Gum Bum Billy and the Guide Dog

Jennie Bovard:
Well, hello and welcome to Low Vision Moments. It's the podcast all about those sometimes frustrating, potentially embarrassing, but often pretty comical things that happen when you are just going about your day with a visual impairment, blindness, or albinism. I'm Jennie Bovard, I'm your host, and this is episode number 27. It's a brand new year. It's 2023, new year, new me. I'm just kidding. It's going to be the same old bullshit from me this year. Just much of the same thing to look forward to, and I'm excited to have a brand new guest. Just kidding.
This is actually a returning guest. I'm really excited to have them back and do a recap of our sort of best and worst moments of 2022. It was a year and there is some stuff to talk about, so we are going to get right to it. I'm not going to waste any time introducing my fabulous guest. This is someone I have known a very, very long time. This is someone who was on our very first, I guess we could call it, season of Low Vision Moments. She was on episode number three, and that's the perks of having low vision or being blind, and I highly recommend you go and listen to that one, but I am so excited to welcome back my goalball buddy, my friend, my favourite silly goose, Jennifer McNeil. Welcome back, Jen.

Jen MacNeil:
Thank you Jen. Jen squared. I'm so happy to be back and to be part of the podcast again, and she recommends you listen. Every person I've talked to that's listening to that episode is like, "Wow, I didn't know you were that person." I'm like, "Thanks guys."

Jennie Bovard:
That's silly goose.

Jen MacNeil:
Yes, I am known to be a bit of a clam for sure. So thank you so much for having me on.

Jennie Bovard:
What else do you want people to know about you?

Jen MacNeil:
What do I want people to know? Well, from the last time I was on, I now have two dogs. So I had my guide dog, Lenny last time, and Lenny has since retired. He is doing the Freedom 10 plan and he now is joined by his, we call little brother Forrest. So we just got Forrest in September and they're getting along swimmingly, so that's good. I currently work at CNIB as a program lead for their Come to Work program.
Outside of the work things, I play goalball recreationally with this pool, and I also sing in two different choirs. So very busy, but very excited to be here.

Jennie Bovard:
Wait a minute, you're in two different choirs?

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah. So I'm in a local one here that's out of Dartmouth called [inaudible 00:03:15], and then I'm also in a virtual one called Sing for Serenity, which is a choir for folks who are blind or partially sighted from all around the world.

Jennie Bovard:
Well, that's awesome. We'll have to have you sing sometime, Jen.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, maybe. We'll see.

Jennie Bovard:
No pressure. Not today.

Jen MacNeil:
No.

Jennie Bovard:
But maybe if there's some kind of link we can share, we can do that in the podcast notes if people want to go give your choirs a listen.

Jen MacNeil:
Sure, absolutely. I will send you a link.

Jennie Bovard:
Beautiful. Yeah, we have multi-talented people on this podcast, and sometimes I forget just how talented you are. You are not just a silly goose. You are so much more, but when you and I get together... Okay, first of all, very disappointed you were not at goalball yesterday because it's the first time I had gone to a goalball practice in several months and I was really looking forward to us throwing balls at one another, but we have the whole year to do that, right? So we'll be back on the court again together soon.

Jen MacNeil:
We definitely will, and I'll make sure that we're on the same team because-

Jennie Bovard:
That never happens.

Jen MacNeil:
I know, and it's so much fun to handle balls with you. Just saying.

Jennie Bovard:
We like passing the balls back and forth.

Jen MacNeil:
We really do, and singing. You do a great Elvis on the floor.

Jennie Bovard:
Oh, that's not singing.

Jen MacNeil:
It works for me.

Jennie Bovard:
Yes. Together on the court, we are Jen squared and I think here on the podcast we can be Jen squared as well. I can't wait to dive in to 2022. It was a total shit show. I'm going to be totally upfront. It was a tough year, but as always, during the tough times and the challenges, there's fun, there's good stuff along the way, and that's what we always do on Low Vision Moments. We weave the silver lining in with the crap. I don't have an articulate way of saying that, but let me start things off with just a couple of little highlights. Okay. Let's start it off on a positive note.
I think one of the first things that was really good that happened in 2022 was again, goalball related. We got to have that fun goalball tournament back in April, so that was a good time. Right? You remember that?

Jen MacNeil:
I don't and I should. I was there.

Jennie Bovard:
Make a liar out of me, bitch.

Jen MacNeil:
No, I was there because I remember telling people it's coming and I'm going to be there and then nope, I don't remember.

Jennie Bovard:
Well, you know what? It's fine because I remember we took a medal home, but I don't remember what colour it was.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, see, you're doing all right.

Jennie Bovard:
I think this just speaks to the wackiness that was 2022.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, man.

Jennie Bovard:
It was wacky. A lot happened, but so we kind of kicked things off with the fun goalball tournament, and then it all kind of went wild from there for me. My dog got neutered, my husband got COVID. I had to take care of both-

Jen MacNeil:
I thought you were going to say your person got neutered, and I was going to laugh.

Jennie Bovard:
I have been trying for years to convince that man to get neutered. I don't know if we're going to keep that in the show.

Jen MacNeil:
No. Poor Yves.

Jennie Bovard:
We'll talk to him. We'll see what he says, but yeah, legitimately, I've been trying to get him to get... Anyway, whatever. That's neither here nor there. I had to take care of a neutered dog.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh.

Jennie Bovard:
A recently neutered dog and a COVID-stricken husband.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, no.

Jennie Bovard:
I banished him to the back of the house. It was a weird time but shortly after that, I had what I think was the absolute highlight of my year, which was I was hired for a new job. I have a new day job with a APSEA, that's the Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority. Thank you. I started that new gig back in September of 2022. So it was a little slow-going in the beginning, I have to be honest. But now I get to meet with students and run a lot of fun programs in my role there as mentor for children and youth who are blind or visually impaired. I often say I have a lot of fun corrupting children, but I probably shouldn't say that.

Jen MacNeil:
I was going to say that too, and be like, "Oh, every day a new child gets a little more corrupted.

Jennie Bovard:
Corrupting. By that, I mean mentoring, but no, I'm really loving that job. I'm really loving it. But leading up to that start date, so leading up to day one for this new role with a APSEA though, it was a little bit of a bumpy road and they say it comes in threes. Right? Yep. Okay. First one was... So in getting ready for this new role, I was doing some running around. I was mainly in the week leading up to this new job. I was like trying to get my home office in order, trying to make sure that I had presentable clothes to wear on camera when meeting with people remotely, et cetera, et cetera.
So I'm making a couple trips, and I remember the week leading up to starting this new role. I was trying to get into a routine of walking my dog sort of at the same time every day. My Rory boy, and I'm out walking the dog. You know what? I've done really good in terms of stepping in poop. I don't know about you. I do really well at not stepping in my own dog's poop. How about you?

