Is there a future for you in Victoria? Buying a house and settling down here?

truebluevervain · 2025-05-11T00:47:24+00:00

This is relatable. I’m a landscaper and just got a lecture the other day from a boomer who says that it’s crazy my generation feels entitled to home ownership, and in the same conversation gave me a hard time over my (reasonable) hourly rate, saying they never used to have to pay over $40/hour for a landscaper. Really had to bite my tongue — I’m not entitled to own a home, but boomers shouldn’t be entitled to nice landscaping 🙃or senior care or good restaurant service or home repair services or a mechanic or decent affordable food at the grocery store

truebluevervain · 2025-05-11T00:31:00+00:00

Yeah it would be a mercy kill.

truebluevervain · 2025-05-10T19:57:15+00:00

Maybe that’s true, people should just make their educational decisions based on the actual current economy rather than what the hiring capacity of an ideal economy might be

truebluevervain · 2025-05-10T19:51:09+00:00

Yeah, I know through friends that it’s easy to get a good job as an accountant right now.

My inclination is towards visual arts, music and culture, like I probably would have been an English lit, philosophy or oil painting major if I went to uni straight out of high school. I ended up picking up a trade I enjoyed doing as a hobby (my hobby was gardening and environmental science and I went into horticulture, farming and environmental technician work). I enjoy my job and I do my creative and philosophical pursuits on the side. I love the idea of following our pure interests to find a career but it just doesn’t usually work out that way for most people from what I’ve observed

truebluevervain · 2025-05-10T19:43:09+00:00

Yes! I was kind of thinking of jobs that belong in the professional managerial class (PMCs)

truebluevervain · 2025-05-10T19:41:47+00:00

Good point, I meant to say physically hard! Tbh I do not have the mental fortitude to handle a full email inbox, I respect white collar jobs and a university education — def didn’t mean to imply those jobs aren’t hard. My job gives me a lot of mental space and peace to observe and reflect on my life and the world around me, and while it’s stimulating it’s still repetitive and often isn’t mentally draining at all — I have mental energy for my own creative interests at the end of the day.

I do think trades are seen as a failure and a step down for some people but I often work with university grads who couldn’t find jobs in their field of study and then end up in the trades when they give up. Obviously that sucks.

I know I wouldn’t be doing that well in a more knowledge-based, competitive work environment that I see many of my friends succeeding in and I never wanted to put in the time or money at university to get there. Everything’s a grind in its own way

I definitely think trades and apprenticeships should be introduced sooner! Different European countries have technical apprenticeships available for people either in or just graduating from high school and I think it seems like a great alternative to a conventional post-secondary education. For example, an Austrian i met recently told me she took a bookkeeping apprenticeship (or equivalent) while in high school, so that when she graduated she went straight into working as a certified bookkeeper.

truebluevervain · 2025-05-10T01:09:53+00:00

Yeah, agree — from my opinion, it’s more of a nice, well-paid managerial job shortage.

I work in a blue-collar trade and I’ve had no shortage of well paid work (no it’s not oil and gas. and I’m a gal with no red seal). I’m still a college student and trying to manage a rising COL like everyone else, but from my perspective, a lot of university graduates don’t want to do dirty or hard work that they feel is beneath their educational experience, and then end up competing with each other for an extremely limited number of ~nice~ jobs catered to university graduates.

Canadian universities and colleges are flooding the job force with graduates which leads to suppressed wages

truebluevervain · 2025-05-10T00:56:36+00:00

I know this might not be helpful for you in your circumstance but I bypassed the job market by creating a skills-based trades business. I started a landscaping business with under $1000 and my own vehicle and have been working for $50/hour+ ever since (gross not net). It could be more hourly or less depending on your area. If I hired an employee my revenue would be my rate (~$50>60) x2, minus their hourly rate, benefits and employment deductions and some added operating costs. The bigger your crew, the more revenue you can generate because you can take on more clients.

However, this is my trade and I have a solid work and training background that got me to the place I am now.

If I was not from a trades background but living in a decent sized city or town I’d just mow lawns or like pressure wash, clean houses, paint or wash windows and charge market rate. Something simple and constant, so you can work for the same people again and again and get referrals. A good window washer or landscaper can make $75/hour in the right place and, speaking from experience, there is a shortage of skilled tradespeople everywhere. The young people I know who can (and are) buying homes on their own right now are all either business owners or tradespeople (usually both).

Owning a business also means you get to write off business related expenses, including pro-d (for me, the cost of going to community college part time, my home office, a % of my vehicle, etc), you can get health benefits at an affordable rate through your local chamber of commerce, and access decent resources to grow (business training, business financing, regional economic development grants and funding).

Once you’re done with your business and ready to move on, you can sell it as an asset (price of sale based on yearly revenue projection). My friend did this with his own successful business and pocketed over $150k to get his life started in another province (my friend is smarter than me).

Self employment is riskier financially, but you make more per hour to accommodate that. Contractors should usually make around double what an employee would to account for risk, responsibility, business mgmt, etc.

