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
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
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
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
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!
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