Ok so I am in Orlando, Florida at Disneyworld (YEAH YEAH!) for the SADD National Conference…  I just ate swordfish for dinner and it tasted so good that my reservations about eating such an awesome creature almost disappeared!  No I still feel kind of bad, but it was SOOO Good!

 

During my flight here today I got on my Blackberry and started responding to emails from students that I have been trying to get caught up on for weeks now.  Each email I read and responded to stoked me!  It took me back to the day, the school, the moment in which the author was writing about and made me feel happy and proud.  It inspired me to FINALLY post a blog.  FACT:  THIS IS GETTING WRITTEN, EDITED AND POSTED TONIGHT NO MATTER WHAT! 

 

Hey, it’s not for a lack of trying that I haven’t posted anything lately…  I have actually written two blogs in the past couple of weeks but never had time to finish the editing process and post them.  They are long ones too.  If you read my blog very often, you know the kind.  The kind that they are so long I can’t even be bothered to go back and read them and take out parts and mesh them all into one super blog tonight ~: )…  No, instead I am writing this one right here and right now.  And let me tell you it is going to cover a lot of ground.

 

WARNING:  If you have anything to do in the near future, maybe cancel, call in sick, tell whoever you are going to be late or just postpone reading this until you have more time.  Jen that goes for you especially - late for work from reading my blogs!

 

Where to begin…?

 

SO I wrapped up my speaking for the year (in high schools) with two final presentations.  One was at AR McNeil in Richmond and the other was at Dogwood School in Abbotsford, both in British Columbia, Canada where I live for any of my new US friends reading… Waddup EH!  Both McNeil and Dogwood were great experiences, where I met awesome people and left feeling stoked!  I finished the year on high notes for sure!  But at the same time I was more than ready to be done.  This year, as awesome as it was, was super hectic.  I was so busy that I don’t think I had time to feel or get tired.  But once I came home from my last tour I was exhausted and done.  I needed a break and a break I took… well kinda.

 

Now, it’s not like I as laying by the beach chillin and doing nothing…  For starters the weather in and around Vancouver has not really allowed much time for that.  But even if it was sunny and blazing hot outside, I have had a lot of things I needed to get done… no rest or soup for me!!! I was away from home for the better part of two months this spring.  My personal life and responsibilities had taken the back seat on a long ride…

 

Here are but a few of my many things to do rather than lay on the beach and get a tan…  Truck maintenance, work Visa application, applying for medical coverage, booking tours for next year, catching up on email responses to students, booking this trip I am on, editing my video again, getting my college courses sorted for the summer, sorting out my new wheelchair and let me tell you it’s not just hop in and away I go… What else?  Oh…  meetings about scholarships, creating a foundation, other future endeavours…. You know…also raising money and participating in the Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion Event… Learning to cook again after eating out for months, getting my home settled and in order… and on and on and on it goes…  I have been KNAR busy! 

 

When I did find a free moment or two I tried to spend it chilling with friends and family (some of whom I hadn’t seen in months), ride my bike, go to concerts and yeah just enjoy some time away from the KNAR BUSY LIFE.  It is tiring being on the road, speaking twice a day, keeping basically two internet sites flowing with fresh and relevant content and responding to countless messages day in and day out.  It takes a ton of energy I tell ya, and if you have seen me speak, or read my writings / rantings or just met me you know I give it all… and then some!

 

SO I am going to tell ya about some of the stuff going on in the life of KB in a bit more detail…

 

FUNDRAISER:  The Rick Hansen Wheels in Motion event went super well!  My team (The Battlecats – WwoooowwwwHH!!) raised over $2000.  Your donations to me alone were over $1000 THANK YOU VERY MUCH contributors.  This money goes to helping improve quality of life for people living with spinal cord injuries and other disabilities as well as spinal research AKA making Hayley’s wish come true.  Our name came from He-Man and an ongoing joke with my buddy Rick Neaks that I should go as He-Man’s lion-thing named Battlecar for Halloween every year.  We also could have been called team blonde as without even trying our team ended up being all blondes.  I was going to link some pictures here BUT STOOPID FACEBOOK HAS DONE IT AGAIN WITH THE SECURITY BLOCKING THING THEY LOVE TO DO TO ME WHEN I LEAVE THE COUNTRY…  GFYS Facebook! 

 

As for the actual event (minus pictures) we placed well in the standings.  Though, I never saw the final ones.  I left before they were announced because I was kind of bummed about my LEG!  So as I was hauling butt and passing people in the final race of the event, my leg decided to start spasming and falling off the chair.  It went something like this…  push, push, lift leg back on chair, push, push, lift leg back on chair, push push, quietly curse my stupid bouncing leg that sometimes has a mind of its very own!  Honestly I was pissed!  I am pretty competitive and wanted to win the whole event.  Next year I am taping my leg down.  I’ll show it who’s boss!  IRONICALLY:  The same cheeky leg keep spasming as I write this and has nearly kicked my laptop across the room a couple of times now.  Good times!

 

SCHOOL:  I start school at CDI College on July 14^th.  I am going to take an Addictions Counselling and Social Work program.  My reasoning behind this choice is that I want to be able to better help all of the people who write me who are in need.  I got over a thousand emails from students this spring alone… and that isn’t even counting Facebook, YouTube, Twitter messages and other forms of communication that have come my way.  I try my best to offer advice and give support and I think I do a pretty good job.  But at this point all I can do is speak from experience.  Don’t get me wrong…  I am not trying to undersell experience.  I just think having additional educational training will better help me in helping others.  I will have a pretty good one - two punch…  because that is what you do with people in need right?  Punch them!  OHH-OHH  random editing madman has returned!  I am pretty stoked to be going back to school.  I am especially stoked because this time around I know what I want to do with my education.  I know why I am there.  I have a goal.  The goal keeps expanding too.

 

FOUNDATION:  Last week I finally met with my BFFL Barb BTW: stole her from my mom’s friends list.  Barb and I met to discuss our partnership and ideas for how to better help youth.  Barb is a counsellor and an amazing lady.  I have written about her in these pages before.  She brought me to Southridge School this past fall to speak, and we really hit it off.  We share the same passion and desire to support and help young people.  It’s actually pretty RAD!  

