Making It Up As I Go Along #401

Wandering Flames of the Olympiad
The Olympic Flame is taking a torturous journey across our great land. It’s painful watching the Flame wander aimlessly through Canada. Sports networks update it’s progress, showing it’s travels by a map and it’s a simple shame to see the networks taunt it so... as it obviously has no idea how to get to Vancouver.

The Flame spends a few days seemingly going the right way. You think “good ol’ Flame, he knows where he’s going... he’ll be there soon”. This is when the Flame is actually traveling west across the country. You see where the highway is, you figure the Flame will stay the course and all will be well.

But either the Flame has ADD, or is a pushover for a friendly small town hospitality, or maybe it just has a real bad sense of direction and is wandering helplessly like a blindfolded fan at a hockey intermission, hoping the fans in the stands will guide it to the prize by way of cheers when he’s pointed in the right direction.

Well if this last one is the case, Canada hasn’t been cheering, cause the Flame has been all over the place.

It seems it shot through Atlantic Canada with not too much delay. And Quebec seemed fairly co-operative in sending it in the right direction too.

But once it reached Ontario, oh my... it seems as though the Canadian people had some Flame fun and pointed it all over the place.

I’ll admit that I tried my best to ignore the Flame. So maybe I’m partially to blame... having not pointed it in the right direction... but wow. The thing was zig zagging up and down, west and east, backtracking and, some days, only seeming to go a couple of dozen kilometres before holding up somewhere for the night.

And people began taking advantage of the Flame. Some were so drawn to it’s warm glow of love and peace among men, that they jumped out of the crowd and tackled those who were kind enough to try to send it on it’s way. I can only assume the tacklers wanted the Flame to stay a while longer.

Others wandered out from the crowd to beg the hand of the Flame’s carrier in marriage. The poor Flame had to sit there while the couple hugged and bystanders applauded. The cross country journey was becoming ever the longer... the Flame would be invited to the wedding.

And these carriers. The bearers of the Flame. Well it was my understanding that these people were supposed to be athletic and they’d actually run with the thing. After all, Canada’s a big country and the Flame has to be at the other end of it in a fairly short time span. But the people have taken the Flame hostage. Slow walks and movements that kind of impersonate a run... as if done in severe slow motion... would take the Flame a few hundred meters before the hand off would occur.

It was once considered a special honor to carry the Flame. Now you’re more unique if you’re one of the ones who never got your hands on it. The Flame has become as popularly trendy in it’s uniqueness, that it’s the same as a tattoo of Chinese symbols on white people. In both cases, it’s embraced by people who have no idea what the real significance is... but it looks cool and gives the appearance of something special.

The Flame made it to British Columbia. But the people there, who are sick of all that the Flame brings, messed with it. With Vancouver in the southwest corner of the province, the people pointed north. And off to Prince George and beyond the Flame did go.

But it seems as though it’s in the home stretch. The Flame has a pretty good idea where to go from here. But there’s still time for more wedding invitations, tackles, and sloth walking poses. I just wait for the day, not far from now, when the Flame gets pied by a protestor. And, after making 98% of the journey, from Olympia to British Columbia, the Flame will be stopped. And the Olympic caldron will be ignited by a smoker’s Bic.

MONDAY...
— Evenings with Scott, Frankie, Nicole. It’s a pretty good evening of AFIS work.

TUESDAY...
— Not much work. I go out for drinks and supper with Laura and Cara Lea. Nice, as always, to meet up with L-Mac.
— After food, I go to the office for a little more than 2.5 hours of work. Then off to the movies with Karl. Goldeneye on big screen is fun times. Famke Janssen is the best Bond villainess of all time.
— By the time the movie is over, it’s too late to plan a return to work. So I’ll make up for some lost time in the next few days (work 10 hour days instead of 8) and some of my vacation time is to get used.

WEDNESDAY...
— Ten hour day at work. Scott gives some pointers for certification and I have my best stats night doing it... maybe I’ll stay out of trouble... thanks to Scott.

THURSDAY...
— Starts the day not too cold but goes nuts as the day goes on and the temp drops from something around -5 early on to about -27 with the wind at night.
— Albums have arrived. Amazon sends Neutral Milk Hotel and Wilco’s “Being There” in vinyl. Good times.
— Pizza at work makes for a pretty good night.

FRIDAY...
— Work a bit. Hockey pool first... drop two and add two... I get the two switches I want but still will likely not catch up.
— After a few hours work, I head out for movie night with the gang. Legion is likely the worst movie I’ve ever paid money to watch... simply awful. To the point of being nearly fun to watch so that you can laugh at it... almost.

SATURDAY...
— First time with friends over in a year or two. Hockey Day in Canada is the reason. Not a tonne show from the list that were invited but it’s a fun evening with Jamie there a while, Sheila, Melissa, Nick, Dusty and Dave all there.