STEP INTO THE LIGHT // MUSIC VIDEO

It's finally OUT! "Step Into the Light" in music video form for CBC's Searchlight competition is spreading. I'll write a little bit about how it all came together below.

ENJOY!

Big thanks to every single person involved with this project: Jyles Klassen (video production | vimeo.com/jyles), Elan Mueller (lead actor), Event Light lighting (eventlight.ca), and the Hamptons (location). And of course thank you to our beautiful extras: Tali Floom, Jona Frohlich, Cameron Friesen, Glen Hampton, Joel Janke, Jon Janke, Jessica Mueller, Kelsey Mueller, and Juan Schujman.

The incredible locations we shot within include the lovely Sandy Bay area on Lake Winnipeg and nearby forest, as well as in Whiteshell Provincial Park.

I am currently in the Regional Semi-Final for Winnipeg!

Voting ENDS for this round tomorrow, April 20th at 2pm CT! 

So please VOTE—http://music.cbc.ca/artists/Manny-Goossen—today and tomorrow to get "Step Into the Light" into the REGIONAL FINAL!

p.s. Follow @mannygoossen on SoundCloud, Twitter & Instagram:
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#300

Update! It is hard to believe, but this exact post will be my 300th for this blog overall. I'm very appreciative of those who have taken the time to read, comment, and give feedback on my stories, opinions, videos, music, and personal experiences over the past 5 years. My postings have obviously slowed down, however I still love to occasionally write and express certain thoughts—which are so often unspoken and unshared with those around me in real time. So thank you, whether you check-in once in a while or have been here since the beginning, my peers, friends, and family!

Much love.

p.s. MERRY CHRISTMAS! I'm a little late, but I'm recording a rendition of "O Come O Come Emmanuel" that I performed with a couple friends at our Church for its Christmas Eve services. Hopefully I can share that with you ASAP. 

And stay tuned for my 'Top Albums of the Year' post coming SOOOOON! It's been a fantastic year of music.

Christmas Cheer and a Joyous New Year to you!

Belize Bound! So Long! Farewell! (Chapter Five)

For our last couple days, we spent our time in the company of the Machaca staff, volunteers, and students. Sunday, we went down the highway to a local church gathering in the morning, and in the evening, took in Machaca's service at their own café in downtown Punta Gorda.
 

A wall mural at the café feat. a song based on Ezekiel 37:1-10.

'Di BoneVille Café' was its name, based on the bible verses of Ezekiel 37:1-10. Newly renovated and about to be opened up to the citizens of PG! A perfect place to witness and hang out with the locals. Serving delicious food, drinks, and playing games and füssball. A drop-in centre essentially.

The next day, we decided to act like true tourists and go into town to buy some souvenirs. The markets were only set up til mid day, so we searched quickly for the best hammock deal we could find. After a few stops, we found our man and a technicoloured masterpiece was our prize. Along with other little souvenirs and a couple more hammocks (for good measure), we walked to the bus stop to catch a ride back to Machaca. On the way, Papa Jop (the elderly white Jehovah's Witness who made our delicious pizza two nights ago) passed by. He yelled while riding his bicycle, basket filled to the brim, trying to sell his sweet rolls and cheese buns. What a guy.

During the off days at Machaca, Willie and I hung around the gym, playing volleyball, soccer, and basketball with whoever was around. So that's what we did when there wasn't anything for us to do. On this day, we taught some visitors "Bump" and also played 3v3 volleyball with a group of teens from town (one kid had quite the vertical and could spike shockingly well, so it felt extra good to block him. Displaying some quality Canadian volleyball skill in doing so... as well as competitiveness). When we were too sweaty and drenched from the humid temperature, Willie and I retreated and read in our cabin. We heard purring and thought nothing of it, but later realized that there weren't any "house" cats at the camp... Apparently, Jaguarundi inhabit the bushes next to our cabin. Cool, actual wild cats, not stray "pets" with supposed owners.

After supper, when it was dark enough, we headed for the pit in the field to talk and play guitar around the bonfire. The only source of light for miles was our fire, everything else was lit up by the stars; literally billions of them, all visible. No moon to be seen, just a labyrinth of stars. We saw the most we've ever seen. Galaxies were strewn every which way as we took in the 360˚ gaze above. A ghoulish sound interrupted our awe. Howler monkeys. Their creepy hollow screeches resonated from miles away. Hearing these new wild sounds served as a reminder of how foreign we actually were. That realization is quite the feeling: the sense of adventure.

This was our final night of the trip, and still we had yet to stumble upon a snake. If you could remember (from the second chapter), we were told to check the other side of every log before we stepped over, just in case there was a coiled-up snake. Common, we thought they were! Well, my Dad and Don at least got a minor scare... While Willie and I were at the bonfire the whole time, my Dad and Don visited a local residence to check up on a girl who needed medical attention. On the drive there, they ran over something snake-like and decided to reverse back a bit to see what it was. Sure enough, the long snake was scrunched-up in it's coils, lying still. Unsure if it was dead or not, Don leaned out of his window with his flashlight to confirm their suspicions. It featured dark yellow-diamond blotches and was indeed a deadly Fer de Lance (Bothrops asper), the ultimate, venomous pit viper. Just as he was noting it's deadliness, the viper sprung up and lashed out at him. Startled badly, Don floored it out of there! The Fer de Lance is known to eject venom from it's fangs at a distance of at least 6 feet!!! In fact, these snakes are so dangerous that even a small bite could result in an entirely crippled limb. A worse bite could be fatal. Scary stuff. On our way to the Mayan Ruins a few days before (in chapter three), we filled up the van at a gas station, and the employee actually had a crippled hand from a Fer de Lance bite; again (Life Lesson #54), be careful where you swing your machete!
My Dad and Don's close call had definitely fulfilled our snake-encounter quota for the trip, and made us wonder what was under our cabin at night a little too much when we went to bed!

