Been quiet too.
Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2013 6:02 am
I see a few of the other old timers on Ozbow have come back after quiet periods so I thought it's probably the right time to explain why I've been so quiet. A couple of years back I wrote a yarn about how bowhunting has helped me to return to normal life after years of living in the wilderness of addiction (in my case, Heroin) but I realised after it was published that it was only the prologue, I have many more years of life left (all going well) and what was I going to do with them? To be honest, I was feeling a bit down on myself, like I was bludging on my mates through welfare and knew I could contribute more, I just didn't know how.
I knew it would be hard to join the workforce in my mid forties with a non existent resume. So, I had to pull some kind of rabbit outta the hat! For months I went to every employment agency, community centre, and Govt. office I thought might be able to help until someone told me I was eligible for a wage subsidy. I figured this might make it a little less difficult to convince an employer to give me a shot, so went out to try my luck with various companies... and had no success! I was really worried for a while that I would end up collecting shopping trolleys with Sanjeev and the boys at Woollies or something!
Eventually a man who was married to my sister back in the eighties somehow heard about how I'd cleaned up my life and was striving to reach the next level. Now this bloke, quite understandably, had written me off years ago and was surprised and really pleased to hear of my progress so he contacted me. After we talked for a couple of months he offered me a shot with one of his companies, trialled me for a month, and now I'm 9 weeks into a Soil Tester trainee-ship! ( There are some really good people out there! Garry didn't have to bother, I'm nothing to him, but he did and I will be eternally grateful for that!)
We test the structural capabilities of soils and advise on the type and method of foundations needed for whatever project the client has in mind. We also do compaction tests on fill pads and road bases, and a whole lot more I'm yet to learn. He's putting me through cert 3 and 4 so in 18 months I'll be qualified and ready to test on my own. I love it, fellas! I get around all over Sth East QLD for most of the time collecting samples and data, and spend a couple of days a fortnight in the lab learning how to run tests on the soils.
This is why I've been quiet, I've been really head down, bum up for a while trying to find work, and now I'm either working, learning, or sleeping (MAN I get tired!
)
So there it is, the next chapter has begun. From worse-than-useless junkie twenty years ago, to bowhuntin' soil tester today.
Life's been good to me, fellas, and now I have to honour that gesture and do as well as I possibly can with this.
Now...if I could just find the time to get out West and fling some arras!
A dip o' the lid to my mates here. Jeff and Rod probably don't realise it, but both have had an influence on me, in providing examples of how decent, solid, reliable men conduct themselves. I came from a pretty messed up, dysfunctional family and had never had examples like that in my life before and it was a revelation, believe me! We may not agree on everything, but I've never doubted either mans integrity.
Nor would Nutgrass know it, but he inspired me to have a red hot go by showing me what a successful man who achieves things looks like. He became my template for what I could be if I tried hard enough. Thanks Nuts, you should know how much your example affected me and helped me change my life, mate.
Honestly, is there any way being involved in bowhunting doesn't enhance lives?
I knew it would be hard to join the workforce in my mid forties with a non existent resume. So, I had to pull some kind of rabbit outta the hat! For months I went to every employment agency, community centre, and Govt. office I thought might be able to help until someone told me I was eligible for a wage subsidy. I figured this might make it a little less difficult to convince an employer to give me a shot, so went out to try my luck with various companies... and had no success! I was really worried for a while that I would end up collecting shopping trolleys with Sanjeev and the boys at Woollies or something!
Eventually a man who was married to my sister back in the eighties somehow heard about how I'd cleaned up my life and was striving to reach the next level. Now this bloke, quite understandably, had written me off years ago and was surprised and really pleased to hear of my progress so he contacted me. After we talked for a couple of months he offered me a shot with one of his companies, trialled me for a month, and now I'm 9 weeks into a Soil Tester trainee-ship! ( There are some really good people out there! Garry didn't have to bother, I'm nothing to him, but he did and I will be eternally grateful for that!)
We test the structural capabilities of soils and advise on the type and method of foundations needed for whatever project the client has in mind. We also do compaction tests on fill pads and road bases, and a whole lot more I'm yet to learn. He's putting me through cert 3 and 4 so in 18 months I'll be qualified and ready to test on my own. I love it, fellas! I get around all over Sth East QLD for most of the time collecting samples and data, and spend a couple of days a fortnight in the lab learning how to run tests on the soils.
This is why I've been quiet, I've been really head down, bum up for a while trying to find work, and now I'm either working, learning, or sleeping (MAN I get tired!
)So there it is, the next chapter has begun. From worse-than-useless junkie twenty years ago, to bowhuntin' soil tester today.
Life's been good to me, fellas, and now I have to honour that gesture and do as well as I possibly can with this.
Now...if I could just find the time to get out West and fling some arras!
A dip o' the lid to my mates here. Jeff and Rod probably don't realise it, but both have had an influence on me, in providing examples of how decent, solid, reliable men conduct themselves. I came from a pretty messed up, dysfunctional family and had never had examples like that in my life before and it was a revelation, believe me! We may not agree on everything, but I've never doubted either mans integrity.
Nor would Nutgrass know it, but he inspired me to have a red hot go by showing me what a successful man who achieves things looks like. He became my template for what I could be if I tried hard enough. Thanks Nuts, you should know how much your example affected me and helped me change my life, mate.
Honestly, is there any way being involved in bowhunting doesn't enhance lives?
.........good luck with the job Craig 
