Canadian Buffoon European Vacation - 30/03 - Endings and Silver Linings

[mmeb144]

I blame it on the suitcase...it finally caught up with you...

Great, now I hear the Jaws theme music and see the giant, evil suitcase of death with teeth, waiting at the top of the stairs to get Ponzi....

 

[buzz1121]

Benefactor Pkondz?

Now I have visions of Miss Havisham! Last I checked, I wasn't quite as old as dirt and I am currently not wearing a yellowed wedding dress.

 

[lisaviolet]

I know exactly how you feel.
I will frequently do high speed photography for Elle and/or her dance team members.
I'm so busy concentrating on getting the shot, that I have no idea about the actual dance.

It's tough when you're travelling.
I've looked at some of my travel photos and been very glad I've got them for the memories...
Other times, I think, "Why on earth did I bother taking 47 pictures of that tree???"



Oh, don't worry.

I don't think it's possible for anyone to think you could be more crazy.



:




I don't remember my lunchbox... I think it was blank.

Fit's with my personality. Dull and insipid.



I should've known.



I think you answered your own question in the first two words of the first sentence.

All right.
You've mentioned a couple of times that you've been having a rough go of it lately.

You okay? What's going on?

And feel free to ignore me if you don't want to share.
Just copy and paste this:[/B][/COLOR] Don't be so nosy

I even put it in purple for you... if you want it in "DarkOrchid"... you're on your own.

Actually, Ruby loves telling that story.


Oh, sure. If my pain makes you happy, I'm more than happy to oblige.

Red - Not only can you miss so much, you can annoy loved ones like no tomorrow with the excessive need to get the shot. Well, I can. And I try to watch myself.

But then again sometimes the shot is just such a wonderful rush. See the two below. The first I literally took it in NYC - like the massive *rock* of a building doesn't give that away - and turned against the wall and sighed in glee. I felt giddy in the knowing of "yes". It was one of those moments. I'm sure you can understand. So sometimes it's worth annoying loved ones for selfish needs. Insert wink. The other is in the Polynesian and its reality isn't as nice as the picture turned out to be- I LOVE THAT!. Well that sounded absolutely pompous, I don't mean it as such. How not Canadian of me. Oh well.

_________________________________________________

You know what, colour coding looked like a fun idea at first. It's totally not.

47 pictures at WDW is usually of lighting fixtures. Or some ridiculous fascination of mine.

_____________________________

Crazy is F.I.N.E fine.

____________________________

Dull and insipid. Can you imagine being dull and insipid? OMG, see why crazy is F.I.N.E fine!

Sharleen just might have something to say about dull and insipid. Even the pretty package couldn't mask it for her. But it's okay - really it's okay.

_______________________________

On the pink, others enjoyed it and laughed, they just don't tell you.

______________________________

DRAT - DRAT AND DRAT on the typo that sold me down the river for mere pennies. DRAT. But imagining your reaction to feeling that your wife might have thought it was nothing at first was comical. Maybe I should feel guilty about that, but I don't.

______________________________

The next colour is called YellowGreen. I have no clue why I'm telling you that. It sounds very pretty, yes?

Okay, first of all I didn't even realize that I was dropping crap left right and centre. I was laughing at the insurance in total knowing, so knew that answer, but besides that I hate that I was talking in code. Hate that and hate when people do that. I can ramble out things without thinking sometimes - I know such shocking words - and when I found the disboards I set everything up without looking around and am stuck with my name being out there so I have to be careful - the picture doesn't help of course. I must take it off.

Anyway, avoiding. And I do have to speak in code for their sake - I do.

I'm fine. Three immediate family members are very ill. Thank you for asking and I've edited not to have it all attached to my name.


______________________

You wife's story is/was hysterical. I put funny but not funny because I can only imagine the stress she felt trying to make sure you were taken care of by people that had different translations. And the joy of travel insurance whose motto is *we love money in but hate money out*.

_______________________

On the grey - Thanks for understanding.

_________________________

 

[smidgy]

What are Nebo's favorite Girl Scout cookies? I'm curious.

DD1 can't get enough of the peanut butter patties and DD2 likes the shortbread cookies. DS likes the shortbread and lemonades, though I think he is really going to like the Thin Mints when I get those on Sunday.

okey doke, I just asked nebo. his response : "I don't like girl scout cookies". sigh.. how fitting!

