Bud Greenspan Presents

I was checking The Movie Network on demand to see if there was anything worth watching. I found a documentary about the 2010 Vancouver Olympics:

Bud Greenspan Presents: Vancouver 2010 Stories of Olympic Glory

What a treat. Being the Olympic fan that I am, I was surprised that I hadn't heard about it before. I thought it was a Canadian film but it's American.

I watched this film that included some amazing stories.

It started with the women's moguls. Jennifer Heil attempting (and failing) to win Canada's first medal. They told the story from Jennifer's perspective as well as the gold medal winner Hannah Kearney from the United States. It was told well enough that I still thought it was a Canadian documentary.

Other great stories included:

• Canadian Clara Hughes who won her 6th Olympic medal competing in winter and summer Olympics.
• The Chinese pairs figure skaters (3 pairs in the top 4)
• Petra Majdic the cross-country skier who won a bronze medal with five broken ribs and a collapsed lung.
• The American nordic ski team who became the first Americans to win a medal in their sport and left Vancouver with four medals.
• women's and men's ice hockey

The stories included interviews with the athletes looking back on their challenges and achievements. It was wonderful to be brought back and see highlights from the games including the opening and closing ceremonies.

Sadly, I learned afterwards that Bud Greenspan (who has directed numerous Olympic films) passed away in December 2010. This was his last documentary.

Meet and Greet with Erik Guay

Originally published on My Life Is Like A Song on October 25, 2010

I love living in Toronto, although I almost just missed this opportunity.

I was cleaning out my emails this afternoon when I came upon an email from Sporting Life that came in last week. Erik Guay would be in my neighbourhood tonight. Luckily it's only a few blocks away, so between dinner and my son's guitar lesson, I managed to get away to meet a World Cup Champion and Olympian.

When I went to the Olympics last year, the downhill race was on the opening weekend when I would be there, but the logistics of getting up to Whistler the morning after the Opening Ceremonies was not possible in my reality. Yes, rather than taking a bus and ferry to Victoria, I could have taken a bus to Whistler (and possibly stayed up all night), but I did try to do my Olympic trip on a realistic budget. The downhill was delayed due to inclement weather so by the time it was run two days later, I was in Vancouver having spent the night there after the Men's Moguls. With an extra day to spend in Vancouver, I chose to go to Canada House to watch the Olympics with fellow Olympic fans. I was thrilled to watch the downhill while enjoying my poutine, and although we all hope for medals...I (and many Canadians) understand that a 5th place finish in a downhill is an amazing accomplishment. He would double that accomplishment with a 5th in the Giant Slalom a few days later.

This would be the beginning of his incredible end of season when he would win the World Cup Overall Title. He's the first Canadian since Steve Podborski in 1982 to win a "Crystal Globe".

Here's the video of his Championship winning run. Coming from behind in the standings, he needed to be close to winning and needed his competitors to be further behind.



I arrived at Sporting Life more than one hour after his arrival. There was no longer an organized line-up, so it was difficult to figure out who was waiting and who was hanging around. As it looked like Erik was offering his seat to John Kucera who had just arrived, I moved forward to get his autograph not wanting to miss my opportunity.

Speaking to him in his native french, he asked me where I was from. We talked about his Olympic accomplishments (and where I was during the Olympics). He shared that he didn't get to spend as much time in Vancouver as he would have liked. I congratulated him on his World Cup title and that is when I spotted the Crystal Globe. I hadn't paid much attention to the table since my arrival. I asked him if that was the original "Crystal Globe" and he said it was. He asked me if I wanted a photo of it, so I got my camera out. He insisted that I also be in the photo so he asked someone he knew to take the photo.


I then met John Kucera who was a last minute addition to the event. Last year, I was bummed when he broke his leg a few months before the Olympic Games. He had won the downhill at the World Championships in 2009.

Here's that winning run:


and the anthem:


He was a great hope for our alpine ski team and I felt for him that he would miss competing in his home country. Being a late addition, they didn't have any personalized cards for him to sign like Erik did. I hesitated, but asked him if he minded signing my Olympic pamphlet even if he wasn't there as a competitor. I had brought the pocket size book I received with my Olympics ticket in case they didn't have anything in particular for autographs. He was very understanding and was happy to sign it. I asked him how he felt working at the Olympics rather than competing and he said that he enjoyed it having accepted his fate and was looking forward to the next Olympics. I did enjoy his opinions and analysis at the Olympics. He was very knowledgeable and natural. Perhaps this misfortune could end up leading to a second career once he retires from competitive skiing.


Later edit: annoyed at myself for not linking to my original post from when Erik won the overall title last winter. You can read that post here.

