NO MORE OLYMPICS - FOR NOW

I've been craving a clubhouse sandwich made with real turkey for days so I finally head out on a day off to White Spot nearby. I take my current novel and enjoy the time away to be alone and read and eat one of my favourite meals. Yum!

I am down to my last few days at work. Although I won't miss the early alarm, I will miss working and being with some great people every day. And I will miss the spectacular sunrises we have been seeing. What we miss when we sleep past the sunrise!

I made a huge apple crisp and took it into work. The guys loved it and by the end of the shift, there was just a small strip of it left in the pan for the evening shift. There's lots of ice-cream left over though. Not everyone wanted ice cream on theirs. I can't imagine why, it just tastes so much better with vanilla ice cream.

Tony has started to come into the trailer to boil some hot water to make his special Jasmine Tea. We drink so much of it that his usual thermos-full is empty pretty quick. He doesn't mind though, in fact he seems to love brewing it up in his little clay teapot and then pouring out the tiny cupfuls for each of us. I really like Tony and will miss him when this is over. I miss the Premier Pacific drivers from BCIT and the few drivers from Quebec I got to know. A few of us in blue jackets have traded email addresses and websites and will be staying in touch. I hope I get to see them again. I will have to see about organizing some reunion get-togethers in the future.

One thing I have been thinking about is working at the 2012 Olympics in London. Our manager here asked me the other day why I had not applied for a middle management position for the 2010 games back a few years ago and I had to admit, it never occurred to me. I was pretty busy with film work and honestly, even if I had not been, it just never crossed my mind. I am not sure why. But now the seed has been planted and so I have gone to the website for London and will fill out the application and submit a resume and see what happens. Having a British passport will be a big plus, I should think. Also, one of the other workers here who got a job with NBC for the main Olympics got it through a UK based personnel agency called Iluka. So I will fill out their application as well and then start applying for as many jobs that come up that fit my skill set with both that site and the official London 2012 site. I am very optimistic about my prospects.

Saturday is my last day. It was supposed to be Friday but I traded days with Shawn so that he could go to the warehouse sale VANOC is having. All the stuff they bought for the Olympics is going on sale to workers and volunteers first, and then will be auctioned off to the public. Today is the first day of the sale. There are TV's, appliances, beds, desks, chairs, couches, cell phones, computers, laptops, even towels for sale. I get a call from Shawn saying that there's already a line-up of over a thousand people waiting for the doors to open. He calls back about fifteen minutes later to say that all the electronics are gone already. Dan just left work to get over there to buy two TV's so it's too late for me to stop him from wasting his time. He didn't bring his phone to work today so I can't even call to let him know.

Just as I am winding things up to leave for the day, Doug from BCIT stops in. He is just back from downtown where he bought some gifts for family back home in Alberta, all on sale at The Bay. I am planning to take the SkyTrain into town (only one stop away from where I am) to see Christopher again at Live City and decide that I will swing by The Bay to see what they have left. And now there should be no issue getting in there. I also want to check out the zip line over Robson Square as a friend said there were no lineups at all mid-week when she went. I ask him how Squamish was, as that is where he has been posted for the Paralympics, and he says it was pretty boring. I tell him, same here. We chat for a bit and then he says perhaps we will meet up again at the London Olympics. Perhaps we will.

After having a bite to eat with Christopher (across the street from Live City at Moxies) I hop back on the SkyTrain to Granville and check out The Bay. It's still all cordoned off from the escalator to that floor, annoyingly, so I go up one floor higher and then take the elevator down right into the Olympic store part. Weird. I browse about for half an hour but don't see anything I want to buy. There are good sales though..50% off a lot of it. I totally forget about checking out the zip line. I am so hot because it's turned out to be a very sunny day but I am still dressed in my thermals under my clothes and am wearing my Thinsulated work boots. I hop onto the SkyTrain to head back to the depot and remember that I am supposed to call a friend about getting together for drinks this afternoon. The train goes through a long underground tunnel and there's no reception so I wait until we're out of it. As I look around the train I see that very friend sitting not 5 feet from where I am standing. I lean over and tap her on the knee and she looks up, startled. Then she's really startled to see it's me. "I was just about to phone you." I say. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're here!" she replies. It's just one of those really crazy moments that you wouldn't believe if you saw it in a movie.

