Making It Up As I Go Along #574

Delayed post thanks to busy times. Snowshoeing and hot chocolate with a friend, olympic coverage, another friend over for Walking Dead, work, more Olympics. All in all, I either wasn't around a computer or tablet to write or I was too tired or distracted when I was. 

The Games

Lavish times 

A history told

The PG version

Communism told

Through song and dance

Athletes parade up

Through alien light

Up from the depths

That was once a floor

The torch is lit

One met that man

The great goalie

Examining my hockey cards

Questioning with broken English

Before scribbling name across black and white

Waves of sport

Greeting you in the morning

On anew for night owl viewing

Two days worth in my one

The effects of half a worlds distance

Political differences

Backburnered for games

Replaced by pictures of roaming dogs

And forgotten by praising athletes

Caught up in the celebration

Of rainbowless sport

A bombardment of glorious moments

Of cheering patriots

Worshiping youthful skiers

Skaters and sliders

Ice warriors

Cloaked in golden victory

Yet the magical moments

More subtle

Unplanned acts 

Rewarded without medals

But with quiet admiration

And tears

A crashed skier upon broken ski

Helped by another's coach

A new ski given

Not for victory

But to finish the journey. 

A sacrificed race

Spot given to deserving teammate

Bringing medals and glory to the skater

But also cheers and love

To the teammate turned spectator 

Forgotten stories

Of a peaceful villager

Now living under olympic train tracks

By polluted rivers

With sparse polluted fish to catch

The soon to be forgotten

Fifty billion dollars of buildings

Left to decompose

While western eyes turn elsewhere

And locals live amongst ruins

And my daydreams of what ifs

To skate the oval upon glassy ice

To bombard from atop a mountain

To man the nets of my country

To be the one atop the podium

Unable to believe as my flag rises

The games bring it all

Left wishing you stood up to corruption

Feeling guilt for forgotten human rights

Yet still imagining the strength and skill

And rallying with neighbours

Cheering your flag

And pausing upon those moments

Like that of the skier

Getting a helping hand

Just so he can finish the journey. 

SUNDAY...

--- Fairly quiet day at work. Just me and Claudio. 

MONDAY...

--- Mona back in, so three of us. Work is ok. Lunch with Shannon. 

TUESDAY...

--- Night shift with Louis' Pizza. Lots of shoes to go through. 

WEDNESDAY...

--- Much quieter night. 

THURSDAY...

--- Fairly quiet day off. Gas and groceries are about it. 

FRIDAY...

--- Snow. More than expected. 15 cm or so. I'm out shovelling for an hour. And in cleaning the house as well. 

SATURDAY...

--- Snowshoeing followed by sitting around and drinking hot chocolate. Some evening tv time. 

SUNDAY...

--- Too busy for the blog. Morning Olympics to watch. That snowboard cross stuff is wild. Then hockey... Which is not a great game but Canada pulls one out. Afternoon softball after that. 

--- Kiyomi visits for the Walking Dead. Fun to watch the show with someone else there. 

MONDAY...

--- Work is a bit of a pain. Getting a second station set up for shoe impression searches but it's most of the day with a computer tech getting in our way. 

TUESDAY...

--- Fairly ordinary day at work. 

WEDNESDAY...

--- Mona is back after several days away. We get through the work pretty efficiently with three of us there. 

THURSDAY...

--- I miss the best end to a hockey game for quite some time. With America leading Canada 2-0 in the gold medal game of women's hockey, I quit watching with 5:27 to play. I need to try for my pre work nap and figure I'm already late going, I better get up there. By the time I'm in bed, a quick check of twitter shows a goal. Now it's 2-1 with minutes to play. I decide to hang in bed. My departure seemed lucky. A bang from Harley's house next door is a sign of the tie. Twitter confirms this. Overtime coming. I decide I'll leave well enough alone and stay put. Twenty minutes later, with me near sleep, I hear a yelp from next door and another bang. Twitter tells me the comeback is complete. No nap, I get up and watch the end online. 

--- Work is fairly quiet and I make it ok, despite the lack of nap. And it's Claudio's last shift. Just me and Mona from now on, the team of three is no more. 

FRIDAY...

--- Watch the men beat the US in olympic hockey. Then get groceries and hang about the house. 

SATURDAY...

--- Breakfast at Broadway's. The blueberry pancakes keep me going the rest of the day. 

--- Watch some Olympics before doing a half hour walk and another half hour banging the ice off the driveway. I saw the beaver has made a fresh cut on the trees by the creek. Fun ol' beaver. 

