Move over, or get out of my way!

Rules of the road. 

The basic rules of the road. Most people know how to follow these simple guidelines. Well, we all know there are people who infuriate us. Those ones who go so slow or way too fast, The people who turn corners without looking, the one’s who stop dead in the middle for no apparent reason! What is wrong with these people!!! It’s not really a hard concept. Go straight. Indicate turns. Dont stop dead. Dont take time to look at the scenery while you are supposed to be going straight. 

Look. Moving along these small narrow laneways can be difficult. You have to be constantly vigilant. Looking left and right while dodging slow movers and getting to your destination on time and without smashing into the rear-end of a much larger and slower moving person. I personally think that there should be tougher rules and testing before these people are unleashed on society. Much tougher testing would keep those dangerous and frustrating people out of my way. Im not going to get into any stereotypical driving assumptions here, I did grow up in Markham after all. 

And what about the holiday season! Go out if you dare! Actually please dont. I request that you stay home and get out of my way. When im out at christmas time it’s not me im worried about getting in trouble, it’s everyone else around me. Just because you are in a rush doesn’t mean that you can just barrel through everyone. Winter season also = wet conditions. Why is it that during the winter everyone forgets that things get slippery? I mean really. Be careful!!!

Also! People, if you want to go slow, that means stay to the right, not the left, and not the middle. Wouldnt it be so much easier if people abided by this easy system? The one everything know’s about but nobody practices? It’s not hard. Then all the slow people can go to the right and the ones who want to move faster on the left. If the people on the left want to move to the right, or vice versa they should match speed and not cause havoc when moving sideways. Do you move like that without looking? No! Let’s try to not be completely oblivious to everyone around us and our surroundings because honestly, you’re not the only person in this world and I will run you the fuck over if you jump in front of me or stop dead in front of me. Attach mirrors on a pole in front of your head for all I care!

Have you ever seen those people who when they are out see a friend of theirs and stop to chit-chat, but you jsut want to get past them? When you do that people you are lost to me. Move. If you want to talk to someone, or you get lost perhaps and need to pull out that big tourist map, pull over to the right (you should already be in that lane anyhow) and you can stop to the very edge of, and out of the way of the flow of traffic. It’s not hard.

Im sorry, I had a very stressful lunch. By the way. Re-read this because im not talking about driving. Just the basic function of walking through a mall or down the street.

*disclaimer - I did get angry walking through the mall and I had also heard this Rick Mercer rant previously. So yes, I did take a few of his ideas but the bottom line is that it’s all true.

Reminiscing about school

I kinda miss being in school. I had some fantastic times there with my boys. I lived in residence on a floor with 10 single rooms of guys. We all became good friends really quickly, bonding over beers the first afternoon (not night. This became a theme). It's kind of crazy how close we were. Most people from what i have heard remain friends with maybe one or two people from residence that they lived with. I am still close with my buddies. Golf every weekend, dinner and hockey every Tuesday, usually a party once a week/end somewhere. This is now 7 years after residence which is pretty amazing. I look back at res and think of all the crazy stories we have. I know everyone says their floor was the craziest ever but we actually own the distinction of being the first floor in the history of the university to have an ENTIRE floor meeting with the head of residences. Not something to be proud of, yet proud we are.

There are so many stories we have from residence alone, let along the other 4 years of school i can't possibly get them all in here. Ill try to cover some high and low points so you can get a grasp of who everyone is and how we are all connected. 

One of the first weekends we all had together, we went up to my cottage where were were going to split wood for my dad. We partied way too hard the night before and were all pretty hungover for a full day of wood-splitting. 

My dad still tells about how this kid "Kinger" was more green than the leaves as he was carrying wood out of the bush to be split. That weekend also saw Maggoty Bill emerge, or at least disappear, throughout the night. BillyT disappeared at one point and all we could find was a trail through the house of food left in his wake. Nacho's and salsa in the shower stall, an unopened apple pie in it's box (the box proved too smart for Billy) sitting in the corner of a room, and then Billy himself we found passed out in bed, with the end of a french stick of bread and a dishcloth. Nobody knows what happened in there before we went in but....well we just dont ask. This was also the weekend Billy asked my dad how old his daughter was and Kinger jumped in with the response "Hot" before anyone could say anything. This was followed by my dad's priceless response "you know, you're only a backhand away from me. 

