March 6th, 2001, that was the day i began my apprenticeship. I remember walking into a huge warehouse filled floor to ceiling with thousands of materials. the trepidation of my first "real" job. Up until then I had the typical flyer route, followed by refereeing minor hockey, but nothing that had set hours or an ever-present boss.

That was eight years ago. in that space, I've built houses, dug trenches, laid pipe, designed and built complex systems, fixed ancient pipes, and encountered asbestos on more than one occasion.
Four years of broke-ass apprenticeship, sharing quite possibly the best living quarters I will ever have the privilege of being a part of. Eating shit-ass ichiban, and KD because you can't even afford to fill your car with gas, much less decent food. I've gone from being the tool manning a shovel, digging trenches, and performing the bitch jobs that go along with being the apprentice, to having people listen to my advice and recommendations almost unquestioningly. The shaky incompetence has been replaced by a confident, analytical, creative, and troubleshooting mind.

Eight years. For a kid diagnosed with extreme ADD, that's four lifetimes. I completed the final course to my apprenticeship in October 2005, a month shy of my 22nd birthday, the youngest student in my class by seven years. Supposedly I'm incredibly intelligent, but for some reason I've never really felt that way. I go through life, seeing the strings that guide the actions, the physics and chemistry of the material world easily unravels in my mind, and being the only way I've experienced this world, I assumed it was the same for everyone else. More and more I'm realising that the world I walk through is nowhere near the status quo, and I'm accepting and confidently stride down the path I set easier and easier.

I just wish it wasn't a solo jourey.