Jen MacNeil:
I do too. Well, yeah, it's rare. And then when I do it, I'm like, "Oh, I never do this." But yeah.

Jennie Bovard:
I'm surprisingly unscathed when it comes to stepping in my own dog's poop. I can't even think of a time when I act... In my own backyard, I don't know how I do it, but I haven't stepped in my own dog's poop, I don't think, ever. Okay? That's an important fact to understand why this next part of the story was really bad. So I'm out walking my dog. I'm walking through the really central part of a popular park in my neighbourhood where we often walk. And let me tell you, people are shit because they don't pick up after their dogs, and those people are shitty. And those people apparently think it's fine to just leave a big pile of dog poop in the middle of the park. I'm talking the main stretch of the park where all the people walk and all the kids play, et cetera, et cetera.
And that's where my mind always goes, is kids play here. You're leaving a big pile of poop for some poor child to step in or me? Well, I'm just trying to get my routine together. So listen, that's not the main point of the story. I stepped in poop that day. It was not fun. I definitely would've seen it if I could've seen better and the sun wasn't in my eyes, et cetera. Okay, not a huge deal. I step in dog poop, whatever, rub it off on the grass. Okay, but that was part one. Okay. Part one, step in dog poop, not my own dog poop.
Part two, I am out by myself walking this time. Okay? It's lovely day. It's like late August, right? So it's nice, it's warm. And I live really close to the Halifax Shopping Center, very close to the mall. So I'm walking up to the mall on the street that leads right up to the mall. Nice little residential neighbourhood. I'm going to buy some, like I said, just some more presentable clothes I can wear on camera because I've been in t-shirts and tights for the last couple of years. So I'm walking up to the mall, walking down the street I walk down all the time.
All of a sudden things are squishy under my feet. All of a sudden it's very squishy and my feet are sliding around. Both of my feet are sliding around. To my horror, I look down and look behind me to find the biggest pile of puke I have ever seen in my life.

Jen MacNeil:
No.

Jennie Bovard:
And at first, I didn't know what was going on. I'm feeling something squishy. I turn around and it's quite sunny. And when I'm in the sun, my vision is diminished a lot. And I have to investigate for a moment, and then I determine this is a giant pile of puke. Even as a person who sees... My vision is between 5% and 10% of what a person with 2020 vision sees. I can't believe I didn't see it, smack in the middle of the sidewalk.
So I'm on the way to the mall. I can't go to the mall with puke all over my shoes. I just thank God I wasn't wearing sandals.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, gosh. Yeah. No.

Jennie Bovard:
Honestly, because I'm so pale, I don't wear sandals often because that means I have to put sunscreen on my feet. And that shit is like... Anyway, it's greasy. It's not fun. So I was thankful I wasn't wearing sandals, but I'm on the way to the mall. I can't go in public with puke all over the pond, and it was like a lot. This was literally the most puke I'd ever seen in my life and I was like, "You blind dummy." Oh my God. I was so baffled as to what am I going to do? I'm not going to walk all the way home. The little grass trick was not going to work like it did for the poop.

Jen MacNeil:
No.

Jennie Bovard:
There's no wiping my shoes off on. This was a lot of puke. So listen, this is the silver lining.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, no.

Jennie Bovard:
Yeah. No, there's good. There's a silver lining here. So I was next to... It's a residential neighbourhood, like I said. So I hear someone with a hose and I'm like, "Ding, light bulb moment. Maybe this kind person will let me use their hose to hose off my shoes." So I mustered up all my... Is it stupidity, bravery? I don't know but I mustered it up and I went over to this person, I said, "Hey, excuse me, there's like a giant pile of puke on the sidewalk, and I stepped in it and I'm on my way out somewhere. Is there any chance I could use your hose to hose off my shoes?" And they were so gracious, and I was so thankful, because you never know how that's going to go. Right? People are either great or they're like, "Eh..."

Jen MacNeil:
"Get off my lawn.

Jennie Bovard:
They're shit. They're either great or shit. They're the people that leave dog shit everywhere. Well, I don't blame the person who puked in the middle of the sidewalk, although turn your head and then you're on the side, but whatever. So not only did this person let me use their hose to hose off my shoes, but they saw I was struggling. Can you imagine how awkward that is? You're trying to hose off a shoe with puke on it. You don't want to get the puke on your hands.

Jen MacNeil:
Right.

Jennie Bovard:
Do I take the shoe off? Do I leave it on?

Jen MacNeil:
Yep.

Jennie Bovard:
They actually helped me.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, that's so nice.

Jennie Bovard:
They were like, "Here, let me hold the shoe while you hose it off." And I was like, "Wait, you want to hold the pukey shoe? Oh my God, you are literally a saint."

Jen MacNeil:
Aww. Thank you, human of Halifax.

Jennie Bovard:
Okay. I know this is a long story, but it comes in threes. That was only number two.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh.

Jennie Bovard:
We haven't reached the epitome.

Jen MacNeil:
Okay. All right. I'm ready.

Jennie Bovard:
We haven't reached... Lovely person, hosed off my shoe. I'm almost ready to start this new job. The last step was for me to get on the bus and go down to the building where APSEA houses, some their offices and their equipment and stuff. So I get on the bus to go get my equipment for this job. I'm going to get my laptop and all the passwords and get introduced to all the equipment I need to start my new job.
So I get on the bus and it's busy. It's really busy. It's a situation where it appears that every seat's taken, a bunch of people are standing. It's a really popular route that I'm on. Understandable. And then I have one of those moments where I was like, "Oh, there's a seat available and I'm exhausted." Normally I don't mind standing. I'm usually okay with standing if I need to, but I was like, "Yo, there's a free seat and my legs are really tired and I'm going to take the seat. If someone gets on that needs it, I'll give it to them."
I didn't stop to think about why on earth with such a busy bus, all these people standing, will there even be a free seat? "Are people actually being nice and leaving a seat open for me? Damn, this is a good day. People are good." I sit down, I ride the bus, I get to my destination and I go to get up and I'm kind of stuck to the chair.

Jen MacNeil:
No. Oh my God.