 

Over lunch on the patio at Cactus Club in South Surrey, Barb and I came up with all kinds of great ideas like… 1)  evening youth groups (that are cool not lame) 2) starting a counselling service together for youth 3)  me starting a foundation.  I am quite stoked on all of these ideas, especially the foundation one.  See students write me a lot as I have already mentioned in this blog that really needs repetition because you want to be reading this for an hour and a half don’t you?  Do you like how I just throw these random comments in?  And a lot of the stuff I read would blow most people’s minds… But of course I don’t share people’s darkest secrets or painful experiences with others…  But truly there is no end to these stories…  Some bring me to tears.  I am almost past the point of being amazed at how many youth are out there who deal with depression, suicidal thoughts, abuse, or trauma of any kind.  I am only past being amazed because I have seen and heard so much, especially this year.  It breaks my heart some days – it really does.  Even just in recent weeks I have received a ton of emails from students who have lost friends, siblings and loved ones in tragic situations.  These stories and the pain that these young people feel have really hit me in the heart.  This song comes to mind Fate. 

 

What Barb and I came up with is to have a foundation (likely The Just Wiggle Your Toes Foundation) set up to either help the individuals I encounter either with firsthand counselling / support (maybe video conference for those out of town) or at least be able to confidently refer them to competent people.  SO, I want to start aligning myself with cool counsellors and other resources that can and do relate to youth.  People like my friend Barb.  I want to start keynoting counselling conferences to make these connections (throw me a bone anyone who can hook this up!)

 

Something I have repeatedly heard from young people is that they don’t relate to the counsellors they meet, and thus they do not get the help that they need.  “I have been to six counsellors and they just don’t understand me” is a common complaint I hear.  I have even experienced this myself when meeting with a counsellor initially after my crash.  I gave up on her because we didn’t connect.  Fortunately for me I made it through and now have thousands and thousands of counsellors I speak to every day (that’s you!!).  But speaking to thousands of people about your most difficult times in life is obviously not for everyone.  The connection and trust aspect is huge between counsellor and counsellee…  I would say one of, if not the biggest, maker or breaker.  So I want to do something about it and plan to!  My sponsors are even behind me to help put together a huge event next year that could be THE JUST WIGGLE YOUR TOES FOUNDATION’S launch… see I wasn’t just blowing smoke up your butts about being busy!

 

WHEELCHAIR:  My new wheelchair is SO RAD!  It’s like so rad I am almost stoked I can’t walk!  Boourns to that joke – too soon?  10 Years.  I’d say I earned the right to tell bad wheelchair jokes…  Regardless I am going to…  No seriously though…  It RULES!  I still have no idea who kindly donated my new Steel Horse, but  I hope you read these words when I say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!  My last chair was on it’s last legs…  ah er wheels…  it was thrashed to say the least.  This new one is so smooth, so comfy and just feels so good on my body.  I think the last one was doing more harm than good.  I punked thye new chair right out too ala Kevy style AKA the back is plastered in punk stickers…  Rancid, The Flatliners, Dropkick Murphys, SNFU and Mad Caddies just to name a few (which song did you choose?)…  I am still getting adjustments to new chair made though and this is why I haven’t posted any final shots on Facebook or sent them to Scotia Bank for the donor to see (if you are reading this awesome donor, that’s why no pics yet).  I am still in the process of being fitted for my new seat (all custom designed to my body) as well as other modifications I need to get done…  Like say my footplate that is too low.  It is so low that yesterday while kind of zoned out and half crying after buying a $450 projector I didn’t want to buy so I could show my video at this conference I am at I bottomed out at the end of a curb cut and launched out of the chair.  I was at a four way stop in a busy mall parking lot and many people seen this dazzling display or dipsh*ttedness!  Surprisingly, a lot of people just drove by me and left me to fend for myself on the ground… which I did have under control…  But still.  kind of messed up to just drive by that scene I would say.  At least run over me if you’re not going to help right?! Come on!!  2 Points For Demented Editor…  Finally some good Samaritans ran to my rescue and gave me an arm to lift into my chair from the ground.  Def a FML moment when I fell.

 

As was the earlier incident with my truck…

 

TRUCK:  So my truckin truck got pretty sh%t kicked with all of the driving I did this past year.  Scratches, dings, cracked windshield, blown tires, a filthy interior and a duct taped hand control were among the things I needed to get fixed.  Not to mention the standard maintenance stuff.  Well over $1000 later, repairs are almost all done now.  I’m pretty stoked!  The detail job my cousin did rules!  My new tires are KILL!  However, my windshield is still cracked and my hand control is BUNK even though I supposedly got it fixed.  Yeah my mom supposedly got her cat fixed yet it still goes in heat and pisses all over her house… My hand control pisses me off and if it could piss in my home I am sure it would.  3 Points!

 

Check this…  The dude who normally does the work on my truck was stoked because he had this rad new hand control design that he made.  The original plan was he was going to demo it on my truck.  I was pretty stoked too until I showed up to get the work done and learned regular repair dude Justin was sick.  So some other dude would be installing it I learned…  Whatever right?  What could go wrong?  So I leave my truck to “get repaired” and skytrain to downtown Vancouver for a meeting about scholarships, school and exciting stuff for next year and do some work on my video with Mikey too.  Hours later I get back to my ride to see the most awkwardly placed and looking thing standing almost as tall as my dashboard WTF!?  It’s my new hand control!  It is rediculous!  And it has been a nightmare.  It is not dangerous so much as it is an inconvenience and an eye sore.  Time is short these days, so i haven’t got it fixed yet but planned to once I got home from Florida…  if I made it Florida that is! 

 

Yesterday I go to leave my place for the 5hr drive to Oregon (and I am already behind time from when I wanted to leave.)  I am about to pull out of my underground and put on the brake lock so I can shift from reverse to drive by pressing the AWESOME new RED button some jackass installed (sarcasm 101).  Well….  just because life has been challenging me lately and I know it…  the friggin control locks in brake mode.  And no matter what I do it is stuck.  I am stuck.  I am stuck blocking an entire lane of the underground that is constantly flowing with inpatient people trying to leave the dungeon where we all park.  GREAT!  I am freaking out while simultaneously thinking of who to call that could fix a custom made hand control on a Saturday and my even less likely the alternative… who can drive me to Portland, Oregon on the drop of a hat because I am flying from there to Orlando the next day for one of the biggest speaking opportunities of my career!  Yes another FML moment  An FMFL moment, if you will.  Oh yesterday was a beauty… but I survived.  The hand control finally released.  I made it to Oregon last night (by way of the Volcom Outlet store in Centralia, WA, which really helped pick up my spirits I should add.  Retail therapy - my dear friend!)   During all stops along my trip I was sure to refrain from pressing that RED BUTTON that is supposed to LOCK AND UNLOCK my brakes.  For some odd reason my brain kept saying push it though.  Why my brain was teaming with life to try to knock my junk off with a curve ball I really don’t know! 

