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The big ticket birthday present for my eldest daughter was an evening out to downtown Toronto, for some public transit, a meal, some souvenirs, and an at home Leafs game at the former ACC, now Scotia Bank Arena. We sat in section 324 up in the rafters, but the view of the ice was unobstructed, the crowd loud, and action on the ice exciting! We won 3-2 against the Anaheim Ducks, wearing their orange & whites. We sported our brand new Fanatics Leafs jerseys, and had a good time. We sat Carlton the Bear banging his drum. Got on the jumbo tron for a few seconds, and narrowly missed winning some swag. All in all a great time. All told it was nearing seven hours, so a bit of a commitment time wise, but time well spent with my daughter.

My daughter bough a puck with some birthday money from her uncle Steve. I bought a t-shirt because the local SportsChek sells out of my size almost immediately. Plus the way they security tag their t-shirts pretty much ruins them, so I’ll give their tees a pass from now on. Also three hundred bones for a jersey is too rich for me, so we opted for the thinner versions, with no names or numbers. Saved two hundred bucks per jersey that way. These will fit us for years to come!

Unfortunately we now have to wait until January to go again. Once more as a Christmas present to my daughter. Once as my own Christmas present. And again as a birthday gift to myself. I’m going again one more time in march, but I’ll take my buddy with me as by then my daughter will have done four games, and may be “over it” after that many visits. Doesn’t take long to acclimate to something new, no matter how extraordinary it is. Humans – so adaptable.

We left home some time around 4:30pm, and we home a little after 11:25pm. Made for a long night full of walking, and lots, and lots of stairs. We did manage to figure out both the trains, and the busing, so that’s a headache I nolonger have. And my google wallet worked great, so no concerns about the tickets there either. That’s a load off. Bathrooms, and food were near by, and the seats were padded, and warm. It was by all accounts a great evening. Can not wait to go again.

But the windchill puts it at -15°C, do that’s pretty chilly out there walk walking around, or worse yet – working. Dress warm ladies and gents. What could be better on a cold day than going downtown to our first at home Leafs game at the ACC (Scotia Bank Arena). Just like the Skydome, this will always be the ACC to me. Change the title on the building all you want by selling the rights, but the name stays the same in my mind. Sorry, that’s just how it is.

I saw the Ducks losing to Ottawa last night 4-0 before I switched channels, so I hope that the Leafs can pull out a win while we are watching from the stands. We have our jerseys in hand, and some team spirit to share with the crowd. The last game we saw was in Tampa Bay and it was 90°F outside at the time. We will have to prep a little differently to enjoy tonights game here in southern Ontario in mid December  let me tell you.

Still trying go decide if we want to take the train from Rouge Hill, or a bus from the station 2Km north of us. The train is faster, but I’d have to pay to park. Or get free parking and a longer ride down/back. But, less chance of car theft/break in up here, as opposed to down in Scarborough. Decisions decisions. Either way the weather is going to be cold, and blustery, and generally unpleasant.

My guess is we are going to eat inside the arena, so not much else to worry about beyond hot dogs or hamburgers. That and what we’re going to drink to wash it all down. Thirteen dollar bottle of Powerade, or a twenty dollar Tall Boy! Ha.

Nice to see a blue sky today though. It has been missed in among all these grey, foggy, rainy days. Last night had a quick splurge of snowfall from out of nowhere. Just randomly started and stopped suddenly. Gotta love winter, and unpredictable weather. Blue sky and sunshine are a nice touch though. I’ll take it!

More than most people in this instance I would, yes. However, I have noticed the same issue on two separate sets of drawings, and I don’t think that you see it, in your professional capacity. Which gives me pause. But, I think you will definitely see the issue when you have to go to press with those drawings and come face to face with the issue. A simple oversight. Whoopsie daisy! I’m sure we’ll get it sorted between all of us involved.

Wednesday is here! Another glum, gloomy, foggy, rainy day up for grabs. Any takers? Yes, no, maybe so? I need to clean a big more as we will have a guest this afternoon. So I’m going to run the vacuum around, and mop the floors, and clean the bathroom up just a bit. Happy hump day.

Somebody thought it was a great idea to introduce an Elf on the Shelf into our home, and now it’s this big obligation, and I fucking hate it. I hate the idea of surveillance for one thing. Lying to my kids about some “magical elf conduit to Santa” that moves around. Not only that it seems to be more of a way for parents to fuck with their kids, and be mean, more so than adding to the Christmas spirit of joy, and cheerfulness. Do you know how hard it is already to mask my hand writing to add Santa labels on presents, and now I have to write full on notes in yet another style of handwriting that isn’t my own, or Santa’s? It’s really tiresome. I love decorations. I love music. I love going to see lights, tree lighting ceremonies, Christmas markets, and school events. I like movies, plays, and books about Christmas. But this is a step I’m none too fond of. In fact I hate it.

