U2's 360 Tour: VanCity Show

Since I got my dad his U2 360 tour poster (that he bought at the concert) plaqued for Christmas, I figured that I should finally post this entry. I've been meaning to ever since I got back from the concert! Enjoy:

My dad (far right) looks like The Edge plus glasses in this photo!

Yes it's true, I was very fortunate to attend the U2 concert last Wednesday (That's how long I've held off publishing this blog; the concert was October 28th)! Let me tell you that it was UNREAL! I probably shouldn't try to describe it in words because it would not do the concert justice. The Black Eyed Peas opened up, which was quite strange considering their genre difference. But they performed amazing and our crew (consisting of my bro, cousin, and sis; photo below) were the only ones up and dancing in our section. 'Meet Me Halfway' was defs one of the best songs they played. 'Where is the Love?' was also stellar (as always) and it got people finally going too! They closed with 'I Gotta Feeling' and it set the pumped-up mood for U2's set! It was during the intermission between bands when I found out I was sitting beside the top field manager for all of the Western Canadian Boston Pizzas! With him was the manager of the Pembina Boston Pizza here in Winnipeg! It turns out that this concert was his 13th U2 concert that he's been too (I can't exactly remember the number, but it was shocking)!! So, after talking about random Winnipeg things for about 5 mins, I scored a free pizza and soft drink coupon (coo-pon, not cue-pon!) for BP!

I was overwhelmed with excitement as the lights went down and the show was about to begin! I must have had chills during each song. U2's performance and the effects from their amazing "claw" stage just blew me away! It was just phenomenal. They went through their newest album No Line On the Horizon, while playing some of their well known favourites from U218 Singles as well. Here are some very interesting facts about the stage that they used:

It's dubbed "The Claw" and was dreamed up over dinner in 2006 with a model built using forks. It has a spaceship-like design and has four leg-like steel structures with a massive video screen suspended, looming in the middle. The total weight is around 54 tons and is 27 metres tall with the central spire extending another 22 metres! The stage was built from scratch at a reported cost of $30 mill! It takes four days to set up, so to keep the tour moving, three versions of the stage travelled across North America ahead of U2! The video screen itself weighs 48 tons and is made up of 888 LED smaller screen segments which open up/spread apart vertically to cover 14,000 square feet (it grows to seven stories). Each side of the stage has its own full-sized sound system, with more than 450 hidden speaker cabinets. There are two rotating bridges that connect the main inner circular stage to the surrounding circular catwalk and between 5,000 and 6,000 fans are able to watch the show from inside that space. There are hundreds of lights everywhere (and a lightning-arresting disco ball, whatever that means) and three spotlight operators per leg that follow the band in 360-degree rotatable followspot chairs. The show also uses 47 smoke and haze machines.

So this concert was ridiculous! To sum it up, this stage was off-the-hook which resulted in an off-the-hook show! Take a look at this time lapse video displaying the setting-up of the stage!



What a great night! One to remember, for sure!

Here is the fam dance crew who danced the night away!

MERRY Christmas!

Life Lesson: Enjoy the atmosphere and every aspect of Christmas, one of the most precious times of the year!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. It it strange how quickly this Christmas eve/day has snuck up! Yes, I am still up at 3am as I have finished wrapping the special gifts I got for my fam. We now have all 6 Goossens back at home for the holiday, and it's lovely.

As I was wrapping my gifts I of course listened to Sufjan Stevens': Songs for Christmas. It's a classic, but I just realized it actually consists of 5 EPs and I only have 15 of the 42 songs (iTunes is handy)! I must find those missing frolicking folk Christmas tunes fast!

We got an early family present this year. It is, to my delight, a ping pong table which was shipped all the way from Germany! It was complicated to assemble, but Josh Dyck and I figured it out and together we conquered the beast (vlog to come!). That night I got an unexpected call around 10:30 and a couple of friends shockingly showed up to engage in some activities. Good thing we just set-up the ping pong table! I'm still undefeated after numerous matches with family and friends. Would anyone dare challenge me? After our little tourney, we had a chill, relaxing game of Settlers of Catan that went till 2am (I must be at 5 consecutive nights going to bed past 2am... I'm tired). By the end of the game we were all exhausted, resulting in us being giddy, therefore we laughed at pretty much anything... good times!

p.s. My dad has actually submitted a bid for my Ping Pong Champ title, and he scheduled the title match for today, Christmas day. I better get some sleep... so to ALL, a GOOD NIGHT!

p.p.s. Remember, Christ is Come!

C'EST FINI! Now Let's Party, Party

My chapter at Providence College has come to an end this year (not necessarily for good tho...). Playing soccer is one of my most favourite things in the world and I had the chance to do so at Prov and I am so grateful; I can't express it enough! Each and every teammate influenced me in a positive way and I had a great time on road trips laughin' my head off and playing my fave sport. Wow, my whole time at the college was quite the fun experience, maybe minus the zoned out 40 minute drives back and forth from the school, but whatevs it was well worth it! My exams went decently well and now I'm just super stress free and loving it (except I have to register for UofM!). I also have time to do whatever I want! So now it is time to party, party.

Speakin' of Party, Party, this is the title of a certain spectacular song by the best man (stage name: Saint Kristoffer) at the wedding I went to last night! It was played twice on the dance floor and the reactions each time it began were priceless. I totally recommend the song and in fact, you can download it right here! Patti Parker & Graham Bodnar's big day was such a blast to be a part of! We all danced up a storm, it was UNREAL (especially seeing Graham rap to Vanilla Ice)! Cheers to everybody who set up that special day!

Now, I must start a new career of sport. Yes, I am starting to play Sponge Hockey tonight!!! I'm excited and I actually have to leave right now to get the special shoes to play in! Also, tomorrow is a highly anticipated bingo night (it has been forever since we've played) in honour of Josh Dyck who has returned to these parts for Christmas! Come out to Regent Casino at 10pm on Monday night! It'll be a blast.

Wrap Your Mind Around THIS!

K, so I am "studying" for my last exam right now! Hooray! Well, not really.... you see, this class I'm studying for is Intro to Philosophy and my professor, who is awesome because he's Dutch (if you ain't dutch, you ain't much), Dr. Hendrik van der Breggen is outrageously intellectual and there is no doubt that he is the smartest man I have ever met. I just finished my final essay for this class two hours ago and that only leaves me these wee hours of this morning to study for the exam! However, how am I supposed to study when I have to study this?:

Eternal counter argument:

Assume there is a beginningless series that ends in the present.
If we can prove that this isn’t the case then we can conclude the universe began to exist.
It’s possible then that an eternal counter ends his/her/its count, …-3,-2,-1,0 at the present moment,
But the eternal counter would have finished yesterday (since the beginningless series would have ended yesterday).
Thus, the eternal counter is forever in the past not counting.
Thus, the eternal counter counts forever in the past and not forever in the past.
Thus, the above assumption is false too (via reductio as absurdum).

