Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Steve Roper and Yim

I asked Steve Roper to give me an update and a picture.
He was very kind in doing so.

..."Yim and I are in Victoria where I am Director of Marketing for Aviawest Resorts, a resort development company specializing in quarter-ownership properties on Vancouver Island. We have five locations with a sixth slated for development next year in Tofino and our first out of country resort potentially slated for Cabos.

I oversee all their web site, advertising and event planning as well as writing much of their communications materials and planning development.

I also own and operate www.oceansedge.com and www.stephenroper.com.

Ocean's Edge is a hobby that sprung out of the resort Yim and I built off the Caribbean coast of Belize some years back and I have plans of developing it into an adventure travel site for my retirement.

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I like visiting his Web Sites - a very unique and relaxing point of view. I encourage everyone to check this out .

Les

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Your Point of View

Your Point of view
(by Terry MacHardy)

As a frequent visitor to this blog I would like to share the following story.
I recently attended a pleasant dinner on a rainy evening with some friends from Europe.
Provoked by an anecdote, two of them start to argue about the nature of human existence: is life a tragedy or a comedy? They end up with two contrasting versions of the same story: a comic tale and a more tragic version, both based on the same character. Although the two stories involve similar situations, characters and problems, they both have very different endings. Having heard both stories- which are taken from the film Melinda and Melinda-one of the diner’s Colter sums up what seems to be the main idea: everything is colored by our chosen point of view.

Happiness or failure depends on the attitude we adopt toward life. However, what is it that makes us see a glass as half full or half empty? Often we place too much value on reality and discard the illusions that would have helped us to see the glass as half full. At the end of the day what counts is our ability to interpret and remember our experiences with a positive slant. If we manage to do that regularly, trusting in our ability to control our own moods, we will enjoy all of the advantages that stem from a positive view of life. Being positive is a process, not a state, and that is within anyone’s reach-we just need to have a better command of our inner selves, and consequently take a more optimistic view of the world around us. We would do ourselves a great favor if we could always see the glass as half- full-yet we so easily regard it as half empty!

Some insist on emphasizing that negative side of our being, the negative side of our existence. Life is very short and it must not be wasted with pointless regrets. ( How curious: the saying and thinking that life is to short in itself, a manifestation of the dark side that keeps insisting on seeing the glass as half empty)Frequently we do not realize how many positive things happen to us purely because we are incapable of seeing them. The good, the positive, the nice, and the simply wonderful things-sometimes we just don’t even notice them.

Some people will say that, in this life, there is no such thing as a half-full or a half empty glass, but simply half a glass. Most of the time, the facts that we see are based on interpretation rather than reality-so we would be well advised to learn to distinguish our opinions from our observations.
How do you see it?

From my Family to all of yours,
Have a Merry Christmas and a Safe, Happy, Healthful New Year.

T. Mac




Sunday, January 14, 2007

Stranger in a Cool L

Stranger in a Cool Land

Two weeks after the dance, my parents knew who Jimmy was.

For some reason they didn’t seem as thrilled. I mean, all I was asking for was $25.00 to see a show at the forum. So- I had never been to the Forum except as a child to see the circus!


OK, so what if it was James Brown? Big deal! They didn’t know who James Brown was anyway. So what if I was wearing a pair of Jimmy’s old pants. So what if I was only one of 20 white people in the audience- this was 1967-68 after all

Thank god my mom could handle a sewing machine. We had to get the pants just right. Tight- from the waist down –gone were the days of ‘Stovepipes’ - and then flair –big flair at the calf - with an insert of different coloured material.

I couldn’t be seen wearing sneakers. I needed something like Jimmy’s white shoes with the Italian weave on top of the foot.
“No – Beatle boots are gone Mom!”
“Out!”
“No T shirts or sweaters either!”
“ Button-down – bright red!”

Normally I would get up in the morning, wash, come back into my room, put the Beatles or Garry Lewis and The Playboys or The Animals on my portable record player and make my bed singing at the top of my lungs. I loved that record player. I had bought it with my own money from delivering The Montreal Star up in the new area of Seigniory Park near the Pines.

For the first time, my sisters heard something foreign coming from my bedroom.
“I Feel Good” – na-da-na-da dat (horns) “Like I knew that I would now!” …
Or “When a Man Loves a Woman..” and I was not singing. I was listening – getting my Soul lessons for the day.

After school I stopped coming right home and called more often to stay over at Jimmy’s place. Jimmy said his mom's name was Fran. I envisioned someone tall, dark and lanky like him. She was a teacher in Ormstown would be arriving at the house an hour after us.

They lived on Jack Street. (Who the heck was Jack? Dave Mclean would eventually tell me.) Seleda, Jimmy's older sister would retire to her room off the living room and diligently get her homework done. (She is now a Doctor in California and still looks good.)

