Bana Blabs Down Under #91

[Banackock 7,750]

Bana Blabs Down Under #91

 

Rod Laver Arena, NHL Global Series 2023, Melbourne ,"Melby", Australia.  (Good ole USA, hey, Melbs?)

Another Blab brought to you by Talk-to-Text, an easier way to do this. Thanks, Siri. Despite your many, often simple errors. I appreciate you. You have made this easier and I wish I would have given you a try all those seasons ago! 

 

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Salutations, Everyone. I hope that life is going good for you and that if you're going through some shit, you make it through it. You got this! Life has been a tornado of crazy, busy and adventure the last little while. On September 20th, AKA my birthday / Mel-birthday, we flew across the continent from Perth to Melbourne at 0230AM! The flight mostly sucked and I was folded like a very cheap, stale pretzel in the mid section of a JetStar plane. Fortunately, my 5'4" partner survived without issue. We spent the days exploring the CBD and streets, markets (which are awesome here everywhere), local eats and drinks, parks, river cruises and just other extras around and about... Then on September 23rd we had the absolute privilege of attending the first ever NHL game in Australia, as also mentioned by @Berocka HERE, and it was a lot of fun. They put a good amount of work into it outside with shooting, puck handling and other cool events including a meet and greet with Lord Stanley. The game was pretty good. Lots of goals, a crazy goal by a Coyotes player that made the place bounce pretty good, a sweet brawl where they danced around and really put on a show and even treated the fans to a mediocre shoot out! Another PLUS? Rogers you get a piece of pizza for what, $12 @rory? Here it's a small pizza for like $16.5   You bet your ass Bana was feasting at the game on some cider, hot chips and pizza! 

 

 

Prior to the game though, we walked around, bought some stuff and were waiting in an hour long line, chatting with some fans from all over the place (New Zealand, Australia, Chicago and even Wainwright, Alberta... How cool???), waiting to get personal hockey cards done (which turned out crazy cool, by the way). That's when I got the text "If you see people wearing blues gear with a baby thats us haha". A few short minutes later, a family walked by with a little one strapped on the front. Little nervous. You speak to these people for years. These guys are my favourite people on the VHL and you know them so well, but... you've never actually met them! I can talk to strangers no issue, but I was shitting bricks a bit for Berocka! lol Went up, had a quick little chat and had to go back to the lines as we were finally so close after waiting an hour! It was really cool being able to meet his family and himself as he's been a very important member for myself, the Bears and the VHL.  I do think we may have the chance to meet up one more time in his home city! Very grateful for this neat experience!

 

For the VHL, lots has been happening and the league is cruising along. Old man @Beketov took a few days off to go on vacation. Haven't heard where he's going but I hope he enjoys the break with the family! TDL passed and the Bears have started an upward trend. We have a few things to figure out but we have a really good roster and while the LR is a little quieter, we have a group of great people in there that I really enjoy getting to know more and more. Rest of NA is also zooming, but we're closing in on LA and the Vancouver Chihuahuas and their snarling underbite. With that being said, let's do this blab so I can go to the Beach in BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL Sydney, Australia.. so far my favourite city in the world (but see you soon, Brisbane!)

 

Lamington's are a cake like treat in Australia with Chocolate and Coconut! They're my favourite, so we nabbed these to enjoy a couple on our Air BNB's rooftop!

 

• Bears are flying and I think a big part of that is adding in Shrimp at TDL @Blazzer. They've always been a member I've liked. They're so kind, smart and have been a pleasant experience in the locker room and with the Bears. Also, DEGEN! We've started rolling a bit and closing the gap. I'm sure we'll be entering the wildcard playoffs but you never know. @InstantRockstar and choking go hand in hand like Bert and Ernie, lol.. 
• My player sucks. It's been miserable. I don't know how many sims I've had where I've had zero points. I actually haven't checked since TDL it's been that bad. At one point, I expressed frustration to @Zetterberg... had a trade kind of lined up but I did feel bad. I love Z as a member. Always supporting me and the Bears mostly... Always a good relationship. That meant 100x more to me than my player scoring a few more goals on a shittier team. I'd rather with with Vasteras and suck. Those relationships matter!
• I think a lot of people liked theme week this season, but not me! I don't know why! Maybe I've been so busy and used to writing these kinds of articles that my brain just struggled. 40+ seasons as a GM, I have shit to write about. Probably closing in on 50 seasons with players, I'm sure I have shit to write about it. Yet, I struggled. 
• Ah, usually not 4 points but am 10/10 excited for Christmas and our annual Christmas Drive!

 

 

 

About the Photo:

When we first arrived to our BNB, we were looking out the window and this beauty popped up on our balcony. Initially, he was spooking away the smaller birds it seemed. I got close to the window and he came closer, right to the window and started nudging at where the handle of the door was (I'm not joking!). I opened it a bit and he started turning his head to look through it (they say they're as smart as chimpanzee's). I said fuck it! I swapped my shorts and shirt for pants and a longer sleeved shirt, found the courage I used when I approached @Berocka (LOL) and went out there with them...  eventually a second one flew up, scared the shit out of me as they're so big, so fast and it came out of nowhere. I chilled out there with them, fed them STRAIGHT FROM MY HAND... I expected them to just slam their beak in there to get it but they were so soft, calm and gentle... it was such an amazing experience.. I love wildlife and finding trust with animals.. and it can now be added to the animals I've hand fed here (looking at you Quokkas and the notorious Australian Magpies!!)

 

Been a great little while. See you next week to probably talk about Brisbane and this week VHL.com for Sydney  

 

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Banackock

[Beketov 8,692]

5 hours ago, Banackock said:

Old man @Beketov took a few days off to go on vacation. Haven't heard where he's going but I hope he enjoys the break with the family!

The wife and I are leaving the munchkins with my parents and flying off to California for a few days.

[Spartan 4,060]

2 minutes ago, Beketov said:

The wife and I are leaving the munchkins with my parents and flying off to California for a few days.

Come over to Vegas, I'll buy you drinks

[Beketov 8,692]

27 minutes ago, Spartan said:

Come over to Vegas, I'll buy you drinks

If we were there for longer I would. It’s literally flying, a couple of days in Disney (don’t tell my kids) and then flying back.