Another hockey season, another inability to take the effort up that extra notch for the playoffs. After finishing middle of the pack in our division, we knew we could beat any team we faced, but we also knew we could lose to any team.

Case in point: the playoff round robin. We - the 4th-placed team - were pooled with the 2nd-place team and the last-placed team. As one might expect from an unpredictable team like ours, we lost to the bottom-dwellers, and beat the top team. More surprisingly, we finished first in the pool by virtue of having the fewest penalty minutes, which I expect is something we've never done before. Unfortunately, we then had to face the one team we hadn't beaten all season, and continued to not beat them rather decisively. So, another season passes, and another starts anew...

Yesterday, one of my second cousions got married. This event highlighted a particular family statistic. Of those in Canada on my mother's side, there are 26 members of the family in my generation. As of now, the only ones of those 26 still unmarried are myself and another of my second cousins, who is about eight years my junior.

Of course, a wedding seems like the prime time to bring up such a statistic in conversation.

A cousin approaches. "Hey, David, do you realise that you and Milo are the only ones left in the entire family still unmarried? No pressure! Ha ha!"

An aunt approaches. "Hey, David, do you realise that you and Milo are the only ones left in the entire family still unmarried? No pressure! Ha ha!"

Another cousin approaches. "Hey, David, do you realise that you and Milo are the only ones left in the entire family still unmarried? No pressure! Ha ha!"

[Repeat beyond ad nauseum.]

Yes, I am well aware that I am still unmarried, and I am well aware of the fact that the rest of my family does not share that characteristic. The joke wears thin.

Today, I used the term "scaredy cat", referring to an actual cat.

I feel a oneness with the universe.