Alan MacVicar Blogs

  • Wildlife Photography

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    amacvicar24
    in

    WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST INCLUDES A GRAPHIC PHOTO As I approach my golden years (wait a minute, if you are already 58 years old, does that mean you are already IN your golden years?), I am always looking for other hobbies, otherwise known as side hustles, to supplement my income as a healthcare worker. One…

  • Put a Shirt On!

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    by

    amacvicar24
    in

    I used to run bare chested. I don’t anymore and if you are a man, I suggest you don’t either. Not sure how you feel about things here but I can unequivocally say that no one needs to see your man boobs flopping around as you run down the street. I will now double down.…

  • Grocery Store Shenanigans

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    amacvicar24
    in

    Or was it tomfoolery? It was something alright. In a previous post I wrote about how you can make grocery shopping ‘fun’, or make it into a competition or game. And before you know it, you might think of grocery shopping in a less onerous light. You might even look forward to it. Yeah right.…

  • I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up

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    amacvicar24
    in

    As I laid there on my back on the icy driveway, staring up at the stark, early morning winter sky, I was in shock. I had become the meme from decades ago, ‘I’ve fallen and I can’t get up’…at least not right away. Except I didn’t have a personal alarm system of a lifeline pendant…

  • My First Dry February

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    amacvicar24
    in

    I can’t believe I did it. A whole month. Not one drop and let me tell you it was hard. I never thought I had the willpower to complete a whole month but once I started getting a few days under my belt, I built up some momentum – momentum that carried me through the…

  • I Live With a Ninja

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    amacvicar24
    in

    It’s true, this isn’t just hyperbole. I want to shout this from the roof tops but I am deathly afraid of heights, so I will just say it from the streets. That is, I have lived with a Ninja for the last 10 years and not once has it let me down. Never. And it…

  • Humble Beginnings

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    amacvicar24
    in

    So there’s a lot to unpack here but I promise you that it will still only be a 4-5 minute read here. I promise. Took a while to get going on this one today, primarily because it took forever to figure out how to add media to the post. What’s that old writing mantra, ‘show…

  • My First Fight

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    amacvicar24
    in

    ‘THREE! TWO! ONE!” …..but honestly don’t remember hearing this countdown that was shouted out by the neighborhood gang that had now encircled us beneath the Buckeye tree behind Ben Avon Elementary School. We were 12 years old at the time. It was obvious to me that Jay was the fan favourite from our group of…

  • The Gym Is My Sanctuary

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    amacvicar24
    in

    As I stepped under the bar in the squat rack at GoodLife Fitness, I was still feeling a bit weak. i was looking at an empty barbell, roughly 45 pounds, that was waiting patiently to moved. It wasn’t going anywhere unless I moved it somewhere. It’s funny like that. Seeing that this was my first…

  • Breakfast Cereal Angst

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    by

    amacvicar24
    in

    As I walked down the cereal aisle of Loblaws this morning (a price gouging grocery chain here in Canada), I took my sweet time and took it all in. You see, I am still off work still recovering from COVID and seeing that I am no longer infectious, (2 lines on the rapid antigen test…