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January 31, 2007

 

Gone for Good

 

The lad left again today, took off for New Brunswick this morning. No advance warning, he was just going to say good bye as he left. I was just getting ready for work when I realized what was happening, had maybe 10 minutes to make my bus.

It didn't go well.

I wish him luck in his new life.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 2:48 PM | Comments (10)

   

January 26, 2007

 

If

 

If I had a dollar
I'd buy a whack of bubblegum
Blow bubbles till the sun went down
And my tongue was completely numb

If I had a baseball
I'd hit it till my arms were sore
Pretend I was a big league hitter
Listening to the home fans roar

If I had a bicyle
I'd ride it to Timbuktu
Meet interesting people along the way
And stop for a how do ya do

If I had a kite
I'd fly it till the day was done
Watch it soar above the clouds
Playing peek a boo with the sun

If I had a pair of roller skates
I'd skate the live long day
Go zipping down the sidewalk
Shouting "people get out of my way"

If I had a skateboard
I'd rock and roll the whole day through
Do kickflips, heelflips and hard flips
Lipslides, noseslides and tailslides too

   

Posted by OldGuy at 2:22 PM | Comments (2)

   

January 22, 2007

 

Images From a Life

 

Riding the little horse with one blue eye and one brown eye
I like my parent's horse better, it's bigger and its eyes are the same colour

Sitting in a restaurant about to eat lunch when the earthquake starts
My parents told me this was going to be a fun day, this isn't fun at all

Learning how to swim one summer at a park near Niagara Falls
At last I can play in the deep end of the pool with the big kids

Making a cake out of chocolate wafers and cream when I was 12 years old
I thought this was supposed to be difficult, anybody can make one of these

Cruising down the highway in my dad's big blue Oldsmobile
Elton John singing "Philadelphia Freedom" and the words sound just fine

That first day at university, walking around looking at everything
Thinking "This is my home for the next few years and I'm in charge of my life"

Do you see it ?

   

Posted by OldGuy at 11:48 AM | Comments (2)

   

January 18, 2007

 

Interesting Add I Saw On the Internet

 

"Ever had a vaginal yeast infection? Complete our survey for a chance to win an iPod and other great prizes."

Gotta love the internet eh?

   

Posted by OldGuy at 3:31 PM | Comments (5)

     

Out of the Mouth of Babes

 

It's been a while since I blogged about something the princess said but I just had to get this one in.

Last night she was goofing around with her mother and I while doing her homework (yeah, I know, but she got the work done eventually). Anyway, she asked if she could date boys some day and they'd hug and kiss and call each other snookiepuss. We almost died laughing.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 10:35 AM | Comments (4)

   

January 15, 2007

 

Snow Day

 

I wish it was because there's plenty of it on the way.

We've been lucky until now. We had unusually warm temperatures in November, December and the first few days of January. What little snow we'd gotten had melted within a few hours. But today we're getting a typical Ottawa winter storm. Heavy accumulations, wind, and just generally crappy. Of course this made for very crowded buses as people who might normally walk a few blocks got on the buses, as did people who decided they'd leave their cars at home today and take the bus instead. And to make matters worse a small bus showed up at my stop rather than a big double bus and it was already pretty full so I had to stand almost all the way downtown. Ah well, at least I wasn't stuck outside like some people as the bus whizzed past them packed to the rafters.

On a completely different note I got inspired last night. Yep, got some ideas for a poem or two, maybe even a story. We'll see. And how did I get inspired you ask ? (yes, you're asking, I know you are). Why, folding laundry all by myself while listening to Neil Diamond of course. Yep, him and Stephen King seem to do it for me. It's a weird dichotomy but there it is. Anyway, I should have something new up later this week.

The lad ? He's at home taking care of himself and letting his mother cook for him. It's what he needs right now. He and I watched "Superman Returns" on the weekend and it was pretty good. He's already seen it but was happy to see it again so it was fun.

