It’s A Lonely World, Kids & Skating, MISC Sk8 News, Tetes A Claques

It’s A Lonely World: I’m out running and I’m listening to my music. I feel connected, the music keeps all the disjointed things together- the cars, the sky, the moon, the trees, the snow, the sidewalk, the people walking, the litter on the ground. Few of these things really fit together in nature, but here in the city, they co-exist. The music helps make sense of it all in some sort of abstract way. It dulls my pain so that I can focus on breathing deeply, but I can’t hear myself breathing. I can only hear the music. I don’t feel all the disjointed things that surround me. I can only feel what and where the music is. Then the song ends.

Silence.

I now hear my breathing, the rubbing of my arms on my jacket as I run, my hat sliding slowly over my ears, and that rubberish dull sound that tires make as cars drive by. It’s now that I become acutely conscious of the pain in my legs from running hard; now I can taste that salt that’s laid on the road to melt the snow; I can see that damn car battery that someone left on the ground right beside a tree along the path that I run; it’s been there on the property of an apartment building since November and nobody’s removed it. Perhaps some day I will remove it because the superintendent isn’t taking care of the property. For some reason, every time I pass that battery, I get mad, and I run faster. Few of the things I see and feel belong together. But I belong here. In these moments, it’s a lonely world.


Kalon Dobbin waiting to race in the 300-meter final at the 2005 world championships in China- I remember watching this race, it pumped me up! A lot of people went back to the hotel, but I stayed. It was worth staying up late to watch the drama unfold.

Meaghan Buisson setting the 42km women's solo land speed record

Super Cochon (super pig) finishes the 4.5 time trial at the 2006 OutGames in Montreal- he was one of the first to take to the course for his time trial. I started my time trial a few minutes after him. I could still see him and even make out his cape as I took off. It took me no more than two minutes to catch him, and he finished much later
Kids & Skating: I love being a school teacher. It’s the best job in the world, especially when you teach music and French to kindergartens to grade 5’s. Trust me. My students are fantastic, they come from just about every culture out there, and they have a very contagious joy. I will admit that I hate waking up in the morning, but I never leave work unhappy. Maybe stressed, but not unhappy. It’s never happened in the 6 years I’ve been a school teacher.

My job is even better though on the days that the kids go ice skating. I get to go with them and skate; I do things, you know, like make sure they don't play tag, their jackets are done up, they have their gloves on, their helmets are on correctly, and that they're skating in the right direction. We went ice skating on Friday and I could not resist bringing my speed skates rather that my hockey skates. Comments from my students included ‘woaa, what are those’, ‘Mister Doucet, your skates are funny’, ‘Why are they so long?’, and ‘Can I try them?’.


My short track ice skates in the sharpenning jig while we're on the school bus leaving the skating rink- my students were blown away even by the jig!
The students at the school I teach at love to imitate whatever they see. Sure, they might imitate something for 10-seconds, forget about it, and then move on to the next impressionable thing. Nevertheless, I know that somewhere down the line- between my students seeing me running and biking to school, hearing about my world travels and my training and commitments, and their constant interest in sport and physical activity- my students will develop a love for sport, for being healthy, and some may even take on speed skating of some form (on wheels or ice).

What’s important is keeping them exposed to sport, keeping sport easily accessible, having facilities, keeping the students safe, and allowing them to explore social and physical development through being active.

MISC Sk8 News: First off, check out the Inline Planet's Skate Tip Of The Week about Team Work. It's written by Vicci King. She offers a good perspective from her years of experience on the inside workings of a team.

So we're barely into 2007, this year's worlds is still like 7 months away (it's refreshing to say that because I have A LOT of training to do), yet there's news from the Spain 2008 worlds surfacing on MundoPatin. If the translation software is accurate, the pre-worlds office has been inaugurated. Click for more.


In front of the worlds office
These boots are sweeeeeet; Bont's 2007 Vaypor. Drool is now dripping on my keyboard.


I don't know which one I want
Tetes A Claques: Si tu parles Francais et tu viens du Quebec, tu connais surement les Tetes A Claques. En tout cas, je capote vraiment sur c’te site la. Les videos sont trop hot! J’voulait simplement mettre le video du Willie Waller 2006 sur mon site.



If you don’t speak French, that’s too bad. It’s quite possible that you’re missing out on fantastic online videos. The Tetes A Claques are made in Quebec; the videos might seem strange or even stupid, but I will argue that to understand and truly appreciate the videos, you’ve got to know and undersand the French-Quebec culture & language. I really hope that I am wrong and I hope you can enjoy the videos in some capacity.

I can only say that based on the amount of work I put into my website, one could argue that I spend a lot of time online. That’s true and accurate. Outside of work and training, I am usually sitting down, re-visiting each message board and each site many times over for the umpteenth time. I’ve seen the best of the best, worst of the worst, weirdest of the weird, and dumbest of the dumb videos, and I have to say that Tetes A Claques ranks amongst the best and the funniest.