It’s time for the blog revival. It’s good therapy. My therapist even said it’s a good exercise in defining my identity at a time when I’m questioning what I should be doing with my life or what I’m good at. I said: I’m good at writing. I’m a writer.
So I’m writing.
I messed up with unpublishing articles and archiving old posts but the last time I wrote anything for this space was in 2017. I forgot that I was posting something fairly consistently throughout my first bout of unemployment. (Note: first bout. I’m now on my third. Yay!) And then I just stopped. It must’ve been because I started working more with a full time gig and life just picked up from there.
Eight years is a long time so I’ll reset this journal with a rundown on what’s happened since the last time I wrote anything.
Throughout 2017, I was pulling regular shifts at CBC Radio while also spending some time at a couple restaurants to make ends meet. I also picked up a contract working for a national charity called Apathy is Boring, focusing on increasing youth voter turnout ahead of the 2019 Alberta election.
In 2018, I was hired again by AisB to continue the election outreach work. By the end of the year, I’d become a full-time staffer.
In 2020, we lived through the COVID-19 pandemic. By now, I was called a Digital Engagement Coordinator and I took that title to heart. When all we could do was Zoom meetings to avoid physical social contact, I helped organize and host events that brought 150 youth together to eat and talk – all on Zoom.
In 2021, I ran a digital get-out-the-vote-campaign, encouraging young people across Canada to pledge to vote in yet another federal election. At this point, Briana (my partner who was mentioned in old posts) started dipping her toes into local politics and became the campaign manager for a candidate running for city council.
Towards the end of 2021, Briana’s candidate won her election and she started working at city hall. In 2022, I was starting to feel like an old man working at a youth-focused non-profit so maybe it was time for a change. A spot opened up in another city councillor’s office and I was eventually hired to take it.
At the start of 2023, I was terminated. The easiest way to put it is that expectations didn’t meet up. This time was a lot easier to handle since Briana was now making more money than me and it was enough to support us. So I was in less of a hurry to find new work. Also, friends cared and stayed connected.
A few months later, I was regularly doorknocking for an NDP candidate as we hurled towards a provincial election. The candidate won and I joined her staff.
Late that year, my dad was diagnosed with cancer and started undergoing chemo.
Everything else was going swimmingly until early 2025. I was terminated once again in March.
My dad passed away on June 17. I stayed with him in the hospital on his final night. In total, I was home with family for five weeks, the longest I’ve been away from Calgary since moving out here.
That brings us to now where I’ve been weighing my abilities and what I can do. Briana and I are working on some municipal campaigns again. I’m contemplating whether I can make something out of independent contract work.
And we bought our first condo together that we’re moving into in two weeks.
So as I get back to writing, expect to see this space filled with my random thoughts on living in Calgary, being involved with the local political scene and navigating a major life transition. I’m not doing this to make money or gain fame although who wouldn’t want that? It’s an exercise in creativity and figuring myself out.
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