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Sandra Oh, Where Have You Been All My Life?
I just finished watching the Netflix series, Killing Eve, and instantly fell in love with the lead actress who played Eve. Sandra Oh, where have you been all my life? Let me explain. Sandra Oh is an award-winning actress born in Canada in 1971, when I was thirty-one years old, and it’s the same year…
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Moonshine in the Maritimes – The Final Chapter
Originally published March 2, 2015 Readers of this blog will remember my original ‘Moonshine in the Maritimes’ story from March 2, 2015 – a blog that was both painful to write and impossible for me to complete its final chapter. But don’t ask me to re-publish the original blog – I deleted it one night…
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Here’s A Home That Celebrates Halloween All Year – Part Two
Please read Part One before reading this part. So, after Annette had breakfast, she got ready to accompany me on the drive to the ER department of Surrey Memorial Hospital. She also took Buddy for his walk because we knew it might be hours before we returned home. Although Buddy had eaten earlier, he had…
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Here’s A Home That Celebrates Halloween All Year Long – Part One
Yesterday, on my way to my cardiologist’s appointment, I took a shortcut about two blocks from her office. I noticed a house almost hidden by its massive Halloween display covering the entire front yard. Obviously, the home’s occupants celebrate Halloween all year long. Usually, when something captures my interest, my tiny brain flashes back to…
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Here’s Why The Miracle I Wanted Happened!
Although I never pray for myself, I only pray for others. I was hoping for a miracle when I met with Dr. Anderson, my ear, neck, and throat surgeon, yesterday. I had been anxiously awaiting for a month, since I last met with him and got the lab results from the two biopsies that were…
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A Surprising Update From My Friend Laura
Originally published October 19, 2015 On Sunday morning, I got up and made a cup of coffee to enjoy while reviewing the latest news via my email accounts and Facebook. I was just about to take my first sip when I noticed her smiling face in the pictures she had posted the night before. …
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Why Our Being Together Again, Warmed My Heart
Originally published September 22, 2015 In the last three years that I’ve been writing these stories (blogs), I have never written anything about my younger brother Ricky (Eric), until we got together again in Oakville, on Labor Day in 2015. Despite a University education, a promising career, a wife, and two awesome kids – Jennifer…
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My Heart Broke Visiting Mom And Dad’s Place
Originally published September 6, 2015 Yesterday, my heart broke when I visited my Mom and Dad’s place in Oshawa, Ontario. The last time I saw my Ma was September 26, 2010, at her funeral, but I couldn’t stay for her burial, which occurred a few weeks after the cremation. Before her passing, I would see her…
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Here’s Why Cancer & Tears Changed My Life
Originally published June 14, 2022 I used this story title to inform my readers about the love and support I received during the painful radiation and chemotherapy treatments in 2009. When I started writing a public journal of my loves, fears, cancer, and tears, I wanted to show why cancer and fears changed my life…
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Here’s Another Fell Down But Got Back Up Story
Sometimes, “bad luck always comes in threes,” my dear Ma used to say. She was superstitious, and now I am too, because it happened to me this morning. So, here’s another fell but got back up story. The misadventure began during a night of restless sleep. Buddy, my dog, didn’t help by waking me up…
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Why My Absence On Social Media Has Finally Ended
This morning, I ended my indefinite leave of absence on social media. Last night, I couldn’t sleep because I was feeling so lonely. I missed connecting with many friends, family, in-laws, and outlaws. Last week, when I was rushed by ambulance to the ER, I didn’t know if I would survive because of my many…
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Danny’s Taking An Indefinte Leave From Social Media
Although I will not be active on social media because of pressing health and personal issues, I hope to continue updating and writing new stories on this site.. However, I might not be able to respond to your comments, but I will be accepting emails. I need to strengthen my resolve in dealing with my…
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Sometimes It’s Better to Expect The Worst…
Today, I got up at 3:00 AM, and felt a lump in my throat. However, I often get the same feeling, and when I cough to clear it, I fill a paper towel with lots of blood in clots. However, at 7:30 AM, I had an appointment with the surgeon to get the results from…
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Here’s Why Saying Goodbye Made The Sky Cry
Originally published September 25, 2014 On this day four years ago, I called my dear Mom in Ontario to tell her I was coming to Toronto to visit with her. Ma was in the hospital again, after suffering a second stroke. Although she seemed happy to hear that I was coming, she also sounded exhausted.…
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The first day of Fall is for the Birds…
Originally published September 22, 2014 Sometimes, the best way to celebrate the first day of Fall is to spend it with birds, ducks, geese, and others of Mother Nature. There is also a well-known saying that a photo takes at least a thousand words to describe. It’s impossible to describe love or a color in…
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Some Folks Know Diddly Squat About Me
Originally published August 22, 2014 Have you ever noticed that there’s always a new and catchy word or phrase making the rounds? How fast do people jump on the bandwagon to use it as often as possible in every conversation until the word or phrase becomes old hat? During the years I worked in the rat…
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An Open Apology To The Younger Generation
Originally published August 16, 2014 A few months ago, I bought an app for my Blackberry to block unwanted spam in emails, text messages, and phone calls, and why this story is actually an open apology to the Generation Z population. I don’t remember being prompted to set the criteria for preventing spam emails, but…
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Is You Is or Is You Ain’t?
