Good friends and a bottle of memories…

Today a found an old friend, his name is Nic. Last time I saw him was right before I moved from Sedro-Woolley to Southern California. He was my best friend in 3rd grade, and I hope we can rebuild our friendship now. Seeing him again brought back a flood of good memories from my past. Nic explained it best as to why I have such a good memory of my time in Washington. He said since I moved away so drasticly, I kept on to those memories of my friends forever. He said since he stayed in Sedro-Woolley all his life, all his memories kind of melded together, which is very understandable.

For example, one of the memories I have of Nic, is when his parents took him, his brother Nathan, and I to go see that really shitty Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie at the Bellis Fair mall, in Bellingham.(That really gives you a time frame of just how long ago this actually was.)  Another memory I have is the time Nic and I destroyed his brother’s lego house he built, to be mean. Then to punish us, his father let Nathan destroy the huge lego city Nic had set up in his room. (He even had the lego train set! I was so jealous!) Nic cried for days, he was so sad. I felt really bad for him, especially since I wasnt punished at all.

Speaking of Nathan, I was very saddened to hear that he was killed in an auto accident in Iraq 4 years ago. He is buried in the cemetary next door to my house, and I am going to go see his plot soon. I remember his brother only vaguely. Last memories I have of him was, seeing Nathan marching in the 4th of July parade a year after I moved when I was back up this way on summer vacation, asking him where Nic was.

I know i never really knew him personally, and when you think about it, I never knew Nic that well other than we were the best of friends in 3rd grade. I hope that changes. Anyways, I never new Nathan that well, but it still saddens me to hear of his death.

I have nevr known anyone who died in Iraq. Untill now I hadn’t even known anyone who knew someone who died in Iraq. I hear stories on the news or on the internet, but it doesnt really hit home unless you actually know the person, or in my case, someone I never had the pleasure of knowing.

I am against the war, but I am behind the troops 100% It is not their fault they are there. I know some people say that if they did not want to die, then do not join the military. Well I say “Fuck you” to them. If my back was not screwed up, I would have joined the military. Also, if it wasnt a time of war, the military is a really great place to learn self reliance, self respect, and to prepare you for a decent future. I learned from Nic, tha Nathan acually did a lot over there to help rebuild lives and build up cities.

To Nic and his family: You have my deepest condolances, and a wish you happiness in your times of grief. Nathan has my utmost respect, and I thank him for his part in defending this country.

So on a happy note, when I saw Nic again, I learn that he was recently married. His wife, Chelly is one of the most beautiful and polite person I have ever met. She hails from Kenya, Africa, and is on a visa and on her way to becoming a US citizen. Nic and Chelly make an awesome couple. I wish them a very happy future. I am so glad to have found Nic again, and Kori thought he was a very intelligent and thoughtful person.

In my own words: “I’m glad he didnt turn out to be an ass-hat.”

So in conclusion, I am very happy to get back in touch with Nic, and hope to make this a lasting friendship.

-Justin

The king of wishfull thinking

I just watched a program on TV. Some documentary about the curse of Lottery winners. I swear, the wrong people get too much money. I guess you cant blame them though… well acually yes you can. You need to carefully plan out what you would do with the huge amounts of money you just won. You can’t go out and buy a huge ass mansion, 50 cars, and everything you see, its just stupid.

Thinking about it, if i ever won the lottery, I would be smart about it. I would pay off all my bills. I would buy a good size house in a nice neighborhood. I would get only 2 cars, one for me, and one for my wife. So after all that, I probably spent maybe 400-500 thousand, not even a million! So what what do I do with all the other hundreds of millions? Well I would put in in trust funds, savings, pay for college for my son. Then I would just live off the interest.

Then most importantly, I would donate to charity. Not some charity for a third would country, or for some disease(except for breast cancer research).  I want to donate to help families in need, children with no after school programs, music programs, and one dream is, I would like to see day care facilities that parents dont have to worry about. Hire security, more scrutinizing back ground checks, the whole works.

That is another main reason why we chose not to use day care for our son in the first place. Every day you see some report on people harming kids physicaly and emotionaly, also just plain poor child care.