On our last day, we packed up and finally had to say our goodbyes. One last game of tetherball was needed, along with pictures, hugs, and blessings. Homeward bound, we were. The time we shared at Machaca and in the Southern Toledo district will be remembered dearly! It was such a blast to travel and just be with my Dad and brother on such an exciting trip, which gifted a fresh environment and culture for us. Who knows, we might find ourselves down there more sooner than later.

... You better BELIZE IT!

S.T.T.I's Class of 2012 at Machaca

Our goodbye photo with Cliff, Luke, and Don.

Willie taking it all in.

Enjoy the final vlog installment!

Belize Bound! So Long! Farewell! (Chapter Five) from MannyG on Vimeo.

Music:
Ben Howard - "Only Love"
 ~~~
p.s. Wow, it has been seven months since our amazing trip to Belize. It took me a long time to finish this series of posts, but it has been a joy to continuously relive the memories for every single one of these five segments. I'm glad I stuck with it for my family's sake! And now, maybe I'll be free from my conscience to blog more... We'll see! Ha

Ciao for now!

Belize Bound! The Cayes of Belize (Chapter Four)

On our fourth day in Belize, we got up early and drove down to Punta Gorda for a day trip to the Cayes [Keys] (the many islands between the mainland and the barrier reef), all of which are a leisurely boating distance from shore. We went with an American family with three kids who have been staying and helping out at Machaca for the past little while. Physically, the blondest family ever (as you'll see in the vlog).

Patrick, a young Belizean, was our tour guide along with his even younger assistant. Both knew the Cayes' inside and out, especially the prime fishing and snorkeling spots. Fishing was our first stop as Patrick anchored the boat and pulled out a bucket of these rustic looking, nylon-raveling, wooden handles. We hooked some bits of fish flesh then unraveled the nylon lines into the sea, tugging when we felt the presence of a hovering snapper. Red snappers to be exact, scaly and snappy with a spine dorsal fin. It took Willie the longest to catch one, and everybody cheered once he eventually did! The fearless Bubba (the youngest of the three kids) was actually raking in the most fish. He was so excited to the point of flinging himself hard from the side of the boat onto the floor, landing on his knees in a triumphant fashion. Crazy kid.

From fishing we motored on to another island to check out the lighthouse where TIDE's HQ was; a conservation organization for the cayes' wildlife and environment. It was beautiful to climb to the top and look out over all the surrounding area.

Snorkeling was next on the agenda! I had never done it before so it was awesome maneuvering in between the coral and seeing all the colourful fish darting into the tiny holes and cracks. Once you got over the fact that there were barracuda amongst you, it was smooth sailing. The sun was our biggest threat however, and my back paid dearly. (We didn't head to the barrier reef because it was much pricier and about 20 more miles by boat unfortunately.)
After we had our fill of snorkeling we went out to deeper waters to swim. Patrick swam pretty far to dive many meters for conch shells (you'll see his assistant holding one in the vlog that he brought back). During this time, Jeremy, the dad of the family we were with, ended up diving down with a mask only to spring back up in a panic. He quickly swam back to the boat and explained his terror. A barracuda swimming underneath him stopped to look up, stared at him, and started to draw closer! ... I know I would freak out. Who knows if it was the same one, but after our swim, we put a hunk of meat on a line, trolled the boat and luckily caught a barracuda. Patrick wrestled in the heavy line and bludgeoned the thing as it tried to flail free. It's teeth were jagged and it's eyes were cold. Scary creatures.

Our last stop out on the sea was this thatch hut, small island resort. It featured a breezy bar/restaurant that was onlooking the dock with an aquarium. It oozed retirement. Or maybe just a nice getaway! An iguana we saw on shore about 3-4 feet long was definitely enjoying its stay, as it lazily chilled out in the sun.

Willie's allergies had kicked in so we decided to call it a day and head back to Punta Gorda. Although once we got home to Machaca, we went with Don and Cliff to visit another resort named Hickatee Cottages, a Bed & Breakfast spot hidden in a deep pocket of the rain forest. The British husband and wife owners were once students of Don and Cliff's at Machaca. They decided to come back some years later and build their own little cottage oasis (getting some notice from travel magazines too). As we arrived, we walked in on a local Galifuna drummer playing for the guests on the restaurant's veranda. It was super tribal-esque, and even the British husband had his own drum to join in. When the drum lesson was finished and the guests went on with their night, we hung around to talk with the owners. They offered us free drinks so we all asked for Sprite, but the husband somehow mistook Cliff's order for a beer. I jumped at the opportunity to try the local brew. Belikin, Mayan Temple beer. Mmmm, 'twas really good. Good enough for me to buy a shirt at the airport when we left, and yes it did say "You Better BELIZE It!" on the back.

After seeing and gawking at our first tarantula of the trip, we hopped back into the van and took off back to Machaca for the night; making a pit stop at Papa Jop's, the local Jehovah's Witness, for a pizza for the road. It was delicious.

Here's the vlog, enjoy! Stay tuned for the last chapter!

Belize Bound! The Cayes of Belize (Chapter Four) from MannyG on Vimeo.

Music:
Architecture in Helsinki - "Escapee"
Metric - "Reflection #9"

Belize Bound! Mayan Ruins & Local Futbol (Chapter Three)

  On our third day down in Belize we got the opportunity to visit one of the many famous archaeological sites of Mayan Ruins with Don. Lubaantun (pronounced Lou-bawn-tune with a mysterious low accent) was where we tread upon and where they found the biggest of those perplexing, perfect crystal skulls. You know, the whole Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull spiel. WAS IT EXTRATERRESTRIALS WHO CRAFTED THEM??!?!?! Who knows... Maybe the end of 2012 is when they'll return, and that is what the Mayans were referring to when they ended their calendar!!! Eerrrrrrrrie (I love speculation). Anyway, we went and saw the rubble of genius craftsmanship from the Mayans. They apparently built their structures in a way that would prevent disaster from the many earthquakes in that age.

 

  A solid structure was assured by carving the end of each stone to wrap around the next to prohibit them from shifting. Pretty savvy!

  Our guide also showed us the grassy strip/lane where the Mayans had this fight to the death event. Those who were chosen would battle and the winner was even sacrificed to the "gods". Crafted stone helmets and stone knuckles were used in the fight, and these were on display in the tour hut as well, with all the Crystal Skull articles.

  The trees around and within the ruins were massive. Two types in particular were extremely interesting: Rubber and "Tourist" trees. The rubber trees seeped their leaky, milk-coloured latex sap, which is natural rubber of course. You will see a couple photos of this in my vlog below! Super cool. When the substance dries and hardens you can stretch it like those miniature Stretch Armstrongs we all loved as kids (I still love them! Can you even find them anymore?). The "Tourist" trees were self-explanatory as well (at least to the locals)... Tall, thin, and sun-burnt red! Hilarious. There's also a photo of one in the vlog!

  Another highlight was when we found a killer bees nest, extremely alive, in a tree cavity on site. I pretty much held my breath while passing it. I realized that I should get some video of them though, so you'll see that too in the vlog (don't worry, I kept a safe distance).

  When we left the site, many of the local women came down to the stream just before our van and laid out all their handcrafted souvenirs for purchase (they catch wind of tourist presence and rush over to set up camp to sell their gifts). We declined this time though and continued toward our van, which was parked up on the inevitably muddy hill. This was a problem. Don's 15-seater van was no match for the slant and muddiness of the hill. My Dad, Willie, and I all got behind the van and pushed while Don tried to make it to solid ground. We almost made it without any muddy casualties, however... my Dad, with a final shove, lost his footing and ended up face first in the mud! Willie and I loved it, as well as the local women who were watching from their souvenir spots. My Dad, being himself, laughed it off and hopped back in the van as quickly as he could. Fun times.