Originally published August 6, 2014 The title of today’s blog may seem confusing, but it’s a saying that’s been around for many years. I learned about the saying a few years ago but can’t remember who, where, what, when, or why I heard it. However, the source of the saying isn’t important – it happens…
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Grandma’s Cure for Warts Will Surprise You
Originally published August 1, 2014 Several weeks ago, I noticed a ‘wart’ on my fingers. It reminded me of my Grandma Puffer and her surprise cure. The wart was tiny – about the size of a pinhead – and certainly nothing to worry about. It wasn’t painful or itchy, and I’m sure that nobody would…
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A Reason To Never Stop Believing In Yourself
Originally published July 31, 2014 Today, I will get my new headshots done at Kevin Clark Studios. It’s been four years since I last had them done, and well, I’ve got less hair, less weight, and more wrinkles. I had been waiting until I got my lower partial plate to hide the missing front tooth,…
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Here’s Why I Volunteer For Cancer; It’s Payback!
Originally published April 7, 2014 Someone once asked me; What are you going to do when you retire? Without hesitating, I answered: I don’t know! From the first day that I started working in 1968, to support myself, I told myself that things would get more comfortable if I worked hard. And if things got…
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What I Learned From The Biopsy Results Today
Originally published September 6, 2025 After waiting on pins and needles, here’s what I learned from the biopsy results today. My surgeon explained that the lab results didn’t indicate cancer, but he strongly questioned the lab’s assessment. Dr. Anderson believes that it is cancer, and after examining me again, he is convinced it is cancer,…
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Terror & Tremblin’ in Langley
Originally published March 25, 2014 Readers of my blog know that Holly Golightly, my dog, is one of the loves of my life. She is seven years old and intelligent, but at times, stubborn. Yesterday, her stubbornness almost led to tragedy. I had just returned from the States early in the afternoon and was getting…
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There Seems To Be Trouble In Paradise
Originally published on March 2, 2014 Last night, while attending the Crazy 8’s Film Festival in Vancouver, I lost another tooth (the 8th since my radiation treatments). I was chewing a piece of gum when I suddenly felt a crunch. It ruined my evening—I didn’t even go to the afterparty. However, before leaving, my actor…
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Will You Still Love Me After I’m Gone?
Originally published April 28, 2022 I have decided that this will be my last blog/story before I go for major surgery on May 5th, and if things go south, I was wondering: “Will you still love me after I’m gone?” Yesterday, I spoke with an RN for about an hour about the pre-admission. I learned…
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This Care Dog Handler Should Win A Gold Medal
Originally published February 21, 2014 I watched Canada win two Gold, one Silver, and one Bronze medal this morning at the Olympic Games in Sochi. Afterwards, I watched the Canadian men’s hockey team defeat the USA in the semi-finals. All in all, it was a great start to the day. But then I got some…
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Will You Ever Consider Using This Phood Phor Thought?
Originally published January 2014 (Warning, this story might be offensive to some readers.) Phor years, I’ve tried to phigure the difference between words beginning with the letter ‘F‘, and those beginning with ‘Ph‘. I mean, how drunk was the person who invented the English language when they got to the phork in the road, and…
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It Is Almost Fall And I Love Autumn
Although the first day of Fall is not until September 22nd, I already feel Autumn in my heart and spirit. There are six more sleeps before I meet with Dr. Anderson, my ETN surgeon, to get the lab results from the biopsy from my tongue/throat on August 25th in Vancouver. The waiting is the worst…
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My Throat Cancer Survival – Part 4 of 4
Originally published August 27, 2012 Please read Part 3 before reading this chapter. Thanks. Writing part four of this series about my throat cancer survival was challenging, but it also seemed therapeutic. The more I wrote, the closer I felt to my Ma’s spirit now residing in my heart with my dad. Monday, August 18,…
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My Throat Cancer Survival – Part 3 of 4
Originally published August 24, 2012 Please read Part 2 before reading this post. Wednesday, July 29, 2009 – Fraser Valley Cancer Center (FVVC) I arrived at the FVCC and went to the Oral Oncology Department for a dental examination. An X-ray machine rotated 360 ° around my head, taking pictures of my teeth from all…