The monsoon season

As I leaned back in my chair, the stars sparkling above, and looked at the beautiful woman to my right, her face tinted orange from the crackling campfire. The steaks sizzled over the coals. Waves gently crashed on the lakeshore. A warm breeze drifted through the cove we were in, grounding the mosquito air force.
Ah, yes, I missed camping.

Two hours later, I'd had my fill of it.

The perfect summer evening had degenerated into a hurricane - howling winds, torrential rain, the whole nine. I couldn't sleep from the branches, rocks and small furry animals getting blown into side of the tent, or maybe was it from the jagged rock that mysteriously materialized right under my mattress.
I woke up in the morning (well, I got out of the tent, at least - I was awake the whole night) to find my boat, our sole means of transportation, had been washed up onto the beach by the five-foot waves which pounded the shore overnight.
You ever try manhandling a 3,000 pound boat - none of it floating - back in the water? Well, here's how you do it... spend four hours digging gravel out from under it, get a big log, a big rock, and lever it back into the water.
Of course, the trip back was sunny and warm, the lake glassy and smooth - but only because I had to work in three hours. Mother Nature loves playing tricks on me...

Anyways, tommorrow I'm doing it right... I'm going houseboating. Screw the tent.


Oh yeah... I found this photo funny, but most of you won't - unless you know who Antoine Walker (he's on the left) is. He's infamous for doing this ridiculous shuffle dance after he scores - he's 6-9, by the way - and they were roasting him on some internet forum, al a pictures. It probably won't appeal to most of you, but ... hell, this is MY blog. I can post what I want...

PEACE

thriller5sh
Originally uploaded by smoove_J.

Vicarious living

No, I'm not dead. Just lazy. The procrastination gene in me has taken over - or maybe it's just the sunny weather of the Okanagan.
The boat has been dominating my life for most of my free time - lots of floating and chilling on the lake. I fear fall will come much too quickly, and my season of relaxation and serenity will come to an end.

But let me continue by posting an email from my friend, whom I have been living vicariously though. My boy Miceail decided to drop the rat race and head to Ireland (he holds an irish passport, but was born here) to go play pro basketball. Here's the report from his first game ... I thought it was pretty damned funny. But that's just me.

hey
had a crazy day yesterday first i played for this team from limerick (250,000 people) against these americans from philly, started off with 10 of first 12 points against a dude who was 6'10" then the team decided that turning the ball over was a better offense, we had no point guard and they pressed us, we lost by 12.
i had 17 and 9 boards, it was a garbage game though. i'm living in this house that the team owns with this polish dude who is over doing workouts as well. He's real mellow and can understand english enough to have some rudimentary convos, mostly pointing and laughing. the house is crap. for two days i was taking cold showers cuz we couldn't find the switch for the hot water turn on.
later that night we went out to see the town. me the polish dude, his translater and a friend of theirs. only one speaks english. we go to this club or discoteque as the euros call them. it was cool because it was out doors inside a courtyard of this big castle looking estate. i spent about 1/2 hour trying to teach these pollacks how to drink  a corona with the lime, turning upside down ect.. asking for a rye and diet is asking them to perform brain surgery. the music is mostly house and then hip hop in another room which was cool so we went back and forth. these people lose their minds when the crescendo of a house song peaks...pure energy. just when i thought it was crazy the dj threw on bloody sunday by U2 and then mixed it in with a techno beat....mayhem.  
watching these polish dudes trying to pick up was hot, i saw fear in a lot of girls eyes. we go to leave the club and their car had been broken into and a jacket and camera got ripped, smashed window. 
i prayed a lot on the way home because they had pretty much never driven on the wrong side of the road. i asked the friend who was driving what he did for a living and he was a truck driver so i figured we were good. he said he drove trucks carrying explosive materials and that he was good with driving on the left. first thing he does is drive going the opposite direction. damn. the spedometer was broken so they drove so slow that taxis behind us were losing their minds.
most of the night was them yapping in polish intermixed with arguements over which swear words to teach me. its a rough little city, we saw a couple fights, the break in and then no cops. we shot around and played 4 on 4 and then we have tommorow off before another game against some team.  The weather is crap 20 and overcast, feels like fall. i yearn for the boat on the water.
till next time
miceail

And for those that think my PS2 has been taking up my time, well ... This ISN't what I've been doing.