So it’s been a little while again but here we go…

 

I have been super busy.  I ended up doing a last minute Whistler trip last week and had a busy weekend too.  I think I last wrote a week ago, so I’ll take it from there…

 

Last Tuesday was a great day!  The sun was shining as it is again today.  I went for a mid-day bike ride which wasn’t the brightest idea.  It was so hot I felt like I was melting.  I had to keep stopping for breathers in the shade and cooling myself down with water.  By halfway through the ride I was fighting to get home.  When I finally did get home I was so hot that I had a cold shower for about 15minutes to cool off.

 

I had a BBQ Tuesday night, as I had Monday night before.  Monday my sister Allison and her boyfriend Jeff, Jeff’s sister and my mom were all here.  It was a feast!  I love BBQing and having good company and this is definitely BBQ season.  Tuesday night I had a special guest that I was very happy to see and we enjoyed a quiet night together with lots of laughs and smiles.

 

Wednesday I did the last minute Whistler trip.  I had got a call the night before from my best buddy Geoff that he was up there, so I figured why not?  Hayley, my youngest sister, was also in Whistler.  I figured it would be nice to hang with my sisters for a couple days and to see my best buddy as well.

 

The drive to Whistler was great!  On a sunny day there are not too many prettier drives.  I got to town around 4:30pm and stopped first at Allison’s.  I had stuff to drop off, including my truck.  I called a cab to take me into the village just in case I had a cocktail or two with Geoff.  Sure enough I was greeted with an ice cold Corona as soon as I got to Geoff’s room.  We sat on the patio and did some people watching before heading to GLC for dinner and more sightseeing.

 

After dinner, Allison and Jeff and Hayley picked Geoff, Rhianna and me all up and we hit the lake in their boat.  The sun had gone behind the mountains by this point, but it was still pretty warm out.  I was the first in the water.  Green Lake is cold in the middle of the day.  It was damn well freezing in the early evening, but fortunately for me I have a man made built in wetsuit where I don’t feel cold called paralysis…  How’s that for a half full mentality?  I got thrown off the tube twice before I called er a night.  Jeff went for a wakeboard session afterwards and then we all packed it in and parted ways with Geoff and Rhianna.

 

I woke up early Wednesday morning thinking I would go for a big bike ride.  Jeff had to work and Allison and Hayley were talking about going organic berry picking in Pemberton.  Before long I was also part of the berry brigade and in the end I am glad I went.  It was scorching hot in Pemberton but so nice to hang out with my sisters spending quality time in the fields.  We picked raspberries and blueberries.  It was so hot that we were parking ourselves in the cross stream of the huge sprinklers to cool down.

We headed back to Whistler with a ton of fresh organic berries.  It is way cheaper to pick them for yourselves I found out. 

It was scorching hot still as I drove back to Whistler.  Our plan was to go by Allison’s and grab the dog Cooper and then head to Lost Lake for a swim.  When I got to Allison’s, her and Hayley went upstairs (all 65 of them) while I waited in the truck.  In a matter of less than 10minutes our sunny day had turned black.  A thunder and lightening storm had blown into Whistler and we were about to get a show.

 

We decided to drive the opposite way of the blackness and hope for a little sunshine at Alpha Lake.  When we got there in a matter of maybe 5 minutes the beach was clearing out so fast.  I am pretty sure we were the only ones heading towards the water.  Hayley and I quickly jumped in the lake and then got back to the truck before we got hit with a lightening bolt.  We were thinking me sitting in a metal chair on a dock very openly displayed on a lake probably wasn’t the safest idea.  So we left and had sushi and another quiet night at Allison and Jeff’s place.

 

When we got back to their place from sushi the storm had almost all but passed, so Hayley and I went for a huge bike ride.  Whistler has some of the best trails for bike riding.  Within a couple minutes from Allison’s place we can ride to a couple of different lakes.  Hayley and I rode passed Alpha and then all the way round Alta, which turned out to be a pretty crazy ride.

 

There are a ton of hills in Whistler, and I had us going up and down some pretty serious ones.  I got to see that much like her older siblings; Hayley has a pretty quick wit and awesome sense of humour.  She was throwing down cheeky one liners at me the entire time about how slow I was or how I got us lost.  It was super funny.  We rode almost 16kms and ended up back at Allison’s feeling jacked… at least I was from all the hills.

 

Friday morning I did a shorter version of the ride from the night before, only solo this time.  I get a little sketched out in Whistler when riding solo because there is a lot of wildlife.  I am not too worried about black bears, but more so the cougars there (and not just the ones at Buffalo Bills).  I was wondering what I would do if I crossed a cougar on my ride.  I decided I needed protection, so I went Rambo.  I grabbed a couple of sharp shale rocks and put them in my pocket thinking I would go bushman and shank any cougar that tried to make me its breakfast.  Fortunately it never came to blows.

 

Maybe my ride was a bit harder than the night before because of the extra weight I was packing with my caveman weaponry.  Maybe it was because I only had a small smoothie for breakfast and had burned all of my other calories and energy on the night before’s ride.  Whatever it was, the Friday morning ride was pretty exhausting.  By the time I got to the home stretch I was totally considering calling in to Allison and Hayley to just come pick me up.  But I didn’t because I am stubborn and love a challenge.  S0 I rode the remaining 2kms back to their place very slowly up some extremely steep hills.  In the end I was happy with my decision to tough it out.

