i just finished shoveling the driveway after mother nature decided to vomit a layer of snow in the last 12 hours. i have some time to kill before my lady finishes her classes at the super smart university where she's learning to add numbers with letters that will one day make her lots of money. so thought i would do something productive around the house in the meantime. we used to have a small driveway and at one point had no driveway at all. now it's big driveway with a long sidewalk that wraps itself around the house which needs to be cleared of the snow. the sidewalk needs to be cleared just in case some an elderly lady falls and sues the city or you. then the big driveway of your may disappear due to legal fees. since we moved this fall shoveling snow has been more demanding than ever. it used to be so easy and yet so hard. there is a story in this and if you have a few minutes please continue to read.

in the past 15 years my family has moved 7 times for what seems like a silly enough reason to be moving for. you see my family comes from humble beginnings when they immigrated and getting this big driveway is a reward for their hard work. i remember the days when we lived in the ghetto-ized region of toronto and my mother was collecting dimes to be able to buy bread, putting water in milk so it would last longer and all my clothing came from second hand shops. my father's boss was also being a dick and thought because dad was some dumb polish immigrant he could fraud him with a few weekly checks that amounted to something like $1.57. when he wasn't that obvious he was cutting back ever-s0-subtly. eventually this was the saving grace.

after that we continued to struggle financially as he set aside money for the legal battle against the company. my father had binders of work logs paperwork contracts making this an open-and-shut case. once there was enough funds to hire a lawyer my father sued his company and recieved a hefty settlement for the back pay. a judge never heard the case because the guy had no defence and coughed everything up saving him the embarrassment. since then the company was folded and the owner eventually killed himself. though no one around here mourns his death. though one thing that bothers me whether he killed himself because of getting caught or the realization he was by far the biggest asshole i've ever heard off. i met him one time when i was younger; short, fat, bald and looked like the biggest trailer trash piece of shit this side of kingston ontario. he had no family. no offsprings. nothing. just my dad's earned money and when that was taken away he really had nothing to live for. i'm guessing getting caught is what killed him.

the settlement money was used to send my mother to school and get re-qualified. though she earned a math master's degree in stockholm and was a teacher by training no one cared. in canada a foreign education is only good for wiping your ass with. so she went to york got a degree in childhood education and worked in a preschool for a while. my dad was working for air canada now and money was starting to flow.

around this time my parents met another immigrant couple who were in a similar situation as the family was struggling to get adjusted. but somehow they managed to move out of the ghetto toronto building and move into a slightly more affluent community. mind you it was no rosedale either. my parents couldn't live with this because they were earning more now and thought deserved better. so we moved into a bigger apartment in a more affluent community than the friends. the friends didn't like that and bought a townhouse in mississauga. within a year my parents purchased one of those neato condo apartments that had a cool gym, sauna, big pool and all the fun luxuries of living in modern day condo. by now my father was bringing in the cheddar and mom's teacher qualification were finally recognized by the toronto schoolboard. for a bit she was a supply teacher in toronto but supply teachers are treated as a joke by everyone. we all know that.

one day a math teacher in mississauga's catholic schoolboard dropped off the face of the earth and a position opened up. next day the position was filled by my mother and after a decade of putting up with cleaning jobs, waitressing, changing diapers, babysitting high schoolers because the real teacher didn't feel like coming in that day what mom was supposed to do along she was finally allowed to do. within two years she ascended to the math department's head position and is running dat shit! dad's doing well for himself as well but after busting his balls day and night for air canada he's slowed down and taken a less demanding position within the company. in his tenure there he's travelled the world and back countless of times so his kids wouldn't have to rely on water downed milk and that his wife could do what she loves. though we have our difference i'm forever in his debt for what he's done for the family. he's my hero though i do not know how to tell him so.

throughout all this we continued to move and compete with these friends. you may be wondering what is it that they do. well i'll tell you. one is a baker and the other one cleans your coffee stains off tables at the pearson airport. they've had similar jobs since coming to canada and for that my parents think they have to be above them. and because of this my parents can't bare be below them so they'll continue moving until someone owns a 40 acre ranch and says, 'ok, we get it.' i used to love this because each time it meant my room is going to be getting bigger and i can't go wrong with that. but now that i have to shovel a bigger driveway each time i'm getting sick of this unspoken competition. i know this is driving the other family into a massive debt but my parents are all game. and they somehow compete battling and probably are planning to buy bigger house come spring time or so.

i don't think this competition is over yet but i am hoping by the next round i'll be having my own competition with my friends. one already has a jump start with an apartment in ottawa but doesn't count because mommy and daddy pay rent while he "studies" (aka: drinks away his weekly "funds"). but when we're all done getting this so-called education i am all game for an all out assault on upward social mobility. i've learned a thing or two from watching my folks so you motherfuckers be ready when i get out there! who am i kidding. i'll be here in my parents basement till i am 45 but hey! at least my room keep getting bigger each time mom and dad continue their assault!

this is a kind of condensed version of the story for the sake of my time and yours as well so there is no need to get into the dimensions of the property each time i moved. but if you got this far and get what i am talking about you get what i am talking about. i could tell my brother and sister this story ten times over as they are lucky enough to have no memories of the early days. their arrogance and spoiled attitudes is the result of my parents insulating them from a past that wasn't filled with pleasant memories. i'm glad i've been through this as it put everything into perspective. as soon as i was legally able to work i went to work. this summer was the first time i didn't work for more than three weeks straight thinking it's time i lay off and went to europe. people think think i am working my youth away but being brought up the way i was work is the only way one can redeem oneself. so seeing people who flaunt their wealth doesn't upset me because they probably worked their asses for it. seeing spoiled kids does piss the crap out of me because none of these kids ever know what they're parents did so their kids wouldn't have to go through that in the future.

i am quite lazy but ever so often try not to be and doing something then and now feels good. so i hope you understand why shoveling a driveway is somewhat bittersweet.