Leif Gregersen
Bio
I am a dedicated writer, educator and public speaker with a strong desire to increase awareness and decrease stigma surrounding mental illness. I grew up in a suburb of Edmonton, Alberta and have published 11 books.
Stories (12/0)
The Families of Our Dead
The Story of Blue Crystal Seven By: Leif Gregersen “T-Bone steak with baked potato, medium well.” Dirk said to the replicator on board their ship and in a flash faster than any microwave, the perfect meal was behind a small window in the wall in front of him. He cut off a piece of the juicy meat and savoured the taste in his mouth as he chewed.
By Leif Gregersen4 years ago in Futurism
What Makes This Guy Worth 15%??
So, my thing about tipping goes back a long way. Some of the first tips I ever got were when I was a newspaper boy and after a long, hard year of giving up precious after-school video game and comic book time, Christmas came and it was time to tip the paperboy. I got a pile of money, mostly in $5 bills and it all seemed to make the sacrifices worth it. I took the money the newspaper company saved for me and blew most of it at a local roller rink on pop, chips and video games for me and for a guy who wasn't a friend for very much longer (when the money ran out). I gave the paper route to my brother who had even less interest in walking for miles each day for the hope of a couple of bucks per house every two weeks, and I let the newspaper people deal with it. The next time I got tips was when I worked as a pizza delivery person. It was killer. My boss paid me the princely sum of $5.50 an hour and each time I took out a pizza, I got a great tip. No tip, no gas money. No tip, no lunch out the next day. In a way the job was a circle of slavery to me. I worked so hard to save and save then learned all I could about cars and went out and bought an old junker. I loved every minute of driving it but everything from gas to insurance was so expensive. So I got a job delivering pizza but the problem was I drove so much that I got sick of driving, it wore me out. And the extra money always seemed to find some place to go.
By Leif Gregersen4 years ago in Journal
Why Have So Many Missed Opportunities?
I am in a fortunate position to be semi-retired, and to live in a city (Edmonton, Alberta) where there are so many great opportunities for getting great shots. It was not much more than a couple of years ago that I got serious about photography, and I thought my interest was going to die on the vine with the purchase of a DSLR. It just didn't seem that there were enough types of photos and angles and new places to take pictures of. Even the wildlife seemed boring, but in the years since, I have completely changed my mind. Edmonton is a rapidly growing city, and there are constantly new buildings and bridges and other major construction projects going on. This for me has been a great opportunity because I can take a photo of the shell of a building and then go back a few short weeks later and track the building's progress towards reaching for the sky. I have developed a fascination with our new "Stantec Tower" which is now our tallest building, and in fact now the tallest building West of Toronto. One day I will visit the observation deck of this building, but at the moment I am happy to frame the great behemoth and its sister tower with other fantastic buildings in Edmonton, such as our Legislature building and grounds. One of the amazing things about this building is how it is teaching me perspective, because when you are close to it the building seems roughly higher than the many towers around it, but when you venture out a little the building seems twice as high as any other tower.
By Leif Gregersen4 years ago in Photography
Married To The Sea (Fiction)
Married to the Sea The 60-year-old Dellarae had been to nearly every port in the world, and she loved her sailors, perhaps even a little more than she should. Dellarae had a fondness for those that had bedded down with her, experiencing her warmth and comforts in her cabins while storms and rough seas raged outside. Of all the men that had tasted of her comforts, there was one above them: Warren.
By Leif Gregersen4 years ago in Humans
Mental Health Coping Skills Vlog
Hello Dear readers. I have been breaking with convention a bit and posting things of a slightly different nature as you may know. There have been a couple of things going on, one of them is that I have been experiencing a fair bit of stress lately. The funny thing is that the stress seems to stay in my blankets. Namely, I feel stressed about facing the world but if I can get up and get dressed I stand a much better chance of facing my problems and at the very least leaving the house to try and do them. Last night was kind of a special night for me because I love to participate in 5-minute live story readings for cash prizes, and the theme for the story was 'disability'. I couldn't have picked a more perfect theme, I loved the idea of talking about my illness and where it took me. The main problem was that I had to make it as though I were telling a story, even though my story was pretty much completely non-fiction. I won't go too much further into it, I thought I would try and post a relevant photo first and then paste in the text of the story I wrote in case any of my readers would like it. Once again I strongly encourage any regular readers to write me with any questions, I can even keep the responses anonymous, and I have no problem even doing some heavy research to answer any questions you have. I think the biggest thing I can say is that once you find a good medication and have a stable life, you can then go into things like a life-skills group where they teach you to better communicate with others, then perhaps once done this successfully, a person who has been in a hospital for a long stay for psychiatric reasons can look into part-time education (and I often recommend distance learning, especially if you are a little older), bettering themselves, keeping their lives low-stress, and then when you are ready move to the next step of finding normal employment. I think this is a time when volunteering is really good because a lot of employers like the idea that you will work for nothing (just kidding) and many other advantages like filling in any large gaps of time in your resume. So, here goes, picture below and then at the bottom of today's message I will paste in my winning story. Take care everyone!
By Leif Gregersen4 years ago in Psyche
