A Sidenote Story

As a freelance writer, keeping one's self organized is huge. Especially so when one is in the middle of moving from one home to another. So though notes have been taken for several of the games since late October, they are currently packed away in a bag, awaiting to be moved to my new home office in my former home.

And another thing which has slowed down the process is said freelance writer getting a rather bad series of cracks to the head thanks to a low-hanging steel chandelier whilst working on the move early last week.

Admittedly, this article is more of a personal, hedging on a blog-type of entry, but this morning, the title templates and some of the photos were laid out into the stories for those which I have committed to doing this season. This writing that I am doing is not only to document the story of the Jets this entire season, but to also give people whom don't get a chance to catch the games to have a chance to catch up on everything that has taken place, in one location, to read.

I have nothing but love and respect for the Winnipeg Jets. They are a team that some bigger centres have looked down their noses at because Winnipeg is not a huge city. Certainly, not compared to places such as Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, New York, Chicago, or Toronto, all places which I have travelled to or through at one point or another, the city of Winnipeg is smaller and less crowded with the huge buildings.

But this city, albeit "smaller" than those listed, has far more of a multi-community feel to it in that certain areas of the city have totally different feels and even ethnicities. The downtown area is pretty much where the "skyscraper" types of buildings are located. The area of the city I live in does not have that kind of architecture around, but still has a very different feel than the area which I am moving from, which is a 10 minute bus ride away from the new home. As in, this area is far more playful in that at the local convenience store that is a five minute walk from there has a clerk who will happily belt out tunes from different musicals (his renditions of "Old Man River" and "Tomorrow" are pretty awesome!).

And that kind of uniqueness throughout Winnipeg is one of its strengths, because even during the Whiteout Block Parties held during playoffs this past spring during the Jets' incredible playoff run, people from all of these differing communities came together to support the team. Winnipeg has that strength of community and of resilience. In fact, when the Jets returned to the city several years ago, everyone celebrated, which leaked over into the graduation party I attended at the Academy of Acting that year. To quote a line from one of my all time favourite television series (Firefly, 2002), "We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty!" There is a strong feeling, within the city, that the Jets will take a few more steps in that direction, possibly this coming playoff season, but it is a long road ahead, and only time will tell.

In the meantime, amid the dizzy spells and vertigo which come with the concussion (the ninth one in my lifetime so far), the move shall continue and the writing will be done. It might not be done in chronological order but it will be getting done.

You have my word on that.

And just to wind up this article, here's a lovely shot that a lady took of me with a couple of amazing gentlemen whom I ran into at Joe Daley's Sports & Framing this weekend. I didn't realize how badly hurt my neck was from the repeated zonks to the head until I saw in the photo that I wasn't holding my head up straight.

Thank you for your kind words. Keep on winning, gents!

Time to get more moving done, but getting an article up to show all of my readers that I am still alive was necessary. I am alive, and still plugging away, one step at a time!