Bottomless pit argument:

Jumping out of a bottomless pit is not possible.
Traversing an infinite past is not possible too.
Infinite past… today.
Infinite pit… standing at edge of pit.
Jumping out of bottomless pit isn’t possible.
Therefore traversing an infinite past isn’t possible... Because just as the fact that you jumped out of a pit shows it wasn’t bottomless, so too the fact we’re at the present shows the past isn’t infinite.
~~~
Ya... it's crazy talk. UNREAL! But awesome at the same time!

30 Rock: Secret Santa

I know I said I was going to be taking a break from blogging, but I couldn't help myself!! I've finished one exam and it went decently well! So I decided to take a break from studying for tomorrow's exam and watch an episode of 30 Rock (an amazing/hilarious show)! I thought I'd post the link so that you can laugh as hard as I did. One of the best so far this season for sure! Enjoy: 30 Rock: Secret Santa

Leave of Absence

Well, here we go! It's exam week and I've procrastinated again (no surprise there) until this week to study. So don't expect to see me in the next week. I'll sadly also have to pause blogging during this time. Hermitville, here I come!

p.s. Remember that U2 concert blog I promised? ...Yeaaaaahhh, I'm hopin' to get on that (after exams).

The Fall Effect

It was a long time ago and it's weird looking back on it, but back in my last year of high-school I was in a pop rock band. Yes, it's true. I used to have grandiose dreams of making it big as a drummer or a successful musician (I actually still dream of this...). My long-time bud Cody and I formed the band, acquired two others and gave ourselves the name Audio Ascend (cheesy, I know, but it was mentioned and we went with it). We then added a fifth member the summer after we graduated and it sort of went downhill from there (Check out my facebook notes. I believe the first note I wrote was about the splitting-up of our band). I went off to Europe, Cody went of to B.C., and our fifth addition went off trying to control everything... I'll leave it at that (don't worry, I'm over it). Once I was gone in Europe the remaining members came up with the title The Fall Effect for our band (which I did not like at all really). Our myspace is actually still accessible believe it or not; so check out my short-lived band experience at: www.myspace.com/thefalleffect

P.s. There may be a Goossen family band in the making, just wait and see. In the meantime I am always down to jam and really want to put together a music project with some people. We'll see what happens.

Check out this clip from our live concert in Matlock, MB way back when:

Scotty!!

Yesterday at the Providence v Red River Men's Volleyball game, I made a ridiculous literal name-calling mistake. I thought one of the guys on the Prov team was named Scott, so when he got a kill I yelled out: "Good hit, Scotty!" I was so sure his name was Scott, that I called him Scotty. His actual name is Delmer, and wow, I got that very wrong. I think I went three and a half sets of calling him Scotty. When I realized that I was calling Delmer - Scott the whole game, I could not believe the two guys beside me didn't tell me! Thanks Mike and Joel (...NOT). It's bad because I know Delmer (a little bit... ya no, we're just acquaintances) and I hope he didn't know I was calling him Scotty. Actually, the worst part about this little dilemma is that Scott, who I thought was Delmer, is not named Scott at all. His name is Steve. IDIOT. I swear Steve kinda looks like Delmer. Good thing Steve is really on the Volleyball team, or I'd be a total idiot; he just wasn't there that game. Maybe I was calling Delmer - Scott and thinking Steve was Scott because I was overall thinking of Scott Masterson, who is the athletic director for Prov. Though that doesn't make much sense because he wouldn't be playing on the team anyway! And even though Steve and Delmer look kind of a like (at least I think so), Scott doesn't look like either of them but kinda has the same hair as Paul instead! So really, I should have been calling Paul - Scotty! This is confusing, I know, but just think it over and it should make some sense.

Anyways, a bunch of us had a good laugh about it last night at the Kings Head. Today however, I experienced a little bit of Karma from last night's name-calling pickle. I was at Safeway picking up a turkey for a Super Seven event (you may hear about this later) and when I got to the register I told the cashier my phone number like always. She punched in the number wrong and because of this, called me the wrong name when I turned to leave. She said, "Have a good night Mr. Peter." I didn't correct her, I went on my way and gave a little chuckle just thinking about it (I love the thought of having an alias). When I got home I checked the receipt and it said Posey Peter on it as the name of the customer! Now that's quite the name and I guess it serves me right considering my own mis-namings from yesterday.

The Leafs Aren't Falling Yet

My beloved Maple Leafs are making a surging come back. Even though they are in second last place, they are starting to play like a team and I think the motivation is coming from the newcomer: Phil Kessel. He has been on a tear lately with four goals in his last four games and ten goals in his injury postponing start to the season. The Leafs just have a tough time finishing games! They have the potential to beat the best teams; they just need to find the passion to want the win! Well, at least they're only one point back on the Ducks (Malech's fave team), it's a start. I predict that the Leafs will snag the eighth playoff spot this year, MARK MY WORDS! I will stick with my team no matter what, I don't care what you haters say; I'm very loyal to my Buds. Also, Jason Blake finally stepped up tonight! Both Kessel and Blake scored two goals to propel the Leafs ahead of Columbus in a 6-3 victory, check out these sweeeeet highlights (if you're into hockey):

The Hawks Prevail

Yes, on Monday I relived my high school volleyball experience through this year's MBCI Hawks varsity boy's team. Although, they are the ones that made it and won in the provincial finals (we lost in the semis and the quarters in my varsity career)! Before the game, the school provided ~600 red t-shirts that said MBCI HAWKS on them. What a great idea. Since I am a proud alumnus of the school with school spirit, I gratefully received the shirt and frantically waved it around like a towel after every point the Hawks scored. Did you know that teams who wear red have a better winning percentage than any other colour and are more likely to win? It's a scientific fact. Too bad Liverpool isn't living up to this (and yes, I did sport my red Crouch Liverpool jersey during the game).

Anyways, this provincial final was UNREAL and the first two sets were a testament to that as the Hawks dominated. It looked like they were going to sweep in three. Dakota got lucky in the third set and milked the momentum to win easily in the fourth. The fifth set was unbelievable! The Hawks shot out to a 8-2 lead to switch sides! It was so exciting; I can't get over it just thinking about it (also, I was very nervous during the game... it was weird... but awesome). The 5th set ended at 15-9 and everyone rushed the floor like Massari (remember summer '06?)! The game was one of the best I've ever seen at a high school level. I still wish I stormed the floor after they won (I was going to if they would have won in three sets; I was so ready to). I've always wanted to do that! I decided against it since I don't actually go to the school anymore. As my bud Malech said, "MBCI is the only school where the alumni still believe that they are on the team."

Here are some picks from my bud Froese and his fancy cam (by the way, he sported a Friedrichshafen Vball jersey at the game. He rep'd the German team well):

(above) This boy can jump to the moon. It's Evan Jackson serving.
(below) In victory, fans RUSH the floor!

Royal Canoe + Winter Gloves = An Unreal Dance Party

So yesterday I had a hidden gem of a night. I didn't know that I would be dancin' and rockin' out so much at this concert which was at a small pub here in Winnipeg called Lo Pub. It's literally connected to Winnipeg's only hostel which is named Hi Hostel... get it? At least, I think it's Winnipeg's only hostel, don't quote me on that. Anyways, I went to this concert with Eric Sung (the remaining third of Sung Knows that didn't accompany our crew that went to see Lights) and his friend. Royal Canoe was playing and they have this fun pop rock sound with some electronica style to them. Eric showed them to me a while ago back on the night of my bday bash and I fell in love with their music ever since. The lead singer and bassist are involved with The Waking Eyes as well (excellent band). Before we got to Lo Pub we were trying to get our buddy Malech to join but due to some inconvenience he was not able to leave his household. After much convincing throughout the night and during Royal Canoe's set he finally agreed to come out (because he knew it was the right thing to do) and made it for the last song of the set. I didn't know that the second band was even playing last night until I got there, and I'm very happy that this band did. Their name is Winter Gloves and they hail from Montreal (I love bands from there i.e. Sam Roberts Band, Stars, The Stills, etc.) They did awesome, everyone was lovin' the electronica vibes they were pounding out. I'm surprised how calmly and easily they continued with one of their songs even though there was a small power outage on the stage that shut all the equipment down! They continued the song with the vibraphone and had everybody hum and clap. Very smoothly dealt with. By the end of their set they started giving away free EPs and I managed to quickly snatch the one that flew towards us before Eric did (don't worry, I'm going to lend it to him). What a good concert. I strongly encourage you to check these two bands out!

LIGHTS Vlog!!!

SO, I took a page out of Sung Knows' book and this is what I came up with. Last Thursday, Cam, Jill, Jen, and I hit up downtown and attended the Lights concert at the Garrick (having dinner before hand at Jen's thanks to Jesse and Jen! I figured everybody else mentioned this in their blog, so I don't want to look ungrateful by not adding it)! When we arrived in line, Cam and I went back to get my camera and saw that the back alley door was open to the backstage. We saw fluorescent purple light coming from it so we decided to check it out! We looked inside and knew that we could sneak in a probably catch a glimpse or even meet Lights! We decided not to then went back to the line. We decided to check the back door again but when we rounded the corner a massive Shrek looking body guard was planted in front of it (we turned right back around).
The show began and Lights was awesome despite some technical sound problems at the beginning probably due to Dwight Shrute being the sound guy (you'll see, too bad there's not a close up on him). She blew the crowd away with her soothing keyboard/acoustic guitar abilities and her resounding vocals (not to mention that she is really attractive... especially live). Here's the summary of the night wrapped up with some raw footage. Bear with the cheesy editing!

(above) In the line up one of the Rogers ladies with a creepy French accent took this picture of us. She literally kept talking to us for maybe a little more than 5 mins straight.
(below) A picture I let some teeny bopper take of us with my camera while we were line for the concert.

Florida Follies

We won our region easily a few weeks ago down in Minneapolis. This gave us the opportunity to head down to Florida for NATIONALS! It was an awesome time and if I went into detail this entry would easily be my longest. Anyways, to make a long story much shorter (if I would have said the usual saying it would have been hardcore cliche), we went down ranked as 1st (plus we were the only Canadian team) and came out of the tournament 4th. Not bad, considering we represent a school of ~400 students and lost to Southeastern University which has 3500! Plus we just got run down by them because they used 4 subs a minute, I swear! Soccer is like fast break basketball to those Floridans. We had no chance to get out of our defensive end and build up an attack. In the third place game we hit about 4 posts and missed a penalty kick, then fell a part and lost in the second half! So we should have really gotten 3rd. Whatevs, I don't want to get worked up about our losses, so I'll move on.

It felt like we were down there for ages, especially since we had a couple days to kick back and relax when we arrived. OH, funny story: when we (the last group - Freshmen) arrived in the Orlando airport, some guy on the PA decided to be hilarious for 5 seconds. He came on with a high squeaky voice and then proceeded to say, "Hello, hello... 1,2,3, penis; 1,2,3, penis..." in a quick sneaky voice. That's all that came from the PA and everyone was stunned, but then of course we burst out in laughter. It was unreal.

Since we lost on Saturday in the Semis, we had Sunday to relax and do whatever we felt like. I had the privilege to head out to Universal Studios with my fam (check out my pictures on my facebook, we had some fun with the T-Rex in the Jurassic Park area). All the rides were awesome, there were no line-ups and it was a sunny beautiful day!! That's the best.

Tuesday we came back and I had a serious spillage incident on the plane. It was ridiculous. Here's how it went: I had just poured my recently received orange juice and was holding it trying to pull down the window shutter. It would not budge so I put a little bit of extra force into pushing it... all of a sudden it gave way with a jolt, resulting in me jolting as well. My whole glass of orange juice ended up on my lap, my shirt, and my seat. Who knew one glass could soak one half of your boxers, half your shirt, half your sweats, and your seat! What's worse is that the flight attendant asked me if I needed a blanket to sit on... I thankfully accepted. How embarrassing! Good thing my friend lent me some clothes.

