Money Talks

Dont' listen to what momma says, money doesn't grow on trees. Money is pumped from the ground.
That's right, oil.
I work in Business Support (aka, Info Tech) of an oil company up in Ft. McMurray, Alberta. It hit -30° C this week.. it gets to -40°C. Who would want to work here?
Money talks.

My pants feel tighter than before (my fight against fat and weight gains)

That's right - oh who would imagine me... the most fit guy in the world with the most perfect level of metabolism... fighting against fat and weight gains. Seriously?? Who would have expected it?! All I have to do is eat, BAM I'm fit.

Before leaving for Fort McMurray, I was expecting to actually LOSE weight because of the additional walking to the grocery store (versus having a car in Vancouver) and of course, not eating my mom's amazing cooked food.

I remembered it so clearly....

My "runny" first week

Warning: This segment contains gross subject manner which may not be suitable for all audiences.

SUMMARY: I had the runs for two days straight and blamed it on the chocolate soya drink. Two months after that ordeal, it wasn’t the chocolate soya drink.

Part I – The First Night

I've lived away from home many times; four cadet summer camps between 2003-2007, ranging from 2 weeks to 7 weeks. So being away from home is not something new to me. But cadet summer camps were different because I didn't have to worry about food.

"So what?" I think to myself, "Food, I don't have to worry about it. I can cook and can tell the difference between raw, rotten, and cooked meat. I know I WON’T get sick from my own cooking." (cue foreshadowing).

Oh my first week was rough... or should I say, runny. It was VERY runny. It began like so.....

Something I have here that I didn't in Vancouver; Time

Time time time.

That was something I didn't have in Vancouver but I do have a lot of in Fort McMurray. That's the thing about full-time work in a new city; after you work, you're free. There are no assignments, studying, or exams to worry about and your weekends can truly be weekends. In Vancouver, volunteering and serving in my church took up a lot of time too (though I do miss volunteering and serving).

With time, I've been able to do more reading, guitaring, and song-writing. I started learning the song "Neon" by John Mayer again. I attempted it 3 years ago but it was too hard. Now with more experience in my hands and time, I'm learning it again.

It's a hard song put together by an amazing artist.

I'm just practicing the intro before moving to the rest of the song.

I left the stove element on - Stress ensues

9:12am - I realize that I don't remember turning off the stove element this morning. I really don't. I turned it on at 6:12am. I do remember clearly turning it on to boil some soup, shaking the pan to let the bubbles rise. BUT I DO NOT REMEMBER TURNING IT OFF.

[Stress level: 80% - running on adrenaline, hoping that my roommate turned it off]

9:15am - I go to my roommate's cubicle and ask if he turned it off. He says no.
[Stress level: 100%]

9:20am - I call the landlord to check. She says she'll call me back.
[Stress level: 90%]

9:25am - She calls back and said it was off.
[Stress level: 80%]

9:27am - As much as I want to put this to rest, I don't believe her. Maybe I didn't say my room number clearly and she checked the other apartment building; I DO NOT REMEMBER TURNING IT OFF!
[Stress level: 95%]

9:30am - I keep telling myself that the landlord checked and "it's off". It's off. It's off... okay, it's off
[Stress level: 80%]

9:57am - I really don't remember turning it off. It's so hard to work when you have this in your mind. Even if there is no fire, the smell of a burnt metal pot in the carpet, clothes, bed, couch. Another 7 hours to go until I get back to the apartment.
[Stress level: 70%]

10:04am - Breathing in, breathing out.
[Stress level: 50%]

10:10am - I keep saying these to myself to stay sane:
- In my history of life, I've never left an element on when I leave the house (But there's always a first time)
- The freaking landlord says it's off.
[Stress level: 47%]

10:20am - Searched "I can't remember if I turned off the stove" on Google. One site says it's "so automatic to turn the oven off after cooking that we hardly realize we're doing it." I think back on how automatic actions are prevalent in my daily life. There are a lot of things which I do that I don't even remember; it's like second nature.
[Stress level: 40%]

10:29am - I hear a whole bunch of people talking outside my cubicle and I hear my mentor's laugh. It's a funny laugh.
[Stress level: 32%]

10:33am - I try recalling my memory if I turned it off or not. Stress increase!
[Stress level: 40%]

5:30pm - I get back to apartment. It's off.

