so i played ball again last night...much better than 0 for 6 shooting by yours truly...
actually i shot an awesome percentage - lay-ups...short jumpers...mid-range shots...even a couple from downtown... didn't hurt that we were playing 3 on 3 for almost 2 hours. very fun times. 3 0n 3 is mostly about offence cuz there's so much room on the floor so there's lotsa glory to go around if you can pass and knock down shots...like i did
it was so low key and so much fun and such a good run too. the passing was excellent. some very steve nash moments...nba highlight reel passes and finishes and plays...for 2 pretty solid hours...

in other news...
we both had so much fun at jeff and kendra's wedding. very nice setting. nice ceremony. good food. lotsa drinks. met some really great new people and had so much fun with everybody we knew too...(we're all very proud of alex for getting up in front of everybody to sing a little elvis to make the happy couple smooch...)

now i gotta go cuz "weeds" is about to start. ("this program contains scenes of sexuality, nudity..." and mary louise parker... she's on both of our lists...ya know...where either of us can sleep with her if the opportunity should arise with no dire consequences....) bye

0 for 6

sad but true...sometimes being a defensive stopper doesn't feel real satisfying...
nobody scored while i was guarding them tonight...and i pulled down at least 6 rebounds...(second shortest guy on the court)...cuz i boxed out like a motherfucker...
but i didn't score a single point...zero field goals made on six shots...plus a couple turnovers...we lost by 9...worst loss of the season so far (and probably will stand as our worst game for the rest of the season). kinda sucky. i don't think defense actually does win games. even after tonight we're still the best defensive team in the league. unfortunately we're the worst offensive team...
just doesn't feel very satisfying to only play good defense...not to have a tangible moment to fall back on...
...and none of you are really big basketball fans either...you're gonna have to fake the sympathy...hmmm...oh well...

monday songs...stupid songs...and shit...

black monday by lowest of the low
monday monday by...somebody crappy
(tell me why) i don't like mondays by bob geldof and the boomtown rats
...i feel like i'm forgetting a few...

so it's monday...i saw a shrink this morning and the dentist this evening...then i looked for jobs in the classified section of the star and the now (it was part of an exercise with my therapist/social worker/counsellor/or something to convince me that there are opportunities out there for me that are better or at least as good as the job i got...didn't work.) not such an uplifting day...although aside from the dentist and my lack of immediate prospects for improving the quality of our lives and/or saving for our wedding i had a pretty good day today. i was good at work. very thoughtful and shit. (course i had some major motivation cuz we had media event to introduce the winners of the junior booklovers award - meaning many bosses and higher-ups around to impress...) i was working hard to look gooder. stupid customers didn't need help in any highly visible locations though. i ended up doing my best work outside of the spotlight...sigh

thank you boddington's pub ale...you never let me down...

my brain's been full of big thoughts lately...wondering about the place for god and religion in my life...remembering something worthwhile about sitting in a church...except i don't accept pope ratz(ass)inger as any part of my religion...and i don't hate anybody (...ummm...i mean that i don't hate gays or muslims or the poor...among others that i don't hate...true there are individuals that i probably hate...hmmm...)

...wondering about inviting my dad to our wedding...maybe forgiving him...?...thinking about how he probably got hit in the head too many times before his birth-father died when my dad was nine...how my nan then had to raise my 3 uncles solo until my grandpa came along...and my uncles were kinda handfuls - sorta too smart/clever like my uncles or sorta maybe damaged/socially and/or some other kind of disability or something in the case of my dad...who i haven't seen in 2 years...and whether i can invite my aunts and uncles if i don't invite my dad...probably not...

...bit of worry about my little sister who is now a single mom cuz the baby-daddy is a fuckup dumbass with no job...

...worrying about our wedding and how we'll afford it...what else i can do to make it better...to not make our decisions based on money...

...not feeling real good about my job as i near the 2 year mark...feel like i shoulda done better by now...

...feeling more certain about teacher's college...except sometimes i don't...

fuck i think i'm just over tired...didn't sleep very well last night...been busy for months really...wishing for more time to think about the wedding plans and what i want for us and christmas presents and volunteering somewhere and exploring continuing ed options and stuff like that...i may have to just take a mental health day soon...maybe after the next pay check...thank god basketball season starts real soon. i watched a preseason game sunday afternoon lying on the couch...felt real nice. more of that please. caring about basketball means less need to care about so many other things...stupid big heart... hope everybody is well...i've been thinking about all y'all too...

