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In '66 I was still t-minus 2 years from Mommy's tit. Did you mean Expo '86?



Ahhh, so we're a bunch of fuckin' clowns, eh? We amuse you?

   

The "fun" pavillion at Expo 86 was the PLO's.

The Commies were passe.

   

I was actualy looking for a friend in Canada and during the search I found the CKA link. Now for why I stay.

The political view points, resonable debates with others, I have learned a bit more about Canada then what I knew before. Snorkmaiden back when we were together The music. Perty much the overall forum setup and those who are here participateing.

   

Quirky, yes... ha ha... I don't laugh at you, I laugh with you.


Yes, summer of '66. I marched in the parade in Vancouver in U.S. Navy uniform with my M1 Garand rifle. So, I guess you could say we invaded Canada with lots of guns. We won some kind of first place award for our drill team performance.

There was some kind of indoor exhibition area with room size exhibits... The Communist exhibit... Big banner and literature. So, I a 17 year old boot camper in uniform engage this guy... two young snots getting into it. I challenge him on the Berlin Wall, which was a big issue back then. As the discussion gets heated, folks from the other exhibits start to gather around and they all start arguing.. Their voices were greater than mine and I just backed off the raised platform area. I stood back and took a picture.. I still have it somewhere. It just shows the young commie and his banner. I decided to leave because I didn't think it too smart to get in trouble. Hooked up with this gal and we went to a dance... then she gave me this big kiss before I got onto the bus to head back across the border to mandatory fun & games called boot camp. This is where I found out how some Canadians love to argue and kiss. ha ha...

   

Oh, I was also at the '86 expo in Vancouver. ...the geodesic dome and all. I rode the scream machine which scared the hell out of me. I nearly got splattered all over Vancouver. The kids got pics with RCMP guy. I also was fascinated with the Soviet exhibit. Would never see anything like that in the U.S.

   

Scream Machine now exists at Six Flags St Louis

   

The Ninja

   

Correct

Good ride, actually did a 20 lap marathon on it a few weeks ago. Killed my neck.

   

A buddy and I spent a day on it during Expo 86. Get on, get off, get on again, while our girlfriends toured the pavilions.

   

I remember back in the day when some Americans put on a great show on here as well. Very entertaining to say the least. Now all the boring intelligent ones only come on here.

   

Thank you.

As to the entertaining Americans we used to have on this site, they're all too busy running for Congress to bother here anymore.

I hear BiblicalChristian is running for the Senate.

   

   

As for me, I like Canada and see it as a great peer to the US in the world. The US would be very hard pressed to find a nation it had more in common with than Canada (<- I feel that may lead to some rather venomous responses, but it's what I think). Heck, you even largely ignore soccer.

Also, I hear from people around the world that Americans need to become more worldly. This seems like a good place to do that.

   

This post is an adaptation of an essay I wrote and put to one side earlier. I thought of it again when I met a woman from London, Ontario that I met at a party my wife and I were at last night. She was quite surprised any Yank knew anything about Canada. I ran across my earlier post randomly. Some of it does relate to the opening post, and some of it doesn't. Nevertheless I decided to reproduce much of the post, with some deletions (full post available for anyone interested) and a post-script.

==========================================
I originally wrote this on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of my father’s death (January 5, 1973), before going to Temple today to mark that anniversary. I have posted, some time ago on “Time Machine” something similar on CBC.

The period of my life bracketed by my father’s death was a period of my life marked by great promise, great tragedy, and great change. Unfortunately and sadly, I have not always lived up to that promise, though at 45 I suppose there’s still time.

I turned 15 in April 1972. While I always did well academically, I had never done well socially and that year, my freshman year of high school, was about the worst. My parents were asked to consider putting me in another school. That summer, I was thrown out of the first camp I went to after half the summer.

The second half started the more positive phase, though marked by a developing tragedy. First, the bad part. My father’s colon cancer had started to recur, though we didn’t quite know it, at least officially. Now the good part, and the part that relates somewhat to Canada.

I went to a different camp for the second half of the summer. It featured limited travel as part of the program. For the first time in my life, I made friends relatively easily. One of those was a girl. We repeatedly ran into each other and were singing the same song, coincidentally, each time. I think the songs were Joni Mitchell’s (of Canada) Both Sides Now. The other was Led Zeppellin’s Stairway to Heaven. Here’s the Canadian part. The final trip of the summer was to Quintes Isle, Ontario. That was my first of many trips to Canada. One of the counselors was from Montreal. Strangely, he was not interested in sharing much about his country despite my interest.


(deleted material)

Returning to Canadian issues, I took part in an immensely enjoyable High School band exchange progam with York High School, Toronto, in April 1973. Spring was slow in coming that year (after another very mild, El Nino winter) and was chilled to the bone as the wind swept down Bloor and Yonge Street. I browsed some of the book shops on Yonge Street and read about the beginnings of the "Canadian Content" rules. Found it fascinating. To my surprise, I remembered Bloor and Yonge Street well when my wife and I visited in June 1997 (we relocated our trip to Algonquin Park; combination of a heat wave and her advanced stage of pregnancy). I thoroughly enjoyed that trip, as well as my wife's and my trip in 1992 to Banff and Calgary, and my independent trips to Quebec in 1979 and 1986 (I did not like my Montreal trip in 1976). Oh, I forgot to mention my first trip, with summer camp, during August 1972, to Quintes Island, and the Alexandria Bay area.

===================================================================
P.S. – After I wrote this post, my wife took me and my children to Niagara Falls for my 50th birthday, around April 5, 2007. On the following Saturday night, I was watching Toronto getting drubbed in a hockey game. After the game, I was chatting with a Canadian who said “he knew more about American history than I did”. He asked me to challenge him on any historical question.

I asked him which of our elections for President were decided by the House of Representatives rather than in the usual manner. He guessed the “Roosvelt/Taft” election. I told him that one was the election where the Republican Party was outpolled by a 3d party, and I added “similar to what happened in your 1993 and 1997 elections, where the Reform Party outpolled the Progressive Conservatives”. He said “I give up, you know more about Canada than I do your country”.

   

Mega necro Dan.

   

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