Coach O's personal blog on sports, music, life and all things Ogmundson
Monday, July 31, 2006
Some person some place has written guidelines for moving day. I know it must be out there somewhere. But not everybody got the memo.... Today was moving day - not for me but I was one of the crew. check that - I was the crew. Not that it was all that bad or that I minded. It just didn't seem to follow the "rules" No beer and chili, no beer and chicken, no beer...
And the courses are already demanding my time - which is expected of course. It's just a bit harder to get to work after a four day hiatus.
I'm not sure if it is due to cutbacks or the sinking of the one decent ship they had in the fleet, but the ferry to Swartz Bay was a little less comfortable than when I last rode it to Tsawassen.
Nevertheless it is good to be back from a four day hiatus - tell me you missed me - and back in the blogosphere whre everyone has something to say and few of us have time nor interest to read it.
Regardless, i made it back to the university despite some difficulties with the bus - it broke down part way home.
We had to hoof it the rest of the way. Scenic, but rather gruelling.
So, dear reader, I have another movie recommendation for you tonight.
Even though he is just five years younger, Douglas Coupland seems to be from another time entirely. Yet his highly personal "Souvenir of Canada" rings true to me and to every other generation in the movie theatre tonight.
He makes the journey to discover his country mesh with the journey to discover himself, and even if that sounds all too cliche, and it is, the movie works as a piece of witty and reflective art.
btw the little fellow at the top of the blog is Ookpik. In 1966 some Canadian committee wanted Ookpik to become a uniquely Canadian symbol.
Monday, July 24, 2006
The underground reports of the Steve Nash charity game are trickling in. Over here in Victoria the buzz is that Kathy Shields, long time UVic coach and Canadian basketball icon, saved the night for the people watching. She suggested the teams play the fourth quarter of an otherwise self consciously unremarkable game as if it mattered, and make the losing side do twenty pushups. Apparently it worked. Pride was on the line. whew. we may see another one next year. hmm.
i hate celeb softball, all star games, fake athletic events like movie stars golfing with football players so they can all rib each other about how terrible they are. It's insulting to expect people to watch. I, for one, am not that time rich. I'd rather have a nap or listen to good music. And I am a sports fan.
Here is a link to a terrific article about Steve Nash: http://thetyee.ca/Sports/2006/06/02/SteveNash/ it talks about how a kid from privilege (Oak Bay is still firmly entrenched in the 1950's behind the vaunted Tweed Curtain) was able to stay hungry. This is no rags to riches story, as are so many NBA tales. This is the story of a kid from Canada who chose to work just a little harder to get results.
Summer is coming to the halfway point. Have you done what you hoped to get done yet?
And since we had a photo of Iceland, here's one of Ireland, courtesy of Pogo who just got back. Family members will note the name of this fine establishment built for social merriment - kind of like our family, eh laddybuck?
It's a little warm, hey? I sent my executive research assistant out to locate some drinking water. This is a shot of her returning to res. You can see her just to the right of the bedouin tent. She's wearing her white burkha. If she doesn't hurry up I may have to start thinking about replacing her.
I played musical Bingo last night for the first time. Ever done it? it's a blast. I recommend it highly. speaking of music - over to you DJ GoGo
Okay, that's one in a row. It would appear that Buono made a correct decision. Antonio Warren needed a night off and joe Smith needed to show what he can do. Can you say "halfback controversy"? Hands up all of you who felt comfortable at any time in the second half at Calgary. I thought so.
It's back to work. Last week of the term, and the game was my break.
Song of the day: "C'mon and Roar You Lions roar" by Dal Richards. cheers
Speaking of things named "Bryndis", can you see the name of the plane? Look under to co-pilot window. How cool is That!?
And Peter Johnsson's wife argued with my father that it was not an Icelandic name.
Nothing in the "Old Country" is ever the same, no matter what the "Old Country" is. The Old Country moves on while the émigrés keep things the way they were when they left.