~~~ Vlog time:

Since the Freshmen had a lay over in Minneapolis for ~12 hours a bunch of us decided to hit up the Mall of America. We hopped on the train at the airport and arrived in under 10 mins, it was very convenient. We ate some McDons for breakfast and some Chipotle for lunch! Here's a fact for all you Chipotle lovers: I now appreciate Chipotle after eating it for the second time. Now that's a life lesson; if at first you don't succeed, try, try again (talk about cliche, plus I'm not even entirely sure if it fits my example... meh, sure it does). And here's a little snippet of the day's events, Thom and I had a mini Lego soap box derby; check it:

P.s. Wow, this might actually be my longest entry.
P.S.S. If you get this far in reading this entry, MY LIGHTS CONCERT VLOG AIRS TOMORROW!! Stay tuned...

A Spurs Spectacular Slaughter

Wow, and I mean WOW! There was a beautiful soccer game on today. I feel sorry for any Wigan fans out there because they got stomped on by Tottenham. This was one of the finest and most exciting games that I have seen in some time. The score finally settled at 9-1 and every one of Tottenham's goals were stunning. Wigan's goal was disgusting though as it was clearly a handball as the player trapped it with his arm in the box (when will there be video replay in soccer!). Seriously, I think the reason why there is no video replay is because therefore games cannot be rigged. It's sad but it may be at least partially true (conspiracy theory!!!!!).

Anyways, enjoy these magnificent highlights (my boy Peter Crouch scores the first goal)!

Flippin' Busy

Alright, I feel like I haven't blogged in forevs!!! It's true though, and I still need to post those entries that I promised. I'll get on that a.s.a.p. So here's the line up that I'll hopefully post quickly once I've finished with this dang 8 page paper that's supposed to be due today:

1. U2 CONCERT
2. End of the Prov Soccer Season: Nationals in FLORIDA
3. Universal Studios in FLORIDA with my fam minus my sisterz
4. Lights Concert TONIGHT!!! W/ Cam, Jen, and Jill

p.s. It's weird not playing soccer anymore.

Happy BDAY Sung!

I just want to shout out to Eric Sung tonight! He had quite the birthday party tonight. I had an awesome time. It's nice to see new faces from time to time, it gives a fresh atmosphere for a party. I also want to say thanks to Cam a.k.a. BOSS and Jen a.k.a. JP for lettin' me be in the SungKnows Bday vid for Sung himself! Good times. Here's the link to their slick blog: SUNG KNOWS

P.s. I'M GOING TO FLORIDA FOR SOCCER NATIONALS ON MONDAY NIGHT! For one weeeeeek too! I'm so pumped... FLO-RID-AHHHH!

Glimpse of What's to Come

K, so I've been pretty busy lately with soccer, school, and travelling. Therefore I haven't been able to blog as much as I would like to! So I'll give you a taste of what I want to blog about. Here it is:

1. MY U2 CONCERT! It was unbelievable, I'll talk more about it soon.
2. My Soccer Regional finals in Minneapolis this past weekend.
3. Hmmm, I'll think about this one. So I pretty much just have those two things to tell you about right now.

P.s. Right now I'm working on my presentation for my Popular Music and Culture class. I'm presenting on the Montreal based band STARS! One of my faves. This is the song I'm doin':

Gold Guns Girls

One of my favourite bands is Toronto's own METRIC! I was procrastinating from studying for my exam tomorrow (like always; my first ever blog entry was about procrastination) and came across these sweet songs/videos on Metric's website. They're releasing an acoustic EP with a couple of their songs from their latest album Fantasies this Tuesday (check it out). They're actually here in Winnipeg this next Wednesday the 28th if you want an amazing concert to see. I went back in December of last year and it was an awesome time. Too bad I can't go... 'cause I'm seeing U2 in Vancouver on Wednesday!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!

Anyways, check it out:
p.s. You can download the Gold Guns Girls acoustic song on the website!

Silver Jet Findings

So my silver jet (VW Jetta Wagon) is messed up. About two weeks ago it was in the shop because of the stupid catalytic converter. A new one was installed not too long ago when the old one actually broke in half. Thank God the old one was still under warranty from last time! I started to notice that something was wrong with the car when a strange loud noise would come from the engine when I accelerated. I initially thought that there was a hole in the exhaust pipe or something and that it was gradually getting bigger due to the engine gradually getting louder each day. So eventually my car was frickin' loud when I accelerated. I loved it (well not really). I didn't drive it that much that week, but when I drove it to the shop I got strange looks due to the unnecessary noise. It was like I put on a massive muffler to make it sound super loud, and I drive a Jetta Wagon!! Hilarious, I literally was laughing all alone in my car while driving.

