On the ground floor of our apartment building, about a floor and a half below us, there was a barbershop. The barber of the barbershop was something of a celebrity, a popular local hero, a sports fan, a fisherman, and an artist.
But first and foremost he was a barber, and because he was Dad’s childhood buddy, and because he had his shop in our building, that’s where I went to get my hair cut. Or, that’s where I went when Mom told me to get a haircut.
It’s probably the natural grind of a hockey season, and life, that’s made me feel tired of everything. In the line of business that I’ve been in for the last six, seven years, it’s easy to get cynical. The hype around the games, the stars, the general managers, is draining, and in the end, disappointing, because it seems to me that it creates a world that overpromises and underdelivers.
And that’s where cynicism breeds.
I can’t remember the last time I smiled while watching hockey.
When I was a young university student, I often spent weekends at a farm some 40 kilometers north of Helsinki. That was where my grandparents lived, sharing a yard with my uncle, my mother’s brother who was a half-time farmer at the time.
I had made that same trek on weekends as a child, when my parents and I would drive up to see Grandma and Grandpa. The town was a 40-minute drive from Helsinki. Close to the action, but completely in the countryside. Claim to fame: a mental hospital.
Number one!
July 9, 2010 » Interlude
MAN IN A SUIT AND A BLUE TIE
Oman… I don’t know. I like Samoa.
Merry holiday (of your choice) and a happy new year (of your choice)!
A happy you
A merry Xmas
New wish year
And we
Wish a merry year
And a new Xmas
You, we: happy
A Xmas:
You and we
A happy wish:
New, merry year
Happy you
Merry we
A new year
And a Xmas wish
You wish a happy new year
And we a merry Xmas
We wish you a merry Xmas
And a happy new year
Counting down Top 9 of 2010 .. next stop: Number 2!
April 26, 2010 » Naming rights
On our hockey team’s trip to Sweden in the late 1970s, one of the players fell in love with Hubba Bubba chewing gum, because he could make huge bubbles with it. Of course, one of them exploded in his face, covering it completely, and leaving him picking gum off his face for days.
We, the rest of the team, decided to call him Hubba Bubba.
Ironically, that didn’t stick.
Counting down to December 24, here”s the Top 9 list of the year.
At number 3…
March 7, 2010 » Born To Be My Baby
There we were, reading the paper, eating toast, drinking tea, talking about stuff we saw in our newspapers. So, Brother-in-law, even at this point, seeing Girlfriend – your sister – giving birth to a child, and myself becoming a father, seemed very surreal. We were just having breakfast.
We’re almost there. It’s so exciting!
Nummmbbeeeerr fooooooour:
August 26, 10 » Discovery channel
All my life I’ve been waiting to get discovered. It may be because I’m lazy by nature, although I think that since I’d simply like to be discovered for what I’ve done – instead of just playing the lottery – I think I’m not a complete slacker.
Without further ado – really: Number 5.
July 20, 2010 » No Sweat
Of course, the line between the good sweat and the bad one can be a bit blurry at times. For example, a good workout sweat on a T-shirt that’s forgotten in a bag for three days and then pulled out may force other people at the gym to cover their noses with their shirts.
(Or, at least I’ve seen one guy do it once, doing a shoulder workout next to me, while I was doing bench press).
A little linguistical joke there with the headline. See, “seis” is number six in Spanish, but it also means “stop” in Finnish. And, so, I thought … well, you get it.
Counting down to Christmas here, peeking behind number 6.
March 23, 2010 » Open Letter to the Renovation Guys
Gentlemen,
Welcome back to our humble home. It’s not always this humble, but ever since the tiny water damage in the upstairs bathroom, we’ve had to make some adjustments.
Click here for full story.