  We got back to the Machaca Center for lunch (the classic of chicken and fried beans on rice) to find out that one of the staff family's son, Austin (8 years old), almost cut off his big toe with his machete. The day before, he was bragging about killing snakes with it and now there he was, almost without his right big toe! The doctors are pretty sketchy down in Belize. The one they had gone to didn't want to stitch up the severed toe. Luckily, the nurse rightfully interjected and did it herself. Ridiculous! They only care if they're paid extra down there.

As Lindsey put it well...

Life Lesson: When wielding a machete, always swing away from yourself!

  Machetes are common tools down in Central America. It's always handy to have one with you when you're in the bush; just in case a snake is within striking distance. Seeing someone hacking the surrounding bush with their machete (for no apparent reason) is a regular occurrence, and it's awesome.

  Anyway, I will conclude this chapter with my soccer experience down in Punta Gorda. That afternoon, after our Mayan Ruins adventure, Willie and I went into town to play soccer with a local Grade 8 class. We brought plenty of soccer balls to give to the children and took to the field, splitting the class into three teams to play a mini world cup tournament. The field was (to no surprise) MUDDY! So we all ran around barefoot, kicking the ball in and out of the mud. They called us the "Big White Sirs". The joy on the kids faces was priceless.

  We also got the chance to play with a local club team a couple nights later. I brought my white indoor turf cleats down and obviously got them drenched with mud. So other than that hindrance, it was super fun to play with those guys. At first, they were hesitant to pass the ball to me because they didn't know my skill level (I also do not look like a fluent futbol player), but after a few touches they realized that I was decent. I was dubbed "The Ostrich" because of my lanky running figure. They couldn't get over it! We also gave the team a bunch of Phoenix jerseys (a Winnipeg Youth Soccer Club), which they could use for their league games.

  Here's the next vlog... It's just some snippets of what I've been talking about in this chapter. Enjoy. Ciao for now!

Belize Bound: Mayan Ruins & Local Futbol (Chapter Three) from MannyG on Vimeo.

This is my third installment of our trip down to Belize! We checked out the Mayan Ruins of Lubaantun, and also had fun playing soccer with a local Grade 8 class and a local club team. This video just shows some small snippets of the experience, nothing too elaborate! Enjoy!

Music:
Of Monsters and Men - "From Finner"

Belize Bound! A Whole New World (Chapter Two)

From the tiny Punta Gorda airport, we were picked up by the crew. Hopping into one of their vans, we then made the trek to their site. First of all, the main highways are nicely paved, but the side roads are vastly potholed (worse than expected). At the beginning it was funny when we hit our heads on the roof of the van, but by the end of the week we were road sick every time! It didn't help that our drivers would swerve and weave around the craters at suddenly decreased/increased speeds.
We arrived at their spacious Machaca Outreach Center (not pronounced Ma-cha-cha as my Dad hilariously mistook it to be, but Ma-cha-ka) where we would be staying for the next week. The place was located in a massive clearing, surrounded by lush rainforest. We have friends from London, ON (Don and Cliff) who also run a Technical College on site, and Don would keep reminding us that he had pretty much built everything there. Impressive; the buildings included a gymnasium with a basketball and volleyball court (all regulation, I was assured), dining hall, women's two-story dorm cabin, a few men's cabins, the outdoor technical college work hut, and ~5 house cabins (p.s. the gym, dining hall, and college work space were all practically outdoors with the exception of roofs). It was greatly developed, yet still contained the Belizean culture and feel. It was quite the place. The cabin where we slept felt like a classic anthropological setting. A long, four-roomed, stilted place with a screened-in hall/lobby area, wooden floors and walls, and a red, tin roof. The concrete stilts are needed because of flash flooding as well as for wildlife of course. On average Belize gets ~140-200 inches of rainfall per year! You better BELIZE IT (Ha, gotcha with the pun)! Every night it would pour, and I mean POUR! Plus, it wasn't even the rainy season when we were there... yikes. The downpours would arrive in increments of 10-15 minutes as well. So there would be breaks in between of nothing, then it would start up again. It was very hard to get to sleep, or get back to sleep! They said that sometimes, if they needed to get to the airport the next day, they would go into town the night before just in case the road became a river and they couldn't get across!
Rain also means mud... I'll get to a funny story in my next chapter.

You may be wondering what the reason was for us being there... Communication isn't the directors' forté, so only one thing was for certain: My Dad would be speaking on mental health and lecturing the staff on how to deal with the people involved in their ministry. Machaca is presently running a discipleship program for young adults/youth who have come from a troubled past of drug addiction. Even some of the staff have been down a troublesome road, and it was amazing to see how they had turned their lives around, credited to God's love, grace, and help (I would tell you some stories, but I do not believe it is my place to share those here!) The program is 12 months long from January to December and is based on Christian leadership development. A lot of these young adults/youth are from the directors' church back in California, so this program is to separate them from their past lifestyle and have them start-a-new in a drug-free environment (some are local Belizeans as well). They are mentored by the staff, trained biblically, help run a cafe/church in the town, and interact with the local community. For those who are interested, in the first month of the program Don and Cliff teach a trades course (either electrical, construction, etc.), then do a final group building project in one of the surrounding communities with the students. The primary focus is to teach/certify local Belizeans to equip them with the knowledge needed to help develop their own communities.

p.s. Much to our surprise, an old family friends' son was also there volunteering with the course, so it was great to catch up with him and see what he was up to as well.

We arrived during this course, so Willie and I did not have much to volunteer for at the centre. I took Grade 9 electronics, but I did not want to go near all of their practice circuit boards. In fact, our first day there we found a bat near death, struggling and flapping beneath one of the boards (you'll see some pictures in the second vlog). Bats weren't the only thing we discovered down there. The amount of species that live in the rainforest boggles my mind. Don went on and on and on, listing all of the creatures he has ran into, as well as those he thankfully hasn't ran into! So I'll list them here for you as well... Enjoy:

Jaguars, Jaguarundis (mini jags), Tarantulas, Tarantula Wasps, Iguanas (up to 7 feet), Barracudas, Tapirs, Killer Bees, Armadillos, Lizards, Jesus Lizards, Basilisks (not the Harry Potter kind), Manatees, Scorpions, Mighty Termites, Mighty Cockroaches (massive), Army/Fire Ants, Howler Monkeys, Fireflies (hundreds), Coral Snakes, Fer-de-Lance Vipers, Parrots, Vampire Bats, and MORE. UnBELIZEable.

They had it all. We were fascinated by the stories Don and Cliff told. Even walking around on site led to encounters with many new and exciting insects or animals. Whether it was parrots flying overhead, hearing playful growling in the bushes (jagurandis), stepping over a line of army ants (who marched nonstop all day in this line of who knows how many metres), or seeing a 4-inch long wasp stumble about unpredictably in the air. We were also told to always look on the other side of rocks or logs when we were walking because there could be a poisonous snake (fer-de-lance, or coral) coiled and waiting. However, our biggest shock came the first night when we were about to go to bed. But I'll let my second vlog tell/show the story of our first ever SCORPION experience... Check it OUT!


Belize Bound: A Whole New World (Chapter Two) from MannyG on Vimeo.
We arrived at the Machaca Outreach Center in the coastal tropical rainforest region of Punta Gorda, Belize. Creatures galore, we couldn't have imagined how many different types of species lived down there. In this second installment, we check out the center's site as well as some creature interaction. Enjoy!

Music:
Grouplove - "Tongue Tied"
The Antlers - "No Widows" (Daytrotter Session)

Belize Bound! BON VOYAGE! (Chapter One)

As you may have noticed by now, I work at my own pace. That said, I'm kind of disappointed that it has taken me this long to get going on blogging about my incredible experience in Belize. So let's get this show on the road!