This past week after getting my car back I noticed that the dashboard indicators were blinking on and off while I drove. The cruise control cut out and the radio crashed as well. Now the car's electrical wiring must be fried and the alternator is whack. Man, I hate car troubles.

On another Silver Jetta finding note:

I have not done a Life Lesson in a very long time so here it is...

Life Lesson: Always keep in mind where you left your passport.

Yeah, I thought I lost my passport. It was Thursday the 8th of October and I was on my way out to Prov for school when I realized I didn't pack my passport for our Minneapolis departure that afternoon. I went to get it (where I always put it) and to my severe disappointment it was not there. I instantly was shocked, I then ran downstairs and checked my backpack... it was gone... I FREAKED OUT! I ended up missing my class that morning because I stayed home to search immensely for my passport! An hour later I was certain it wasn't in my house. I constantly was texting my teammates to see if they found it from our trip the week before... no luck. Now, my car was getting fixed at this point so I called and asked if they would check for my passport... no luck. I was exasperated, I finally felt the need to check for myself. I drove down there and prayed that it would appear. I leaned into the passenger side and found it at first sight! Thank you Lord. It was in that stupid tight space between the driver's seat and the armrest. It must of fell out of my track pants while driving home (or maybe God did make it appear out of nowhere; that would be awesome). I was relieved, I was able to go to the States and play some soccer and also visit my newly married bud Thom! So there you go, always know where your passport is.

Pulled One Back

I pulled within one goal of Tory today in our scoring contest, it is now at 3-2 for him. I'll take you through the action: It was our free kick and it was floated in past everyone and stopped at the far post by our midfielder. I was all alone in the middle of the box and yelled for the ball. It worked, the ball arrived and I smoothly struck through it with my left foot and directed it into the right side of the net. GOAL! It felt good because a couple good friends were there to see it. Click this link to view some sweet shots from Dan Froese's camera, captured by Dan Froese himself. Thanks man!

Life Lesson: It feels good to score.

The Wiserhood

Right now I am supposed to be writing a media analysis on a sample of communication from traditional mass media to depict gender in some theoretical interesting way. I have decided to use a certain Molson Canadian commercial because of the various appealing stereotypical aspects it displays... blah blah, so on and so forth. However, I just wanted to give a shout out to this particular commercial that I considered using and it definitely has become one of my favourites. It's the Gerry Dee Wiser's ad. First of all he's a funny guy and secondly he's in an awesome whiskey ad! What more could you ask for? Check it out:

Who Won?

If you haven't forgotten, you're probably wondering who won that competition between my Providence soccer defensive partner/captain and I. Well the story goes a little somethin' like this:

It was a chilly day on the Saturday of our birth date. We were playing our arch rival CMU and we needed to pull out a convincing victory to support our #1 ranking in the NCCAA. The first half was a mediocre one on our part and it was tied 1-1 at the break. The second half we pulled together and dominantly controlled the possession. We won a corner and it was his turn to go in and attempt to score. Before he ran in I told him, "This is yours, you're going to score!" That was a mistake. The ball was partially cleared and then crossed back in by our other central defender. My competitor read it well and precisely volleyed it past the CMU keeper! It turned out to be the winning goal of the game and it must of been a satisfying birthday present as well... lucky. Therefore we were tied one goal a piece.

The competition wasn't over however; the next day was the last game of our wager and we played St. Boniface College. The first half we jumped ahead convincingly and finished it with the score 6-0. The second half our coach decided to rest me but strangely kept my competitor on... not good. Midway through the half there was a foul against us in the box! I was relieved to see one of our midfielders stepping up to take the penalty kick. Suddenly there was a commotion and my competitor was pleading to take the kick. This would for sure secure the victory for him! I was outraged and stood on the side lines helplessly. He of course won the opportunity to take it and barely finished his chance from the spot. I say barely because it was right beside the keeper and he didn't even try to save it. Unreal, I was quite bitter! What's worse is that for his celebration he came running up to me and said something like, "It's over, I win." I pleaded our coach to put me on as striker so I could level the score. For a moment I thought it was going to become a reality but instead he laughed and I was left to sulk on the bench. To make matters worse, my competitor pushed up offensively one more time and scored on an isolated header (I make it sound like they were easy goals because 1) they were; and 2) I lost the wager).

So there you have it, I lost 3-1 and therefore owe him a bday pint. I like to think that I was the motivating reason for his scoring success. So now it is a season competition and we play Steinbach this week (18-2 remember?)... and my competitor can't make the game! Let's hope I've got my hat-trick boots on for Thursday.

Awaiting My Spurs Kit

For a bday present I was told to order my favourite player's new Tottenham Hotspur Away Jersey (I'm talking about Crouch of course)! However, I must wait till they have more larges :( So I haven't ordered it yet but I will hopefully soon!
Check it:

Mens L/S Away Shirt 09/10

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Walmart Woes

Before floor hockey at McIvor Church this last Monday I needed to go out and buy a decent hockey stick for the upcoming season. I mainly needed to buy one because I had forgotten my beloved junior JOFA at home, but I think it is time to move on (it is literally half my size and I need to upgrade to a more suitable sized one {that's what she said...}). Anyways, my bud Andrew and I went to the closest store to buy the hockey stick and we ended up at Walmart. As we walked to the front doors an hilarious event happened to occur at that very moment. Two little pudgy kids (a sister and brother) were racing to their van. The sister won the race so she straight up said to her brother "HA, I win fatty!". A short burst of laughter came out of me. It was unreal, like it was in a movie.

We got to the sporting goods section and the hockey stick prices ranged from $6.00 to frickin' $48.73 (estimate). Of course I went for one of the cheapest sticks. I picked out the Orange Joe Sakic Easton Magnum. Right on! I nicknamed it the Dutch Magnum because of its colour... and my heritage. We got to the check-out 5 mins before our hockey started and we ended up waiting 10 mins because the stick didn't have a price tag! Oh Walmart. Whatever, I finally paid the $20.01 and then we were off to McIvor to play.

As I was waiting on the side to sub-in I looked down at my hands and noticed that they were stained orange. Weird. I then looked at my shirt and it had streaks of orange on it too. NO! My hockey stick was shedding its colour off! I couldn't believe it, I was disappointed with my Dutch Magnum. I didn't even play well with it. As Andrew and I exited the gym after the game, I looked down at the gym floor and there again were the dreaded streaks of orange! Wow, my stick definitely left its mark in that gym. Oops, I guess I got what I paid cheaply for. Next time I'll bring both my JOFA and Dutch Magnum and compare the two during game play. Sounds like a plan.

Manhattan Upset

We came back from our Kansas road trip with grins of glory on our faces! We went down knowing that our first game against Manhattan Christian College (Ranked #1 in the league) was going to be one tough match. Especially since there was history between our two teams; we lost in the National Final last year to them (though I wasn't there for that). I had no clue as to what this team was like so I went in to play with no expectations of an outcome. I think that helped me play hard and strong against this praised Manhattan team. We dominated the first half by getting to every single ball first and winning the one on one battles on the flanks. Our hard work finally paid off and we scored midway through the second half. Here's how it happened: I pinched in to retrieve a clearance from their defence; their defender came out to challenge and anticipated a pass to the outside... nope (I actually heard him say "Oh no..." as I passed him), I cut into the middle and opened up for a shot. Their sweeper stood in my way so I decided to hit it to the centre of the 18 yard box. That's where Mario was patiently waiting (They appealed for offside but there was no way, their far defender kept him on by a mile). He took a touch and fired but it was stopped by the keeper. He bobbled and lost it though! Their right-back attempted to clear the ball but he fanned on the kick and it rolled back into their own net! That's right, the scoring drive began with me (I'm not cocky about it, I just love to make that known). Though I don't believe I get an assist because they considered it an own goal.