Making It Up As I Go Along #573

Some Thoughts

Writing took a back seat today.  It happens sometimes.  Being all ready and willing to get at it only to have other things get in the way.

Today there was the Olympics.  Seeing a Newfoundlander figure skate.  Watching sisters place one and two in moguls.  Getting their stories… one from Marystown, a single hero who got a parade before the games even began.  The others a family of Olympians… three girls pushing each other forward.

When the games switched to hockey coverage, I had my chance.  But then a look out the window took it away.  Sunny skies and temps that won’t freeze skin on contact draw me out.  And for a second straight day, it’s an hour of snowshoeing that awaits. 

If I can keep up on the snowshoeing… even just twice a week… I should get myself in reasonable summer shape. 

The Christmas fat is beginning to fall.  Today the last of the Christmas chocolates has gone away (of course, by “gone away” I mean “In my mouth”).  The eating routine is basically back now.  And increased exercise will help shed the winter blubber.

Speaking of changes, my sleeping change has gone better than I could have imagined.  A few weeks ago, I decided I had to get off my stomach.  With my head turned to one side, each night, my neck had begun to rebel. 

Funny how such things go.  I’ve slept on my stomach, neck crooked for years.  But it was as if the warranty had run out and, over the past few months, I three times had to deal with muscle pains and tightness.

So I moved away from the flat pillows and brought in the higher ones.  Planning for back or side sleeping while expecting long nights staring up at the ceiling, desperately wanting to roll over to that position I’ve come to know so well.

But the transition has gone smoothly.  The back is too big a step.  I simply can’t sleep back there like that.  But the sides have worked out and I’ve found my neck much more loose and mobile.  It was actually tighter than I had thought.  I can more easily turn my head much further now than I could for many months. 

Simpson’s Lego sounds like a dream come true for many like myself.  My sister thought so too and looked it up on Amazon as an idea for a birthday gift for me.  $450 ($399 + $60 shipping) nixed that idea.  The greed in this world is incredible.  Maybe gold plated Simpsons figurines should go for such a price.  Lego blocks? Let’s get serious.  I’m afraid my birthday shall be Legoless. 

England is beginning to take shape.  Our family trip, this summer, now has apartments booked for the first week of London and a day trip all set up for a visit to the filming location of Downton Abby.   It all leaves me picturing things more so.  The imagery taking more concrete shape in my mind.  Episodes of the above mentioned show will have me strolling along, Labrador Retriever leading the way to high tea.  While Google Earth Street View has already allowed me to wander our London home neighbourhood several times.    

Inside Llewyn Davis was a great piece of film making.  There is a scene in there that will stick with me as one of those magical movie scenes that stand out in my mind for their uniqueness.  It’s not a key scene to advance the plot.  The memorable scenes sometimes aren’t.  This scene was of a subway ride.  A ride seen, for just a few moments, from the point of view of the cat Llewyn is holding.  A cat peering out the window, watching the name signs of New York subway stops fly by.  Scenes like that are what make me love movies.  The cat scene is partly seen in this trailer.

Inside Llewyn Davis Trailer

SATURDAY…

--- Work is just me and Claudio… Mona off for the block.  Pretty quiet day really.

SUNDAY…

--- More quietness.  And I go home to basically ignore the Super Bowl.  Just as well… sounds like a bad game.

MONDAY…

--- A & W For supper on night shift.  Always reminds me of home when I have it.

TUESDAY…

--- Uneventful at work.

WEDNESDAY…

--- Quiet house day.  Just sort of worn out from the shift.  So some TV and laziness.

THURSDAY…

--- Out to the movies.  See Inside Llewyn Davis.  Wanted to see it since I saw the trailer some six months ago.  Liked it… though probably wanted to like it more than I did.  Real good movie that I would like to be able to say is the best movie I saw this year when, in reality, it likely ranks fourth or fifth for the year in my books.

FRIDAY…

--- Snowshoeing.  Good day out there.  Nice workout.

--- Watch some of the Olympic opening.  Didn’t realize how many athletes Canada was sending.  Almost as big a team as Russia and America. 

SATURDAY…

--- A bit of Olympics in the morning.  Team Figure Skating? Oh come on.  Though I suppose if trampoline is a summer games sport now, it’s not a surprise.  But yes, one of the more unnecessary events in Olympic competition.

--- Said it before, Ontario has so much going for it… but they really don’t know how to advertise it.  Ontario’s tourism ads are simply horrible.  Marginal singers walking around singing a dinky song (one being a rapper who actually interjects “I’m in Ontario, dog”) makes me want to plan a vacation anyplace other than Ontario.