 

That decision did end up knocking almost everything out of me.  Once I was done the ride, it was a chore just to roll the wheelchair.  On top of being exhausted, I was hungry.  Hayley and I hit up Subway for a healthy lunch, while Allison waited at home for my mom.  She was on her way up too.

 

When we got back to Allison’s my mom was in town, so the four of us and Cooper hit Lost Lake for a swim at the dog park.  It was packed there, but we swam out to the floating dock anyways and attempted to relax and soak up the sun.  It is kind of tough to relax when you are on a 12”by 12”dock with about 6 dogs running around, barking, fighting and best of all jumping in the water and then shaking off all over you as you lay there sun tanning.  Worst of all there is no point in complaining because after all it is the dog park. 

 

After the Lake, Allison had plans, so Hayley, my mom and I all went to Alpha Lake and had a picnic.  My mom had brought up some tasty treats.  It was awesome to spend such quality time with my family in Whistler!  I made my way home around 7:30pm on Friday night, got home unpacked and went to sleep.

 

I had another big family day going on Saturday.  It was my cousin’s (guess his name… yep Jeff) 30^th surprise birthday party at my uncle and aunt’s place.  I waited for my dad to get off work, so we could go together.  In the meantime I bought myself an acoustic guitar.  I have always wanted to learn to play guitar and so many people ask me if I play an instrument after my presentations.  Finally I went out and got one.  I have a dude who will be coming to my place and giving me lessons starting Thursday.  I am so stoked!  I can’t wait to figure it out and start writing and playing and singing songs.

 

Jeff’s birthday BBQ was super fun.  We all got to watch one Hell of a light show too.  I am pretty sure anyone in the lower mainland saw Saturday’s lightening storm.  I have never seen anything like it.  It just kept coming.  The bolts seemed to be hitting the ground very nearby us.  It was like watching the fireworks in English Bay, as everyone oohhed and aaaahhed at the show.  But this show was put on by Mother Nature, making it even more impressive.

 

Yesterday I went to yet another BBQ.  It was very last minute too.  I woke up and sent my buddy Danimal a text seeing if he was up to anything and he wrote me back to come by for a BBQ for his youngest daughter’s birthday.  I spent all day yesterday outside with buddies.  It was perfect.  And Danimal’s family does the best BBQ’s so there was no shortage of good eats. 

 

Today I feel and look like I have been enjoying a bit too many good eats, so after this blog I am going to visit Kim to try and tone down my abs a bit.  As soon as I am done at her place I am catching the ferry to Nanaimo and spending at least a few days on Vancouver Island.  While in Nanaimo I will be staying with my buddy Ty, and if I do get to Victoria I might just book myself a room.

 

My only plan is tonight is the P.A.R.T.Y. Program appreciation dinner.  I am looking forward to seeing everyone from P.A.R.T.Y. outside of the hospital setting.  The rest of the week is up in the air.  The forecast is calling for lots of sun and very hot temperatures, so I am thinking the Island will be the place to be with all of the lakes and ocean surrounding to cool off in.

 

Well that has been my week summed up as best I can sum it up.  I think I’ll call this blog waking up with Kevin because when I started writing this my eyes were half closed.  Now I am awake and about to take on the day.  I’ll write again when I am back in town and find the time.

 

Have a great week everyone.  Wear your sunscreen!

 

Kevin

 

 

 

I had one of the BEST weekends I have had in a long time this weekend!

Friday I already wrote about – it was my buddies birthday dinner and bowling.  I really enjoyed the night from start to finish.

I had the best time in Kamloops Saturday!  For starters, my drive was beauty.  I quite enjoy driving solo on road trips.  It’s a perfect time to reflect and just think.  The sun was shining the entire drive until I neared my destination.  I was shocked to see clouds in Kamloops because if anything it is normally nice there and crappy here in the mainland.

As soon as I pulled up to Matt’s he was out the door and ready to grab a bite somewhere.  I was hungry too.  His roommate John joined us for lunch.  He was a super cool guy.  I knew right away it was going to be a fun weekend because we all shared the same demented sense of humour and did nothing but make fun of each other.  After lunch we went to Ric’s for a quick visit with my friend Leah and then back to Matt’s to grab his bocce ball set.

Our next destination was Paul Lake in Kamloops.  It is such a sweet lake.  We played bocce and hung out with some other friends of Matt’s.  I really had a blast at Paul Lake.  Matt’s friend has a little girl named Kelsey and I ended the beach day playing hide and seek with her.  Kelsey is super cute – this tiny little blonde who couldn’t be more than 3 or 4 years old.  She wanted to play hide-and-seek with me.  The best thing was her version of hide-and-seek was a little different than I remember how to play the game.  She would say “ok you hide” then “hide behind that tree,” so she knew exactly where I was and of course would find me right away.  It was super fun.  When I see kids now and hang around them I start thinking how I want my own one day.  I never really used to think like that, but lately I have started to look forward to the day that I become a dad.