Anyways, here are some horrible video highlights from our game (at least there are highlights)! There's a perfect angle of me getting tripped up after I side step a guy with the ball. He probably couldn't bear being beaten by a lanky defender (I'm #14 by the way). Also, it's too bad that they didn't catch the goal on tape! I hope my description displayed a beautiful substitute video replay in your minds. Manhattan is in the white kits and we're in the blues. Enjoy!

18-2

Have you ever seen the score 18-2 in a soccer game before? Well it happened on Saturday. We (Providence College) beat a team by that score. Unreal! It felt really bad to beat a team by that much. I know what you're thinking, why would you run up the score? Well first of all, goal differential is key for our leagues (NCCAA & MCAC) and second, we are not going to purposely miss an open chance for a goal. It would look worse for someone to pass up shooting at the open net than finishing the opportunity (at least I think it would be). I can't believe the other team's great attitudes during and after the game too! They didn't play dirty and weren't complaining at all. Now that's amazing sportsmanship and is very classy. Each time we scored I hung my head and jogged back to our half. I mean, I scored without trying to score or even shoot for that matter. I'll explain the situation: The ball was near the corner flag and since I play defence I ran up to support our midfielder. He rolled the ball back towards me and I one time lobbed it into the box for one of our strikers to head the ball. Well, the striker missed and my cross bounced a couple of times then trickled into the net. Don't worry, I didn't celebrate the goal. Of course it felt good because a goal's a goal, but you just don't celebrate those kinds of goals! However, I am one goal up on Tory (my defensive colleague) for our scoring contest. We alternate going in for free kicks and corners and see who can get the most goals till after the game on our shared birthday (Oct. 3rd). The loser buys the winner a pint of beer or some jr. chickens from McDons. I'm probs gonna win...

We leave for KANSAS tomorrow! Shall be a grand road trip.

Reminiscence

Life Lesson: Reminisce about your fun times more. Even though it may seem like you're just thinking or talking about the better times from your past it still feels awesome to share them and reflect on them. I have the best laughing sessions when I reminisce with friends, it's awesome.

I was lookin' back at my videos on my computer and came across one that I had made with my good friend Thomas. We made this vid about a year and a bit ago for Laura, who is now Thomas' wife (hooray/who would have thought it at the time)! Bear with the video because it is decently long, 9 mins in fact. So I really don't expect you to watch the full clip, but you can if you want to! I can't believe how long Thomas' hair is too. Wait... I just watched the video and it appears it may have been for our friends down in California. Whatevs, it's a shout out to all the people who wish to see a part of my neighbourhood and also both Thomas and I! Enjoy.

Wha?? Plus Phoenix

There needs to be an explanation. Why does my hit counter say 11,905!? Either someone is awesome and looked at my blog 10,000 times or something is wrong with the free counter gadget. Please let it be the first reason. Whatevs, it makes me look like I'm popular... YES (If you're wondering, I had no hand in this, I am truly shocked)! So come forward if you're the culprit... or even the hero.

~~~

By the way, PHOENIX is sweeping the nation with their melodious tunes and desirable dancing beats. Check 'em out 'cause they're definitely one of my new favourite bands! I just wanna dance when I hear their French addictive vibe.

Phoenix's Main Page
Phoenix's Myspace

Phoenix - 1901 live from wearephoenix on Vimeo.

Training Camp Closure

I'm relieved to say that I made the Prov Men's Soccer team! I mean, I told mostly everybody that I was going there to play soccer and it would really be embarrassing if I didn't even make the team. But I did, and really only one out of all the guys that tried out was let go (he actually wasn't cut but realized that the level of play wasn't for him). Training camp finished on labour day and I was very sore from the whole weekend. During the camp, we were expected to run 5km in under 22 mins, and we did on Monday afternoon. I don't know if you remember, but It was ridiculously hot that day and I literally almost collapsed. I figured that since I had run a 10km in 51 mins before without training (I ran in indoor soccer shoes too) that this 5km would be easy... nope. It's brutal when you reach the weary stage and you want to stop but you shouldn't, and you push through it to the end. Plus you hear your constant heavy breathing which mentally tires you as well. Yes, it sounds like I hate running and you're right, I do. Soccer is my running. I cannot bring myself to go running just for the heck of it. Meh, oh well, I finished the run in 21 minutes and 08 seconds... YES! Completed and finished with. On another note, I'm also pumped to get a new bag and a track suit. We got fitted today; I'm very excited for this fast approaching season!
Our first game is Sunday at 3pm at Providence, so be there or be square or maybe just uncool. We're playing CMU and apparently they're our rival school so you know it's gonna be a good game. My family is actually family friends with the President of CMU and when I said I didn't mind them, I got an earful from the team. I guess this rivalry is very much alive and is to be taken seriously. We'll see how the first game goes!

~~~

I just bought Jars Of Clay's recently new album: The Long Fall Back To Earth. Just lettin' you know that it's awesome. Man, they're one of those bands that just keep making solid music. Good on ya Jars Of Clay!

Fall Term Decision

This fall term I will be attend Providence College to play the beautiful game of football [soccer]. During my time at Prov Sports Camps this summer the staff would constantly rag on me (mostly Jesse) to come to the school. I wanted to play some college ball, so I caved in and am now at the training camp this weekend! I'm pretty excited for what this term will bring. Since Prov doesn't offer any sciences I will have to take 4 electives which I have not fully decided on. Meh, I'll figure it out. I applied pretty late, (like I always do, but I guess it was a last minute decision; unlike last year where I registered for my courses in Ontario during orientation at the UofM!) so the on-line registration has already closed. So Tuesday will be the day to register for courses, in person mind you, which sucks.
We've done a few training sessions already and wow, the mosquitoes and the heat are at their worst. That is the most brutal combination of conditions to play soccer in. Unreal. Although today was somewhat windy. We'll see how the rest of this training camp goes!

p.s. My dream of becoming a College Athlete is coming true! NBD.

Backyard Hedge Vball

I'm out in Oshawa with my mom's side of the family. It's nice to be on vacation with the family, especially when you get a kick out of your brother being stuck in a stranger's lawn.

U.S.A. Vacay Finale: Denver Airport Essentials

I don't know why I mostly whisper in this video! Probably because this man beside me was lookin' at me funny. Meh. Enjoy:

U.S.A Vacay Pt. 2: Poker, Time Elapsed Photography, and Parkouring

Well, last Wednesday night was a packed night as you could have guessed from the title of this entry! Yes, we did those three things in one night and it was a blast.
It originally was only going to be a guy's poker night but when we realised how boring the game had gotten we all went all-in to be finished (this part was actually quite fun, just going all-in blindly). We ended up with no winner at all because the dealer's 5 cards were higher than both of the player's two cards, so they tied! It still confuses me but I guess they have to play their 5 highest cards and since the five from the deck were the highest both player's had the same hand. Unreal.
It was around 10:00pm and we were all pretty tired, Danny then suggested we should take some sweet night shots with his new camera. Hecka sweet idea (okay, so Californians now say Hella to describe things; but my friend says Hecka, which sounds sweeter, and it's rubbing off on me). We all took out our cell phones and drew many scenes made possible by the time elapse option. The scenes included writing all our names, Kyle shooting out lightning from his hands, myself outlined with glowing whiteness, and Kyle riding an outline of a bicycle. It looks pretty awesome. Then the camera's battery died.
We needed something else to do. We had found this new energy from doing something different (the crazy photography). Parkouring (free-running) was mentioned and it was settled. Gary had glow sticks in his trunk, so he pulled those out and we of course utilized them. Game on, it was time to run free. There was this massive junior high school down the street and it was perfect for climbing. It was like a mini university campus! As we scampered around the grounds and gallivanted upon the roofs it felt like we were back in the prime of our childhood. We later on added an extra element to boost our fun. Remember the glow sticks? Well, we all adopted a member of the Power Rangers and pretended to fight the evil of the campus. Hilarious. Imagine 5 twenty year olds running around climbing on random things and yelling Power Ranger quotes. Ya, it was the best.
Looking back on that night, I can truly say, it was a great night. Spontaneous nights are always a good time.