 

I survived this weekend somehow…  And this weekend was a significant one beyond what you just read.  What there is more you ask…  FYL there sure is!! 

 

I am going to cut and paste from a one of those previously mentioned never posted unedited blogs right now because well I feel it will fit…Also because one hand is pressing a warm cloth onto the back of my neck.  The cloth is soaked in warm, salted water with hopes of decreasing the enormous ug-ass cyst that is trying to emerge from my neck like an alien body.  For some reason I get this reoccuring cyst on the back of my neck.  I get it removed.  It comes back.  I take antibiotics…  it goes away but comes back.  It seems to like national conferences because it was in full effect for my last one in Regina in May.  My repulsive sidekick.  At least I know the salt trick now.  A doc told me the salt thing.  Soak a cloth in warm salty water and hold.  The only thing is you need to have salt.  I brought a baggy of it with me to Florida.  Now call me crazy but in hindsight I realized that carrying a baggy full of a white powdered substance through security at the airport may not have been the smartest choice I have ever made.  Umm Yeah…  this morning could have turned pretty ugly pretty fast had my carry on been searched more.  Brilliant ideas I come up with EH?!  I guess I wasn’t think 100% clearly at 4:15am when I woke up this morning.

 

 

I wrote this on June 24^th (just this past Thursday)…

 

Exactly ten years ago I woke up to an unusually warm Saturday morning in June.  I would have slept much longer, but my girlfriend at the time was in my room and none to pleased with me.  I had been out partying hard the night before and was hung over and essentially a sorry sack of sh*t.  This was not the way this morning was supposed to start…

 

The original plan was for me to wake up early that Saturday morning, so we could convoy to an auto body shop in Cloverdale and drop off my Chevy Cavalier.  My stupid driving antics had gotten me in a few crashes already in my couple years of driving.  One of the most recent crashes took the front bumper clear off of my car.  Today was the day it was supposed to be fixed.  But fixed it would never get.  Groggy, still kind of intoxicated and wanting to sleep off the after affects of my mighty nighty before, I opted to keep sleeping rather than get out of bed.   My car never made it to the shop and thus I had wheels to drive on June 24^th, 2000.  This would be the first of many bad choices on this day that would change life forever.

 

When I finally did roll, although I didn’t quite roll then nor would I appreciate or even understand the pun, out of bed it was noonish.  I stood out of bed for the last time; I stepped into a shower for the last time; I dressed myself standing for the last time; I walked down the stairs of my then home for the last time and drove to the deli.  I walked into the deli and ordered my standard sandwich (roast beef with the works on a Kaiser), and grabbed one for my gf too thinking this would smooth things over.  I obviously had plenty to learn about women still.  See not only had I slept through the appointment for my car, but also the majority of her horse show.  Yeah…I pretty much sucked.

 

These awkward starts to the day were nothing new to me really.  Hung over wake ups, foggy recollections of how I got home and pissed off gf’s or whoevers… these were typical weekend days.  I was pretty good at making amends though.  I had a lot of practise.  As mad as my then gf was, she retained some level of civility towards me.  I don’t recall her eating the sandwhich though.  Oddly she wasn’t hungry…  hmmm.  After the horse show was over, I was stoked to see a beer garden.  One with free beer of all things too!  I was a real gem in those days.  This suddenly seemed like my lucky day.  It wouldn’t be a lucky night.  Well… 

 

From the horseshow, the anonymous gf even though most know her name, and I headed to Hayley’s first ever ballet recital.  It was held in the theatre at Langley Fine Arts School.  This was not my first time in this theatre.  I had been there many times before, begrudgingly usually, to watch my sister Allison perform in ballet recitals years before.  Back in the day I would have never been crowned brother of the year to Allison.  Though I loved her, I was a pain in her ass to say the least and a little brat.  I can still hear my parents saying “Your sister gets up at 6:30am and sits at your hockey practice wrapped in a blanket every week and you can’t go to one ballet recital!!??” Did I mention I used to kind of suck?  I used to be pretty selfish.  Well, with Hayley it was different.  The 16 years between us left no sibling rivalry or bitter stupid divisions whatsoever.  I thought Hayley’s recital was cute and entertaining, whereas Allison’s mmmmm  not-so-much!  If I could go back I would be stoked to watch Allison do ballet!  I love you Allison if you are reading this!  Sorry for being a jerk back in the day!

 

Sitting here writing this now I can see that I never even had a clue on that night ten years ago.  I never thought that would be the last time I walked into that theatre, picked up Hayley and twirled her around, or looked at a waxed up curb (outside the theatre – I can still picture it so clearly) with full intentions of coming back with my  skateboard to shred. 

 

Ironically, I would visit this theatre again in the years to come, but from then on I would be on the stage as opposed to sitting in the crowd.  No I didn’t take up ballet… 

 

I am now periodically on that stage speaking.  Speaking about the events that happened after I left the Hayley’s recital that fateful night ten years ago.  FACT:  One of my personally most memorable and stoked presentations of this year was on that very stage.

 

I never knew what lay just hours away.  If I had of known, I know I would have acted differently.  There are so many things I could look back on and wish I had of done differently, but I realized years ago that these dreams never can come true.  There is no point in wishing backwards… Because life only moves forwards.  Never climb a latter to nowhere.  I can only comment on the ways I could have or would have acted if I had of known.  NOTE:  At this pace of writing, this will not be a blog but rather that novel I have been working on hmmmm…  Do that in Stewie Griffin voice! 

 

I won’t get into the full details of the events of that night because anyone reading this likely knows them.  I also am feeling a little worn from telling them probably almost 100 times in a matter of the past three months.  I just felt a need to point out the day, as June 24^th has become as significant a day as Christmas or my Birthday.  Yet, oh so different.

 

This time of year is always apparently different than say the third week of September or any week or couple of weeks during the year for that matter.  I am aware that there is a feeling inside of me that I really can’t control.  All that I can really do is understand that it is there, deal with it as best I can and believe that it will pass.  It always does.  I know the feeling has value too.  Getting through the darkness each year makes me stronger and stronger.  I am ready for it when it comes.  I won’t ever let it beat me.  Hurt me yes.  I have no control.  Beat me no.  Never.  Though it can kind of throw me for twists here and there…

 

Last night I found myself looking at skateboarders in a skatepark in Vancouver as I drove by and really missing it.  I wanted to SKATE!  In my head I said “ten years ago today I would be at that skatepark shredding.”  Then about 5 minutes later I drove by another even sicker skatebpark than the last one and just wished I could be one of the lucky dudes hitting transitions, grinding curbs and flipping down stairs. 