Saturday night we got a ride into town with Matt’s dad.  We hit a pub and then a night club.  We were on the dance floor for most of the night and met our fair share of gals.  So yeah it was super fun!  I ran into a really cool gal named Kari who had actually seen me speak years back in Quesnel.  Hey Kari here is your shout out in the blog just in case you are reading!!

I got up around 10:30am yesterday, ate breakfast at some truck stop diner and then headed for home.  Once again I reflected as I drove home and rocked out as well.  The Kamloops trip was short and sweet but perfect.  As I drove home the sun was shining and the weather got better and better as I got closer to home.  I got home around 3:30pm and went straight for a 12km bike ride around here.  The ride was awesome and much needed after a few days off. 

Last night was SICK!  I went to the Commodore on Granville Street in Vancouver to see Social Distortion.  When Melissa and I first broke up I was listening to tons of Social D to the point where I almost had to stop myself.  The band forever will have a deep place in my heart, so last night I was feeling the songs on a pretty intense level.  They absolutely killed it and played at least an hour and a half set.  I had prime seating right beside the stage.

My buddy Lee came with me to the show and our other buddy Taeben met us there.  Taeben has got stuck in traffic on Highway 1 while coming from a camping trip.  I luckily missed the traffic when I drove through Chilliwack hours earlier.  That seems to be the way the weekend went though.  Luck was on my side and has been lately.

Throughout the show the guys were in the crowd or in the pit while I sat stage left.  I was super happy where I was seated.  I had a direct and great view of the band and the sound was great there as well.  I was also surrounded by girls, which usually makes me smile, especially when they are flirting it up with me.  A couple gals were playing with my Mohawk and giving me the odd shoulder rub, but one took it to another level with her moves.

After the show Lee, Taeben and I were all chatting and waiting for the crowd to disperse before we tried leaving and getting stuck in the bottleneck at the door like cattle at feeding time.  As we’re chatting some girl just walks up to me and says “I want to party with you tonight; let’s go.”

The girl was obviously drunk – the opposite of how I was feeling, so I just kind of shrugged it off.  Then out of nowhere she pulls out one boobie and then the next one and starts playing with them basically right in my face.  I was a little taken back thinking “is this actually happening?” then all of a sudden she grabs my face and motorboats me!!!   Now that was a first!  Afterwards I was so in shock that I didn’t really notice her walking away.  My buddies were laughing their butts off and laughed even harder when I told them that I had no clue who that girl was.  It was totally random.  Only at a punk rock show!

Besides some funny stories, I left the show with quite a bit of good memories and memorabilia too.  I bought a cool Lithograph (I think that’s what it’s called) poster.  Basically the image is screened the way they do a t-shirt.  It is awesome and going to go up on my wall.  I also bought myself a t-shirt and Lee threw down and bought me a $60 Social D hoodie – STOKED!  Best of all for souvenirs, as the show ended Mike Ness (the singer in the band) tossed me his bandana.  So I have that to put up with my poster and ticket stub as a sort of shrine to one of my favourite bands!

I got to sleep pretty late after dropping Taeben off and then driving back home to where lee’s truck was parked.  I think it was about 2:30am when I finally got to bed.  I was up bright and early for a home session with Kim this morning.  She Eurowaved me before 8am.  I did not want to get out of bed when that phone rang, but I knew she was up earlier than me to get out here so I reluctantly dragged my tired butt out of bed for a treatment. 

It’s early in the day still and the sun is shining super bright.  It is going to be a hot one today and I am in the BEST mood.  Crazy how life works.  All of the tough times are turning into lessons and the rain cloud is lifting.  Not only is the sun shining literally outside, it is also shining again in my daily outlook and that feels great!

I am going to seize the day.

Thanks for reading

Kevin

PS.  The title of this blog is the BEST song Social Distortion played last night!  Check it some time…  Reach for the Stars by Social Distortion.  It has AWESOME lyrics!

Maybe it’s making up for lost time.  Maybe it’s because I am feeling super happy.  Maybe it’s a bit of both and the fact that I really do enjoy writing my blog… regardless here I am again.

 It’s about 9am Saturday morning.  I’ll be leaving for Kamloops shortly.  I just wanted to do a little update.

 I had a great afternoon and night yesterday.  Not long after I finished my last blog I met up with my buddies Danimal and Randy at Earl’s in Langley…  I like to call it G’Earl’s because wow they hire some nice looking ladies there.  We sat on the patio and were joined by two more buddies: Nick and Tim.

After Earl’s I went home and got changed for the night ahead while everyone else went to Randy’s.  I got there just before all the girls showed up and then we figured out the driving situation for the night.  Me and Dan’s wife Candace were the DD’s. 

We all had dinner at a place in White Rock called Kiki’s.  This was a running joke throughout the night.  I am not sure if any of you are familiar with Bam Margera.  If so you might think of Jackass, Viva La Bam or Bam’s Unholy Union…  Maybe even his skateboarding career.  Well a while back Mr Bam pretty well started things going with a little project called CKY, also the name of his brother’s band – a band I saw live and wrote about a couple weeks back.

