That is what the city of Vancouver was described as. Last night was the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Vancouver is apparently one of the most populated places that far north. I have visited Vancouver once in the past, years back, when my family was visiting my dad's friend's family. I can't remember that much about it anymore. I guess I was too young back then to appreciate the beauty of Canada anyways. I'd like to visit Canada again, but I'm not sure when I'll get a good opportunity.

My memories of that time are really quite hazy because I thought I had visited a tower in Vancouver. However, that had happened in Seattle, not Vancouver. I remember that my family was going to eat lunch in the restaurant of the tower (Space Needle, I believe it was called) but there was too long of a waiting time so instead we went to a small shop where I bought a bagel. It was a good bagel, I recall.

Well, I should probably get back to the subject of the Olympics before I lose my thought process. I watched the people representing each country walk in. Everything was announced in French first, then English, which I was pleased by. There aren't a lot of countries interested in the Winter Olympics compared to the Summer Olympics, but I'm still excited by it.

I noticed that some countries seemed to have a lot of people, like Russia, Germany, the USA, Japan, Canada (but of course, they're the hosts!), and so on. On the other hand, some countries only had one or two athletes. And India, despite having such a huge population, still had very few athletes (though there was a decent crowd for China). Is India not that good at sports or something? D: I do hear that they play cricket, though. But that's not really a winter sport.

I'd really like to go the Olympics myself sometime. Particularly the Summer Olympics. It's true, you can easily watch from the comfort of your home, and the camera can get closer to the people than you would be able to from your seat in the actual stadiums, but it would be nice to really be there. To really see and hear everything for yourself and to be able to look wherever you want, not just what the camera shows you. And to really be able to wave back at the athletes as they come walking out.

You know, I've dreamed of myself doing athletic things like skating or running. But I wonder if I'd ever be able to achieve such a thing.

I once said that I was interested in becoming a janitor to my parents. I think being a janitor is a noble job. You keep schools and other public places clean, even though it's hard work that must constantly be done and not necessarily for a great amount of pay. In fact, I would rather be a janitor than a soldier. A soldier is a noble job too. But I think sometimes when you get out there, and kill innocent people, and see people's fear, and be horrified by death and starvation and disease, it wouldn't seem so spiffy. I would think, "Is it really worth it for the 'great good' to be doing this? People are really, really suffering."

My father told me that he didn't think I could be a janitor because I didn't have the stamina. And he even went so far as to say that my talents would be wasted if I became a janitor. That may be so, but it was discouraging to me. I really hate to be told what I can't do. People's expectations and words can really build fences around you, fences that are barbed and would injure you terribly to climb over. But I guess that's part of what makes it exciting to chase your dreams. It's showing people that you can do things no one thought you could ever do and overcoming challenges to become a better person that is so great, kind of like people who are addicted to getting adrenaline rushes... I want to do something amazing, to leave my mark on the world, or to at least feel a sense of self-accomplishment. I think just having a small taste of victory would be enough to make me feel like life was worth living. Perhaps being a janitor doesn't seem like the most stunning, life-changing job, but you never know. One of my school janitors was able to run a 4:25 mile, back in the day. I could write a book about my experiences. I could start changes in the school The possibilities are endless. How else can a mountain be made out of a molehill?

Labels: aiming high, bagel, canada, challenge, countries, dreams, glory, hard work, india, janitor, limits, memories, mountain, olympics, potential, seattle, soldiers, vancouver, winter, wish

Seems to me like the fire department doesn't have enough to do, at least in San Jose. I saw a fire station there because I was visiting my mom's office. There were Christmas decorations up - some snowmen (fake, of course, because we don't have snow here), wreaths, and such assortment of things. I guess being a fireman is sort of like being a soldier. You're either bored or scared all the time. (You'll be waiting to be deployed, and then once you're going to have to fight it's very dangerous) I heard that firemen end up spending time playing cards and things like that, until a fire happens and they have to slide down the fireman pole. I wonder if it's true?

I think that people at my dad's work also have too much time on their hands. We went into a building that I haven't been to before, which has a cafeteria, because my dad was going to show us the new Cisco Systems jackets that just came in. I was pretty stunned by the cafeteria since it was bigger, or at least seemed bigger than my mom's workplace's cafeteria. Anyhow, apparently Cisco has a small company store in the building which sells all sorts of weird things, like pens, gifts for a baby shower, birthday cards, and even stationery (it wasn't exciting, though, so I decided not to buy any). I was not impressed by the Cisco jackets (the sleeves were kind of long for me, which is typical, and I wasn't interested in being free advertising for Cisco. Sorry, Cisco Systems. XD) and so eventually we didn't buy anything else at the store either.

Apparently at Cisco, at least in the relative area where my dad works, there is a cat club. The Cisco Cat Club takes care of stray cats by feeding them and also giving them to prospective cat owners (my dad's friend's cat was obtained in this manner, actually). Around Christmas to New Year's, Cisco will be having a forced shutdown - in other words, they make the employees use up their vacation time, and so nobody goes to work. The Cat Club was concerned about what would happen to the cats, since no one will be there to make sure they have enough to eat, so they actually set up a schedule where people actually drive to the company to feed the cats. I thought that was really extreme - here you have the chance to take a break since Cisco is making you use your vacation days and you're still going to work anyways, because the cats need to be fed.

I think my mom's group has been demoted. At her company, people are put into groups, and these groups work on different products for the company. Well, my mother and her group were on the second level of the company's building, but now they've been moved downstairs. I told my mom that she was demoted, and she sort of denied it but sort of didn't, so I'm kind of confused. Now she is in a spot near a door. It's convenient for getting in and out of the building, but it's annoying because you can hear it every time someone opens the door.

I noticed that someone had put a sign on the door saying "No Smoking within 20 Feet of the Door". It has been windy today, and people were concerned that the smokers' cigarette smoke would be blown inside when the door was opened. After eating lunch, my mom and I returned to my mom's building and saw a smoker, quite close to the door. Ugh...Maybe they need a much, MUCH bigger sign. Or a punishment. Sometimes people think rules are meant to be broken. (I heard this saying that some teenager said, "When teenagers see fences, they climb them," regarding a fence that had been erected around something to keep people out)

I just saw something really awful on television. There was a well-known song about Santa Claus playing, except in an unusual-sounding fashion. Then there was a deformed, monster-like Santa Claus on top of a roof. He smashed the chimney and climbed down the chimney. Upon seeing the cookies put out for him, he gobbled them up, even smashing the plate... Then some green dudes (elves?) with black sunglasses starting shooting at him. He fell over and a strange doctor sort of guy came over and gave Santa a shot with a syringe. Santa shrank a bit and turned into the normal Santa. It made me very angry seeing people ruining my image like this. Santa is by no means evil and violent and thus you should not shoot at Santa.

Labels: army, boredom, cat, Christmas decorations, cisco systems, club, company, demotion, door, fence, firemen, free time, holidays, jacket, santa claus, smoking, soldiers, store, teenagers

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