We get off the train and walk over to my car. As we walk we talk about her business just expanding into London, England. She is a makeup artist in the film business but also has her own line of really high quality mineral makeup. She may be making a trip over there to do some demonstrations and I MAY be going with her. She is the same friend I wrote about back when I was on the island working on Freshman Father and she told me she would hire me to be her assistant on a show if I got kitted up. Well now, she is all for taking me with her to England to assist her there. I sure hope that works out! I tell her that we can take some time to sight see and go visit my family in the north and she is excited at the thoughts of that.
As I drive home at the end of a long day, I am really looking forward to the coming week. Tomorrow I will get all of my tax write-offs in order and on a spread sheet ready for the trustee to take care of. Then I am free to start writing my new script. Ron has been bugging me about getting an outline to him as he has garnered some interest, it would seem. I am very excited about the story and coupled with the screenwriting course I am taking, I should be able to turn out a very marketable script in pretty short order.

I might not have time to update this for a while as a result but I will try. Not that it will be very interesting. I am sure you don't want to read: I wrote 15 whole pages today and had 3 cups of tea and two scones in the process. Pretty boring stuff really.

Beautiful view driving home down 88th Ave to Fort Langley the other day.

NOT MUCH TO WRITE ABOUT

I haven't written all week because:

A: there's not much to write about
and
B: I worked 6 days straight and had no time

Because we are only transporting workforce, being that security for the Paralympics is very relaxed so spectators can now drive themselves to Whistler, there's really not much going on. Six departure times, eleven buses does not make for an exciting day.

One of the drivers has turned out to be very friendly and enjoys hanging out with us while he waits to see if we will need to use his bus (his bus is a contingency). He likes to bring me treats. The first time was when I told him and two other drivers that they had two hours before we would need them so they could go get breakfast if they liked. They were very appreciative and headed to nearby China Town to find some food. He asked me if I liked Dim Sum and I said I hadn't ever had it. He seemed surprised and said he would bring some back for me. He returned an hour or so later with a covered foil dish of pork and shrimp noodles. I ate a bit right there and found the noodles delicious - a bit spicy which I like - but the pork super fatty so couldn't eat. I took it home and ate the rest of the noodles and the shrimp later.

Yesterday he brought me some noodle soup and a tin of grilled fish. Not sure about the fish. I am a bit of a timid eater when it comes to trying something strange but I will give it a go. There was also a big bag of 'cookies' called 'Boring Cookies'. I found that funny. I ate one and they taste good, more like a rice cracker, but when I read the label, they contain MSG and that stuff makes me sick. I check the ingredients for the noodle soup and it too contains MSG. I will have to be careful about how much I eat at one sitting. Just a taste, I think.

I watched Hurt Locker a few days ago. Or at least, I attempted to watch it. I got about a third of the way into it and had to turn it off. It was, in a word, BORING. No plot. No story line. Nothing. Almost a documentary but no where near as interesting. I think it's a travesty that it won best picture. It had to be political. I wonder why.

It seems that the reason Farrah Fawcett did not get a mention at the Oscars is that she is better known for TV and they debated whether or not to include her and decided it would be more appropriate for the Emmy's to memorialize her. Really? She can't be remembered at both? Why... does it contravene some sort of Oscar law? What a ridiculous excuse. I am not buying it.

My youngest daughter turns 25 on April 2nd. I feel this is a big birthday... a quarter century. Much bigger than the usual fuss made over 21. So I try to celebrate this marker in a way they will always remember. I took my son, his girlfriend and my daughters white-water rafting for his 25th. I took my daughter to Paris (albeit a year and a half early) for her 25th - she was living in England at the time and I knew I wouldn't be there for it (although I ended up being there the spring of that year [to meet the boy she was talking about marrying] so took her wardrobe shopping as well - in London no less). So for this daughter, I have been scratching my head as to what to do. I came up with a great idea and so made the plans. Then I came up with an even better one and so now that is the plan. I can't say what it is because she might read it here and it's a surprise. But suffice it to say, I think she will absolutely LOVE it and I can hardly wait to see her face when she finds out. She knows we are doing something special, she just doesn't know what. I have told her to bring clothes for the cold and a bathing suit, to confuse her. I will post pictures and a report when it's all said and done.

At work, we get 'food', if you can call it that. Sandwiches that usually are found only on an airplane. Fruit. Lot's of fruit. More apples than we could possibly eat. So I have brought some home and plan to make an apple crisp to take to work tomorrow. I will buy a gallon of ice-cream to go with it and that should make most of the workers happy. Although, I bought a huge foil roasting pan to make it in and then saw how many apples Shawn put in the crate and into my car.... I think I should have bought a smaller pan.

