It's a funny thing deciding what to write about. Or more accurately what part of life to write about. I'm never quite sure and tend to get mixed up ending with a manuscript that has no clear story or theme.
I guess that is life though, there is no clear story. We can just pick at certain topics or experiences then expand and elaborate on them.
I've lived so many lives in my years of being on this planet. So many little chapters that have someone joined together to form the story of my life so far.
I've been a student, so many times and many subjects, but never got a degree. I've worked many different jobs, I've been an addict, I've been on government payments while unemployed, a mental health patient. Mostly though I've been alone.
Out of my twenty seven years on the planet I've spent less than three of them in relationships. I have close friends and loving family who all make me loved and needed at the same time much of my life has been me coming back to an empty, dark and quite house. I walk through the door and the depression kicks in. Once years ago in a share house I was happy. Living with wonderful people who got me.
Then those about three years of being with a girlfriend gave me brief breaks as well. I lived in other share houses some great, and some not so great. Mostly though, alone. Even in share houses I felt alone. Short stints of living around Brisbane city, Samford Valley and in Christchurch (New Zealand). My first trip to Christchurch was in 2009 and I’ve been back at least once every year since for varying amounts of time.
Just my anxiety, depression and addictive nature to keep me company. Although that's not exactly what I am here to write about. It could be, I could pick that little section of my life. No, not for this one. I'll hold onto that for later.
Let's focus on where I've lived and how I've forged my way through this ever exhausting thing we call life.
I started working pretty much as soon as I could, not that I have anything to show for it. My first job was washing dishes at the local pub, I must have been about 15. I worked one three hour shift every Sunday through lunch service with good friend of mine. We got paid ten bucks an hour each in cash. It was walking distance from my home, on my walk home I would smoke a cigarette. That was back when I was still terrified of my parents finding out I smoked.
I was let go from that job because I forgot to tuck my shirt in one shift, so the manger let me go. Even though we where always out the back scrubbing dirty plates and swimming in our own sweat somehow that mattered.... That manger never liked me to begin with. I never knew why exactly.
My next job was a bike mechanic at a bicycle shop in Northern Brisbane. About a half hour drive from my home. I mostly worked Saturdays, and some after school shifts.
I remember one time showing up for work and waiting for hours with a co worker as customers backed up because our boss had gone for a morning ride, forgotten his phone and got a flat tyre or some shit.
He was useless. Most of my job was unboxing bikes and putting them together. I have no idea what I got paid for that job, I left after a little while because I couldn't get my head around how to properly install the gearing system on mountain and road bikes. Plus having to get my Mum or Dad who where now divorced to drive me into work every week wasn't exactly ideal.
After that I was jobless for awhile by that stage I was about 16 or 17. Soon I begun doing gardening and yard work for several different people in my local area including on of my Dads friends who was a builder. On occasion I would work as labourer for him or his Son who was also a builder.
As I gained confidence I begun taking on bigger jobs and moving toward a more landscaper orientated role as well as gardening. I enjoyed doing the bigger one off jobs over having the same cliental who I would work for weekly maintaining their yards. That is the joy of living in an upmarket rural area. Everyone has huge yards but no one wants to maintain them theirselves.
There was also two local landscapers I know who would often throw me some hours every so often, both fathers to girls I went to School with. Over the years they begun to trust my skills and knowledge more and more. At the same time I would on occasion help out one of my Uncles who owned a Cafe on a nearby Mountain. Most long weekends I would go up there stay with him and work the weekend doing dishes and taking orders. I hated hospitality but working for Uncle Russ was ok because I didn't feel I had to prove anything. He knew I was reliable. Some mornings we would head into the cafe early and cook ourselves breakfast before opening.
I did allot of odd jobs over those years gaining small amounts of experience in many areas. Mostly the trades and services. By the time I was 18 and in my final year of High school I was working most weekends and sometimes after school doing all sorts of landscaping, gardening and odd jobs. Saving to travel the year after I graduated was the goal.
Upon graduating for a short time I worked as a house removalist about six hours north of Brisbane. The boss was an odd man who really had no idea what he was doing and was a chronic alcoholic. The job included up keep of his property, getting old houses ready to go and re locate them once they sold, re-stumping houses, removing houses from properties plus all sorts if other odd little bits. It was tough work and if I didn't fly home for the weekend we would work six day weeks. One of the guys he (kind of) employed was addict very deep in his addiction. Sober he was a lovely guy, but on amphetamines he became very angry and hostile. I also worked with painters, builders, electrifications and plumbers while getting houses ready and doing finishing work. Once we stopped for the day I'd go home drink beers and chain smoke while reading, eat dinner, and go to bed.
This didn't last long as the boss realised I was still very much intent on living in Brisbane and no plans to actually re locate. So after he fucked me over financially slightly, I left.
Arriving back with no job I briefly visited friends in New-Zealand. When ever I am in New Zealand I do some work with a couple friends either landscaping or doing bits of building and other trades for a friends brother who owned a construction company and about thirteen houses in Christchurch. When I returned I begun the whole gardening, landscaping and odd job gig again charging a slightly higher hourly rate. It was good. Over the years of living on and off in Christchurch I worked on about ten different properties with my two friends and the friends brother. Some garden maintenance, some finishing work on houses and some re landscaping new gardens.
