Busy times ahead

Well thankful for the fun weekend at the toy run and blowing off some steam. It was another truely great event, with good friends and laughter. The only thing that I didnt like was the pace of the ride this year. For some reason we were in first and second gear for the whole route! I can understand creeeping along thru town, and stopping to enter the quay but on the highway along Cameron Lake and over the hump we usually have a nice steady pace, not the speed limit but steady. Not this year, it was tiring thats for sure. There were many food vendors but not really any others there this year. That was kinda dissapointing as usually you can find some good deals at the end of the season.

We made our way to the grounds and both Kaylee and I got attacked as we were parking the bikes, by my girlfriends grandson(who is 14) and was dying to see us again. Eventually my girlfriend showed up for a great visit and joined us at the motel party. Kaylee went off wandering PA with Ashton but knew where to find us when it was time to return home. As usual we all had fun in the courtyard as everyone trickled in from the event grounds. Great to see people that you dont see very often and of course those you do. Drinks were flowing, laughter abounded and before ya knew it, it was time to head to the dance. Well, drinks were doing well cause poor Len doesnt remember going to the dance but he did have a good time! I told him so!

We took a leisurely morning to get ready and leave, then we rode out with Rick and Sheila and stopped at their house for a bit before carrying on home. Tired but full of a great weekend and memories, well for some of us!

Now the chaos starts for me. I found out on the Thursday night that my EI claim had been exhausted and that Im not going to receive anymore payments. Now what the hell do I do and how do I pay the rent!!!!!!! Some notice may have been nice, that my claim was running out. Anyways guess I have to get my arse in gear and find out what I can do to change it. Wether there is something I can change on my claim, going to school or lord forbid welfare well trying to find any job that will pay enuf to live on.

So I start off with calling EI to find out, no the letter is right claim for regular benefits is exhausted, but if you cant work due to sickness then you may be able to renew the claim. OK fine, need a doctors note for that. Called a school and made an appointment to see about enrolling in one of the choices I had previously thought of. So be it wait til Monday and go to the appoinment. Monday comes and I head off for the school, hmmm sounds good, have to commute to Vic but so be it, but how soon would the course start as I cant receive funding til I am in school. First Im told January - great, then she finds one starting on October 12th - much better, I might be able to work with this, if I can get all requirements taken care of before then. You have to write an entry test to be accepted and she was going to rebook me to come back, I said to heck with it lets do it now, I dont want to have to dwell on it and I hate any kind of test or exam as I typically freeze up and forget what I know. The test is 2 parts, math and english proficientcy, ok not toooo concerned with the english part but math could be another question if they start throwing fractions and algebra crap at me!!! I didnt take algebra in school as I figured it was useless to me in the real world and prefered to take business math which was and has been way more practical. Oh well, off I go to write these tests and see if Im bright enuf to enter school again at my age, 20 plus years out of highschool.

Well shyte, Im friggin smarter then I thought I was, and I didnt freeze up either. I got 2 wrong on the english and 1 in the math, and I also told her which ones they were that I got wrong. Yep they did throw in some fractions but got them and some of that XY algebra bullshit but managed to figure it out too. I still dont like it and really hope we dont hit alot of it in grade 10 math while I have to help Kaylee this year. So with tests past, I have basically been accepted into the course, I just have to go thru the loopsholes now to receive the funding for tuition and living allowance thru the EI program. She had me make an appoinment with my councillor and then directly come back to see her. From there I will be given a letter of acceptance to take to the Education funding people and work thru their application with them. All in the mean time, I also have to get a criminal record check, TB testing and a letter from my doc that says I am capable of doing this type of work. Basically easy enough.

Now, I just have to figure out even if accepted how to pay the rent and bills for the next month. If I get the training funding, I wont receive anything til the end of the month, that is just the way that it works. So I need to fall back on welfare temporarily or see if Im toooooo sick to work and get my EI back on line for a bit, hence a letter from the doctor again. So I start the day off with talking to welfare, oh what a joy and have they ever changed things around from a decade ago. Man they might as well be a friggin credit lender the amount of stuff they want from you. I listened to all she had to say and wasnt overly impressed with a few things. They take over any maintenance agreement that you may have and go after the father for more. GREAT, him and I are finally getting along and not fighting over shit and he pay 200 a month usually on time or atleast lets me know when he is going to be late. Now they plan on going after him to pay more! Wonderful so much for peace. They also for some reason want to run a credit check on you, what the hell does it matter to welfare what your credit is like???? not to mention by them doing so it also makes a minor hit on your score. So that will be nice next time I want to apply for something they see that welfare is looking in on me! Really not impressed with that one. Besides all that, they want 2 years of income tax, both my vehicle reggies, documents for the Harley with the outstanding balance of my loan(cause if I have any equity in it then Im screwed), 60 days worth of bank statements, your left leg and right arm and dont forget your first born! Holy shitsticks batman!! It is friggin nuts to try and get a hand up now a days. So I say fine to all the requests not happily and am told I need to stop in and sign the waiver for them to do the check and start the ball rolling, then I can have my appointment on the 2nd of October.

Then off I head to Victoria to see my doctor. 1) I need my shot, 2) the letter from the school and 3) will he tell me Im friggin insane and need to stay off work, or is that a contradiction in letters. Well I tell you with all this running around, appointments, paperwork and mess Im trying to sort out, I have sent myself off the deep end. I have havd a headache for 2 days, my head is spinning with information and a to do list a mile long for each different thing. My chest was tight and my damn nerves are off the charts, can I go back to the weekend where I can just drink myself stupid and forget everything. Anyways all goes great at the docs and I get my shot, and both letters! Guess the next stop for the day is going to EI to see if I can get it reinstated, well with a detour thru Shawnigan to the RCMP station for the crim check. I stop and have lunch with Len before leaving Vic partly so that he can calm me down cause I have myself wound up like a top and spinning just as fast, then head up the hat on the rest of my missions. The crim check is nothing, have been in there a few times over the years to get them, fill out both sides of the form and come back to get it tomorrow. Thanks and off I go, still think I may try and go to the lake in to put in a few hours so stop at home to change my clothes and head to Duncan. So go into EI and explain what has transpired and that I was told if due to medical reasons that I could be reinstated. You will need a letter from your doctor, yep right here. Ok fine lets get this rolling then. Well she didnt question anything as the state I must have looked would compare to how I was feeling. My head was killing me, my chest was tight, my nerves well dont ask me to sign anything cause I wouldnt have been able to. She just took the information needed and told me it would be up and running in a couple weeks again and to use the same access codes as I was using before. Great now I dont have to go to welfare and torture myself with their inquiries any further.

So now that I have given myself a major headache that does not want to leave, I have managed to get things falling into order for me. Still a few more hoops to jump thru but hopefully mid month I will be starting school for the next year. I will be taking a course for a Community Support Worker in Social Services and then after working for a while in that field I plan on taking the probation officer course and hopefully get into that. Well unless I really enjoy what Im doing at the time. So here is hoping that the funding will happen and I can do this. It will definately be a change to get use to going back to school but Im sure I will adjust to it but finding the time to study in the evenings could be a real chore. Will have to get on a schedule for sure and make sure to chase the kidlet away from me so I can have peace while studying.