Exciting news: last night I received a call from my old hockey coach from grade 12, and was invited to play in an alumni game this Friday.  I didn't think it would work, since Friday is when I work with the youth, but I found a sub and now can get all the gear on again.  I won't be completely rusty, since I have been skating once a week this winter with some men from our church.  But shinny is a little different than full contact hockey.  Hopefully I don't get cranked all night.  And me Pa says that me brother Corey will be playing too.  We played a year together when we were at Bible School in Abbotsford.  Our team won the league championship, so it was pretty hot.  We had a lot of fun.  Our coach was like Coach Z to us, once he said "great jock, there, Nate" after a game.  I don't know if he meant great job, or if he actually thought my jock strap was great.  But I won't delve any further into that one.

 

Anyhow, I am pumped for Friday.  (7:30 in Bassano).

This is a good time of year to be not making a large amount of money.  Why?   See title.  The most money I see at one time in the year comes now.  It disappears pretty quick, what with a mortgage to pay down asap and a car to do the same to.  But a little has been added to the pool table fund, reviving it from near extinction.  It is funny that money rules our lives the way it does.  I remember being in school and thinking "I don't want to live that way."  And now here I am, and materialism knocks at the door every time I think about money. 

 

It is hard to find the balance between paying off debt quickly to reduce interest payments and spending on ourselves, or on renovating our house.  So early on in a mortgage, you save in interest almost twice the amount of any extra payments that you can make on top of regular payments.  Momma always said, "Life is like a ..." wait, no, she said, "You either play now and pay later, or you pay now and play later."  But you need to live.  You can get to the end of your life and say, I missed it, living so cheaply.  I guess the goal of frugality is to live cheaply on yourself but generously with others.  I don't want to be known as the stingy guy.  Can I squeeze my pennies and then tip big at a restaurant?  It is a hard balance sometimes.

 

How about those Flames?

So one time, I am at a conference thing, and I get a free CD.  That was cool.  I mean, hey, it's free.  So I give it a listen, and  I dig it.  More so than your run of the mill free CD.  So I says to my wife, I says, I like this CD.  Especially song #3 about the names of God.  She nods as if she has heard and fully comprehended what I have just said.  Nothing further comes of it for a week or so. 

 

Then, one day my wife says to me, "I've been listening to this CD in the car, and I like song #3.  It's a song that sings about the names of God.  You should listen to it.  You might like it."

 

Man.  I think when it comes to music I need to secretly plant a CD in the car and put duct tape over the CD slot so she can't eject it, and then she may actually listen to it.  When we are together, and I say, "I like this song, listen to it," she listens for 0.32 seconds and then starts talking about something.  What a woman I've married.

 

Peace out,

 

PS - the free CD was a worship album put out by Laurell Hubick (hence the title).  Her website is www.laurell.ca , where you can hear her latest album.  It isn't a worship album, but it is groovy.