Hello again…
It sure has been a while since I last posted. I have been super busy with a couple of projects… all of which are done and out of my hands now so here I am. The projects I was working on were videos that will soon be a part of my presentation and web site. I am pumped on the new videos… In fact I have a ton of new stuff coming in the New Year that I am very excited about.
For starters, my sponsors and pals at Vancouver College of Art & Design (VCAD) are designing me a new slideshow with video footage from the past. I went through hours of old footage of family Christmases, skateboarding, partying, teaching Hayley to ride a bike, cliff jumping, etc… in order to compile great footage for the new slideshow. Nothing Else Matters will still be the song that goes along. VCAD are also going to doctor up my skate video I made a month back so it looks a little more pro and that’ll be my new intro… hey I’m rhyming it up this morning. Sickest of all VCAD is designing me a landing page for my website that will link to up to a $150, 000 in VCAD scholarships and up to a million dollars in University of Canada West (UCAN) scholarships that I will be offering YOU for 2010! How rad is that? Check the links out cuz maybe there is a program you dig that could be yours for free!
In between being buried in old 8mm tapes, DVDs, notes and a bunch of emails (I really badly need to reply to still) I have done a couple of presentations around home recently. I spoke at Lord Tweedsmuir a couple of weeks back. LTSS is the school I graduated from. Any time I speak there it is pretty emotional, as there are a lot of reminders of the past. This year the intensity went up a few notches as I was speaking in front of Hayley and her peers. Thankfully the presentation went really well and I kept it together. I felt like I had to especially for Hayley because how embarrassing would it be to have your older bro crying in front of the entire school? That’s like one of those high school nightmares we all dread isn’t it?… I never broke down like I have in the past despite the fact that my hockey coach from when I was a kid, Mr. Neighbour, introduced me with some powerful words. He coached both Brendon and I. In the end, I got a ton of great feedback from students… many who I still need to write back (if you are reading this, you haven’t been forgotten. I plan to write everyone back over this extended break I have). Most important of all (at least to me) is that Hayley dug my presentation at her school. There were a lot of familiar faces there that day, and I believe I left a positive mark on LTSS… definitely more positive than when I attended there years ago. It was a pretty inspiring day.
In the meantime and in between time I did more video editing, some school bookings, some Christmas shopping (I am done!) and got my place all decked out for the holidays… including my mooning Santa… very punk rock and badass!
One crazy night I went to see Steel Panther at the Commodore. It was a pretty sick show to say the least. The band is obviously hilarious if you have ever listened to their music, and their banter between songs was pretty amazing as well. I don’t even think I could repeat any of what they said in this blog, as it would definitely offend some… Hey my little cousins read this! Don’t listen to Steel Panther Katrina or Shayna… everyone else check out Steel Panther! They played their entire album and then encored with Kickstart my Heart (Motley Crue), Jump (Van Halen) and BEST OF ALL Paradise City (Gn’R). I just closed my eyes during Paradise City and pretended it was ’88 and it was Guns and Roses I was hearing live in their prime. The METAL gear I was running helped it feel like 88 for sure. I’ll be adding some new pics to my gallery later today or tomorrow… I had a great time at the show and found myself at times looking after my rowdy friends as they were all pretty hammered and out of control as usual. Since I quit boozing almost 4 months ago this is my new role and one that I quite enjoy; that and being DD all the time. After the show, I hit the Roxy (club on Granville Street) with my buddy Randy and his gal. I was feeling a little third wheelish until I met a gal there who had an innovative way of getting my attention. First, she kind of grabbed me and turned me around to initiate conversation then this pleasant little sweetheart slapped me in the face. Apparently she was a little jealous when I told her I had just come from Steel Panther. Before I could Run to the Hills (I was wearing a Maiden shirt too) she was on my lap. We ended up chatting the entire night. She was actually pretty cool and her slaps were playful at best, yet my wheelchair still exacted revenge on her by giving her a pretty big head bonk later in the night.
This past Friday, I made my way over to Victoria to watch Hayley play in a basketball tournament (you’d know this if you follow me on Twitter). The Panthers (Hayley’s team) got their butts whooped pretty good by South Kamloops the first game, but played hard and never gave up. Holy crap SKSS had three girls who were over 6ft on their team…. grade 9s!!! The Panthers beat Mt. Douglas in their next game, and that was it for Friday’s games. Ironically, the girl I was hanging out with later that night’s sister coached Mount Douglas… Double ironically, Mr. Neighbour, my old hockey coach I mentioned earlier in the blog is now Hayley’s basketball coach. Irony aside, the plan for Friday night was to go to Hecklers comedy club in Victoria. I picked up Lauren and her friend Stacie in Langford (Langford… awesomely the butt of many jokes in all three comedians routines we went to see). Apparently Vancouver Island has two Surrey’s: Nanaimo and Langford. The comedians were hilarious and had all of us laughing consistently. It was a great night that ended with cheeseburgers and McNuggets… After dropping the girls off, I drove to Sooke where I was staying with my uncle. I got their around 1am to find out I was locked out. It was freezing outside and I was a little antsy rolling around the house trying to find a way in so late at night. I wasn’t so much worried about my uncle thinking he was being robbed in the middle of the night and confronting me disgruntled in his underpants, as I was that there might be a cougar in a tree sizing me up for a late night snack. I always get this creepy vibe when I am alone in their driveway at night, and I trust the vibes. I opted sleeping in my truck but knew I would freeze, so I called my uncle’s cell and woke him up and he let me in. It took me back a few years to being locked out of my parents’ home late at night and not wanting to wake them… Fortunately this time around I didn’t get in sh*t and unlike my dad my uncle had the decency to put on some pants when he let me in!