Ahh, the stories we heard about the Old Country.
I once had the uncomfortable experience of being in the room with an older Portuguese man from Oporto who had, at no small expense, paid the bill for his son and daughter to visit the "Old Country". He listened in sadness and horror as his twenty-something kids recounted their time there. (And the FUN they had!) All his insistence on being good "traditional" Portuguese, of keeping the ways, of resisting the madness of the modern world in their adopted homeland crumbled away as the kids told of how things really were in Oporto, in Lisbon, in the rural areas. The modern world had found the "Old Country" and in a brief few moments I could see the recognition in his eyes; he could never go home.
I carry in my head all the West Icelander myths and sagas as told to me by my father and his generation. That "Old Country" doesn't exist any more either. I have come to terms with that. We are who we are and we are where we are. There is no getting around it, and I believe the resistence to accept the society in which one lives, and pine for the "Old Country", and the sadness and resentment that ensues from that mistaken but understandable outlook, is a contributing factor to the disconnect felt by many of the children of those transplanted families. Be in the country but not of the country. Hard advice to follow for a kid whose world is shaped every day by his surroundings.
Not that I felt the disconnect. I am a second generation Canadian. But that doesn't mean I can't see it in others or bear witness to the desperate ways new Canadians cling to the "Old Country".
Song for today: "Transatlanticism" - Death Cab for Cutie kind of on theme of the day... Hear the song here:
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
"I heard the news today, oh boy...." A dear friend is no longer with us, and this is a hard blog entry to write. This is not an exact photo of Sparky, I know, but i don't have a photo of Sparky. All the pictures I have of Sparky are in my head - and in my heart. Rare is the companion in life who ceaselessly makes you feel important every time you see him, but that was Sparky. From the day I brought him a flat pie tin of water on a very hot day we were friends. And every time he saw me he would rush to me, curl sideways, grunt his welcome, and rush off to share his glee with others that I was there. Now I know there are folks out there who say dogs are not people, that they'd trade your life for a half a ham sandwich. In Sparky's case that may well have been true. But i am happy to say he never had to make that choice with me. All he had to do in life was make people like me feel special. And he did that very well. He was loved. He will be missed. My thoughts and regards to his family whose life was enriched most of all. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sparky Song of the day has to come from Sparky the Talking Dog sub Genius (Not one of my favourite bands, no, but hey - Sparky the Talking Dog? Who knew.? Cheers all
This is the view I see when I go for my evening walk down the hill.
It truly makes me feel at home. This is Cadboro Bay looking out towards Bellingham Wa.
Yesterday on the CBC I listened to an interview with a "Brownie" who in the course of her Brownie career had managed to earn every single Brownie badge.
That in itself is remarkable, but even more remarkable was her attitude.
When the interviewer asked how she earned her various badges she replied every time with "You get to...." as if every task was taken as a joy.
I loved that!
It gave me a bit of inspiration, corny as it sounds.
Here I am where "I" get to ....
below is a clear day shot of the view from the bay.
I know that is a mundane start to a mundane topic, but I've had the opportunity to watch my surroundings with an unhurried eye, and I keep coming back to the crows.
The baby crows are out of the nest these days and following their moms around.
They never shut up.
They are the most demanding semi-helpless brats.
I watched one follow mommy around the fountain by the library. she spent the entire time looking for something to shove in his mouth. He did nothing to feed himself. Nothing. She ate nothing herself. Every morsel and scrap went into his cawing maw.
He'd be quiet for one moment, and then it would start again.
I think we LIVE for those moments, the pauses in between the noises.
I know she did. At one point she couldn't find anything for her boy.
So she shoved a small stick in his beak. He tried eating it for a bit and then spit it out.
He was actually quiet for a longer time than if she had fed him.
I swear to god she did it on purpose.
I am looking forward to seeing you all in one of those moments, and I promise not to put sticks in your mouths when I do.