~~~

BUD LIGHT, MILLER LIGHT, HEINEKEN... CAAHHHH-ROHHNA! This beer seller was serious. He would walk up and down the steep aisle with an intense glare that would charm American bills out of anyone's pockets. A few people in front of us were finally coaxed and hailed him over. They ordered a few Bud Lights and asked how much it would cost them. The man as he poured the second of the two, exclaimed, "$27!" They were choked... "I guess it's too late now," one of the guys said as he forked over two twenties. He replied, "These are King Cans, boys!" and went off for his next sale... "BEER, HERE! BEER... HERE!" 
Too funny!

We were at the Miami Heat game vs. the San Antonio Spurs, and it was our night lay-over until heading down, over the Gulf, to our destination of Belize. We were fortunate enough to snag some nose-bleed tickets for this clash of super talent. It was just our luck that the game turned out to be a doozy. LeBron James probably had his worst first half of the season, which resulted in the fans booing him, as he did not score a point until a free-throw (1 for 5 from the strip & probs 0 for 6 FG wise, mind you) late in the second quarter! UNBELIZEABLE! Oops, I meant unbelievable. I'm not even in Belize at this point... I'll try and save those puns for later; just you wait! Anyway, Tony Parker just TOOK OVER in the first half. He was relentless, hitting everything as well as driving and draining ridiculous runners. However, it was in the second half when the three-headed beast of Chris Bosh, LeBron James, and... nope not Dwayne Wade (who was injured), but Mike Miller was unleashed!! James went 4 for 6 and Miller went 6 for 6 from behind the arc! The arena was going nuts, it was quite an exciting game. The icing on the cake was definitely Bosh's 360⁰-pivot-two-handed-throw-down, which he uncorked from the free-throw line. Ultimately, the Heat came back from a 20+ deficit and ended up winning 120-98. What a game!

With an early flight in the morning, we headed back to the hotel and crashed. Our journey had just begun and it felt like we had been gone for a while already.

After arriving in Belize City, we were greeted by the inevitable, touristy nature of it's airport. It was hilarious. This picture captures it the best:

Pushing that aside, we couldn't wait to discover the raw country itself. As well as to see what life was like for the locals and also the outreach team, with whom we were going to be staying with!

TO BE CONTINUED...

Here is the first installment of my short Belize vlog series! Watch to check out some clips and pictures of our trip. Enjoy!


