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

On Monday, I returned to school after having been away for several weeks. Winter break isn't all that long, but it seemed long to me because I didn't go anywhere this time. I usually travel somewhere during the breaks. Nowadays, I am concerned about saving money for retirement, and besides, I didn't want to have to adjust time zones, so I decided not to go on vacation over the winter break. Over the break, my father and I went exploring the neighborhood.

For quite a while, perhaps several years, a local place, which is called a farm (but has other things, for recreation, like a swimming pool and a golf course), had been under renovation. Sometime in 2009, the changes were done and it was reopened to the public. It was the first time I had seen the place since before it had closed for the renovating. In fact, I hadn't been there for many years, so it was like going there for the first time, practically.

It turned out that two bocce ball courts and a volleyball court had been built. There was also a trail, leading to a place that actually was like a farm (there were farm animals, like goats, cows, and I believe I saw a pony). There was a swimming pool, but it was closed because it was wintertime. It was nice to see the creek with water in it...It's depressing in the summer since the creek tends to be dried out. One of the parks near my house doesn't have water in the ponds either. My dad says that the people of my town dried it out on purpose to try and drive the birds away.

Speaking of birds, the place where I live is really infested with them. My house has birds, which is nice (though some of them look just like the finches I saw at the petshop...). But the park has many Canadian geese, which should not be; the geese already ought to have migrated by now. There's also seagulls and a few crows. My school also has this problem, especially after it rains. I like the birds, except for one time when a seagull pooped on my math homework.

When my mom's friend's family came over to our house, on New Year's Day, the TV was turned on and I started flipping channels. (There seemed to be several Educational Programming channels...Hmm.) Eventually I reached a channel where exceptional moments in music were being played, and so my mom's friend's daughter said we might as well stop there. Some singer (I forgot her name, unfortunately) was singing when a bird flew by and pooped diagonally onto her mouth! It was disgusting. But that bird had good aim.

I was pretty freaked out because I saw a dead bird today. It was pretty well squashed, something disgusting on it as well as blood... It seems like another bad sign. But it could just be my imagination. There is a lot of roadkill nowadays.

Birds aren't the only animals all over the place, though. There are also plenty of squirrels. I have some in my backyard. My mom pointed one out to me, so I ran over to the window to see. It began digging up the grass and apparently found something to eat - perhaps a nut? Then it started eating, before holding it in its mouth and climbing up the tree. The squirrel looked pretty fat. It was a greyish one (maybe that's because of the winter, it could have actually been a squirrel with brown fur). I had seen a black squirrel earlier which was quite a bit skinnier than that one. It didn't find anything to eat in my backyard. I guess the early bird - or squirrel - doesn't always get the worm (nut).

That nut looked kind of like an acorn. Was that from my yard? Or a neighbor's place? Or somewhere far away, like near my school? There are plenty of acorns there. I've always thought acorns were cool nuts. I would like to make some acorn mush, or acorn pancakes, but I'm not sure how. And what would it taste like, anyways? D:

Labels: 2010, acorn, birds, blackberry farm, bocceball, break, creek, death, explore, food, neighborhood, nuts, poop, roadkill, seagull, singer, squirrels, television, water, winter

My mother seems to think all the gifts that I pick out are pretty much useless. I missed some of my friends' birthdays, so I figured I should just go get Christmas gifts for them. I went shopping today and picked out a few things. I think the items were somewhat useful but my mom thinks they are impractical, especially because of the cost (though we had coupons, so it wasn't so bad). When we got home, my mother started digging through our old stuff...The main reason for that was my dad's work - they were having a "White Elephant" event. That's where the workers bring in a gift and the gifts are mixed up and handed out to people. Last year my dad brought in a singing bird (not a real bird!). It was a nice thing that we got from my dad's friend's daughters, but we never really used it, so it was better off in someone else's hands.

Anyhow, while my mom was looking through our old stuff she discovered various things we never even touched again, like goodie bags from parties. She deemed it all useless things that money is spent on. I think it's necessary, though, because for one thing, it's good for the economy (especially in these not-so-stable times), and for another thing, it would be really sad if no one got gifts, right? Even if the gifts weren't particularly helpful, or cost too much to be "worth" it, it's still good that people can give gifts to each other. I mean, a gift isn't only something material, it can also make you feel like people do care about you (unless it's a gift that was insulting or showed no thought).

I really am a packrat, though. Sometimes my family tries to clean things - especially the dining table, which gets heaped with newspapers, random scratch paper with math diagrams, food dishes, and the objects that are always there, like the napkin holder. My dad complained about how he wants to throw things out, but I always insist on keeping them, so he ends up having to stash it all elsewhere. Then when we're actually trying to find something we have trouble finding it. But throwing it away seems like a waste to me. It's better we keep our trash out of the Pacific Gyre. (That's a trash heap in the Pacific Ocean, I believe. I heard it was the size of Texas...Talk about scary.) And did you know what I heard once? The two things on Earth that are visible from Outer Space are the Great Wall of China and a garbage dump in New Jersey. Wow.

On to some other news. Today, since I was at a local mall, I stopped by at Coldstone Creamery. It is still, and will remain, my favorite ice cream store. I heard some noise, so I found the source of it...A band from an elementary school was playing Christmas music on a lower level of the mall. I realized that it could even be my elementary school because my band teacher in elementary school was there. I could recognize the music because I had played it myself, several years back. It's so weird not to be playing band anymore. I know I wouldn't be good at a wind instrument because I can't breathe that well (though I don't have asthma), but still. Sure does bring back memories of the old times.

Lately, the weather has been funny. It's quite cold - in fact, my mother said it was ten degrees colder than it usually is (well, at this time of year, in this area, I would assume). It even snowed on the nearby mountains, which was really pretty. It's been either foggy or cloudy these days and so it rains often. The fog makes me confused about the time of day since it covers up the sun. I end up getting up late some mornings because of it (not schooldays, I have to get up as normal then). I also get shocked at how dark it is early in the evening. I suppose I have to get used to it. The winter hasn't even "officially" started yet, I think. So there are still a few more months to go. I figure the summer will also be extreme to balance out the unusually cold winter. Probably it'll be roasting and no one except for those cyclists in matching suits will even try to go outside.

Maybe I should go travel somewhere in the summer, to get away from the extreme weather. What kind of place would have mild weather? I would like to go to Europe - like Barcelona, Spain, or Venice, Italy - and a cruise ship would be preferred, but we still haven't made up our minds. You always need to book these kinds of things way ahead of time so I suppose I have to make a decision so we can go somewhere in the summer. I decided to stay home this winter break, which is rare for me. But I don't want to spend money on traveling anymore because I end up getting airsick, carsick, or seasick from it. XD

Labels: band, christmas, coldstone creamery, elementary school, europe, gift, junk, mall, music, outer space, snow, summer, time, trash, travel, vacation, weather, white elephant, winter

Top ↑