Soon....
the Black Crowes "She Talks to Angels"
Sunday, July 16, 2006
july is half over
And we'll all float on okay, And we'll all float on anyway....
I am determined to be completely finished these assignments by the time I am ready to wrap up the first half on the 26th.
My routine tends to go more or less like this: Work for an hour and a half. Go for a walk.
that's it.
I was thinking about the people in the Fine Arts Department creating. There is only one way for those folks to get things done. Time on task. Period.
W.P. Kinsella talks about getting up every day and writing. It is what he does so he does it. There really is no other way to get anything accomplished. Darn it. And as hard as I stare, my projects do not get written.
The scariest assignment awaits yet. I am charged with coming up with a poster for the 577 class. Me. A poster. Why not ask me to choreograph a baton twirl while you're at it?
Open for ideas, but I probably won't know how to use them. I don't even own a glue stick yet.
My first attempt at a poster looked like this:
So I hired a new assistant to the researcher. Here she is at work producing my make or break career lynchpin. God speed young artist, and bring home the goods!
Saturday, July 15, 2006
What on earth could the three photos picutred here have in common?
All three are from movies I have rewarded myself with for being a good homework boy.
All three come highly recommended - by me. All are very different, a reflection of the eclectic tastes ofyour humble servant.
I saw Eve and the Firehorse first. First Class all through and a demonstration of how good Canadian film makers can be when the subject is both Canadian and universal.
Sophie Scholl is a chilling historical. Chilling in large part becasue it was not so long ago.
And Bettie Page is a cleverly disguised morality tale about salvation and sex.
Three evenings of quality distraction.
Check them out.
there is another Og Blog - created just the other day! Two in one blogosphere! Is the world ready?
Speaking of more than one of a kind: see if you can guess which of the above is a picture of the host of a fantastic radio show featuring the best of indie and post rock music (with a special ear open for Canadians) every Friday night? "Music is My Boyfriend" with your host Bryndis every Friday Night 5-6pm, cfur .ca. Click the link and kick back. What's the deal with the photos? Every one appeared on a Google Image search under the name "Bryndis". cool beans.
i had the pleasure of watching the football game between BC and Saskatchewan with a gentleman from Arizona who knows little of football and nothing of the CFL. From what i saw, he could be on the coaching staff of the Lions.
I keep saying it - but I can't find anyone to listen. The OC has to go. No second half offence for five straight games. Only Hamilton's Joe PaoPao is worse and can hardly communicate in English, he speaks Riddlish. I'm off to engage in my dialectic of the week - over oysters, I hope. I don't even know the name of the place we are going, so my internal gps/radar will have to be sharpe. Let's see, oyster place in Victoria, shouldn't be more than about forty of those.....
Friday, July 14, 2006
tough night to write see you tomorrow when faculties return.....
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
This is me heading back to residence with my new executive research assistant. Quiet night. Saw a chewed off chunk of a rabbit's foot on the steps of the Bookstore today. Didn't seem lucky to me...
Light rain earlier, clear and fresh tonight, the air punctuated by pungent tobacco from the s/s cru huddled around the front planter and the sound of a mother and father arguing in a foreign Slavic tongue while their son? pulls his luggage drearily ahead. Checking in to residence, no doubt. Big move for the family, no doubt. Son carries the weight of his father's expectations in his shoulders, his mother's hopes on his back.
It made me wonder how much of that emotion I felt as a parent watching my spouse "allow" my children to go off to school in a far away place.... Did i argue picky stupid details? (probably)Did my spouse feel the same way? (of course) Did my children understand the emotion involved? (probably not. It's one of those things that you just don't understand until you've been through it yourself.)
Halfway through the first set of courses and you can see the tension in the faces of the students as the homework mounts.
I need a helper like the one above. Send names and numbers to the Blog.
Later
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
July 11
You had to see this one coming....
Swift had a modest proposal that rather shocked people.
