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On Friday I joined the 30 club. It was a pretty normal day except that I was looking forward to having dinner at the Downs (race track) with the people in my life who mean the most to me.⁽¹⁾ There are others on that list who couldn’t make it but I couldn’t be happier to see everyone in one place. That, and I have always wanted to place bets while sitting in the restaurant like the other big wigs at the track.

I got home from work at about 4:30PM, checked my e- mail and then the phone rang. Ratty was on the phone to wish me a happy birthday from Thunder Bay. We talked for a bit and I asked him to hold on because there was a knock on the door. I went to the back door and there was Ratte on his cell phone with a big smile and a few drinks. Apparently he had decided at 530 that morning that he was coming in for my 30th and I had no idea. It was the most amazing feeling in the world. Almost immediately this rush came over me and I was no longer tired.⁽²⁾ It was just like old times and I needed that more than anything in this world right now. Things got better when Shan got home and noticed the car outside. She comes in the house yelling “Is that Ratty here?” – Soon after Al came over and I felt like I never wanted this night to end. It’s been a long time since this group went out for a night on the town and 30 or not I was ready for a doozie…there was only one shirt for the occassion!⁽³⁾

(1) – I have a great picture of my Auntie Nancy from that night. To be 30 again and have her and my dad in the same room again would be glorious.

(2) – This is like a DejaVu – Same thing this past weekend. Ratte shows up unexpected and I get a second wind!

(3) – Not sure what happened to this shirt but it was awesome. Someone thinner than me is enjoying it right now.

Whoa, what an amazing weekend. Friday night I stayed home waiting for Vern to come over but he apparently passed out. That’s OK because Bry and Jenna brought over some of Jenna’s amazing heart attack dip and I watched the ‘Great One’s’ goodbye one more time and the third time it brought tears to my eyes at the realization at what one man has done for so many people.

Saturday Ratty and I went and played Roller Hockey for 2 hours at Sam Southern and then went back to my place for some Vodka because we just weren’t quite de-hydrated enough. At one point I went back to my room to start getting ready and decided I was just going to hang out in my underwear until we left. I come back out in the living room and Ratty looks at me and says “hey, we going gitch?”⁽¹⁾ and then takes his pants off too and we sat there playing vids and drinking up. Soon after the Vernons arrives into the living room and say excitingly “NO PANTS!” and then they took theirs off too. Soon Bry arrives and says “what’s going on? I’m not wearing any…” so I lent him a pair just because it wasn’t weird enough. Trish, Jenna, and Natalie must’ve thought we were nuts.

We then made our way to Boogie Nights. Big thanks to everyone who made it out. It was a great turnout. Steve took the place of Jimmy by puking by the bar which was odd so I knew it was going to be an interesting night. By the end of the night as always Ratty was geared up for a marathon. For some reason whenever we get pissed together we end up walking home even though we are hours away. Luckily Sully and Joanne heard we were going and offered us a ride Vernon jumped in too and we ended up at Georges Burgers. Just what my ass needs at 1am. Lissa picked us up from there and dropped us all off which I thought was incredibly cool considering she had to pack up Easton and it was 2am.⁽²⁾ Thank you so much Lissa.

Sunday I was slightly hung over but not too bad. The drinks the night before were going down hard because I was so de-hydrated so I think that saved me Sunday. Vern, Trish and I went and saw American Pie 2 and then Trish and I went for a traditional b-day BBQ at Mom and Dad’s. Grandma was there, my sister, Al and Nat, and a special appearance by Nolan that really made dinner a special one, Michael and I don’t get to hang out much to say the least. After dinner we wrapped up the night with some cards and then called it a night. Big Big thanks to my folks for a great dinner and making sure everyone and everything was perfect. Today, back to the grind.

(1) – This is how the no-pants parties originated. Happens less these days but back in the day there were many. It was normal.

(2) – #1 Dad shirt was out in full effect.

Looks like Mondays are the day for updates now!

Friday night I went out with the Puncher to see “Dodgeball” at the “Cheaps”. Movie wasn’t bad and it was nice to hang out with Kris who I haven’t seen since the Clarke wedding. I am starting to get used to the Saturday shift as well. It is almost like a catch up day for all of the things I don’t get through all week so it is kinda nice. Kinda nice until hockey starts up and I need to prioritize.⁽¹⁾

Saturday night Shan and I decided to go to Folklorama.⁽²⁾ I have never gone before because it’s not really my thing but I knew Shan has been wanting to check it out so we did. We decided to walk to the Greece Islands which is pretty close to our place. What put me off about Folklorama is driving by all these pavillions and seeing all the lineups all over the place. In this case it wasn’t so bad afterall. We were in line for a bit there but with no real agenda so it was nice to just be hanging out. It cost us about $20 with food so I could see it getting expensive if you go to more than one a night and are eating. Shan says “you don’t have to eat” and sometimes I wonder if she knows who I am. In fact one of the things I enjoyed most about Folklorama was that we shared a plate. Well Shan was so distracted by the entertainment it was as if she barely ate a thing!

