C'EST LA VIE. BABY. TBC...

Sorry about the long nothing in between even more emptiness, my oh so faithful readers. Let me get you up to speed as to what I've been up to and what has happened since we last spoke. Canada won the Gold and many others. I enjoyed as much ice time as wanted and had even more fun at our new Tuesday night WFCU game on the Windsor Star Arena. Because of excess forwards I played defence and realized quickly that I hadn't skated backwards in a while. I wrote and finished a take home politics exam, submitted some on-line discussions and worked on sosh. (that is cool & short-formed U speak for sociology, because I can't be bothered) Let's see what else: I've been busy playing NHL 10 and getting pretty decent at it(the only move I can't do is the spinneramma - but I've never really tried to learn it and I question its effectiveness anyways), experiencing and enjoying Windsor's hottest and newest nightclubs, and letting my beard grow out and my thinning hair stubble up. (I've since cleaned up my appearance, the best I can anyways). Also have I settled into watching the rest of the NHL season unfold - though it is hard going back to watching such 'inferior' play in comparison to the stellar Vancouver tournament that was. Some more big news? Hmmm. Yes. Dave Orshinsky had a change of heart and Friday morning Heinz rink hockey is back on. However, I did not play Friday morning hockey today because I blistered my toe while I was Interpretive Rock Dancing two nights ago, besides, I want to play tomorrow in the 2nd bi-annual Winter Classic #2, so I am resting up tonight - plus I did not have a ride to Leamington. Not only have many exciting and life-changing moments occurred in the few days since we last communicated via my brain waves + limbs & fingers + keyboard strikes = published post, but I would also like to take a stroll down memory lane and chronicle my past year and a bit of my living here on Campbell Street. For the exodus is near. It started out fine and dandy. Got a little weird. Then stable again. Fun. Fun. Slowing down. Exodus Looms. Though the apartment was a bit over furnished with out-dated and ugly wooden tables and such (a collection of past tenants left-behind junk), and the bathroom was sprinkled with a nice blanket of the last tenants pubes, and even if the basement was a dank dungeon with a cemetery crawlspace basement of doom that Coppertoes kept trying to get into to do his business (which he did until I shut him out,) - I really liked my new, little but plenty of room, two bed-room $400/month apartment. But I didn't like my soon-to-be middle apartment neighbours - an experience I will get into some other time because today is a happy day. And I can't be bothered. Not to mention the fact that I was constantly 'warned' about the guaranteed possibility of maybe being subjected to living with a strange, unknown to me room-mate, but never was - though twice, people were 'surely' moving in so beware (Mike's brother would have been fine, surely), but to no avail. Besides those few annoyances (one of which was in the form of a 350 pound, slightly askew hanger-on with noticeable and potentially dangerous social problems and anger issues) Phwew! Of course there are plenty of other expected but unexpected minor annoyances that come with the west-side territory, land over-run with an old, barren an extremely unkempt house built in the '20's. Such as: an old and poorly working furnace, bad circulation, mice, clogged drains, running & leaky toilets, and a jammed door knob) Regardless of such nuisances, I thoroughly enjoyed my time here. My Novemember '09 move-in brought with it a shorter distance to school, a cell-phone, the internet, a nice little kitchen and much fun. Coppertoes came along too. And who can forget the intensity and popularity of Sega Genesis' NHL 94 which Brian and I played feverishly (1 remote total, meant 1 period each) while drinking Budweiser in the front room on my hastily built yet reliable four year old PC. Yes, the same NHL 1994 that me and my old neighbours Dave and Pat McIntyre thoroughly enjoyed playing on their Genesis -in their house. (even though their Mom didn't really approve of us playing. I have theories as to why). Back to reality. I mean 1994. I mean 2009. Who knew that no-name Jeff Daniels (not the Dumb & Dumber Michigander) of the Pittsburgh Penguins would be the best player ever and hard-nosed grinder Dave Manson would have scored the greatest goal of all time. (Check out the footage for proof) We once won the Cup with the San Jose Sharks - the third year in existence 1994 Sharks, the same one's who upset the heavily favoured Red Wings in the first round of that year's play-offs. The 1994 San Jose Sharks were led by: Ulf Dahlen, Ray Whitney (who still plays) and Arturs "The Wall" Irbe, who net-minded an NHL record 4412 minutes. Though the real NHL of '94 only played a strike shortened 48 games, we, in my house, on my chairs using my power and computer could play as many games as we wanted to. Some games and time later...NHL 94 for PC naturally led to NHL 2007 for X-Box, which also attracted more players - Mike, Jeff, Ryan. And later, Henry, Pistol Pete, Danny Dib and surely others. Two on two became a must. After we tired of the arcade style and not so realistic EA Sports NHL '07 , (which still, was crazy different and progressive in terms of graphics, details, over-all quality, realistic-ness - everything, in comparison to the now-ancient Sega games)- we met Him. I mean Her. A short time later Mr. (or Mrs.) NHL '09 for 360 walked in, sat down and powered up. And that's when our lives changed. Reading back what I am typing and understanding that what's written is the truth (though a bit strange) - I am taken aback, for never could I ever have thought I could think in such a way. About video games. About one specific