This is a modest proposal that is not intended to shock. I'm serious about this idea. Every day I pass by a huge pack of rabbits, plump, well fed, "free range" style livestock.
Every day I also pass by a barbecue pit on my way back to my cell.
Everyday I am surrounded by hundreds of hungry students.
The photo on the above right is not roast chicken, it is roast rabbit in wine sauce. No word of a lie - in the Cafeteria tonight, one of the entrees was roast chicken leg. The young student in front of me wanted to know if it was rabbit. I couldn't tell if the tone in her voice was nervousness or anticipation, but it led me to believe I was on to something. Without being (or at the risk of being) xenophobic, I have wondered more than once what our many foreign visitors think of all the potential barbecue running about untended here.
My s/s cru has World Cup Fever. They have taken to playing soccer everywhere; in front of the residence, on the steps by the Cafeteria, on the sidewalk in front of the Student Union Building, in the parking lot by the Housing Office.... Everywhere, that is, except on one of the many soccer fields that border the residences. Quite a site to see as they kick the balls off the buildings carefully shielding their ubiquitous cigarettes from unexpected rebounds.
Meanwhile the volleyball nets set up for them on the front lawns go ignored, save for the three staff members hopelessly trying to find positive things for them to do.
I suggest we set them loose catching dinner. They would be busy, the rabbit population would be dented (instead of the parked cars and the pop machines under attack from miskicked soccer balls) and we could all be treated to delicious barbecue. Hey, Elmer Fudd was serious about his work!
Jason Bay got a hit in the All Star Game. Good for you , kid. On Roberto Clemente Day in Pittsburgh. go Canada.
38 to go
Cheers
Monday, July 10, 2006
For the uninitated out there, the impressive dude below is a raptor. And not just any raptor - this is a Swainson's hawk. In Raptor World they are the guys that get to wear the coolest uniforms (not evident in this photo, way more intense close up). Very Euro, smooth, sleek, earth tones like a Baltic Country's Army General.
My first encounter with a Swainson's hawk happened on my first memorable trip to Victoria in grade four when my class from Port Alberni got to visit the Parliament Buildings. He was sitting on a tree branch on the grounds of the Legislature and I noticed him because he looked fierce and imperious, although those are not likely the words I might have used at age 9. What is the point, you ask, of my inclusion of this most noble but irrelevant beast on a page not normally devoted to things better served by Audobon & co?
The point, and i will try to be brief, is that this magnificent killer was the instrument of a small epiphany for me.
As I rounded the corner of the MacKinnon Building on my nightly constitutional I encountered a Swainson's hawk, talons deep into the carcass of a juvenile rabbit. He pulled at the body, galnced around, pecked a chunk, glanced around.... He was caught between the age old "ought versus want" of knowing he ought to be careful but wanting to dig in to his meal (see earlier blog on dinner table manners).
Here was my noble Swainson's hawk acting like a crow at a dumpster sneaking bites at the back of the gym in the same furtive way my s/s cruacts when they hover over a pack of cigarettes. And additonally, one of the arrogant rabbit clan had fallen at last.
But that wasn't when the epiphany came.
The light that shone in my head illuminated a brace of basic truths. All I could think while watching the scene before me was, "and I thought I had a tough day."
Epiph. One - Nobody is quite as powerful as the power we give them. and Epiph. Two- No matter how bad you think you have it....
I did mention it was a small epiphany. I'm not headed to Damascus to reshape modern religion.
Later. 39 days to go
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Just in case you didn't know what a wild strawberry looks like....
40 day s to go.
(And 40 nights)
Apparently pictures are what the people want. Especially ones with "vivacious girls and boys partying at the beach..." I particularly liked the title of this image : SkunkApe Girls Beach Party3. i wonder if the girls knew that SkunkApe was coming up behind them in SkunkApe Girls Beach Party 1&2... Or maybe those girls belong to SkunkApe in some way. well there you have it. A complete Blog post.
