Melissa's Dream

Melissa's Dream

Music on the Radio??

This morning as I drove into work, I heard the DJ talking into a song on the radio and stopping mid-sentence so as to let the song begin. I instantly flashed back to the days where radio is where we got our variety! I miss the music of the 90's and sadly that's the era of music I know the most (secular) songs from, thanks to good ol' CKSY.'s 80, 90's and today!

I remember sitting on the floor in the living room, and calling the radio station to request to hear a song. My brother or I would have a cassette in the tape deck and our finger hovering over the record button. I think we requested Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden a lot.

Does anyone else remember that? The era before iTunes and YouTube? It baffles my mind to think that the TV Show the Bachelor started in 2002 when my friend Mariah was 2.5 so basically she has grown up with Reality TV, which started as we know it with Survivor in 2000. She never knew life before Reality TV! That thought even made Nick laugh the other day, talk about feeling old.

I can still picture the thing radio/tape player I had in my room when I was a kid. Or was mine pink and Michael had a green one?? I found a website with pictures of them. They're calling it Vintage. Ohh man. I'm feeling even older now!

Toyota University

Wow the other day, I don't know why it crossed my mind, but I'm so glad it did and I'm smart enough to write myself a memo in my phone so I remember to write a blog post!

My dad, my daddio, my daddy, has worked for Toyota for 30ish years. He's the best Mechanic in the city! I love him and I'm sooo proud of him.

Anyhoo, every other year or so, he gets sent off to Toyota University in Toronto, Ontario. It makes sense, if the only knowledge he was as from cars from 43 years ago, he'd have no idea how to fix a new Prius.

As a kid I remember we would go with him, and stay at a hotel and have special daddy time! I mean yeah he had to go to class, but I remember sitting in the hotel room reading!! How young was I?? I have no idea... I'd have to be old enough to be left alone....

I love going on daddy dates! I love feeling like I'm the most special girl in the world, and dad's have the power to make that happen!

High School?

What was high school? I barely remember it.... a conversation was spawned between Nick and I yesterday after I went to Mariah's school. Her class period was only 50 minutes long, and I thought that was strange, but Nick said it was normal. I was pretty sure when I was in in High School we took 4 classes a day at 2 hours each. That means that the semesters that we had "spare's" or "sdfjsdfjs;" as American's call it, we could have potentially had a semester that included: band, sewing, and history or something like that. I started re-calling classes that I took:

@CCI:
Business with Mrs. Zeleski-McCauley, and Gym with her too (then I remembered we had to wear gross Gym Uniforms... eeww)
Band: with Mrs. (DJfSLDFJ)
French - with Mrs. Rodriguez, which I was in when 9/11 happened
I think I maybe remember having Math on the 3rd floor with a skinny old man teacher.
Geography - with Mr. Woods
History - with Mr. Dutry - AWESOME Class


Yearbook was an extra curricular I believe.

@CKSS:
Entrepreneurial Studies with Mr. Hunt (the Vice Principle)
Economics with Mr. (sdfsdfsdf) (he had long silver hair wore Hawaiian shirts) - we almost always had a Timmies run in that class - Josh Kenney would go pick up the entire class's orders!
Yearbook - was a class - I took it.
Band - with Mr. (sdfsdlflsk)
I took 2 History Classes with Mr. Leidl - one where we learned about Napoleon, and 1 American History class.
Sewing class. I made PJ's (button top and pants) and some kind of stuffed cat teddy bear thing.


That's all I remember.... sad right? 4 years of High School. 8 Classes a year. 32 total classes and I only remember.....13ish - cuz I did take band more than once at each school, but I don't remember how many times....1x a year makes sense.

O Canada How I Love Thee

Growing up in Canada is something I will always Cherish!    (Just writing this sentence brought tears to my eyes immediately)

This morning at work, one of the ladies was wearing a really cute outfit and I could just picture her on an ice rink.

This took me back to Chatham Memorial Arena.

Chatham Memorial Arena

Our church has a Church Skate every year, I think there used to be 2 or 3 a year. I hope they're still doing them. Those are some of my favourite memories! We use to rent out an arena just for the church. So many wonderful memories. A few sad ones too (Russ: had a heart-attack on the ice and died).  If I had all the money in the world - I would fly back there just for a church skate. It was cheap for us too, because in Canada EVERYONE owns their own skates so you don't have to pay to rent them.

Thames Campus Arena

So many pictures are flashing through my mind and I wish I could describe them all, or had them on video. In my mind they are as clear as watching a DVD. Over the years we rented out different arena's but most of my memories are at the Chatham Memorial Arena.

Chatham Memorial Arena

My memory takes me back to sitting out in the hallway, with the elementary school like hooks for your coats and benches to sit on to lace up your skates. I remember making hot chocolate in white Styrofoam cups. I have memories with people too; the Loney's, skating around paying attention to where on the rink they boy I liked was, skating really really fast with my cousin's in and out of the slow skaters.... the little ones in the "shallow end" with tiny little chairs to hold them up. 



This webpage has a lot more information on the town I call home! We have a lot of really cool history including:

1. War of 1812 - Shawnee Indian Chief TECUMSEH
2. Rev. Josiah Henson (Uncle Tom's Cabin), and John Brown, both abolitionist working with the "Underground Railroad"
3. Geoffrey O'Hara - Song writer: wrote "K-K-K-Katy my Beautiful K-K-Katy" sung in the trenches of world war one. 
4.   Fergie Jenkins - signed up by the Phillies in 1962, traded to the Cubs from 1967 to 1972.
5. Shae-Lynn Bourne - Ice Dancer with Victor Kratz - 2 time Olympians, and 4 times World Bronze Medallists. Invented Shae-Crusher. 
6. Michelle Wright - most awarded artist in Canadian country Music history. She has over 30 major music industry awards to her credit, and a string of 23 top ten hits. (She was raised by my Grandpa's cousin who I grew up calling Aunt and Uncle)
7. Dave Gagner - NHL Player for the New York Rangers
8. Doug Anakin - Olympic Gold Medal Winner in 1964
9.