 

At my best buddy’s place a couple of weeks ago we were all smiling and all of a sudden I just broke into tears.  I couldn’t stop crying either.  I was a mess.  I couldn’t even talk.  It just all hit me at once.  For months on end I had been the strong one.  I had been the rock on stage for all of those people watching me and crying.  Sure I’d shed a tear or two but I kept it together.  I would return to my hotel to get emails from students written through rivers of tears.  i would give hugs to emotional students who never ever thought they would cry at school, let alone baul.  I was their rock.  They cried for my pain and they cried for their own pain.  But I kept my tears inside.  I kept my pain in cheque.  And then I burst the other night.

 

had I not had the cryfest at Geoff’s weeks ago I likely would have broke down in my truck as I drove by that second sick skatepark.  Instead, my eyes felt dry.  I had no tears.  I had pain, but I I fought the bummed feelings as best I could.  I looked in the rear-view mirror at my hand cycle and thought to myself “at least I can do that!”  In all honesty, I kind of felt like I was settling.  A hand cycle for a skateboard is no way an even trade off.  But I am happy I have it.  And even more happy that I am able to ride it!

 

And RIDE I did. 

 

I drove along Beach Ave and False Creek in Vancouver’s West End until I found a familiar parking lot.  I parked my truck in the wheelchair spot.  I removed my wheelchair from the truck MY SICK NEW WHEELCHAIR might I add THANKS THANKS THANKS!!! again to the anonymous purchaser of this chair.  I assembled the chair and then removed my bike from the back of the truck.  I smiled at one of the many perks I strive to find from a wheelchair.  On this day it was a parking meter that more or less read “$2.50/hr for parking unless this parking meter is not accessible.”  In all honesty, it wasn’t accessible.  I couldn’t read the screen.  And I wasn’t about to wait around for someone to read it for me.  SWEET!  Free parking!  YAY!  Haha… forever an optimist I am. 

 

My ride around the seawall was like an escpae.  I was riding as fast as I could…  In hindsight maybe I was trying to leave behind that dark cloud that had been following me.  I was ready to be done with these sad feelings.  At least in my head I was.  But what the head wants doesn’t necessarily always match with what the heart feels.  I raced and raced around the seawall, my iPod pumping punk rock into my ears the entire time, riding 15kms (a little over 9miles my American friends) probably faster than I ever have.  And I have been in much better shape than I am now.  I hauled ass around the seawall last night and escaped the cloud to some extent.  Yet I didn’t escape my thoughts and feelings.  I fought hard to get around the wall as fast as I did.  My challenging ride a metaphor for my challenging feelings I was facing.  If I could conquer the wall, I could conquer my sadness.  I knew that I could sort my feelings out out or at least get them in check by doing something positive that made me feel good -  Later that night when I picked up my friend Jeanine she seemed perplexed that I ride alone.  I explained it is good thinking time.  I cherish this time alone.  Time to think.  Time to reflect. Time to sort.  Time to deal.  Time to move forward, to plan for tomorrow and beyond…

 

This has been the kind of days and weeks I have seen lately.  There is a cloud.  I know it is there.  I am trying to keep a push ahead of it.  

 

As I alluded to before I sometimes think about the past.  I wouldn’t say a lot.  But what I do think about it pretty intense, life changing stuff.  At this time of the year I can’t help but think of the event that forever changed mine and so many others’ lives.  I think about the past, but also the present and future.  I often attempt to make sense of the path and my purpose in life.  I wonder if I am doing the right thing all of the time.  I wonder if I can keep all of this up and for how long if I can…  I have a lot of thoughts. 

 

In the last couple of months I was so busy I hardly had time to even think.  I was going so fast there for all spring, speaking twice a day, travelling thousands of kilometres and miles, receiving hundreds and hundreds of emails and trying to keep my personal relationships and responsibilities afloat…  It got overwhelming.  My plate was so full, it kind of cracked.  Too much weight!

 

I kind of fell off the rails at the end of this years touring.  All of a sudden, I was home and I just wanted time for myself.  But I felt guilty taking this time because so many other people were waiting on my time.  They still are.  But I needed a break. This is the first year in a couple where I wasn’t almost collapsing from exhaustion by the end of my touring.  I thought I got through unscathed this year, but once I got home I felt the weight.  So for the past little bit I kind of separated myself from the emails, Facebook, blog… hence no blog for a while.  There was not much action online from me unless it was joking stuff pretty unrelated to my speaking career.

 

I will admit right here that I am still trying to find that balance between personal life and role model.  I’ll admit, as much I wish I could, I can’t 24/7 be Dear Kevin the counsellor to the thousands who write me for advice.  I try to, but it’s almost like if I open the flood gates I will get washed away.  This year showed me a lot of things.  Once thing I really noticed is there are a lot of young people in need.  And I want to help you all.  I am totally trying to.  But there are times when I need to fix myself first.  If I am not in a good place, I don’t feel that I am able to really give my all and that is the key to my connection with those are inspired by my story.  I don’t exactly know that point of all of this I am writing.  It is a bit of a rant.  I think if anything just understand that I am human and it does get to me.  I hear your pain people.  I feel my own sometimes still.

 

 

 WHOA!  So that is part of one of the lost blogs…  A lot going on people.  A lot I was dealing with.  Thankfully I don’t deal alone.  I am letting you all in right now because I know you are reading (still reading) because you care…  or maybe your lunch break is exactly 45minutes and you are done….  NOW.  Read the rest tomorrow haha!  Ahh humour…  the greatest medicine.  FYI:  That is the Canadian spelling of humour my American friends.  We add a U to a lot of words because of our French roots.

 

Back to reality here…  It all got to me.  It gradually built up and then the dam overflowed.  DAMN DAM!  And now I am on the upside of recovery.  I am in FRIGGIN DISNEYWORLD WITH A SUITCASE FULL OF NEW VOLCOM GEAR!  YEAH YEAH!

 

Looking back I see though…  Over the past couple of weeks and for the first time in a while I had to just focus on me first.  I had to focus on me because I needed me and I needed time and I needed the people around me I love most to help me get through a tough time of year that never really gets any easier.  I don’t exactly know how to explain it…  There is just something there…  and it twists my mind and heart and brings me to despair… to steel (yes STEEL as in METAL) some Iron Maiden lyrics and make em my own.  Ironically Maiden was yet one of my many remedies to the blues besides riding my bike.