Sometime during that winer of 2013 my Aunt who works costume for films and T.V. got me some work as an extra on an Australian war film about at an Aussie war photojournalist plus some days working costume and arts department. The work as an extra was great, it involved long hours. Early mornings and late nights. I'd say 90% percent of our time was spent sitting around smoking cigarettes and drinking tea or coffee waiting for the scenes we where in. Being a war film set in Vietnam meant we spent the day being caked in mud and constantly soaked in cold water. Apart from that discomfort it was pretty good work. Well paid all meals provided, allot of time sitting around just talking shit. One thing I remember was not being allowed to smoke actual cigarettes on camera, so as soldiers we where forced to smoke these disgusting herbal cigarettes when on camera.
With the bonus of the film being shot just down the road from my Aunts place so next to no time spent in transit to get to work. Although over that time I was borrowing one of m Aunt and Uncles old cars and managed to get into a minor accident and although it wasn't my fault being a young male on my provisional license the blame did come back on me. The days I did with arts and costume where long and again rewarding with good people and good pay. Overall I did that work for about two weeks.
Skip forward to the following year (2013/2014) after travelling for a good length of time around South America and then Europe I lived in Christchurch for a six month stint. Returning to Brisbane jobless and unsure what to do, I begun studying Visual Art. One of the landscapers I had worked with who was now a good friend got me a job at a local native plant nursery. It was a great job, one of the most enjoyable jobs I'ver ever had. All the plants we stocked where native cabinet timbers. The owner was a ninety something year old who could still run up and down the nursery and pot plants quicker then me. I basically ran the nursery watering plants, re potting, getting orders ready, looking after the seedlings, propitiating and germinating plus collecting seeds.
As part of that job we also did big tree plantings for clients who bought bulk. We would load up the plants, drive to the destination and stay there for a few days planting out acres with hundreds of native trees. The only down side was my boss thought eight dollars an hour was fair pay, I couldn't really survive on three eight hour days of eight dollars an hour while studying. The tree plantings paid much better but where few and far between.
By chance that same landscaper friend was know working as a groundskeeper at a local research facility owned by a large University. He got me a job as a research/ field assistant for the Environmental science department studying fruit flies.
On my last day working at the nursery I did no work, we sat and had a cup of tea and talked all morning. My boss was sad to see me go but also understood this was a huge opportunity. To work as a research/ field assistant with no degree or education that area is very rare. From day one everyone assumed I was doing a PhD.
My boss at the Uni soon became a good friend and the job was a blast, hard work at times and very detail orientated but I loved it. Really I think I loved getting to run experiments in the field and liked the people I worked with. Often we would use field sites out East or West of the city and at times spend several days in the field setting experiments of collecting data. The Uni paid for all our fuel, accommodation and food. Plus some of the farmers we worked with would give us crates of fruit to take home. I liked siting in on meetings, give speeches and run downs of our progress. Present our projects to community members.
Toward the end of my time there I was in charge of a team of about five other research assistants stepping into being a senior research/ field assistant. My boss got a job in Melbourne at a bigger University so I parted ways with the Uni after he left. That job lasted about two years. I worked various contracts over those years. Some full time, some part time.
After becoming quite unwell mentally in 2016 and having to take a break from working I eventually returned to landscaping. Late in 2016 I travelled to the US for a few weeks and did a large road trip through the high desert before and after that trip I had been living back in Christchurch. Returning to work I contracted for a couple companies and also doing my contracting work around where I lived.
For a long time that was mainly all I did. During these years my drug addiction was raging. I spent my time split between Brisbane and Christchurch but I was in a bad way. I did many things I regret and completely consumed by a need for drugs and getting them in any way I could. Hey, at least it gave motivation to work.
During that time before my addiction got way out of control I also did a market every Friday night at a friend restaurant selling hand made woodwork items, painted skate decks, prints and paintings I had created.
On the side I also worked as a Shamanic practitioner. I begun studying various Shamanic and traditional healing methods in 2012 after travelling to Hawaii and continued that study through the years. I would see clients and also teach healing methods. During this gap in employment I took on several study paths including Naturopathy and Outdoor leadership (outdoor guiding).
Eventually in 2019 I took up a paid construction traineeship for a six month contract were we would come out with a certificate in construction. It was a full time gig and I didn't last long before burning out and having to step down from the program.
After that I worked for a business tucked up north a bit in the Sunshine coast hinterland. About a two hour drive from where I live. The business made boutique lamps and furniture out of wood and crystals embedded with light strips so when plugged in the crystals would all glow. I worked three days a week, some days I set crystals in lamps others I made furniture. The work itself felt a little mechanic. I was a small part of one big production line with no real creative input.
The one thing I did enjoy was everyday we all had a home cooked lunch together. Giving us time to eat good food, chat and enjoy the beautiful property we worked at.
I lasted a couple months but between the cost of fuel and camping fees I was making very little profit so I quit. I was also studying at the time. The other workers and our boss where lovely people but a bit too 'new age' for me.
I went back to landscaping for about a year and was studying a diploma in 'Mental Health' until I landed the position I am now working in. Taking a step in a very different direction and working as a climbing instructor at an indoor climbing gym, as I slowly gather my guide qualifications to work outdoors. This job is pretty great, it is full on and sometimes you have about ten things going at once but it's only forty minutes from my home and the work is rewarding.
So in brief that is the lives I've lived, and everything I've studied, worked at or done since I was 15. I have no idea where my life will go next. I have my aims and ideas for climbing and mountain guiding. More focus on teaching Shamanism.
The thing you just never know where life will take you. When opportunities will arise. Or when it'll turn to shit.