Erik Guay...Overall Super-G Champion!

Originally posted on My Life Is Like A Song on March 13, 2010

Last April, I wrote a blog entitled "Lose Canada Lose".

In it I was saying that so many times, Canada would send World Champions to the Olympics only to have them crash and burn (sorry Kurt Browning, Jeremy Wotherspoon, Perdita Felicien, and others).

Last year, our Canadian teams weren't faring so well. The media was giving them a hard time, but for me, I was thinking (at the time), it's the Olympics that matter. I didn't mind if our men's curling team, women's curling team, figure skaters and women's hockey team didn't win at the World Championships. Let's wait and see how they do at the Olympics.

It's funny to read that post now. Three of those ended up winning gold (men's curling, women's hockey and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir), one silver (women's curling) and one bronze (Joannie Rochette) at the Olympics.

Was I disappointed when Jennifer Heil didn't win gold? Yes I was, because I thought it could have just taken the pressure off of everyone else for her to win on the first full day of competition.

But then when Alex Bilodeau won our first gold medal, I was satisfied with Heil's silver medal. How many athletes go into the Olympics as world champions and don't medal at all?

So now that the Olympics are over, I am really enjoying seeing the athletes succeed on the World stage.

This week, Erik Guay (who came in very respectably 5th twice at the Olympics - once 0.03 seconds off the bronze medal in the Super-G) won his first Super-G race last Sunday in Norway (he had won a downhill race in 2007), followed by a bronze in the downhill and won the last Super-G race in Germany on Thursday to take the overall Super-G title. What a week for him!!

He is the first Canadian since Steve Podborski in 1982 to win an overall alpine skiing title.

Would it have been great for him to win a medal at the Olympics? Of course, but all our deserving athletes can't win, can they? There are many other deserving athletes from other countries as well.

Alexandre Bilodeau won the Men's Moguls against the reigning World Champion (and best mogul skier in the world). We could say that Dale Begg-Smith "deserved" it more, but that is sports. It's unpredictable and on any given day, anyone (ok, not ANYONE) but any of the top can win.

So I say, well done Erik Guay!! You should be very proud of your Olympics and your World Cup Title.

And I say good luck to Jennifer Heil who has a 149 point advantage going into the last two Moguls events. She is hoping to win the overall title for a record-tying 5th time.

To Alexandre Bilodeau, I say well done at the Olympics...and you can't win them all. He injured his ankle on Friday and couldn't compete. He hopes to be better for the Finale on March 18th. Funny how things happen.

The Olympic Spirit

Originally posted on My Life Is Like A Song on February 27, 2010

The 2010 Winter Olympics are the most successful games for Canada. We have won 13 gold medals and 25 medals overall with one day to go.

This is quite an accomplishment. It is the most gold medals by a host country (winter or summer) and matches the most gold medals by a country at a Winter Olympic Games.

So why can't the media (and some Canadians) wait for the end of the Games before criticizing. Since the beginning of the Games, there has been criticism about our performance. There has been criticism about the Own The Podium program.

I remember in 2008 at the Beijing Games, the media did the same thing. I wrote a blog post about it here. The post was entitled "Is Winning Everything?". The part of it that I want to highlight for this post is :

We are only 5 days into the Games. We have never started out strongly. Every Olympics, this is how the discussion goes. How poorly we are doing. I'm not saying that we are definitely going to do better this time around. What I am saying is that at day 5 in the past, we haven't necessarily been doing much better.

Curtis Myden was the first male athlete to win a medal in 1996 (I remember because my husband and I were struggling to name our unborn son...so we joked that we would choose the name of the first gold medallist (which we changed to medallist when he won)). So not sure if there was a female medallist before him. He won a bronze on July 25th. The opening ceremonies were on the 19th. According to my calculations, that is on day 6. In 1996, we ended up winning 22 medals. Second only to our result at the boycotted 1984 games.

So I say, relax people!!! Wait until the games are over, then give your critical evaluations if we don't perform up to par.

So again, this year, there has been criticism in the first week about how badly we were performing. How some of our favourites weren't measuring up. If people weren't criticizing our lack of performance, they were criticizing "Own The Podium" as being un-Canadian. Even if our goal of winning the most medals wasn't realistic, one of my favourite quotes is..."aim for the moon, even if you don't reach it, you might end up among the stars".

And look where we ended up. We won more gold medals than any other country and for the record, the IOC determine the "winning' country as the one with the most gold medals.

I still agree with my previous post about whether winning is everything. The situation I was writing about then is the opposite of what is happening on Sunday. At the last Olympics, the media (and some Canadians) were arguing that we shouldn't spend money sending athletes to the Olympics who were not going to medal. I argued that point.