I had never been further along the river road -Salaberry North, than Dupont Street to go up to St. Andrews for church. They lived way down in a small summer cottage near the water. It was cozy, warm and had a great big bay window. The beauty of that window was not what could be seen out of it,- but rather what was inwardly reflected when darkness fell outside; a Soulful Magic Mirror –reflecting in our minds- a stage, when Sly Stone, Percy Sledge, James Brown, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Wilson Picket and Aretha weaved their Soulful Spell into the household. Jimmy would get the records going- Boom Shakalaka! Boom Shakalaka! I Wanna Take You Higher ! When a Man Loves a Woman! Midnight Hour! Soul Man! Funky Broadway! Skinny Legs And All!

Seleda would throw down her pen in mock disgust –interrupted rudely from her studies- and stomp out of her room, hands on hips and yell “Jimmy!” –and on cue, he would grab her hand, pulling her into the magic circle reflected in the land of cool beyond the window …to The Midnight Hour and then Aretha's R>E>S>P-E-C-T… –his head moving back and forward, eyes slightly closed, teeth glittering through smiling lips, knees like pistons up and down –feet landing soft on a springy cloud – and she would be swept up into the dream –all to the beat, like Watusi Cool! Wow! They could move! Saleda was so beautiful when she danced and Jim – Jim was “THE MAN” –cooler than cool. Music loud, the beat, -the beat- oh my, I can still feel it,- the beat -was everything.

Cold winter air sliced through as the door swooshed open. "OH-OH".
I thought Mrs.Williams would be so upset with all her furniture shifted to the side and all hell breaking loose – All I saw at first was a coat flying into a chair, then this small wiry white woman prancing, hips swaying into the magic circle “Mom’s Home!”- as if she had never left it! For a single white lady, she sure could move black!

My mom and I danced when washing dishes to CFOX radio, but this was different –this was new! Where the hell had I been all my life. I had to absorb some of this culture of “cool”!

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Reunion '72 and Friends Cost:
Basic information

May 18 is "Free day" of arrival - that is, Free to visit old friends, parents, family, Chateauguay, the Ville de Montreal. - 'The Alibi' is a great place across from McDonalds, or come see me and friends at the hotel reception suite at Dorval (Hilton) near the Airport and train station Diagram to follow. I will have wine, beer tea and coffee -perhaps some snacks etc. for those who come to the hotel .

Saturday May 19 School will be open at 10:00AM through 4:00PM .
1:00 PM meet up at the Auditorium for official kick off.
We can go in visit, check it all out.
Roam the halls, perhaps bump into some teachers we used to have, smell the polish on the floors etc. contact the ghosts that still roam about. But then by 4:00 PM, let us get the heck out and over to the Hilton Dorval!

Hilton Dorval May 19 Reception led off by John Saunders (Mr.ABC) and perhaps aided and abetted by Richard Rankin, Lynda Young Chapleau and myself and others/ Sit-Down dinner and evening activities.
$100 per single attendee Paid in advance.
If you bring your husband /wife/spousal partner $175 together.
PAID IN ADVANCE NOT AT THE DOOR -NO EXCEPTIONS.

An advance non refundable deposit of $50 Cdn per single ticket or $100 Cdn for a spousal double to confirm your place is required not later than Feb 28.

You may pay outright if you so choose. Final payment of the ticket balance is due no later than Monday April 15. received by me or the system for payment by credit/debit card on the Alumni site. Again, there is no refund for the down payment.
This payment does not include cost Hotel accomodations.

This week (Jan 8-12) we shall enable payment by credit card or debit card on the Alumni registry site. Keep watch for it.

Cheques may also be sent. Ensure the following information is on your checque along with your name -not just a signature. We'll need your phone number also.

(On the cheque:
H.S.Billings High School.
Then in the line at bottom of chq indicate Reunion '72 and Friends.
It is very important to write 'Reunion '72 and Friends' since there may be more than one reunion visiting the school at same time. We are " Reunion '72 And Friends".

Mail the chque to:
HSB Reunion and Friends
c/o L. McConnell
103 Ashmore,
Chateauguay,Qc.
J6J 4B7

I will check your name on the list and confirm reciept to you by e-mail.
I will then deliver the cheque to the school for our account there.

If you need a hotel room, link up with the Dorval Hilton and indicate you are with the H.S.Billings Reunion '72 and Friends (Les McConnell) and your room cost is $99 per night for Friday, Saturday and Sundy each night including parking for the three days at the hotel. So book it soon. More info to follow.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Happy New Year!

Here we have Joanne Hannon (Billings Grad) while below, her husband Greg Holden gets into the groove with friends and cousins who are also graduates of HSB.
To the left of Greg is Glenna McConnell. To right is Val McConnel and in black across from him is Gaye McConnell. And of course I took the picture, so I am right there -creating the window into this New Year's party. We McConnells can party!

I'm amazed... I was up til 3:00 a.m.! Well, not again until next year or the long weekend in May.

I thought we were going to Angelo Mancuso's? That's it Angelo! Next year it's your place -no excuses!