Jennie Bovard:
I'm kind of stuck to the chair, Jen. Keep in mind, I'm on my way to meet my new employer in my decent clothes, and I'm sticking to the freaking chair. So I get up out of the chair. I finally pull my ass off the seat and I look down and I get real close and there's a big wad of fucking gum on the chair.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, no.

Jennie Bovard:
It's big. It's a piece of the puke all over again. Where it was like, if these eyes just a little bit better, if I had gotten maybe just a little... Maybe next time-

Jen MacNeil:
You'd think somebody would've [inaudible 00:18:00]

Jennie Bovard:
That's the next thing I was going to say.

Jen MacNeil:
Okay.

Jennie Bovard:
All these people are not sitting there.

Jen MacNeil:
Right? So we have the nice human of Halifax who helps you hose off your puke shoe, and there's a bajillion other humans on this bus. So you think there would've been one nice human on that bus who would've said, "Oh, you may not want to sit there." I don't know. If I knew there was something weird-

Jennie Bovard:
You would think.

Jen MacNeil:
Happening on a seat, I would not let somebody sit there.

Jennie Bovard:
No, but we're a different kind of person, I guess.

Jen MacNeil:
I guess.

Jennie Bovard:
Compared to apparently all the several people that were not sitting on this seat on the bus. What's going through these people's minds?

Jen MacNeil:
Apparently nothing.

Jennie Bovard:
They just let me sit. They just let me sit there. Anyway, I'm not going to dwell on the crappy human interaction part of that, or the lack of interaction that there should have been to warn me. So I need to figure out what I'm going to do here. I would definitely speak up and let someone know that there was gum on the seat. So I get off the bus and I'm like... I've got a block between the bus stop and the building where I need to go pick up my equipment. And I'm like, "What the hell am I supposed to do?" There's nowhere to stop. There are no businesses. There's no washroom I can go to on the way.
So I just go in. I'm just like, "You know what? I've got gum on my..."

Jen MacNeil:
"Here we go."

Jennie Bovard:
"I've got gum on me arse. You can't fire me for having gum on my butt.

Jen MacNeil:
No gum bum gets you fired.

Jennie Bovard:
Gum bum. How did I not think of that?

Jen MacNeil:
I don't know.

Jennie Bovard:
I'm dying. I'm like ugly laughing. I'm dying. Okay, we need to finish the story.

Jen MacNeil:
So you go in with gum bum on your... Yep.

Jennie Bovard:
Stop saying gum bum.

Jen MacNeil:
This is why we should not hang out ever.

Jennie Bovard:
Okay.

Jen MacNeil:
All right. So [inaudible 00:20:14] the building with the thing I'm not allowed to say.

Jennie Bovard:
I go in the building, the staff person meets me and takes me and we're walking up the stairs.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, no.

Jennie Bovard:
We have to go up the stairs because the elevator's broken and I have to walk in front of them

Jen MacNeil:
No.

Jennie Bovard:
So you know what I'm doing? I'm trying to turn my ass sideways, right? And under the guise of trying to talk to them, right? I'm like, I'm trying to look back at you while we're walking up these stairs. So I'm trying to turn my arse away so they don't see it. And then when we get up... As soon as we get upstairs, I'm like, "Hey, is there a washroom I could maybe use real quick? I just got off a long bus ride." So I go in the washroom and it's bad. Oh, there's a lot of gum on my butt. It's bad and there's no fixing it, Jen.

Jen MacNeil:
No, you're just gum bum for days.

Jennie Bovard:
It sounds like I'm constipated, but I'm not. I am very regular. Too much information.

Jen MacNeil:
It's all good.

Jennie Bovard:
There's no getting this gum off my butt. There's no way. It is not happening. This was a definite low of my year.

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah.

Jennie Bovard:
First day on the job, first impression. Look, I didn't know if he saw the gum coming up the stairs. I don't know if he would've seen it otherwise, but I just put it out all out in the open when I come out of that washroom because I'm like-

Jen MacNeil:
I was going to say, did you say, "Hey, this happened?"

Jennie Bovard:
I don't want them asking questions.

Jen MacNeil:
Right.

Jennie Bovard:
I don't want them jumping to conclusions, rather [inaudible 00:22:12] "What's on this woman's ass?" That new staff person came in and I think she's like... I don't know, I don't even know what they would think, but I just got it all out in the open. I was like, "Oh man, I had quite the bus ride here. I sat in gum." So I just straight up told him. Sometimes honesty is the best policy and then no one's left with weird conclusions and questions and I didn't get fired.
And as it turned out, funny sort of side note... Okay, so this person's name is Billy. And I had heard about this Billy volunteer with Goalball for a couple of years.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, Billy.

Jennie Bovard:
Yeah, you know Billy. So remember that. So goalball tournament at the beginning of 2022 in April-

Jen MacNeil:
Yes.

Jennie Bovard:
Billy volunteered and had apparently been handing me the ball as the goal judge. So I was playing on the goalball court, full eye shades. The whole time we were meeting, I was like, "I know this voice, but I don't think I've ever met this person before. But this voice is..." And I'm really big on voices. I recognize a voice like nobody's business. And so I was like, "You seem so familiar. I don't know how I know you." And he is like, "Yeah, yeah, I've volunteered with goalball and you've never seen me. You've only ever heard me at goalball tournaments when you've been in full eye shades and we've never been introduced." So it was a weird... Anyway, a weird meeting with gum on my bum. Gum bum.

Jen MacNeil:
And Billy.

Jennie Bovard:
Gum bum and Billy.

Jen MacNeil:
It sounds like a very bad country song.

Jennie Bovard:
It sounds like a very bad children's book that I would write to corrupt the children that I'm mentoring, but let's move on. I've taken up a lot of time telling that in three's story. So I need you to tell me, did you step in any puke or in any poop in 2022?

Jen MacNeil:
I don't believe I did.

Jennie Bovard:
Good.

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah. I avoided all excrement from everywhere, which was good. Yeah. Nope. I had a free, not need to deal with my shoes situation. Although, I've stepped in things before, which I don't see at all. And I'm like, "I'm just not going to touch this. I'm just going to go home, touch the top of these shoes, throw them in the washer, and hope for the best because I don't want to touch anything." I'm like, I don't think I want to know what's on my shoe right now. So I-

Jennie Bovard:
Do you smell it? Do you give it a sniff?

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah.

Jennie Bovard:
Okay.

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah. I'll like do the little half sniff because I'm like, I don't want to throw up myself. And I'm like, "Oops, something smells, in the washer. You go," and hope and pray to the good Lord above that, they come out clean because I'm not touching it.

