A Brief History of Me 1996 to Present

1996

I decided to start this history from 1996, for the simple reason that it was the year I graduated high school. I was so happy to be done wit the damn thing that I don't really feel like thinking about it. Perhaps one day I will go back past 1996, but for now this will do. Besides most of you reading this knew me then, and this will help you catch up from that time. For those of you who didn't know me, I was already almost living on my own. In 1995 my folks moved to Cornwall, Ontario, and I decided to stay back and live with my Grandmother, Maria Kawerau, or Amie, as most of my friends knew her.

After high school, I picked up full time work at a company called "Snack Magic". I worked on an assembly line putting bags of potato chips into a box. Theses boxes which also had other snacks in them were taken to businesses around Southern Ontario. They were usually placed in lunch roooms for employees to snack on. The food would be paid for using the "honesty system". They were supposed to leave their money in a a little box that sat amongst all the goodies.

The woman in the picture above was my closest co-worker, and the best of the lot there. She was Irish and a woman who didn't mess around. She liked me and looked out for me all the time. I have two distinct memories of that place. The first was the fun I had jumping into the large cardboard dumpster to "manually" compact the cardboard. The second was the day after my 19th birthday. I was extremely hung over and after 2 hours of working on the line the urge to be sick came over me. I made a run for the bathroom, but didn't make it far. There I was, on my knees in the middle of an empty warehouse puking my guts out. The Irish lady I worked with ran out and like the den mother she was, took care of me. She even stroked my hair as I continued to vomit all over the concrete floor. I wish I could remember her name, but alas I cannot. Where ever you are Irish lady, I hope you are happy.

1996 was pretty low key. It wasn't till 1997 that things started to really get interesting.