Crazy, Crazy and more Crazy

So wow that was a random break in posting, sorry guys kinda been caught up in a ton of things. You'd think between, hockey, work, family and friends that I'd have enough on my plate but add to that all the drama and soap opera like things that seem to surround me, it's just complete craziness sometimes. To make my point I'll tell ya what a friend at work said to me when I was randomly venting about some drama filled things going on lately... she actually just started laughing and telling me it reminded her of high school and not in a good way. Ah well, what can ya do, it's even a lil fun sometimes. Minus the whole boys are stupid part...cuz really thats never fun no matter how old you are. It's funny because I've never thought of myself as the emotional type or a drama queen but I've recently discovered I'm much more girly then I thought. Hell I even cry when I have boy troubles or when I have say goodbye to a friend whose unexpectedly moving. You all know how much I hate crying and for some reason I've had a lot of reason to lately. It's ok though, I have the great circle of friends in the world and my girlz are always there for me. I'm going through this whole big thing with my ex...well 2 of them really... on separate issues though, it's a ton of stress, again thank god for Christina, Elizabeth, Heidi, Naomi, Ashlee and of course Jillian (who is still new Those girlz are my backbone I swear. I also want to mention my beautiful sister in law Jen is this. Hun you have been awesome lately, especially when it comes to sorting out my feelings and thoughts for a certain person. Love you muchly! Anyways thats my thoughts for now. I will be posting sometime either this weekend or afterards seeeing as it's gonna be a little nuts...2 hockey games, Yom Kippur , a girlz night out and hopefully (with Jens help) Heidi and I are getting to meet my FAVORITE rapper on monday afternoon. YAY for craziness. I'll keep ya updated.
Love ya all
XOXO
Mana

Man if you all thought i was excited for training camp and pre-season, ya should see me know. The QMJHL regular season opened tonight...the Mooseheads don't open their season til Saturday. I'm totally psyched about seating in my usual seat. You can always find me surrounded by the rest of my crazy group at the bottom of section 14, row A, seat 2. My seat is right on the corner, right down on the ice...all the good big hits are there and plenty of brawls and fights there too over the years. This is my 6th season seating in that seat and let me tell ya, the group went from me and Mom to Mom, Me and Nicole...soon there was Diana...then Jamie and James....then Christina and her son Christopher...then came Ashlee, Alyssa and Jason, somewheres in there joined Noami and Bethy...it's quite the group we have. There are others too....some of which I dont even know as anything but 'that guy that sits by us a few rows up' and others that are in the sections on either side of us. It's craziness. I love every minute of it though. When I started this blog I wanted to avoid writing all about hockey but it's like Jen pointed out to me a few days ago, it's a part of my life. So in order for me to let you in on whats going on with me it's gonna include a lot of Halifax Mooseheads. Thats who I am...on the ice they're my team and off the ice they're my friends. I gotta run and grab Lee from work...love everyone XOXO
Mana

Some updated pics of me

So I realized I haven't posted recent pics is a while. After looking at pics of everyone in Ottawa/Montreal this week it made me feel kinda guilty. Everyone is growing so much. OMG Jacob is getting so big and with the exception of Nanny everyone looks great by the way. I'll be honest with everyone last night when I sat down for coffee at Dad and Moms place and looked at pics, listening to the WHOLE trip, I hadn't realized at all how fagile Nanny has gotten. I browsed through the pics on the digital and without even realizing it I started to cry. Even now thinking about it makes me so sad. I know it was really hard for everyone who was there, I wish I could have been there...firstly to see her and secondly because we have only each other to use as support when it comes to something like that. Anyways on a happier note here are a couple of updated photos...the first was taken last week at the Mooseheads game...not a great pic because I just finished yelling & screaming at some Rocket player and when Jamie snapped the picture I was doing the whole bragging to everyone about how I had just out yelled a PEI player on the bench. Proud moment eh LOL. The next 2 is me on my laptop working...well technically taking a break from working, randomly decided to put my web cam to use for once. The last pic is actually not so recent...Erika took it on the way to the QMJHL draft in June.

