It's To My Benefit... I Think..
Alas, the bleak and apparent revelation that I am stuck in the middle of hick-ville nowhere has struck me lightly on the head. Last night Dan and I discussed this, as we shared a few glasses of whiskey and gingerale up on some sandy dunes near some industrial complex. Ten years ago I would have never imagined myself being a situation as strange or amusing as this, but it has made me contemplate whereabouts my long jaunty legs will lead me ten years from now - somewhere nice and exotic I hope. Among other things, Dan and I also discussed how our lives, at the moment, are structured in a system. For example, every morning I get up at 5:30, make my lunch, go pee, cook and eat breakfast, turn on the television, hop in the truck, get to the block, bag up in the same efficient manner every time, plant the same amount by the hour every hour, shut my brain off, eat my lunch, finish up, record my numbers and earnings, and then head back home..and pass out. It's a strange machinistic lifestyle that I'm steadily growing accustomed to.
I recently finished reading a very insightful "self-help"-esque book, entitled "Zen and The Art of Happiness" - Thank you dad for donating. The entire mantra of the book is about how everything that occurs in our lives is somehow to our own personal benefit - be it good or bad. Lately I've been attempting to adopt this philosophy, and as such, every time I stumble or snag my leg on a branch, I quietly tell myself "it's to my benefit". I gotta say, it's sort of keeping me sane - it's rather reminiscent of the "serenity now!" epitaph from Seinfeld. Another interesting thing the book talks about is how there is no such thing as a "good" or "bad" event or thing - it's our minds that decided whether something is good or bad, and it's up to us to dwell on them or not. So now, when I'm stuck knee deep in a pile of slash, looking for a place to shove my helpless Spruce, whilst bugs feast on my sweaty grits, I tell myself - "hey.. this is only bad if I think it's bad!"- just another method of keeping my composure.
Anyway, our time at the cozy motel is up, I've packed all crap up in a tiresome rush, and tonight we head off to experience our first camping experience of the season - over yonder at some random PG campground. I look forward to setting up my new tent, and drifting away to the soporific tunes on my ipod.. then trying to get up in the chilly morning. But hey! we're getting cooked for! finally! although I have enjoyed preparing some tasty kraft-dinner esque dishes.. it should be nice to be catered to. I just hope the lunch food is up to par with my delicious selections.
Alrighty then.. I guess I'll give you the lowdown about how this past shift was. Well, it was an incredibly productive one for me. I've been starting to average around $200 - $250 a day, and I haven't missed a day of work - unlike some other less fortunate crew members with wrist injuries. I also managed to plant 1900 trees on tough slashy 15 cent land, and the next day I trooped it out even more and planted 2000 - a solid $600 in two days.. not too shabby at all. We also we're going to finish early on Day 3, and everybody was happy and excited to go for a swim at the lake..and then Ted (one of the other foremen nearby working for Celtic) called us up and said that he needed around 2000 trees to go in the ground, and that he need probably two guys to come to his block and help finish the land. Dan and I volunteered, being the auspicious vets, however eventually all of us had to go, because there was actually more land than expected. It was probably the worst last bagup of my life.. it was SWELTERING hot, and I was stuck on this super slashy hill.. but the kicker was the bugs - clouds upon clouds of ferocious skeeters and flies.. I must've gotten at least over fifty bites in the duration of an hour.. and that's only a slight exaggeration!
So there's only two more months of madness to go, and things are looking up. I miss the comforts of home and school, but I'm learning to appreciate the wonders of BC again - so everything's satisfactory. Anyway, I'll try and give you another update next day off and discuss my camp setup.
Until next time,
put a tree in the ground,
Jameso
I recently finished reading a very insightful "self-help"-esque book, entitled "Zen and The Art of Happiness" - Thank you dad for donating. The entire mantra of the book is about how everything that occurs in our lives is somehow to our own personal benefit - be it good or bad. Lately I've been attempting to adopt this philosophy, and as such, every time I stumble or snag my leg on a branch, I quietly tell myself "it's to my benefit". I gotta say, it's sort of keeping me sane - it's rather reminiscent of the "serenity now!" epitaph from Seinfeld. Another interesting thing the book talks about is how there is no such thing as a "good" or "bad" event or thing - it's our minds that decided whether something is good or bad, and it's up to us to dwell on them or not. So now, when I'm stuck knee deep in a pile of slash, looking for a place to shove my helpless Spruce, whilst bugs feast on my sweaty grits, I tell myself - "hey.. this is only bad if I think it's bad!"- just another method of keeping my composure.
Anyway, our time at the cozy motel is up, I've packed all crap up in a tiresome rush, and tonight we head off to experience our first camping experience of the season - over yonder at some random PG campground. I look forward to setting up my new tent, and drifting away to the soporific tunes on my ipod.. then trying to get up in the chilly morning. But hey! we're getting cooked for! finally! although I have enjoyed preparing some tasty kraft-dinner esque dishes.. it should be nice to be catered to. I just hope the lunch food is up to par with my delicious selections.
Alrighty then.. I guess I'll give you the lowdown about how this past shift was. Well, it was an incredibly productive one for me. I've been starting to average around $200 - $250 a day, and I haven't missed a day of work - unlike some other less fortunate crew members with wrist injuries. I also managed to plant 1900 trees on tough slashy 15 cent land, and the next day I trooped it out even more and planted 2000 - a solid $600 in two days.. not too shabby at all. We also we're going to finish early on Day 3, and everybody was happy and excited to go for a swim at the lake..and then Ted (one of the other foremen nearby working for Celtic) called us up and said that he needed around 2000 trees to go in the ground, and that he need probably two guys to come to his block and help finish the land. Dan and I volunteered, being the auspicious vets, however eventually all of us had to go, because there was actually more land than expected. It was probably the worst last bagup of my life.. it was SWELTERING hot, and I was stuck on this super slashy hill.. but the kicker was the bugs - clouds upon clouds of ferocious skeeters and flies.. I must've gotten at least over fifty bites in the duration of an hour.. and that's only a slight exaggeration!
So there's only two more months of madness to go, and things are looking up. I miss the comforts of home and school, but I'm learning to appreciate the wonders of BC again - so everything's satisfactory. Anyway, I'll try and give you another update next day off and discuss my camp setup.
Until next time,
put a tree in the ground,
Jameso
posted by J-kash at 12:33 PM
1 Comments:
Great post James! Glad you are hanging in there. You write so well and we just had a hoot hearing your rap to a certain girl on a great CD mix you did. Such a creative guy! I have a much better zen book for you when you return. I hope the new tent works out well - just take it real easy on the zippers and use a tarp for the UV - it's the sun that kills the fabric. Anyway we all miss you but are proud you are still planting! Take good care of yourself.
Dad
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