I was going to ask what was wrong with Nebo than I just shook my head.

Jill in CO

I suspected that is what he might say. Sigh, you tell him I said what more could I expect from Mr. Cranky Pants?

you guys are NOT going to believe this!!!!!!!! guess what showed up at my door today?

a box of thin mints, a box of peanut butter patties, TWO!! boxes of peanut butter sandwich cookies!!!!... oh.. and a bag of prunes, addressed to "Mr. Cranky Pants"... aka nebo..!!!

you guys crack me up!!!!

ok, not counting the cost of the cookies, it cost them 10 bucks to send it all here! (I think you could have shaved off that cost if you left out the prunes... just sayin') tee hee

OMG!! you guys!! it made my day!!!! I have been sick all week. plugging along. andwhat a great uplift to my day!!!!!
thank you SO MUCH!!!!!!

I am now sniffling at how the Lord sends such good friends into my life.
thank you dee dee and blake.. so much

 

[pkondz]

What a way to end your trip

In the words of the Mighty Python... "I'm not dead."
The trip still has some (albeit, not much) life in it.

It is funny (well, maybe not) how those little muscle spasms creep up on you and just complete immobilize you.

Yup. A laugh a minute those spasms.... or is it a spasm?

I have been in pain with those before, but not to the extent that you were.

Give it time. Maybe you'll laugh as much as I did!

I remember having a doctor come to see me in Florence though, when we were there and I had a pretty severe sinus infection. Fixed me right up, and the tour and the military took care of the bill somehow! Italian doctors seem pretty good!

I suspect European medical care is superior to North American.
I could be wrong.

I blame it on the suitcase...it finally caught up with you...

I blame it on my children.
Why not? That's what they're there for.

Great, now I hear the Jaws theme music and see the giant, evil suitcase of death with teeth, waiting at the top of the stairs to get Ponzi....

PLEASE!
Don't mention the evil suitcase of death and destruction and 'stairs' in the same sentence.

Oh, great. See what you've done?
I did it myself!

Benefactor Pkondz?

Now I have visions of Miss Havisham! Last I checked, I wasn't quite as old as dirt and I am currently not wearing a yellowed wedding dress.

Wow.
While I never, ever would picture you as old.... this is what happened when I read that:

Miss Havisham? Gee, that sounds really familiar.
Miss Havisham.
Miss Havisham?
Miss Havisham.

Hasenpfeffer?
Hasenpfeffer!

Stop.

Miss Havisham. I should know this. I do know this! But I can't remember!!


Google


Oh! No wonder!
I last read that in the late 70s or very early 80s.
Maybe I should read that again...

(Although I could see you in a wedding dress with one shoe on)

Red

I gotta tell ya. I'm disappointed.

Really. Don't you think you should have typed:
Red

- Not only can you miss so much, you can annoy loved ones like no tomorrow with the excessive need to get the shot. Well, I can. And I try to watch myself.

Nope. I don't worry about annoying the rest of the family.
Ruby's happy to be there.
And the kids?
Who's paying for this trip?!?
Sit still and be happy you're even here!!!


Oh, all right. I'll come clean. I didn't take (other than at the Paris opera) that many pics...
So they didn't really get a chance to be annoyed.

But then again sometimes the shot is just such a wonderful rush. See the two below.

Hey! You're right! Those are great shots!

The first I literally took it in NYC - like the massive *rock* of a building doesn't give that away - and turned against the wall and sighed in glee. I felt giddy in the knowing of "yes". It was one of those moments. I'm sure you can understand. So sometimes it's worth annoying loved ones for selfish needs. Insert wink. The other is in the Polynesian and its reality isn't as nice as the picture turned out to be- I LOVE THAT!.

I will let you in on a little secret. (Don't tell anybody)

I look at those two pics in your siggy...
Every time you post.
Every. Time.

Well that sounded absolutely pompous, I don't mean it as such. How not Canadian of me. Oh well.

Citizenship revoked.

Will you be moving soon?

You know what, colour coding looked like a fun idea at first. It's totally not.

Found out it's a bit of a pain in the asp, did you?

