200th Blog post

I thoroughly enjoy writing these posts! 

WAAAAAY back in September of 2019 I had the crazy notion to write a Blog about my final semester in education, but somehow along that path, it morphed into a zany collection of thoughts, opinions, advice and wonderment, finally landing right here, right now, 200 posts later. Some may recall reading that I chose to self-publish the first 100 into a book, so it makes perfect sense ... at least to me ... to publish the second 100 into volume 2, and to cap off that stream of verbal diarrhea, here's a smattering of things that have happened recently that stirred an emotional reaction in me, in no particular order.

Joining the Dark Side

My facebook friend Kurt commented on a recent photo I shared of me in my brand-spanking-new basketball referee's outfit that I had crossed over to the Dark Side, an obvious play on the plight of young Anakin Skywalker of Star Wars fame. Kurt and I kindled our friendship while volunteering for Basketball Ontario in their Elite Development Program. We have since crossed paths in club basketball and shared a few fond memories of clashes past, so it will prove quite interesting if in the sometime future I get assigned to officiate one of his games. 

What many reading this Blog may not know is that I did a boatload of basketball refereeing many moons ago when my focus of choice was the hardcourt before straying sideways for the greener pitches of rugby. As a member of BDABR (Barrie and District Approved Basketball Referees), I earned my way up to the OCAA level doing a few Georgian College games before ultimately hanging up the official's whistle in 2007 when I was hired as Head Coach for Georgian. Returning to refereeing will serve an interesting journey, part because of my age, part because of "getting back in the saddle", and part because the rules have changed from NCAA to FIBA.

My first game started out with a little awkwardness, but the mojo quickly returned, and despite some errors in mechanics, I would say that it was a quantifiable success. It was a U13 girls club game and the energy was palpable as these Uber athletic young women pressured the heck out of each other for the most of the game, leading to a wide variety bumbles, stumbles, rumbles and jumbles. It wouldn't be club if one of the coaches didn't attempt to manipulate yours truly with loud inquiries about rules infractions he viewed differently than I, but I am proud to report that we arrived at a common understanding 1/3 of the way into the game, with the appropriate focus settling on the girls and their play as the game progressed. The feedback from my partner, an experienced veteran, was mostly positive with a short list of work-ons that I was most appreciate to receive. 

Tales from the war chest

It's no surprise that life in education continues to provide a number of humorous eyebrow-raising moments, and when I was recently supplying for a friend in her Gr 9 girl's HPE class, the proverbial table was set for a memory maker. As the girls trickled out of the change room, they were greeted by my wrinkled, masked face as I gathered them round to explain that their teacher was absent but had left a comprehensive plan for them. My query about numbers was met with a shrug that there were 3 left in the change room still so I asked one of them to attempt to speed them up. I should have guessed that this had potential for generating a story when she returned with a awkward look, a sheepish shrug, and a, "They said there's an issue."

Being old and retired, I took matters into my own hands, marched to the change room door, cracked it a bit and called out in my best teacher voice, "Ladies, could we please get a move on so I can get the class going?" The response was something that 30+ years of education had not prepared me for. "We can't. My tampon's stuck." Now, a sensible person would have left it at that, but you can probably guess that wasn't going to happen here, and I immediately regretted it when I replied, "Does it take 3 of you to deal with it?" Not to be out done, the retort was a prompt, "They're helping me." Too much information, I thought, so I inquired, "Do you need me to call someone?" A different voice now, "Give us 5 minutes?"

I got the rest organized and active, and eventually the trio emerged with a school girl flourish of giggling, the class playing out like I would have hoped. When I contacted my friend with an explanation of the encounter, simply as an FYI should the story be addressed upon her return, she confided in me that the situation was the latest in schemes that HPE-avoiders were using designed to unarm any well-meaning teacher. Regardless of that, it certainly made for a humorous tale when shared with the rest of the HPE'ers in the office later that day.

A steep learning curve

I'm pretty sure that I've mentioned it previously, but Joyce and I decided unanimously if we were moving to a new community, we would rent for a year, rather than buy, so we could get a feel for both the change in location and the downsizing to the condo life. I am happy to report that we both quite enjoy the community that is Guelph with it's plethora of active-lifestyle amenities, and other than the omni-present traffic noise of living on a busy road, the condo life has been an overwhelming success. Getting out and about the city on walks, we've had plenty of opportunity to discuss the situation at length, fostering a short but important list of Must-Haves for the purchase of our own condo. 

We are quickly learning, since we've only ever purchased one home, the one we sold in the spring, that finding the "perfect" replacement will test both our resolve and patience as the search has proved to be an arduous process. Armed with a list of parameters to filter the choices, not the least of which is cost in today's crazy real estate market, we have spent a goodly amount of time online and even ventured out to take a look at a few listings. I'm not sure just how committed we are yet since we've signed a year-long lease and it isn't due until next spring. We aren't above looking into breaking the lease should we find something that tickles our fancy, but we're not in any sort of rush, and the places we've looked into definitely do not check all of the boxes. The good news is that we are narrowing down the search parameters; the bad news is those same parameters significantly narrow the choices. 

Although the unknown is anxiety provoking, we are absolutely pleased with our rental for now, aside from the aforementioned noise of the road off our balcony, but at least the level is reduced by the dropping temperature's requirement to keep the windows closed. 

Celebrations with cake

This is a busy week, at least when it comes to celebrating life events! I share a birthday with my mother-in-law and her brother so there's an increased level of excitement, not the least of which is being able to blow out the candles for a 92-year and 96-year old! It makes turning 58 seem sort of insignificant but I am sure the day's treats will help smooth that over nicely. Like so many families, the question surrounding dinner and cake choices bring a small twinge of panic as one mentally sifts through all of life's most enjoyable moments, searching for an appropriate choice to duplicate. Even at my wrinkliest, it still causes a small spike in my heart rate. I will report that while the dinner choice is yet to be determined, the "cake" choice has solidified. I put "cake" in italics because my choice is more of a bread ... A cinnamony, sweet treat Joyce has made for me in the past that we curiously call Monkey Bread. I really don't know where the moniker came from but it is way up there in my list of favourite treats! Picture small balls of bread rolled in cinnamon sugar baked in a Bundt pan. Oooey and Gooey only partially fit the bill!

To cap off the birthday week I'll be spending some time with my brothers. With all of us in our 50's now, our lives have become crazy busy, and with my mom's sale of our childhood home and it's copious amount of space, we don't get together as much as we used to. The pandemic didn't help either. Last spring I reached out to them with an invite to rehash, rekindle, and reminisce while we share a pint or two. I am thrilled that we have found a day that fits everyone's schedule to have the 2nd annual. As I've written previously, we are all quite different, but for us it means that sharing time is an interesting affair.

Bdeep, Bdeeep, Bdeep ... That's all Folks!