 

On Thursday night I went to the Iron Maiden show at GM Place with my bestest friends Danimal. Mikemal and Rick Neaks.  My brother Drummond also met us at the show too.  And it was SICK!  Danimal hooked up a VIP box, so we watched in style.  I had a rad night of METAL, O’Doul’s (my new saying “Hey I got a case of O’Doul’s – Let’s get sober!”) old buddies, new skid buddies like a dude named Jeff who was also in the box who essentially sang the entire song 213 by SLAYER to us with more possibly passion than even Tom Araya gives when he screams the verses.  Dude was awesome!  Night was awesome!  All of us got Maiden shirts, compliments of a generous Rick Neaks.  I picked both Rick and I up MASSIVE wall sized EDDIE flags as well.  Mine is going in my room!  I LOVE METAL!  It was a great and late night.  A night of healing for sure. 

 

I find a way to get through this weekend every year.  Two years ago I went with my then gf to a resort on Vancouver Island and just chilled, got spa treatments and even ocean kayaked for the first time.  With no sweet girlfriend this year was to be a METAL and PUNK ROCK weekend of therapy.  I believe there is a valuable lesson here.  When we are down we need to do things to pick ourselves up.  Otherwise it may never happen.  Take action and get up.  We always can get up!

 

Friday I had more little life challenges.  I was so tired from the night before that I cancelled my hand control appointment and made my wheel alignment appointment later.  I could’ve slept all day, but I dragged myself from bed around 10am and dropped off my truck and keys.  As soon as the cab dropped me off at home I realized I had also dropped off my keys to my place so there I was unshowered, tired and vehicle and temporarily homeless.  AWESOME!  My mom came to the rescue eventually with my spare key.  And just as she showed up I got the call my truck was ready.  Funny how things work sometimes.  I couldn’t help but think i could’ve just sat outside Kal Tire (I was sitting outside anyways while keyless) and saved $12 on a cab ride home…  Doesn’t matter how many curve balls life throws me.. I won’t step back from the plate.  Bring it on!

 

once things were settled I had a BBQ with Danimal, Rick, KeeKeeTia and myself before all of us minus Danimal but plus Prouten headed downtown for another show.  Friday night we saw SNFU and Dayglo play at the Biltmore Cabaret.  This was yet another rad night filled with punk rock best buddies (old and new) O’Doul’s and hardcore merch aquisitions.  I got a SNFU and Dayglo t-shirt (both rad), a Dayglo book (I f’n forgot to bring to read on the plane so I bought Ozzy’s new book which is AWESOME instead today - squeeze those lemons!) and a documentary on Mr Chi Pig (SNFU’s singer) and his battles with mental illness and drug addiction.  Dude has been to hell and back and is somehow still standing.  Check this out.  And this is why drugs are bad news people!

 

So yeah this weekend was all about the buddies.  Part of the week and weekend before was all about the family.

 

I went to Whistler with my buddy Randy two Wednesdays ago and visited Allison (my sister) and her bf Jeff while there and stayed at their SICK SICK ohhh SICK (watch the Story of Anvil one day) new place!…  We BBQ’d the first night then had a knar boys night in the village the next… a night that led me back to O’Doul’s.  Friday night I chilled on my couch and loved doing nothing for a change.  Saturday afternoon I watched Hayley in her baseball playoffs then went for a 13km bikeride with my mom after.  Saturday night we BBQ’d at my dad’s for Fathers Day and then him and I BBQ’d again on Sunday – just the two of us.  Earlier that day I watched Hayley’s baseball team win their way into the provincials.  I hadn’t spent this much needed quality time with my family in too long.  It was an awesome weekend! 

 

SO HOLY CRAP…  Are you tired from reading all of this yet?  Imagine living it!  HAHA.  I really felt a need for an update…  If you just met or seen me in Orlando for the first time and read this entire thing – YOU ARE AWESOME!  My blogs are not always this epic.  It’s just been a while and I had a lot to say…  who am I kidding…  I almost always have a lot to say!  But this was a LONG one!

 

I have one more thing to say before I go and chill in my bed and fall sleep watching TV…  I have been writing and editing this thing for about 4hours!

 

BALANCE. 

 

Life is all about BALANCE… 

 

I kind of felt like I fell off the rails there for a bit.  I got overwhelmed and I lost my balance.  It’s all good though…  People I am still learning as I go.  We all are.  Nobody is a master at life.  You can never know everything.  It is a long road (hopefully) that has ups and downs, but every new experience and or challenge we face helps us grow and learn.  I am 31 years young and I don’t have an issue with “getting older.”  I feel I am getting better and wiser… not older.

 

Every single time I face adversity it eventually turns to triumpth.  I remember these triumphs.  They help me prepare for the next bump in the road.  We need these times.  We need a hill to climb now and again.  It can’t be all downhill.  We would get going to fast.  We would miss out on some serious lessons and eventually downhill would get bland and boring.  Without the rainy days, we wouldn’t appreciate the sunny ones right?.  Life is a journey and I am living, loving and learning every single day.  I’ve never claimed to have all of the answers.  I never will.  But this blog more or less explains me.  I hope there are lessons in these words…  I hope you liked the jokes too.  Knowing when to fight, when to cry, when to laugh, when to learn and when to take a break is how I survive.  Many ask me how I do it…  The recipe is mixed into these words.  It’s all about the balance. 

 

This balance cake took four hours to make.  I hope it hit the spot!

 

OVER.

 

KB

 

PS.  I went with The Flatliners song…  Yes, I read my own blogs!

Couldn’t think of another No, so I went with NOFX…  Never a bad choice EH! 

 

Hey my friends!

 

Sorry for being MIA!  The days kind of got away from me.

 

I actually spent quite a bit of time with friends and family over the weekend and didn’t really respond to emails or do any writing.  As much as the time off is nice, I always feel so behind when I get back on the trolley…. 

 

Last week ended AWESOME!

 

Talking in Salmo and New Denver is like visiting with good friends.  Almost everyone in attendance at both schools had met me before – likely more than once.  On the flipside, I have watched some of these students grow from tiny juniors to maturing seniors in the past three or four years.  It almost feels like I am big brother to a lot of them for me.  I imagine it might be the same feel for some of the students because a lot of them write me really moving emails thanking me for my time and efforts.

 

I want to take this time to thank everyone from Salmo and New Denver.  I love visiting your schools. I had such an awesome day last Thursday.  I got to wake up in one of my favourite beds – The Prestige Hotel in Rossland (at 4:45am might I add so I could try and get caught up on emails…  an uphill battle still but I just hope people understand that I do what I can when I can.  I got to visit two of my favourite schools.  I got to eat my favourite sandwich EVER at the Apple Tree Deli in New Denver they even had the curry soup I love as the soup of the day like it was meant to be.  I even got to visit with some family in Kelowna that evening and had a great night!  I saw KiKi too!