This is my first vlog installment of our trip to Belize. My Dad, Brother and I had an amazing experience hanging out with an outreach team in Punta Gorda in the south district of Toledo. Here is just a taste of what it looked like...

Music:
Kanye West & JAY Z - "Gotta Have It"
M83 - "Echoes of Mine"

A Belizean Prologue of Sorts

Disregarding social networking... If you've been wondering whether or not I'm alive or if I was eaten by some Belizean jungle cat... I arrived ALIVE! Currently, I am sitting in UofM's library watching the Starbucks line increase to 30 people. Okay, maybe not 30; at least 20. Who am I kidding, I'll definitely stand in line once it goes down. Gotta use up those Christmas gift cards, you know?

I've been home for a week now, but have been busy with finishing up missed assignments, labs, and also studying for two tests, then writing them the next day (I'm bad for that). But now I'm FREE (somewhat) to blog about my amazing experience down in Central America. I hope to post a "chapter" of my trip for each day I was there, including stories, intriguing info, and even vlog snippets as well. I figure it would be better to produce small short clips instead of one long time consuming video (which I've done a lot of in the past). So hopefully you agree! And I also hope you don't mind Belize puns because I may pull out a few, just sayin'. Stay tuned!

A Candlelit Misunderstanding

First of all, Merry Christmas! I hope you're having a blessed time with friends and family!

Secondly, I'd love to tell you a story of social straining sorts (alliteration is my gift to you). Well, maybe it's more of a caught-in-a-funny-looking-situation kind of story. I'll let you decide.

It all took place at the Choral Candlelight Service in the massive Westminster Church on Christmas Eve. We, as a family, were awaiting our sixth member that night and decided to attend this organ-filled, choral gathering first. The problem was that we were going to leave early in order to greet my sister at the airport upon her arrival. Her flight came in at around 11:22pm and the Choral service began at 11:00pm. I was perplexed. How were we ever going to enjoy the service and get to the airport on time?! I asked my Dad this and all he said in response was, "We'll wing it." "Alright, we'll wing it," I chuckled in response while placing my toque down beside me on the pew.

We had arrived half an hour early to take in the "Carols on the Organ" portion of the evening. As the congregation began to pile in, and the sanctuary began to fill up, we couldn't believe how everyone was still chattin'-it-up. The organ player flawlessly pounded out epic Christmas Carols and justly deserved all of the attention in the room (the organ is such a powerful instrument; it's mesmerizing to me). Eleven o'clock came around and the choir had yet to make their entrance. We were getting antsy. Finally, at 11:05pm they came streaming down the aisles, candles in hand, singing a triumphant "O Come All Ye Faithful!"

The moment it ended, the congregation was asked to sit down. And everyone did... as far as I knew. I looked to my left and there, making an abrupt escape into the aisle, was my family. I was sitting on the inner end of the pew, so I was startled but quickly followed suit as we all marched out. We had to endure the quizzical stares (especially from the elderly usher) from those behind us of course. We were laughing because it looked as though we had agreed as a family to come for only one song, and that would be our fill for the holiday.

As we were crossing the street I came to the sudden realization that I had LEFT MY TOQUE ON OUR PEW! This was a dilemma. I didn't want to leave one of my favourite toques in the clutches of some stranger. I had to go back. My family laughed at my circumstance. We had just made this grand peculiar exit, and now I was going to have to go back and retrieve my toque—while looking like a fool?! ... Utter social turmoil.

I prepared myself with some motivational self-talk and then proceeded to run up the Church's front steps, back into the fray. I walked like I was on a mission. Getting to our pew was the easy part, nobody had filled our left void. The worst part was leaving, as well as the fact that the congregation was still seated in silence, listening to the choral conductor speak. I made it to the pew and as I ducked reaching for the toque, I caught the look from the elderly woman beside it. I sheepishly said, "Sorry... Merry Christmas," half laughing as she responded with a chuckle. I marched back up the aisle, and again, I had to endure the piercing stares. This time however, I counteracted with some staring of my own. Muahaha, it worked! They immediately whipped their glances back to the front of the sanctuary. I whizzed past the elderly usher whispering "Merry Christmas," (with a big smile) and I was out! I ran back to my family filled with relief and laughter. Mission accomplished.

Anyways, I think there's a Life Lesson embedded in this story somewhere:

When someone says, "We'll wing it," be on your toes at all times.