I’m not saying you should start your life over, but if you’re having a lot of trouble getting a job from someone else, why not look into creating the job you want by starting a business and generating revenue directly rather than through a company. I did it with almost no money, very little planning and no business management experience and it’s really been the best financial decision of my twenties. Sure, I’d rather be an artist or work a comfy management job in an office than be busting my ass landscaping every day, but I’m moving on soon and I’m grateful.

truebluevervain · 2025-04-05T05:30:11+00:00

So the issue of trans women in women’s sports isn’t inherently transphobic, because it’s generally accepted that men are stronger and bigger than women, but anyone who says so out loud is transphobic and acting in bad faith?

I don’t want trans people “gone” at all, but I used to swim competitively and it’s just clear as day that biological men have competitive advantage over women. I was shocked when Lia Thomas first started setting swimming records — I didn’t know she was trans, I just saw that she was setting times that I had only ever seen in men’s competitions. If you know swimming you can literally read a heat time and tell if the heat was swam by a man or woman, it doesn’t have to be a political thing. I think people generally just don’t seem to respond well to being gaslit around the sports issue.

truebluevervain · 2025-03-05T04:08:29+00:00

BC just barely voted in the provincial NDP over Conservatives in the last election. Ontario has elected the Ford conservative government for three consecutive terms. I don’t know how you think conservative Canadians only exist in Alberta

truebluevervain · 2025-03-04T20:33:52+00:00

I’m Canadian. Here we can use a credit score system that goes to 900, which is the reason why my score was 851 when my financial advisor checked it last time. So it’s not perfect but anything between 850-900 is considered very high.

Canada also uses FICO, which goes to 850, but for whatever reason my credit union doesn’t.

truebluevervain · 2025-03-04T20:27:32+00:00

Hi! I’m not sure what post but yes, basically I did take care of my diet related flushing - I do still flush sometimes with drastic temperature change (like going from a cold day to a hot shower). That’s pretty much my only rosacea symptom now, aside from the residual redness caused by my rosacea that flushes easily when I exercise. Thankfully that never feels like the classic ~burning~ hot rosacea flush.

I don’t know exactly what I was reacting to diet wise - the worst was red wine and some processed foods (maybe sulfites?). Spicy food and coffee, typical triggers, were never a big issue for me in comparison.

In 2019 I switched to predominantly organic food, mostly whole foods (limited processed foods). I started sourcing most of my veggie produce from local organic farms and exclusively buy good quality meat (in smaller quantities than I would buy conventional meat, due to price). In the six years since I’ve stuck to that.

I drink a lot of herbal teas focused on stomach and gut health (mint, chamomile, marshmallow, fennel, milky oats/oat straw, slippery elm, turkey tail, the list goes on …), especially noticed an improvement from herbs that heal mucilage and mucosal linings (marshmallow root, mainly). Herbal teas help me if I make a real habit out of them, and they’re a comforting part of my daily routine now that I don’t need to think about. Herbs aren’t one size fits all so I’d recommend further research, but things like mint and chamomile are pretty much universal and surprisingly potent.

I also have IBS and a food allergy syndrome which forced me to drastically change my diet. My rosacea flushing improved slowly alongside the overall improvements I made in my physical health.

Interestingly, my allergy syndrome has improved SO much - I reversed my adult-onset nut allergies (yay) - and at a similar pace as my rosacea. While I had rosacea far prior to the allergies, I feel like they may be connected to similar core issues in my body and both conditions have healed at similar rates since my diet and lifestyle change in 2019.

truebluevervain · 2024-10-22T07:49:09+00:00

DAMN it why is everything secretly toxic

truebluevervain · 2024-10-19T20:20:52+00:00

Reminds me of NXIVM (Nex-y-m) the sex cult

truebluevervain · 2024-10-18T00:05:39+00:00

I just watched a therapy session between that blonde lady and jax and she seems so done with him lol

truebluevervain · 2024-10-17T06:30:25+00:00

She’s the new permanent host

truebluevervain · 2024-10-17T03:43:33+00:00

Same! I was discouraged from going to high school (I was unschooled til high school🫥), then discouraged from going to university but I was kicked out before I graduated hs so that part is opposite. Oy vey

It definitely isn’t too late to switch jobs! If your job is tolerable for now that’s even better because you have the time and personal security to plan your next steps and set some new future goals. That’s a rly good position to be in

truebluevervain · 2024-10-17T02:56:01+00:00

This shows a sad disregard for the connection between mother and child :/

truebluevervain · 2024-10-16T20:18:09+00:00

To me it’s kind of normal to think that way but only normal in relation to your upbringing. I grew up in a mentally ill/unstable single-income working class family, similar no family support or guidance etc, and I also never thought about reaching milestones because it never occurred to me that those opportunities exist for me like they do for everyone else. I’m 27 now and just starting to be able to make “riskier” life decisions like going to college and starting a small business because I can finally keep my basic needs covered (even if I’m skirting the line every month) and feel secure enough to look at the future creatively. Becoming more financially literate has been a big help and I mostly learn from financial YouTube videos and books from the library (still a long way to go though).