I’d like to say that this is the end of my rant, but I’m more angry that it was foisted upon us without any considerations for the obligations it brings. No body even asked us if we wanted it. I know that we have expressed a disdain for the idea openly, and that was ignored. They could have bought it, and kept it at their own house, and done all of the little tableaus, notes, pranks, and more themselves. But no! It became our obligation to do all that, so that they could just bring it up, over, and over, and over again. Never dropping the subject. But also never doing anything significant with it themselves. Must be  nice. Just like them, constantly making plans for other people to have to do, with zero follow through required on their part. It’s kind of ridiculous. Now my kids are in the middle of it. Sure, cool. Use childlike wonder against us. Love it. Why not.

In other news the fog rolled in like this was an east coast town. So thick, and moist. Very damp out there today. Early this morning you could hardly see more than eight to ten feet in front of your nose. On the plus side the roads were clear, and it wasn’t icy. The rains have washed much of our snow accumulation away. Back to mushy green grass, and lots of mud. It’s a gay old time!

I don’t think I’ve been sleeping well because I am feeling exhausted right now.

Not a particularly nice day outside. Slightly below zero temperatures and a fairly heavy rain means we are likely to develope freezing rain this afternoon,evening, night once the temperatures drop again. Not a pleasant thought. Driving in modest snowfall is one thing, but black ice, or freezing rain is another, much worse thing to have to deal with. If I have my wauly that would mean ZERO additional travel after school today, should the conditions for freezing rain/black ice be met. Why risk it? Makes no sense.

In other news we had my eldest daughters tenth birthday party over the weekend at a local theater where we watched the new Moana 2. It was colourful, and charming if not particularly heavy on plot. All of the ten year olds seemed to like it, and my youngest, plus our five year old niece liked it a fair bit too. When they sat down and paid attention that is. Damn near cost me a good chunk of change, but that’s parenthood for you. I paid for the privilege of not having to clean up, make food, bake a cake, or entertain twelve kids of varying ages for the better part of three hours. Call it a narrow win.

Although I will say this, as the kids get older the friend group requires less entertainment from us parents, and more freedom to just hang out, be loud, and just talk nonsense amongst themselves. We watch out for signs of a physical altercation, but otherwise offer them the latitude to occupy themselves however they wish. Plus we had food served, cupcakes, soda, and candy. They were all set to make of it what they will. Daughter was pleased, all that mattered to us.

Wouldn’t be December without rain. Right? How odd. Pretty weird to roll right from snowstorm into rain. But what can you do? Nothing. That’s the cold hard truth.

My, my how time does fly by. Whether you want it to or not. Being busy seems to aid in said passage of time, but then again nothing really stops the clock, not even death. Here we are on a Saturday morning getting ready to go climb for 90 mi utes or so, depending on how well our hands, arms, thumbs can hold on for just one more climb. I might go and give the bouldering side of the gum a go today, I’m not sure yet. I like the rock climbing side because if I fall the rope is there to slow my fall. If you come off the bouldering side, you just come off and fall to the pads. I have a tendency to fall “funny” putting my knees and ankles in peril. I very much so don’t want to injure myself trying to get into better shape. I remember the hold I had to put on activity when I caught Covid to try a minimize the chance of developing Long Covid, which there has been no meaningful cure for since it turned up nearly five years ago now. Part of how I was up to 213lbs. That, and boredom, snacking, over eating, and a handful of other things I’m sure.

Little more than two weeks until Christmas break. Then the holidays, the new year, and we’ll be neck deep into winter at that point. A cold, and bleak period around these parts. Being able to count the number of blue sky days on one or two hands is the norm. Last year we had far more than normal blue sky sun filled days. It was glorious. I do love the lights, tree, and decorations up in the house, but you know what else I like? Space. Getting some much needed room back from removing the tree will go a long way in brightening up the living room during the day. One window is blocked by the tree and it feels a little glum in there during the day.

We are set to go to our first at home Leafs game next week. I for one am excited! It will be a late night for my daughter, with school the next day. So she might do ok for the first game just on adrenaline alone, but I think she will quickly grow accustomed to it over our four game stretch. Ha. Sadly we don’t have the same caliber of seats that we had in Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay for the Leafs last regular season game back in April. Four rows back from the ice, behind the net. Amazing for our first experience with the NHL. Kucherov scored his 100th point/assist. We got flags for fan appreciation day. It was cool. Very memorable.

Where did the last ten years go? She was  my tiny football sized baby being washed in the sink just a few moments ago! Now she’s a talented Taekwondo combatant, rock climbing, hockey fan, whom plays the saxophone. My oh my how time does fly. I should probably bake a cake or something for her to have once school gets out today.

