Sunday, February 25, 2007

Boy I had some good friends in Calgary: Ken Fujikawa, Ron and Glen Higa, Dave Shima, Bob Fujino, and Gord The Dentist whom I can't remember the last name of. I was the only white guy to ever bowl in a Japanese league and be invited to a tournament in Lethbridge and win it. Just what they didn't want. I got hot and bowled ten strikes in a row. And of course I was the only white guy in their curling league and travelled up to Edmonton several times to curl in the Japanese Bonspiel.

And of course I went to Europe with Gord The Dentist and a friend of his in 1968 or 1969. In Amsterdam we saw Jimi Hendrix and we didn't realize what a superstar we were seeing at the time. And drove through Switzerland (which I compare to Creston) and down the Rhone River. Munich was good, the beer halls. So in Switzerland, on the spur of the moment, we decide to fly to Majorca, Spain. We are on a tight budget so we found the cheapest hotel room with a view of the Mediterrean. So me an Gord sat on the 'plaza del sol' every afternoon and and drank cheap red wine and watched the creme de la creme of European society walk by: "Gord?" "yes?" "I'm in love" "with whom?" "I can't actually choose one person but that chick batted an eyelash at me" "she's with Ari, his yaught is out on the harbour" "'I'm in love" "she is taken"

"I wan't to paint" "you can't paint, do you know anything about shades of colours?" "whom?" If you are going to be a famous painter you have be able to paint nudes with there arms extended" "like michangelo" "him to, but don't forget about Ralph" Ralph whom?" "Ralph the sistene chapal painter whom has to pee a lot" "one can't pee a lot when one is painting a mural" "Ralph did" "uncle don?" "yes my son" "you've got the weirdest mind in the history of mankind and in fact there is no one stranger than you in the universe" "that bad aye, I love family" "in fact your bod should be put away...you love family?" "I loved family before it was chic" "I must admit you have never waivered in your love for us in the last thousand years, many persons would have given up" But when I see friends I see friends. It is amazing that I stuck with you guys.


And Neil and Robin. They annoyed me to, although they are cute. It would have been so much easier on me if Marlene and Anna didn't have cute children: "marlene?" "what?" After Laurie, presumably you and Leo won't have any more cute children. I think Donna is about to be born" "whom?" "the cutest child in the history of mankind" "I thought Laurie was." Robin is about to emerge before Donna" "whom?"

So I was thinking, it's not possible to have anyone cuter than Kev, Donna and Ger (whom even then was chubby). "Marlene you can't possibly have another child" "Gail is the last one" "I presume she will be cute, I get tired of cuteness" "Gail will be a little cuter than everything you have ever seen and you will succumb to her cuteness. "I'm above that...she's cute? "yes and so is Neil. I must admit it was fun to watch pregnant people. Anna, if you have another one it will be Kevin. Can we think about this?


Robin was good. He had the biggest forehead of all time"robin, you have a big forehead" "This was before Kevin and Gail existed And Laurie was running rampant amongst the mushrooms. "you can't eat those things, they are deadly, chomp, chomp, chomp" I must admit it was fun to to watch you guys. Cute and special. I'd love to talk to Donna someday. If anyone wants to make to make feel good it would be that. Yes, I think she is more special than anyone else in the history of mankind. I don't know if Donna would ever want to talk to me, but I'd be honoured if she did.

Golfing with Ger

Although Ger looks like he is going to wrestle a steer when he steps up to the golf ball, he gets surprisingly good results: "ger?" "yes uncle don" "how did you hit that ball so good when you appeared to be ready to ride a bull bareback when you unlimbered?" "technique" "technique?" "and mind over matter" "mind over matter?" "I focus" "you focus......on what?" "the little white thingy with dimples in it" "it's a golf ball....g o l f b a l l, try to remember that".

Of course Ger is alledgedly the one with the bad back. Whenever I see him I usually ask him how his back is. Has anyone noticed that he is spryer than a spring chicken when he walks down the fairway after hitting the golf ball three hundred yards? He actually isn't pompous about it even though thoughts of breaking his knee caps with a sledgehammer cross my mind. "uncle don?" "what?" "how far is it to the green?" "two hundred and forty-one yards, use a two wood" "I don't have a two wood so I will use this trusty seven iron" "seven iron, you will be way short of the green" Boink, soar, plop, and roll six inches from the cup: "ger?" "yes uncle don?" "it's a good thing the death penalty has been abolished in Canada, if we were in Texas I'd have you hung from a rafter and watch you writhe, there is a law in physics that says it is not possible to hit a seven iron that far, Newton was wrong I guess, and so much for Einstein's theory although your time/space continuum is definitely warped"

Has anyone noticed but me that Ger is sneaky on the green. He pretends to check out the contour of the green: "ger?" "yes uncle don" "you've got six inches, tap the &*^(% ball in the hole" "I have to take note of the swale" "how can you have a swale when you are within six inches of the hole, do you enjoy excruciating pain?"

And so of course I'm fuming when we are walking to the next hole. A water hole. It ain't the Pacific Ocean but it looks like it to me. "Time for the long clubs Ger, we have to drive over that vast expanse of water" "time for my seven iron" "your whom?" "okay maybe my five iron" "your whom?" Not only does Ger hit the ball over the water, he lands in the fairway. "ger?" "yes uncle don" "I have a pounding headache and my knees feel weak and I feel nauseous" Plop, plop, plop, plop. Four of my balls land in the water. "ger?" "yes uncle don" "I'm out of golfballs" "would you like to borrow one of mine?" "I'd like to string you up and have army ants eat your eyeballs out but yes please"

But I managed to beat him by one stroke. And this was only at Canyon Meadows but it was a delight for me. I also partnered with Ger at Kokanee Springs once. We are competitive and don't like to lose. Why would one play any game if one doesn't want to win badly?

Update


Roy was flown from Cranbrook to Calgary overnight. Not sure which hospital. I will keep this site updated as I get info.
As at 12:37 pm, Sunday. Bob visited Roy at the Foothills Hospital and he is more optomistic about Roy's condition than he was before. Dawn is optomistic too which is encouraging. He has movement in all limbs which is a good sign. At the moment it's a 'wait-and-see' stance by the doctors on whether they will operate in the future. Bob and Lo will visit Roy again this afternoon.