47 pictures at WDW is usually of lighting fixtures. Or some ridiculous fascination of mine.

Or naked mole rats.

Crazy is F.I.N.E fine.

Insecure? You?

Nah. Not buying it.

The rest, though...

Dull and insipid. Can you imagine being dull and insipid?

I don't have to imagine it. I are it.

I tend to say, "Huh?" a lot.

Sharleen just might have something to say about dull and insipid.
Even the pretty package couldn't mask it for her. But it's okay - really it's okay.

Aye yai yai!

On the pink, others enjoyed it and laughed, they just don't tell you.

I suspected as much.

With this bunch.

Maybe I should feel guilty about that, but I don't.

But could you? With enough prompting? Or an incentive?

The next colour is called YellowGreen. I have no clue why I'm telling you that. It sounds very pretty, yes?

It does! And it's an accurate description of the colour I turned when the pain hit!

Okay, first of all I didn't even realize that I was dropping crap left right and centre. I was laughing at the insurance in total knowing, so knew that answer, but besides that I hate that I was talking in code. Hate that and hate when people do that. I can ramble out things without thinking sometimes

Oh, don't worry about it.
We all tend to ramble on from time to time isn't that a Cyndi Lauper tune? no that's time after time, what time is it if it's after time? I guess then it's too late for a very important date, my sister had a white rabbit when she was little, but it died suddenly and after that we had cats not cats plural at the same time but one cat at a time and now we're back on time again which is good because I hate being late.

What?

I know such shocking words

Oh? Any new ones that I might not know?
(Remember. I live a very sheltered life.)

the picture doesn't help of course. I must take it off.

Hey everybody! Lisa's going to take it all off!!

Three immediate family members are very ill. My mother you know - last/later stage of dementia. Two others have cancer - one is stage IV and fighting hard and is much too young to go and the other is terminal.

Oh, geez. That's rough. Sorry to hear that.

The terminal one is a new discovery and almost got trapped in a US hospital and I had to break him free - it was he can not be flown back - he can fly - he can't do the long drive - he can only do the drive right up until the last minute from the doctors there - insurance threatened to deny unless one of the doctors wrote "stable at release" -drove down to get him and prayed I didn't kill him doing it, as they were saying risky

Wow. That doesn't sound at all stressful. Not at all...

You wife's story is/was hysterical. I put funny but not funny because I can only imagine the stress she felt trying to make sure you were taken care of by people that had different translations. And the joy of travel insurance whose motto is *we love money in but hate money out*.

Definitely do not assume that if you have travel insurance that everything's taken care of ahead of time....

you guys are NOT going to believe this!!!!!!!! guess what showed up at my door today?

The Easter Bunny?
No. Too early.

a box of thin mints, a box of peanut butter patties, TWO!! boxes of peanut butter sandwich cookies!!!!... oh.. and a bag of prunes, addressed to "Mr. Cranky Pants"... aka nebo..!!!

I'll let Dee Dee respond to this, but...

The prunes!!!!

 

[pkondz]

Real life update - Part III

So this has nothing to do with the trip.
And it has nothing to do with me.

I don't care.
It's my TR and I'm putting it in.

As some of you may know or recall, Elle dances competitively with a local dance school.

The Thunderstruck Canada competition is an open competition that is held in eleven cities across the country.
Winnipeg being one of those cities.

Some dance teams traveled as much as 760KM (470 miles) to attend the competition.

Elle's dance team performed five routines in the Senior Large Group category.
They performed one routine in each of the following disciplines:
Ballet, Contemporary, Jazz, Lyrical and Modern

The scoring is done by three judges.
The scoring scales are as follows:

216.00-230.99 = Bronze
231.00-245.99 = Silver
246.00-260.99 = High Silver
261.00-272.99 = Gold
273.00-282.99 = High Gold
283.00-289.99 = Lightning Gold
290.00-300.00 = Platinum Thunder

Usually, at this level of competition, the lowest scores seen are in the "High Silver" range.
(although I did see one or two "Silvers" last year).

Elle's team scored three Platinum Thunder and two Lightning Gold awards for their routines!
The Contemporary piece took first over-all in the Large Group Category!
(I believe there were at least ten routines performed by various studios in that category)

At the end of the night, they announce the top routine for each studio.
Elle's studio had performed nineteen different routines in various genres and age groups.

