What’s Good.

So it turns out my country’s finest wanted me back. Surprise. Yeah I was.

After playing jr. national as a young’un back in ‘04, I’m apparently back in the national team game after a short 5-year break. It’s weird to say “years ago” for anything ‘cause that means I’m starting to get old and before I know it I’ma be throwin the “I did that 30 years ago” line out there… it’s all downhill from here.

So yeah, the situation at hand. After a grueling 4 days of tryouts and more soreness (or muscle fever as my Bulgarian teammate called it. Gold. Pure gold.), the powers that be decided I somehow still have the chops to rep for my country and they’ll have me. Translation: a few months toiling in the armpit of Canada… Winnipeg aka Peg-City aka Hell.

The new head coach is a German cat and so far seems like a good dude so I’m concluding that decent people come out of that country. Lately at least… Shout out to My German. Miss that kid.

I don’t really know which team I’m on yet so that means a few things but mainly logistical questions of how long I’ll be here and where I’ll be headin’ for games and such. Serbia vs. Puerto Rico & Miami. I’m cool with whatever.

Beyond that, I have approximately nothing to say because my days literally consist of nothing but eating, practicing, sleeping and a solid diet of NBA playoff games spliced in between. LeBron for the title man. Oh yeah and his team or whatever.

So it’s a ballin’ life… 8 days in and it’s maybe starting to get old but I remind myself that I signed up for this and it’s fun to ball with some old buddies I haven’t played with back in the homeland for a while now. So what I meant by that is it's a rare privilege and an honour… Yes yes y’all.

Summer ‘09. Gonna be real.

See the names have all changed since I been around, But the game ain't the same since I left out

Mic check 1, 2, 3. Yo yo yo.

I'm home.

That's right, after a cool 9 months overseas, I'm back on Canadian soil and it feels. So. Good.

My last month in France was pretty rad and my days were filled entertaining a plethora of visitors so for once my schedule didn't really allow for ridiculous amounts of time on hurr. Hence the long hiatus. My bad.

So, a little run-down is in order...

First things first, to address business issues, my team finished 6th.
Not impressive, but not so terrible when you consider there are 14 teams in the league and we finished out the season without our starting libero, backup libero or starting rightside... Middles passing and defending? I was hitting back row? What? It was like that Seinfeld bizarro world episode... All crazy-like. We played the drawers off the last game but still lost in 5 so we were none too pleased. And The American, a Canadian friend and I missed our flights to Dublin.
Turns out our president was pretty jazzed we didn't finish 5th though 'cause the top 5 teams in each league qualify for a euro cup for the following season and the club has little to no cash so this way we're one spot outta qualifying and therefore save them some much-needed pennies. That makes no sense but don't worry 'bout it. People in high places weren't as mad at us as you'd have thought. Always a pleasant surprise. And for next season, I'll be back in Europe somewhere... no idea where yet though.

Also during the eventful month of April, the fam came over for a short visit and that meant more Meeks in one spot than you could shake a stick at. Due to scheduling mix-ups, there were 6 people at one time staying in my shoebox apartment for a week but what we gon do. 'Twas cozy.

After they left and as mentioned, a Canadian buddy of mine on a world tour stopped in to recharge and chill for a couple weeks since she's been on the run since January. Forcefully chill is probably more accurate because I had practice and games and such so that didn't leave much time for appreciating the France outside my living room. Probably wasn't the most eventful trip ever so mad apologies and I owe ya. We'll do France up right one day...

Fellow countrymen, united at long last

Our diet consisted mostly of crepes and the fixin's...
And I'm not even mad about it.

Also previously mentioned, the crew of the 3 of us aka The American, Canadian and I were supposed to go to Ireland at the end of season but due to a few uncluth losses, we had to play the series of 3 games to the bitter end, and missed our flight. Talk about kickin' us while we're down. So we went to The Med as The Canadian called it, and chilled on the beach for a day before packin up and heading our seperate ways over the next few days. She's now in South Africa, I'm back home in Canada and The American is still in France til the end of the month. Bladow. 3 seperate continents, just like that.

My trip home was long but mostly uneventful. Continuing the tradition of flying in the opposite direction to get somewhere (see our team's trip to Italy for further reading), I flew from Albi in southwestern France east to Lyon, then east again to Munich before finally heading west for the first time to Toronto and eventually on to E-town. 4 flights later I felt like hell but I was home baby. Home.

I'm just gonna throw this out there, but I think customs officers sometimes just get really bored and peruse your passport for a few minutes just 'cause they've got nothing better to do. I say this cause last I checked I'm not that shady lookin of a character but on my way home this fool at the German customs flipped through my passport about 4 times, lookin at my stamps, gettin a real good idea of where I've been over the last while since my old passport got stolen. Nevermind there was literally a line of 30 cats behind me, waiting to clear this fool's desk to connect to their flights and get the eff outta his country. MOTHERFUTON! HURRY. UP. That's European customer service in action though.

So for now, I'm back home at Gainsboro Place, living like a king, eatin homecooked meals and the like ((happy mother's day mom), and waiting patiently for my German to fly in tomorrow... If you're reading this and you're anywhere near my 'hood, holla atcha boy (girl?) and stop by.

I roll out next Sunday to Winnipeg for national team tryouts so keep your collective fingers crossed and with any luck I'll be lucky enough to be training for the rest of the summer... That's as far ahead as I've got planned for now.

Oh and shout out to Albi. I'll miss you France... Met some good people, played some ball, ate a lot - generally did it up right. Desmond, what will I do without ya.

See y'all French kids on the flipside... You know who you are.