Billy and Fergy were our two main troublemakers on the floor. They at one point had an absolutely huge brawl. At 4 in the morning when they were both hammered they started pushing each other. There was no reason for this, just because. It turned into an epic brawl. We got IR's those that. To explain, an IR was an Incident Report given by the residence people. If you got 4 of them it was a fine, 7 was kicked out of res. By the time we left res, I had 6 and that was on the very low end. I think Billy ended up with.....15? minus one because Fergy ate it.

Our residence hall was a disaster. Usually filled with drunken students doing all sorts of random and belligerent things. Billy was a big cause of the damage done to our hall. To his credit we had: Kitchen cupboard door missing (hinges still attached however), peanut butter heated in the microwave and poured on our kitchen couch, also my personal favourite was when he took a large sized (like the giant construction sized) garbage cans and filled it up with water, walked over to the elevator, pressed the button and as the doors opened, dumped the entire bucket of water in. Why? Nobody knows. There was also the day that we went out to the bar and when we came back the entire bathroom stall walls/doors was ripped out of the wall and sort of swaying. Billy denied it. Nobody bought it. 

Other damage to the hall included a "shreddie gauntlet" which was just a box of shreddies dumped along the hallway completely in the way of everything. We were missing a ceiling tile, the whereabouts of which are still unknown. We broke windows (my fault), set off Fire extinguishers, were responsible for 3 residence wide fire alarms in one night (which Fergy slept through while in the bathtub). The cleaning lady stopped cleaning our floor. 

There was also.....The Crazian, Zi Chang, Ronger, The Dentist, Andy-eh-

Andy is one of my favourite people ever. He is this little crazy asian kid. We picked on andy out of pure love and affection but he was also the bossiest little guy ever. You can't really describe Andy, but ill say that the time that he and Data had to stay in for the weekend doing a astronomy project, they were sitting outside and andy would yell at darrell to "Check the sundial" and then say "you should, uh, get me a sandwich." What a guy. He was also that kid in a group of friends that would always forget his wallet when you went out for food and say..."yo, can you, uh, pay for me?"

There was also the time that he had just gotten out of the shower and Billy and Fergs knocked on his door. He answered in a towel and still wet from the shower, however he opened the door to billy standing with his hands open and a bottle of baby powder laying in his hands aimed at Ronger'sface. Fergy took his fist and smashed the bottle and andydidnt say anything, just closed the door.

Then there was Fergy. He was responsible for a great many interesting stories and....well, stories. Fergs is one of my best friends ever. 

He is also one of the funniest guys ever. This is why i decided that he would be the perfect character study for a play. While i was in theatre i was a part of the Drama Student Federation. We were putting on a series of plays for arts week. We needed one more play, so I wrote one with the help of my buddies Joel and Data. 

Here is the play that we wrote as performed at University of Guelph. It should give you a pretty good synopsis of what out friends are like. Everything in this story is true and really happened. No joke.

I really miss school sometimes. I really miss hanging out with my boys. Although i see them every week, it's not the same. It's true what they say, you look back and those were the best days of our life.

Vancouver, what a shit-show.

So as many of you (i hope) know, the most difficult trophy to win in sport was awarded the other night. The Stanley Cup was awarded to Boston. I have a ton of viewpoints on this and i'd like to share them. If you dont watch hockey very much ill give you a run down on the brief overview of the game.


Put the puck in the other teams net without them putting it in yours. Very similar to other sports, however, you are also allowed to beat the shit out of the other team while doing so. there are differnet styles of the game. What started as a Canadian game grew to the United States as well. With the european invasion of the late 19780's and 80's the game quickly saw a new style of play. Canadian teams were known for the bash and crash style. Hard play along the boards, open ice hitting, strong forechecking and never being afraid to mix-it up or drop the gloves.





The European style consisted of more of a possession game and fluid movement. Often described as much prettier to watch, i dont much care for it.


So while the puck movement is nice to watch, there isn't anything better than watching 2 teams go at each other totally physically and try to dominate the other. That's the hockey i love. It has so much more passion.


So it was that Vancouver and Boston were facing each other in the finals of the playoffs this year. Think about this, Vancouver and Boston had both played 100 games going into this best of 7 series. Some guys were injured and playing with broken bones (Edler) others were so bruised and battered they could barely play. One guy came back from what could have been a potentially career ending (not to mention sight-ending) eye injury to rejoin his team in game 3.


The series looked like it was going to be great. Both teams could be physical, Vancouver had one of the best offences in the game and Boston had one of the best defences and likely the best goalie in the league.


The series started out well with Vancouver winning the first 2 at home but in game 1 there was the first signs that this would be unique. Stuff we hadn't seen in the finals before. It all started with one guy, Burrows missing his dinner.





Burrows was not suspended for that bite. No idea why, but he wasn't and in game 2 Maxime Lapierre mocked Bergeron provoking him to bit his finger. Asshole. Your team mate actually bites someone and you think it's a good way to taunt another player? I think Bergeron may have something to say about this later.





By the way, the guy who scored the overtime goal in game 2? Burrows the biter.


Anyhow, one thing i can't STAND in hockey, is when the Vancouver Canucks all of a sudden look like the italian soccer team. Diving is bullshit and should not be a part of the game. I play soccer and i understand that when you're running and someone pushes you off balance a little it's easy to go down. Hockey is slightly different. It's easier to stay on your feet by doing this thing called gliding. Silly i know. But guys on the Vancouver team started going down like they had been shot at times.





I can't stand that kind of thing. It's a black mark on the game and nobody has time for it. Get the fuck up.


The next game was in Boston. That's when shit really hit the fan. Game 3, first period, Aaron Rome hit's one of Boston's top players with a huge open ice hit. I liked the hit, i have no problem with the fact that Horton's head took a shot (head hits causing concussions are a huge problem, but so are the parameters determining a head hit). The problem with the hit was that it was late. about 0.5 seconds too late. But in hockey, that's a long time. Watching the video it looks pretty quick, and it is, but you have to understand 2 things about this hit.
1, It was late and the puck was long enough out of Horton's possession.
2. Even if the hit was on time. Horton would not have seen it coming. = Horton is still fucked.


This is where we find the grey area of hits to the head. Every little kid playing hockey knows and can tell you exactly why Horton got hit the way he did. He admired his pass. Watch the video and you see him watch the puck after he passes it. Crossing the blue-line, admiring your pass = the "trolley tracks". The "Trolley Tracks" are where guys often get caught with their head down and smoked. Unfortunately for Aaron Rome, he smoked Horton a bit late. Unfortunately for Horton, he hit his head and got knocked the fuck out.





Horton was out for the series and Rome was suspended for the remainder as well.


So from here the series took a really nasty turn. Boston woke up and lit up Luongo (Vancouver goalie) for 8 goals.


The series from here was pretty tough and feisty with Boston and Vancouver winning all the games at home. Following game 5 in Vancouver was what you could say was the turning point in the series.


Luongo had already been getting some flak because he had been lit up in Boston. 12 goals in 2 games isn't a great time to be opening your mouth and chirping.


Vancouver won game 5 1-0 in overtime. Luongo and Thomas both play lights out but vancouver scored the goal. At the press conference after the game,  Luongo said ""It's not hard (making the save) if you're playing in the paint. It's an easy save for me, but if you're wandering out and aggressive like he does, that's going to happen."


When asked about the quotes the next day Luongo did not take back the statement or apologize, instead he made the situation worse by saying “I was just saying on that particular play, I would have played it different. That’s the difference between me and him. I have been pumping his tires ever since the series started. I haven’t heard one nice thing he had to say about me. That’s the way it is.’’


Thomas replied by brushing off the comments and saying something along the lines of "I didnt realize it was my job to pump his tires".


These comments by Luongo sparked a ton of debate due to his not-so amazing play in Boston and his reputation of not coming up all that big in games that mattered.


Common jokes going around were "hey what time is it in boston? 12 past Luongo"

So Luongo played like a bag of shit in Boston again giving up the fastest 3 goals in the history of the Finals. He got yanked and Boston won the game.

Then comes game 7. This is what every kid dreams of playing on the frozen pond in the winter. It's the equivalent of Bottom of the 9th 2 outs, the 2 minute drill in the super bowl, Extra time in the world cup.

Vancouver basically got what was coming to it in this series. Timmy Thomas and the B's smoked'em 4-0. Guess who scored the killer goal that broke the 'nucks. Bergeron. The guy who's finger got bit. Justice if i ever heard it.