On one of the earlier CKY’s there is this skit by a couple of Bam’s buddies, most notable a guy named Raab Himself.  It is either the BEST thing you ever seen or the most idiotic.  I think it is the best!  There is a skit with a cat where Raab is acting well (in character) and trying to feed the cat a piece of slousberry steak.  It goes on for a while and is absolutely priceless.  I found the skit that sounds like (slousberry for kiki) on YouTube Mobile last night under the best of Raab Himself (about 2:30minutes into the section).  Well last night there was no shortage of Slousberry for Kiki waaaaaggghhhhhhh going on before, during and after dinner.  It was hilarious.  The food at Kiki’s was awesome too, but the name was the best.

After dinner we all walked across the street to Sandpiper Bowling.  I absolutely lobe bowling and basically didn’t go to Kamloops for two nights so I could bowl last night.  I fell in love with bowling back in October.  I was in Huron County, Ontario doing a speaking tour (I’ll add one of my favourite and most memorable to date) and the wonderful organizer Brenda McEwin and the OSAID students from the region put on a bowling night.  I figured it could go either way for me, since I had never bowled from the chair.  I figured I will suck or my proximity to the ground could work to my advantage.  Well I ended up kicking butt and of course have loved bowling ever since.  Well 8 months later or whatever it is I got to go again last night.

Bowling last night was a bit different because we weren’t using the tiny balls like the last time I went.  It was  a lot more awkward with the big finger balls, but after a few throws I started to get into it and actually threw a few strikes throughout the night.  Our second game I ended up winning just barely and that had me feeling pretty proud.  I am still stoked on bowling!!!

Not too long after bowling wrapped up, we were all headed for home.  A few of the hardcores kept the night alive and went back to Randy’s, while I headed for home and bed.  This leads me to now.  I woke up a little while ago and felt like posting a blog.  I am about to sign off, shower and head for Kamloops.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the weekend!

Kevin

PS.  AWESOME NEWS!  So Cara my partner in the Drive To Save Lives Tour for next year just got back from Washington D.C. speaking at the USA National Sadd Conference.  She is so awesome!  She entered me into the silent auction for States to bid on for their State Conference next year.  I found out yesterday that I will be speaking at the Phoenix State Conference this coming November!  STOKED!!!

 

It’s a beautiful hot summer day again! Man this summer has been one of the best.

I had an awesome day yesterday. I woke up early and headed to Kim’s place in Vancouver. Her and her fiance wanted to go through my nearly 10,000 songs on my computer to find wedding tunes. The majority of my music is metal and punk but they did get some tunes.

After I dropped off the laptop I drove to Spanish Banks and parked my truck so I could go for a bike ride. It was smoking hot and almost so hot that exercise was painful. I got to Granville Island and met up with a bunch of people attending the annual BC Paraplegic Association BBQ. I volunteer with the BCPA and try to attend as many functions as I can.

The BBQ was a great networking experience. I met a nice guy with a personal assistance dog and got info on getting myself a dog. I actually applied for one today. The waiting list is pretty long, but hopefully in the not so distant future I will be bringing my new best friend along with me to my presentations. I am either going to name my dog Creature or Dude. It depends on if it’s a girl of guy. And I already figured out that in the event that Dude or Creature sh*ts during one of my presentations I will have one of those peoples in the back who talk and don’t pay attention come clean it up haha… Actually that seldomly happens, as I hope Creature or Dude taking a dump in a gymnasium will as well.

I also met a very interesting graphic designer named Brea. We exchanged information and I hope to meet up with her soon to maybe do some interesting stuff with the entire presentation and branding… Maybe a logo or something. I want to really use the “Just Wiggle Your Toes” to it’s full potential and am hoping she can help me with some designs for stickers etc… I am actually considering a name change to My Story… I know It’s a brilliant title, and I’ll be sorry to see it go, but I just feel after 7 years of speaking with the same title it’s time to mix it up a bit.

I also met a dude who is involved with gliding. As far as I understand gliding involves being towed up in the air behind a plane and let go with nothing but a glider (hence the name) to guide you back to the earth. It sounds super crazy and I am overdue for an adrenaline rush.  As an added bonus, James from gliding, has a very cool and cute assistant who was asking me about going bike riding together. So yeah that might happen next weekend as well.

I don’t know for sure, but I think that my attitude change (I know I bet people who’ve seen me speak couldn’t see me being down or negative but it happens) is the reason for this sudden influx of meeting people - many of the opposite sex, possessing the attributes that might make ones pants get a bit shorter…  I so enjoy meeting new people and thus have had a great last couple of days.

As of right now I am on my back patio standing in my standing frame… I have this machine where I transfer into it in a seated position and then pump a hydrolic lever that slowly raises me to a standing postion. It is a great stretch for my body and also feels super good to be looking at the world from a 6ft tall perspective again.

I am just waiting for friends to get done with their jobs and stuff for the day so I have some company to enjoy the day with. It’s my buddy Randy’s birthday today too, so I am looking forward to taking him out in a bit.

I had a bit of downtime and just wanted to check in again.

Have a great weekend everyone…

I leave for Kamloops in the morning and am staying overnight. Sunday night I’m going to Social Distortion at the Commodore and then next week back to chillin like a villain!

Peace.

Kevy Metal

I was just showering…  No this isn’t Penthouse Forum…  I started laughing outloud…  No wait that sounds bad too….