Cheers!

~~~

Stay tuned for my second annual Top 10 Albums of the Year (in my opinion of course)! Check out my 2010 list HERE.

Fall-tering

I know... I apologized in early summer for being absent, but I feel like I need to ask for forgiveness and state my disappointment once again. Where has my passion for blogging disappeared to? Not sure at the moment... Maybe it was the fact that I was preoccupied with work, friends, soccer, and travels all summer, leaving the only downtime for relaxing (meaning mostly lounging around at home). Maybe it's the fact that Twitter has taken over as my instantaneous micro-blogging outlet. No matter, it is fall again and that means university, which also means procrastination. I will definitely try to get blogging more this fall!

Fail.

I had that written up as a draft on October 4th. OCTOBER FOURTH. Over a month and a half ago. Anyways, I will try and break this frustrating spell with an overdue Life Lesson for a certain NHL netminder that goes by the name of Ilya Bryzgalov...

Watch what you say when a whole city is listening.

 Then, back in spring as goalie for the Phoenix Coyotes, Bryzgalov said this:

"You don't want to go to Winnipeg, right? Not many people live there, not many Russian people there. Plus it's cold. There's no excitement except the hockey. No park, no entertaining for the families, for the kids. It's going to be tough life for your family. I've been there for just once, maybe twice, when I play in minors. It was really cold. I used the tunnels between the buildings to get to the arena. Because it was minus 40-something. Real cold."

Tisk, tisk, Ilya. You should know better. All 15,004 fans taunted the man as he sat on the bench watching the game, while Bobrovsky played instead of him. Our pleasure of booing him was not fully withheld however. As the Jets continued to punish the Flyers and put the puck into the back of the net, chants of "WE WANT ILYA!" flooded the arena. During one of the final TV timeouts our wish was cheekily granted. A courteous camera man was kind enough to plant a solo shot of Bryzgalov on the bench, and it beamed on the jumbo screen. All of a sudden the boo decibel level quadrupled. Pronger's boos were considered juvenile compared to this one huge, solid drone. Priceless. As Bryzgalov looked up to his horror, payback was dealt... and it felt good.

In for a Half of the Home Season!

My Dad was one of the thousands that got lucky last Saturday for the Drive to 13,000 NHL season's ticket campaign in Winnipeg! We've solidified 21 home games for this energized, hype-filled inaugural season! Wait... last Saturday, you ask? It should have been around 5 months ago... Yeaaaaah, that's how long this post has been a draft. I haven't gotten around to finishing it, but since I had a 3 hour layover in Calgary's airport, that was a perfect time to continue to rave on the JETS HYPE that is consuming Winnipeg.

First of all, you may have been reading some of my tweets and are perplexed as to why I'm cheering for the Jets so much (because I am indeed a Leafs fan). Let's just say that with all this flurry of excitement in our city (or should I say Fleury of excitement... more on that in a bit), you would have trouble not falling for it too. I wasn't around for the previous Jets era and had no clue about details of their move to Phoenix and how that affected the fans. Now that I'm in the thick of things, it just hits that much harder (especially after watching Jets documentaries featuring their hay days and their last days; Google White Noise and Fuelled By Passion).

I went to their first game since 1996, albeit exhibition, and was blown away by the atmosphere. I've only been to one NHL game before this, and that was back at the turn of the millennium at the ACC (the Leafs beat the Sabres 5-2, Jonas Hogland had two goals I believe. Loved it). I also just went to see their first regular season win against the Penguins. Kyle Wellwood scored 8 SECONDS into the game! After that, Marc-André Fleury (the Penguins' goaltender) had no chance at credibility with the fans. "FLEUR-REEE... FLEUR-REEE" in a mocking tone, rang up in the rafters and throughout the entire arena the whole game. Chill worthy. It was extremely satisfying for all of Winnipeg that the Jets finally got a win under their belt. Their poor start had us choked and for some... extremely upset (I won't name any names)!

With our half home season package, we didn't get the home opener against Montreal, which was disappointing... but I think we got the better end of the deal. We get a more variety of teams to see plus first dibs at playoff tickets (here's HOPING)! However, Brian Kennedy from L.A. (a best-selling author who is also my Mom's sister-in laws' brother...) received a last minute media pass and got to experience the epic occasion, reliving it with us after! He stayed at our place over the weekend and reported on the home opener weekend for insidehockey.com. He wrote about everything that concerns having them back in Winnipeg. Including a story that I was going to post regarding my Dad's account of acquiring our season's ticket package; but I'll let Brian tell it to you (it's in Part 2). His six-part article series is called Winnipeg Odyssey and can be found here: http://insidehockey.com/author/brian-kennedy.

Anyways, the Jets are BACK and Winnipeg is loving it!
Ciao for now!

p.s. Enjoy this little depiction of the previous Jets era:

Gimli Recon

Last weekend, Kaitlyn and I decided to go up to Gimli to surprise a special lady friend of mine (... my girlfriend). Lindsey was working at the sailing regatta up there and had no clue that we were spying on her for 40 minutes before we showed ourselves. We used the time for some sneaky reconnaissance in order to achieve and ensure a satisfying surprise! Creepy, I know... but it was super fun and she was excited that we came. Anyway, we figured out how we were going to surprise her as we went along, so check this vlog out! Enjoy.

WNL

I've once again made CTV News while larviciding for mosquitoes. They even managed to catch me smirk/laugh at the fact that they were filming me for the second time in about a month. The funny thing is, they told us that they wanted to film us spraying a field but then only arrived when we finished the listing. So we were walking back and that's the shot that I was in. Another guy that they supposedly filmed for so long didn't even make the cut (and he would not stop talking about all the attention he was getting)! Funny stuff.

This time I didn't need the search expertise of Jill to find the video on their website (I did actually ask her for her help right before I found it though)! Take a look at the video here: CTV News

Anyways, besides being the "poster boy" of Insect Control (that's a joke), I have settled into the job pretty easily (anyone would). I'll share one funny story with y'all (even though there are plenty every day that just can't be put on here)...

Last week, we were at our last listing of the day before heading into the yard. It was an off-road property listing and amongst walking down the drive-way I mentioned to my driver that we may actually finish without throwing on a backpack of chemical! Almost everything has been "WNL" in the last week or so (meaning Water No Larvae), so we haven't had to use the packs. I jinxed it. We walked to the yard and happened to scare the home owner who was weed whacking. She was so thankful that we had come and she couldn't wait to show us all the water on the property (just great... the listing said only the tree/bush area, but she had other ideas). When she spoke I knew she had to be Latvian, based on my friend's accent (shout-out to my only Latvian friend, Agnese). She went on saying how they had dumped engine oil into their ditches already. I have never heard of that! She even mentioned how Javex worked like a charm and killed the larvae instantly. I laughed and said it probably kills everything else too! She would do anything to get rid of those pests. She also believed that mosquitoes can hatch in mud (with the Internet as her source). Hilarious! I assured her it wasn't true (while chuckling). After she was done, we put on the packs and let loose. With her questioning our overall spray job, I just wanted to tell her we weren't there to exterminate them (which would be impossible), we were there to control them!

So yeah, we run into a lot of interesting people on this job. I love it.

p.s. I bet you could guess where I wrote this post...

8 Crazy Nights

(Dan wouldn't get out of the loader to let me plank in it.
Chuck however finished the job. Look down below!)

We're done. It's finished. C'est fini! ... For us at least. After 4 days of mosquito extinguishing and 8 straight overnight shifts of filling sandbags, WE ARE FREE. It feels good to have a life again. Throughout this period I've felt like I was in a different dimension, a limbo - if you will. Sleeping from 6am-4pm, then resting indoors before going back to work at 8pm (seeing no one during the day). What a sad work schedule. The beginning was miserable; I was pissed off after the second night. Though I finally adjusted a few nights ago so the last few nights were a breeze. Now I have to transition back... wooo (slightly positive sarcasm)!

Here are the things that got us through those 8 straight days of purgatory:

- Throwing objects at people and trying to keep a straight face afterwards. These objects included zip ties, bags, and pebbles.

- Trying to attach zip tie chains to people's clothing without them noticing.

- Collecting the free earplugs and protection glasses that they gave out every night.

- 20 questions! (Which ended up being however many it took to get the answer.)

- Our lunch table community in the conference room. Great people, great laughs. (We performed a group plank our last break. More on that below.)

- Respecting Cory, one of the awesome foremans at our machine who would always let us know when we had to get back to work. (When I planked the sandbagging shoot, he saw and said that he had heard about this planking thing. Cory would know about it.)

- Being awake to see the sunset and sunrise every night/morning. (Driving home would be blinding.)

- Harry Potter audiobooks (for Malech).

- Our "lunch" break runs to McDonald's.

- Routine.
--> For example, the first four hours consisted of 20 questions, which made it fly by. The "afternoon" (for myself) consisted of alternating Apple and Shure earbuds with earmuffs and earplugs, listening to podcasts or music.
--> Also, we would rotate to the next position after every load, switching things up so that we would never get (too) bored. (There was apparently one girl at a table who stood at the shoot, filling the sandbag every night for the full 10 hours! That's 80 hours doing that ONE THING. Unreal!)

- Our 80 year old, Moses looking, front-end loader driver. Pretty sure he was hot-boxing that thing in between loads...

- Blasting Europe's "The Final Countdown" in the last hour of the operation.

- Darcy's car. That Honda S2000 made my first ever plank very special.

- And of course planking itself:

As our final break prank, we all hid from our usual conference room and placed clues for Cory to find and follow. These clues were two drawn arrows on paper. One on the podium we placed in front of the door and the second in the hallway pointing toward where we would be... planking on the floor. Disappointingly, another foreman was the one who came to get us. But the mission was accomplished; he was very confused. Pictures to come.

To celebrate the closure of our operation, most of our community lunch table went out for breakfast at the Salisbury House. Half of us will now go our separate ways as the others our now based at a different yard. However, our sandbagging bond will never be forgotten.