Ellipse

Check out the bottom of my blog! Imogen Heap's new album Ellipse is almost released and I can't wait to buy it. But in the meantime give it a listen on my blog! Enjoy.

www.imogenheap.com

Bloom

We chilled at Bloom Coffee & Tea again, but this time I captured it on video! It's a pretty sweet place in Roseville, CA (in the video I say Rosemont and I don't know where I got that name from).

U.S.A Vacay Pt. 1.5: Lightning Ball

K, so today we played this AWESOME game Dave's cousin made up (I just met Dave today and he's SO intense, I love it). We were chillin' and reading in a sweet coffee shop, named Bloom Coffee & Tea, when Kyle's friend Dave walked in. We contemplated on what we were going to do in the afternoon and Dave of course brought up Lightning Ball! I'm defs bringing it back across the 49th parallel! This game gets really competitive and nerve-racking. It's just a fun time! Enjoy.
p.s. My Lightning Ball nickname is Canadian Thunder, CT for short. I took M.V.P. for the tournament... NBD.
~~~
Also, during my free time I'm recording and remixing a cover of Cold As Ice by Foreigner with my Modern Prophets buds (sickest rap group EVER)! It's going to be unreal.

U.S.A. Vacay Pt. 1 (Vlog)

Okay, here are some little snippets from my trip so far! Thomas and Laura's wedding was fantastic and such a blasty blast (Dane Cook). It was awesome to see and connect with some people whom I haven't seen since Bible School!
I'm right now chillin' in my friend's room in his ballin' house just outside of Sacramento. I'm really tired so I just threw all these clips together really fast; don't complain about there being no special effects/music to this vlog! Just accept and enjoy. Hopefully I'll keep filming little tidbits of fun during my time here in CALIFORNIA! ...So that I may share them with you. Bye for now.

T-Storms

Life Lesson: Do not be afraid of thunderstorms.

They are the most fascinating and maybe the most entertaining show of nature on earth. Lightning is absolutely jaw-dropping. I love it.

A humongous T-Storm rolled in tonight. Three buds of mine (Ryan, Josh, and Danielle) chilled for about an hour and enjoyed the super bright flashes of lightning all around us out in the fields of Oakbank (outside the city, and there was just lightning all over the horizon!). There is just something so exciting and suspenseful about intently watching and waiting for that massive crack in the sky and hearing the thunderous rumbling afterwards. Priceless.

Meandering Crouch

Peter Crouch has been my favourite soccer player for some time now. I first took him in as my football idol when he signed with Liverpool (my favourite team) back in '05. For those of you who don't know, Crouch is 6'7" and is a tank of lank. Now I'm defs not 6'7" but I believe I have the same playing style as this elegant player (well, he's not elegant when it comes to physical looks).

Here's a little side story: When I was in England for a school trip back in grade 12 I needed to buy a Liverpool kit [jersey]. London was the perfect place to purchase the prize. I picked up the Liverpool '07 home kit and my fellow peer bought a Chelsea home kit (gross). We then got our favourite player's pressed on, Crouch and Drogba. The most opposite strikers EVER! The clerk reacted normally after hearing Drogba but stared blankly at me when I wanted Peter Crouch imprinted on the back of mine. He asked, "Just tell me this, why Crouch?" I replied with a chuckle, "Because I have to, he's my favourite player." I am in fact wearing the jersey right now as I write this blog (It's beautiful). The next day, Liverpool played Arsenal at Anfield (Liverpool's home field) and Peter Crouch scored a natural HAT-TRICK! HA! Take that, soccer shop clerk! Anyways, that kit was the first of many I have collected throughout my travels of Europe.

On another note, Crouch has been making his way around the Premier League and I have made it my goal to collect every single team's kit he puts on. Last year I ordered a sweet long sleeved Portsmouth third kit (so nice). Now he has been transferred over to Tottenham and now I'm able to purchase some Spurs gear! Hopefully he can dominate this season with his new team! The Barclay's Premiership season is right on the horizon and I'm stoked!

Here are just a couple of reasons why Peter Crouch is my football hero/idol:

Magnificent Milestone

WOOOHOOOO! We did it! Pat yourselves on the back. My blog has just hit a magnificent milestone. Congrats [congratulations] to all of my audience. I will celebrate with one of those anniversary give aways that all those companies do. Whoever wishes to do so may redeem their imaginary voucher for a free hug from yours truly, Manuel. Enjoy!

p.s. I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW (Get Smart anyone? Steve Carell is the BEST!)!

Gettin' Thur

So I noticed that the hit count on my blog is slowly approaching the 1000 mark! YES! People are reading my thoughts. In order to get to that milestone quicker, how 'bout you take the time to click the refresh button for my blog a few times... JOKES! But seriously maybe a couple times. I would love to get to 1000 by the end of this week. It would boost my morale fo show [for sure]!

Mabes [maybe] just click on this link to get the process flowin':
www.mangoossen.blogspot.com

Cheers!

Scared The Bejesus Out Of...

Okay, so I'm sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I have just been having a blast over here at Providence Sports Camps. It's exhausting but it is totes [totally] worth it.
We just finished another Clue night and I am reminiscing on an event that happened during the game; hilarious... well, if you're me.

I was Mr. Green this week and my location was the dungeon with a lead pipe as my weapon. I prep'd [prepared] a cozy area and waited for the teams of campers to come solve the murder mystery. I'm wearing leprechaun pants, a puffy green coat, and a black curly wig. I'm not comfortable at all. I needed to move around to get some fresh air. Once the groups were done with my station, I decided to play some tricks on the campers and give them quite the fright (yes, I did just say that. Love that expression). Well, the floor above my dungeon is an old rickety wooden floor with a bunch of closets. I of course hid in one and waited for a team to come down from the highest floor. Yes... I heard the heavy footsteps and the creaking of wooden floorboards. Three girls turned the corner and were heading my way. They were discussing some miscellaneous subject and I waited until they were only a few feet away to make my move. Lead pipe in hand, I prepared my exit... I BURST out of the closet like a skeleton and shrieking suddenly pierced the wing! My job was done. I scared the bejesus out of these girls and I felt accomplished. Don't worry, I made sure they weren't traumatized. I ended up high-fiving them after, so it's cool. But ya... good times!

Gut Check

Wednesday night was the most amazing night. Gut Check brought the campers to the climax of the week and through their team work they solidified friendships and really gave it their all. Gut Check is a theme night event where all the staff dress up as army officers and guide the campers through a massive obstacle course around the entire campus! Such a good time. I happened to be stationed at the first leg of the course, so I witnessed the beginnings of a filthy, dirty, grimy test of endurance. The four teams, compiled of ninety students, had to stand in line and wait for their turn; the mosquitoes were relentless. Luckily, I kept spray on me at all times. The campers didn't have it as good (once they hit the mud, their spray if they had any washed right off). Suckas. To begin, the campers had to somersault into the watery ditch/trench (which turned muddy after Team 1) and crawled on elbows and knees about 100 feet to a checkpoint. Here they balanced their way across a slippery log and if they fell off they had to start at the beginning again! After this they had to crawl another 100 or so feet and then climb a tire obstacle to finish the leg. As they did all this, we (Ryan Malech and I) the "army officers" at the station, barked orders to stay down in the trench and to crawl properly. They had to address us as "sir" or we would make them pay with push-ups or sit-ups. It was hard to keep a strict straight face because one of the campers had his face wrapped up in fabric and just looked hilarious. He kept addressing me without saying "sir" so I kept adding extra push-ups to his schedule (he just kept talking, even when he was doing the punishment!). As the other teams waited for their turn they were constantly slapping those damned mosquitoes. Ryan and I taunted them by taking my spray and re-applying it to parts of our bodies where there was no chance for a mosquito to get there (they must have been pissed). It's fun being da boss. When one guy was in line to cross the log he said the funniest thing: "Shoot! My iPod is in my pocket." The girl beside him was shocked and replied "You serious?" He was the little camp clown and said, "No, I'm not stupid." Hilarious! I had to turn away and laugh.