Now the media (and some Canadians) are arguing that the cross-country coach should let Brian McKeever race in the 50k race even if he is the 5th best in our country. They are saying that one of our top 4 should step aside even if they feel good enough to race, in order to let him race because he is disabled and it would send a "good" message.

I don't think that winning is everything, but I do believe that at an event like the Olympics, we should field the best that we have. If the best we have is a bronze medal, a 10th place, a 40th or 100th place, that's the best we can do.

I would have LOVED for that to include Brian McKeever. I was so excited when I heard that he would be competing at the Olympics and the Paralympics. But I thought he was in the top 4 for his event. I didn't understand that he had qualified as our 5th team member (and perhaps I am wrong about that, but I did read that he was our alternate).

Every sporting team have their alternates for a reason...in case of injury, illness or lack of performance. Should our hockey coach put Theoren Fleury in for the gold medal game because he hasn't played yet? No, he should put what he thinks is our best goalie. If Brian McKeever is a better skier than one of the other 4, he should race because he deserves it, not because he has a disability so we should show the world what "nice" people we are.

My kids asked why we only had three speed skaters on the top of the podium for the Men's Speed Skating Pursuit when the other teams had four. I explained that our fourth skater didn't participate in the races. I don't know the exact reason, but I would think that our fourth skater did not give us our best chance at advancing, and our top three felt strong enough to skate in every race.

Some people are comparing the Brian McKeever situation to the "Snow Leopard", the skier from Ghana who competed in the slalom race today. I loved this story. Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong was born in Scotland but grew up in Ghana. He learned to ski in the last decade in Britain (at an indoor artificial hill). I read about him before the Opening Ceremonies and took a photo of him entering the stadium as the flagbearer.

What I say is that Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong is the best skier from Ghana. Brian is not the best skier we have...it's a completely different situation.

The Olympics is not all about winning to me. There will only be one winner and three medalists. Every country should try to field their best team, and every athlete should try their best...it's the Olympics not a popularity contest. That is what the Olympic spirit means to me.

Men's Moguls...Canada's First Gold At Home

First published on February 23, 2010 on My Life Is Like A Song

I arrived in Vancouver on the sea plane from Victoria and was very excited to see the lit cauldron. When I had landed the day of the Opening Ceremony, it was covered. I hadn't seen the outdoor one yet, so as we landed in the harbour, I took the time to take photos. You can see the three posts I wrote about Day 1 here (arriving in Vancouver), here (pre-opening ceremony) and here (Opening Ceremony).

I walked up to the cauldron where I met a Japanese tourist. She was also at the Opening Ceremonies on Friday and was very excited about seeing the cauldron. She asked me to take her photo and she then took mine.

The fence is a bit of an eyesore, but I was still able to get some great shots by putting my camera right up to it.

I especially love this one.

I then walked over to the seabus terminal and arrived on the north shore with plenty of time before my assigned bus time up to Cypress Mountain. I got myself a fruit bowl and went out to to the quay to take in the view, take photos and enjoy the sun that made its first appearance on my trip.

My bus was scheduled to leave at 11:25am. The bus was full at 11:20am so we left ahead of schedule. Incredible organization on getting us to the mountain.

For the second time at the Games, security is no problem. It's like going through at an airport. They take your bags through an x-ray machine, you empty your pockets and then walk through a metal detector. There were only a few people in line ahead of me and I am quickly through security.

I continue my walk to the mountain and pass by the portable toilets (seriously?) and a very very long line-up for food. I'm happy I had my fruit bowl and have a snack in my bag. As we passed, workers did warn us that this was a short line-up compared to what it would be. They weren't kidding!

I make my way to my seat, and take in the view... gorgeous ...

I arrived a couple of hours before the start of the event, but time went by quite quickly. There was a 45 minute practice session, there was commentary and I learned that I was in the same venue as my favourite mogul skier, Jean-Luc Brassard (1994 gold medallist) who was doing commentary for RDS (Réseau des Sports), the French Canadian version of TSN. As they announce that he is there, I take a photo of someone who is at the window of the RDS booth behind me. It looked like him, and I will continue to believe that it was him.

Interestingly, I just looked online to get a recent photo of him because I haven't seen his face in over a decade. The video clip that I stumble upon is from a program called "La flamme de la Francophonie" (The Francophone Flame) and he talks about finding your passion and pursuing it. I guess it's a common theme, or once something is in your head, it pops up everywhere.