I came home Saturday after Hayley’s team lost to Semiahmoo. I was a bit bummed as I thought the Panthers should have won – the ever loyal bro that I am. Still, I am happy to see any team do well. In fact it’s pretty interesting to be watching my sister play against all of these schools where I have spoke before, especially if I spoke at them recently. I feel a connection to any school where I have spoke, so it gets me into the games and tourney’s on a different level than just watching my sister’s team. Still… a warning to anyone who plays Hayley… expect me to be talking trash from now on haha… My presentation is going to get longer. More new additions for 2010 – Trash talking!
On the way home I slept on the ferry from Vic to Van, then hit Southpoint Starbuxx for my latest vice (a Low Fat Chai Tea Latte & a Chocolate Chip Cookie)… a manly order if there ever was one. Later on, I went to my Dad’s place for dinner and a hockey game. We had a good visit and were both happy to see the Canucks win again. They won again last NIGHT!!
When I’m home I spend a lot of time with my family. I see one or all of them most every day. My mom is coming over today for operation Christmas Tree. We smuggle a live tree into my place every year as it is banned by Strata. I get a huge fine if they find out, so hopefully nobody reads this and rats me out… If they do by any chance “Hey Strata GFYS!”
Yesterday was a great day!!! Just a great day! I woke up to snow on the ground and Christmas in the air. I had a morning presentation at Lord Byng in Vancouver. I love speaking at Byng and have been going back there for about six years now. This is the first place I ever played my slideshow! I was met outside by a familiar face of a sweet girl named Alexandra. Ironically (apparently a lot of irony lately) she was just getting to school as I was getting out of my truck and recognized me from last year. Alexandra was my formal welcoming committee on my last visit to Byng and ended up being my informal one yesterday. Byng has a nice theatre and great people attending and working there. Mrs. Shopland Black is so awesome! I love it! Everything went great yesterday at Byng. It was a perfect way to wrap up my speaking for 2009! Thanks Byngers… You were GREAT!
I left Byng and drove to the Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion Foundation to pick up some Canucks tickets’ I won in a draw – good ones too. Saturday, January 16th I am going to see Vancouver and Pittsburgh play. I get to see Crosby again. I also picked up some other tickets yesterday that will have me seeing Crosby, but that is top secret and for Christmas surprise purposes I can’t elaborate on just yet. Feeling in the Christmas spirit, I did some more shopping at Coastal Riders for my sisters on my way home. Again can’t elaborate but got them sick stuff from me and my dad! I do almost all of my Christmas shopping at Coastal Riders and Fluid. I hope gramma digs Volcom!!
But before Coastal I got myself all signed up for school in January. I will be attending CDI College starting January 5th due to a scholarship they provided me. Yeah these scholarships I was talking about are legit. I am going to be attending classes in the field of addictions counselling, which I think will compliment what I am already doing with my life nicely. I haven’t been back to school in a long time… Still despite my hiatus from standardized testing I killed my placement test yesterday! I was pretty stoked considering it has been a decade since I have had to multiply or divide a fraction… I am really pumped to go back to school. I am equally pumped to be able to provide a similar opportunity to you now with these scholarships VCAD UCAN! Actually the dude who made these videos is the guy who is doing my vids. Check em out and get onboard for some scholarships… Why not!
So life has been treating me pretty darn good this past little while. I really feel like life is all about what you put out there. I feel like I have been in a really good place and have been giving a lot of good and low and behold the goodness comes back! I mean I won Pittsburgh tickets! I never win anything! I am going back to school on a scholarship! I go to comedy shows with hot girls from Langford! Life is great! I am not sure when I will be writing again, so I want to wish everyone a very safe and happy holiday’s season. I will be on the Bill Good show New Year ’s Eve if you want to listen 980 on the AM dial.
I will post something again soon for sure to properly wrap up 2009. For now I want to thank everyone from Tweedy and Byng who I recently met and all of the great people in my life who keep me smiling!
-: )
Kevin