Jennie Bovard:
No, I don't blame you. And like that stranger with the puke shoe, that's a saint. I would never do that.

Jen MacNeil:
That is a saint.

Jennie Bovard:
I'm a nice person, but I don't think I would do that.

Jen MacNeil:
No, we are naming them Saint Haliwood.

Jennie Bovard:
"No, no, you hold the shoe. I'll hose it."

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah, yeah.

Jennie Bovard:
Oh yeah.

Jen MacNeil:
But you never know. Maybe there's somebody who is like... I don't want to say used to that stuff, but there are people that work in those environments that it's nothing for them. Right? But I don't know. Not me. You do it.

Jennie Bovard:
No, me neither. Did you step in any proverbial poo or sit in any proverbial gum?

Jen MacNeil:
In my life, you mean?

Jennie Bovard:
No. I mean in 2022.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, in 2022.

Jennie Bovard:
Wait, wait. Let me say, you can start with a high or a low because we're doing best and worst of 2022, right?

Jen MacNeil:
Yes. It's so funny because you said 2022 was not a good year for you. That was my 2021. So 2022 was actually pretty decent for me, but if we're going low lights, which I think we'll go low lights and we'll end it on a high note. So I went to guide dog school in New Jersey to get Forest. That's what they all call him. So now I call him Forest the dog. But when I went down, I was originally given another dog and his name was Lloyd. And Lloyd was awesome, but Lloyd was a teenager with a really bad attitude.
So I would say to him, "Lloyd, don't do that." And he'd be like, "Whatever, I'm going to do whatever I want." And this went on for a while and at first I thought it was me because there's this very real thing that exists called Second Dog Syndrome, where you compare everything to your first dog. And Lloyd and Lenny were not really much alike at all. And I would tell Lloyd I hated him every day, which is very sad. Poor Lloyd. I know.

Jennie Bovard:
You're allowed to hate things. That sucks though. That sucks.

Jen MacNeil:
Well, and then finally we get to a place where I don't hate him. And I'm like, "Oh, we're bonding. We're having these breakthroughs. This is great. I like this dog now." And they pull him because it's just not a good match. And so I was in New Jersey, I had gotten sick while I was there, so I had to go to the American hospital, which is way cooler than the Canadian situation, but expensive. And so I was already not having a great time. They pulled Lloyd and for good reason. He was very strong. He probably would've broke my arm eventually or pulled my shoulders. He's just a very, very strong dog.
And they said, "Okay. Well, we want to either give you a new dog or what do you want to do?" And I said, "Well, do you have another dog in mind?" And they're like, "Yeah, yeah, we do. I said, "Well, here it is," because I was real worked up at the time and I said, "You either bring me the dog tonight or you put me on an airplane. I can't do this." Because then I was told, "Oh yeah, by the way, you have to stay an extra week now because you have to bond with this other dog." So I'm like, "Okay, fine."
So that was probably one of the hardest things of my 2022, because I'll be full honest, full disclosure, I am not the most patient human. I want things to work and I want them to work yesterday, and I was just very annoyed. So to back up the story just a little bit. Before I went to the school, I watched the video that was on their website of this dog named Forrest. And I said to my husband, I said, "Wouldn't it be funny if I got Forrest?" Because I was very in love with him. He's like, great, cute on the videos, hamming up for the camera and all that stuff.
And then when we got Lloyd, we're like, "Okay, we're not getting Forrest, whatever." And so my instructor comes down and she's like, "Okay, I'm going to bring you your dog." And I'm like, "I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can bond." And I literally said to her, "I don't think I can bond with another fucking dog right now." I was very, very upset. She was amazing. She was like, "You're going to love this dog." And I'm like, "No." I said, "Do you realize how long it took me last time?" And she's like, "No, you're going to love this dog."
So she comes in and she's like, "And here's your dog, and his name is Forrest." And I literally went, "Are you fucking kidding me?" She's like, "No, I'm not kidding." And so I ended up with Forrest. So the story ends up good, but it was honestly something that really, really tried my patience. I don't mind sharing. The year before I had pretty significant mental health struggle. And so I was very sick for much of 2020, 2021. And I was getting better and I had gone to Toronto and then now I was going to guide dog school and I was like, "Okay, it's going to be okay." But I was very stressed when I was there, and it was definitely one of the hardest things that I have done, but I'm really glad I did it. And Forrest is a great dog, so I didn't really step in anything, but man, I went really far away and dealt with losing a dog. So that was hard.

Jennie Bovard:
What? That's just wild, Jen, that you got Forrest.

Jen MacNeil:
It's so wild because I-

Jennie Bovard:
That's wild.

Jen MacNeil:
I know, first, I'm like, "Okay, are they giving me him because they know I'm really mad?" Because I was really mad? Or was he a backup? And I said to her, "Was he a backup for real?" And she said, "Yeah. It was him and Lloyd kind of thing." I was like, "Oh, all right." But it was crazy. It was nuts. So now Forrest is here with me and it was just so funny because I didn't think that would actually happen, but here we are.

Jennie Bovard:
That is wild. I am so glad that that worked out like that for you. What a roller coaster for you that must have been, eh?

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah, it was tough. It was tough, for sure. You go down and you're thinking, okay, this is what you're going to be doing. You're going to be home in two weeks and back to work and doing your thing, and then a wrench gets thrown into your plans, and I think it taught me a lot of things. It taught me to be more patient and it taught me that your expectations aren't always what's going to happen. So it was a really good learning for me, but at the time I was like, "I just want to go home."
When I hit Nova Scotia's oil, and Nova Scotia's fine, but it's not the best place in the world. I felt like I was in Disney World. I'm like, "Oh, thank God. Salt air, my home, my bed."

Jennie Bovard:
Oh. And I'm so glad too that Lenny and Forrest, they get along and Forrest is so compact. He's like-

Jen MacNeil:
He's so little. He's my Polly Pocket.

Jennie Bovard:
Oh, he Polly... I forgot about Polly Pocket. That's one of the toys...

Jen MacNeil:
I love that.

Jennie Bovard:
Me too. And I don't even know why, because I couldn't see half the shit that was going on in there.

Jen MacNeil:
Right. But you just... Yeah.

Jennie Bovard:
It was the thing to... I don't know, it was pink. It was the thing to like, and it was one of those things that I just kept trying to... I liked it and I kept trying to play with it to its full potential. I'd be there with my magnifier like what is in this heart-shaped house thing I'm even playing with? That's so funny that you mentioned that.