Ok, so I was thinking of this little kid from yesterday… Holy crap that sounds worse than anything…

Umm  I was thinking about my night last night.  This little guy Lou was so cool.  I don’t think he had met anyone in a wheelchair before so we did our best to explain to Lou how I couldn’t move my legs.  We told him that is why I use the wheelchair and ride a bike with my arms and drive my truck with my hand, etc.  Lou is only three so I think he could just barely grasp the idea.

However he was super stoked to push me up and down this gravel hill over and over again… laughing the entire time.  At the bottom of the hill I would grab one tire and do a big skid.  I am still like a big kid myself.  It was super fun hanging out with Lou and just watching the innocence of a child at play.

So here is what made me laugh just moments ago…  When I was getting out of my truck at DQ last night, Lou was right there waiting for me.  He asked if my legs still didn’t work.  We all laughed and I laughed again today.  Man only a kid would think like that.  It makes me think so much.  I mostly think of a little kid’s concept of time.  I had just met him an hour ago and he was already thinking “ok this guy must be able to move now.” 

Too funny!

In some of my toughest days lately I have been riding my bike around the seawall in Vancouver.  I see so many kids running around and often times I look at them and think if I could only recapture the care-freedom of being a kid.  Sure kids cry and get upset, but their issues are so minute compared to those of us adults or likely many reading this blog are teeenagers.

I believe we all need to keep that inner kid alive inside of us for those days when being a grown up or a teenager seems too tough.  Never let your inner child die!  Always keep a little piece of care-freedom in your heart, soul and mind because you never know when you might need it to help put life into perspective.

~: )

Kevin

So my Kamloops trip has been delayed.  I am going on Saturday instead now.  I am heading up there to visit and old elementary school era buddy named Matt.  I ran into him a couple weeks ago at a friend’s birthday.  He’s busy with family stuff this week, so Saturday I am heading up for some big party thing his buddy is putting on.

It is another beautiful sunny day!  Ahh you gotta love summer. 

I had a pretty good day yesterday.  I woke up fairly early and took my truck to the car wash.  Once it was sparkly clean I headed downtown.  My wheelchair came apart a bit Sunday night and was in dire need of repairs.  It didn’t take long for the boys at Advanced Mobility to have it in running shape again.  A washer came loose and a bolt broke on the chair.  It is no surprise as my chair takes a regular beating.  Just this weekend alone I was probably bumped (which means chair smashed) down over 100 stairs.  It takes its toll… 

After my chair was repaired I headed to Kits for an appointment with Kim.  Once again we hooked me up to the Eurowave and treated my abs and lower chest.  I am still seeing and feeling results.  Basically every time I get hooked to the machine, I lose an inch off my stomach and waist.  The only problem is that some of these weekends have had me replacing those inches quite quickly.

After my treatment with Kim I went for a bike ride.  In all of the riding I have been doing I have been riding a lot sans I-POD.  Yesterday I was feeling like I was in need of some tunes, so I put my entire ska / reggae collection on random – Perfect summer cruising tunes.

 

SIDE BAR:

 

I’ll admit that I am still in major healing from the break up.  It’s going to be a while until I feel back to 110% again.  In all honesty I feel incomplete right now.  I feel a little lost.  I think that is why I haven’t been writing in here a lot.  I don’t feel like I understand myself or situation enough to write anything significant down in my blog.  I am also not the type to pretend everything is ok or sugar coat, so I have just kept a lot of what I have been dealing with private and within my closest circle.  What I can say is that this has been one of the toughest times of my life and still is.  I have learned a lot already from the experience and still feel like I am growing. 

 

So yesterday riding along the seawall with my tunes on started with some tears.  But soon they dried and I just felt happy to be outside in this beautiful place.  As soon as my attitude turned around people started approaching me and smiling at me.  I had quite a few conversations on the seawall and even got hit on by some exchange students.  I think the girl told me I had fantasy arms…  That made my day!

 

Life is so much about attitude.  Whatever we put out there is what we get in return.  I believe in the energy theories of such books and DVDs as the Secret or anything written by Eckhart Tolle.

 

My day turned around completely with my attitude adjustment.  I ended up having a great afternoon and evening.  I actually saw Melissa last night which made me super happy too.  I know I mentioned some blogs ago that I wouldn’t mention her name, but hey things change.

 

Last night, I ended up helping her out because her car broke down.  I jumped her (car) and also got it towed by BCAA when it broke down again.  Her friend Katie and a little boy (my new little buddy) Lou came and waited with us while we waited for the tow truck.  After the car was towed away, we all went for ice cream at Dairy Queen.  It was an awesome night. 

 

I ran into some students from Killarney Secondary in DQ who saw me speak before grad and it made me even happier to hear what they had to say about my presentation.  They actually were asking if I would go into the kitchen and give my presentation in exchange for free food…  I opted not to… 

 

Last night was one of the better nights I have had in a while.  I was smiling as I drove home and smiling as I got home and finally did some necessary things like organizing my disaster of a fridge…  I slept well last night and felt happy enough today to write another blog.

 

I hope my delays in postings haven’t swayed the loyalty of any of my loyal readers.  Two in three days is hopefully giving you your fill of me and my words and life.

