Jason Ballantyne 101

Here are 101 highlights from my life so far...

1. Being the first of the three brothers to spot the mountain at Canada’s Wonderland. Every year.
2. Playing pool in John McGarvey’s basement and flinging Ritz crackers at his dog Lucky.
3. Getting my first two-wheeler, a red Supercycle with a banana seat.
4. Going to Cathedral Grove for the first time.

   

   Cathedral Grove in British Columbia. I'm five in this picture.

5. Playing pool in the same room I was born in – the senior’s club in Kirkland Lake used to be the hospital.
6. Spending New Year’s Eve in a snowstorm on the Mira with Jimmie Inch, Jeffrey Graham and Melinda Mansour.
7. Talking about Led Zeppelin with Mark Duggan.
8. Watching from the bench as Marc Sontrop hit the game winning shot in the COSSA championship.
9. Visiting the campus of St. Francis Xavier University for the first time
10. Matt Denis letting us in to Charlie’s without ID during our senior year in high school.
11. Talking about sports with John Amyot.
12. Any Christmas growing up – although the best present was getting the Millennium Falcon.
13. Playing T-ball for the first time in Cambridge.
14. My nana always giving me $20 to play Nevada at the senior’s club.
15. Having a beer with my dad, his dad and my brothers at the Bellevue shortly before poppa died.
16. Going on a mouse hunt and playing marathon games of Sim City when I lived with Tim O’Regan and Brian Ames during senior year.
17. Watching my cousin Trevor Emack threaten to take out some guy for (accidentally) hitting our grandfather in the head with a pool cue at the Tek Hotel.
18. Having dinner with my family and Ed Moran at the Claymore in Antigonish on the day I got my first degree.
19. Camping out in the woods with Mike Millington and Cam Davidson when we were about 14.
20. Watching Jeff Watkins hit.
21. Playing left field when Marc Sontrop made a diving catch to save the game when we won our first All-Ontario championship.

    

    One of the best teams I ever played for -- top left, coach Larry Potter, third from left, Marc Sontrop, third from right, me, then Jack Sontrop and Bill Watkins. Jeff Watkins is bottom row, third from left.

22. Going to Tims with my father-in-law Romano.
23. Watching my daughter Claire being born.
24. Going on a bender with my cousins in Kirkland Lake at Christmas time.
25. Getting to see the workers building our house.
26. Playing wall-ball with my brothers at Moira Secondary School.
27. Shooting an 82 at the New Glasgow golf course.
28. Putting a message to Jeffrey Graham about the Dragon Lady in the Xavierian’s ‘Four lines free.’
29. Winning three national newspaper awards in one year.
30. Seeing Terry Fox running in the rain near Peterborough.
31. Playing cards in Jeff McCarthy's room.
32. Filling a table with 50 cent draughts at the Triangle Tavern with the boys from MacDonald House.
33. Seeing Paula hold the hand and comforting a former client who had early onset Alzheimer’s.
34. Going for a walk in a blizzard with Jimmie while at X.
35. Visiting a family graveyard near Orangeville that included the grave of my great-great-great grandfather.
36. Having James Peets as a teacher.
37. Living at John Amyot's house for four months.
38. Swimming in the Atlantic Ocean in March with Jimmie Inch and Brent Howley.
39. Listening to my dad tell funny stories.
40. Using our first VCR to tape Friday Night Videos.
    
41. Receiving my first order of albums from Columbia House.
42. Going with James Monaghan to get fries and gravy at Jim’s for lunch in high school.
43. Getting my driver’s license in Napanee.
44. When our dog Buffy would curl up in the crook of your legs when you were lying on the couch reading.
45. Watching my brother Christopher hit 300+ yard drives 250 yards into the woods.
46. Taking naps on the couch with Claire lying on my chest when she was little.
47. Replacing Jimmie Inch’s X-ring after he put his on Jeff Graham’s hand prior to his funeral.
48. Publishing a comic book called Captain Bacteria with Dan Buller and Scott Finnegan for co-op in high school.
49. Finishing our basement mostly by myself.
50. Seeing Paula come out of the Waring House on her father’s arm at our wedding.
51. Teaching myself to play guitar at the age of 35.
52. Standing on a hill at 2 a.m. overlooking Neil’s Harbour in moonlight on the first day of the fishing season.
53. Being chosen by Mr. Kelly in Grade 4 to read the introduction when our class was broadcast on CJBQ singing at a seniors’ residence.