From there we walked down Corydon and had a Corona at Saffron’s and said HI to Anand. Then to Bar Italia to hang out with Drew and Lini who are in town from Chicago. Nice to see those two, Windy, Bry and Chris. We left pretty early because we had a wedding to get ready for on Sunday.⁽³⁾

(1) – Speaking of hockey, I am told the ICE is in at Glenwood already. Not quite ready, but in.

(2) – I haven’t been back since and it’s 22 years later.

(3) – Not sure whose wedding this was.

Took Erin to Fun Mountain yesterday and had a blast. We spent the entire day there pretty much with Timmy G and some of his buds. Erin liked Tim’s friend “Cowboy Bob”⁽¹⁾ who yodelled alot and read a library book while waiting in line and going down the slides. He was reading Judy Blume’s “Double Fudge” and was a big hit with the kids. He was also the only guy there wearing “water pants”, looked like “wind pants” to me but he is sure they are the next big craze.

I think “they” need to make a boxer style bathing suit for men that doesn’t suction. There are guys that wear the Speedo that don’t mind having their marbles out there for the world to see and us guys who are more comfortable with the free swinging boxer style. The problem is that even with the most modest boxer you get that uncomfortable suction everytime your submarine comes up for air. You have to give the waistband a little pull to break the seal. Anyway after one wild slide yesterday I was a little frazzled coming up the steps out of the pool and indiscreetly gave my waistband a good pull to break the suction not noticing the female lifeguard on the top st peering down. I know she got a show because her eyes got all wide then she swung her head around with a “WHOA” and exchanged looks with the other female lifeguard indicating to me she was no stranger to the “Laws Of Suction”. I felt the need to explain it anyway, “hey sorry bout’ that I didn’t see you standing there. Gets little snug down there. BRRRRRR that waters cold!” She just smiled and nodded making sure there was no eye contact. The next time went down she was still there and this time I gave her a smile and turned my back her for the waistband pull. She smiled and waved and then whispered something to her lifeguard cohort that made them giggle like school girls.

Man I’m cool.

(1) Remind me to ask Timmy G whatever happened to “Cowboy”. Maybe he got rich off those water (wind) pants and took off outta this place. Who knows.

Friday night when I got home there was a package from Shan.⁽¹⁾ It might have said something specifically about waiting until the 13th to open it but I had it open so fast I didn’t even notice! Got an awesome shirt, some good Thai junkfood and the most thoughtful and creative gift I have ever received (I could never explain it well enough). Stayed in Friday night.

Saturday I picked up Erin and we went for a swim at Bonivital Pool. I haven’t been there since we used to go every Sunday as a family. I remember riding on my dads back⁽²⁾ and looking forward to stopping for lunch on the way home. Erin said she likes this pool better than Pan-Am so it looks like we have a new place to hang out. We had a blast. For dinner I picked up Bry and we went to Ambers for dinner. Grandma makes the best lasagna.⁽³⁾ We hung out there for a bit and then went back to Bry’s and watched “Collateral Damage” with Al. Sunday I worked on getting organized in the new living arrangement and then took in a matinee with Bry and Al. We saw “Signs”.

Sunday night I hung out with Melissa, who I don’t get to see very often so we had some really good talks.

Monday I did some work from home and went to my aunts⁽⁴⁾ place for a great BBQ. My cousin had a baby recently (Tyrell) and he is getting to the cute stages where he is starting to smile and react to things. Made me really miss Easton. Last night I basically just relaxed for the rest of the night.

Looking forward to playing some roller hockey tonight. I think it is Cass’ B-day (Happy Birthday Cass) and what better way to celebrate than a good game of shinny!

(1) – When Shan was in Thailand.

(2) – Probably one of the reasons my dad’s back was so bad was these “swimming Sundays” at Bonivital.

(3) – Sylivia’s Lasagna is the best. I actually made a video of myself trying to recreate it for Amber’s brother Darryl after she passed. I think he found it funny that it was passed down to me because Sylvia always treated me like family.

(4) – My Auntie Susan passed from Cancer 4 years later. She was the yougest of my mothers sisters and is the only non-smoker.

Just want to send out a big thanks to Mike and Jordy who came out with the big truck and helped me with all the awkwards on Tuesday night. Last night my dad met me at the old place and we gave it a good cleaning. Dad’s are great.⁽¹⁾ Went and played some hockey last night as a means to relax. We usually iust play among friends but last night we played some junior provincial team. We had 4 guys against their 14 and they ran us into the ground for 20 mins. I want a re-match against the Pistols. I thought we were going to play some fun hockey after that but it was too late or something so we called it a night.

Tonight I have to give up my keys. One thing I have to admit is that I am sleeping so much better now. Letterman had me up pretty late last night but I sleep hard. Must be the air conditioning⁽²⁾…I love the winter camping.

(1) – Aren’t they. Dad was always helping me out.

(2) – One of the perks of moving back home in 2002. Hard to believe (4) years later I got married.

