Same old same Old

We're driving down the road and Danelle says, "Wait... are you sure this is the right way?... I've never seen this way before... This isn't right... is it?... oh... well maybe it's cause it's dark and the street lights are on... they don't usually have these lights on you know... in the day... I don't think... Cause this seems so new... Did we go this way on the way here?... Honestly?... Cause this is like Deja Vu!... I mean... not Deja Vu... it's like... the opposite of Deja Vu... you know?..."
... ... ... in a weird way... I kinda do...

The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns

My parents flew out today after 10 days of hockey games and Christmas markets... Though it was 6 days more than my dad's 4 day rule (for staying at one place)... it's cool... seeing as their both a) family and 2) staying a block away in a pension (bed and breakfast), 10 days is almost too short for all the good times we had...
... Shopping... Talking... Reading... Perusing... Hiking... Walking... Cappucinoing... Gluvining (Tea, cinnamon, and red Sangriaish wine)... Sampling... Chocolating... and pre-opening gifts given earlying... which led to painting... drawing... eating... crocheting... and hugging
... The last day my parents even went on our 2 hour hike up the mountain... talk about young at heart... so positive... so upbeat... through the whole thing what an encouragement... even went sledding for the way down...
(My Dad said that as he's thought about it, every truly succesful person he's ever known has a knack for turning any situation into a positive... IE. 'Man it's so early'... "I KNOW, I JUST LOVE MORNINGS"... 'And it's cold!'... "THE COLDER THE BETTER!!")
... I want to be successful too... So... I'm trying to be more positive... even insanely so... because... why not...? I even went online and found some amazing quotes to get me started:

Real life is not always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgment of what is working in our lives can help us not only survive but surmount our difficulties

“We don’t see the things the way they are. We see things the way WE are.”- Talmund

The secret to success is to start from scratch and keep on scratching.”- Dennis Green

Hard work spotlights the character of people. Some turn up their sleeves. Some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all.”- Sam Ewing

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life’s about creating yourself.”- George Bernard Shaw

“Success is what you attract by the person you become.”- Jim Rohn

“You have to ‘Be’ before you can ‘Do’ and ‘Do’ before you can ‘Have’.- Zig Ziglar

“You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people to get what they want.”- Zig Ziglar

So now... instead of yelling at the ref because he only gave us 2 minutes of power play time all night (that's 1 penalty the whole game)... So they could hook and hold and interfere their way to a 2-1 win... I'm going to smile instead... smile... and think... that's good... it's good we have the biggest idiot for a ref I've ever seen... good because... because... cause... cause... uhhh...

... because “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”...?... right... thankyou Christopher Columbus... for that...

Sledding

I have mixed emotions about it... and probably... will continue to have mixed emotions about it until tomorrow morning when I get up for hockey... when I will finally know... at all... if I
... regret...
...seriously regret...
... the most amazing sledding experience of my life...
...and Yes... experience... EXPERIENCE... because that's what you call something that takes 2 hours to hike up and 15 minutes to sled down...
... 15 minutes...
... Danelle's makeup has been put on in shorter time...
... This blog might be written in shorter time...
... Lots of things get done in shorter time...
... It was a really long time...
... And fun... we went for the four seater huge sled that was impossible to steer or control going down a severly windy 10 foot wide trail dodging all the hikers on their way up... and racing the rest of our team on the way down...
... We ended up getting fourth... which is a respectable spot... and only wiped out.. I want to say.. 3 times?... one of which was full speed into the side of a snow bank that succesfully soaked all my clothes for the rest of the ride...
... At the end of the run we did well at being the fifth best crash landing (off the last huge hole/jump placed 5 feet before the sleds all set up)...
... The best crash we didn't get to see... only hear about... 1) as J went too fast, didn't see the jump till too late, didn't have time to stop after it, and crashed hard into the sleds knocking them down like dominoes... 2) the second crash... with all of us down already standing around talking some guy (going too fast) goes off the jump, misses the sleds, misses the fence, and heads right for our group... heads up!... right for Danelle... uh oh... most everyone can go either right or left and jump out of the way, but Danelle, trapped, turns around and runs down the hill, with the guy on the sled right behind her for a good 15 feet, twice unsuccessfully picking the same direction to go as her attempt to dodge left and his attempt to dodge left, and then her attempt to dodge right and his attempt to dodge right start looking like a slow motion chase seen from a B-rated movie... before she dives left and he swerves right... I was rosl (rolling on the snow laughing) and Danelle, after composing herself, had to jump on me to regain some public image points... 3) The third crash B tried to get off a moving sled, fell, grabbed R's shoulder, pulled her back, fell again and pushed her forward... boom... snow, glasses, camera, gloves... everywhere... 4) fourth was W and C who also went too fast, right into the sleds, but only after Watty got off and laughed as C couldn't stop herself... and fifth was us 5)... who completely stopped just before the sleds.. everything fine... until momentum pushed me forward... trip, and knock over all the sleds in front of the 10 people and their dog that were watching us come in...
... And now I'm cold, sore, and happy... any regrets?... I don't know... will I be too sore to skate tomorrow?...