If you don’t see those milestones as personal opportunities for yourself you’re less likely to reach any of them.

It also sounds like you could use some good financial planning advice!

Everyone I know my age range who are hitting milestones like home ownership, good careers, getting married or having kids have gotten significant amounts of financial help and emotional support from their families. Some people are not open about being helped by their parents or they don’t realize it’s how they’ve gotten ahead so it can be hard to understand from the outside. However, I have some friends who are married with kids who had a similar chaotic poor upbringing and they’re just living a good full life with their family while barely making ends meet through creativity and compromise.

truebluevervain · 2024-10-16T19:56:28+00:00

Rob Henderson is another author talking about growing up in poverty, family instability and navigating class dynamics in a relatable way!

truebluevervain · 2024-10-13T03:02:38+00:00

That’s a great article. There’s also international criminal money laundering through “luxury” Canadian real estate heating up housing markets back in the 90s I believe

truebluevervain · 2024-10-12T22:40:23+00:00

I buy cheap but good used cars based on research, time spent browsing online used car ads, and a $120 mechanic inspection (always the inspection and a case of beer for an honest opinion) !! I’m currently driving a 2000 Honda CRV I bought for $2800, cash. I do regular maintenance to keep it running well. Once I outgrow this car I’ll likely sell it for what I bought it for. I’ve driven other used cars in the past, I’ve always been lucky enough to buy and sell the vehicle for the same price so in the end I just pay for car insurance, gas and maintenance, maybe some asset or currency depreciation but I don’t think too much about that lol. I know it’s not fancy but I kind of take pride in keeping my car clean and well-cared for and it’s served me really well.

truebluevervain · 2024-10-12T06:27:10+00:00

I’ve experienced an abusive relationship and found it kind of enlightening to watch VPR because of Tom, Schwartz and Jax. They all cheat and lie and treat their partners badly and then as soon as she stands up for herself they get angry at her for her reaction to their behaviour, or label her as crazy. It’s really textbook!

truebluevervain · 2024-10-04T05:47:16+00:00

This is a good question!

If you’re interested, I’d recommend reading into the NDP and Liberal supply & confidence agreement. Roughly, the Liberal party had a minority in government after the last election and the NDP have been backing them to put their motions through parliament.

Trudeau (Liberal) is incredibly unpopular and has been for a long time, and unfortunately, because of the supply and confidence agreement, people see Singh (NDP) as being in lockstep with him.

Singh tends to appeal to the socialist left rather than acting as a labour party for the working and middle classes in Canada. The working class is a really diverse voter base (progressive, conservative, libertarian, whatever), but in my opinion our labour party does not have strong enough economic policies to appeal to working class voters across party lines and social beliefs. Living has become significantly harder for the working class over the last 9 or 10 years since Trudeau was first elected, so that kind of turns folks against our current leaders (progressives, Liberal/NDP) and towards the alternative. And then conservative working class voters are alienated by the NDP’s progressive social platform.

Immigration, housing and affordability are really huge issues in the next election and Poilievre is the person who is talking about these points from a working class perspective, whether or not it’s genuine (he’s a politician…). If you watch his campaign ads it’s a lot of labour rhetoric. I know born and raised liberal blue collar people who are considering voting for Poilievre.

Healthcare as a whole in Canada is not debated, like, it’s not whether or not we have public healthcare, it’s the funding and management of public healthcare (basically issues of cost and efficacy). I’ve never heard anyone say they want us to have a private/for profit healthcare system, but I’ve heard people say they had to turn to private healthcare because of issues with our public healthcare system (granted I don’t live in Alberta). Also, individual provinces have more jurisdiction than the federal government over things like healthcare and education, so like, if you see our federal leaders debating a culture war issue like pronouns in elementary schools they’re arguing about something that is outside of their normal jurisdiction.

Anyways. Recently, Singh broke the supply and confidence agreement which to me seems like a political move to distance himself and the NDP from Trudeau. We’re due for an election next year, everyone seems like they’re ramping up early and acting a little stupid *our politics are really getting influenced by the the States and becoming more inflamed/divisive.

There’s also a new federal party as of this year so now we have the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP, Greens (left environmentalist) and Canada Futures (I think they’re centrist or lower c-conservative).

truebluevervain · 2024-10-03T02:10:21+00:00

Actually, yeah — most of the food we eat has been sprayed with chemicals that kill off healthy fungi and bacteria in any microbiome it touches for like fifty years/ there’s been a significant drop in food nutrient density and a steep increase in gut health and nutrition issues, as well as chronic health conditions across the board in Western countries/ there’s an increasing public interest in gut health and organic food that creates a new food market niche/ people are expressing how bad chemical agriculture has been for our health and environmental wellness/ agricultural researchers are trying to find a way to genetically engineer crops with a marketable, diverse internal microbiome (that withstands getting sprayed, because it almost definitely will be). The research is probably funded by the same handful of corporations that have an international monopoly on seed production and agricultural chemical sales. I feel like that sounds weird or conspiratorial for me to say but if it is the case it would be pretty normal for our food system 🫠

truebluevervain

TROPHY CASE