Life continues to throw me curveball after curveball. Five years ago, I was wondering what the future even held for me at that point. You see, this was 2007, and I was going on 22 at that point. I had no real idea what direction my life was going in. I was in southwest Detroit at that point...close to being homeless. I'd been through a few jobs, none of which panned out. Then, I heard about the Job Corps program and signed up, thinking it offered me something for the first time in nearly 2 years by that point - hope. By June 5th, I was on a Greyhound to Grand Rapids.
It was there that I would stay until early October of 2008. The training was nothing spectacular - I signed up for the security trade vocational training program Job Corps offered. That first summer was downright sad. I initially thought that getting through my initial period on center (CPP, or Career Preparation Period) would be easy. It was, in a sense. I still sent my first week sitting in a classroom and filling out more paperwork than I can count, while being put on green card status, which more or less means you don't go anywhere off center unless you're with an SGA (Student Government Association) member or staff. It was like being babysat. I got lucky and was passed right through all of the resume classes and other things that they have you do when you initially go in, because the thinking at work is that if you have a high school diploma and have at least worked for a brief time in the working world, then you have an understanding of what to do.
I started my work detail week, which constitutes a person's final week in their CPP period on most Job Corps centers, and then summer break hit for the next 2 weeks. I hadn't even been on center 3 weeks by this point. I didn't know it then, but I would still remain on green card status after the break - I would have to redo my entire work week the first full week classes on center were back in session, as nothing I did the week vacation began counted. I would also remain on center for much of that 2 week break, as I had nowhere else to go - I was at odds with my father and my mother, and had no real friends left back in Port Huron to speak of. While I was at this center, I slowly began to connect with the people who constitute the core group of my friends today - Jared, Tiffany, Elisha, Jeff, Shadow...I thrived in doing that. I began my training in mid-July, saw it cut back down to zero due to several instructors for my trade program come and go, and would only begin working on it in earnest come mid-August of 2007. That's when I met my first mentor - a man named Mr. Marks.
For the next year and a half, I soaked in this man's wisdom. I soaked in his positive views on life. He helped me begin to come to terms with my past, which was filled with a lot of pain, anger and hurt. I finished my vocational training under this man in early November, bringing to a close my CDP portion of the stay at Job Corps (CDP standing for Career Development Period). I managed to get a driver's license at the same time, and felt things were on track for once. I would rapidly develop an active interest in finally going to college, something of which I had been holding off since the end of high school...and mostly due to my fear of not succeeding at it. By this point, I was in my CTP (Career Transitional Period) phase, and because I did not see very many jobs out there, and wanted to continue on with my education, I opted for college. I just didn't have the means to make it on my own. I ended up in the ACT (Advanced College Training) program that Job Corps offered for the next 10 months (it was January by now).
It didn't last for more than a year. Come summer, my heart was broken by a woman I had met and fell in love with at GRCC. We dated for a few months, and I thought it was getting serious...and then religion happened. She drifted further and further right, and it caused a lot of arguments between me and her. By July, we were no longer on speaking terms. After we split, I went back to focusing on my classes as much as possible. I didn't know it, but come fall, I would be out of Job Corps.
It was in late September that I took a weekend pass to go hang out with some friends. I did some heavy drinking the night before I had to return to center. Lots of it. I remember waking up feeling okay the next morning. Then, I went back to center. I ran 15 minutes late past curfew because of some unexpected heavy traffic from a construction site on the far northwest side of Grand Rapids. I checked in at the security office, was administered a breathalyzer test (standard policy for all late students), and somehow failed it. Job Corps immediately jumped to the conclusion that I had been drinking right before hand. All of the people I was with bombarded them with calls and emails disputing their assertion. I protested for well over a week. In the end, a hearing was held, one which I could not make due to mandatory training at my then new job with a local custodial company, and they decided to give me the boot. I left there on a Friday night, furious that I had been sent packing. It turned out later that they had a highly defective breathalyzer machine, which gave multiple erroneous readings on various other students in the weeks before I was sent packing from Job Corps, and none of us could do a thing - Job Corps had us sign an agreement essentially cancelling out the ability to sue them in case of something like that.