[Stress level: 0%]

5:31pm - I realize I have memory problems

[Stress level: 20%]

Line Chart of Stress levels in relation to time:

Fort McMurray is not THAT bad

I realize I need to give you the setting of my adventures and experience. This will allow you to understand some of the things I say in the later posts.

As the title says, Fort McMurray is not THAT bad. I was totally expecting it to be a boon town; dirty, boring, and white (Caucasian). Oh how my preconceptions have been shattered.

WARNING: I will be using “colours” to describe different races; I’m NOT racist. Using colours is the only way I can describe people’s ethnicity without knowing their country (for example, can you tell the difference between an Ethiopian, Djiboutian, or Somalian?? I can’t – I didn’t even know there’s a country called Djibouti.)

Preconception #0: Boon town [WRONG]

Obviously it’s not a beautiful city like Vancouver, but it’s definitely not in the boonies. It's a city of 100,000 people. There's a "downtown" (I'd call it a downstreet), there's a Superstore, Wal-Mart, Staples, Safeway, Moxies, Earls, a few Chinese restaurants and Japanese ones, a mall (small one, mind you). There’s also an Extra Foods, BP, Subway, KFC, and banks about 15 min walk away from my apartment. Most of the houses look like they are no more than 10-15 years old, there are whole bunch of gyms and community centres (and a brand new one with NICE facilities; water park, library, gyms, rinks, courts, conference halls).

Preconception #1: White [WRONG]

Fort McMurray's multiculturalism is MORE visible than Vancouver's. Vancouver, all you see is just ASIAN. Walking around Ft . Mac, you can see people of every ethnicity here. The church I go to, it was like the United Nations. They have flags of 42 different countries hanging in the back to represent all the countries the members are from.

Even at work... in my team, there are 2 black guys, 3 Asians, 2 brown guys, 4 white guys. My mentor is from Pakistan; my team leader is from Nigeria. My cubicle is across from another Nigerian and beside an Indian. [You don't get this mosaic in Vancouver].

Preconception #2: Boring [Depends]

If you’re a party animal, this place is not for you. One of my co-workers is from Montreal; yes Montreal. He’s the pinnacle of party animal and he hates this place. No clubs (well if you consider an old tavern with a dance floor as big as your room, then yes). The closest thing to a bar here is.... Boston Pizza?

But if you have a purpose in life and NOT a party animal, it’s not that boring. Like I said in Preconception #0, there are whole bunch of community centres. I play badminton on Mondays, volleyball on Thursdays. Before it started getting cold, I went to play Frisbee or soccer in the nice outdoor fields across my apartment. Also I have a guitar here and I've done plenty of reading as well.

Preconception #3: Dirty [CORRECT]

It’s Alberta. What d’you expect?

Okay, it's not THAT dirty. It's not ... fresh and clean like Vancouver, BUT it's definitely cleaner than India!

Conclusion:

Fort McMurray is more of a family town than anything else. I wouldn't mind living here and raising a family. Why??? You'll save money because your wife or daughter won't be shopping too much here. (Then again, it's about a 5 hour drive away from Edmonton).

More stories to come!

I AM BACK (My return to blogging)

After much prodding by my good friendo Aaron Lo, I have succumbed to blogging again. Its been almost a year since I've blogged. School, life, traveling, and music was of greater importance than blogging.

But now, I'm in Fort McMurray, Alberta for coop and have more time on my hands. By the end of it all, I will be here for 8 months. It's been 2 months and I have many stories of my experience so far. I got stories about my coworkers, my roommate, me, God, life, etc; I assure it will be highly entertaining to read.

Here are some upcoming story titles I will be blogging about:

- My pants feel tighter than before (My fight against fat and weight gains)

- Drunk Asian business man

- My roommate is .... alright

- My week of diarrhea

- I'm ready for marriage (or so it seems)