Viva Italia, i suppose is in order. For those who don't care about World Cup (my valuable three readers...) skip down a bit.
I had a chat with one of the Canadian rugby coaches about my less than illustrious career as a rugby coach. It was the first time i can honestly say i failed at a coaching job. miserably. I confessed that i could not get the lads past the most Cro-Magnon form of rugby and actually care about winning. A typical bus ride home from a 46-6 non-game would include high spirited celebrations from our side about throat punching, eye gouging, kicking, spitting, elbowing, crushing, hammering etc etc without any regard for the fact that we hadn't won a game in two years. He laughed and assured me it was still an all too common problem in high school rugby fifteen years later! He says the national coach calls it "Losing the Plot" which brings me to the Zidane Zinsane Zincident today in world cup extra time. Clearly this most polished of veterans "Lost the Plot" and for a moment forgot where he was and what it was he was actually supposed to be doing. He lost the plot, France lost the game, and I lost my regret about my career as a rugby coach. A triple header. thanks ZeeZoo. (or however you spell it..)
The rest of the day was home work reteaching myself physics formulae I haven't used since grade eleven and reading, reading, reading.
One brief time out i took a half a frozen cucmber out for a walk to see if I could make friends with the arrogant bunnies. No deal. i ended up dumping the frozen mess into the compost where it belonged.
On a brighter note, my efforts to befriend the bunnies brought me under a tree where I discoverd a patch of wild strawberries! And there was one delicious berry still on the vine uneaten by the rogue rabbits. Score!
Apparently it is expected of the modern blogger to include pictures. So -
here is a net ball player with the coordinates clearly marked so you can see the trajectory and distance of the vectors representing force and acceleration from frame 1 to frame 2. Note up 10, ahead 19.
there - i hope that holds back the cravings for a while longer.
July 8 Saturday night is a lot quieter around here than you might think. No hi-jinx, no society raids, no nerd collective hauled to the dean's mansion at 4am over a "misunderstanding". No rival football team animal mascot stolen and hidden in my room. Just a skeleton crew left behind to make sure there is more than one karaoke act at the Student Union Pub.
I dined like an Irish Lord today! Guinness and oyster stew with the Og cousins. It was so good it caused me to wonder - while eating and listening to some terrific stories - about what is the definition of "good food"? Here's my question: If we are to measure how good a dish is by the way people eat it, do we determine how fast they eat (as in yummy yummy gimme more) or in how they savour each bite (as in no new food into the maw until all the existing food is gone)? Trust me, it won't be an easy question to answer, if you bother to take a moment to think about the question at all. I dallied and tarried and savoured - unlike my usual approach of hunching over the plate and shoveling like a coal man to the furnace.
Regardless, a good time was had by all. I passed muster and was invited back next week. At this point I need to pause and thank my parents who taught me to eat with silverware while in public.
The work continues to pile up but in a tiny glimmering way it is starting to make sense.
41 days left
july 7 Lions stink in the Second Half AGAIN! there has to be a head rolling in the coaching staff soon the Lions have no second half offence. At all. No running game. No counter plays. No originality. i rode the bus today. What a swell town. Every passenger says, "thank you" to the driver on the way out. You have to like that about a town. As i look out on the evening sky i see a wall of marine cloud hulking and waiting to invade. It's a little cold. But it is so fresh.