That breeze could scour the frown off of a snowman it’s so strong. Yikes. Not only that but it is bitingly cold to boot. A dangerous mix if you have little ones whom don’t take much care with their exposed skin. Either by not zipping up coats properly, or failing to wear a hat or gloves. It worse splashing about in salt brine puddles to get soaked boots, and frigid wet socks. It’s a perfect storm for bright red cheeks verging on a waxy white, then it goes black from frostbite. It’s a real threat to small kids that don’t seem to take any notice of the weather, or the condition of their bodies until it’s too late. You’ll know once those plump bright red fingers start to thaw, and the burning sensation kicks in. My youngest used to howl in agony at that point. A lesson learned the hard way, as per usual.

Listen bud! I put three pairs of dry gloves in your backpack, and one spare set of mitts. No excuse for numb fingers! You didn’t want to wear your snowpants, and I couldn’t get you to take them into the school with you, so now you have to deal with that decision. I know it sucks. Try to stay out of the snowbanks today. Thanks.

That and other fun ice, cold, rain, weather related arguments happen all the time. Kids! Aren’t they clever. So that’s been my Thursday morning. Also walking the puppy in the windy snow drifts has been an exercise of my patience. I still am unable to tell if he likes the snow but hates the cold, or if he hates both, or loves both. He doesn’t react the same way throughout the day to snow, cold, wind, or anything like that. He’s a complicated puppy ok.

I need to find my boots, and get my snowpants situated by the front door. If the weather continues on like this we are in for a cold, and snow filled winter season this year. Wow. Still too early to guarantee a white, and snowy Christmas morning, but it looks like it could trend that way over the next few days atleast. I saw a random 5°C day on the forecast, but it could be an outlier. I don’t know, I’m no meteorologist!

The holiday party season kicked off last week with US Thanksgiving, so the calendars are filling up as we speak. Lots to do, places to be, and people to see. Hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season. Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and Happy New Year to you all to. Ciao Bella

I had a video excerpt queued up for this segment but my phone, in conjunction with this app won’t recognize it, so I’ll have to do some back tracking in my work flow to see where I’ve gone wrong. I might have a button I forgot to toggle, or I’ve moved the file elsewhere during the production phase. No matter. It was a flyby over my war gaming terrain that is also available on IG, and over on YouTube. So some people have seen it. Not many, but a few.

I was thinking that because we are into December I usually start to panic that there was so much I wanted to do during the calendar year, that I start to try and do all of the things now. Or over the course of this month. I write short stories, I sculpt stuff, I work on my resin model kit, play guitar, and try to be in my woodshop, as well as working on tying up loose ends, and completing paid projects so that I can send off my last invoices before years end. This feeling is what lead me to writing on this blog every day, about three years ago. I would have had a hell of a streak except I made a technical error when fixing an old post that was having issues loading photos properly, and then I got discouraged and took my full 16 days of holidays off from here in a fit of rage. No matter. I still write daily, so I’ll consider it an unlikely win anyway.

I have a base with armature ready to go for my next sculpted monster bust. Haven’t come across any designs I’d like to attempt to bring to life. Or I have, but I’m too nervous to try and replicate the thing I was taken by. Playing the guitar more has been loads of fun. I recently took up indoor rock climbing, and that’s lots of fun, but it makes my hands difficult to use afterwards, so in truth I’m not playing as much guitar as I could be, because I physically cannot. Working thumbs, and fingers help alot. Not just for strumming, but working the strings along the fretboard. Kind of important. The resin kit has been stowed away since last spring. I can pick that up at any point in the near future. I’m still prepping, sanding, and priming the pieces. Long ways to go yet on that bad mother. I also have a HellBoy painting drawn up ready for paint. I just need to commit some time to getting on it. I think I need a new titanium white paint bottle, and that’s why I haven’t started. I think. I might try it as a water colour on paper afterwards too. Maybe dabble in some coloured pencils along with the water colours. I’ve seen that used to great effect recently. Very inspiring.

I stopped playing Diablo four a few weeks ago because work really picked up quite a bit, and I just didn’t have time for it. I’ve gone back to it once, maybe twice in the last four weeks. I think I’m nearing the end of Act III, but who really knows. They have the next expansion out already, so I know for a fact that it just keeps on going. I’ve had some fun with it. Maybe I’ll give Gears of War Emergence Day a try when that launches, or try a hand at Space Marines 2, since I actually finished the first one for the Xbox 360, nearly 11 years ago.

It is currently snowing, and I need to eat some breakfast. Happy Hump Day, Wednesday,  middle of the week day to you all. Ciao Bella.