At this point, I realize that I am only going to see every skier twice. I decided not to photograph or video during the final round which meant choosing whether to video or photograph on their first runs. During the qualification round, I took a video of Alexandre Bilodeau instead of photos. I knew he was our best chance at a medal. I took photos of the world's number 1, Dale Begg-Smith who is originally from Vancouver but competes for Australia.

I also took photos of Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau (nicknamed P.A. - pronounced in french P=pay A=soft a like in cat) whose brother was sitting behind me. This photo of P.A. ended up being my favourite:

P.A.'s brother (and friends) are very knowledgeable about moguls, so I thoroughly enjoyed their (French) commentary and I learned a lot about what to look for. I learned that even though a skier may be fast, their turns were not as good, so although they would get time points, they would lose style points. They could easily see when a skier was being bounced around and would lose points. They often predicted correctly where a skier would end up. It was also fun to have a more personal experience by hearing their excitement over P.A.'s performances (and his teammates and friends).

Every skier was introduced and they lined up at the bottom for a photo in the order that they qualified for the final.


The Canadian skiers were ushered through the media maze in order to be interviewed by RDS.


I like this photo of P.A. during his interview.


There was then a two hour break where people lined up for food, souvenirs or portable toilets. The food venues included two tents, each about the size of a McDonald's counter (or smaller). The ski chalet was in another area of the hill (and probably reserved for athletes and their entourage). During the break, there were thousands of people in line. The line was so long that I took a video walking from the back to the front of the line. It took me over two minutes to walk along the 2-4 people wide line to the point where the people would enter the roped zig zag line for one of the tents (and where that line-up ended when I first arrived and I thought it was long). The other tent's line went the other way. I was glad I had my snack. On the bright side, the line up for the (portable) toilets was only about 10 minutes.

The final round was amazing. I didn't take the camera or video camera out until it was all over. I wanted to completely enjoy the moment. Vincent Marquis, a Canadian was in first place when P.A. came down. P.A. had an amazing run and was cheering looking up at his brother and friends behind me. He was in 2nd place! The next skier was another Canadian, Maxime Gingras. The crowd was so enthusiastic and cheering, 1-2-3!! 1-2-3!! Unfortunately, his score wasn't high enough to have an all-Canadian temporary podium. After every skier, the crowd would go crazy with the Canadians still with potential podium finishes. The astmosphere was electric. Vincent and P.A. lasted in first and second until the 4th last skier came down.

When the Canadian-born Aussie Dale Begg-Smith came down and took first place, it burst our bubble a little, but we knew we still had a shot with Alexandre Bilodeau coming down second last.

After Alexandre's run, he was announced as the leader (ahead of his biggest rival Begg-Smith) and the crowd went crazy. I was so excited that we were guaranteed a silver medal. Everyone waited with baited breath as the last skier came down and we awaited the final standings.

GOLD for Bilodeau. GOLD for Canada. Our first gold medal won on Canadian soil.

In case you missed his run, you can view it here.

I have never heard cheering as loudly as I did that day...even louder than at the Opening Ceremonies. We are jumping up and down and celebrating this great feat by Alexandre Bilodeau.

Will this be remembered as a moment in Canadian sports history when people will wonder where we were when we won our first gold medal on Canadian soil? I will be very lucky to be able to say, I was there.

At this point, I moved more centrally as some people have left I'm sure with hopes of catching one of the first buses back to Vancouver. I take my camera out and take photos of the podium and flower ceremony.

I took a short video of the podium, but I am shaking so much that it's quite comical. I was so cold at this point, from not wearing my mitts to take photos and not being surrounded by people like I was when the stands were packed.

My friends had found me a hotel room in Vancouver, so I wasn't in a rush to leave to catch the ferry back to Victoria. I went down to the General Admission area and watched as the skiers left and accepted congratulations, including P.A. from Quebec Premier Jean Charest.


Finally, after all his interviews, Alexandre Bilodeau came by while on the telephone. I don't think he was able to hear anything though with the crowd still cheering.


Time to leave the mountain. As I start walking to the exit, I notice that the souvenir shop is still open and there is no line-up to get in so I enter and purchase a couple of Cypress Mountain freestyle t-shirts and a stuffed mascot for my daughter.

As I get to the bus line-up (which is basically every spectator that was there, since I was in the minority in taking my time to get to the line-up), I realize that I'm hungry. It's about 7:30pm. Since that bowl of fruit this morning, I have only eaten a few almonds. I am still feeling quite cold because I continued to keep my mitts off while I took photos of the departing skiers. My granola bar is frozen, and it's difficult to chew with me shivering, but I am still so happy.

What a day!!

Opening Ceremony

Originally published on February 21, 2010 on My Life Is Like A Song

There was too much material for one post, so you can view my pre-ceremony post by clicking here. This is the beginning of the ceremony.

I decided to video the beginning of the Opening Ceremony, so with one hand I had my video camera and with my other I lifted by tambourine during the countdown.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

It's such a fine line between being able to truly be present in a moment and wanting to have a photograph or video as a memento. A small disappointment for me was because we weren't told where to look, I am looking all over wondering how the ceremony would begin. I got distracted by seeing someone emerge from the floor in the centre. I couldn't tell at the time that it was a camera man. I should have figured it out with the ramp beside me, but hindsight is 20/20...so with the camera rolling, I catch the snowboarder after he has come through the rings and lands on the ramp beside me.

Whether to take photos or not also caught me in a very uncharacteristic moment. I rarely move during our national anthem. Often even if I'm alone at home, I will stand during the national anthem, but this time...I couldn't resist videotaping the national anthem...which isn't too bad, but then half way through, put it down to take photos. It was so beautiful, with the flag on the screen, the flag just raised, the Olympic rings and Nikki Yanofski in a red dress on the stage.

I love so many things about Canada, but one of the things I love the most about Canada is the seasons. Although I love summer the most...loving the heat and sunshine, I probably wouldn't appreciate it so much without the other seasons. I love the beauty of the fall colours. Almost every fall I am out taking photos of the leaves turning colours and it was one of the first paintings I did when I took a painting class last year. I love the pureness and beauty of the snow. I love the crunching sound on a very cold day after a snowstorm. I love the hope of buds growing on trees in the spring.

With my love of seasons, it was perfect when the seasons were so prominent in the opening ceremony. When they first came walking out with the snow falling, I thought it was SO beautiful. Later when the emphasis was on the maple leaves during the fiddling segment and leaves were falling in the audience, I was in awe.

"We Are More", the poem by Shane Koycsan was also a highlight. Although there was too much for me to absorb in the moment, some lines definitely resonated with me. I especially loved when my daughter i.m.'d me saying "please and thank you lol".

The standing ovation that the Georgian team received as they entered the stadium was very emotional.

Being married to a Brit, I was excited when Great Britain entered the stadium led by the Skeleton athlete Shelly Rudman (and I didn't know it at the time, but my favourite Brit winter Olympian David Murdoch is in the photo).


When the United States of America entered led by luger Mark Grimmette, it was the largest cheer up to that point. There were a lot of American flags in the crowd.



The big highlight has to be when Canada entered the stadium. The crowd was thunderous. The flags were waving everywhere. I don't think I had ever heard cheering like that.


I thought the musical performances represented Canada well. Bryan Adams, Nelly Furtado, Joni Mitchell and Sarah McLachlan are very well known (and loved) outside of Canada so they were great choices. k.d. lang was incredible, but that Leonard Cohen song (that she covered on her 2004 album Hymns of the 49th Parallel) has been so overplayed on American and Canadian Idol (and X Factor) since that I'm almost tired of it. The fact that she does it so incredibly well and with such passion made it a musical highlight for most I think.

When the Olympic flag came out, I forgot that some of our great Canadians would be carrying it. So the announcement of these flag bearers was very exciting for me. I had really tried not to think about who would be bringing the Olympic torch into the stadium, so most of these great Canadians (except for Terry Fox's mother) hadn't come to my mind, until the announcement.

Carrying the Olympic flag, Betty Fox, Bobby Orr, Jacques Villeneuve, Anne Murray, Donald Sutherland, Roméo Dallaire, Barbara Ann Scott and Julie Payette.


It was SO exciting when Rick Hansen wheeled the Olympic flame in. A few days before, I was asked by a television reporter in Victoria who I thought would light the cauldron (or who I wanted to). I hadn't really wanted to think about it because I was hoping to be surprised. I answered Terry Fox's mother Betty as one choice. I said Simon Whitfield. I said it would have been great for Rick Hansen and Steve Nash but they had already carried the torch a few days before. My final answer was that I could name 20 people or 100 people that I would be happy to see light the cauldron. It was too difficult to choose just one.

I guess the organizers felt that way too choosing to have 4 people light the cauldron. Catriona Le May Doan, Steve Nash, Nancy Green and Wayne Gretzky.

When I heard the french announcer say MVP...I couldn't believe that Steve Nash was there. I thought I had read in the newspaper that after he carried the torch in the relay the day before he had left to go to the NBA All Star weekend. I was SO excited to see him carry the torch in the stadium.

With the problems with the hydraulics, there was a delay, so I took the opportunity to stop videotaping and took photos of the torchbearers waiting.