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah. But yeah, that's what I call him because Lenny is huge. Lenny is a big boy. So when I would get on a bus to go somewhere, I'd be like, "Okay, Lenny, you got to squish yourself in here." Forrest, he just flips right underneath. I'm like, "Damn."

Jennie Bovard:
Yeah, he's super compact.

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah, he's a good boy. He's a very excitable boy. Him and Lenny, they get along fabulously, but they get in trouble a lot. So we had to buy a new garbage can yesterday because now they work together to steal things out of the trash.

Jennie Bovard:
Another highlight for me was I did something new and that new thing was I travelled for a road race and I did it all by myself. So I often run road races by myself, 5K, 10K, half-marathon. In the past, I've certainly engaged running guides to make life easier. And I probably should have done that this time in hindsight, but I had this grand idea that there's this race that happens every year in Moncton, New Brunswick, which is my hometown. So bonus there, it's my hometown. I know most of the city pretty well.
And so I've done this race before. It's called Legs for Literacy. It raises money for literacy in New Brunswick, good cause. I've done the shorter distances before but I always bring someone with me. It's often Yves, it's often my husband. He'll travel with me and he'll be there at the starting line and at the finish line with me, make sure I make it out alive basically. Especially when I'm not running with a guide.
So my strategy with these races is like I memorize the route as best I can ahead of time. I don't know that other runners do it in that as much detail as I do, but I look at the map and read the instructions turn by turn. And I try really hard to memorize things ahead of time so I can lessen the number of times that I have to shout at other runners and volunteers and shout things like, "Is this the half-marathon turn?" So I don't get on the marathon route or the... You know what I mean? Just turn off onto some random side street.
But this race was... It went really well altogether, overall. I travelled to Moncton by myself. I went from point A to point B by myself. I got a hotel which was like... Well listen, it was just a few blocks from the starting line. And I was really confident, again because it's my hometown, I kind of know the area, I know where things are. And so I went into it super confident. Now, this road, this half-marathon route went all throughout the City of Moncton, the town of Dieppe, I think it's a town, the town of Dieppe, which is kind of a suburb of Moncton, it's adjacent.
And then we run over this bridge that goes over to a place called Riverview, and it's all technically part of the Moncton Municipality. I don't know Riverview well at all, and I think that's where things maybe went a little bit awry for me. I thought this race was going fantastic. I was feeling good, I was having a great time. It was in October, so the weather was perfect. It wasn't too hot. It's like that nice brisk running temperature. I was doing great and it was really kind of cool. There was a bit of a gaggle of us who were similar paces. It is not a super busy race, so there aren't a lot of people to follow, which is one of my strategies too like, "Hey, you're doing the half-marathon? I'm going to follow you, make sure I don't get lost," kind of thing. But there was a bit of a gaggle of us who had a similar pace and we kept passing each other and just being around one another within whatever kind of a distance.
But anyway, so I think things went awry in Riverview where we ran this beautiful trail system that basically goes all around the perimeter of Riverview, and it's on the water. And it's pretty well maintained, aside for a few areas where there were some scary potholes and things to navigate around. I thought the signage was fantastic. It was high contrast, it was pretty large print for the most part. So I was able to see a lot of the arrows telling me where to go, blah, blah, blah. Super confident, Jen, until I get to the last... I'm coming up to... I know that I'm coming home because I'm going back over the bridge from Riverview and the finish line is not far after that. I know, because again, I've memorized the roots.
So I'm having a great race. I'm just loving life. And I'm like, "Okay." I'm coming up to what should be... And I have my Apple Watch is my pace tracker. So I get these audible notifications in my ear and it's like I'm at a point where I should be in my last kilometre. Here's where I gun it. I've conserved some energy and I'm going to give her, and I'm going to hit that finish line looking like a fresh frigging daisy, looking like I was running that pace the whole time. Not really, but I'm giving her and giving her. And then I'm like, "Where's the finish line?"

Jen MacNeil:
Oh no.

Jennie Bovard:
"Why have I not crossed the finish line yet?" And my pace and distance trackers tick tacking away, is telling me information. And then I hit the 21.1-kilometre mark on my watch, which is the distance of a half-marathon, and there's no fucking finish line in sight. So I'm like-

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, no.

Jennie Bovard:
"Oh my God, I'm going to die because I've just been pushing it and giving her."

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah.

Jennie Bovard:
Okay. So I finally make it to the finish line. I don't think I got lost at this point. I don't know what's going on, but I am still running and I cross the finish line, and I get across the finish line and I look at my pace and I look at my distance and I ran an extra kilometre and a quarter, Jen.

Jen MacNeil:
Whoa, did you just take a wrong turn somewhere?

Jennie Bovard:
It's a mystery. We haven't been able to figure it out. We haven't able-

Jen MacNeil:
Because can't you look at the map on your watch and see versus the real map? Can't you do that?

Jennie Bovard:
Yes, yes. So I did this and I contacted the race organizers because I had contacted them ahead of time to let them know, "Hey, there's going to be a blind lady running, so just be aware." And I asked a couple of questions ahead of time too. So I emailed them and I was like... So the race map is not super detailed, by the way.

Jen MacNeil:
Okay.

Jennie Bovard:
This particular... Right? It's kind of generic. It's not super detailed. You don't see all the side streets and stuff.

Jen MacNeil:
Right.

Jennie Bovard:
And then there's a written description. But in comparing these things, I wasn't able to find where I went off course, but clearly I went off course at some point and I came back on it, but I have no idea where, because I was so confident and I felt so good.

Jen MacNeil:
You were good doing it. You were like, "I'm just going to run. I got this." The water's nice. Yeah, [inaudible 00:41:31].

Jennie Bovard:
I thought I was killing it. Apparently, I ran an extra kilometre in a quarter, and I'm going to be honest, I was pretty... At the end of the race, you still got that race high. You feel good, you accomplished it, but then I get back to the hotel and I'm like, "I'm pretty pissed off." And I had a good cry because it was like, what the fuck? I usually train for eight weeks for this kind of thing. You limit the booze, you limit... You know what I mean? You eat right. You limit the booze.

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah. There's no fun before you run. I've just got slogans for days today. Goodness.

Jennie Bovard:
You're killing it.

Jen MacNeil:
I'm in the wrong, damn career.

Jennie Bovard:
Yes. You need to just come and name all my episodes, I think.

Jen MacNeil:
I could do that.