Oh, one more thing. The princess and I were in the family room on Saturday, me playing on the computer and her on her Nintendo DS. At one point I turned to say something to her and there was something about the way she was sitting, the way her hair fell over her face and her facial expression. I swear she looked older. It was neat but a little scary too, almost like I was seeing what she would look like when she's sixteen.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 10:10 AM | Comments (4)

   

January 10, 2007

 

That's That

 

Yesterday the lad officially withdrew from Trent University.

It was quite a day. We left the house at 9:15 a.m., intending to meet my brother-in-law in Perth at 10 as he had his truck and was coming with us. We arrived just a few minutes after 10 and couldn't find him at the appointed meeting spot even though he'd called us on our cell phone 5 minutes earlier to say he'd arrived. After searching the parking lot frantically for 10 minutes we spotted him just coming in. Turned out he'd gone to get us all coffee at a shop around the corner. I parked the car, the lad and I jumped into the truck, and it was off to Peterborough, where we arrived a few hours later.

We had a quick lunch, which my wife had packed, then it was off to tend to business at the registrar's office. I thought this would take about an hour but it turned into 3 hours what with paperwork and misunderstandings about deadlines but with a little persistence and friendly persuasion we eventually got things settled to our satisfaction.

Then it was back to the lad's room to pack his stuff and get it in the truck. This took another few hours. By 7:30 p.m. we were loaded up and the lad had said his goodbyes so off we went. By this time it was snowing heavily so the going was slow.

We stopped a short time later to get a bite to eat and were back on the road shortly before 9 p.m. More snow, major storm in fact, so it was very slow going for about 45 minutes, then we were out of it.

We arrived in Perth after 11 p.m., transferred most of the stuff from the truck to the car (my brother-in-law is bringing the fridge later this week) and the lad and I headed for home. As we needed gas we hunted around for a gas station only to discover that all the gas stations nearby closed at 11 p.m. I was going to take the same road I had come in on but changed my mind when I realized I was unsure which way to go (yeah Suzi me too, but it turned out for the best.) A lady at a Tim Hortons coffee shop told us we might find one open in Smiths Falls so we took a different route. We drove some more, watched the gas gauge, and started to panic. We found a gas station that looked open but was actually closed. More panicking. Found another Tim Hortons; lots of places to get coffee late at night but no gas. We finally found a gas station (the guy working there told us it's the only one open netweeen Peterborough and Ottawa after 11 p.m.) and breathed a big sigh of relief. We gassed up and headed off once again.

We arrived home around 1 a.m., unloaded the car, had a bite to eat and went to bed.

I think the lad is going to remember this trip for a very long time.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 10:03 AM | Comments (5)

   

January 4, 2007

 

So Much for the Good Start

 

It seems the lad may not be returning to university. He has other plans. The next few days should be quite interesting.

On a happier note he and I went to see the new James Bond movie last night. It was pretty good and the new guy is very cool.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 1:57 AM | Comments (10)

   

January 2, 2007

 

It was a Good Start to the New Year

 

So New Year's eve we had a feast of Chinese food and a little vino. The lad then went out with some friends while my wife and I and the princess spent a quiet evening at home. We rang in the new year at midnight with a glass of champagne and a little non-alcoholic beverage for the princess. I had promised the princess we'd run over to her friend's house at midnight and wish her a happy New Year, which we did. They both got a big kick out of that, I think it's something they'll remember for a long time. My wife was a bit tired so she and the princess went to bed shortly thereafter. The lad was home by 12:30, having had a good time with his friends. I watched a bit of television then went to bed.

New Year's day we hung around the house for a bit then around 4 p.m. we went out for dinner with my brother in law and his lady. It was a wonderful dinner, although the lad's stomach was a bit off.

I also spoke to my brother last night. We haven't seen each other for a long time but we stay in touch and it was good to talk to him. He sounder older but I probably do too. Take care of yourself big brother.

To finish off the day I discovered that I won Suzi's monthly pay-per-post draw, so that was very cool. Thanks Suzi and Happy New Year to you and your family once again.

So it was a a good start to the new year.

   

Posted by OldGuy at 10:42 AM | Comments (3)