OSCAR HANG-OVER

Yeah, everyone gets the infinity symbol this time around. It seems they aren't expecting many spectators to the events so are hoping we all will go and fill out the stands. I would like to see a sledge hockey game. I would like to see the downhill skiing as well, but don't think I will be making it up to Whistler on a day off because I would still have to be up at 2 a.m. the next morning.

I went and watched the Oscars last night. With no cable in the house here, I was a bit panicked as to where I would go to watch them. I called one friend but she wasn't going to be home. So I went to the church that my house mates go to as they were holding an Oscar evening in honor of a young woman who died recently who was an avid fan. Although it was better than missing them altogether, I didn't enjoy the evening very much; rather I found it annoying and stressful. During commercial breaks, they muted the volume and then played trivia games. Which was fine except that they kept running them into the return of the Oscars which was super annoying. And several times, the person in charge of the volume for the screen was absent from their post and so didn't get it turned back up until way too late to hear Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin doing their piece. I am sorry if I sound like a spoil-sport but I am pretty fanatical about the Oscars and I don't like to miss a word. There were also people in the room who didn't stop talking, at volume, through the entire show. Two were sitting in front of me. I won't be going back next year, they plan to make it an annual event. I need to find a QUIET place to watch.

A few comments on the Oscars:

I love Sandra Bullock and loved her dress (I am reading a lot of catty stuff about both her and her dress on line this morning) but hated the lipstick color. I am glad she won although considering who she was up against and their performances (the ones I saw) I am not sure it was the correct choice.

I was appalled to note the absence of Farrah Fawcett from the Memorial list. Although she is primarily known for her TV roles, she was a member of the guild and made several feature movies. It was either a colossal oversight or an even bigger slight. Either way, shameful. (Also missing was Gale Storm and Bea Arthur)

And while on the topic of the Memorials, why such a wide angle at the beginning? I could barely make Patrick Swayze out and have no idea who followed him.

Was Hurt Locker really that good? I haven't seen it yet so can't comment. But it better be awesome because Avatar was. Precious was. I hear over and over that District 9 was. Even The Blind Side was pretty great. So I have extremely high expectations for Hurt Locker now.

I loved Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin as hosts and I hope they get to do it again for a few more years.

And just once... JUST ONCE... I'd like to hear an editor or a director thank their script supervisor.

I arranged to go in late to work today, due to being up late for the awards. When I got home I tried to parallel park between two cars that were already parked on the gravel strip between the road and the lawn. There's a strip of landscape ties that separate the lawn from the gravel and as I backed up, I went over the ties with both wheels on the right. No matter how I tried, I could not get them back over to the gravel as the lawn is about 6 inches below the tie. So I was stuck there. I needed to be able to either drive forwards or to back-up to where the ties ended to get off the lawn but with a car in front and behind, there was no way I was getting out. Very frustrated, I went to bed hoping that the one in front would be gone by the time I had to leave.

When I woke up with the alarm at 4 a.m., my whole body was buzzing with fatigue from an aborted sleep. Car or no car, there was no way I was ready to get up and drive to work so I turned off the alarm and went back to bed. I woke an hour later with a huge headache and called in to say I wouldn't be coming in today. I blamed it on the car situation, which certainly was the truth. But had that not been the case, I don't know if I could have made it in. I felt completely out of it and disoriented.

I am not sure how I will manage the schedule I have for the next three weeks unless I can get to bed at 6 p.m. every day. Blah.

BACK WITH THE BUSES AGAIN

Just when I wrote on the forum for my on-line screenwriting course that I am back, I get a call asking me to work at the Paralympic games. Doing the same thing but now downtown Vancouver at Station Street, Main and Terminal. Of course I say yes.

She tells me my schedule, four days on, one day off starting Saturday March 6 right through to the end of the games, March 21st. Wow. That is going to be brutal. Good thing it's just for three weeks. And it's only an 8 hour day this time because there is no spectator buses, people are now allowed to drive their own vehicles to Whistler. There were very stringent security measures in place for the Olympic games, one of which was, no vehicle without a security pass could drive past Squamish. Even if one held an event ticket. Thus the spectator buses we filled most every day. But now we are down to transporting only workforce so each day will be super easy with just ten or so buses arriving over an eight hour period. And now we have acres to park them in, wouldn't you know it. This place used to be depot for the buses. There are huge tents all over, one for washing the buses down in, one for changing the oil, one is a massive dining hall, and there are four trailers for offices. The trailer we are using is full of computer terminals. Most all of this will be gone by the end of the weekend. They will leave just one trailer for us to use.