Ummm... hello?

Yesterday we drove to Innsbruck, Austria for the serious business of Christmas shopping. Good times. Good food (Mcdonalds). Good hotel (4 stars). I even bought something (one thing) believe it or not.
Just before we were leaving I went to the bathroom... nothing out of the ordinary... nothing blocking the door... no sign or anything... great... walk in... except... ... ... there's a female janitor ... ... ... mopping the floor... ... ... so I stop... ... dead in my tracks... literally mid-stride... I can't move.... and even though my body is still in 'going to the bathroom' mode my mind just won't let that happen... not until I deal with this never before seen, unable to register, incapable of handling... situation... and so for the 10 second train of thought process that gets me through this situation I'm stuck... mid-stride... a little off balance... middle of the bathroom... blocking traffic... half moving half stopping... confused...
... hmmmmm... wha!?... girl with a mop...where am I?... let me see... bathroom... guys bathroom?... yep!... other guys around here... good... what else?... here's something... there's no soap to wash your hands with at the sink... oh ya I'm obviously in Europe... co-ed things happen in Europe... sex blatant and exhibitionism encouraged... this woman-janitor -bathroom thing must be normal... ok... ok... normal... so act normal... go to the bathroom... don't worry... she's mopping right behind you right now... it's cool... all normal... now wash hands... who needs soap anyways... walk out... normal like... haha!... victory... in normalcy... just the usual routine of life at the Dez shopping center in Innsbruck... not Awkward at all...

Last year around this time Joel visited me in Holland...

... and we, in turn, visited Amsterdam. Walking around we noted all the differences we saw around us.. no-door Public urinals, coed bathrooms, legalized prostitution and drugs, stop lights before and not after the intersection, language barriers... and I said something along the lines of... "man, I wish they saved us all the trouble and just switched over to English already... it would save so much time, confusion, money, and probably war in the long run.. you know how many wars started from mis or lack of communication?... and the language is probably doomed anyways... they admit it themselves that it's confusing and hard for even them to understand the grammar... less and less people in the world are speaking it to begin with... Why, thousands of people a year are stopping using German and Dutch is like a smaller, step-child version of German... why not just pre-empt the trend?"... ... ...
... well, even though I was only half to half and three quarters serious I hit a nerve... so we full-fledged culturally debated.
Joel said that "it's important to learn and adapt to the culture you're in because you learn so much by doing it. Who are you to be so arrogant that you think everyone should just change for you?
...
You would never have an appreciation of snow unless you learned all the 12 different words the Inuit people had for it.
...
You would never understand the nuances of love until you realize the different ways it is used in different cultures... Greek has 4 different words for it as most everyone seems to know. But Dutch, for example (I've heard) is not simply the static "I love you.." but the moment by moment "I am loving you.." which carries a lot more weight because it is an action rather than the pathetic and overused word love that can mean anything you want it to mean from a feeling to a thought to an action and thus, until you define it, means nothing.
...
Or peace, which in English is used in a negative sense to mean the absence of trouble or hostility is better as... Shalom, which in Hebrew carries a positive connotation (you have to do it yourself)that means to bring into place absolute wholeness - full, harmonious, joyful, flourishing life. Wouldn't the world be different if we had Shalom-keepers instead of peace-keepers?
...
And I think a frenchman who (instead of the quick and unthinking please in English or Bitte in German) has to spend all that extra .8 seconds of s'il vous plait could never be completely selfish because who would waste their time with such a long sentence on someone they didn't care about? Well... at least you would have to think about them for that little bit more and hey, it's more time spent not thinking of yourself!
...
... ... ..."