 

I woke up Friday at my cousin’s place in Kelowna.  I had a few more obstacles ahead of me than normal on this day.  Although my wheelchair fit through the bedroom door and front door of their place, it doesn’t fit through the bathroom doors.  So I had to get out of my chair by lowering my body to the ground; slide along the floor; lift myself into the tub to shower; lift out; slide back to my chair and lift back into it.  Then I got half dressed in the chair as I always do, lifted into the bed, got dressed the rest, lifted back into my chair and rolled out of my bedroom.  Quite a way to start the day.  No need for me to hit the gym!  I was stoked I could do all of this stuff though.  There was a time years ago when I wouldn’t have even tried such a feat just to have a shower in the morning.

 

I decided to share my morning experience with the students I spoke at on Friday at Similkamean Secondary School in Keremeous.  I think it wowed them…  I saw a few jaws drop haha…  Hopefully this little anecdote also inspired students that there is a lot of fight in people.  We can do whatever we put our minds to.  On the flipside, sometimes the little things we take for granted can disappear pretty quickly in life.  It can come down to choices we make whether we jump out of bed tomorrow or roll away from bed in a wheelchair…  Jeebuz I am pretty heavy today…  It had been years since I had visited Keremeous to speak, and I was happy to be back.  Nobody there knew who I was.  And I love this just as much as when I cruise through the door and people shout my name.  I need this contrast to keep things fresh for me.  I have probably told our story 100 times since March!  Maybe even more!  I would go back and count but I am tight for time right now and want to post this blog.

 

The talk went over pretty rad as far as I could tell.  I went no mic style, which I prefer any day.  It just feels that much more personal.  Students laughed, cried and really seemed to be hearing the words I spoke to them.  I hope that they all took it to heart because my heart was really in the talk I gave them.  I sadly read yesterday an email from a teacher at the school that there was a presumed driving fatality over the weekend, and this shook me up.  I try so hard to get my message across.  I really hope it wasn’t anyone I had just spoken to.  No matter who it was, it is really sad news and my heart goes out to any and everyone affected by this recent tragedy.

 

Sadly, in retrospect, a lot of young people died this past week.  And it is really sad that there are so many bright young lights being blown out too soon.  Both stabbing deaths really made me sad to hear about and think about.  The death at Capilano Suspension Bridge is super sad too.  It was all weighing pretty heavy on me as I drove home from my week on the road, but more accurately speaking my past two months on the road.  I decided that I needed to chill for a couple of days this weekend and just let go and clear my head if possible.  I called my buddy Rick Neaks on my way home and made plans to have dinner with him and KeeKeeTia.  I used speaker phone to anyone wondering… and it sounds like crap, but that’s the law and it definitely makes sense.  I just think it is time for the phone companies to make better speaker phones though because I don’t see myself ever wearing one of those gearbox bluetooth things on my head!

 

My weekend was pretty knarly.  I hung out with some of my closest buddies and had a lot of fun.  There were plenty of cabs called and a couple of DDs used as well.  As much fun as I had, I admit now I would’ve preferred to have just a chill weekend and try and get caught up on things more.  But that is what I am doing now.  And maybe I needed the weekend I just had to remind me of what I love most and what is most important to me.  I am not saying my friends aren’t the best!  I love em!!!  Just I could’ve enjoyed a more chill time this weekend.  I think sometimes we need these kinds of contrast as reminders of our priorities in life…  Live and learn right?  No Regrets!

 

Yesterday I spoke at North Surrey Learning Centre.  This is yet another school where I feel as though I am rolling into a room full of friends.  I was there twice last year and spoke twice yesterday.  The vibe is very intimate and I feel as though my words are reaching people in a most amazing way whenever I visit NSLC.  Thank you to everyone from yesterday, including the staff and my friends from ICBC who attended…  But most of all thanks to the students who were so respectful and rad!  You made my day!

 

Today I am trying to do a million things and adding more as I go along.  I was up late responding to emails and started my morning doing more of the same.  I am supposed to be on my way to my cousin’s detail shop so he can assess my truck that is basically shitkicked from driving 15,000kms in two months!  It kills me to see my baby in this condition…  I have a buddy who is going to come by and look at my sliding door as it is suddenly mangled.  I also just got a call from CBC News Vancouver about a story they want me for.  It is about risky teen behaviour.  The reporter will be at my place in about an hour…  I’m not sure when I will find time to rest…  But to be quite honest I like to be busy like this.  It feels great to have a purpose.  It feels awesome to be back on the trolley!

 

Well that is about it for now people…  I will try and keep this thing more updated in the next couple of weeks as my time gets a little more chill.

 

Thanks for Reading!

 

~: )

 

Kevin

 

PS.  So I just check my email and see that some of the YAT in Invermere got personal JWTY / GFYS shirts made.  I LOVE IT!  AHAHA…  Man, I love you people.  These pictures just made my day!  All smiles…  Much needed smiles!

 

PPS.  Someone stole my GFYS doormat this weekend.  Possibly because they didn’t appreicate my friends and I all singing Bon Jovi, Radiohead and Guns N Roses until 4am around Danimal and my acoustic guitar!  GFYS to the GFYS thief!

SO I am pretty sure that all of you have figured out that technically speaking in schools is my job…  Well let me just tell you that I have the BEST f’n job in the world!

 

Never do I wake up and think “I HATE my job and don’t want to go to work today”

 

My boss isn’t a total D!(%.  We actually get along quite well and we even sometimes make art works in our dinner plate together…  WTF? I know…  I am my own boss in case you were wondering…

 

Seriously… If I won the lottery and became a millionaire I would do exactly what I am doing right now…  I just would do it for free because I wouldn’t have to earn money to pay my bills and support my shoe, jeans, flannel shirts and anything punk or metal compulsions.

 

Speaking of PUNK and METAL…  How about this song that blew my mind while randomly playing from my iPOD?  My iPOD that fortunately unfroze just in time for my drive from Invermere to Rossland this afternoon.  PS. Thanks for the tips from the crowd today how to fix my iPOD the next time it freezes on me!  PPS. Give this song a chance because the chorus is amazingly catchy!!

 

So yeah I am in a pretty damn good mood and my random jackassedness seems to have returned, along with my fervour for creating words.  Not just creating words though… also describing the event and trying to act smart in doing so by finding words under the synonym button in Word.  I have never used the word fervour ever!  I didn’t even know it existed until I doctored up this sentence… hey just classing up the blog a bit…  This one needs it haha… Read on.