I am told that I can go pick up my new accreditation and modifications to my jacket on Friday, but I don't want to drive all the way into Vancouver just for that so ask if it's okay if I wear my jacket as is on Saturday and then pick it all up on my way home. She say's that's fine.

So I am in bed by 6:30 again with the alarm set for 2 a.m. this time to account for the extra distance I have to drive. I wake up feeling well rested and make it there without any problem. It's really dark out and I can't exactly make out everything that the manager is pointing out to me as to where buses go for staging and then for loading. I am really happy that Dan and Shawn are part of my team again. When she called to ask if I would work, I asked if they were on the list and she said Dan was but she didn't have Shawn's name. I told her that he was great and would be an asset to the team. She called me the next day to ask for his phone number as a worker had quit due to getting another job. Dan is actually load zone crew, but he used to help with getting the buses up the road. Now he will work in the load zone and I have Shawn and a new (to me) guy called Ronnie. I give each of them a post to direct buses and I take the clipboard to gather info.

It's freezing out and I, once again, am so glad for my mountain pants. Everyone else is wearing what they call 'city pants' and they are thin with no insulation value whatsoever. I don't know how they can stand it.

It seems that we have a contingency of RCMP on the lot next to ours. Turns out, that is where they were checking vehicles over with bomb-sniffing dogs before giving out passes to Whistler. I see a few RCMP walking back and forth and some take photos of their lot. I wonder if it's for security reasons or personal photo albums.

Everything goes pretty much like clockwork. I am hoping to see some of the Pacific drivers we all got to know so well at the BCIT hub, but none of them are assigned to Station hub, it seems. It's a new bus company showing up here and almost all of the drivers are Asian. It won't be the same. I can't joke around with them like I did the other guys... too much gets lost in translation and also they all are very serious. Almost sour. Although Shawn spends a lot of time hanging out with them and laughing. But then, he spent 3 years in Beijing and so can speak their language and has some things in common.

When we are done for the day, I decide to call my daughter as I will be just over the bridge from them when I go to get my accreditation and jacket bits. Turns out they've just had breakfast out and are now at a music store. She tells me they are near Main and Terminal. I tell her I am at Main and Terminal. We laugh at the coincidence and arrange to meet at Tim Hortons just around the corner for a drink together.

They both look fabulous and we exchange big hugs. Then Rob digs into his backpack and starts pulling out multiple Olympic pins for me. It's a big deal, this pin collecting and trading thing. I wasn't at all interested in it. I mean, I have just spent the last year of my life paring down my possessions to almost nothing and so am not about to start building them back up again. But I did get two pins right off the bat; one with my uniform and one from the theater when I went to see Avatar; it came with the popcorn and drink. Then I was given a couple from Impark at work, and a fellow I work with brought some Surrey Olympic pins. I traded two of the Impark ones for two different ones when I was downtown one day. Then I got given a few more and, before I knew it, I started to look like a serious collector once I had them all on my lanyard. Now that I have these four from Rob, my lanyard is full. There isn't room for a single other pin unless they go around the back of my neck.

When I arrive to get my new accreditation, I ask for a new picture to be taken. This time I am going to make sure I get one from a higher angle. Well. I get the most miserable volunteer imaginable. With a British accent, if that means anything. He won't put the camera higher so I crouch a bit. He tells me to stand up straight. I tell him no, I want the camera at a higher angle. He won't take it until I stand straight. AND they won't let you smile - like it's a passport photo or something. So now, couple a straight-on photo and no smile with the fact that I was up at 2 a.m. and wore a touque for 8 hours... this photo looks even worse than the last one. Miserable So and So. He could have just humoured me. It wouldn't have killed him. But now I see the result, I'd like to. (not really)

Not only do I get a new ID card, I also get a patch that will replace the Olympic one on my jacket's right chest with the Paralympic one, a large piece of fabric that snaps over the Olympic rings on the back of the jacket with the Paralympic 'swoops' on instead, and CITY PANTS! Now I have everything they handed out except for the backpack. I am really excited about the city pants because I will put them on under my mountain pants and then can remove the mountain ones when it gets too hot out. It got quite warm out today once the sun was up.