video game. About a video game being a hermaphrodite. What? But like Mike said, "I wouldn't doubt if playing this game makes us smarter." I almost fully think I one hundred percent possibly agree with him. "It's in the game." That's right Mr. and Mrs. EA. If it's in the game, it's in the game. Never have I (and safe to say neither have my fellow opponents, teammates and friends) ever so been into a single one video game in our respective lives, let alone with such passion and admiration for the quality, realistic-ness and unrivaled fun associated with '09. But the best was yet to come because soon then did '010, the mecca of hockey video games - came in to the picture, even though we were still officially and according to the calender in 2009. (you know how newer models and dates work). We thought the last version of the game was amazing. We were wrong. Dead wrong. What little we thought was inaccurate with the '09 (realistic-ness of shots, accurate passing was too easy, and what few elements were missing (deking/specialty moves, etc.) was fixed in '010 - plus many other unthinkable features added that only 'real' hockey people would notice. And create. And sell for seventy dollars to people like us. This love of one video-game, went hand-in-hand with our hatred of the X-Box system itself. Surprising, weird, pain-in-the-ass unsolvable problems that not even X-Box Joe from Kajiji could figure out, got in the way of our enjoyment - though I bet he wishes he didn't offer the year long guarantee. We've since kibashed the problem because Ryan has a functioning system and has thankfully lived next door since November - and the fun is still strong, as much if not more so today, in early '010 as it was so long ago in October of last year. What else has been taking up my time? Or had been taking up my time I should say. Threat Level Midnight. After a summer of jamming on Reedmeere, and coming up with ten or so songs and discarding just as many, then playing five or six different, some packed-some not, but always fun shows - we stopped playing altogether. Though it was super fun and produced good times and cool tunes, I admittedly could feel the ending of the band approaching, (even though it would have had to happen soon enough anyhow) but still wanted it to go. C'est la vie. Baby. Maybe that was the reason behind all those cracked tooth dreams. Maybe not. Yes. Let's see. A few Campbell and Campbell-related experiences: The tv on a tv table on a regular table in my living room. Playing catch, talkin', laughin', and bbq'in' in the front-yard/porch (the back yard once), breaking cheap ass and tacky plastic and shit garden lights (1 of many reasons why I stayed in the front) and biking everywhere. The last year and a half. Hmmm. So many things to discuss, yet so little time to recall and record it. A Garbage Strike. Skunks, Racoons, Squirrels and Cats. One old dog. Jammin' in the upstairs bedroom for a minute. It was weird bouncin' around and rockin' out on a second floor, looking out a window. At people walking by. As they watched and stared. But Big Psycho T and his cronie were soon to move in, and despite him saying that he would have been cool with us jamming next door (I say this [in my head] as I laugh [out loud] in a non-funny way) - we halted business, and booked it to Ryman's basement, formed TLM - but which in turn led to it's own, more hostile and mean confrontation with a few rude and perhaps drunk older people, specifically one older gentleman with a chip on his shoulder and a big mouth to boot. "It would be one thing if you were playing music, but that's just a racket. Pure trash." Wowzers, I thought after walking into Ryan and him involved in a going no-where, some-what loud, face to face, generation-gapped debate over common courtesy, noise laws and personal tastes in 'good' music. Considering we only usually practiced once a week (twice rarely) for only a few hours at a time, and the basement was padded with foam and that compared to most music being played in Windsor basements - TLM's rock and synth sound wasn't that hard to 'handle,' was it? Mind you, the steaming and sore seniors probably spent their days sitting quietly, drinking tea and reading the paper in a tv-less room beside the large window situated directly next to side of the basement we practiced in so, but still... Do you have to insult us? Me personally? And put down my creative outlet for life itself? A part of me that is very important, brings me joy, and company - a huge self-identifying part of all that is KPW? There are a lot other worse things we could have been doing with our time. Despite what you said (in cruel fashion and with such contempt) I am creative enough to come up with some fairly creative ways in which we could have been spending our time. With the Motley Crue that was us - we could have f'd shit up. Though, we didn't. We just played some music, had some fun, hurt nobody (on purpose) and innocently hung out as friends always do. Pick-up hockey. Yes, hockey became a big part of my life. On ice, with my thumbs and on the tube. In the winter of '09 with the push from Katie, the equipment from Dad, a stick from Mom (and later Dad) and the opportunities and lifts to arenas from Jeff, and Mikey Bizzel - I hit the ice. Literally. It was tough (and still very much is) but a great way to blow some steam, get some exercise and shoot a rubber puck as hard as I can at a guy standing in front of a net. Just I did as a kid. Potato Disasters. Yes. Much food was eaten on Campbell. Though the variety left something to be desired. But it was consumed nonetheless. Rice Surprises. Awesome Tuna Salad. Salads. Slop combinations of any many kinds. Canadian Lasagna (any sort of pasta with corn added) and cabbage. Vegetables. Ground beef, double-doubles and home-made Christmas cards. C'est la vie. To be continued... Baby.