When I heard I would be moving to Prince George, I knew I had an early advantage. I had never set foot in PG prior to arriving, but I did know two people quite well there so I wouldn’t be completely lost. One friend offered me a place to stay in his home as soon as I arrived, and the second offered me an instant set of new friends my age. This comfort level was a double edged sword as I was welcomed to town with open arms, but I didn’t put my best foot forward. Had I been left to start from scratch on my own I may have eased into my new surroundings, but meeting new friends my first week allowed me the comfort to let my guard down and jump in with a drink in both hands. I found soccer and rugby teams to play with right out of the gate and made myself at home immediately.
By now I had taken to convincing myself that meeting new people was too stressful and that I needed to take the edge off with a couple drinks before any social gathering. This strategy turned out as well as could be expected; when I met people for the first time I was usually fairly charming and made a good first impression, but the head start meant that by the middle of the evening when everyone was starting to enjoy themselves I would be sloppy drunk. The downside of being too comfortable early on was I was too naïve to recognize that I was still new in town without a backstory or any old social connections to rely on when things went badly for me, and I needlessly rubbed many people the wrong way right from the start.
Very early on I had the good fortune to be introduced to a tremendous girl who was equally happy to meet me. We went for dinner and had a terrific night together, but after dropping her at home I naturally decided I should continue to celebrate on my own, proceeding to get black out drunk and calling her several times that night talking gibberish and terrifying her. Of course, I woke up the next day completely unaware of what I had done and baffled as to why she would actively avoid me for the rest of my time there or why some of my new friends would be pissed about this. This event would soon come back to haunt me in the worst way but for now I shrugged it off and moved on. Sadly I would go on to repeat this scenario more than once my first year in town but I put my head down and moved on to the next party, burying any shame behind another song and another drink.
After 18 months in PG I had enough seniority on the job to put in for a move to Vancouver. Again, I had the good fortune to have a friend from Cranbrook also looking for a place in Vancouver and we moved in together downtown in a brand new condo on the corner of Pender and Abbott. Located at the Stadium Skytrain station, across the street from the new hockey stadium and at the corners of Gastown, Chinatown and Yaletown, this would be my spectacular home for the last years of my single life. I joined up with a rugby team in East Van and took to the downtown city life with all my heart.
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| Keefer Place |
Everything should have been perfect and for the most part my time there was amazing, but a lot of red flags were emerging as well; I was now comfortable drinking alone, drinking to blackout was now routine, I was frequently late paying my share of the rent and the city offered an excuse to drink and a drinking partner every night of the week.
"Heal" Catherine Wheel
It's how high you are and the time it takes to heal
It's how high you are and the time it takes to heal
I can climb a tree and push up through the leaves 'Cause only when I try am I happier to see My head's in some kind of space Where boyhood used to be
It's how high you are and the time it takes to heal
It's how high you are and the time it takes to heal
But it's all a lie and I've never felt so sad There's a streak of melancholy running down my back And there's a great mistrust That borders round the man I call it strange from the boy who never left his head
It's how high you are and the time it takes to heal
It's how high you are and the time it takes to heal
And everyone needs someone to live by
Everyone needs someone to live by
But it's all a lie, it's a lie to make you beg For somethin' more For somethin' better than you've had And I wish I knew Oh, I wish I knew how to change
'Cause everyone needs someone to live by
It's how high you are and the time it takes to heal
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