Capture the flag…

I just like being in water…

It’s the one place that I can think...

— Percy Jackson in The Lightning Thief

I haven’t had much experience with coaches…

In fact I’ve had none…

But I must say that Alain Vigneault earns respect from me,

for how tight lipped,

he is,

about his players…

He’s like a vault,

and no one can crack him,

no matter how hard they try,

with their rhetorical questions,

and sneaky angles…

Alain has clearly heard it all…

And sometimes during Coach V RAW,

I believe his looks could kill…

I had to leave the playground the other day,

otherwise my children would have been writing to me,

in jail…

I was sitting on a bench watching some parents,

and their very young children,

while Little Gem and Starshine played Grounders…

One family had a friend hanging out with them…

A mortgage broker going over some papers at the edge of the sand…

He was surrounded by two and three year olds who wanted to know what he was doing…

He had one of those haircuts that is all the rage right now…

The kind that looks like a strong wind hit him from behind,

and then smacked him upside the forehead,

before taking it’s business elsewhere…

Little Gem has mentioned to me,

That haircut is okay on boys,

but it is not a good look on a man…

They really should shave their heads…

Ten years from now Kelly Hrudey and Dan Murphy are going to look back on this and laugh…

I wasn’t laughing when I heard Mr. VIP mortgage broker say,

in an all squinty-eyed high pitched baby-talk voice,

We’re playing grown-up…

And when the children asked,

in plain English,

about the application package and pens he held in his hands,

What are those???

His brilliant answer was,

These are grown-up things,

for playing grown-up…

I looked around for a weapon of destruction,

and considered using my knitting needles to bring a point home,

but instead I got up,

and walked away…

When you’re surrounded by genius,

at the playground,

you need to show up,

like a normal human being,

and remember who you’re talking to…

When I buy cream,

for my old crows feet,

at Beautymark,

the owner says,

We’re not going to be able to help you with the dark circles around your eyes…

That’s a pigment issue…

It’s beyond the scope of the products we carry…

How was I to know that Alice in Wonderland would feature so much eye shadow,

on just about everyone…

When it comes to fashion statements I can be so ahead of my time…

All I have to do is make a subtle application of matte powder,

for a look like Alice…

Or sparkles,

for looking like a Mad Hatter…

It all depends on whom,

I want to play out,

in each moment…

My neighbour was surprised that I took my children to see Tim Burton’s new film…

She thought it was about the loss of Alice’s virginity…

And she thought that there was some controversy about whether it was suitable for children…

I thought the story line was about chasing rabbits and slaying dragons…

I guess we did get to see Alice fall through a hole,

into a tunnel,

and find herself in a womb-like underworld…

Maybe I only skimmed the surface of the film,

and didn’t read deep enough into it…

I asked my daughters what they thought the core message was…

Loving it so much they’d gone back two days later to see the 3D version…

Like true scholars they didn’t consult an academic journal for another person’s interpretation…

They went directly to the original source and quoted Alice,

This is my dream…

And I can do what I want with it…

The Taoists axiom about controlling anger says:

If you’ve done the Liver Sound 30 times and you are still angry at someone,

you have the right to slap that person…

— in Taoist Ways to TRANSFORM STRESS INTO VITALITY by Mantak Chia