Once they were done with our station they ventured on to the next leg for a mile run which consisted of holding on to the same rope (now this takes team work). Once they finished, they made their way to a boot camp mini obstacle section with our military man BJ. He made the kids crap their pants all week long. What a loving guy though! The final stage was a massive Slip N' Slide! My favourite. It was a massive tarp that was laid down on a pretty steep hill and was 10x50 feet. Best ever. It was covered in detergent and the kids had to slide down and bring back pales of water so others could have the ride of their lives! The first ones to go down would overshoot the end and keep sliding over the grass at the bottom near the river. You could hear them yelp in pain as they endured the grass burning sensation.
Now, when I thought all was over, I actually endured some pain myself. I persuaded one girl from the last team to go on the Slip N' Slide one more time. This was a once in a life time thing! She wasn't sure and was talking to one of the other coaches about it. I was standing behind her and reached down to pick up a pale of water to dump on the slide... WHAM! For some strange reason she jolted her hand back and slapped me right in the eye. It hurt (remember the fact that she was covered in slimy/grimy/gross mud all night). I became passive aggressive and asked why she would do that with her hand. Later I realized that I was getting mad at her for something that was very minuscule compared to what they had to go through!!! I went back and washed out my eye and there was literally a muddy hand print on my face (looked bad ass). At the end of it all we ate some snacks and reminisced on the highlights of the night. You should have seen all the mosquito bites! They should be immune to West Nile 'bout now. Some boys took their shirts off during the course... baaad idea.

Mr. White

Monday night of the first week of camp, I had to speak to all of the campers at chapel (I was pretty nervous, not gonna lie). This was the first night of camp and they were not completely comfortable yet so I had no idea of how they would receive my presence/talk. Turns out I did a decent job. I ended up talking about trusting God even when you're lost with something or do not feel His presence. I mentioned my Bible School experience at Bodenseehof and added in some stories to try and make the kids laugh. I also managed to find out from my fellow coaches (Ryan and Jesse) that one of my nervous mannerisms is completely opposite of most people's. I apparently slow down during a public speech and take my time when I am nervous! I don't realize this obviously because I feel my heart pounding, face burning, and race through my scattered thoughts to find the right words like everybody else (I think). However, I seemed to be very laid back and seemed calm. Weird. Whatevs [whatever], it went well and after was our theme night game where I experienced a very uncomfortable outfit.

I was Mr. White in the Masterson Murder Mystery. A big game of Clue which took place all around the campus. If you are going to Prov Sports Camps in the near future and are reading this, please disregard what you just have read (we want it to be somewhat of a surprise, but I am pretty sure none of the campers-to-be will stumble across my blog!). I wore a white one piece suit of sorts and realized, once I put my legs in, that it was going to be a tight fit. I didn't think of this when I said I wanted to be Mr. White and saw the outfit. My appearance gave my fellow staff quite the laugh. I also had a white brimmed hat and a 5 piece candle stick handle as my weapon. The costume was so tight that I had to cover my crotch up with my candle stick as Manuel Jr. was very visible (I am sorry about this image but I have to tell you how uncomfortable it was). It was tough to walk because it felt like I had a permanent wedgie and I sadly had to climb many stairs to get to my position up in the Bell Tower. Now, the main building of Prov has no air conditioning and since hot air rises I was sweating up a storm in the stairway of the Bell Tower! Wow, the things I do to make others happy. I spoke with a Ron Burgundy accent and acted out some improv for the teams. Good times. I'm lookin' forward to tomo [tomorrow] night (Don't you find that texting 'tomorrow' takes too long? Abrieves are so handy).

Prov Beginnings

The first week of Providence Sports Camps (volleyball) is finished! Wow, what a week. I'm pretty sure the staff had just as much of a blast as the campers. I am truly exhausted and am trying to rest up for the second wave of kids tomorrow. It's amazing how quickly the staff came together. All that was needed was a friendly yet competitive volleyball scrimmage late into the night last Sunday to bring us all together. We needed some incentive to play hard, so the losers had to clean up the winner's breakfast dishes the next two mornings!! My team won (of course), booyah. It turned out that my volleyball rust completely diminished very quickly that one night when I hit the court (I am truly grateful). By the end of the week I was back to my old swinging self in the Staff vs. Camper all-star game (we destroyed them two straight sets, NBD)! I am giving most of the credit to my newly acquired asics running shoes. They add about an inch to my height and just feel amazing compared to a normal court shoe! Sure, they did cost me a lot but now I have a volleyball shoe and a running shoe for quite sometime.
I'll add a couple stories of the week after this entry because if I wrote everything in one blog it would surely be too long for anyone to want to read! Man, what an experience!

p.s. My shoulder feels like it'll fall off.

Coach Extraordinaire

Today I embark on a new adventure. One that I have experienced as a camper but now I experience it as a coach/counsellor. I am looking forward to my upcoming time at Providence Sports Camps as I meet fresh faces and hopefully make a positive impact on the lives of those around me. With only one season of coaching high school soccer under my belt I am now expanding my career as a coach to volleyball. I am very excited because I want to get back into my old volleyball self as I have not played for around two years now (I'm hoping the rust rubs off as soon as possible, it might be embarrassing)! Here's another reason why I'm pumped: My long time friend and co-worker (Ryan Malech) from Chromatic Painting is also going to be my co-coach/counsellor at Prov! I just love how about 3 years ago we both decided that we were gonna be the only ones who didn't get a job and just hang out all summer. Now, we are hanging out all summer but making money in the processss! It's the best.
Since I will be heading out in a few hours time I just wanted to get one entry in for the week to let my peeps [people] know what I am up to. I'm sure I will receive quite a lot to blog about, so stay posted for some stellar story tellin'. Sadly, I don't believe I will have time during the week to post any entries, so hopefully I can get a couple up on the weekends. I ask and would love for you to pray for me as I begin this sports ministry. Danke (THANKS).

Tschüss!!!!! (Bye in German) ...At least for the week.

Peach Of A Goal

Yesterday I scored one of the most beautiful goals of my career (if you didn't know, I play football [soccer], the best sport in the world). Before the game I was asked by one of my teammates if I was going to score. I wasn't expecting to of course and replied: "If you will, I will." Well, he didn't but I sure did and it was a strike of beauty. Let me take you to the action.
The game was literally over in the first ten minutes as we smothered them with our possession and scored twice. I actually should have been credited for our second goal as my teammate shot (while I was somewhat in the way) and the ball deflected ever so slightly off my right foot and trickled in. I wasn't going to celebrate such a weak goal so I respectfully gave that one away. Boom, not even ten minutes later we scored again with a precise tic-tac-toe play. A few minutes after that it was my time to shine. The ball was fed through the air just outside our opponents eighteen yard box. Our striker and their defender went up for the header and I yelled for the lay-off header as I ran up behind them from the left flank. The ball hit the back of the defender's head and bounced perfectly on the path where I was running. I didn't think twice, I struck the ball on the volley and watched as it blasted towards the net. The keeper had no chance as it sailed past his outstretched reach and disrupted the mesh top shelf! Double fist pump. That felt good.

Life Lesson: Lean over the football [soccer ball] when you strike it. This way you have more control and this usually ensures that it will not sail over the crossbar for a field goal (don't worry I know that there are no field goals in football [soccer], it's just a widely known player's joke. Okay, that probably confused some people because I used the proper term for soccer. Meh)!

Sadly, I will be missing the next few games due to heading out to Providence in Otterburne to coach at their Volleyball and Soccer Sports Camps. I'm excited to start working at Prov though! This means tomorrow is my last day as a painter (for the summer)... I will miss it; hopefully I will be able to return to Chromatic Painting soon.

