Since moving west my trips home have gotten less and less frequent, now only amounting to Christmas visits with my family and friends.
This year money’s gotten even tighter (and plane tickets even more expensive), so it looks like my Christmas visit has been scrapped for, hopefully, spring time.
Maybe next year I’ll be able to just move home. —Never Been More Homesick
This article appears in Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2012.
If you took a job here making less money then “out west”, then you affording to come home for Christmas wouldn’t be an issue. Problem solved?
` the only problem with working here, is just that. we have i think, the highest rate of unemployed people next to newfieland. i had a chance to go west a few years back, driving a tool truck for an oil company in the field. 24 bucks an hour to do fuck all, but i decided that my family was worth more to me than money.
how i regret that choice now, and the place i was last employed, was a chicken shit outfit. that’s why i decided to start my own business again, doing computer repairs and upgrades and data retrival. from there i went on to security installations of cameras and monitoring them. then just went into private security itself. and the money is still not as good as out west.
this province is hard to get a half decent paying job in, and there are actually tons of jobs, that pay minimum wage. what the fuck hey, at least it will pay some or all your bills, tho not let you live in high class areas. those that are, are really silly, paying all or just about all their wages for rent. there are half decent digs out there for far less than some pay. just think of it this way. in 1 year, how many new cars could you buy, with what you will pay for rent/ morgage?
i’m not saying you have to live in a hovel, but you could certainly be less choosy about where you lay your head at night, or whenever you decide to sleep. i pay 600 bucks a month for a 2 b.r., it is spacey enough, clean, secure, and not in a high risk crime area.
I went 10 years of missing Christmas with my family when I lived out west, I could fly anywhere in the world during the regular season for the cost of a plane ticket back home during the holidays and after breaking myself the first time that was enough….does your family come out to visit you OP? Do they offer to help cover the cost? If not you have nothing to feel guilty about, have an “orphan” x-mas, it’s cheaper, more fun and way less stressful.
Muffin, it is the holidays, not the coming of Christ … er, well kind-a-sort-of ….. fuck, yes it is …. but anyway …. that was then …..
Chill out and have a grand Christmas of your own … do something for others …. help out at a shelter, visit a seniors complex, volunteer at the food bank …. your time will be a gift to many …. these folks may not have ANY family so a couple of days around Christmas can make a difference ….. unless, of course, we want to go back to being all about you……
yea come here and celebrate when your a professional with 10 years experience and they offer you 15 bucks an hour with a benefits plan that costs you more than it benefits you. Stay where you are, safe from some shit hole third world country I guarantee you your quality of life is better.
Yeah… and the grass is always greener on the other side
Mister Meaty, that was good. So true, so funny, so many believe it.
Christmas is a highly emotional time of year. But not to me. It is one day. Big Deal. I don’t go nuts spending or worrying about any of it. At least I don’t have to face big visa bills at the end of it when all the toys are broke up and thrown out. Relax OP. Make a long distance call and celebrate the day. One day.
I have Good Dog Molly syndrome, I keep dribbling on this bitch. For those who think the west is best, and full of riches for all. Why can’t the OB afford to make it home? The employment and wages are just so amazing that you can’t afford a plane ticket. Like Mister Meaty said, that grass is just so much greener over there.
to op, there is something about christmas season that rips the heart open about ‘being home’ . maybe it’s the songs, all the commercials showing happy familes gathered around a tree or table. the shorter days, greyer weather, memories of childhood christmases.
it doesn’t seem to matter how dysfunctional one’s family may be, and how different from the commercials your gathering may behave, it’s still gutting to not be home for christmas. try to find some other ‘orphans’ like yourself and get together with them for a pot luck dinner. or if possible, one of the suggestions from koda above. best wishes to you and hope you get to come home next year. if you are on fb, go to the nova scotia page and say hi.
Yes, and it’s always greener here too….
OP , come home in the off season, as others have said ,cheaper & the weather’s nicer in the summer.
Also
THere have been quite a few posts here lately from those who just can’t wait to get out of this “shit hole” (that’s the posters words not mine). People saying how great Montreal or Toronto or out West or just anywhere else but here ! !
Me I make between 35 to 50 bucks an hour, but it ain’t all that great …. my chips are too crispy, my beers too cold & I guess I’m making to much money per hour …what can you do, if it wasn’t me, they’d just get someone else !!!
Just an FYI to all you christmas feasters
Did I mention my turkey was lookin’ pretty damn proud struttin’ around out in the yard today … he’s got a date with the chopin’ block on Sat Dec 22nd in the morning. But today he was strutting around like he pays the mortgage ~;)
my woggie is going to get the best present of all this year, ME.
I am so sorry you wont be able to go home, i know how you feel, i travel to and from home each christmas, and plane tickets costs are a bitch! Pardon the pun;) I really hope you are able to make the most of staying in Halifax this break:D
Christmas is a dark oppressive time of the year. There’s only daylight while you’re working, you leave for work in the dark and you come home in the dark. It’s like living about a mile down in a cave. People string up blinding artificial lights sucking precious energy trying to prove they’re better than their neighbour. Others spend funds they don’t have because the television told them to, “spend, spend, spend it’ll make you happy”, for half a day.
On the bright side, there is food and football. I enjoy visiting family as well.
However I absolutely despise the commercialization and glitter. It seems to make the darkness darker like somebody shining a flashlight directly into your eyes, blinding light in front, pitch blackness all around the periphery. Ditch the presents and decorations and Christmas might be bearable.
“Ditch the presents and decorations and Christmas might be bearable.”
May I make an amendment and say presents for children only instead of no presents. I do have grandchildren.
christmas spending is like eating chocolate….there’s a direct ratio between how much you indulge in and how badly you will feel shortly afterwards
Ya’ll have a Happy Suicide Season.
BLOW: I got you something nice to. What color bow do you want on it??? 😉
a nice red bow for you to wear, is all that i need. i will have my red ribbon on for you.