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Picked up a pair of pants I had been looking for forever:

Picked up this stick in the summer time but hadn't gotten around to posting it. Kind of a funny/crazy story behind it as well. I came across this girl selling a bunch of used sticks online. She didn't advertise them as professional game used or anything, but in one post she had one listed as a "Used Bauer one95 stick - $40" and she posted a picture that showed a namebar on it (pro stock). The way it was taken only showed the last 4 letters on the name bar "pien". I live in Vancouver and as a huge Canucks fan I knew right away that it was probably a Rick Rypien stick. I'm sure most of you know the story behind Rick Rypien. Beloved scrappy player/fighter who played for Vancouver and who unfortunately battled depression and ended his life just after the 2011 season. So I messaged her right away, luckily I saw it just after she posted it and I was the first one to message her. So I looked up pictures of Rick Rypien in game just to confirm he used a one95, which of course he did late in his career. I wasn't sure if it would be game used or anything but I just thought it would be cool to have either way. So right when I met up with her and saw the stick I could tell right away by the custom tape job that it was game used. So I check it over, looks great, I give her the $40 and go on my way. I get back to my car and I'm still pretty mesmerized by it so I'm looking it over and thats when I noticed that on the blade... it was signed. Couldn't believe my eyes. Definitely the best $40 I've ever spent and now definitely the rarest piece of memorabilia I own.

After taking almost a year off to a kidney transplant, I'm back on the ice with a few new items. Most are a bit older and I got some really good deals on. Totalone pants, E700 helmet, Chicago third socks, Bauer pro 4 rolls. I also picked up this Vapor SMU stick from Peranis, it's super light and has some tactile on the corners. Can't wait to use it.

Haha our rehearsal room is usually the children's chapel which is, uh, well, child-size. I figure that even if I can't sing (speaking is difficult at the moment), I can still get familiar with the Mozart, because it is vast and terrifying. Beautiful, yes, but also vast and terrifying. (Last week I literally got lost at least once, and the only words in the section were 'kyrie' 'christe' and 'eleison'.) And also get out of the house.

Unfortunately I can't help with the big stuff, but drink lots of ginger tea with honey, sit away from other singers, and concentrate on trusting technique, don't listen to yourself. You may be surprised at how much this helps your singing! And you can take out all your frustration in the Confutatis and Dies Irae, and have a little self-pity party in the Lacrimosa! Very therapeutic. (Unless you can already feel irritation or swelling on your cords... then don't sing!!)

It gets better. Not quickly though. Stick it out.

It happens. Don't be so hard on yourself. I can't count the number of times I've said "I'm selling all my gear" after a game or shinny. For me, when I was first starting out, I had to find that perfect development division for my skills. A level where the players were just as terrible as my goaltending skills. As someone who played very competitive hockey growing up, this was tough to make the switch down to the lower level - but it let me grow as a goalie and learn correct technique and movement in an atmosphere where mistakes were less pronounced. Have players scored directly off my face? Yeah, I think just a couple weeks ago that happened again. Confidence takes a long time to develop. Confidence comes through experience and small successes. What I found worked well for me was setting a small goal for the game. It wasn't to get a shutout. It wasn't to even win, it was to take one aspect of my game and completely nail it. For example, one of the following: - Always keeping my stick on the ice when I butterfly - Avoiding "shuffling" side to side on my knees when I damn well know how to push off with a skate and slide - Keeping my glove up, rather than down - Performing a "proper" butterfly for each time going down, and not just a flop - No 5-hole goals (you can score in a corner, but my 5-hole is mine) When I focused on a single area of performance, rather than the grand performance, I found those isolated items were progressing, and the larger grand performances were also getting better, because I was dwelling less on the bigger picture. Bad games still happen. All the time. It's the perks of the position. Keep trying, continue to improve your stretching and flexibility (I can't restate this enough), and ensure that you're giving yourself a fighting chance (play with beginners, rather than the guys who've played semi-pro their entire life).

my mako 1's were like that before baking. Baking fixed it.