I spent the entire month of October bouncing around. I had a job, but it barely paid my way. I briefly had two roommates, but they thought my sense of humor was scary and felt threatened by it. I stayed with some lady who sent me packing when she lost her place. Then, I landed at Art's. What a bad idea that was. Art was a low level dirtbag of the highest level, retreating into hiding whenever a mysterious man in a brand new Cadillac showed up (usually several times a day for only a few minutes), and frequently exploding into fits of anger when a tenant (usually a recovering addict or someone unlucky enough to find housing in a reasonable amount of time) would move out on him, screaming and demanding $900 or more from them, despite their informing him that they would be moving into another place they liked more and dually paying off extra money just in case it took them a bit to get their stuff completely moved out.
Art also argued with two neighbors of his quite frequently - Ted, a laidback Christian who did auto repair and house maintenance for a living (and also helping out a lot of friends with personal struggles), and Larry, a slumlord who owned multiple drug houses on my street. With Ted, Art had no reason to attack him the way he did, aside from the fact Ted apparently bought a house Art was interested in, and thus denying Art the chance to have people move in and pay him $500 or more per room each month. Come mid-March, I found myself out of a job when the company I worked for laid me off. Obviously, with it being a low paying job and everything, I could barely afford to get by, and the room Art rented to me was the cheapest place in the entire city. I politely told him that I would have to move out, as I was out of a job and could not afford anything - I'd go stay with a friend until things for me got better. Like all other tenants who moved out on him, Art managed to somehow forget everything I told him, and the day I was moving out, he showed up asking for rent. Reiterating what I previously told him pissed this guy off, and it didn't help that in my hurry to get my things out (Art stood there and demanded that I get my things out right now before he called the police), I broke a clock he had installed in the house. This prompted him to demand $9 for the clock on the spot, or else he would take me to court and sue me out of existence. I recall very little, as my temper blew. Apparently, Ted was walking his dog by at that time and overheard me roaring at him. Some bits included how much of a fucking crook he was, how he was hypocritical to go after a guy with drug houses when he himself was apparently dealing, and that he would get his balls ripped out if he even tried to sue me. I never heard another thing from Art after that again.
I did stay with the friend in question, and that lasted until mid-May of 2009. From that point on until November of 2009, I ended up sleeping underneath a bridge near downtown Grand Rapids. I can't even begin to describe how painful that was - several times I nearly attempted suicide. I had dropped out of GRCC by that point as well, figuring that it's pointless to go to college if I don't have my own home to go to. By November of 2009, enough was enough for me. After being shot down over yet another job, I fled Michigan. I went to North Carolina for a few months. I thought I would be able to get with an old lover from my teenage years who lived in Wilmington by that point. Instead, I ended up in a Salvation Army shelter from mid-November until late January of 2010. The few times I saw this former lover left me heart broken. She barely hung around me, opting to fuck some very ugly woman and a 44 year old guy (she was 23 by this point), and capped it off for me later when I found out she was married. I tried going into business for myself throughout all of this, and watched with horror as it caved in from the pressures exerted by other competitors in the area. I left on March 27th of 2010, and ended up in Colorado Springs in the 29th.
My first few months here were equally tough. I stayed initially with two people I had ran across on a room rental site. Cash wise, I had enough to get me through mid-May. When I told one of these individuals about my decision to enroll in PPCC, I caught fire for it as I lacked any proof I even enrolled...all of which had been done on a computer at the downtown campus. I was sent packing very quickly, and landed at another shelter through early June, just when I started my first semester at PPCC. The senior staff at this shelter pressured me to no end to drop out, that I had no right attending classes while I was there. Apparently, my telling them I had every damn right in the world to do that pissed someone off, and telling them that doing so versus searching for employment opportunities that simply did not exist at that point was a smart idea to me resulted in them giving me an exit date - in less then a day after I said what I did to them. I would stay with two mutual friends before meeting someone named Ranee. Rapidly, we moved in together in August of 2010. In June of 2010, I met the original people on board my paranormal team through here. I've been with them ever since. I would find employment in September of that year, and also begin volunteering for a commercial haunted house, a longtime ambition of mine. Further advancement came when I joined the ranks of Phi Beta Lambda, hoping to make something more of myself. For my efforts, I got second place in the state of Colorado for Business Law, and first for Justice Administration. I went to Orlando for my efforts. This year, it's off to San Antonio, Texas, for winning first place for Justice Administration for a second year in a row.