Then came the riots. What the Fuck Vancouver? The Olympics were so great. I was there. I can attest to it! But this is ridiculous. Burning cop cars, looting stores. Really? You suck. Unfortunately the stuff all started with people who had no interest in the hockey at all and were there only to start riots. That is the unfortunate part. The worse part however, is how so many of the fans got involved in the rioting as well! Bad form.

I was going to post pictures of it, but i dont want to. It's too bullshit. Look it up if you are interested. I just focus on hockey.

Anyhow congrats to Boston. You played with some class and played a tough, gritty series and you deserved to win over these jokers from Vancouver.

Understand this as well. I'm not dissing Canada at all here. I love Canada. However, i dont feel the need to cheer for a team just because they are from a Canadian city. When my team (the Leafs) are out, I will cheer for whomever i want and usually that is the team i feel is either the most exciting, or plays the best hockey. I thought Vancouver were a punch of pansy's this series and i have never really liked the Sedin twins so i cheer for Boston. Deal with it.

Blades of Steel

Our hockey team needs some work.

There’s really nothing like the feel of stepping out onto the ice. For me it’s possibly my favourite feeling in the world. Do you have one of those? My other one is waterskiing at the cottage early in the morning on a totally glass lake. Awesome.

Anyways, hockey. As previously mentioned, my team is the Blades of Steel. We have likely the best jerseys of any mens league / beer league team, which, as everybody knows is the first step to a successful team. We play in the adult league on Tuesday nights. Now follow me on this one here. There are 5 divisions. A through E. After a few weeks of play they re-organize the divisions and can bump oyur team up or down depending on how you’ve played so far. In our league, after the reorganization, they created a D2 division for some reason. Our team has ended up in 3rd place, out of 4, in the E division after the shuffle. Basically it mean’s that we’re in 2nd last place, in the F division. 

So seeing as how we are the best team in the league...you’d think that we wouldn’t have a problem winning games. Somehow out self-imposed view of being the best team doesn’t necessarily correlate with us winning games. Go figure. Going into last nights game our record was 2-3-2. Which is 2 wins, 3 losses, and 2 overtime losses. So we’re usually in the game at least, but not usually the winners. Anyhow we were playing a team last night that was pretty good. We managed to beat them in the first game of the year actually, in overtime. Last night was pretty ugly as we managed to lose 6-3. 

We’ve done a lot to get better, we’ve had practices, worked out game plans, created the best lines we can. Not much has seemed to work thus far. We all have different views of what is wrong. Backchecking, breakouts, scoring inability, defensive breakdowns. But basically we’re just not that good.....yet. We will get better. Slowly, but we will. I have hope.

The Cooking Begins!!

I feel like such a new-age author right now. As though im sitting in a Starbucks contemplating my newest indie movie screenplay. I’m not, im actually just sitting in a sports bar ay Yonge and College, but im trying to be indie here. 

I’ve been thinking lately. If you dont know already, I do a hell of a lot of cooking. It’s kinda my thing I guess. After spending 3 years working in a kitchen I guess it sorta has to be. (that’s not exactly true actually. I know a bunch of people I worked with who were awesome cooks, but couldnt care less about food and were totally content with McDicks)

Last night, as I was doing one of the things that makes me totally at peace, cooking, drinking a beer and rockin out, I was also talking to my buddy from Australia. You may have heard me mention him before, Dave. The “mad-as-a-cut-snake” guy. He had previously asked me to share some of my food recipes with him. I got to thinking about that and figured I might as well get some of the stuff that I make written down. It seemed like a great idea at th e time but apparently I dont have a great attention span. Go figure. So it’s taken me forever to get to writing these things down. So what I figured I’d do is start typing them up in here and sharing them with everyone. That way people can help make comments as well. I take no credit for the idea’s presented here because im sure they have all been done before. 

I do however make the note and say that this is how I cook. I cook without a recipe and by taste and feel. I’m not a fantastic cook but I thin I make things that taste pretty good in general. If I dont know how to make something, I just look it up and then put my own twist on it. Because I dont follow recipes I dont get very accurate measurements of what goes into what. To me it just sorta makes sense but to the non-cook it might not. So I will guess and use terms that work for me. (pinch, handful, a bit, a lot, some) Should you choose to follow/try any of these recipes, you can figure it out. 

Last night I made Paella. I thought it ended up pretty delicious. I made enough to last me all bloody week. (prefect for the office lunch).