~~~

I just want to thank Josh Dyck for the shout-out on his last blog entry. We figured out how to use Bluetooth between our two phones and it is mos defs [most definitely] endless fun. Confusing, but fun. You would think it should be consumer friendly but somehow it never works how you think it should. Oh technology!

HP6

Good news... I did not have to work this morning!!! I was so relieved when I got the call from my boss. You may be wondering and therefore asking: "Why were you so relieved, Manny?" Let me tell you. Last night I decided to attend the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Yes, I am a fan and have read all the books. I thought it would be appropriate to see the film on it's premier even if I did have work the next day. My co-worker (Ryan Malech) decided to go as well (at a different theatre) so we probs [probably] would not have gotten much done in the morning anyways!
I ended up going with my bro and his friend. Assuming that the queue was going to be unreal, we headed out earlier and got to the theatre for 9:45pm. This was not necessary. By 10:45pm there was still not that many people behind us (though the line did have quite a large diameter, mabes [maybe] 20 feet). Now no one likes to stand in line for hours, so I brought my iPod to listen to my tunes to pass the time. I guess I could have watched Batman: The Dark Knight on my iPod... why did I just think of that now?! Whatevs [whatever], my bro brought his Nintendo DS Gameboy so I was able to play some Mario Tennis as well (not as good as the classic N64 version). That's right, we came prepared for the long wait. As I was listening to my tunes I was bored and therefore scanned the premises and landed my eyes on a new concession stand in the theatre. PIZZA PIZZA! Wow, this is my favourite pizza; when I moved to Manitoba I was crushed because Pizza Pizza was only in Ontario. I planned to purchase this incredible pizza after we claimed our seats.
The clock struck 11:05pm and suddenly there was a shriek and the mob/line began to flow. By flow, I mean like a rushing raging river with rapids galore (beautiful alliteration)! People were sprinting to get to the auditorium, I hadn't seen anything like it (I kept it cool of course and sent my brother and his friend to madly dash for seats). I'm telling you, it was a human stampede (kinda reminded me of the running of the bulls). Phew, we got good seats. Half way up on the side closest to the aisle we were... prime seating (props to my scouts). My Pizza Pizza craving had made itself known again so I headed out to retrieve three slices for my crew. When I got to the concession stands a man with a megaphone was addressing the other line-up (I couldn't believe that they weren't let in yet). I had to watch this. They literally marched them in to their auditorium to prevent what had happened in our experience (which was a dilemma). These people were just pumped for Potter. I was a little disappointed that I saw nobody dressed up in robes. There weren't even any fake stuffed owls or anything! My excuse was that I was dressed up as a muggle (non-magic folk), I thought that would suffice. Anyways... I got back to my seat and settled in. I whipped out my secret Ziploc bag stash of Smarties and a juice box and feasted until the movie began.
There is something about movie premiers that just gets people riled up. I mean there's always the people who yell and try to make themselves heard. Why? Don't know, but I happened to be one of them. The trailer for New Moon was shown in the previews and people started to cheer, gasp and gawk. Naturally, I piped up and said, "Com'on! We're here for Harry Potter!" This one guy a row below me heard and decided to repeat my words but in a much louder yell. It got a good reaction, I was proud. It was time for the movie to begin. Everyone was excited and could not help but yelp with joy. As the joyous cheers died down the funniest thing happened. One man way at the back decided to put in his two cents of humour. He cried out, "You Shall Not Pass!" There was an instant roar of laughter. That made my day. During one of the scenes Dumbledore actually strikingly resembled the exact image of Gandalf too!
I really liked the movie. It was quite hilarious and was able to capture the best of romantic awkward relationship humour. Hormones definitely dominated the theme of this movie. I also never thought that Butter Beer was alcoholic... you'll know when you see the scene. It has been at least four years since I have read the sixth book so I did not remember every single detail that was left out. Who cares, they can't get everything right! Overall... good show!

Slurpee Champion of the World

So if you haven't heard... Winnipeg is the Slurpee capital of the whole wide world for the 10th YEAR IN A ROW! Unreal. Today is 7 11's birthday and I guess that is because today is the seventh month and the eleventh day of the year. This means free Slurpees (though they're quite small cups)! I still think it's worth it, and I enjoyed it.

Man Shower

Last night a few of us went out to Portage La Prairie to visit a good friend named Thomas. His fiancee Laura had come out early to visit him for his birthday and also put on a surprise "man shower" for him and his friends in the area. We were running late picking up some gifts so we didn't see Thom get surprised but we made up for it because we wrote a loving poem mentioning some of the good times we had had with the man. Actually, we were the ones that got surprised because when we arrived at the door Thom jumped out and silly string'd us pretty good (apparently it stains).
I guess it wasn't fully a man shower because Laura and Thom's Mom were there, but it was all good 'cause they made most of the delicious food (Thank you! Props to Thom's dad for cooking the amazing steaks too). Before the main course however, there were appetizers which consisted solely of wine & cheese courtesy of yours truly. That combo is just a beautiful match. Love it.
After the main course of the manly steak, cooked potatoes, hot dog weiners, and... salad... we settled down to a classic game of Texas Hold'em poker. Seven was widdled down to two and the two who remained were Skate Shop Steve and myself. Steve had been takin' people out left, right, and centre but I continued to stand in his way. It all came down to one particular bluff of Steve's (TSN's Turning Point if you will) and I stuck with him to the end; resulting in a two pair for me... and nothing for Steve. I took a strangle hold of the chip count. I could feel it, I just had to buy him out down the stretch. I kept my cool and calmly lured him into my trap. He had no choice but to be reeled in and victory was MINE! I'm only mentioning this poker game because I believe it is the only one I've ever won. Too bad it was just for fun... DANG IT! Whatevs [whatever], the brownie and ice cream during the game was pretty much a prize for winning anyways (though everybody got brownies and ice cream...).
On the way home we grabbed a Tim Horton's coffee and listened to Dane Cook's Retaliation set. It never gets old! What a good night.

Side note: I found out that Thom's dog Odie has quite the bark and quite the bite to go along with it. I was semi-attacking Archibald [Andrew] when Odie ran up behind us barking. He jumped and bit me right in the buttocks. Yes, my left cheek was pinched by Odie's canine teeth. Ouch! I could not believe it. That dog gave me quite the tude[attitude]!

Lank Threat

Could it be that I have found a lankier man than myself?! He's about 6'6". I don't know his first name but I'm on a mission to find out so that we can be friends. He lives at the house we are painting at right now which is pretty huge! Every day and all day he sits at his computer either playing World of Warcraft or watching How I Met Your Mother. Man, what a life! I've never played WOW [World of Warcraft] but I know that How I Met Your Mother is an excellent show (my co-worker Ryan Malech would agree). Don't think of me as a creep (I like to pretend I'm a private investigator), but when I was up on the roof, scraping what I thought was his room's outside window frame, my eyes came across a UMSU's Copying Centre card (Don't worry it was right on the window sill, so I wasn't scanning the room, I just caught it in my periphs [peripherals]). This means he goes to the UofM; where I go as well! I love doing detective work. I need to scout this guy to make sure he's Team Lank worthy. His appearance may give him an automatic membership but I need to know how this guy acts and if he's an efficient and effective lank. I will get more answers next week. I must befriend this gentleman and teach him my wise ways.