 

Well, on this sunny day I don’t want to spend any more time inside.  So I am going to finish this off and take advantage of the day.  Summer only lasts so long.  It is so important to squeeze every second we can out of the long warm days.  It is so important to do the same with our lives.  I am working on that one every day trying to keep my head held high and overcome feeling sad and broken.  I know time heals all and today is a beauty, so away I go to enjoy it.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Kevin

Hi my name is Kevin Brooks…  You may remember me from such blogs as the last one that I posted way too long ago…

 

Hey Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh.

 

Good news I am writing a blog today…

 

I’d say even better news is I am feeling back to the good ol me finally!

 

I have been keeping busy and having fun….  That’s what summer is all about right?

 

This weekend was pretty tough.  It was my good friend Kim’s staggette in Whistler and I joined up for plenty of the festivities.  Me and four crazy girls all weekend… 

Yeah life is tough.

 

My buddy Randy ended up coming with me, and that is not a pun for the way I was feeling hanging with four crazy gals.  I actually brought my old buddy Randy.  He was the other half of the Creatures and unlike me still is keeping the chaos alive.

 

I drove up Friday.  It was a beautiful day.  The summer here in BC has been one of the best I can remember.  We have had so much sun and a lot of warm weather.  It has been great.  My sleeveless tan is in full affect.  I almost don’t even need to wear a shirt now because the contrast of my arm tan and chest and stomach pastiness looks like I am wearing a white beater… classy…  do remember I Hail from Surrey.

 

The first night of the stag had us bouncing around from spot to spot and following the girls around town.  We met up with Jeff and some other buddies so we had a small entourage.  Whistler was so busy this weekend.  I shut ‘er down before the rest of the crew as I wasn’t hitting the booze like they were.  Still I was up into the wee hours.

 

Saturday I woke up to Randy coming in from his night at or near 7:30am…  We shared a room in the Holiday Inn.  One of the funniest things I have heard in a while came out of his mouth.  He was trying to figure out how to pull the Murphy bed out from the wall (it pretty well just folds outwards and that is all there is to it).  Randy however was having troubles and asked…  “I don’t get it… so it just falls on me.”

 

My response was “No, not if you move out of the way.”

 

I was very happy to help him out of his challenging predicament.

 

Late morning Saturday, we hit the village for lunch and met up with Jeff briefly.  Saturday was yet another hot day.  From a sick patio at a pub / restaurant called the GLC, Randy and I watched all of the bikers coming down the hill and launching themselves off jumps and rocks.  After lunch I met up with the girls again.  I almost can’t write a lot of the stuff I seen this weekend, as I need to follow the rule of the stag:  What happens (wherever) stays in (wherever).  Let’s just say the girls were feeling pretty tired Saturday after their wild and crazy Friday, which I bare witness to.

 

I was invited over to their place to “watch them get ready” and I begrudgingly obliged… yeah sarcasm meter going through the roof!  After I watched the girls get ready we walked into the village.  There is this air vent coming out from one of the alleyways in Whistler.  We had discovered it by mistake the night before when one of the gals dress blew straight up after accidentally walking over it.  Remembering the vent, the girls wanted some Marilyn Monroe-esque photos with their dresses blowing up.  Once again I begrudgingly obliged.  One thing I noticed (that I guess I already knew) is that a lot of guys have no problem being obviously creepy.  There were dudes all weekend following the trail of debauchery that was Kim’s staggette.  These dudes had no qualms with kneeling for better viewing positioning or blatantly gathering their friends to “check this out!” Man it was funny watching but also led to a few words being exchanged from yours truly…

 

Randy and I had had about enough of the girls by this point believe it or not, so we went in the opposite direction.  Jeff, my near brother-in-law, had bought the fights and was having a sausage fest BBQ at his place.  Not one sausage was BBQ’d if you get my drift.  The fights were pretty awesome and I have to admit I found myself having a pretty awesome time except I was missing seeing girls around.  Once the fights were over I championed the idea to go back to the village where the ratio was a little more even.  I wasn’t alone in my plight.

 

The village was bumping again on Saturday night and we had an even bigger entourage.  This was the funnest night for sure.  We ended up running into Kim’s staggette and also the staggette that my sister Allison was attending.  There were a lot of people in the club and we all danced it up until closing time… once again it was a great time.

 

A crew of us headed back to our hotel at the end of the night and I stayed up until the crew left for a full moon party / rave.  I am pretty sure I wrote in my last blog how I went to my first and last rave on Canada Day  Well I wasn’t lying about it being my last.  I can’t say I thought I would be getting an invite a mere week later.  This time around I was very happy to go to sleep rather than attend a rave and stay up until the sun came up.  I am like a vampire when I go out, as soon as I see even a glimpse of the sun coming up I am running… ah er… rolling for the hills.

 

We got all checked out yesterday and had brunch before driving back home.  I went to Randy’s and we ordered sushi and played about 70 games of UFC on X-Box 360.  I probably won 55 of 70.  Needless to say, I enjoy playing vids against Randy.