When I say “Not some third world country” I dont mean I hate them, or think we shouldnt help them. I mean I personally feel we should take care of ourselves before we take care of others. Which in turn would put us in a BETTER posistion to help others.

So to acually have a point to this, if i ever got ahold of large sums of money, I would do more good with it, rather than live an extravagant lifestyle. I would though, make it to where my family never has to worry again.

-Justin

From poor to dirt fucking poor.

Well first I guess its only fair to explain my situation. Like many people in this country, I have a job, I pay bills, I pay taxes. My wife and I chose for her not to work, so she can take care of our son full time. Let me tell you, supporting a family on a single income, is damn-near impossible.

I know you say “Make your wife work, put your child in day care.”. Well, yes, she can work, but with the price of child care these days(and the fact that most do not accept children under 6 months) it is worth it to have her stay home. In fact if she worked, that would just cover the cost of day care. So its more cost effective to stay home.

So I had a job in Yuba City at a printing plant. I made almost $16.oo and hour. The job sucked, but the pay was better. After my mother passed away in december of ’06, I made the decision to move the family to Washington. Prior to the move, I applied for a job with the sheriff’s department for the county up here. I had 3 interviews before we moved. So it was looking good. Well as of now, i’ve had 5 interviews, filled out ALOT of paper work, and got everything ready for a background check. Well i havent heard anything from them yet, so to make ends meet, I work as a security guard making $9.00 an hour. We also live in a trailer with my dad until we can find a place to live.

Its almost like I made a horrible decision. We cant go back in time to fix anything, and plus being near family makes me happier than money would. We also recieve food credit, at least its not as bad as food stamps, because they give you a credit card looking thing. So the embarrassing feeling of using food stamps is pretty much wiped out. Do have to admit though, they are a life saver, and allow us to save up money to move out.

I just hope the job with the sheriff department works out. If not, I just hope i can find a better job in the process.

But for the most part, everything is going ok. We are poor, but we are getting by. We wouldnt be gettign by if it wasnt for the help from my dad. So we are very grateful for him. That is pretty much it for the situation as of right now. More to come later.

-Justin

Kypho for Life-o.

I suffer from moderate back pain. (i call it severe, but in doctors points of view its only moderate.) I’m not writing this trying to get sympathy or anything like that, its just something I feel should be said. I have a rare condition known as Kyphosis. It is where the vertebre in the upper thoratic spine grew wedge shaped. Causing my spine to look rounded. Though my case isn’t as bad as, say, that Notre Dame guy(I’d probably kill myself). Its just a slight curve that most likely would have been corrected had I worn my brace. That didnt happen just because I felt I could just hide it so no one knew I had a problem. I didn’t want to go to school wearing a brace and look like Joan Cusack in sixteen candles. Plus being a fat kid I didnt want to add even more attention to myself.

So now, I have to rely on pain meds just to get by. I thought about getting surgery to fix it, but the risks far outweigh the benefits. Also with healthcare in this country I’d never afford it. So I’m learning to live with it. My wife has been very supportive too. She always offers to pop my back whenever I need it popped. I used to be very ashamed of this condition, but my wife has always made me feel better about myself. For that, I am grateful.

So long story short, my back is fucked up. Drugs make it feel better.

-Justin

A little background story.

My name is Justin Michael Dohve. (its pronounced “dove” like you dove in the water. Its not pronouced dove like the bird. It’s not ” doh-vey” I’m not french.  For the really stupid telemarketers, its not “donahue”… (really don’t know how they get that from “Dohve” but its happened numerous times.)

I was born in a small town in Washington State called “Sedro-Woolley”. It’s about 45 mins south of the Canadian border right off I-5. It’s a really nice wholesome atmosphere. When I was about 3 I was adopted by a wonderful set of parents named Dale and Bettie. They raised me the best way they knew how and I think i turned out all right. We moved to southern California when i was 10. My dad’s company made him the manager for like 5 arcades inside Six flag’s Magic Mountain in Valencia. Let me tell you, being 10, and your dad is able to get you into an amusement park for free all the time, you have the time of your life. So much fun in the 5 months we lived there, when the company moved my dad north to Sacramento.

