Day 1

Raising a son alone isn't an easy task for a father. Raising a person in general isn't an easy task, there is a lot involved. Having a co-parent also means having in-laws and additional responsibilities. Being close to family and long time friends can also have its disadvantages, especially when it comes to maintaining social ties. But living on the opposite side of the world from where you started, in a culture you have only recently learned about, that speaks a language still a bit foreign to you, and raising a child from birth while juggling it all. That's my Tuesday bro, and I'm loving every minute of it.

This all started way back when, long before my son was even thought of. It was September 2020, I was in Hamilton and I hugged my mother for the last time. It was one of the strangest moments in my life. For the first time in a long time my mother gave me what I always wanted. We sat outside a Tim Hortons, social distancing in play. The city was empty, for the first time in years it really was just the two of us again. How I missed it, I really can't explain it, it was like a dream.

The day was cool but not cold, it was late in the afternoon, the sun was hanging on the horizon. We sat and talked, i told her my stories and things that I saw. She caught me up on all the gossip. Then it was time to go, I had to go again, I always had to go. I remember hugging her, I knew it was the last time. I could feel it but I knew I had to go. She had asked me to find her someplace she could retire and we could spend time. I thought the idea was great but I was more focused on flying to Rio the following week. Canada had proven to be unsafe, unreliable and still to this day vindictive towards its native population. I'm not talking about First Nations, what Canada has done to them is next level crazy, but there does seem to be a trend.

I had returned from Thailand in May 2020 because I foolishly believed the Canadian Embassy and Canadian Government. They were insisting Canadians come home. In hindsight, my leaving was the correct action. Had I not gone back to Canada, I would not have shared that moment with my mother. This moment was very important and has changed many things in my life as a father. That being said, by August I was trying desperately to secure my way into Vietnam and regretted leaving Asia at that time.

As I was leaving on the big green 'GO' bus from the Hamilton, James Street bus station I watched her little car drive away and from point on, I was alone. The bus arrived in North York shortly after and I had a couple days to prepare for my flight. I had a lot to do, little time and I knew something was up. Intuition is a bitch, especially during a time like that. We already knew we were living in history and that alone is something. I had no idea what was ahead and no idea what was to come. I had a plane ticket, a passport, a respectable amount of camera equipment and a large amount of pre-rolled 1.5 gram joints and flower that I had picked up at the local dispensary.

The weed was an issue, I couldn't bring it with me, but I had some help from a friend in dealing with it. That lead to an entirely strange and messed up situation where I missed my flight because I was so high I got lost in the airport. I had only flown from there a dozen times at that point, totally normal.

I was on Facebook and my good friend Vladimir made some long winded comment about there being too much Ai crap on the internet. I tend to agree and I think it's idiotic. Using something trained on the internet to create content for the internet and then calling it new. What does this look like New Delhi? So here you go my friend, I will post a few more and we can see if people even notice when a real person writes anymore :)