As i look down i see the incredible detritis left behind by the s/s cru. cigarette packages. crushed butts. chewed straws. paper plates. AND i actually got some work done today. Later Guess Who "Bus Rider"
the world of academia unfolds around me like a lotus flower... as corny as that sounds I now have renewed appreciation for my kids To think they endured the slings and arrows of outrageous school life for the past _____ years is impressive to me. I've only been here four days and I am pooped. Excited - but pooped./ tonight at dinner Lunch Lady took me away from the breaded sole (24% sodium intake) and took me to the other side of the diner (where just yesterday I swore I would not go) and suggested some grilled chicken, Saltless. Throw in some sticky rice and some veggies - bam - you've got a meal fit for a hypertensive male in his fifties. (that's a term that was used today in a lecture on physiology. Made me feel more like a specimen than at any other time in my life. I also got a chance to talk with some terrific coaches today, including the coach of the national rugby team. Great Guy. Great approach. And another coach from Alberta who truly understands what a gift it is to be here. And another one who had her first introduction to big time out-of-town competition at the BC Games (Basketball) that I supervised way back in my early days at Chilliwack Secondary. Small World. more later the previous "late" was a typo, not an intention to be more than I am. I am not now, nor ever have been, a member of the Surfing Underbelly of California. No word as yet form the s/s cru. In honour of the good old days of he BC Summer Games in the "Wack: Bruce Springsteen "Glory Days"
Addendum to previous post: 10:12 pm My smoker / spitters are back and now they are on the roof below me. I suspect it is not just to listen in on the Modest Mouse cd i'm playing. Four young males on the roof are trying to convince the girls in the rooms on the second floor attached to the roof to come out with them. I get the impression it is too cold out for the ladies - about 12 degrees as I write this, with a gentle breeze enhancing the Canadian experience. But the s/s crew are trying their best. 10:15pm Now they're standing right below my window and passing a doob. and coughing. a lot of coughing. sigh It's all i can do not to dump water on them. The s/s cru certainly gives me subject matter for the blog. 10:22 The ladies have not taken the bait. i have discovered how the s/s cru got on the roof. They exited through a friends window below me. The ladies are a few windows away, remaining virtuous. Or perhaps selective. 10:25 the roof is abandoned. all that remains is litter. symbolism is all around us. later
PS No Earthquake today! the shock was no aftershock. The Drifters "Up on the Roof"
My head is spinning from the intake.
Forces and Vectors, sagittal plane, pitch and yaw
sheesh
The hardest part of BioMex is I have to draw.
Holy crud am i bad.
I ate the entree in the Chartwell's tonight for the first time.
Strogonoff and fett noodles.
Won't be going back to that side of the diner any time soon.
B-dis, as usual, was correct in saying that the food service will be less than wonderful.
it is.
I expect the 3.7 Richter EARTHQUAKEI survived yesterday may be upstaged on Saturday when there will be a convergence in Victoria of three Og men all in the same room. At no time in recorded history has this not been an occasion of note.
cool beans, hey. Magnetic Fields "All My Little Words" clearly written in honour of this blog.....
In Class At Last:
it seems more than clear I am going to be busy.
So much for the idea that jocks don't know how to read or do homework.....
rats
Actually it is better than i could have hoped for.
What a great day this truly was. ....I SURVIVED THE EARTHQUAKE!From now on every day is truly a gift.
We thought the sound was a truck slamming into the MacKinnon Building.
Shook the bejesus out of us for about 2 1/2 seconds.
but here I am, doing fine, listening to some fine tunes on the little beater cd player
Death Cab for Cutie
Spoon
Flaming Lips
Magnetic Fields
wilco
Walkmen
cool breeze coming in through the one window in the cell
If i owned a digital camera i would show you my room.
One of the fellows in my cohort was astounded when he compared what he was paying to live off campus compared to me.
Made me feel better about taking a res room
It made all those taunts and jabs from my offspring bearable knowing i was doing the sensible thing.
Got a bus pass today
reviewed some projects
saw a terrific little Canadian film "Eve and the Fire Horse"
Delightful
good day all around.
tata
45 days to go Carole King "I feel the Earth Move"
july 3
6:06 pm PDT - 46 days left
i am on the web at last
no mean feat, let me tell you.
i signed up and paid for 46 days of internet service.
i have no phone
my connection to the cell phone i was going to use did not come through. I hold no grudge to the person who was going to set me up.
i now consider us even for all the minor slights i have possibly committed over the past thirty years.
it was so cold last night i had to turn off the fan at about 4:30 am.
it was light enough out to see bunnies - munching, digging, moving about in their silent assault on all that is vegetative. the really little ones (what are baby bunnies called?) don't come out until late in the afternoon.