My new ID card has a ton of symbols on it. When I look them up I am amazed. I have the infinity symbol which usually means one can go anywhere; this one means I have access to all game venues. Does this mean I can go inside and be a spectator for free??? I must find out. The other symbols mean I also have access to the International Broadcast Center (IBC), Whistler Media Center (WMC), Paralympic Family Home (PFH), BC Place (STA), Whistler Medals Plaza (WCP) and General Circulation Areas. I must find out what this means. Although, with only one day off every 5, I am not going to have a plethora of spare hours to go stick my nose places I couldn't at the Olympics. Too bad! But at least I can walk around and feel like one of the important people this time, what with that infinity symbol and all. Unless everyone gets one, that is. I will have to check it out tomorrow.

BACK TO THE 2 A.M. WAKE-UP

I am just getting used to the idea of having lazy days and time off when I get a call tonight. I am working at the Paralympic Games and start on Saturday, 4 a.m. So welcome back into my life, 2 a.m. alarm clock.

I am really happy to be working for another three or four weeks. After paying a few bills, the bank account is looking very thin and I was worried how I would fare for the next while until the movie industry starts back up. So this will help a LOT.

I have to go back to get re-accredited with different ID and pick up some items to modify my clothing; a small detachable Olympic symbol on the jacket's right chest will be replaced with the Paralympic 'swoosh' symbol. and there will be a piece that will somehow attach to the back over the Olympic rings that are there. Not sure what they plan to do with the writing down the side of my snow pants.

I wasn't really planning on having lazy days. I have a lot of work to do. I had just posted on the message boards for the screenwriting course I am taking, that 'I am Ba-ack!' So went back on and said, 'oops. See you in three more weeks.' I am so far behind on that course I am almost in front. I left at step 14 and everyone else in on step 42. Sigh.

CAMERA WOES, ROAD RAGE, AND PARTAY TIME

I dropped my camera the other day. I have dropped it before but this time it seems to have knocked the lens off of it's track because, when I turn it on, I can feel the gears grinding but nothing happens. Then I get a message on the screen; 'lens error'. Not good. I decide to take it down to London Drugs, where I bought it, right after work to see what it will cost to repair. Two to three hundred dollars. This camera cost me almost five hundred, but I can buy a pretty good one for what it will cost to fix this one so I leave without leaving it with them. Maybe I will open it up myself and see if I can get it back on track. Meanwhile, Ashleigh has given me an older Nikon I gave her a few years ago. She has a new camera and so never uses it. It takes great photos, it's just that the screen is the size of a large postage stamp. I will miss my newer Nikon with it's big screen and 10x optical zoom.

I climb into my van and decide to call Ashleigh to see if she and Rob want to come for dinner. As I am chatting with her, I put the car in reverse and check all around to see if anyone else is backing up. I see reverse lights in the car parked directly behind me and wait for him to back up. After several seconds of waiting, he doesn't move so I start to back up. I get 3/4 of the way out of my spot when he starts backing up. I toot the horn in warning but he keeps coming. So I lean on the horn to no avail; he still backs up. My daughter hears the horn and asks what's going on and I tell her. Somehow he manages to squeeze behind me and get out of the space and then pulls forward down the aisle. I resume backing out and follow him. Suddenly he brakes, gets out of his car, and walks back to me. "Hang on," I say to my daughter, "This guy is out of his car and walking to me." and drop the phone into my lap. I roll down my window. He pushes his face through the window and right up to mine. Barely controlled rage contorts his face and stains it a deep red. "You were jabbering on your cell phone, weren't you?" He barks at me. "Woah. You need to settle down a bit." I say. "You were jabbering on your cell phone, weren't you?" He repeats in exactly the same way as the first time. "That has nothing to do with it." I say, "I was three quarters of the way out of my spot before you started moving." "You were jabbering on that cell phone," he says, yet again, "you need to get your sh*t together lady." And with that he stalks off. I am not done with him. I lean out of my window and yell after him, "YOU backed up into ME." A burly, long haired fellow has turned from his car that he was about to get into, just across from me. He marches up to the angry man and pokes his finger at him. "SHE was out of that spot before you started to move," he shouts, "so don't you go yelling at her." I can see he is pitched to fight this guy if he has to, but the angry man just gets in his car without looking left or right, and drives away. I look over at my hero in shock and he looks back at me. "Thank YOU." I say to him. "No problem." he replies with a smile as he walks back to his car. A woman pushing a shopping cart, who has stopped in her tracks to witness all of this, gives me two thumbs up and a big grin. I smile back at her and then drive away.

