Midsummer

Since last post...

-I scored tickets to see Neil Young on August 13th and the Red Hot Chili Peppers on September 26th. Shauna, my parents and I are seeing Neil in Bethel, NY at the Bethel Woods Centre for the Arts. This is on the site of the original Woodstock 1969 concert. Unfortunately, it's not only Neil who's playing; he's on tour with Crosby, Stills and Nash, the three biggest diluters of his music I've ever heard. After reading Shakey, the Neil Young biography, and reading of how he and Stephen Stills rarely got along, I don't know why they still play together. Others may think otherwise, but I've never thought CSNY has made good music. Where is Crazy Horse when you need them?
The Chili Peppers concert is at the ACC, and takes place exactly one year after I saw the Stones at the Rogers Centre. I'm very pumped for this show; Shauna and I have been listening to Stadium Arcadium almost non-stop over the last two months. It's just that good.

-the two soccer leagues I play in are in full swing. One of my teams is in first place, the other in third or fourth I think. Playing goalkeeper for one, midfield for the other.

-I watched every France game as Les Bleus made their dreamy run to the World Cup final after everyone had written them off as has-beens. Everyone knows about how the final turned out and the bizarre Zidane headbutt incident, but I still wear the French jersey with pride. As people who have broached the subject with me are probably tired of hearing, I believe France won the game, they simply lost the shootout. The Italians were no match for the French attack, but fortunately for them their goalkeeper made some big saves, the French coach made the wrong subsitutions and David Trezeguet hit the crossbar.

-my bathroom exploded. In renovations. The floor of our shower was no longer water-tight, so Brian and Sarah decided to rip out the shower stall, sink and set tub entirely and redo it all. The tub is installed and at the moment Brian is working on the tiling. It's taken a lot of patience and adjustment, but it's going to be a nice bathroom when it's done.

-Shauna and I had a fun, if hectic, two-week vacation in the Maritimes. Highlights included biking the biggest hill I've ever biked to get to Marianne Falls on the Cabot Trail (and then flying back down in the dark); braving the choppy Bras D'or Lakes on a rough day in Shauna's Dad's little boat; making it to the final of the Codiac Cup soccer tournament in Moncton with my old Fredericton team, only to lose (such tragic heroes, just like France); hiking the woods at Millvale and making plans for our dream home/farm/woodlot; visiting Pioneer Farm in Prince County, where the off-the-grid, organic farm dream is being realized; and seeing lots of family and friends in Fredericton, Cape Breton and PEI. Didn't manage to see everyone---Dave and Nancy are two notable absences---but the trip home only further solidified our desire to finish up work and school in Ontario and move back to the Island, and hopefully we'll be able to see everyone more regularly as soon as next summer. We've even started looking at Island real estate websites...

That pretty much sums it up. The major events, anyway. It's too hot to sit in front of a computer and type these days, but maybe I'll start posting more often again in the fall.