The Shear Intensity of the Thing Made Me Nervous

Summer hockey is finally going to start. I called today to find out my first game is this Sunday at 8:00. I made the decision to be nervous and uncomfortable and play in B-League. I can’t play with the hacks any more. I managed to get on the team of one of my tattooed buddies who skates out in C-League and plays goalie in B-League.

I’m pretty fucking nervous about playing. I’ve been sitting on my ass not doing anything for the past month while they’ve been doing this maintenance on the rink. I was going to try and do something to stay in shape, but I’m a lazy bastard and don’t like working out for no competitive reason. I’m hoping that all the other dudes who play haven’t really been doing anything either. I feel pretty strong, but I know my heart and lungs aren’t where they need to be. I’m a bit lighter than I was at the end of winter league (If that makes any sense, I was at about 177 at the end of winter league and now I’m right around 172) so I’ve got less weight to move around.

I just really need to skate like a motherfucker the first few games to get some respect from my teammates. If you’re shagging (how does MS word know that motherfucker is one word???) anyway, if you’re shagging ass around the ice like you’re out for an open skate dudes get pissed. I need to go out there and skate hard until my guts are burning. You’re always forgiven a few mistakes with the puck if you’re skating hard.

Zen Snow Shoveling

It snowed about six inches this weekend.

Steve- Snow is a frozen crystallized form of water which falls during the winter months due to the temperature being below 32°F (0°C).

OK, now that we’re all on a level playing field.

I heard all these snow blowers running and I just scoffed. Snow blowers are for old men and women, much like the only people without beards are young boys and women.

I find the act of snow shoveling calming and quieting. It turns off the unessential parts of the brain and gets you down to the essential survival parts.

It’s you, the cold, the shovel, and your muscles extending and contracting, much like ice-skating is you, the cold, the skates, and your muscles extending and contracting.

Everything else in the world is stripped away.

I also did a bit of electrical wiring in my house this weekend. I replaced some 1960’s vintage light switches. The wiring in the house is just scary. It’s that old shit with an inner layer of insulation and then kind of cloth wrap on the outside.

The three switches I replaced were all wired in parallel. They took the hot wire and just stripped off three sections on the continuous wire for each switch. Not exactly to code.

Then I spent like an hour and a half trying to get a timer switch wired into my outdoor plug to run my Christmas lights. Something was fucked up with the internals of the switch so I just went with an outside timer that plugged into the current outlet. I should have done that in the first place, it took all of 5 minutes to mount to the siding and setup.

Five days until the great Wisconsin Christmas Odyssey.

I’m your Neighborhood Spaceman… (terrible video, good song)