(g)olden times

I didn't mean to neglect you. Really, I didn't. It's just... it's been a busy time. Stuff came up. I can either recap the last month or I can pretend there hasn't been any lag in time.

Maybe I'll just tell you what I remember. Or maybe the Olympics recap is easier.

1) Wilco and Califone for free. Went with my friend Neal and had a grand old time, even though it totally poured. Did I mention it was free? Because that made it more awesome. It probably would have been awesome if we paid money, but free is always better.

2) Elliott Brood and Rich Hope with Rachel. It felt like old times, when Rachel could stay up past 11pm and not be woken up at 6am by small children. I miss seeing shows with Rachel because she is fun to talk to between bands. Great, high energy show. Could barely take pictures because of the temporary floor was bouncing too much. It was all a blur.

3) Canada VS Sweden Women's Hockey and Feist & Chilly Gonzales at the Orpheum. My sis got last minute tickets to the game, so I weaseled my way out of work and we went. It was a completely lopsided game, ending at 13-1 with Canada not even shooting on net in the 3rd period. It was fun to be in such an electric crowd, but so hard to watch after a while. In the evening I went to the Feist show and got backstage to meet her and had a brief encounter with Jian Ghomeshi. He spoke at length with my friends about the Laurie Anderson show and checked out the superzoom on my camera.

4) Julie Doiron. It was a weird night, with Julie playing after a hockey game, before Joannie Rochette skated. No other bands. Poor Julie... The crowd was not as into her as they would have been somewhere else. But there were some people into her. I went with Neal and met Sarah and Glenn there. After the show we all played games at the Canada Pavilion. I would fail as a ski jumper; Neal would be awesome.

5) I somehow talked my boss into requesting a team building day so we could wander around some of the Olympic pavilions. We went to the Mint, which was totally cool and worth the 3 hour wait. Holding the medals... I can understand the lure of athletes giving up so much for the chance to win one of those. We had a nice lunch a Scuie and then headed to the BC Pavilion for the da Vinci show. My boss and I headed to the Canada Pavilion while the others left for their return to the suburbs, and stumbled upon a mascot parade, which is scary if you're not ready for it.

6) The Olympics messed up my part-time work schedule so badly that it will be months before I can catch up. Nearly impossible to get to or from work after my day job. Walking into large crowds also gave me flashbacks to the riots of '94. Unnerving.

I don't know... It was fun. It wasn't as terrible as I thought it was going to be. It's hard to continue to be annoyed by such a horrendous waste of money when people are just so joyful everywhere you go. Am excited to try to get to some Paralympics stuff. Sledge hockey looks awesome!