 

I was butt kicked again when I woke up this morning and felt like I might even be coming down with something.  My guts were feeling off and my brain felt like mush…  It took me a while to get myself up and functioning fur sure…  intentional typo [FUR] in honour of all of the towns, rivers and parks named after Beavers I have seen in the last week…  Oh Canada!.  Yeah I was out of it in the AM!  I think I even wrote a blog this morning that may be complete jibber jabber, unlike this literary masterpiece (LMPOS) you are reading right now! 

 

Today I had two presentations in Invermere at David Thompson Secondary School.  This is a pretty kick ass school and a pretty kick ass place.  Let me say that first!  And the good people in the YOUTH AGAINST TURNIPS…  Yeah they hate turnips that bad they started a group against them I heard…  These awesome turnip hatin’ people… they brought me to the school.  They waited a year for me too!  Well some seen me at CYAID this year… and despite being a murderer and a chauvinist they still wanted me at their school.  HOLY SHIT I am given’er tonight EH!  Must be this METAL we are listening to. It’s bringing out the demons in me!  Oh and by the way Youth Action Team!  That’s who brought me to the school.  Them and their awesome leader Shelley.  COOL FACT: Shelley and I go WAY back.  We first met when I was just a baby and she was security for a young Wayne Gretzky.  She is in my video wearing a shirt that says SHELLEY.

 

So today was kickass!  It was so rad!  It was one of those days when I am reassured that I am doing the absolute best thing I could ever possibly do with my time.  It was one of those days where I feel that the stars have aligned in my life and I have found my path.  Thank God it is a wheelchair accessible one!  No shit!  I think I do more in this chair than I did when I was walking and kick flipping and bush jumping… NOTE: Yesterday I said something I had never said before in my talk.  At the end I said, and twice again today…  I didn’t so much have a choice in the aftermath of the crash whether it would change my life or not.  But I did have the choice whether it changed my life for the better or the worse.  I will go on the record here to say “I am so glad that I chose the path that I did!  My life has changed for the better and I am super stoked on life and this song screaming in your ears right now unless you shut it off” …  I even inspire myself with the things I figure out and say these days!!

 

DTSS…  Today, I spoke first to I think grade 8s and up.  The crowd was pretty awesome considering how many people were in the room (could’ve got rowdy easily but people were chill) and the fact that I was feeling pretty haggard.  I saw a few people looking at their watches… so I guess I wasn’t as awesome as I could have been haha…  But overall I hope the first group of people were stoked.  I know some people were because I chatted with some afterwards and they had cool stuff to say.  Knarly dude with the long board… you rule!

 

The YAT group brought in 20 pizzas, so a feast was had at lunch…  None of the pizzas had turnips on them.  I ate four pieces!  What a mutt I am!  After feasting I chilled outside and breathed in the fresh mountain air.  SHELLEY, YAT and me were enjoying the outdoors so much that the show almost started without me.  I rushed inside, put my skate video on and watched as the grade 11 and 12s entered the gym. 

 

This time around, the room was cut in half by a partition and had a more intimate feel than the first talk.  I decided to go no mic and this added to the chill vibe even more.  I am SUPER stoked on talk deux from today!  I don’t know if it was the pizza or what…  I have considered writing pizza into my contracts from now on though because I felt really on my game.  Sure I screwed up a few jokes, made a girl faint and went over time, but besides all of that I was pretty on my game!  I think people were pretty stoked on this afternoon.  I hope you were!  I know I was and still am stoked on you all, which is why I am hyper-ADD boy right now!

 

I am super stoked right now.  I am actually having a really hard time unwinding… maybe because I have this Avenged Sevenfold song on repeat! 

 

I am at my hotel for the night now.  I am staying at yet another Prestige Hotel.  This one is in Rossland.  I love these Prestige Hotels.  They have the best beds!  And if you stay 10 times, your next stay is free.  Guess who gets a free night the next time they come to the interior?  My boss.

 

How was the drive here you didn’t ask…  Well let me tell you…

 

The drive was a happy one.  I listened to tunes, smiled and thought about what a great gift life is.  The happiness was not interrupted except by the odd yawn…  So I yawned a few times… but for the most part I just smiled and thought about today, yesterday, the day before, last week in and around The Hammer, and all of the other amazing experiences I have had this year and before around North America!  Payson and Sal Pointe jump to my brain immediately…  But there are SO many more!

 

On my way to Rossland tonight I stopped in Trail and ate yet another huge spaghetti dinner at The Colander.  This time around I went for a second plate… Why?  Well because someone on Facebook challenged me haha!  I can be peer pressured into eating spaghetti but not smoking crack!  I hope I can keep my Role Model cap and my YAT shirt – honorary member WHOOT WHOOT!  Honorary WHAT? member too! 

 

I think that all of this time alone has maybe gotten to me a bit because I created some art in my plate this evening.  It was like Michael Angelo’s David, just without the body.  I don’t know why…  But it was the funniest thing I have seen in so long.  I sat at my table by myself and laughed so hard tears were rolling down my face.  I imagine this is totally inappropriate, but seriously whatever…  Just jokes!  And we all need a good laugh sometimes.  Anyone who can’t handle a handle in a plate of spaghetti probably should not read this blog…

 

I don’t think anyone at the restaurant notice the shit eating grin on my face… though it was more of a wang eating grin I guess.  Servers there did however notice me.  I love the fact that everywhere I go people notice me from speaking at their schools.  NEWS FLASH:  I apparently LOVE attention!   So, I was posting a pic of my Spaghetti David on FB and started getting all of these awesome posts.  Students from all over were asking me to come back to their schools!  It seriously made my night. 

 

The fact that so many of you appreciate me and what I do and give me so much support and respect… seriously it makes me so happy!  So tonight I am all smiles.  I am listening to metal and writing a random, somewhat badass blog.  But you know this is the real me and I think it’s this authenticity that you all appreciate most!

 

So in closing… thanks to everyone from today and everyone everywhere that supports and stokes me.  Thanks to the Prestige for letting someone maybe not that prestigious making wangs out of meat balls and sausage in his dinner plate stay at your hotel.  Thanks to YAT for bringing me to your school today!  Thanks to Shelley for supporting YAT and also protecting Wayne Gretzky way back when the jeans were tight and the hairs were BIG!  Thanks to all of the people who inspire me to not get into my big ass comfy bed and sleep, but rather write a blog.  I write for you.  I know there are people who are stoked on these words… like the awesome gal from YAT today who I can’t remember your name but I bet you are reading!  You know who you are.  What is your name?  You do slurpy runs and knew that Eric Cartman was the voice of my GPS!  You are rad!  All of You reading this are RAD!  And I am stoked on YOU!  Give yourself a pat on the back…  You made my night!