~~~

Now it's back to killing mosquitoes...

Plank Fever

My first ever plank.

Planking is unreal. It's simple and pretty stupid looking... but it is hilarious! It involves face-down rigidity and obscure locations. So much fun. It got us through night 6 of sandbagging EASILY! ... 20 questions is also a big hit. Two more nights and then we're DONE for good.

Happy planking everybody!

p.s. This is like the opposite of people-watching. You act, and other people watch in bewilderment.

Transferred

We've been transferred on a state of emergency basis to make sandbags for the province. This means night shifts... dun dun dun (or however that dramatic sound effect goes).

I feel like a zombie waiting to go back for another painful session of mindless assembly. Sandbagging takes its toll and it's worse when it's all night long and you're just filling the bags. I'm sure there are 100 people that can attest to that at our current branch. Tough stuff (especially mentally), I ain't gonna lie. It did help having good friends stand beside you and make you laugh hysterically though. I am definitely thankful for that. Anyways, I'm not going to go on about what kind of work it is because it's simple, so here's a brief summary: There are two massive machines that distribute the sand to multiple groups who assemble the bags and toss 'em in a front-end loader. This goes on for 10 hours. Yes, it is boring. So to keep sane we obviously kept ourselves entertained throughout the shift. Here are a few of the things we ended up doing:

1. We laughed at how it felt like a prison. Herding in after break, getting a less than five minute break in between loads, being in a rundown warehouse. Maybe it was more like a drug operation... everywhere you looked you saw bundles of white bags! Actually, midway through (and this was my favourite quote of the night), Dan made a comparison: "This is purgatory."

2. We laughed for no reason.

3. We played that ammo, gun, shield/block (rock paper scissors elaboration) game that apparently nobody knew about. It must be an Ontario thing...

4. We had a "Lunch break" (12:35am) McDonald's run.

5. We tried to throw the little pebbles from the sand into Ryan's back pockets... He still might not know that that was Chuck, Jess, and I. Jess actually placed zip ties in them too.

6. We talked about our childhood... you know, anything that would pass
10 FLIPPIN' HOURS BY!

Alright, so we survived one shift but it looks like this might go on for a full week! Unreal. It may sound like I'm complaining (which I blatantly am), but it actually feels good to know that we are saving many homes and properties in rural Manitoba by lending a helping hand. Apparently the Assiniboine River has not been at these levels in 300 YEARS. The province/country helped us in '97 and now it is our turn to help the province. Thank God for altruism.

Before I end this drawn out post I'll leave you with another Life Lesson from my cousin Charles, regarding the reflective decision to remove his gloves for tying the bags with zip ties...

Life Lesson: Nimble work calls for nimble fingers.

Now it's time for round 2.
Peace



(We always secretly hope that the machine breaks down...)

Sprayin' A Ditch

Well, I just finished my first week of work! Hopefully all weeks fly by like this. It is a laid-back person's dream job *as I point to myself* (meaning that it's not stressful at all...). I've decided to be pretty vague with certain things about it to cover my tracks, just in case. Therefore, I will only speak of more personal stories and not of those of my fellow co-workers that I know will be hilarious. So I apologize in advance for not delivering the full details in the subsequent posts pertaining to my job!

Deal? ... Deal.

Oh, and if you don't know what my job is... my official title would probably be an Insect Control Operator. Anyways, I have two quick stories to tell you from the last couple days.