Jennie Bovard:
Jen, I don't know where I went off course, but man, I was pissed because you go into these things and you want to hit a certain pace, you want a personal best. None of that happened. Okay. I came out of there, I didn't die. I still solid race and I don't know if I'm pleased about it, but I did an extra kilometre and a quarter and no one can figure out where I went off course. I emailed the race organizers because I wanted to let them know in case other people had experienced this kind of thing like, "Maybe we need to look at the race route and recalculate," but I'm pretty sure it was just me because they were like, "Nope. No one else said anything."
And even at the finish line, I checked with a couple of people that were in that gaggle I was running with and they're like, "Nope, mine's right on distance." It was like, "Okay," so that was high and a low, right? I did a new thing. I didn't die. I finished the race but kind of a low.

Jen MacNeil:
You did it on your own, right? Yeah, the extra... I literally almost just said the extra mile really sucks sometimes, but you did the thing. And as much as it sucks to run that extra, you know you can do it and you did it independently. So I think it's a win.

Jennie Bovard:
Thank you. It took a while, but I think I'm there with you now. Yeah, it was a little painful because you're like, "Shit, I got lost. Man, I had it all together. I had it all figured out."

Jen MacNeil:
Well, and that can be... I can't even imagine because when you're doing something... And I don't run, nobody wants me to run. The paramedics will be here in two minutes. I would be dead. But if I were to run, I would feel the same way because you're going into this, you have a goal, you have a personal best and you think you've done it and then you're like, "What the hell?"

Jennie Bovard:
Yeah.

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah, for sure.

Jennie Bovard:
Oh well. So a bit of, again, best and worst all rolled into one. That was a good moment of 2022. Did you get lost or lose your way at all last year?

Jen MacNeil:
Funny story. I went-

Jennie Bovard:
That's why we're here, for the funny stories.

Jen MacNeil:
I know. So I had the absolute pleasure and privilege to be asked to participate in the Score Camp as a staff in the summer. And so for those who may not know, Score Camp is a camp where there are about 16 teenagers that get picked from across Canada. They go to Toronto for a week, they get to do some really cool things in the city, they get to go hang out downtown. We do a lot of day trip type things. They also come and they do... They live on a university campus and we do some university-type things.
And then the second week we actually go to CNIB Lake Joe, which is in Muskoka, and it's an accessible camp and they have lots of really cool activities. So I was asked to go, which was super exciting because I had not gone as a Score participant. So I was like, "Cool, I'm going to do this thing now that I'm old."

Jennie Bovard:
You're not old. We're not old. Stop that. Sorry, go ahead.

Jen MacNeil:
We're kind of old. Well-

Jennie Bovard:
I know. Yeah, we're not young.

Jen MacNeil:
You know what though? We're aging like fine wine.

Jennie Bovard:
You're damn right, we are.

Jen MacNeil:
Or really good cheese.

Jennie Bovard:
Oh, cheese. Yeah. I like the cheese analogy better.

Jen MacNeil:
I love cheese. We should do a podcast on cheese.

Jennie Bovard:
We could. Sorry, move on. Let's go on.

Jen MacNeil:
So I'm in this program for two weeks and we took... So remember that many of these kids have been in their houses for two years of COVID. They're just not exposed to big crowds in social situations. And so we had made a plan to go downtown and we're like, "Okay, let's go downtown." And so we took the kids with us and we took the subway, because we were out in Scarborough. That's where we were staying.

Jennie Bovard:
That's a lot if you've been in the house two years.

Jen MacNeil:
And we were like, "Okay, what subway are we supposed to be on?" So we didn't really get lost as much as things happened. So this trip that should have took, I don't know, an hour and 20 minutes to get in or an hour to get into downtown, took us two hours because-

Jennie Bovard:
Oh, story of my life.

Jen MacNeil:
The subway thing was broken. So then we had to shuttle on this other bus and then there was a ferry. We were going to Toronto Islands, so there was a ferry. So by the time the kids got there, they were pretty worn out, but we were talking about how as people with vision loss, sometimes our travel does take longer. And so we kind of got lost but I feel like that experience being with the kids in Toronto and at Lake Joe was incredible. I'm a huge, huge believer in role modelling and providing kids or teenagers with vision loss different opportunities to grow and learn. And to be able to be a part of those 14, 15, 16 kids' lives for two weeks and see them grow and change was incredible. It was definitely the highlight of my 2022.
It was just spending all this time and seeing these kids grow, because we had two kids that were from Newfoundland and they hadn't been, and they were looking at the lanes of traffic and they were just like, "Holy jumping." So it was really rewarding and really exciting. So that was a highlight for me.

Jennie Bovard:
That's awesome. And it sounds like you all got a chance to, in the same adventure, take every kind of public transportation possible.

Jen MacNeil:
Right, and we didn't even mean to. The only thing we did not take that day was an airplane and I kept thinking, "Maybe we should rent one of them of helicopters," just to be like, "Okay, we did this." But yeah, we had a bus and a streetcar thingy because I don't know what they really call them. And a subway and a train. It was like, "Wow, okay," and the ferry is... What else is there?

Jennie Bovard:
I think you hit them all.

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah. I'm telling you, the TTC. I was like, "now you've experienced the whole TTC." But yeah, it was quite the trip, but I think the kids learned a lot and they were a little frustrated with us, but that's fair.

Jennie Bovard:
That's natural. That's going to keep happening, unfortunately.

Jen MacNeil:
It takes so long, but it is what it is. And I said too, guys, we've all been in our houses for two years. This is not easy to manage these things sometimes when you're feeling a little [inaudible 00:49:41].

Jennie Bovard:
Well, there's that. Yeah.

Jen MacNeil:
But overall, they had a wonderful time and we had a great time and yeah, it was good. That's good.

