to be a better way to do this. I have yet to figure one out, but trust me I'll find it, this must change. Okay so that's enough, on with the story. As luck would have it, I would land the McDonald's job on my first try. I wouldn't become jaded for another 5 years, but more on that later.

A little side note***

Why do people dread the interview process?

For me I find it quite liberating. To have this person of power sit there before you, who for a brief moment is willing to listen to whatever you might say is something I truly enjoy. I love the challenge of it, that for a few minutes this is your time to shine. Because if you really think about it an interview is just you talking to someone else about all that's great about you. How hard is that? I for one think I'm pretty great (no laughing) so in a sense I find interviewing quite easy with little to no stress. I guess that's why I find it weird when I hear someone bomb an interview, I mean how can you suck at selling you? Shouldn't that be your best asset? Hmm I might be wrong, nerves and too much coffee might play into this, but hey that's just my take.

Once I started, I found the job rather easy. Okay it's McDonald's so how hard can it be. My first day they put me out front on a station called "Window" which is really the front counter where every newbie starts. Working in a fast food restaurant is quite interesting though, everything is so organized, accounted for, prepped, labelled, etc... so if you're not the neat and tidy type it can take some getting used to. The work was whatever, busy (you'd be amazed at how fat some people are, and I mean fat. Canadian folk loves them their McDonald's) but more importantly it was the people I worked with that made my shifts. McDonald's was cool because most of the people you worked with were your age, in high school like you, all doing pretty much the same thing. It was like school after school only you're getting paid to be there. The money was well awful, but it did feed Harry and I, so that was good. Thinking back on it, it clearly shows you how dumb we were in thinking that eating fast food burgers and fries would help us in sports. Anything to fill a stomach I guess.

The managers were cool, typically not much older than we were, so getting along with them was great. I once had this older manager Reginald who was probably in his early 30's then tell me that the floor I was mopping was almost as wet as his first girlfriend. Ick!!! This should tell you the environment of things that transpire behind that drive thru window the next time you make a visit. Caution: Buyer Beware The place was a big, very busy hangout. I ended up working there almost 4 years, right up until the beginning of 3rd year university. Near the end I was so comfortable with things I'd generally show up looking to a. annoy my manager that night by either turning off the big M before we close or by sabotaging an order by either adding too much of one product like say a mound of onions to an extra onion burger or by deep frying the bun on a few cheeseburgers. I was a brat and I loved every second of it. Or b. I'd flirt with the girls. Something most horny young teenagers would do. I left the job on a great note as employee of the month. I learnt a lot, grew a bit and developed some good friendships. McDonald's was great for what it was and I wouldn't change it for a second. It was the perfect entry level job for a meat head like me. And as the saying goes I was young, dumb and full of...

Next up: Earls: the place where everybody knows your name.