The snow is falling
And so are you
You're on the ground
Don't know what to do
You want to get up
The ground is cold
It's a good thing you have
My hand to hold
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Sunday, 9 December 2007
Birthday = ???
When I was a kid it was always cold and snowy for weeks before my birthday. I was able to safely book a tobogganing party for me and my closest friends without any issue. It wasn't until I reached junior high and high school that this became more difficult. My birthday, even though only 5 days before Christmas, started to continually be a rainy event. I had to find an alternative to the toboggoning party and thanks to my awesome friends - we found a new alternative.
What many of you don't know, is that I used to belong to a league that was so awesome - I was proud to wear the uniform, as were my brothers and sisters. We got involved rather innocently - our mother took on a part time job and as part, her children got a free membership as long as she worked there.
My cousin signed up too - as she was one of us anyhow. Jaime, my sister Heather and I were all in the same group starting out, with Lisa and Joe being with the older kids. We learned the fundamentals and soon enough we were doing great. I even gained some minor fame in the league when a local reporter came out and took some really fantastic shots of me showing my stuff. They did a photo montage of the actions and it was really awesome to see the prints. My parents still have copies of the newspaper article.
Where could I have recieved such fame and notoriety???? The bowling alley of course!
We played at Cambridge Bowl, which used to be located on Elgin Street in where the Bingo Hall now stands. I remember coming in when my mom was working to get my ever coveted - foot long hot dog. I loved going there - the smells the sounds. Bowling was a lot of fun when you were six!
Fast forward to high school and a lack of snow and a desire to have a good birthday.
The thought of going bowling first seemed pretty kooky and fun. Who would've thought that it would become a time of fun and adventure.
Since my childhood they have come out with what they call "Rock 'n' Bowl" aka "Glow Bowl". Essentially, this is bowling under black light. It's awesome and with a kick a$$ juke box, and some rocking tunes, it became even more fun. The best, and probably the gungiest place in town with the lights on was Country Bowl. The music rocked and it had a small and cozy feel. It was located on the second story of an old factory downtown Galt (an area of Cambridge where I grew up) and it was just awesome.
I had friends from a completely different part of town that used to ride the bus for an hour just to join me at Rock'n'Bowl and we had many laughs throughout the years. It wasn't that we were regulars, but were regular enough to know some of the staff and how to cheat the system.
Of course the most memorable time was for my 16th birthday where my best friend at the time baked me a birthday cake. She wanted me to have an awesome time and made the most interesting birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate icing (who doesn't like chocolate) but had the most interesting centerpiece on the cake. She had taken some marshmallows and somehow made a big pink penis on the middle of the cake. It was the most hilarious gift I had ever gotten - and I'll never forget having that cake with us.
After I went to college, bowling wasn't a regular thing anymore, and many of the usual suspects went their seperate ways. Somehow the bowling tradition lived on only in me and Devon - who still strive to wear tacky hawaiian shirts every time that we go bowling and get really pumped thinking about how french fries glow green under black lighting, and how awesome a foot long hot dog tastes with the sound of pins falling.
This year - I want to reinstate the bowling on my birthday. I deserve to have a kick ass birthday, and already have enough people for an entire lane willing to come out and bowl with us. We are going to ibowl.ca which used to be country bowl - and it will allow people to have options to play the regular 5 pin (for which I was a minor celebrity) or with the larger 10 pin balls.
It's going to be one killer time and I'm so glad that BIRTHDAY = BOWLING this year!
What many of you don't know, is that I used to belong to a league that was so awesome - I was proud to wear the uniform, as were my brothers and sisters. We got involved rather innocently - our mother took on a part time job and as part, her children got a free membership as long as she worked there.
My cousin signed up too - as she was one of us anyhow. Jaime, my sister Heather and I were all in the same group starting out, with Lisa and Joe being with the older kids. We learned the fundamentals and soon enough we were doing great. I even gained some minor fame in the league when a local reporter came out and took some really fantastic shots of me showing my stuff. They did a photo montage of the actions and it was really awesome to see the prints. My parents still have copies of the newspaper article.
Where could I have recieved such fame and notoriety???? The bowling alley of course!
We played at Cambridge Bowl, which used to be located on Elgin Street in where the Bingo Hall now stands. I remember coming in when my mom was working to get my ever coveted - foot long hot dog. I loved going there - the smells the sounds. Bowling was a lot of fun when you were six!