Jennie Bovard:
I can't tell you how big of an impact that had on me when I... So grew up in Moncton, New Brunswick. It's a city, but being able to come here to Halifax as a kid and as a teenager, and then I went to Score when I was a youngster too. It was in Toronto, but it was a little bit different than what it is today. But having those experiences, just being exposed to, like you said, the multiple lanes of traffic and all of that. If you live somewhere, especially Newfoundland, you're never been off the rock to get exposed to that. I think the earlier we can have those experiences, just the better setup we are for success.
And part of it is, as we talk about often on this podcast, is just dealing with the genuine frustration that comes along with it. And for me, I don't believe in just constantly being positive. You have to allow yourself to be frustrated sometimes. Let's not sit and ruminate with our crappy feelings, but let's acknowledge that if we were just hopping in our own car at 16, as a lot of people get to do, point A to point B is a lot more straightforward than when you take a street car and a subway and a ferry, and I can relate to that. I lived in Toronto, I lived in Vancouver.
Sometimes things don't line up the way that they're supposed to. And again, I think I've said this many times on this podcast, but if you look at the driving directions versus the transit directions, or if you're trying to plan any kind of outing, it can be frustrating to look at the options that maybe are not available to us in that moment. But I think part of it is the journey. And when you're in a group... Yeah

Jen MacNeil:
We kept saying, "Guys, it's the journey." And they were like, "Just don't talk to us." I'm like, "Fair, on it." I was very good and I said, "I am as frustrated as you are." I said, "This is hard and we're all very frustrated, but you're going to appreciate it later," and later they did. So it was good. But yeah, I think sometimes there's this element that exists of, "Okay, so if you are a blind or partially sighted person, you need to be positive all the time so that people don't think you're sad all the time." And I don't think that's a fair assumption. We're allowed to feel crappy about things that are frustrating.

Jennie Bovard:
Yeah.

Jen MacNeil:
But you also remember to laugh. For me, sometimes if something is frustrating, I will laugh before I'll cry because if I don't laugh, I'm going to cry. So I think it's so important that you don't feel like as a person with vision loss or total blindness, that you have to carry everyone, right? Because I think sometimes we're fed that throughout our lives.

Jennie Bovard:
You don't want to be perceived as the angry person with a disability.

Jen MacNeil:
Exactly. Right.

Jennie Bovard:
And we're just bullshit. No one's happy all the time.

Jen MacNeil:
No.

Jennie Bovard:
No one's pissy all the time.

Jen MacNeil:
Right.

Jennie Bovard:
We're just people feeling things.

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah. People with feelings.

Jennie Bovard:
Yeah, and I will say, something I realized, I think it was late 2022, in my adult life, I have learned a lot. I can be quick to frustration. I can be quick to kick myself and get mad at myself for messing up or getting lost or whatever. But I was thinking about it and it's so stupid, Jen. The other day I was in the washroom and I dropped the little cap to one of my creams. It was little toothpaste-style cap, and I dropped it and I was home alone. And I'm usually pretty good at... I have tile floor in there so I can hear the ting ting, ting. I can kind of hear where it goes, but sometimes you just have to accept, I'm home alone. I am not going to spend 20 minutes looking for this cap and I'm not going to get angry about it. Guess what? This tube is just not going to have a cap anymore. That's it.
So I think this year I learned to accept things a little bit and it's such a lifelong thing, when we talk about the best and worst of the year. It's funny because all of our worst shit happened while doing fun shit. Yes. I got to stop saying shit. Broaden your vocabulary.

Jen MacNeil:
This podcast is the shit.

Jennie Bovard:
Yeah. Thank you Jen. Thank you so much. All right. I got one more life lesson before we go.

Jen MacNeil:
I love it.

Jennie Bovard:
I've got one more that I learned this summer. I was fortunate enough this year to get out and do some camping and do some wilderness type stuff. Do you like camping?

Jen MacNeil:
I'm a terrible camper.

Jennie Bovard:
You're not a camper? That's Okay.

Jen MacNeil:
I like glamping.

Jennie Bovard:
Oh, cool, cool, cool. Often when I-

Jen MacNeil:
I'm scared of the woods. I'm like, there are mean things like bears and I can't pee in the woods. Physically, I go to pee and I'm like, "Oh, I can't, I can't." I don't know. It's this weird-

Jennie Bovard:
I can pee anywhere.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, not me. Nope. I can't do it. No. I like being in a trailer with a toilet. If you count that as camping, yes.

Jennie Bovard:
Yeah. You know what? If you're out in... Wilderness can be different things to different people.

Jen MacNeil:
Yep.

Jennie Bovard:
It's fine. Do what you like, but I like a good camping trip. I will say sometimes I find myself out there thinking, "Why do I like this? What am I even doing? I'm cold," and like you said, yeah, I need to pee, and it's not the easiest thing to pee in the woods.

Jen MacNeil:
No, terrible.

Jennie Bovard:
But yeah. Anyway, I can go anywhere but I'm not here to brag about that. Is that something to brag about? I don't know, but I learned a lesson and I would say this is a low moment for me this year, but it was freaking hilarious. So couple of things happened on this camping trip. My husband and a friend of ours, we went out and canoed out to this really nice remote spot. So they had to leave the camping spot and go and back to the shore, which was a, I don't know, 15, 20-minute canoe ride. And they left me at the campsite by myself, which was fine. They had to go and get something that they forgot in. In fact, it was a bag of food. So it was pretty important they had to go back and get it, but it was like the sun was going down.
So I'm getting the fire going, making sure the fire is still burning when they get back basically. And my sandals had... I have these sandals that you can wear in the water. They're not technically water shoes, but they get rubber toe protectors and all that. So you can walk around and not stub your toe. So I had these sandals, I'd been wearing them in the water when we were canoeing and whatever, and they were wet. So I'm like, "Great, I've this fire going while they're gone. I'm going to sit next to the fire. I'm going to take these wet sandals off, prop them close to the fire and get them dried off."
So they get back and I'm sitting next to the fire and they say, "Something smells funny. What did you put in the fire?" And I'm like, "I didn't put anything in the fire. What are you talking about?" And then I start sniffing, "Oh, oh." That smells like burning rubber a little bit guys."

Jen MacNeil:
Dr. Penfield, I smell burnt shoes.

Jennie Bovard:
I burned the shit out of my shoes.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, Jennie.

Jennie Bovard:
I had them propped a little bit too close to... This is a depth perception fail.

Jen MacNeil:
Yes. Yeah.

Jennie Bovard:
And those sandals are written off now, buddy. They are no good. Okay. I-

Jen MacNeil:
Did you have other... You had other shoes?

Jennie Bovard:
I had other shoes, but it was the summer. I wanted sandals.

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah.

Jennie Bovard:
They were so burned. It could have been worse but this was a true depth perception fail. I thought they were a certain distance from the fire and they not. They were black and burned a hole in them. They weren't on fire, but they were melted. So lesson learned, a bit of a low moment, had to go through the rest of the trip with hot sneakers but I learned a lesson. I'm going to ask for help next time I need to warm something or dry something by the fire, to make sure that I gauge the distance properly. I have a healthy fear of fire and now my clothing does too.