The point of this entire story? Never take anything for granted, and keep your head up. You never know what will happen in your life.
It was there that I would stay until early October of 2008. The training was nothing spectacular - I signed up for the security trade vocational training program Job Corps offered. That first summer was downright sad. I initially thought that getting through my initial period on center (CPP, or Career Preparation Period) would be easy. It was, in a sense. I still sent my first week sitting in a classroom and filling out more paperwork than I can count, while being put on green card status, which more or less means you don't go anywhere off center unless you're with an SGA (Student Government Association) member or staff. It was like being babysat. I got lucky and was passed right through all of the resume classes and other things that they have you do when you initially go in, because the thinking at work is that if you have a high school diploma and have at least worked for a brief time in the working world, then you have an understanding of what to do.
I started my work detail week, which constitutes a person's final week in their CPP period on most Job Corps centers, and then summer break hit for the next 2 weeks. I hadn't even been on center 3 weeks by this point. I didn't know it then, but I would still remain on green card status after the break - I would have to redo my entire work week the first full week classes on center were back in session, as nothing I did the week vacation began counted. I would also remain on center for much of that 2 week break, as I had nowhere else to go - I was at odds with my father and my mother, and had no real friends left back in Port Huron to speak of. While I was at this center, I slowly began to connect with the people who constitute the core group of my friends today - Jared, Tiffany, Elisha, Jeff, Shadow...I thrived in doing that. I began my training in mid-July, saw it cut back down to zero due to several instructors for my trade program come and go, and would only begin working on it in earnest come mid-August of 2007. That's when I met my first mentor - a man named Mr. Marks.
For the next year and a half, I soaked in this man's wisdom. I soaked in his positive views on life. He helped me begin to come to terms with my past, which was filled with a lot of pain, anger and hurt. I finished my vocational training under this man in early November, bringing to a close my CDP portion of the stay at Job Corps (CDP standing for Career Development Period). I managed to get a driver's license at the same time, and felt things were on track for once. I would rapidly develop an active interest in finally going to college, something of which I had been holding off since the end of high school...and mostly due to my fear of not succeeding at it. By this point, I was in my CTP (Career Transitional Period) phase, and because I did not see very many jobs out there, and wanted to continue on with my education, I opted for college. I just didn't have the means to make it on my own. I ended up in the ACT (Advanced College Training) program that Job Corps offered for the next 10 months (it was January by now).
It didn't last for more than a year. Come summer, my heart was broken by a woman I had met and fell in love with at GRCC. We dated for a few months, and I thought it was getting serious...and then religion happened. She drifted further and further right, and it caused a lot of arguments between me and her. By July, we were no longer on speaking terms. After we split, I went back to focusing on my classes as much as possible. I didn't know it, but come fall, I would be out of Job Corps.
It was in late September that I took a weekend pass to go hang out with some friends. I did some heavy drinking the night before I had to return to center. Lots of it. I remember waking up feeling okay the next morning. Then, I went back to center. I ran 15 minutes late past curfew because of some unexpected heavy traffic from a construction site on the far northwest side of Grand Rapids. I checked in at the security office, was administered a breathalyzer test (standard policy for all late students), and somehow failed it. Job Corps immediately jumped to the conclusion that I had been drinking right before hand. All of the people I was with bombarded them with calls and emails disputing their assertion. I protested for well over a week. In the end, a hearing was held, one which I could not make due to mandatory training at my then new job with a local custodial company, and they decided to give me the boot. I left there on a Friday night, furious that I had been sent packing. It turned out later that they had a highly defective breathalyzer machine, which gave multiple erroneous readings on various other students in the weeks before I was sent packing from Job Corps, and none of us could do a thing - Job Corps had us sign an agreement essentially cancelling out the ability to sue them in case of something like that.
