Free haircut!

One cannot speak highly enough about Craig's List (http://www.craigslist.com/). I recently decided to look into this site, and have become next to addicted to it. In the past number of weeks, I have sold an old jogging stroller we had for $65, and in all likelihood the stroller would have been tossed at some point. I purchased a desk for $30, an office chair for $25, make a contract with a fellow to park his vintage vehicle in my empty garage for $75 a month, a year contract paid in advance, and received 3 free next to new toilets, which I will indeed use in time as I have 2 failing toilets. And .... we had a stylist, shall we say an aspiring stylist at Suki's, a high end hair salon in Vancouver, cut my daughter Mia's hair as part of his studies. Mia's hair has been the needle in my toe for the past several months, as it is long, tangled and she does not take care of it. Now ... she sports a bob, and is already breaking hearts.

U8 Soccer

My soccer player Kai ... all of 6 years old. He will turn 7 soon and is playing U8 this season. It is interesting noting the differences between my children. Rick (12) has always 'wanted the ball', or in his case, the puck. He strives for it, wants it on his stick, wants to score. As I was watching Kai this morning, I was thinking he might be the prototypical midfielder in soccer (in all honesty I do not know soccer that well); he doesn't seem to have any desire to score, to go to the ball, carry it up, and score. He is happy in midfield, waiting for the ball, and upon receiving it does a move or two and passes it up. A ringer he is not, but he actually does seem to have some skill.

I sit on the sidelines urging him on, and soon find out he does not appreciate. He wants me to watch, but to be quiet at the same time.

Hyack

Why do I like this picture? Well, not many have the 勇気 (courage) to kiss a fish like this, and then share it with the world. I can pretend to be 'green', practicing catch & release fishing, but then one could argue I choose to torture fish. Anyway, that is me! Next, why "Hyack"? Well, I could choose something like Salmonbelly, the name the local lacrosse teams use, which is equally interesting here in town. In 1995 I moved to New Westminster, BC. I have a habit of adopting everything around me as my own, and immediately embrace my house, neighbourhood, city, region, province, country, etc. as my own. Well, one of the nicknames here in New West is Hyack, which I am told means 'faster' in one of the local native languages. I like it.

New West try-outs underway

My son is trying out for the peewee rep hockey team in our town, the New Westminster Royals. All sports seem to bring out the worst in some parents, myself not excepted. The tension around the try-outs is thick. I have 3 kids, a 12 year-old boy, 9 year-old girl & 6 year-old boy. I am not overly concerned with the manner in which the 2 younger children perform, but for some reason get irritated when I see my 12 year-old not performing to expectations. Being the oldest has advantages, but also higher expectations I believe.

New Westminster try-outs began a week or so ago, paring down the players to 22. From here, another 8 kids or so will be cut. My son is considered one of the stronger players so I am not overly stressed this year. The first cuts included a huge boy with good skill, but a terrible attitude, another small boy with great positioning but a weaker skill set, and many in the middle. This season I step away from coaching, especially at the rep level. Rep parents have high expectations and can cause a lot of stress to coaches, something I don't need.