Eat. Sleep. Work. Hockey.

I think those are the four things that I really do now, aside from watching TV, MSN-ing, and listening to some awesome music.

As a Sunday ritual, a bunch of us from OCAC go play some shinny hockey. The locations used to change every week; therefore, it was quite difficult to find rides and stuff since I do not know how the local routes work (I'm only familiar with the main routes and the TransitWay) and organizing things. The rinks we used to go to were packed with rowdy kids and the ice was kind of crappy. Finally, we found a rink that we can truly call our "home". Located at Heron and Clover, the ice isn't that bad and it's very quiet. It also has a changeroom so we can change in the warmth, which is really good, since our fingers won't freeze and we can tie up our skates better. The best thing about this rink is that it's right beside the Heron Transitway stop! WOOT! No more calling Leon or Karl to give me a drive (although it would be nice...lol). I really appreciate their sincerity and kindness, especially when it's out of their way. I have some very nice chauffeur-friends! LOL.

I'm always pumped for hockey. I had never played ice hockey until I came to Ottawa. Why, you may ask, even when I've been a hockey fan for most of my life and I've played floor hockey since grade school? Well, because there were several obstacles in the way. 1) I wore glasses and getting contacts for me at that time would be quite expensive, as my eye sight changed every year (for the good) since I suffer from lazy eye; 2) I focused more on swimming than any other sport at that time; 3) No teams -- girl's hockey was like trying to find a needle in a haystack! But now, there's so many girl's teams and leagues that if my kid wanted to play hockey, I'll let her!; 4) to go along with the latter point, hockey equipment was quite expensive; 5) Swimming already took a lot of time away from other activities and cramming in piano and art lessons were already enough. So if I had to cram in hockey practices and games, my parents would go bezerk!

The list could go on. But now, I'm grateful for the opportunity to have the chance to play with some people and fellowship with them. I really enjoy playing with them because they're not competitive and they're not rough (although there is some rough play at times, but it's all accidental) and they pass to girls! THEY LOVE HAVING GIRLS PLAY...well, at least I think they do. Although I'm not too good, I still score some goals and make some pretty passes. I'm just really happy to have the chance to play hockey.

Here's a shot of us playing a couple of weeks ago at our "alternate" rink (taken by Calvin):