I spent the entire month of October bouncing around. I had a job, but it barely paid my way. I briefly had two roommates, but they thought my sense of humor was scary and felt threatened by it. I stayed with some lady who sent me packing when she lost her place. Then, I landed at Art's. What a bad idea that was. Art was a low level dirtbag of the highest level, retreating into hiding whenever a mysterious man in a brand new Cadillac showed up (usually several times a day for only a few minutes), and frequently exploding into fits of anger when a tenant (usually a recovering addict or someone unlucky enough to find housing in a reasonable amount of time) would move out on him, screaming and demanding $900 or more from them, despite their informing him that they would be moving into another place they liked more and dually paying off extra money just in case it took them a bit to get their stuff completely moved out.
Art also argued with two neighbors of his quite frequently - Ted, a laidback Christian who did auto repair and house maintenance for a living (and also helping out a lot of friends with personal struggles), and Larry, a slumlord who owned multiple drug houses on my street. With Ted, Art had no reason to attack him the way he did, aside from the fact Ted apparently bought a house Art was interested in, and thus denying Art the chance to have people move in and pay him $500 or more per room each month. Come mid-March, I found myself out of a job when the company I worked for laid me off. Obviously, with it being a low paying job and everything, I could barely afford to get by, and the room Art rented to me was the cheapest place in the entire city. I politely told him that I would have to move out, as I was out of a job and could not afford anything - I'd go stay with a friend until things for me got better. Like all other tenants who moved out on him, Art managed to somehow forget everything I told him, and the day I was moving out, he showed up asking for rent. Reiterating what I previously told him pissed this guy off, and it didn't help that in my hurry to get my things out (Art stood there and demanded that I get my things out right now before he called the police), I broke a clock he had installed in the house. This prompted him to demand $9 for the clock on the spot, or else he would take me to court and sue me out of existence. I recall very little, as my temper blew. Apparently, Ted was walking his dog by at that time and overheard me roaring at him. Some bits included how much of a fucking crook he was, how he was hypocritical to go after a guy with drug houses when he himself was apparently dealing, and that he would get his balls ripped out if he even tried to sue me. I never heard another thing from Art after that again.
I did stay with the friend in question, and that lasted until mid-May of 2009. From that point on until November of 2009, I ended up sleeping underneath a bridge near downtown Grand Rapids. I can't even begin to describe how painful that was - several times I nearly attempted suicide. I had dropped out of GRCC by that point as well, figuring that it's pointless to go to college if I don't have my own home to go to. By November of 2009, enough was enough for me. After being shot down over yet another job, I fled Michigan. I went to North Carolina for a few months. I thought I would be able to get with an old lover from my teenage years who lived in Wilmington by that point. Instead, I ended up in a Salvation Army shelter from mid-November until late January of 2010. The few times I saw this former lover left me heart broken. She barely hung around me, opting to fuck some very ugly woman and a 44 year old guy (she was 23 by this point), and capped it off for me later when I found out she was married. I tried going into business for myself throughout all of this, and watched with horror as it caved in from the pressures exerted by other competitors in the area. I left on March 27th of 2010, and ended up in Colorado Springs in the 29th.
My first few months here were equally tough. I stayed initially with two people I had ran across on a room rental site. Cash wise, I had enough to get me through mid-May. When I told one of these individuals about my decision to enroll in PPCC, I caught fire for it as I lacked any proof I even enrolled...all of which had been done on a computer at the downtown campus. I was sent packing very quickly, and landed at another shelter through early June, just when I started my first semester at PPCC. The senior staff at this shelter pressured me to no end to drop out, that I had no right attending classes while I was there. Apparently, my telling them I had every damn right in the world to do that pissed someone off, and telling them that doing so versus searching for employment opportunities that simply did not exist at that point was a smart idea to me resulted in them giving me an exit date - in less then a day after I said what I did to them. I would stay with two mutual friends before meeting someone named Ranee. Rapidly, we moved in together in August of 2010. In June of 2010, I met the original people on board my paranormal team through here. I've been with them ever since. I would find employment in September of that year, and also begin volunteering for a commercial haunted house, a longtime ambition of mine. Further advancement came when I joined the ranks of Phi Beta Lambda, hoping to make something more of myself. For my efforts, I got second place in the state of Colorado for Business Law, and first for Justice Administration. I went to Orlando for my efforts. This year, it's off to San Antonio, Texas, for winning first place for Justice Administration for a second year in a row.
The point of this entire story? Never take anything for granted, and keep your head up. You never know what will happen in your life.
kay: