Hey, Hey! My My! Something something! And something else!
The summer weeks when you’re unemployed are something else.
Sorry: self-employed is the preferred term! 506 Consulting remains a viable cultural enterprise, for which I receive a salary of zero dollars in line with its incoming cash assets!
I am grateful for many things! My gratitude list includes, but is not limited to!
My kids
My kids’ mom for the excellent job she is doing with them in BC
The roof over my head
The frozen pizza I just ate, and the microwaved thing I’m going to have in an hour or two
Employment Insurance (EI) benefits
Pensionable assets from government-funded Canadian post-secondary and private industry security roles!
Marcus Aurelias’ Meditations
Certain specific people who have been helping me out a lot lately, some of them probably without even knowing it!
*Exhales*
One of the things that’s tough about the present Fort Mac circumstances is that the only people I have any kind of regular interactions are staff at the three stores and one restaurant that I go to. No girlfriend, no kids, no friends, no dog, nobody on the street who’s gonna know me from some shared social thing five or ten years ago or whatever! I’ve run into a couple of former students, both of whom seemed glad to see me! Otherwise it’s people who work at Save on Foods and Original Joe’s! Everywhere that I would go to… whatsoever… is within five blocks of my apartment. It’s been that way for me for nearly a year!
So… when I start thinking gratitude… and how that finds its natural expression… and how social media factors into the whole deal… again… it serves to remind me:
Fort Mac is an awesome city
Keyano is an excellent institution
My practical purpose for being here… teaching… is no longer viable, as per the institution’s financial circumstances
Therefore, a rational person:
Accesses the most financial resources they are able to: i.e., EI benefits… and… locked-in government-vested retirement assets with the capability to be monetized in times of financial hardship with a 50% flat tax rate
Applies for all the jobs they are capable of within their sector
Seeks out-of-sector work in key locations: i.e., Kamloops, Kelowna
Out-of-sector work includes: dishwashing, retail, unskilled labour, etc.
Kamloops is a key location for me, cause my kids are there. Kelowna is a key location for me cause it’s close to my kids and it’s gorgeous there with abundant natural beauty, active harbor life on Lake Okanagan, world-class food and drink culture, and all the affordances of a big city, minus an Ikea outlet!
At the end of the day… if I have to live at or below the poverty line somewhere in Canada… i.e., on an income of around $26,000 before tax for a single person… for the foreseeable future… I should at least be able to see my kids every once in a while without getting on a plane! Cause people living at or on the poverty line can’t afford plane tickets, right?
This is the kind of place your mind goes when you are unemployed! You start thinking of your ideal scenario… how far you are from it… and start thinking on what small steps can possibly get you there… incrementally or whatnot!
Geez Louise!
So what can a rational person do?
File your paperwork as best you can as soon as you can
Apply for as many jobs as you can
And then what?
That is the maddening part. It is the part with maddening potential. Because the options in these circumstances really are:
Wait
Eat, sleep, exercise
Cultural activities
This is where I’d also add: stuff with your family, friends, and/or pets.*
*Except around here in Fort Mac, I don’t have those things. And when you start staying in bed for 10-12-14 hours at a time on the regular, that is actually a sign of depression which I’ve experienced before!
Marcus warns against the comforts of bed many times in Mediations, man being a social creature for him… first and foremost! Even though he was far from somebody who enjoyed such, indeed he clearly found many or most interactions tiresome and emotionally draining! Otherwise, Mediations would probably not even exist!
Cultural activities X, Y, and Zed
So… in between everything else… which is to say: a whole lotta nothing much at all! outside of job search activities, I’ve noticed the following!
The Superman movie looks dope! By the time I get out of Fort Mac, I’m pretty sure it’ll be gone from the theatres. Let’s put it this way: if I could see any movie in a theatre right now with my teenaged boys, this would be it! Not that they need my help, from a ticket sales kinda standpoint!
Jon Bastiste is cool as hell! One thing I miss from my whole “buying shitloads of records on Amazon whilst monetized and depressed” period a few years ago was deciding to go down rabbit holes with certain artists cause forty dollars for a vinyl LP that’ll change your life still seems to me to be a pretty good bargain! When I can spend shitloads of money on music, I do! Based strictly on credentials and job history, you have to assume that such could happen again with me! Anyways, for sure I know about Jon B cause of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. From there, it’s a very easy step to buying things whilst stoned whilst also using Amazon! Hooray for capitalism, basically! And hooray for Big Money which is a lit song and visual off Jon’s forthcoming LP! I keep waiting for the drop on the song… it’s a song that’s remarkable for what it does with silence, whilst remaining rowdy as hell! I could go on! Apparently I really needed to watch that video just now!