    

    I'm second from the right. That's Jason Sprague to my left, a long lost friend who I last saw in 1986 in B.C.

54. Spending warm summer nights drinking cold beer in Mark Kamphuis’s gazebo.
55. Attending my first concert – part of Gowan’s Strange Animal tour – at the Memorial Arena in 1985.
56. Buying a real Les Paul guitar.
57. Seeing the Degas collection when it came to the National Gallery in Ottawa.
58. Going on a high school bus trip to a Blue Jays game at Exhibition Stadium that ended up lasting 14 innings while watching John McGarvey drink from a pair of ‘bar-noculors.’
59. ‘Marking’ Jimmie Inch’s English papers with suggestions on what he needed to change to get at least a 50.
60. Playing a round of golf in the snow at Bear Creek with my brother Steven.
61. Waterfront Festival from 1988 – 1990.
62. Eating 5c wings and drinking 25c shots with Brad Alyward at JJ Rossy’s in Halifax.
63. Watching up-and-coming bands at the Double Deuce and Birdland with Stew Hayne.
64. Meeting sailors from a Russian missile cruiser in Halifax the year after the Soviet Union collapsed.
65. Completing my first 100K bike ride.
66. Discovering the Red Sox in 1986.
67. Putting flour in Ed Moran’s suitcase.
68. Putting flour in Jeffrey Graham’s suitcase.
69. Putting flour and water in David Hackett’s beard.
70. Seeing my byline in print for the first time.
71. Being my uncle Ryan Scarr's horeshoe partner.
72. Listening to the piper at our wedding.
73. Attending Judique-on-the-floor seven times.
74. Finding out Louis Hebert is my 13^th great grandfather.
75. Watching John McGarvey casually pick up and walk off with a case of beer when the cops went into the crowd at a backyard party in Prince Edward County.
76. Playing street hockey in front of John Amyot’s house with Christophe Credico, James Monaghan and Mark Slodan.
77. Trips to Trenton to hang out at Shannon Gill’s house with Marc Sontrop and Jeff Watkins.
78. My first dance at the YMCA on Victoria Avenue.
79. Receiving Blue Rodeo’s Five Days in July as a birthday gift from Melinda Mansour.
80. Having Claire take her first steps into my arms.
81. Running my first 5K without stopping.
82. My mom tickling me as a child until I almost peed my pants.
83. Dad driving me to softball games for more than a decade.
84. Long talks with my mother-in-law Alice.
85. Having such great nieces and nephews.
86. Watching Claire grow up.
87. Jigging mackerel in the Northumberland Strait with Jimmie Inch, Chris O’Shea, Ed Moran, David Hackett, Brian Ames, David Reid, Jeff McCarthy and Todd and Charlie Graham.

    

    Me, Ed Moran, Jimmie Inch and Tim O'Regan out for a jaunt on the water at Judique-on-the-floor in 2009. That's Charlie Graham in the wheelhouse driving the boat.

88. Living long enough to see the Red Sox win the World Series – twice.
89. Playing about one million games of Earl Weaver Baseball on the Amiga -- I still play it with an emulator on my laptop.
90. Attending a real Sunday-afternoon ceilidh in Judique.
91. Star gazing at my brother Steven’s trailer near Coboconk.
92. Talking about history with Brian Ames.
93. Seeing Paula and Claire at the finish line of my first race.
94. Eating a waffle cone with Bordeaux cherry and death by chocolate ice cream from Kawartha Dairy.
95. Playing guitar with Paul Maranzan.
96. Driving my friends to Club Cedars since I was one of the first in my class to get a driver’s license.
97. Talking about anything with Ed Moran.
98. Playing cards in the shop at the Grahams.
99. Watching Jimmie Inch perform on stage.
100. Watching Tim O’Regan drop a Sobeys bag full of water on Jimmie’s head after an all-nighter.
101. Having enough family and friends to make this list possible.