Jen MacNeil:
Yeah, yeah. Wow. You really didn't start off on the right foot in 2022.

Jennie Bovard:
Oh, you know what? I just realized. I stepped in poop, I stepped in puke and I burned my shoes.

Jen MacNeil:
This is what I'm saying.

Jennie Bovard:
My shoes had a rough year last year.

Jen MacNeil:
They did. Nobody wants to walk in a mile in your shoes. I am full of puns.

Jennie Bovard:
Is that a song? Did you just make up a song?

Jen MacNeil:
I did. It will go with the other song. What was it? Bum gum and Billy?

Jennie Bovard:
Billy and the bum gum.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh my God.

Jennie Bovard:
Oh, God. We should stop now before we go down.

Jen MacNeil:
Yes.

Jennie Bovard:
Before we get any sillier. Is there anything else that I should know about your 2022 while we're getting caught up?

Jen MacNeil:
I'm trying to think because I always like to share at least one embarrassing moment because there's always one. So I will share one. So I was walking and I have been known to apologize to objects that are not human very often.

Jennie Bovard:
Yeah. We all do that.

Jen MacNeil:
And so I was walking and this person was walking by and I heard, "Jingle, jingle," and I was like, "Oh, they must have a talk." And so I'm walking and I say to them, "Nice dog." And they go, "That's not a dog. It's the chains that I'm wearing." And I'm like, "Oh, oh, oh, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I thought you had a dog." So now, not only did I apologize to things that aren't there. I also talked to them.

Jennie Bovard:
That's good. [inaudible 01:01:24]

Jen MacNeil:
You know how some people will just have chains or something on their coats that are jingling, right? So I was like, "Oh yeah, this person's walking their dog. How nice. Can I pat your dog. Nice dog." No.

Jennie Bovard:
"Your dog's well-behaved. It's not coming up to me and sniffing.

Jen MacNeil:
Right? I'm like, "Oh, good dog."

Jennie Bovard:
For some reason, I thought you were going to say that it was like a child and that you called someone's child a dog, but-

Jen MacNeil:
No, children are pretty good because they're noisy. I shouldn't say all children, but lots of children are noisy. So you can always hear them. My dogs like to bring me over to children.

Jennie Bovard:
Oh, my dog loves kids.

Jen MacNeil:
Right? And I'm trying to figure out what they're trying to show me. So I'm sticking my hand out and I end up patting the top of this child's head and I'm like, "Oh, sorry. I thought my dog was showing me a barricade." And the parents are just mortified because there's this woman crawling on top of their child.

Jennie Bovard:
What do you say?

Jen MacNeil:
I literally just say, "I'm really sorry. I thought my dog was trying to show me something."

Jennie Bovard:
Okay.

Jen MacNeil:
Because he was.

Jennie Bovard:
Yes.

Jen MacNeil:
I was, "Look, a human that's as big as me," but most people just kind of giggle about it and-

Jennie Bovard:
They get it.

Jen MacNeil:
They move on their way. But yeah, dogs and children. I was on the bus one day and from... Well, from downtown to my house, all I heard was, "Gogi, Gogi, Gogi," every five... They're just like, "Oh my gosh, this is too much."

Jennie Bovard:
Oh, Jen, so fun catching up. We need to do this more often.

Jen MacNeil:
I would love that. I love catching up with you.

Jennie Bovard:
I'm glad that I've gotten the podcast too. As I always say, catch up with people that I'm terrible at keeping in touch with, even though you live like a bus ride away from my house.

Jen MacNeil:
Literally. I know. We should get the boys together and I don't mean that [inaudible 01:04:17].

Jennie Bovard:
Oh yeah.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh my God. Adam and Eve. I just realized.

Jennie Bovard:
I have the look of shock. I'm in shock right now. How did we not think of that? And Eve was at goalball yesterday to help out.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, it, [inaudible 01:04:35].

Jennie Bovard:
Yep. You missed him.

Jen MacNeil:
Even Jen squared.

Jennie Bovard:
Jen squared baby.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh my God. Adam and Eve. That's amazing.

Jennie Bovard:
Listen, yeah-

Jen MacNeil:
Why did it take me so long to get to that?

Jennie Bovard:
It's been years. Rethinking your title of slogan queen, because that's a big miss Jen.

Jen MacNeil:
I know. Yeah. Fire me.

Jennie Bovard:
I don't know. All right. Get out of here. No, but thanks for coming on. We'll catch up again soon. I think maybe you need to be like a recurring guest I think, maybe once a year kind of thing. You got to come back and fill us in on what's going on with Forrest and Lenny and Adam and Eve and Jen squared. Hopefully no more gum bums.

Jen MacNeil:
Hopefully not. The next one will be the cheesy cast.

Jennie Bovard:
No, we had a good idea when we were getting ready for this podcast, and I don't know how much more after dark we can be on this podcast, but knowing you and I, we probably could get into some trouble.

Jen MacNeil:
Oh, definitely. Definitely some trouble.

Jennie Bovard:
All right, Jen, thanks for coming by. And any final thoughts before we go?

Jen MacNeil:
No, just I hope everyone has a wonderful 2023 with lots of highlights and embarrassing moments because what's life without those? And thanks for having me.

Jennie Bovard:
All right, I second that. Have a good 2023 everyone. And like I said at the top, look forward to more of the same old crap from me and this podcast. Thank you so much for listening and watching. I hope you've enjoyed catching up with my good buddy, Jennifer MacNeil-Noble and I, as we review the best and worst moments of 2022. I almost said 2023. Well, I hope you have a good 2023, and if you have any feedback or suggestions, or if you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, I would absolutely love to hear from you.
There are a few ways to get in touch. You can send an email to podcasts@ami.ca, or you can give us a call and leave a voicemail at 1-866-509-4545. That phone number one more time is 1-866-509-4545. Just make sure to mention Low Vision Moments in the message, please and thanks. You can always comment and subscribe on all your favourite platforms. Again, I'd love to hear from you, so don't be shy. I would like to extend a great big thank you to all the people who make this podcast possible. A couple more silly geese, silly gooses if I do say so myself. Marc Aflalo is our technical producer, and Ryan Delehanty is our podcast coordinator manager, manager at AMI-audio, Andy Frank, the silliest goose of them all.
Thanks again for listening, and watching, and remember, if you get on the bus, if you get on public transit and all the seats are taken and there are people standing and there's a seat available, there might be a good reason why. So check your seat. I don't want you to get gum bum. All right? Cheers.