And so ya, (ME) "...ok, maybe it's good to learn all the different nuances and, in turn, enhance your view of the world and hence your life. But then I think about the cost of a language barrier and wonder which risk is bigger - the risk of losing a fuller life or the risk of exclusivism, miscommunication, hostility, and war... of losing life itself?..."
...
(Joel) "...Okay, but think about another problem in language.. and that is... if, when brought together, it becomes too small... the situation is just as tragic. Yes learning a different language or different words can enhance your life... but a smaller and smaller vocabulary does so much more than a smaller life?
...
The more I think about it the more I'm convinced that the language a person uses is a trap to actually limit the way they look at the world. And what if the only words you know were taught to you were in a literature of hate, hostility, and an us vs them mentality then how could it be possible to step outside of it? The book I just finished reading talks about how refugees in the Middle-East were only ever taught one thing... a very strict and intolerant version of the Koran called Wahhabism... and suddenly the only way you will relate to the world is by hostility and fanaticism..."

WINNER?

In the Depth of Winter...

... I learned that in my heart I had an unconquerable summer. - Albert Camus

Information previously unprovided... I think... our rink is not really a rink but three walls and half a roof. (Kind of ironic that our major sponsor is a construction company). Boring practices see us trying to see if we can flip pucks out of the rink onto the roof... Really boring practices see us trying to shoot the puck over the mesh and into the car park...
..When it rains the ice is so foggy you can't see the net from the blueline and we have to run an industrial fan between whistles to clear it all out... But when it winters... now... THAT... is an entirely different sort of animal..
Our rink has now become colder than the city rinks we used to play on in Atom and Peewee back in Regina. The ones with the boards that had slightly less give than reinforced concrete, heaven forbid you get bodychecked into one. The ones that had the morning practices in Mini-mites and my mom would put my undergear in the dryer so I could be warm for the first 15 minutes of practice.
I'm wearing double undergear... some guys wear sweaters... One guy on our team actually resized his practice helmet so he could fit a toque in it...
And it will be colder still.. so the forecasts say...
Good thing my Dad is hear right now... he says 'suck it up' cause 'in his day' he used to have to skate through 5 feet of snow uphill both ways carrying his hockey sticks and bag just to go to school... angry fans would throw snowballs at opposing players... and you had to shovel the rink by hand... with a spoon...

The Answer to Everything is 496...

I'm struggling not to catch the same thing that Danelle just got over. Soreness, cough, fever, extreme tiredness.. so as a North American... my pre-eminent North American strategy is a pre-emptive attack on the virus of mass destruction by just been sitting in bed, resting, and thinking healthy thoughts...
.. overall though I'm hooked on watching a show called 'The Elegant Universe' that tries to describe String Theory to the extremely... extremely... lay-person. As far as I can tell the story goes something like this:

1) Scientists have an idea how the universe works on the extremely large scale using the theory of gravity called 'General Relativity'.

2) And scientists have an idea of how the universe works on an extremely small scale (smaller than the atom) using the theories of electromagnetism, and small and weak nuclear forces, all under the heading of 'Quantum Mechanics'.

3) The problem is that these two sets of laws conflict and have yet to be joined together into one unified theory. A theory for everything. This theory is kind of important because it could explain, for example, black holes... and more importantly the Big Bang or worm holes. (How this theory actually jumps off the page and becomes more than merely being a bunch of numbers and letters on a page is still a mystery to me)

So the new idea is that there are things even smaller than the smallest particles that we see that is simply strands, or 'strings', of pure energy that vibrate at different frequencies... Finally solved with string theory... without anomalies... when both sides of the equation equalled 496...?... and just as a violin string vibrating at different frequencies produces different notes, so these energy strings vibrating at different frequencies produce all of the different particles in the universe.

And the unification of the two theories only came at the cost of 7 new dimensions, weightless particles, and parallel universes...

But the weirdest thing that I have to add on to this is from a writer JRR Tolkein. He was involved in a group that studied and wrote about ancient myths that could be found from around the world. The interesting part is that when it came time for him to reinterpret these old myths in his own book, he described the creation of the universe and everything in it as a song... that each part and each vibration made up and described the matter and form that the universe took... I'm sure he had nothing at all to do with string theory... but to even think about the universe along the same line of thought of vibrations, and getting that idea from reading ancient myths, is weird...