We The North

I am Canadian. A Canadian Mom. A Canadian Mom whose kids don’t play hockey! *hears collective gasp* Right? hahaha It is very nearly the reaction one gets up here when the inevitable question is asked after people find out I have three boys. But my kids can’t even skate well. They never took to it. Never asked to learn. And it, let’s be real, is quite cost prohibitive if one is not a millionaire…especially when there are THREE of them!

 

So they don’t play it. They also don’t watch it. Aren’t into it in the slightest. I used to love watching it. Now it feels slow and boring to me. *another gasp heard across the Great White North* 😛 And I’ll explain….

All three of my sons are obsessed with basketball. Playing it, watching it, video gaming it, & memorizing every stat and trivial nugget of info. My two oldest play at school, then play club ball in the Spring. Our house is basketball central from November to June, and in the Summer they yak on and on about how they can’t wait for it to start, while spending hours on end with their outdoor hoop. And we are not going broke letting them play it!

  

 

What is bizarre to me, is that I LOATHED the game since high school, during which we were forced to play it in gym every. frigging. day. I was never good at it. Terrible, in fact. Got picked last all the time. It was humiliating. So I, of course, never took to watching it, either. I knew who some big name NBA players were…pretty hard to miss if you aren’t living in a cave, but I had zero interest in watching it. Until one day when my oldest was 12, and came home from school announcing that he made the basketball team. Then got so into it, that the NBA channel became pretty much the only thing our TV was/is tuned to. Then his brother hit grade 7 and wanted to play too, influenced by his big brother. Now my 10 year old is getting the b-ball bug. He won’t play very competitively until grade 7, but that doesn’t stop him with being obsessed with it during gym and with the outdoor hoop! Needless to say, they never got their love for it from me! lol

Now, I have to say, after 4 years of being surrounded by talk of it, and by watching them at school and countless NBA games as a bonding thing with them, I am quite fond of it. I may even be starting to love it. And you know what? It really does make hockey seem boring now. *more gasps and maybe fainting*  😛 hahahaha No, really, I was/am even kind of shocked by that revelation!

 

 

For me, I find that basketball is faster paced, has cooler, more impressive shots on net, and can be a nail biter right down to 6 seconds left in a game. Anything can happen! It’s fascinating & addictive! I can’t look away! lol

My oldest is a Golden State Warriors super fan….I’m talking he literally CRIED when they lost the championship last season, lol….. and the rest of us root for the Toronto Raptors… Canada’s only b-ball team. Personally I like both, as they are in different divisions, but will always put Toronto first. 🙂

Tonight they play each other. Golden State, along with the Cleveland Cavaliers, are the best in the league. But the Raptors have been bringing it this season, so far. It could be interesting. No….WILL BE interesting! 🙂

Also the Raptors have cooler graphics! 😛

Go Raptors Go! 😀

Rockin’ Canadian Style

Three newer bands from Canada that rock it out of the park! Love, Love, LOVE all the newer bands rockin’ it old school! And of course, Canada is a gold mine for them. 😉

yeah…been cruisin’ ye olde UToobe side bar again. lol

Canadiana Lane

After looking for the vids for my concert post, I of course stumbled across a million more songs in the suggestions bar at UToobe, and so, I AM COMPELLED because of my musical obsessions (hahaha) to listen, and take that memory lane walk….walking down the Canadian musical memory lane scene, circa the 80s/90s….good memories…. 🙂

Oh, and I’m sharing one. Because it grooves me right now, and because I can’t seem to help myself! Plus, Canadian chicks know how to rock! ;D

Alannah Myles…

 

I Went To A Concert in 1983

Feeling nostalgic tonight. I get that way sometimes.

A concert in November 1983….

…from the perspective of a 17 year old girl crazy for music and musicians….

Drive to the city on the day the tickets are put up for sale. Have to get there early, because it tends to sell out. Alright! Tenth or so in line. Wait, wait, wait… 2 or 3 hours, sometimes in the cold wind. So worth it, though. Buy the tickets… which were around $25 at the time. Festival seating…

Day of the show…
Arrive 3 hours early because we NEEED to be in the front row. Tickets in hand, ready… Finally, the doors are cautiously opened and there is a mad rush of teenage girl hormones racing to be first. Run! Don’t trip down those stairs from the arena seating to the main floor… Run like never before, rush past that skanky looking thing in the 3 inch heels… what was she thinking? 😛

Yay! Made it! Front row… Crushed against the stage, because there was no barrier back then, when he was still new on the scene. The stage touched the crowd. Oh, it hurts, as the surge continues behind us. But we don’t care. The adrenalin stops us from caring that our ribs are being crushed! lol

The lights finally go down. There is a huge tide of screaming… swooning. It is only the opening act, but the excitement is tangible. On go the stage lights as they take the stage already playing one of her hits. (It was Luba). The roar is deafening. So close are we that we have to crane our necks to look up at them. Guitar man right there… inches away… mesmerizing me with his fingers….

Opening act finishes to rowdy applause and the lights go up… Time to breathe. Or can we… amidst the pot smoke…. lol! Apply fresh lipstick, fluff the feathered back hair… have to look great because he will be out soon, and see US…

Already hoarse from screaming, the lights go down again. We find our voices and scream some more. Here he comes. We have waited months for this moment. Soon he will be inches away from us. In person, larger than life, in the flesh… and making us swoon with that raspy voice of his.

Disc camera at the ready, but some wench next to me has her hands all waving in front of my shot. I nudge her. She scowls at me, but moves.
Bryan takes the stage finally… we are giddy with delight and admiration. The cassette tape we played until it wore out and I had to buy a new one, is about to come to life. Our favorite songs…. the soundtrack of our teenagehood. Right there, in living technicolor and dazzling live sound. Scents of pot, dozens of perfumes mingling together, and his musky sweat are heady. We look up in awe at this man who dazzles us with his music. Who speaks to us through it….

I snap some pics. No digital camera, so I can make sure I get the shot. Just have to hope for the best. Soon he is coming towards us, mid song, hand out to touch us. He touches most of them lightly, as he goes by, but mine he grabs and holds on to for a few moments. I think… I will never wash it again! lol He lets go, and I am lost…. drunk on the music, high on it (well the heavy pot smoke probably helped lol!), high on this person who has mesmerized me and has just made my year by grabbing my hand. It was soft and nice, btw! *grin*

He towels his forehead off and tosses the towel. We reach for it… I got it!! But so does hand waving chick. Damn. We negotiate for it and finally come to a deal about ripping it in half. Yay! Bryan’s sweaty towel! A treasure! (still have it, btw, in the same baggy I put it in way back in ’83…. ewwwwah! Not opening that! LOL!)
Another treasure is a broken drumstick the drummer threw out. Lucky this night, am I!

Finally over, after two encores, everyone files out nicely, but excitedly chattering to each other. Quite the switch from the mad rush at the start. Sweaty, and spent, we talk animatedly about how wonderful it was. Swoon at how cute he was in person. Gush at seeing him so close up, and that hand grab….. oh my…

Driving home, we proceed to try and wear out the second cassette tape….
It was a magical night 🙂

*did it all over again in ’85 and got some great pics from that one too* 🙂