I had resolved myself to rise in the morning as if I were going to class, and because i had a lot to do anyway, i managed to get up, "dine", and get to McKinnon well before the 8:oo am start time.
But nothing is open today.
So a phone call home was in order
no answer.
Back to res to check if the internet connection was working.
no.
Packed up the laptop and dragged it down to Housing to ask if the connection had been turned on over night.
it had.
They sent me to the Help Desk across campus.
not open.
I wandered about the basement where the computing labs are in hopes I might see some computing activity that would suggest the hope of help.
No Luck.
- so I went out the nearest door to head back to Housing.
I heard a faint beep as I opened the door, but I ignored it and struck off.
"Hey!" a voice called out from behind me. I turned to see what I thought was one of the Language kids I saw earlier spitting and smoking. He was now staring at me.
"Ee- mehr- juss-see oh - nee."
"Oh." says I. He shot me another disapproving look.
And back I went to Housing.
They had nothing further to offer, but printed out instructions on configuring the windows 2000 internet connection, but they did let me use their computer in the back to check my email. Very thoughtful.
I was determined to find help. Back i went to the Help Desk in hopes it maybe had a new "summer" location.
It did! (or so i thought)
And sitting behind the desk on the floor above the basement was friend from the Language group, he of the disapproving stares.
Only he wasn't from the Language group. Judging by the expert way he was pounding away at the computer terminal in front of him he was the summer help desk - if he felt like it.
I was reluctant to approach him.
but i had to.
Over his shoulder was the Emergency Exit door I had illegally plowed through not 30 minutes before.
This was going to be tough. I took a breath and moved in.
"Excuse me, is this the Help Desk?"
His sly grin told me he was ready for me. "Hep Desss down steh."
"I was just down there and it is closed."
"Hep Dess ca-loze."
"Can you help me?"
"I naw Hep Dess."
"No, I know you're not the Help Desk, but could you help me?"
"Hep Dess opehn t'morrow."
"But what if I need help today?"
"Hep Dess opehn t'morrow."
And back i went to res wondering if this summer was going to be a long series of Hep Dess Incidents.
Back in the room I rebooted and re-ran the Connection Wizard.
It worked.
joy.
i may not need the Hep Dess this summer. Beatles "Help"
july 1 - Today i am a rich boy.
16% over five years AND a signing bonus
When can i spend my money? Get out of the way.
July 2
Getting set up
First song on the radio i brought was Rush "Time Stand Still"
i took it as a good sign.
"I'm not looking back but i want to look around me now..."
One of my favourite Rush songs, much to the immediate chagrin of any true Rush fan.
But it fit.
Looking around I see arrogant bunnies occupying 90% of the arable space on this campus.
They remind me of the insane beast we keep in the laundry room / deck hutch at home.
i saw a dead bunny with a halo of flies in the planter at the housing office when i went to check in.
Two staff members looked at it.
One of them underhanded a rock at it to see if it would move.
it didn't.
The main occupants of the area i am in are Language students - some learning English, some learning French, all learning about life on their own. We have that in common.
What we don't have in common is standing at the entranceway impressing each other on how much they can smoke and spit. i'm past that.
The evening of july 2 consisted of phoning home to leave messages on an ansering machine that does not work, and completing the book "My Losing Season" by Pat Conroy. Powerful.
It is not as well known as "Prince of tides", or "The Great Santini", or "Lords of Discipline" but it should be mandatory reading for every person who wants to coach other people's kids.
thanks to R-Meads for the line.
My boy promised me summer reading and did not deliver.
I consider us now even for all the minor slights I may have perpetrated on him in his misspent and wasted youth.
Major thanks to K-stra for the use of a fridge all summer.
I had a handfull of cherry tomatoes - and they were cold.