Jesse Malin is the coolest New York rock dude of all time. I enthusiastically cheer for anything this guy puts on his social media. The reasons I cheer for this dude are numerous, and documented at length over at the music podcast (rest in power!). From seeing this cross the Jesse Malin FB page a couple days ago to listening to it now… Jesse’s one of these people who has a way of helping you put your own shit in perspective just through who he is and his rendering of his experience through song and, as you can hear here, through stories and narratives! A writer’s writer, and one of the coolest punk guys to ever do that thing! Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) on all things when it comes to Jesse!
The Notorious Joey Jeremiah! is one of many names I’ve thrown at a Facebook thread I started early-mid last week, worked on literally all night, with significant follow-up the next day… before taking it down cause I liked it too much! I’ve saved it to my computer among five or six longer narrative things I have kinda scoped out and developed to a certain point!
*Post-publication update! Exciting! The thing can now be found here, on the Analogue Trope primary blog page!
But Jesus, that thing was fun to write! I was literally cackling like a lunatic the entire time. Maybe that’s among the “aggregated and aggravated” noise complaints that arrived on my telephone line and email inbox yesterday? Who knows. But it did my little doofus Gen X Atlantic Canadian teenaged dirtbag heart a lot of good to write that thing and share it and edit it and curate it a bit… in real time through social media! Again, the amusements of a seriously unemployed single broke middle-aged cultural worker dude of some variety! But yeah. So much fun. And all respect and love to all persons and entities associated with Degrassi High and associated and spinoff shows!
I guess, by way of comparison, or context or whatnot… I enjoyed sharing (?) the Alderknot Tumblebug EP from YouTube to Facebook… which I do periodically!… cause a few Fredericton people from the raddest era of Fredericton rock showed up and weighed in in the the comments! I really had my teenaged dirtbag years, and those years were also experienced… by other Fredericton teenaged dirtbags of the same era! A dirtbag in isolation isn’t much of a dirtbag, to be honest (TBH)! As I said, I believe this holds up to anything put out in a similar pop punk format of the era from any scene at any level! Cultural clout and monetized music or other outputs are sometimes different from each other! Go figure, right?
Did you hear the one about Fat Wreck? How Fat Mike and Erin no longer own it? Well, that’s how it is! I caught this via
on Facebook, where he linked to the first Punknews.org story that I’ve bothered to read in I don’t know how many years! At this point having even ten thousand dollars seems astronomically wealthy to me, so it’s hard to fathom the amounts involved. It really has nothing to do with me, whatsoever! But I’ve listened to a tonne of Fat releases over the years… bought the CD’s… went to the shows… bought the merch…. Fat is right up there with Dischord, Asian Man, or Epitaph in terms of quality, impact, and overall radness of releases! Including such folks as Avail… and, a personal fave, the Lawrence Arms! And the Sainte Catherines! So… yeah, kind of a big deal from a rock and roll standpoint, generally! For those who care about such!Being broke and paying attention means that it’s hard to do things like go to concerts, travel, or do anything other than try and get by on the day to day! The amusements of the poor have always been words and music and getting low in ways literal and metaphorical! At this point I can safely say I will be somewhere other than Fort Mac before Canadian Labour Day! But exactly where and what that looks like remain, as ever, to be seen!
Thanks all, any, or most of you for checking out this here Substack! I hope you have the best weekend possible, under the (summer) circumstances!
Do you enjoy what you’re reading and/or watching and/or viewing here?
Consider contributing to The 506 Report via PayPal donation! Help support independent education, media, and culture!
Dr. Matt is, among other things, unemployed for the 3d time in as many years, and a Dad to two teenaged boys!
Matt is also happy to discuss custom media projects, or writing projects, or other kinds of work… with just about anyone! That is the purpose of 506 Consulting Limited, and associated ventures generally!
matt.stranach@outlook.com is the best way to reach out for this!
Much appreciation and respect to anyone reading this in any way, shape, or form for any reason(s), and with any intention(s) whatsoever!
Dr. Matt Stranach, Ed.D
Founder & Principle Consultant
506 Consulting, Ltd.
Fort McMurray, Alberta
Share this post