It isn't fair

In my last post I went into some detail about a situation with a friend of mine. The last 2 days have been a mixture of feelings regarding friends. First off as for right now anyways things look good for my buddy, he finally got on that plane and is right where he should be. I'll be sure to let everyone know where he lands up playing this season, my guess is AHL or at the very least ECHL. There's the good part of my week so far. The bad, funny enough has to do with other good friend on mine who happens to play on the team...Well at least he did, until yesterday. Being so close to an entire team of major junior players is rough stuff sometimes. O:k now I'll admit sometimes it does seems a little cool, when these guys go pro and make 'the show'. I can say hey look it's my buddy. I have sense of pride when it comes to them as silly as that sounds to some. Now as I said in my last post, hockey players are a different breed, it's not all peaches. Yesterday we found out that JF was heading home. He's an overager (overager= 20yr old) this season and under QMJHL rules a team can carry only 4 until the trading deadline in the first week of Jan. and only 3 overagers can be dressed at once for a game. After the deadline only 3 20yr olds can be on the roster. So as you imagine teams usually don't drag out the process and have their 20yr olds basically picked going into training camp. JF was in a unique place though. The last 2 years have seen him have 2 major injuries which have limited his playing time which of course effects development of the player. Keep in mind the type of hockey I'm speaking of is a development type league. It's all about coming into the player you can be. Due to injuries which lead to lack of ice time he was passed over in the NHL draft in his draft year. Coming into training camp the Herd had picked up overager Ryan Seymour from Bathurst, along with Seymour was our number 1 goalie, Jeremy Duchesne and blueliner Luciano Lomanno (aka Loutch). Loutch happens to be JFs best friend and also the guy JF would have to battle for the last overagers spot. Duchesne (unless he were to go pro) is a guarantee for one of the O.A spots and Seymour was brought in for a reason, his leadership is needed here and he was a former captain for the Titan. Loutch has more experience because he had much better luck on the injury front. Although in my opinion, Lomanno is no where close to being a overage caliber player in this league. It's nothing personal...He's a good guy but I swear the guy has cement blocks attached to his skates. The problem here is I'm so close that even though I can say honestly that neither Loutch or JF is good enough to play such a role on the team, they also happen to be friends of mine. I hate it when guys get cut or traded. I knows it's a part of the game and for the most part I take it pretty well. JF though is my favorite player and a guy I happened to grow pretty close to in the last 3 years. I have two really strong feelings about this whole thing. The first is anger, mostly directed at the GM of the club. Without boring you all with more details of this whole thing let's just say I think the way he handled this was classless and disrespectful. The other emotion is obviously sadness. I don't want JF to go back to Montreal and I know he's considering his options right now. I'll be able to be at least be somewhat happy if he stays here in Hali. There are a ton of playing options for him within the city, plus he already attends school here and such. I dunno....All I do know is I'll miss seeing him in a Moose jersey and I'll be wearing my #39 Brault jersey for a long time coming so no worries, he's still being represented at the MC!

Having it all

So I have a question for everyone...why is it people feel they can't have it all?
O:k now I'll tell you why I'm asking such a question. A friend of mine is going through this back and worth thing between his wanting and working so hard for his career and his girlfriend wanting him to stay close and such. Now I'll fully admit I'm not her biggest fan in the first place and the idea that she could be holding him back from his dream career only makes that worse. On the other hand he loves her so I have to respect that. What I don't get is why she can't let him at least try to balance. If she makes him happy then fine, but i dont my friend to throw away a great chance at going pro for her. It's not the first time I've seen this either. I had someone I was very close to on the team a few years ago, he was like a brother to me and I loved his girlfriend but everyone knew she was holding him back. Thankfully they worked it out and she let him go a little and he learned that balance is the key. He got himself drafted and now plays pro hockey in the States. Today they aren't together anymore but they remained friends...either way I watched for at least a year or 2 how this effected his game. For those who aren't close to major junior hockey like I am it may be hard to understand why this is an issue at all. People have careers and families all the time, right? Hockey players though are tough creatures....they work for years trying to crack lineups and play at a higher level. If you're good enough plus a little luck you usually end up leaving home at about 16 to live with a billet family in other city. You live and breathe hockey. Life for a teen playing a level such as major junior is different then regular teens. Canada is great in the way that coaches and training stuff help build an awesome support system to help the players live somewhat normal teen lives. They all attend school and with a group of friends that reaches even further then the 23 boys on the roster, they plently of time hanging out with friends and partying. It can be very intense though and unfair even but the strong ones and the talented ones have that small chance of making a career out of the game they love. For the majority even when you dont go pro it's all worth it in the end. Hockey players are a different breed. I worry that a high school girlfriend who isnt supportive could ruin it for a guy like my buddy. I know he's a big boy and can make his own decesions but this was all bothering me and I wanted to get it out. For obvious reasons I cant say anything to him, i know its not my place. Honestly I think he'll find a way to stay focused....or at least I hope so.