Last summer while Shan was away and I was doing all these summer things without her, it just wasn’t the same. I would write to her and tell her how much I couldn’t wait to go camping with her, sit around the open fire and fall asleep in a tent listening to the rain or looking up the stars. That’s why this weekend had to be perfect. It all began when I tried to make reservations over the phone and found out you needed to make them at least 3 days in advance. When we got to Tulabi the sign said “Campground Full”.⁽¹⁾ We continued there anyway and found a site that was open Friday only so we decided to set up and take our chances on Saturday. I went to get some wood before the store closed and by the time I got back Shan already had the tent completely set up (reason #1276).

We spent Saturday morning on the beach and eventually caught up with “Ranger Bob” who informed us number 36 was open if we wanted to move our stuff, so we complied. We basically threw everything in the van⁽²⁾ and physically carried the tent there without taking it down. This was either very smart or very lazy…or maybe a bit of both. We had moved our entire site and were back in business bu in under 20 mins. Later in the day it started getting a little grey and we decided we had better get a tarp going over the picnic table. Easier said than done. I messed around forever trying to feed this rope up over this one branch while Shan laughed and laughed as 1 tried throwing it between the branches without success. Finally she wants “one try” so I hand it over and she manages to loop a different branch and decides it’s “good enough”. I contest it wasn’t the same branch I was going for but it will do. We finally manage to get this tarp up just before it rains and I am convinced most people go into couple’s counselling to learn how to interact during tarp engineering.

After dinner there was a park Police guy at the next site over to investigate a dog biting. We were having trouble eaves dropping but it sounded like one of the kids in the next site over had been bit and sent to the hospital. We had met them earlier in the day on “the rock”. The father was an older, skinny, longhair with tattoos and a moustache with a beer can glued to his left hand. I hate to stereotype but after hearing the way they talk to each other the words “trailer trash” did cross my mind. Anyway it’s a sad thing regardless that a child was bit especially because the dog we think bit her was really cool. We could barely hear what the kids were telling the park cop so we decided to make a trip to the can so we could walk on by. The cop and the father were sitting on a rock and the three kids were standing in front of them telling a story that I am sure got better and bloodier each time. As I got a bit closer my trailer park notion was confirmed when I noticed father of the year was WEARING MY SHIRT! I had put it on the windshield of the van to dry after the beach and now this guy was wearing it… “hey man, that’s my shirt” I blurted out without even thinking twice. Shan had just noticed too but was toying with the idea that this guy just might have the same Princess Leia t-shirt as me because she didn’t know just how rare it was.⁽³⁾ While the guy quickly takes off my shirt without even putting down it is. his beer. Everyone gets silent for what seems like minutes as he hands it back to me the cop sees Shan’s astonished face and says “that’s interesting” before Shan and I continue up to the can in shock. On the way back down the father (now shirtless with beer can) offers up the excuse that his kids picked up the shirt somewhere and brought it back. Shan goes fiery redhead and says “well just make sure they keep their little fingers to themselves from now on” and we return to our site still not really sure what just happened.

Sunday we spent some time on the beach and then packed up early for home. We stopped at the Subway in Lac Du Bonnet where I told the legend of Paul Ratte⁽⁴⁾ and met some nice folks. We ate our Subs out on the curb because Shan was in charge of fun this weekend. We had dinner at my parents place and then went to see “Bad Boys 2” at Grant Park. I don’t think I will be reviewing it but I did think it was a an OK sequel. This weekend couldn’t have been more perfect.

(1) – Back in the day when you could take a chance like that and be spontaneous. Those days are long gone but it worked for us back then.

(2) – I think this was my white or teal Dodge Caravan. Loved both of those vehicles and I tell everyone who cares to ask that if they made an AWD version of that van would be my go to.

(3) – I loved that shirt. No idea where it is today.

(4) – I like to let the people at every Subway I visit know that Paul Ratte and I are buddies.

During the week I got a call from my sisters BF (John) who wanted to do something nice for my sister. He felt as though he was taking her away from everyone and wanted to make sure she had a chance to say goodbye⁽¹⁾ to to everyone properly. We decided to surprise her at Marigold with a little going away thing. His parents and brother were there with my parents, my grandma, and my auntie Pearl.⁽²⁾ It was really nice to have everyone there. I am also happy that Marcy has found a good guy in John and no longer feels the burden of the long distance itch.⁽³⁾ An itch that gets the best of most people. An itch that can make you feel completely helpless. Some days you can itch all over and some days you can find something to keep your mind off the itch bit it is always there and it’s in a place you could never reach no matter what kind of yoga you’ve been doing to get to it.

(1) – This is when Marcy moved to Snow Lake to live with John. She has some interesting stories from this time and I remember when she wanted to come home and my dad and I drove a U-Haul out there to get her back!

(2) – Auntie Pearl was just that, a pearl. She is actually my Grandma’s sister and we called her Auntie Pearl. Miss that lady.

(3) – This was likely written while Shan was in Thailand. I remember the itch.