I didn't realize that there was a problem, so when I saw the multiple pillars, I was so excited to see that they were all going to light the cauldron. I can see now when I watch my video (after having seen it on tv) that there is a hole where the fourth pillar was to come up, but at the time I didn't notice it. I wondered why Catriona was just standing there, but still didn't think anything was wrong. I thought perhaps she had another role to play. I was to later learn of the problems. I wish she had gone over to one of the other three or taken over Wayne Gretzky's since he would light the one outdoors. I just read that she considered joining Nash but was instructed not to...bummer. They were also on a timeline because the torches would only stay alight for so long. I saw an interview with Catriona that said that they extinguished the minute they walked out. This is also the reason that they replaced Rick Hansen's torch when he arrived and gave Wayne Gretzky a new one when he left the venue.

Once the ceremony was over, we were told that we could stay to watch Wayne Gretzky light the cauldron on the big screen, but I was really concerned about how long it would take to get everyone out of the stadium. If I missed my bus to the ferry, my hosts would have to make some calls to their friends to find me a place to sleep in Vancouver. I really didn't want to inconvenience anyone, even if they did say that it was no problem.

So I gathered my mementos and my cameras and headed to the door (where we were sucked out because of the higher pressure inside that holds the roof up) and walked out in the pouring rain. Considering that it was supposed to rain the whole time I was there, this was one of the few times that I was caught in the rain during my entire trip. I was on such a high that really, I didn't mind the rain. I arrived at the bus terminal 45 minutes before it was scheduled to leave...enough time to recharge my iPhone a bit for the 4 hour commute back to Victoria.

There was very little traffic so we did arrive at the ferry early. We got off the bus once it was on the ferry and I went up to the 6th deck (or was it the 5th?) where I found a television showing the ski jumping and then the beginning of the Opening Ceremony. I never thought that I would think this, but the ferry ride went way too quick. The nations were about to enter the stadium when we were instructed to go back to the bus :-(

It was wonderful to see the beginning of the Opening Ceremony on television and see what it looked like to the rest of the world. I look forward to seeing the rest...maybe once the Olympics are over and I'm back to my regular television viewing hours, I'll make the time.

Stay tuned for my recount of Canada's first gold medal on Canadian soil...next post: Men's Moguls.

Fueling the Fire

Originally published on My Life Is Like A Song on January 9, 2010

As many of you know, in just over a month, I will be going to the Olympics.

I intially managed to secure myself an Opening Ceremonies ticket. A friend of mine who has decided not to go is selling me one of her Men's Moguls tickets (at face value). Securing other tickets is looking pricey as the fan-to-fan Olympics website (where ticket holders are reselling their tickets on the Olympic website who are confirming the tickets are legit) have tickets for sale that are going for much more than face value.

I've had a mixed reaction from friends to my news that I am going to the Olympics. I've had people who are over the top excited for me. These people either have known me a long time and know how passionate I am about the Olympics...or it's someone I haven't known that long...but I guess long enough for them to have experienced an Olympics with me. One that stands out in my mind said "of all people, this should happen to you"...and it surprised me, because I didn't think she knew me that well. The other supportive ones are other acquaintances who have had more exciting adventures themselves than the Olympics...so to them, it's a realistic choice, just not one they're choosing (or they are also going).

The others, who think perhaps I'm a little crazy either can't imagine me doing something so extravagant, or perhaps know that I have never travelled on my own besides business trips (and perhaps don't remember my business trips). I never did the Europe backpacking thing...so I guess this is my equivalent of that.

So, this post is for those who think I'm crazy. I'll just fuel the fire.

My friend who is selling me the ticket, forwarded a message she received about the Olympic Bus Network. I realized today (I'm normally so on top of doing my homework, but somehow missed this) that the only way to get to Cypress Mountain for the Moguls Event (and other events) is via three "hubs".

The friends I am staying with in Victoria had told me that it would be "so easy" for me to get to Vancouver (and Cypress Mountain) for the Olympics. I trusted their (ok, his - I'll let her off the hook for this) opinion...not that I would choose anything else, had I known ahead of time.

They (he) said that to get to Cypress Mountain would be so easy. They (he)'d drive me to Nanaimo. The ferry would take me very close to Cypress Mountain (on the map, it looks like I could walk there - he's not lying but I'm exaggerating a bit). The problem is that during the Olympics, the shuttles are coming in from North Vancouver and Burnaby, so I have to ride 45 minutes (including a bus transfer from the ferry) east...only to ride 30+ minutes back west on "approved" transportation.

It looks like I won't be going this route. Rather than getting my friends to drive me to Nanaimo very early in the morning, I think my best choice is to travel by bus from Victoria to the ferry. The bus boards the ferry and then would drive me downtown. This seems a wiser choice. Less hassle for my hosts and less on and off transportation vehicles for me (I think). I would also get some shut-eye this way as well (as long as I'm not too excited to sleep).

