Highschool Reunion - CCHS

I graduated from Chambly County High School in 1997. 10 years on, I'm more educated, more confident, less misogynistic and less homophobic... not much taller, though. Or much richer, for that matter. But I'm paying the bills and still eating out, so who could complain? Anyway, it was about time for a 10-year class of 1997 reunion, so we had one just three weeks ago, on June 2nd. It was held at Kapetan's in Saint Lambert, a restaurant many of my classmates have fond memories of because apparently they were pretty lax about the drinking age regulations there back in the day.

High school was a fun, fun, time. Like everyone, I had so much more angst, self-consciousness and emotional drama then than now, I would have liked to be a few steps higher on the coolness pyramid, and I know some people had legitimately terrible times, but still I think your average 20-something is willfully misremembering if they claim it wasn't fun for them.

On the topic of high school drama, here's today's song. (If you're reading this on Facebook, you have to actually go to the blog to hear it.) It's by Billy Bragg, and if it doesn't remind you at least a little of high school, then... well, that's fine. But it says a lot about high school to me.


The Saturday Boy (powered by ODEO)

Nessun Dorma

I'm like a giddy teenybopper over Paul Potts. I just searched the internet for 45 minutes reading everything I could find on him. He's going on to the finals of Britain's Got Talent this Sunday. I'm starstruck, for real. The aria he sang is Nessun Dorma, from Puccini's Turandot. Dig it.

The Prince
Nessun dorma, nessun dorma ... Tu pure, o Principessa, Nella tua fredda stanza, Guardi le stelle Che tremano d'amore E di speranza.	No one sleeps, no one sleeps... Even you, o Princess, In your cold room, Watch the stars, That tremble with love And with hope.
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me, Il nome mio nessun saprà, no, no, Sulla tua bocca lo dirò Quando la luce splenderà, Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio Che ti fa mia.	But my secret is hidden within me; My name no one shall know, no, no, On your mouth I will speak it / kiss you When the light shines, And my kiss will dissolve the silence That makes you mine.
Chorus
Il nome suo nessun saprà E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir.	No one will know his name And we must, alas, die.
The Prince
Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò!	Vanish, o night! Set, stars! At daybreak, I shall conquer!

Memorial Day Camp Weekend

Last weekend was "Memorial Day" in the U.S., which in theory is like Canada's Remembrance Day, except instead of solemn remembrance of the horrors of war and the sacrifice of compatriots... they have a three-day weekend and get drunk around the barbecue. I'm not even kidding. Be that as it may, I wore my poppy last November, so last weekend Laura and I headed down to summer camp in Maine, for Newfound/Owatonna's Memorial day cleanup weekend. (Here's the Flickr album.) We rented a car and made a road trip out of it, complete with stops for milkshakes and onion rings at Colebrook, NH's Wilderness Restaurant, and North Waterford, ME's Tut's a.k.a Melby's. I spent a good part of the weekend feeding brush and logs into a wood chipper with former camper Ricky Stein, John Sparkman, and Owatonna's new director Brandon Frank. It was very very woodsy, I assure you. We also played some Scrabble, rode in Pete's pickup, and put the docks in down at the boathouse, which meant going for more than one dunk in the just-swimmable waters of Long Lake. It wasn't that bad, really, you just wouldn't want to hang out in there all afternoon. And how could I spend a weekend at camp, and not go in at least once? (Unless it was this weekend.) I won't work the regular session at camp this year, although I was very tempted to change my mind this weekend, but I'll be down there again in just 2 1/2 short months for family camp, as always. I'm pretty much counting the days already.
Today's song is Outside of a Small Circle of Friends, by Phil Ochs. Tonight's evening activity is my 10-year high school reunion in Saint Lambert. Party on.
Outside a Small Circle of Friends (powered by ODEO)

Opening Day at LaRonde

Right, so last autumn Benjamin, Laura, Denyse, Gabriel and I went to LaRonde, Montreal's amusement park on an island. That visit reminded me of something I had forgotten about 10 years earlier: roller coasters are totally awesome. And so I made a vow that come spring, I would go all out and buy the season's pass. Spring has come, and so last week (May 19th) I went all out and bought the season's pass. So did Laura. We took it easy on opening day, did a new apple-shaped spinny tower in the kid's land, the obligatory Monster run, and the swing carousel "Tour de Ville" pictured above, which is Laura's new favourite ride. then we had to wait in line for an hour to actually get our photos taken for the season's pass cards. I'm so happy with our decision, though. When you think about it, one ticket to Montreal's Cirque du Soleil is about 100$. One ticket. Lame. An entire season at LaRonde is 90. Really, there's no competition. Plus, the Cirque has become the establishment now, with all their Las Vegas shows and stuff. They've lost track of their Baie Saint-Paul roots. The new cool in circuses is the Tohu, all the way.

In closure, today's song is a quiet one, but it has the word "ride" in it, which is the closest it's going to get to being à propos. Morningtown Ride, by the incomparable Malvina Reynolds.

Morningtown Ride (powered by ODEO)
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