If you skate, it would be great

Every time I see my skates I remember that song, Figure 8, from Schoolhouse Rock. Don't you? (If not, you can click on that link and listen to it.)

I didn't think I'd be seeing much of my skates in California, but that just goes to show you, you never can tell. I'm so very glad they weren't among the many, many objects I got rid of before I moved here. Not that I had any intention of getting rid of them, you understand. I mean, they're the same skates I've had since I was a member of the Beamsville Figure Skating Club when I was 15. The club tag is still there on my laces.

Last night I went skating at Logitech Ice, an arena complex here in San Jose. It's where the San Jose Sharks practice. Public skating cots $7, but with that you get a voucher for a free beer upstairs at Stanley's.

I am still in search of a good bar to watch hockey games in. A few weeks ago I tried the Brittania Arms, and I won't be going back there anytime soon. And after last night's experience, I begin to despair of ever finding a hockey bar.

Hokey bars, there are plenty of. Stanley's, for example, is a Californian's vision of what a lodge might be, but it's too-brightly lit and too shiny. The bar top and sides, the floor, even the walls and the ceiling, are panelled with pine, but the six layers of laquer that have been liberally applied to each pine board divest it of any possibility of ever appearing rustic.

There's also an enormous hanging light fixture made of perfectly pre-fabricated fake deer antlers. I know, I should have taken a picture, but I was afraid with all that glossy pine it would end up being a washout of glare.

The ice was nice, though. Can you see the Canadian flag hanging there on the wall?



I wish the jeans I had when I was 15 still fit me.

In the next story, Postmodern Sass falls out of love with Lost. Two years ago on this date, Postmodern Sass explained her obsession with grammar, and the original name of her website, Postmodernes Sprachspielen.