 

Ok I am out!

 

I hope you liked the song and I hope you liked this blog

 

~: )

 

KEVY METAL

 

This tour has been a beauty so far, but am I ever exhausted!

 

The Highway Donkey is back…

 

 

I know that I have three days left, and that no matter how wiped out I feel I can kick ass for my remaining five presentations this week.  That said, if this was the beginning of May I would be in trouble because I don’t think I could keep this pace much longer.

 

I have spoken four times this week, and each talk has stoked me!

 

Monday, I awoke in Penticton – happy to be in the Okanagan.  I love it there.  Do you ever enter a room full of people you may not know, but still feel right at home?  I feel this way in most Okanagan cities.  I think it’s because there are a lot of like-minded souls in Penticton that I always enjoy myself there so much.  My first talk at Maggie was rad!  I couldn’t have asked for much more and my afternoon talk at Pen High was more of the same.  The audiences were super stoked on what I had to say, and I 110% appreciated how sweet they were.

 

I had an entourage of sorts at both talks.  There was ICBC support at both talks, which is always nice to have.  Also, over the years of speaking I have gotten to know a lot of the teachers, counsellors, admin etc in this area, so it was cool they recognized and supported me as well.  For the afternoon talk it was pretty cool.  Some Maggie students, stoked on what they saw I guess, came to Pen High to either watch me again or to show their friends who had missed me what they had seen earlier in the day.  My friend Nikki and her buddy Anna were also in attendance in the afternoon, and this was tres cool!  Nikki got JUST WIGGLE YOUR TOES tattooed across her feet a couple of months ago after I spoke at her school.  I thought this was so RAD that I got her some gifts, which we exchanged after my final talk of the day Monday.  Actually Nikki’s tattoo is pretty well the RADDEST thing ever!  What a tribute and honour!

 

I hung out and chatted in the warm Okanagan sunshine with Nikki and Anna for a while outside Pen High before continuing on to my next stop – Cranbrook, BC.  I don’t think I had quite understood the amount of travel I was doing in a 48hour period.  Although, once I punched Cranbrook into my GPS I began to realize the epic journey ahead of the Highway Donkey!

 

My journey took me through windy roads decorated on either side by vast wine fields.  The Okanagan is after-all wine country.  I travelled through Osoyoos, Grand Forks, Rossland and then made a dinner stop in Trail, BC.  From all the travel I do, I have my favourite places to eat and sleep all over North America now.  The Colander in Trail is definitely a beauty.  All you can eat pasta.  I always get the spaghetti and meat balls.  People even recognize me now when I enter these places, despite being so far from home.  Carly the hostess had witnessed me speaking at her school years ago and still remembered my jokes and message.  I told her I would put her name in here.  WASSUP!

 

With a full belly I was on my way to the second leg of my journey.  I drove through Trail, Salmo and then up and over the Kootenay Pass.  I was really starting to feel tired at this point, yet I still had at least an hour and a half of driving left.  So once I was out of the pass I pulled over in Creston, BC and took an hour power nap in my truck.  I have never had to do this before.  This is how tired I was.  I woke up every 10minutes or so from a leg spasm that would kick my steering wheel and trigger my car alarm – awesome sleep!  Fortunately I felt like I did get some much needed rest, and was able to complete my journey to Cranbrook.  I got there around 1am.  My day had started at 7am.  It was a long one.  And then FML it got longer when I entered my room at the Prestige Inn and looked at the clock.  I forgot that this part of BC is on Mountain Time.  I lost an hour!  It was 2am!

 

I slept a little over 5hours and woke up yesterday feeling pretty wiped out.  My routine these days is to brew up a pot of hotel room coffee that ranges from as dark and bitter as tar to WAY to frickin sweet because I don’t understand how sweet non-sugar sweeteners are.  It does its job regardless though and kicks me in the ass!

 

Yesterday was a SICK day!  I found an awesome audience in the morning in Kimberley, BC.  The Kootanys are much like the Okanagan as I meet many like minded souls here.  I was rightly stoked on Kimberley.  The students were super rad and even stuck into their lunch hour voluntarily to watch my closing video.  I was so stoked I could barely leave the school, but I really had to get to my next talk so off I went.

 

Once I got in my truck and punched Fernie into my GPS, I realized I was SUPER tight for time.  My GPS had me arriving a couple of minutes after my talk was supposed to begin.  And I usually try and arrive a half hour early so I can get everything working.  I made a quick call to the school in Fernie and asked to have everything plugged in and ready to go when I arrived and just hoped it would be. 

My talk was supposed to start at 2pm.  I got to the school at 2:03pm…  I pulled into the back of the school for some reason and got out of my truck and rolling towards the school as fast as I could.  Each door I tried to open was locked though, so I kept moving my way around the school cursing breath… “FMFL!”  Then I heard the announcement for everyone to go to the gym.  GREAT!  I am still locked out and everyone is on their way to see me speak.  Thankfully a teacher let me in and I raced into the gymnasium.

 

I was super stoked to see that everything I had requested was set up.  I plugged my laptop in and it WORKED!  This doesn’t always happen.  But lately karma has been on my side.  I introduced myself while I set up the video portion on my laptop and then had at ér.  My afternoon talk in Fernie was of my favourite kind.  It just felt really down-to-earth and personal.  The students were so awesome throughout – laughing at my jokes and listening contently.  I somehow finished right on time, which was a feat unto its own.  Then at the end the students gave me a standing ovation.  STOKED!

 

From Fernie I drove to Cranbrook to visit with some friends and have dinner.  From Canrbrook I drove to Radium Hot Springs, where I write this from now.  Not only are the springs here hot, but also the room temperature is crazy HOT!  I feel like I am losing weight just being in this sauna right now.  I am staying at another Prestige Inn, and once again it is a beauty.  The girls at the front desk whose names escape me (actually I remember one but not the other) were really awesome and I told them I’d give a shout out in my blog… so this is me SHOUTING OUT! This hotel is awesome!

 

 

Today I am speaking twice in Invermere and am really excited about the day.  I met a group of awesome Invermerians about a year ago at CYAID in PEI.  We have had me booked to speak here basically since then.  So today has been a long time coming.  I met many from last year’s group again this year at CYAID in Regina, Saskatchewan, and am pumped to see my friends today.  Today should be a goodie.  I just need to get my sugar / tar in me because this ass needs a kick again!

 

Bye For Now!

 

~: )

 

Kevin