Never mind the homework, here's the Vegan Teacher

For crap’s sake, it looks like there’s going to be a nuclear power plant built close to Peace River, AB. Trading carbon emissions for waste that practically does not decompose and that has the potential for irreversable land and water contamination is insane. INSANE. This is the wrong direction for this province’s energy policy, and I really hope by 2017 (the projected year that the plant will go online) people will have realized this and blocked it’s construction.

In other news, today I found out that one of the kids I’ve been working with was arrested last night and may be headed for jail. So I’m kind of bummed.

Tomorrow is my final day at the park for the summer. Everyone is going back to school next week and I’ve got a record to mix in Calgary in a couple of days. Needless to say, the kids are totally giving ‘er these last few days before heading back. Of course that doesn’t just refer to their skating, but to lighting fires, petty thefts and other misdemeanors they commit when I’m not around.

It’s been a fantastic experience, I’ve had a ton of fun and learned a bunch about dealing with youth and my own disposition. On that note, to countdown the most memorable moments of my time at the park.

1. Jim the Penguin is named official mascott of the skate-park. Jim was a creation of one of the kid’s who was trying to paint a chicken but the reversed wing placement bore more resemblace to the black breast of a benguin.

2. The mango incident. Two Filipino kids come by the park one day and one of the regulars inquires about the large scar on one of the boy’s skulls. The scarred boy regails us with a story about how when he lived in the Philippines, him and his brother were picking mangos and his brother accidentally dropped a machete on his head while he was up a tree. This story confused one of the other boys who responded with “yo man, why did you climb a tree to get a mango when you can just go buy one from the grocery store?!”.

3. The countless games of Cheat/Bullshit we played in July. A couple days we actually played cards for 7 hours straight.

4. Learning new tricks from 14 year olds was super-fun. I’d trade them new school tricks for my old school tricks. In three months, I’ve nailed boardslides, varials, casper-flips, under-flips, ollie-norths, disasters, ground impossibles, coping grinds, tweaked powerslides, walking the dog and 50/50’s. Ask me if I knew what any of those were at the beginning of the summer.

5. Stenciling a couple of the skaters, based on some photos we took of them.

6. The janitor incident.

7. Sundays, and how every one of them was sketchy.

8. Apparently my fuel efficient hatchback is a “girly car” and I should buy a truck.

9. One of the metalheads is considering going vegetarian and I think I convinced him to stop eating at McDonalds. Woo!

10. Fires, fires, fires, and me putting them out.

So I’ve been working like a Japanese beaver lately, probably more than I should. But when you’ve only got 4 months to make as much cash as possible before returning to University life (and the impending proverbial financial fist in the ass), you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. Besides, most of it is enjoyable and doesn’t feel like work anyways. We’ve been making a bunch of stencils at the park lately. Who would’ve thought getting teenage skaters interested in arts and crafts was doable when I applied for this job. Needless to say I’m stoked. It gives the kids something to do when they’re resting and I don’t have to deal with them starting fires or wrecking up the place. Here’s another one I enjoyed putting together. My first car, a 1979 Datsun 210. Yeah.

My final year of the Ed. after degree starts in 4 weeks. I’ve applied to do my Biology practicum in Jasper with the intent of schoolin’ during the week and riding on the weekends. I’ve missed snowboarding these past couple of years, especially the ease of finding a place to ride home in Yukon. When I moved to Edmonton, I couldn’t believe how many people DIDN’T snowboard. In Whitehorse, everyone rides. You can practically do it for free in your back yard. But here, it’s 4 hours to a decent mountain, you’ll probably want to get a room so you can ride for a couple days and a life pass will cost you over $50. So it’s an activity totally restricted to the upper economic classes. Lame.

(the author takes a break from writing to dance around his apartment enjoying his favorite song, free time and the beautiful weather)

So now a note for my freeloading cat based on today’s events:

Gus, you’re a nice cat, but you’re playing dumb to get away with inappropriate behavior and I’m onto you. For starters, I know you are capable of using your litter-box to urinate. I’ve seen you do it many times. Yet this morning I found that you had peed not even a foot from your box. So I cleaned it up because it smelled gross. Then you brought another bird into the house. That’s not a gift Gus. That’s a bullshit hassle for me. A great gift you could give me would be using the catbox like a grown cat. A dead bird is more of a mess for me to clean up. Plus, if it’s still alive a bit it causes me duress. I layed down hundreds of dollars to keep you alive, do you think I like dead animals in my house? Please, give me a break. Also, quit waking me up at 5am to get fed. I don’t wake you up when you’re sleeping and I’m hungry. I’ll make you a deal, I’ll let the bird thing and the pee thing slide if you cut the crap. Lastly, keep your cat-ass off my cutting board.

On an unrelated note, a friend and I figured out how to make the perfect vegan corn dog. As if they weren’t tasty enough, we decided to up the ante by stuffing them with bacon bits!