So here's where I give fuel to the fire to my friends who think I'm crazy. My tentative schedule for my Moguls day looks like this:

5ish taxi
5:15 arrive at bus terminal (ok, 5:05 - it's very close)
5:45 am leave Victoria bus terminal
7am (without getting off the bus...board ferry)
8:45am arrive Tsawwassen (stay on bus)
9:30am arrive downtown Vancouver

walk/take public transit to Waterfront
Board seabus to Lonsdale Quay (15 minute ride)

Board bus at Lonsdale Quay (that I have to reserve a time now - how do I know what time I'll get there? lol) that will take me to Cypress Mountain (30 minute drive).

So, in summary, I'll leave my friends' place at 5am for a 2:30pm event (ok, I do want to arrive there early to enjoy the environment and atmosphere).

The event ends at 6:30pm...too late to catch the 7:30pm bus from downtown (have to take a bus and seabus to get there) so I'll have to wait until 10:30pm to leave downtown Vancouver to arrive in Victoria at 2:20am.

I do find it interesting that they added morning/afternoon ferries back to Victoria during the Olympics, but not evening ones (they added a midnight ferry after the regular 9pm one - a 3 hour difference when most events end early evening) ...hmph...who is going to Victoria before events end?

So am I crazy? To witness a 2:30-6:30pm event, I'll leave at 5am and return at 2:30am...almost 24 hours. Water does make the commute more tricky, but it kind of is like staying in Windsor for the Toronto Olympics and coming in for the day (or Toronto for the Detroit Olympics...maybe the border equals the ferry and seabus). Sounds crazy, but if it's your only free accommodation, wouldn't you do it? I would!! And I'm VERY thankful!!!

To be fair, my friends did mention that perhaps we would find a friend in Vancouver who would have a spare couch for me. I had a friend from Toronto who considered going. She lived in Vancouver so knows a lot of people there. I had hoped that she would join me, but it doesn't look like it will happen. Whether I find a friend or a friend of a friend in the Vancouver area or not, I think that this will be a highlight of my life...and whether my friends think I'm crazy or not....they may be right...but I don't regret my choice.

I'm glad I am doing it, while I am still young enough to enjoy it (and endure the early mornings/late nights).

Open Happiness

Originally post on My Life Is Like A Song on December 19, 2009

The first thing that I want do
Make sure that you feel it too
So I'm not the only one

Coke introduced a new campaign last January entitled Open Happiness and had a song in its commercials.

They have released a Canadian version of the song that they are using during the Olympic Torch Relay. I heard it the other night at the City Torch Relay Celebration.



This version features Kardinal Offishall, Bedouin Soundclash's Jay Malinowski, and cœur de pirate. This is reminding me that a friend (stv) had recommended cœur de pirate a while ago. Just realized I never downloaded any of her songs, so just went to download Comme des Enfants as a start. It's funny how things come around sometimes. She'll be performing in Vancouver and Whistler during the Olympics.

They also have a bilingual version where cœur de pirate sings her part in French.



I love Jay Malinowski's voice. I noticed it the other night when the song started playing. I'll definitely be looking into Bedouin Soundclash again. I loved When The Night Feels My Song from a few years ago, but didn't download more than that.

Kardinal won the Juno Award for Single of the Year for Dangerous in 2009 and performs on the Estelle track Magnificient. I'm sure he has a lot more credits, but these are the two songs that appear on our iTunes playlist. He ran in the Torch Relay 15 minutes earlier than I saw it in my neighbourhood. Cool!

The song can be downloaded for free at www.icoke.ca

C'mon lift me up
it's a brand new day
Open up a lil happiness today

They're Just Walls

Originally published on My Life Is Like A Song on November 3, 2009

It doesn't matter what's in front of you
It's smaller than it seems
So don't you stop
Until they fall
They're just walls
(Walls by Ross Copperman)

A few weeks ago, I read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. If you think back a year or two, you may remember the professor who had terminal cancer and gave a "last lecture" - Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.

My mother was reading it over Thanksgiving weekend and I got it the following week to read.
The timing of me reading this book was perfect since the possibility of me achieving one of my childhood dreams is just around the corner.

You will know that in the last month, I have been thinking about my Olympic dream and trying to find out how to make it happen.

My favourite quote from The Last Lecture is:

Brick walls are there for a reason:
they let us prove how badly we want things.

I have been talking about brick walls a lot in the past few weeks. I have been thinking about all the brick walls I have come across with relation to my Olympic Dream in particular (and my other dreams).