Fast forward to high school and a lack of snow and a desire to have a good birthday.
The thought of going bowling first seemed pretty kooky and fun. Who would've thought that it would become a time of fun and adventure.
Since my childhood they have come out with what they call "Rock 'n' Bowl" aka "Glow Bowl". Essentially, this is bowling under black light. It's awesome and with a kick a$$ juke box, and some rocking tunes, it became even more fun. The best, and probably the gungiest place in town with the lights on was Country Bowl. The music rocked and it had a small and cozy feel. It was located on the second story of an old factory downtown Galt (an area of Cambridge where I grew up) and it was just awesome.
I had friends from a completely different part of town that used to ride the bus for an hour just to join me at Rock'n'Bowl and we had many laughs throughout the years. It wasn't that we were regulars, but were regular enough to know some of the staff and how to cheat the system.
Of course the most memorable time was for my 16th birthday where my best friend at the time baked me a birthday cake. She wanted me to have an awesome time and made the most interesting birthday cake. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate icing (who doesn't like chocolate) but had the most interesting centerpiece on the cake. She had taken some marshmallows and somehow made a big pink penis on the middle of the cake. It was the most hilarious gift I had ever gotten - and I'll never forget having that cake with us.
After I went to college, bowling wasn't a regular thing anymore, and many of the usual suspects went their seperate ways. Somehow the bowling tradition lived on only in me and Devon - who still strive to wear tacky hawaiian shirts every time that we go bowling and get really pumped thinking about how french fries glow green under black lighting, and how awesome a foot long hot dog tastes with the sound of pins falling.
This year - I want to reinstate the bowling on my birthday. I deserve to have a kick ass birthday, and already have enough people for an entire lane willing to come out and bowl with us. We are going to ibowl.ca which used to be country bowl - and it will allow people to have options to play the regular 5 pin (for which I was a minor celebrity) or with the larger 10 pin balls.
It's going to be one killer time and I'm so glad that BIRTHDAY = BOWLING this year!
Sunday, 2 December 2007
25 Ways to Annoy a roommate at Christmas
I found this during my quest to find some really cool Christmas sites after last nights big snowfall. I thought it was really clever. Be wary if any of this happens to you!
- Claim you were a Christmas tree in your former life. If s/he tries to bring one into the room, scream bloody murder.
- Go to the mall with your roommate and sit on Santa's lap. Refuse to get off.
- Wear a Santa suit all the time. Deny you're wearing it.
- Sit in a corner in the fetal position rocking back and forth chanting, "Santa Claus is coming to town, Santa Claus is coming to town..."
- Hang mistletoe in the doorway. When your roommate enters or leaves the room, plant a wet one on his/her lips.
- Hang a stocking with your roommates name on it. Collect coal and sharp objects in it. If s/he asks, say "you've been very naughty this year."
- Paint your nose red and wear antlers. Constantly complain about how you never get to join in on the reindeer games.
- Make conversation out of Christmas Carols. (I.E. "You know, I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus underneath the mistletoe last night.")
- Wrap yourself in Christmas lights and roll around in the snow.
- Sing: "All I want for Christmas is my roommate's two front teeth..."
- Give your roommate the gifts from the twelve days of Christmas song.
- Build a snowperson with your roommate and place a hat on its head. When it doesn't come to life, cry hysterically "it didn't work!"
- Whip your roommate screaming "now Dasher, now Dancer, now Donner, and Blitzen, etc."
- Tear down all your roommate's Christmas decorations yelling "Bah Humbug!"
- Wake up every morning screaming "Ghost of Christmas Future, please have mercy on my soul!"
- Tell your roommate you're moving out. Santa's buying you a house on 34th Street.
- Pin a poinsettia to your lapel.
- Make anatomically correct gingerbread people and eat the best parts first.
- Put on a fake white beard and insist that all your roommate's friends "give it a yank."
- Ring jingle bells maniacally saying "every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings."
- Stand in front of the mirror reciting "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" over and over in your underwear.
- Smoke mistletoe. Do what comes naturally.
- Watch your roommate when s/he is sleeping. When s/he wakes up sing, "he sees you when you're sleeping..."
- Steal a life size nativity scene and display it in your room. When your roommate asks, tell him/her "I had to let them stay here, there's no room at the inn."