algonquin adventures ... continued... some things clarified

true - i did stub my toe so bad it swelled up like a couple of grapes
- i did hyper-extend my left knee (formerly known as my "good knee") while hiking back out on tuesday morning...at approximately km 2 of 7...stupid fallen leaves camouflaging the stupid hole in the ground... unless - it was a cleverly laid trap!! aha!! was it the beavers? the mice? or the chipmunks? those little bastards...country critters may not be as wiley or fearless or mangey as their city cousins but as guerilla fighters in their own element...
- also true, i no longer have those great glasses...ever see on tv or wherever when people drive off with their coffee still on the roof of the car? yeah...kinda like that...

not true - no bears...but we decided early on that if any of us needed to explain anything to anybody else's girlfriends then bears would be involved...any accidents resulting from knife-throwing...bear. anybody accidentally shot by a handmade bow and arrow...bear. any hacky sack injuries...bear.

close encounters of the bare...beer...bear kind...(dunh dunh duuhhh!!)

well...i am home now...i have showered...i have a beer in my hand...my girlfriend is nowhere to be seen...i feel i can tell this story now...as it should be told...
so we were hanging out...me and gord and pete...we'd just finished a good round of hacky sack...congratulated ourselves on previously maligned reflexes and flexibility...drinking drinks on the edge of our site, down a very short trail by the lake...shirtless...enjoying the breezes and a little "cold water therapy"...well we ran out of captain morgan's spiced rum - tastier than you think actually...so i got up to go grab another mickey...i stand up walk up the incline of shield rock and jump down off the granite into our site...so black bears are not really all that big it turns out...kinda big...like bigger than a really big dog...or a shetland pony...or a full-grown pig...well bigger than a lot of things...but not actually a whole lot bigger than me (when you see them on tv - the camera adds at least 10 pounds...)...but it's really and truly one of those situations where the whole size doesn't matter idea really holds water...so there's this bear...just shuffling a bit...about 35 feet away cuz we actually had a pretty big site...snuffling around gord's bivy sac...and i stop...i think i mighta said something pithy...like "oh..."....which got bear's attention...he...or she...(kinda hairy...hard to tell...) then turned and walked a couple steps and stood up...all the way up...i had time to wonder if bears have the same hit them in the nose thing as sharks before my legs reacted for me...only not very well...i backed right into a slight depression in the earth...i remembered it from how it messed me up in hacky sack - not that my memory was helpful...cuz stepping into that hole i hyperextended my left knee and then fell backwards (towards the bear...) and my glasses somehow fell off...and i jumped up again...stepping onto my glasses (turns out i crushed them utterly...)...which distracted me and i stubbed my toe so hard i fell down again...the good part is that all the thrashing about and screaming in pain/rage...well the bear thought i was too messed up to take on... who's the man...?

tune in later to find out which parts of this story are true...

also i had a dream that jeff and kendra are having twins...

2 nights

2 nights of basketball in a row...2 good nights...
last night was my weekly pickup gym rental night of 2 hours of ball...pretty good night too. i hit a giant 10 foot skyhook that really didn't have much business going in but it felt good coming off my fingertips so i kinda knew... even better was the finger roll...first i ever tried but it was just perfect...i catch the ball out on the arc, fake left and drive hard and fast right, leaving two defenders behind right there and taking it hard and fast to the hole...as i go up mark comes over the top for the swat but i pull it back down and stretch out and under the block to flip up the finger roll which barely even touches twine cuz it drops perfectly, straight through the net...i do all this at full speed...and paul makes the highlight reel.

tonight i got to play an extra league game...it was deadly...total nailbiter...we were up by 4 at the half, but they scrapped back and it was tied in the last minute...unfortunately we missed our last shot with 15 seconds left, and they made their last shot with 5 seconds left...sigh...it was an awesome game though...i'll exaggerrate and say that i was the anchor on our defense, calling out assignments when we got caught in transition...shutting down my man and helping and boxing out and taking the toughest matchups...i missed my only 2 shots...made some good passes...no turnovers... it was just a great game...last year we would've lost this game by 8 or more...this year it was a one point game that could've pretty easily been a victory for us...last year after the game they'd shake our hands but since they expected to win it wasn't like we made them respect us...tonight they had to...and after the game they did...good night...time for a manhattan

ps. an announcement - i'll be off camping from friday until at least tuesday night so i won't be responding to any emails. don't take it personally.

overheard yesterday at ikea, aka "it's funny cuz it's true"

"look! just tell me...HOW...TO...GET...OUT OF HERE!!!"

(somewhat irate...or at least completely frazzled, discombobulated, disgruntled, upset, frustrated...just plain losing it...guy in ikea trying to get out after following the arrows on the floor through both floors and 3/4's of the store...as he encounters an ikea employee...)

also heard:

"AHAHAH...AHHAAHHAAH...AHAAHAHAHAAAAHA...AAAAHAAAHAAAHAA...!"

(sarah's reaction...also she was crying from laughing too hard...maybe also cuz it hit a little close to home...hmmm...?

apparently truer words were never spoken...