Check it out, try it out, let me know what you think!!

PS. This is not going to be a food blog. I like cooking. Eat it (get it)

Spanish Paella

Ingredients:

(for 4 people)

2 cups white rice

2 cups tomato juice

2 cups water

Hot sauce to taste

1 red pepper (or capsicum as the crazies call it) (cubed)

1 lime

1/2 can of corn niblets

2 chorizo sausage (cut into discs 1/4” thick)

Mussels (however much you want)

Prawns (skin on or off) (however much you want)

Half hand-ful of cilantro (coriander)

1/2 diced spanish onion

1/2 cup stock or water 

3/4 cup white wine

Paella is usually a rice dish made with Chorizo sausage and seafood. You can do it a number of ways. 

Make your rice first. Start with equal parts water, tomato juice and rice. (still 2:1 liquid to rice) 

I prefer to start by adding a bit of oil to a pan (always use a preheated pan, don’t get it smoking hot (this is actually when the oil smokes), just warm enough to get a good sizzle on the onions and sausage when you add it in. 

Let these brown up in the oil and you will see the onions begin to carmelize. Add in your garlic, corn and peppers. Stir this up. 

About 2 min later add in your mussles (which have been washed) and prawns. Salt and pepper.. 

Add in your white wine and stock and cover until prawns and mussles are cooked. (med-low heat) 

(Prawns are cooked when they turn opaque and mussels will open when ready, and pre-open mussles, or one’s that dont open throw out)

After mussels open and prawns are cooked remove lid to let steam escape. Liquid should now be reduced by about half. Add in your rice and give it a squeeze a whole lime and add in your cilantro.

Stir it all up and serve!

ENJOY GUYS!

The update.

I’m not travelling anymore. I miss it terribly but I believe (or at least have been told) it’s time to move on with my life and do something society deems to be productive. So I’m going back to school to be a teacher. That’s right. In a year or so I could be teaching and guiding your children through those turbulent adolescent years we all remember so fondly. 

Aside from that, not too much is different than from before in my life. I’m working 2 jobs, court reporting as well as serving. Work keeps me pretty busy and in my spare time I cook, play hockey and golf as well as indulge in the occasional adult beverage.

One of the things that IS new, apparently with this whole working in an office and serving people food means that I have to look presentable. Now, normally that’s fine with me, I love dressing up. Shirt and pants, no problem. I even go so far as trying to have a bit of style. (My sister makes this happen not me, but I try). The thing about looking presentable however, is that a 3 month unshaven-beard does not qualify me to the echelons of office society. I am greatly conflicted by this and am still trying to find a was to go back to the terrorist look I thought I had perfected after 3 months in Europe.

Let’s see, what else is new? Hockey. Im back to playing with the Animals. I love these boys. Most of them I know from school, Dan, Pony, King and I lived in Res together. Deesh-Jain-Guy, Mikey and Stigler I knew at school. Ham, Brade and Ty I met through other guys and then there are a couple random guys I didnt know before, Les, Alex, Jeff, Lou and Mark.  We are called “Blades of Steel” which btw, is the best hockey game ever created for any game system ever.

We went and got custom jerseys this year, which look totally badass. The Blades of Steel font with a pixelated player on the crest as well. The jerseys are the old school LA King away jerseys. Needless to say. Badass.

Our team however, is not that badass. We are I think, 2-4-2. Not exactly ripping up the league. But we have fun.

Golf season is here. Which is pretty sweet. Im workin my game to be down around the high 80’s if possible this summer. It’s a big work in progress, but it is progressing.

Aside from that, not too much. Trying to save money and getting ready for teachers college. I get really bored sometimes and that’s why I’ve decided to keep this blog going. That, plus I know everyone want’s to know what is going on in my wonderful life, as well as the random things that go through my head. They may be random, but I hope they are also entertaining. 

Feel free to leave comments on anything and everything as well as if there’s something you want to learn more about or want me to talk about more. Let me know. I’ll do my best. Im not sure about how often I’ll post or anything, but I guess either sign up to follow the blog or just check back whenever.

Chat soon! It’s 10:44 and I should go back to work. (or at least start)

So i've decided to keep this going....

This blog started before i went on my trip. It's now almost 8 months later and im going to go back to it. Nothing particularly interesting is happening in my life, but it will keep me entertained, and hopefully you may be as well.

Enjoy!!