We lived outside of Sacramento in a town called “Rancho Cordova”. Living here was where I met most of the friends i have now. I lived there until the middle of my junior year of high school, when we moved north to Yuba City. Moving at that time was traumatic for me. Most of my friends I had known since the 4th grade. Also, starting a new high school the a little more than a year before you graduate is not fun at all. Being the new guy sucks. I felt like that all through my senior year. More on that in another blog i guess.

One good thing about Yuba City, was when I worked at a record store. This one girl came in and she was selling off her ex-boyfriends stuff. We got together soon after that, and after about 3 years of dating, we were married. Jump forward another 3 years, my wife gave birth to Elijah, our son. Having a child changes everything. Soon after he was born we moved back to Washington. All 3 of us live in Sedro-Woolley. I make $9.00 an hour as a security guard, my wife stays home with the baby. We both live in my dad’s trailer temporally while we get established up here. This is where most of my rants and complaints come in. I feel like my life, there has been alot of events, some good, some bad, that would make for great reading. This is my story. Recently, things  have gotten me so stressed, that instead of going crazy, I project the stress to my fingers and type it all out. So really, this blog is therapy. This is a way of getting it all out. Thank you.

-Justin

Introductions are in order.

I write this, not as a republican or as a democrat. Not even as a liberal or conservative. Hell, I dont even know what i checked on my voter registration card the day I turned 18(along with buying my first lotto ticket, and my first pack of cigarettes). No, I write this as a person who stands in the shadows watching the events of our country unfold like a Choose your own Adventure book, and wishing we could go back and pick another option. I write this as a normal american, you know, the person our government is supposed to be representing. The person our government works for. The person who, like 93% of this country, is just like me, a nobody.

What is a nobody you ask? Well Dictionary.com says”no·bod·y Pronunciation Key – [noh-bod-ee, -buhd-ee, -buh-dee] –noun a person of no importance, influence, or power. ”  That pretty much sums up me. Then we get to who I am. My name is Justin Michael Dohve, husband to the most intriguing wife a man could have, and father to the coolest son on earth.(little biased on my part, but oh well.)

This blog is mainly a bunch of rants, questions, and observations, that me a man with “no importance, influence, or power ” has. Why should i write this? Who cares what i have to say? I dont know. You would think though, that the opinions of your average, poor, and struggling citizen matter more than a celebrity who has it made. Why should an individual who comes from a background of wealth speak about the problems of the poor? I appreiciate the gesture, but until you live this life, you just have no clue on how hard this life really is.

Apparantly though, the only way to be heard in this country is to go on tv, and spout off the most asinine, idiotic, and off the wall bullshit imaginable. You can also try to get into porn to where you get peoples attention with your tits and your skills at oral(I thought about doing this one too, but my skills at oral are not very good and alas, the world is not ready for the glorious joy of man-boobs), then try to speak out on issues, but then everyone has lost all respect for you and no longer care what you have to say. No, the way to do it, is to write.

Books, blogs, essays, short stories, long stories, anything to let you get out what you want to say, but still be thought of as an intelectual. A nice and neat, thought out way of telling your point of view. That is where this blog comes in. I want to be heard, I have alot to say. So far this blog has been pretty tame, but let me warn you, I will be very blunt and brutaly honest. Sometimes in a nice way, and other times in a vulgar and maybe offensive way. So Im just going to spill out my heart and soul into this, and if people read it and like it, I say to you ” Thanks for reading, hope it made you think.” If some read this and hate everything i have to say, or think Im a stupid piece of shit, I say to you, ” Fuck you, you clicked on it, thanks for reading! 🙂 ”

So i think thats it for the introductions. I hope you enjoy what I write, again this is just my opinions and thoughts. If you feel that I am wrong or I do not have my facts straight, please feel free to comment. I’m always  up to debate. Also feel free to comment if you agree with what I have to say. Again, thank you for taking the time to read this. Let the ranting begin.

-Justin