What the hell?

Sometimes life takes a turn that you really didn’t expect.

I have always felt that my life has been that of a hobo, in fact I kind of describe it like that of the “Littlest Hobo”. The theme song pretty much sums up my life. Every six or so years it seems that I get rid of everything, say good bye to all that I know and go somewhere else so that I can wreak havoc and mayhem. From Sri Lanka to Papua New Guinea, PNG to Hong Kong, HK to St. John’s NL, SJ to Kelowna, Kelowna to Edmonton and finally now to Montreal.

I the past month, I have taken a position with MySQL (very happily), quit BioWare (very sadly), packed up my life, sold my furniture, said good bye to some amazing people and co-workers and driven clear across the country. I am now sitting in Niall and Rebecca’s living room, typing madly on his laptop and about to go explore the city for which I have given everything up.

In all things, I suspect that there is very little that stays permanent in my life. In a certain sense that is very sad, in others it is very exciting. As I was driving across the varied landscape of Canada (just wait, I have video…) I thought to myself that in all the world there are few things in life which stay the same. Ultimately, I realized, in my own life the only thing that has remained a constant is the love I have for my amazing friends.

Yes, I did shed tears on leaving Edmonton. Was it giving up the dream of working for BioWare? Was it the thought of leaving Edmonton’s fine River Valley? Drunk and dancing in the first dance bar I went to in Edmonton (Suite 69), I cried because I was leaving an amazing group of friends, unbelievable co-workers and irrepressible bosses. It might also have been the 20 shots of vodka that I had been forced to drink.

So am I forgiven for the lack of updates to this site? Fear not, so much is coming, so much change… From the lyrics to “Maybe Tomorrow”, the theme song for the Littlest Hobo and probably my own life…

There’s a voice that keeps on calling me
Down the road is where I’ll always be

Every stop I make, I’ll make a new friend
Can’t stay for long, just turn around and I’m gone again.

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll want settle down,
Until tomorrow, I’ll just keep moving on.

Down this road, that never seems to end,
Where new adventure, lies just around the bend.

So if you want to join me for a while
Just grab your hat, come travel light - that’s hobo style.

There’s a world, that’s waiting to unfold,
A brand new tale, no one has ever told,

We’ve journey’d far but, you know it won’t be long,
We’re almost there and we’ve paid our fare, with the hobo song.

Maybe tomorrow, I’ll want settle down,
Until tomorrow, I’ll just keep moving on.

I want you to take a quick look around you.

Chances are you are sitting in front of a computer screen, surrounded by your favourite things, perhaps listening to music on the radio or over the Internet. These things aren’t there by coincidence, they are there because of hundreds and thousands of years of human innovation and enlightened thinking. We’ve used our puny little brains to figure out much of the world’s secrets and bent the properties of the Earth’s raw materials to fit our needs in ways which evolution probably didn’t intend. I doubt, for example, that Internet radio was the overriding goal of evolution.

Despite all these advances it breaks my heart to witness humanity at its ugliest. Despite our enlightened state, the knowledge of why an apple falls and why the sun rises, we seem incapable of rational, compassionate thought when it comes to others. We are incapable of rising above our most animalistic and emotionally driven base selves.

On Thursday evening, Corey, Donna, the visiting Nancy Earle, and I had had supper in Edmonton’s finest New Orleans inspired diner, Dadeo’s on Whyte Ave. Standing at a street corner I glance down the street and watch as a man elbowed another in the head. The man crumpled to the ground silently. His attacker stood over the body and then deliberately raised his boot and attempted to crush the victim’s head and then his chest.

Less than 150m away the packed coffee shop patrons continued to sip their coffee peering at the fight. The folks at the intersection barely glanced as they continued to cross the street. Of the hundreds near that street corner only three rushed to the man’s aid. The attacker ran off down an alleyway.

The attack in itself is inexcusable. I can even forgive many of the coffee patrons from not wanting to get involved. It was probably a good thing that Nancy kept yelling “call 911!” after me, as I’m sure that trying to bowl the attacker down would have likely resulted in some kind of injury to me as well. However, it was the reaction of the authorities that disappointed me. The Edmonton Police Service didn’t even bother to respond to the call to 911. The ambulance driver decided to circle the wrong block three times while being in plain sight of where we were. It took three calls to 911 before the rather lethargic ambulance arrived to much acclaim.

The incident happened near one of the busiest pedestrian intersections in the city and the sun had not set. I don’t think the directions could have been clearer and certainly having to repeat the address over and over to the dispatch certainly didn’t inspire confidence.

Finally one gentleman got through to the police to ask why they weren’t at the scene. By the way, if you are in the police and you are taking a statement from someone at an attack scene by phone, I have a few suggestions: I understand that life goes on, but breaking out in laughter when someone makes a joke in your office is not going to help me think you are professional.

Why was the response so lax? Well, I’ve neglected to mention a few facts. Facts which, from the questions that the police and ambulance driver asked seemed very important to them in determining how much help they wanted to be. You may decide for yourself whether it makes an iota of difference to whether our emergency and protection services should change their behaviour in response. The two men were “street people”, otherwise known as “homeless”. They two men were “natives” and both had been drinking alcohol. The police obviously felt that dealing with this “routine” situation was beneath them, you could hear it in the officer’s voice on the phone. Even if that wasn’t the case, they definitely gave the impression that there was a response which befitted those who are not homeless and those that are. I would argue that they are not in a position to judge the relative merit of one life over another.

If anyone from the Edmonton Police Service or Edmonton Emergency Services and 911 ever reads this, I would strongly suggest you evaluate how you respond to people. In the end, when we lose confidence in you, it makes your job that much harder and makes you harder to trust. Your jobs are difficult and relatively unrewarding, but please, treat every human being with respect, no matter their circumstance, colour or creed. Let us try to act as if a thousand years of enlightened thought has brought you forth to walk on this world.