I’ve been walking around today exhausted from five long days starting up the blog again during the busiest time of the season…and in a daze, almost feeling grief about the fact that I’m not able to attend the Red Wings’ summer development camp due to vehicle trouble.
As I’ve already told you, our 18-year-old Chrysler Pacifica was deemed unsafe-to-drive over eight months ago, but we can’t find any outside resources to help us replace the vehicle (after contacting Oakland County, our congressperson and even WDIV; there are also no car charities that can legally spend their funds in Oakland County, so we’ve gone down that road as well), so we’ve been letting the rusted-out vehicle serve as an errand-runner.
Regrettably, its tailpipe’s fallen off and drags on the road (in three places) when I try to drive it, and we can’t afford to fix it, so the whole purpose of fundraising was to get me in a rental car for the week and down to Little Caesars Arena for the Red Wings’ Summer Development Camp.
Now I’m not down there at the Red Wings’ rink for the first time since 2006, and…
I don’t know what to do. We’ve raised $700 of the $900-1,000 it would cost to both rent a vehicle and drop a security deposit for a week’s rental, but I’m certainly not going to be able to rent a vehicle by tomorrow morning, so that would mean missing two out of the four media-friendly days of the development camp.
I don’t know if that’s worth any more fundraising, given that I’d only get there on Thursday’s practices and for Friday’s 3-on-3 tournament. I don’t want to waste your money for egotistical purposes–I want to deliver a hockey product–and a day-and-a-tournament are not enough in terms of having the time for me to provide any real assessment of the Wings’ prospects and try-out invites.
At this point, I might as well take a day to look through the roster, examine the players as I am able, and let you judge what happens in Friday morning’s set of scrimmages.
And as of tonight, I’m more concerned about making the World Junior Summer Showcase at the end of the month in Plymouth, where Trey Augustine, Max Plante and John Whipple will represent the Red Wings for Team USA in a four-team tournament with Finland, Sweden and Canada…
Or whether we might as well roll over the $700 to the $4,500-$5,000 or so that it’s going to take just to get Aunt Annie and I up to Traverse City for the abbreviated 2024-2025 season prospect tournament and main training camp this fall–assuming that you don’t want a refund.
We’re not going to get another miracle $2,000 donation this year, and it is going to take a summer’s worth of fundraising to pay for the $2,000 hotel bill (that’s at a small business discount as it’s a handicapped room) and nearly $2,000 car rental, plus the real expenses that are involved traveling up there and back and eating and taking care of Aunt Annie while we manage her 23 prescriptions, recovery from her recent double hip replacement, etc. etc.
I need your input as to what you want me to do. Post a comment. Send me an email at rtxg@yahoo.com. Send me a Tweet/X post. Let me know what direction you want me to take this in, because I’m kind of in mourning of the fact that I’m not down at the BELFOR Training Center this week…
And I’m so damn tired and information-addled from the past week’s worth of stuff happening on both the blog and in real life (our air conditioner blew out, and we had to secure a loan to get it replaced; Aunt Annie’s rehabilitation from hip surgery continues; I’m trying to mesh with a new therapist; the anxiety about returning to the blog was off the charts, etc. etc.) that I just don’t know whether it’s realistic to harbor any hopes of taking part in the Summer Development Camp for just a couple of days to stroke my ego.
This blog is supposed to be the tip of the spear of a hockey community. It’s a passion project for me for sure, a second job behind caregiving for my 82-year-old aunt, a way to make some additional income, and mostly a way to share hockey news with the people I care about so very dearly.
But I don’t want to screw you over for ego’s sake, and whatever the hell this blog is–realistically, a small-to-mid-market place that hopes to work toward getting credentialed when the transportation issues are hammered out, and Aunt Annie’s presence on my scouting trips is taken into account–I want to go forward with complete transparency.
If you’re willing to help, here are the details: you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, you can use Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, you can use Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com…
And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check, or “Zelle” me via my email, rtxg@yahoo.com. I’m also on Cash App under “georgeums.”
Regardless of what happens from here on out, whether it’s issuing refunds or continuing to raise funds for later this month or September, I want my readers to be part of my decision-making process, because we’ve formed a real community here.
And I’m too tired out and borderline depressed to do this on my own, anyway.
As always, thank you for your time and your readership.