I am still behind the guy when we get to a light and he goes to turn left and I go straight through. I am pissed off at him so lean on the horn as I drive by. As I continue along, I am annoyed with myself for not giving him a piece of my mind for being such a jerk. I should have asked him if it makes him feel like a big tough guy to come after women like that. I would have loved to poke the hornets nest just a little. I am wishing I would run into him again when, about ten minutes later, I turn onto the street that leads down to Fort Langley and I realize he is in front of me. I decide to follow him to see where he goes. We pass my turn-off but he turns at the next street. As I follow him he must see me in his rear view mirror because he suddenly floors it. Well I can do that too, and do. We come to a stop sign and he turns right. I turn right, after stopping, and to my surprise he's nowhere in sight. It's like he just vanished. I know that can't be the case, so slow down and check the first driveway on my right and there he is, pulling into his carport. HA! So now I know where you live. I just have to decide what I will do with that information. Nothing probably. But it gives me some satisfaction imagining a couple of options.

Last day at work today, Sunday, and all we have is workforce buses as there are no more sliding events. There's four of us scheduled. I guess that's in case we get some WOP buses but we end up getting none of those either. So I send two crew home and Dan and I take care of the rest. Dan goes home at 9 and I stay till 11 when Jessica offers to do the last bus so I can go home as well. The Impark crew have started to pack up the trailer and it's really starting to sink in that we are done.

When I get home I call my friend, Fran, to see if I can go to her place to watch the hockey game and the closing ceremonies on my nice big flat-screen TV that I loaned her for the games, as there's no cable at my house. I get her voicemail so leave a message. She doesn't call me back and I end up watching it at home alone, streamed on the computer. I thought about going to the local bar to watch it there, but I don't really want to do that alone.

I am excited when Canada wins the gold. What a game!! I even shed a few tears of joy, and I don't even like hockey. But this gold means so much more than just one game; it breaks a record for the most gold medals won by any country ever in the Winter Games. And, because the winner of the games is determined by gold medal count only, that means we won the entire games. Wow!! What an accomplishment! And with or without that win, I honestly feel like these were the best Winter Games ever. I am so proud to be a Canadian.

Monday night we have a 'wrap' party planned at the casino near where we worked. I pick Olga up and when we arrive, hardly anyone is there. Richard, the big boss, is there and it's nice that he made the effort to come. But soon he leaves and says he will be back. I assume he is going to gamble for a bit, but it turns out he has gone to Earls Restaurant nearby because so many of the kids who worked at WOP are underage and can't get into the casino. The idea for the party was mine; early on I suggested we do like after we are done shooting a movie and have a bit of a 'wrap' party. It's not put on by Game Day; we are all paying for our own food and drinks. I don't know who's idea it was for the casino as the venue but it never occurred to me, nor anyone else I guess, that there would be a problem with age. I wish the kids had spoken up so we could have changed it to all meeting at Earls instead.

Only one bus driver shows up for the party. There were supposed to be three or four. He leaves pretty early as he has a run tomorrow. By eight, another bunch have left. I am surprised at people leaving so early. But those of us that stay end up having a pretty good time, and more come and go throughout the evening. Shawn has brought his lovely Asian wife. She is like a tiny China doll. She is six months pregnant with their first child and Shawn keeps putting his hand lovingly on her belly. It's so sweet to see.

Doug, our other boss, shows up after he had been at Earls with the kids for most of their time there. We are just on our way out when we see him at the bar with a big group we didn't realize had come. We were in a room in the back. All in all, it was a nice night and I am glad I went. I give Doug my card so he can visit my website and see what I do in my normal job. He also wants this blog site so he can read about my Olympic experience while he works at his new post in Squamish for the Paralympics. Apparently he has the night shift so will be bored. I am sure he won't be too terribly surprised at my take on working at the WSC transport hub. Now that we're done, everyone seems free to express what barely controlled chaos the entire busing situation was. And, apparently, we had the best-run location with the fewest issues. Boggles the mind.












Jessica, Doug, and me.

DEAFENING SILENCE

I am a bit discouraged by the fact that I rarely get any comments on my blog. It's akin to being on a stage, I think, giving it your all and then when done everyone just looks at you with a blank face in stony silence. I follow about 7 blogs on a regular basis. They get half a dozen comments on every post, at least. So it makes me wonder what I am doing wrong, or if anyone is really interested in this blog. I know I have regular readers; my stat counter shows that quite clearly. And when I post something new, the readership jumps to between 50 and 70 for that day. But the lack of comments is not reflecting the following and I have no idea why. Maybe it's time for me to get off of the stage.