at first Anne was all prepared to usher me out the door for my 1:30pm shift leaving out at 12:15pm. I figured, ok, I can play hooky and get my coffee go downtown and go to the LMIC building make a few phone calls, to Shaw so I can get myself that 2nd email address and find out more info on that rental assistance then around 4:45pm head into work. “John, you did hear me say when I left Saturday afternoon that I might not be in Monday afternoon, right?” Nothing will be said. So after Raw (more on this later) and the news (Top story about CB’s death.) Anne said if I wanted to go in for the afternoon shift, I’d have to still go in for 7hrs Wed/Thursday/Friday. I can live with that. I’d still get 24.5hours in and Saturday/Sunday off and I’ll be in Monday evening next week when most everyone else is taking it off. Next week after the long weekend I’ll put the extra hours in.    

During Anne’s time on the computer Monday afternoon figuring out our finances she asked about the date and it’s June 25th today. On this date 27 years ago was when but it would be this coming Wednesday is when I left the Meyer house. The vacancy rate at the time June 1980 was about what it is now but worse today because of all the Condo development. Two high-rises, one under construction replacing the Cecil hotel and another one is about to go up later this year where the old Paramount Theater is. This last one is supposed to be some 40 stories tall and will make it the tallest building in Edmonton. The building is supposed to contain a mix of condos, office space and affordable housing. But 27 years ago there were very few Condos in this city. The city is ready to invest something like $170 million in housing units, creating 4000 spaces. This is a drop in the bucket. These units will not be online until 2010 built over time. Hard to believe I paid $110/month for the room at the Meyer place in 1980. In 1983 I paid $185/month for a similar room. These were just simple housekeeping rooms nothing special. A few years later after moving out of Trudy’s $185/month basement suite, I found my first real apartment. This was the bachelor apartment or studio suite with a balcony, at $250/month. I stayed in that suite from 1985-1995. When I left I was paying $320/month. That little studio apartment today is might be around $450-500 month. More then likely $500/month since I think it’s now a Boardwalk site.

In November 1995 I got evicted ( I really dropped the ball there) and I was lucky to find a 1 bedroom suite on the 2nd floor right across the street for $360/month. That one bedroom on the 2nd floor is probably double what it was back then 10 years ago. It wasn’t long after that I upgraded to the 3rd floor in the same building facing the street. That was a 1 bedroom and I was paying $380. I had lots of good times in there with Veronica, Arla and others. I got behind because I was on Welfare at the time working with the Edmonton Sun under the table. Welfare paid me only enough for the rent of the suite and the Sun helped pay for groceries. I got behind and late charges were mounting up at $5/day. I probably could have still stayed there, as there was nothing wrong with the suite. I wouldn’t even hazard a guess how much I owed in late charges

And back rent. But with a bit of creative juggling and if I kept my head and stayed after getting the job where I work now, I probably could have kept that apartment. Of course things changed when I met my wife on the job October of 2000. We got married December of that year and by November she asked me to move in with her. I’ve been here ever since. I like it here. I hate moving. Moving is the worst job, anyone can do imo. I don’t know if that little room in the Meyer house is occupied. Last time I heard the Pentecostal church across the street owns it and uses the Meyer house for storage. I seem to recall my time flirting around with Christianity (chasing after a girl, what else?) when my father passed away in 1996 that the house was occupied and I think turned into a group home. Though I can’t substantiate any of this at the moment.

So I’m ready to watch Raw at 7pm. Imagine my “surprise” when Vince McMahon is standing in the middle of the ring. But the arena is empty. He talks how this evening was supposed to be the demise of his wrestling character Vince McMahon but instead he announced that Chris Benoit, his son Daniel and wife Nancy are dead. What the hell? I thought maybe this was another story line. The King and JR and the announcers from Smackdown and ECW all had their moments and other wrestlers gave tributes to Chris Benoit from here in Edmonton. Most of them were very emotional especially from Chavo Guerrero and Edge. In between commercials I went online to learn more. Apparently police did a “Welfare check” and that’s when they found the bodies of Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy and 7-year-old son Daniel. Early speculation suggests this could have been a murder suicide. The Police aren’t saying much. I still (even after watching Raw) thought this was some story line but on local global news it made top story. This was the real deal. I never met Chris Benoit even being a wrestling fan from his home City here in Edmonton. His parents still live outside Sherwood Park, which is a bedroom community of Greater Edmonton. The really odd thing from what I’ve been reading (like the rest of you) Benoit was supposed to be wrestling CM Punk for the ECW Championship at last nights Ppv “Vengeance”. Johnny Nitro won instead. But before the event Benoit told JR that he had to cancel mentioning something about a “family emergency” or something like that. It seems that the bodies of Benoit his wife and son were found dead about 2:30pm yesterday afternoon. So then the incident (no gunplay was involved) had to have taken place Sunday afternoon and Monday afternoon. This is a sad but a strange story.

Earlier though before I even learned of the news of Chris Benoit’s murder (suicide?) I was hard at work on F. I’m really enjoying this story and I’m fleshing F out in amazing ways yet unseen in the first draft. It’s going well and I want to work on a bit more before bed in an hour.

Habitat for humanity is an organization I strongly believe in. HH is utilizing some land here in the city to build about 45 units for low income for the $32,000-$50,000 group. What? $32,000 is low income? Yeesh between Anne and I we barely pull in $25,000 year and that’s not net pay. We’re not living high off the hog here. We spend about $100/month just on cat food and about $600.month on food. Yet were still keeping our rent down to 1/3rd of our income. Residences nearby this “low income” HH project are up in arms over the fact that low income is moving into their neighborhood. Their worried that low income will compromise their property values. I have to give my head a shake. Anne and I belong to that unique demographic called “the working poor.” Yet I don’t feel “poor.” We’ve got a roof over our heads. Our rent is affordable. When I get my act together I can make “decent” income. Between my wife and I we can pull in $2100/month and after all our bills are covered we still have about $200/month each to play around with. Ok so we don’t drive a car we take the bus and train to work. We don’t go on exotic trips. Anne’s sister is the world traveler in the family, going on cruises etc once a year and other trips. Outside my Lodge I don’t have a social life. We don’t have a social life. All we have each other and maybe someday, I might break into print and hit the big time but that’s not why I write. As long as we have our health and the few bones the good Lord tosses our way we’re happy. We don’t bother anybody we don’t do drugs although we indulge in the occasional beer now and then and as long as I can buy a book once a week we’re happy. We have our Internet connection and our cable TV and if life can treat us without any major hang-ups over the next 20 years we’re happy. So HH says low income is $32,000 bucks? Yeah right.

e. Jim