 

I got home last night and unpacked and did laundry and all that fun stuff.  Today the plan is to go for a bike ride and that is about it.  I do have an appointment finally to have a protective coating laid down in the door panel of my truck to avoid scratching it with my wheelchair when I get it in and out.  That’s about all…

 

I will write again the next time I write…  I am pretty sure I am heading out of town again Wednesday to go visit a buddy in Kamloops for a couple of days.

 

Thanks for reading…

 

Lastly, I want to rant a bit… so I get some pretty cool comments on this blog and I always appreciate reading your responses.  For some reason I also get TONS of spam.  I hate spam.  This morning I woke up and grabbed my Blackberry and it said that I had 9 new messages.  Each and every friggin’ one of them was a spam notification on my blog.  WHY do these losers have nothing better to do but spam me…?  ARGGGGHHHH!!!

 

Til next time

 

~: )

 

Kevin

Hello again…

 

It’s been a while.  I have been up in Whistler since Wednesday – Canada Day.

 

When did I write last…?  Monday I think.

 

Well Tuesday I spent running around and doing errands – nothing exciting really.  I went for a bike ride too.  My mom and Hayley came over in the afternoon and did a huge makeover on my place.  My walls are no longer bare.  This is truly a bachelor’s pad now with punk records and cds framed on the walls, not to mention a couple skateboards strategically hung as well.  It’s amazing what a little bit of stuff can do to a place.  My place feels like an entirely different condo now and there is still more work to come.

 

What would I do without family?

 

I hope people who read this value their families.  I find that with each day that passes I learn more and more the true value of family.  I think for most people our family (that core of people who is always there for us) are without a doubt the most important people in our lives.  They are the ones we can always count on no matter what the circumstance.  I am really lucky that I have such a cool family.  They have had my back through thick and thin no doubtedly always will.

 

Tuesday night it was Hayley and my mom helping me out.  My mom is the person in my family I can always call on no matter what the time or how huge the favour and she will never say no.  My dad is much the same, though we have a cool guy relationship too where I talk to him about any and everything.  Hayley as you may already know from my presentations is my shining light in life.  She is the person that I can always look too when times are tough and smile and find inspiration.  Allison is one of my best friends.  Her and her boyfriend Jeff are always down for me to come crash at their place and hike me up and down whatever obstacle we may need to conquer.  She also always gives me encouraging words and support when needed.

 

Allison and Jeff came through for me again this week.  It was super awesome to go up to Whistler on Wednesday. 

 

I woke up early Canada Day because I had another appointment with Kim at Look & Feel Fabulous.  It was a great morning!  The sun was shining and traffic was super quiet because of the holiday.  I got to Kits quite early and just sat in my truck and read my Rodney Mullen book (Rodney Mullen is a super sick old school skateboarder who invented more tricks than anybody else probably ever to stand on a skateboard) while I waited for Kim to show.

 

When Kim arrived, we did our treatment and then went for bike ride around the seawall.  The seawall was packed because of Canada Day celebrations.  We made it all the way from Kits to the Burrard Bridge and then cut up and over the bridge back into Kits.  This was my first time crossing the bridge on my bike.  It was pretty cool.  I think my fear of heights is losing momentum because I could look over the side of the bridge on Wednesday and not have a panic attack.  I used to be terrified of heights.  I bet all the flying I do and surely bungee jumping had something to do with me overcoming this fear.  I’d say the best way to overcome fear is to face it and conquer it. 

 

My drive to Whistler was pretty sweet.  The sun was shining, my windows were down and my I-POD was serving up one sick song after another.  The drive from West Vancouver to Whistler is absolutely amazing for anyone who hasn’t done it.  The upgrades for 2010 have made it a lot better of a commute as well.

 

Before I even arrived in Whistler, Allison and Jeff had our Canada Day night planned out.  We first had a BBQ at their friends place – steak and lobster – not to shabby (I totally stole that saying from my dad).  After dinner we went to a place called the GLC and watched an awesome Led Zeppelin cover band.  The best thing about the night was seeing my buddy Spencer.  I’ve known Spencer since he was a little kid.  He was like my cousin for years because he is Robyn, my ex ex girlfriends little cousin.  Spencer lives in Whistler now and is a super awesome guy…  It was so RAD to see him all grown up.

 

After get the Led Out (name of Zeppelin cover band) a bunch of us went into the village.  Things were shutting down early, so somehow we got the idea to take a cab to some all night bush party / rave thing.  I am not really the raver type (not at all) but this was something to be seen.  There were girls juggling fire and a huge big screen blasting crazy images to techno… maybe standard rave stuff but to a punk rock / metal show goer this was something new.  Most crazy of all was that the venue for the rave was nothing more than a river bed in the middle of nowhere.  All in all I am happy I went and got to see the culture of a rave.  But I think my first rave will also be my last. 