First, as I was callin' in our listing information at the end of the day yesterday, someone forgot to turn off their CB radio. Constant (somewhat elicit) chatter from our co-workers and Power 97 was the funny result, which blasted throughout everyone's radios including the loud speaker at the main yard. It went on for 20 minutes! And nobody could call in their listings during that time of course. Unreal.

Secondly, as my driver and I were out near the floodway in the middle of a listing, we got radioed back to the yard by one of our foremans. She sounded very stern so that caused us to worry and re-think what we had done in the day. We couldn't think of anything that we didn't do right! We got back to the yard and found out that we were the two chosen to perform a demonstration for the news crews that were there for a press conference! We were relieved and gladly agreed to show the cameras our skills (... there's no skill involved). So you might see me on the local news sittin' on the back of a truck (in my safety gear) sprayin' a ditch tonight!

Have a good weekend!

Spurs Love

Alright, so you may remember a certain twitpic I conjured up a few weeks ago. It displayed me spreading my wings just like the hero (and one of my heroes), Peter Crouch, after he scored the winner for Tottenham Hotspur against AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League! That picture won me a £100 bet courtesy sportingbet.com and their fan contest. Sportingbet tweeted out for Spurs fans to post a picture of themselves celebrating the game, giving a free bet for their favourite... and they chose mine as the victor. Unbelievable. I never win anything... not even Roll-Up-the-Rim-to-flippin'-WIN.

Three weeks later (as in today), if you check out Tottenham's Official website, you may see a familiar face. Take a look at THIS:

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/win-100-bet-with-sportingbet-080311.html

UNREAL. I think that's preeeetty cool. I've made it (well, sort of)! What can I say? I love football [soccer] and I love Crouch, and not just because of our "striking resemblance"! I apply his technique to my game as well. Also, any Lank Tank is a friend of mine.

They're again holding the contest for Spurs' 2nd leg of their final 16 bout tomorrow. I've set the bar, so tomorrow we'll see what others can align!

Here's the winning picture!

A simple photo shot from my phone with a (literal) twist of humour!
(... and the help of my PVR of course...)

Just before the 1st leg, I looked at the contest and thought about entering but I sort of shrugged it off at first sight. After watching the game, Sportingbet's contest came back to mind, an idea popped up, and now I'm on THFC's official website. Just like that. Nice rice.

Thanks twitter. I think you're very useful.

What can you take away from this?

Life Lesson: You'll never know unless you try.

p.s. Sportingbet's customer service is exquisite.
p.p.s. Now the only question is, what to bet on? I think I have a winning strategy...
p.s. of the p.p.s. Of course they would spell my surname wrong in the article, but that's the last thing I care about right now!!!

Operation "Bingo Fundraiser"

... WAS A SUCCESS!!!!!!!!

UNREAL. Here's the story:

A bunch of us are heading out to Asessippi for a couple days to ski/snowboard... really just to have an overall relaxing fun time/break away from work/school. The six of us decided that we needed to bond as a group before hand, so we went out and enjoyed some bingo this past week (which is a pure social event, try it). Until I got there, I thought we were just going for the bonding experience. The night had an underlying goal however: We were there to "raise" funds for our trip (in other words: just win)! Brilliant.

Side note: 7 o'clock bingo is unreal. It's $10 for the main booklet, but there are way more games and the prizes are doubled.

Okay, so when we were buying our booklets I mentioned that we had a good chance of winning a major prize because I've played on three separate occasions where a person in our group wins $500! ... this was about to be the fourth.

First of all, we were so close at the beginning. Kara was always ONE AWAY for probably 3-4 games! Then out of the blue it happened. Katelyn dabbed when it counted and a bingo came her way. Sadly it was split up three ways, but we didn't care, we had some money towards our trip!

Side note: The only downside to 7 o'clock bingo is that the intermission is almost an hour. We just had the urge to dab, you know?!

Alright... we were down to the finally two games and were extremely satisfied with winning once (especially since you never really expect to win). The penultimate "Wee House" game was way overdue and we knew it was almost time to hear that annoying shrill ring, announcing a machine's victory (the worst sound ever). Nonetheless we persevered; especially Cam (a bingo rookie) who dabbed the most recently called ball and then realized that he was ONE AWAY.

Side note: I love that "one away" feeling. That is probably one of the primary reasons as to why I play. It's the thrill of almost winning, the nerve-racking tension. SO GOOD (don't worry I'm not addicted)! The other primary reason being the fellowship of course, but all in all you just gotta LOVE that "one away" sensation.

Anyways, so Cam is ONE AWAY! Here is what happened in present form detail:

We all immediately abandon our sheets and turn our heads toward the screen to watch the next ball appear... ... N40!!!!!!!!! Snapping our heads back toward Cam, we see that his eyes are glued to his paper as he dabs the winning number (in what seems to be slow motion). His non-dabbing hand then rockets into the air and he is frozen in that position, for what seems like multiple minutes. We all start shouting, "Say bingo, BINGO!" He yells BINGO and we cheer! WOOOOO!

It was a "good bingo", $500 was coming our way! We had overcome the odds and raised a lot of funds for our trip! The whole time we were cheering so loudly and I just felt bad, 'cause I knew everyone hated us at that moment. Meh, it just felt so good to win as a group! We then had trouble focusing on the "Full House Blackout" because of our joy, but it didn't matter, it was snatched up by a stranger and that was that. Overall our "bingo fundraiser" was an unlikely success. Unbelievable. A true underdog story... if you will.

Cam obviously kept a lot of the money, but he did graciously share and now we have cut the cost of our ski trip! Good times.

We also did believe that we were going to win... just sayin'.

Life Lesson: Believe in yourself (even while playing bingo).

(Cam in shock)

Now we are on the road, baby!!
PEACE.

p.s. This is my first time skiing in Manitoba... weird, but understandable.

Willie's Driving?!

I drove with Willie the other day... and I wasn't the one who was driving! I figured I'd document this historic first occasion. Check it OUT!

Life Lesson: There's a first time for everything.

p.s. I believe there are more heavy snow-plow machinery in this video than in Vancouver all together...