Sudden changes

It is beyond remarkable how quickly things can change. How quickly your life can be thrown for a loop that you never see coming.

But isn’t that how things work? You can never predict what’s going to happen one moment to the next. Sure, you can read the signs, if there are any, but you can only speculate what the signs may mean.

I wish I could say more about what I’m referring to, but I’ve been asked not to say anything. And that’s hard, because I like talking about things. And what has just happened begs for me to be talking with people. I need to be talking to people about this.

It’s left me scared and shocked. More scared than I’ve ever been.

And there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m too far from where everything is happening, and I don’t like that feeling of being so far away.

I’m not ready for this. Can you ever be ready for something so life changing?

I don’t think so.

I owe you something

Yes, I do. I owe you all a year in review for 2011.

Well, you’re going to have to wait a while for that. I should have remembered it on New Year’s Day, but I didn’t.

Then, yesterday, I made a poor choice with regards to the way I spend my time and money. So I wasn’t able to put one together yesterday.

When will I be able to recap my 2011? I don’t know. I’ll try to get something together this weekend in between the hockey games I need to attend and report on.

But let it be known: I will have a 2011 in review for you. You’ll just have to wait a bit longer than you did last year.

2011 in Photos – 52

Nothing to see here. Embarrassingly, there are no photos for the following days: Dec. 24-31.

It was a slow week, and with the freezing rain we got, I didn’t feel like going outside when I wasn’t working.

So, it’s a disappointing end to what was supposed to be a stern test. I got 200+ photos taken and posted, so I did OK, but not spectacular.

Anyway, thanks for reading and checking back. I’ll have more posts about myriad topics in the coming days and weeks.

Happy 2012, everyone!

2011 in Photos – 51

Having a weekend off usually means I don’t take that many photos. This is such a case. But I think I make up for it at the end of the week.

Do you agree? Check below and let me know.

Dec. 17 – No photo.

Dec. 18 – No photo.

Dec. 19 – No photo.

Dec. 20 – No photo.

Dec. 21 – Neerlandia Public Christian School’s junior high band at the school’s Christmas concert. This concert further cemented my belief that organized religion indoctrinates children and is akin to child abuse.

Dec. 22 – Once again I’m in Neerlandia for the Covenant Canadian Reformed School’s Christmas concert. They performed a version of Handel’s Messiah. Religion is still child abuse, but I can’t be against Handel. He was a good composer.

Dec. 23 – Charity basketball game. It was good to get to it to work on my photo skills for when the basketball season really starts in 2012. I like how I got the girl in yellow breaking through the defence.

All that’s left now are the photos from the Christmas and New Year week.

2011 in Photos – 50

We’re getting into Christmas concert season. Prepare to see some cute kids. There will be several of them in the coming posts and photos. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Dec. 10 – This kid didn’t seem to be too impressed I was taking his photo. But his mom was having a laugh riot while I was doing it. At least someone was OK with it.

Dec. 11 – Even though it makes things slightly more challenging, I do like taking hockey photos from the walking path around the stands above the rink in the Barrhead Agrena. You get shots like this. New perspective is always good.

Dec. 12 – No photo.

Dec. 13 – No photo.

Dec. 14 – What did I say about cute kids? Here we have some “singing” “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas” at Dunstable School.

Dec. 15 – This girl will be a star when she gets older. Just look at that emotion and emphasis she puts into her actions.

Dec. 16 – No photo.

We’re almost there. Keep coming back and I’ll get this year done yet.

2011 in Photos – 49

We’re back! What do we have for this week? Take a look and find out.

Dec. 3 – No photo.

Dec. 4 – No photo.

Dec. 5 – No photo.

Dec. 6 – No photo.

Dec. 7 – These two women in the centre are being presented with money from the Knights of Columbus. Nothing really exciting about that.

Dec. 8 – No photo.

Dec. 9 – Ken Kowalski, called by many the “Godfather of Alberta politics” is retiring. It was a surprise announcement after he announced in the summer that he was planning to run again in the upcoming election.

OK, fine. I only had two photos here. It happens.

2011 in Photos – 48

This is a better week than the last week. Good.

Take a look at what I did this week. It’s somewhat interesting.

Nov. 26 – The local drama society put on a show. I went to watch (for work). I thought this was a good photo because of the lighting, however sparse it is.

Nov. 27 – Hockey! Here we have the goalie contorting himself to make a save. Yes, you can’t see the puck, but it’s on its way.

Nov. 28 – No photo.

Nov. 29 – No photo.

Nov. 30 – Figure skating. The first pairs I’ve seen in my months covering the sport. Alas, it was only a test day for the Barrhead club. Oh well, small mercies.

Dec. 1 – And we have a car crash. This pickup struck a tractor trailer and ended up in the ditch. No fatalities, which is always good. The crash shut down Highway 33 for a good while. Heck, I needed to park north of the tractor trailer and walk down to the pickup. It was a cold walk.

Dec. 2 – No photo.

Alright. Come back soon for more. There’s a lot more coming in quick succession.

2011 in Photos – 47

This was a weak week. Again. Oh well, let’s get this over with.

Nov. 19 – No photo.

Nov. 20 – This one barely sneaks under the wire for being taken on Nov. 20. I had just left visiting one of my best friends and was riding the subway back home. I figured I needed something to remind me of home while out here, so I shot the TTC subway map.

Nov. 21 – No photo.

Nov. 22 – No photo.

Nov. 23 – Back in Barrhead, I went to the PHRD (school division) meeting at Dunstable School. These are the Grade 1/2 kids reading for the trustees. The old girl on the right is the teacher. I use “old girl” to differentiate from the student girls. Not because she’s old, or else I would have gone with old lady or old woman. [At what age is it proper to call girls “women” and vice versa?]

Nov. 24 – No photo.

Nov. 25 – No photo.

Yeah. Sorry for the pathetic display.

2011 in Photos – 46

It’s going to be a sprint to the end of the year. I have to get seven weeks of posts chronicling the photos I took into the next week of days left in 2011.

So let’s get started.

Nov. 12 – I attended a wedding of two 80-somethings at one of the seniors’ lodges here in Barrhead. While things were getting all set up, I decided to shoot the minister. Here he is.

Nov. 13 – I don’t know why, exactly, but I have a special affinity for goalies. I don’t remember which Barrhead team this is, but you can see the puck in the net after having taken a bounce somewhere to get past the goalie.

Nov. 14 – No photo.

Nov. 15 – No photo

Nov. 16 – No photo.

Nov. 17 – I’m home! I took this photo at the Toronto Eaton’s Centre while waiting to meet my aunt (who’s younger than me) for dinner to catch up. There’s so much I love about this shot. There’s the fact there are so many people milling around. There’s the TTC crest in the upper middle right of the shot (to the side of the central water). There’s the fact I’m in Toronto for the first time in a year. Yup, I miss home.

Nov. 18 – And now we have the reason I came home. A wedding. This is the head table, taken from my seat at the family table (where I was placed because the parents of the bride were the only people I knew before the wedding, besides the maid of honour).

One down. Only a few more to go.

Sometimes I wonder

So I’m listening to the podcast of an episode of CBC’s This Is That, and they just played the section where listeners call in with their thoughts on last week’s stories.

And I know the CBC had to run news stories that stressed unequivocally that This Is That is improvised comedy. But, sometimes I think that there are people who don’t realize that the show is all fake. One of the callers said she put shame on the Alberta MLAs who settled scores with a snowball fight.

Of course, maybe I’m too sensitive. Maybe these callers are all in on the joke and are feigning indignation. I hope so, but I doubt it.