- When your roommate goes to the bathroom, rearrange his/her possessions. Tell him/her that Santa's elves must have done it.
Sunday, 25 November 2007
What holiday food are you???
| You Are a Gingerbread House |
 A little spicy and a little sweet, anyone would like to be lost in the woods with you. |
From the Ferris Wheel Lights
Last night me and some chums went to Niagara Falls for a night of dinner and craziness. Every year at this time until the end of the Christmas holidays, the Niagara Parks Department hosts a festival of lights where they include thousands of lights in displays provided by different corporations and such. We saw many different Disney layouts and this really cool snowflake display on the police department that moved in tune to music. It was wild!Anyhow - when we first went down to meet up with everyone we were early. I haven't been there in a while and was excited to see all the changes that have taken place - including the new ferris wheel that has been installed to replace the tower that was there for a dogs age. As soon as I saw the wheel with it's cool lights and bright white structure - I told James that I really wanted to go on it. James who was up for anything but didn't want to commit until we ran into a few others said that maybe we could.
It was bloody cold last night - and with all the moisture in the air from the falls, it was not a night to be without protection. (Get your minds out of the gutter! I'm talking about hats, mitts, scarves and warm socks!!!) The ride looked great but the thought of going on without heaters inside turned us off a bit. James decided to call his sister to find out where everyone was. We found out that another couple was already in town and we should give them a ring. We did - and within 5 minutes they met us at the base of the ferris wheel. We were all excited to be out on the town - and as soon as I mentioned that I'd like to go on - my partner in crime Vanessa was all for it.
We ran/skipped/meandered over to the ticket booth and were excited to see in big letters "HEATED". Having hit the jackpot, we pulled out some coupons which were provided by our parking lot and all got $1 off the admission. We headed over to the front of the line and watched as the wheel went around and around with the passengers inside.
We get onto the ferris wheel and it has these great benches on both sides of the cart. Looking up it looked like a small airplane with buttons and round vents staring back at you. In your little closed in compartment you can adjust the lights and the venting so you can have more or less heat. It was so need to be inside these little darkened rooms and we were all giggly as we started on our journey.
It was on the way up that Vanessa started to express a dislike for the movement of going up. I started to worry that she was going to have a panic attack, especially when we started to speed up and see just how far this huge ferris wheel was going. Now I'm not so great on rides either but having seen it go around a few times I wasn't that worried, and as the ride was new, I felt safe.
Well, I felt safe until we started to head on the downward spiral. This was when Vanessa perked up and said that she liked it - and I said that I felt like I was going to be sick! If there is one thing I don't like is the feeling of losing control. Falling down is one of those times. Going up, gravity is on your side- you are pushing. However when you go down - you are loose and falling. I did not like the feeling at all.
Good for me - this lasted all of about two minutes and then we were back up again. The scenery was fantastic and both me and Vanessa ended up enjoying the experience despite our initial hesitation on the ride. James and Phil just laughed at us and stared out at the vast sea of lights, roaring water that was undergoing a beautiful light display of reds, blues, purples, greens. It was awesome and I'm so glad that we went.
While we were on our second or third rotation, James looked down below and saw a few of our other friends, including his sister, going into Tim Horton's. Of course we had to call and give them crap because we were banging on the windows and waving our hands to try and get their attention but they didn't look up once! When we got off the ride (after an awesome 5 full rotations) we happily went to talk to them.
I was amazed at the hesitation on some of their faces as the thought of going up so high scared them. It was a fear that I know well. I used to fear everything, but last night we took a chance and had a ball.
By far - the ferris wheel is tops in my books as one of my picks for best value. Of course this is next to viewing the light displays which is FREE and so is viewing the Falls themselves.
For this ride - I give it 5 peanuts out of 6. It loses one peanut for a lack of music.
********FERRIS WHEEL FACTS *********
Official name: Niagara SkyWheel
Location: Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Admission: Adult $9.99 Child $5.99
Number of enclosed gondolas: 42
Max passengers per gondola: 6
Additional information: Climate controlled gondolas - air conditioned for summer - heated for winter
Height: 53 metres ( over 175 feet)
Ride duration: 10 minutes
Hours of Operation:
Monday to Thursday 9 am to 12 midnight Friday to Sunday 9 am to 1 am
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