The Contemporary piece took first over-all in that category as well!


The entire competition ran from Thursday morning through Sunday late afternoon.
Over 600 routines were performed (I believe it was 625).
There were solos, duos, trios, small groups line groups and large groups.
There were multiple genres in addition to the ones Elle performed in (e.g. musical theatre, tap, hip hop, etc.)

On Sunday evening they announced several awards with the big one, the highest scoring routine, last.

Yup. Elle's Contemporary piece scored #1 out of over 600!


So...

Boasting?

Yep.

Proud papa?

You bet!

And I'm not in the least bit sorry for bragging about my kid.

 

[jedijill]

WTG Elle! Great job!

It's ok to brag about your kids.

Jill in CO

 

[MAGICFOR2]

YAY FOR ELLIE AND HER TEAM!!!

Of course you can brag, it's your TR!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

That's AWESOME! Congrats to Elle and team and of course to the proud parents! (<---my dance for you)

 

[mmeb144]

You have to brag because "platinum thunder" sounds way cool. Congrats Elle!

 

[dawnbu40]

Congratulations to Elle and her proud dad!!

 

[nowellsl]

Senior Large Group category.

Am I the only one who thinks this sounds like a group of old fat people? Just kidding, just kidding

Congratulations to Elle and her team, what an accomplishment!!

 

[smidgy]

congratulations elle!!! how exciting!!

 

[pkondz]

WTG Elle! Great job!

It's ok to brag about your kids.

YAY FOR ELLIE AND HER TEAM!!!

Of course you can brag, it's your TR!

That's AWESOME! Congrats to Elle and team and of course to the proud parents! (<---my dance for you)

You have to brag because "platinum thunder" sounds way cool. Congrats Elle!

Congratulations to Elle and her proud dad!!

Thanks everybody!
Elle hasn't kept up (last time I asked, she was still reading about Paris) but I've read all your comments to her.
(She LOLd at Marie's comment)

Am I the only one who thinks this sounds like a group of old fat people? Just kidding, just kidding

Congratulations to Elle and her team, what an accomplishment!!

That's really insensitive of....

wait....

That would explain the stage collapsing......



And thanks for the congrats!

 

[orangecats2]

Very nice to win in so many categories.
Congrats! Did they look like that?

So does this mean they are going to Niagara Falls?

 

[shan23877]

Brag away! Great job Elle!!!

 

[pkondz]

Very nice to win in so many categories.
Congrats! Did they look like that?

Why, yes. Yes they did look like that.

So does this mean they are going to Niagara Falls?

And, no. It doesn't. That competition runs next weekend, March 14-16

Brag away! Great job Elle!!!

Thanks Shanoopie!

 

[buzz1121]

Congratulations Elle!!

Wow, Platinum Thunder!! That is some distinction!

I know you work hard and it's so nice when all that hard work pays off......with platinum thunder no less!!!

 

[buzz1121]

you guys are NOT going to believe this!!!!!!!! guess what showed up at my door today?

a box of thin mints, a box of peanut butter patties, TWO!! boxes of peanut butter sandwich cookies!!!!... oh.. and a bag of prunes, addressed to "Mr. Cranky Pants"... aka nebo..!!!

you guys crack me up!!!!

ok, not counting the cost of the cookies, it cost them 10 bucks to send it all here! (I think you could have shaved off that cost if you left out the prunes... just sayin') tee hee

OMG!! you guys!! it made my day!!!! I have been sick all week. plugging along. andwhat a great uplift to my day!!!!!
thank you SO MUCH!!!!!!

I am now sniffling at how the Lord sends such good friends into my life.
thank you dee dee and blake.. so much

Aww, we love you.....and we even love Mr. CP!

It, of course, is totally up to you if you decide to share your cookies with Nebo, but I suggest he try his gift to, er, maybe help with the crankiness?

You tell Nebo that just because he can't post all the time doesn't mean he is safe from having his "little red wagon fixed" from time to time!

Hopefully it made you both smile. We will call to get Nebo's take very soon.

 

[ougrad86]

Congratulations Ellie!