Yesterday, one of my favourite singers posted a song on his My Space page. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard it. You can listen to it at www.myspace.com/rosscopperman

Here are the lyrics (as I hear them):

Maybe it's the way they look at you
Their eyes telling you
That everything you do
Is never going to be good enough
They'll try to crush
The love you have inside
When you're just about to fly

So don't give up
Find your way around
Yeah don't give in
Til they all come crashing down
It doesn't matter what's in front of you
It's smaller than it seems
So don't you stop
Until they fall
They're just walls

I'm my own worse enemy
Sometimes I can't see
The forest through the trees
I get lost
I get paralyed
Then I realize
That I can see a light
Breaking through the other side

So don't give up
Find your way around
Yeah don't give in
Til they all coming crashing down
It doesn't matter what's in front of you
It's smaller than it seems
So don't you stop
Until they fall
They're just walls

When I told my husband (who has a blog about coincidences) he said (and this is my favourite quote for today):

"That's not a coincidence, that's the definition of synchronicity".

So, my dream to attend the Olympic Games may still not come true. I'm not saying that just because I read a book or sing a song that I will be able to surmount the walls I keep coming up against, but it is giving me motivation to try to scale them, go around them or knock them down.

If my dream doesn't come true, I will remember another great quote by Randy Pausch:

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted.

2010 Olympic Relay

Originally published on My Life Is Like A Song on October 30, 2009

The Olympic Torch Relay began today. Is Canada excited?

I got invited (along with million others) to join the world's "longest wave". Petro Canada is broadcasting people on webcam doing the wave. You can view it here. But seriously...I want to be there!! Not doing the wave in my living room. Is that too much to ask?

I think I was excited in 1988 when Calgary hosted. From where I am presently sitting, I can see my "Share The Flame" book from the '88 Torch Relay.

So, we have another Torch Relay in this country...and it makes me want to cry rather than cheer.

At the moment, I can't imagine wanting to buy a book about the 2010 Torch Relay if I'm not part of it. I can barely watch the news about it. I feel that I should be excited about the torch arriving in my home country...about us hosting the Games. I was so excited when it was first announced (at the time I thought I would be there)...but now it makes me want to cry...thinking that I won't be a part of our home Olympics.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not bitter enough to not want to go to the Toronto celebrations when the Torch arrives (it's been on my calendar all year - although it's been in my calendar with the assumption that I would be carrying the torch...but it's still in my calendar now that I know I won't).

The relay is described as reaching most Canadians...going within an hour or of 90% of Canadians.  At the moment, I want to find a friend who will be carrying the Flame and go cheer him/her on wherever they are rather than watch a stranger carry the flame on Yonge Street at the end of my street!! I'm also planning on being downtown for the celebrations.

I have been on the mailing list for the games for a couple of years. I looked into getting tickets when they first went on sale, then chickened out when I realized how much it would cost for a family of 4 to go to Vancouver for the Games.

I mentioned on an earlier post about the dreams I listed in 1996. One was to attend the Olympic Games.

In 2008, I amended that dream to running in the Torch Relay (instead of attending). I figured this was a more realistic goal. At the time, it never occurred to me that I wouldn't be chosen. I figured that for my dream to be to go to the Olympics...running in the relay would be so much easier...no travelling involved...and really, being involved with the Olympics is my destiny, right?

Apparently not!

I am still trying to make this dream a reality...but it's not easy.

The relay was depressing me...except that two of my favourite Olympians got to carry the torch today...Simon Whitfield and Alexandre Despatie...that brought a smile to my face.

(not my photo)

and really, if Simon Whitfield and Catriona Lemay Doan don't get the torch to themselves (and Alexandre Despatie and Silken Laumen get to share, what chance do I have?)

This post is changing to a chronological event...

7:52pm I start writing this blog
8:30pm my husband comes upstairs to ask me a question...but changes it to "have you been crying?"
I let him read the beginning of my blog...he starts to understand my mindset and is hugging me when the phone rings.

8:35pm our friend calls. I think he's calling because of my question I asked him about accommodation in Vancouver during the Olympic Games and whether it's a possibility if I could get a ticket (he said he would call me rather than email)...

When I get on the phone with him, I realize that he is calling because the Olympic Torch is about to reach where he is and he wants to share it with us.

I put him on speaker...we call the kids up and we all hear he, his family and friends cheering as they watch the Olympic Torch go by in Victoria.

Tears of joy this time!! So happy to see a wonderful friend experience the magic of the Olympic Flame!! I look forward to having my turn in a couple of months...even if I won't get to touch it.

Perfect timing?