 

On the way home, we paid our cabby a little extra to help lift me up the 65+ stairs at Allison and Jeff’s place.  This has become pretty standard procedure now when I visit.  Like most of the cabbies in Whistler, this guy was super awesome and had a great sense of humour!  I don’t know why but I always seem to get hit with a comedy bug whenever I am in the most vulnerable of situations.  Two dudes are carrying me up massive sets of stairs and I always end up cracking jokes and making fun of them and me.  Maybe joking eases my own nervous feelings that I could be dropped and beat down huge at any given moment.  Who knows…?  I just know that I was throwing down a lot of jokes, and it didn’t make carrying my butt up all those stairs any easier.  Regardless I made it inside safely, but then things got interesting…  My wheelchair would need to be transformed if I was going to use the washroom, brush my teeth or shower in the morning and it wasn’t going to be an easy ride from then on…

 

So I forgot to mention that as soon as I drove into Whistler on Canada Day I remembered that I had forgotten my spare set of smaller tires.  I always bring my smaller tires with me on the road, especially to Al and Jeff’s place because my big mountain bike tires do not fit through their bathroom door.  Upon realizing I had forgotten my spares and cursing myself up and down for forgetting them I was super bummed.  I called Greyhound and they couldn’t have them up to me for a couple days, so my next thought was that I would have to throw down for a hotel, which sucks when I could be staying at Al and Jeff’s for free.  Then I thought maybe we could use my wheels from my bike.  Sure enough my bikes wheels fit into the axels of my wheelchair, only they are way smaller than wheelchair tires.  So to get into the washroom I was in a reclined, low rider that was totally tippy and had no brakes – AWESOME!  Often times at the end of a presentation people will ask the question do I ever fall out of my wheelchair.  YES… YES… YES… wow I fell a lot in Whistler trying to ride around my mutant adaptation of a chair.  I won’t forget those spare tires again.  That’s for sure.

 

Allison, Jeff and I all slept in on Thursday.  Allison wasn’t into doing anything, so Jeff and I took Cooper to the dog park at Lost Lake and we all went for a swim.  I could spend every day of my summer at Lost Lake.  I love swimming out to the dock, tanning and just taking in the scenery.  There is a lot of beautiful scenery there and a lot of the scenery is the girls.  You have to be careful where you look though because not too far from the dog park dock is a nude dock.  The nude dock is frequented mostly by 50+ year old men who for some reason think it’s a great idea to do yoga poses in the nude…  it’s just WRONG!

 

Thursday night was chill.  We watched the bonus footage from the NOFX Backstage Passport DVD set and ate sushi. 

 

Friday we were up early again.  As Allison and Jeff were getting ready I was trying to download music onto my I-POD from Jeff’s computer.  This proved to be a fatal mistake… not to me of course.  But my I-POD crashed and I lost 10, 000+ songs!  Luckily I have the majority of the songs on my computer at home, but in between writing this blog I have been trying to re-upload the songs and it keeps coming up ERROR.  I think my I-POD has seen its last days.

 

I was trying to download Guns N Roses’ first Use Your Illusions album when my I-POD crashed.  Much like Axl Roses career, things took a huge turn for the worse after this album for my I-POD.

 

After the I-POD incident, we went boating all day.  That made me forget about the I-POD.  Friday was yet another beautiful day.  It was so hot in Whistler all week.  Some of Al and Jeff’s friends joined us and everyone was jumping into the lake from the boat or wakeboarding to cool down.  I as you may have guessed don’t exactly have the luxury of just jumping into the lake and climbing back into the boat, so I had another way of cooling down.  I would throw Cooper’s (the dog) ball into the lake.  Being a Golden Retriever, Cooper was more than happy to jump in after the ball.  When she climbed back in the boat and shook herself off I would get a nice cold shower.  It worked great at cooling me off besides me probably smelling like a wet dog for the rest of the day.

 

Finally it got too hot, so I lifted my butt onto the side of the boat and just went in scuba style backwards into the lake.  Green Lake is a glacier fed lake, so I was cooled down pretty fast.  Since I was in the lake already, Jeff threw the tube in and I went for a boot.  I was up for a good five minutes I bet until Jeff hit a big wave that sent me flying.  I love catching air on a tube.  I miss air time in a big way from my skate and snowboard days.  When that tube hits a big wave and I am tossed in the air I can guarantee there is the biggest smile on my face you will ever see!

 

Friday night we had yet another BBQ and tipped yet another cabbie to help lift me up the stairs.  This guy was a total drag, so it was hardly as entertaining as the previous trip on Canada Day.  We were all up early yesterday because Al and Jeff had to work.  I left Whistler around 8:45am and headed for Kits.

 

I had another treatment yesterday at Look & Feel Fabulous.  We had a lot of work to do after all the steak I had eaten over the last couple of days, so Kim and I got to work pretty quickly.  We had brunch at Naam too (the vegetarian restaurant I now frequent).  Kim and I said our goodbyes until next time and I had a beautiful Saturday free to do whatever.

 

I had my bike in the back of my truck from Whistler, so I thought why not hit the seawall?  I went for a HUGE ride yesterday.  I started in Kits and rode all through Granville Island and around Science World to English Bay.  I then cut over to Coal Harbour and rode the entire Stanley park portion of the seawall before riding back the way I had came from all the way to Kits again.  In total I rode 37km ride.  The ride took me just under 4hrs.  Probably needless to say, I may take today off as my arms are pretty tired.

 

Well that is about it.  I am going to try and figure out this I-POD for a little while longer and if all else fails I guess I will have to buy a new one.  I know for sure that I can’t live without an I-POD.

 

I hope this was good reading…  I’ll check in again soon.

 

~: )

 

Kevin