And the Sign Said…
Olympics 2010 are almost here. Tomorrow they are closing the last of the street access in my neighborhood. Tonight was my last chance to go to Costco (which I can see from my house) but I was too lazy and too tired to go. There’s nothing like working all day and being busy, then going to the gym, then going to Costco for another few hours. Tonight – I couldn’t do it. So I came home, relaxed after the gym and tried to energize for one more day of work.
As I live in an Olympic “hot zone” I thought I would take some pictures of what it is like being in my neighborhood these days.
This is a new sign (above) that suddenly appeared one day. I kept thinking they should have had something like this long ago. I hope that they will be able to change the sign after the Olympics and redraw it with the appropriate (permanent) information. These signs have popped up all over town. It would be a waste if they were taken down after the Olympics. I’m still trying to figure out where I live. I have been here for 1o years and it has always been called East False Creek, Main St, East Vancouver. I have never ever been called Mt Pleasant (that’s a whole different area). I guess, since we don’t have a name, they figured Mt. Pleasant sounded good. No map I have found today refers to this as Mt. Pleasant (that’s up the hill from here and to the east).
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Above are three of the various banners that are all over town. These are the ones on my street as I walk home. They are attractive banners, in both official languages – I see that every second sign is in French and all the sports seem to be represented. My only question is…what does the blue sign under the last banner mean? It popped up yesterday. I have NO idea what any of the acronyms represent. I’m used to seeing movie signs – and this seems to be in the same vein. It’s on a need to know basis, and if you don’t need to know…you’ll never figure it out. If you head to the left as the sign represents you end up in the parking lot beside Science World (which is now Russia House) and you are beside all the tents that are Quebec House, Saskatchewan House, Hockey House etc. If you go straight on, you can get to the media centre at Canada Place. With all the road closures, our street has become one of only two northbound streets open heading to downtown. Main St is the other one, but with the closure of the viaducts this weekend, traffic will be very interesting to say the least.
Next there are all the “parking restriction” signs. These are my favourite because they are EVERYWHERE. In this case, we are talking about a two block area. This is my walk home, north along Quebec St, and it is only two blocks. It is a block full of condominiums (five towers), and townhouses.
This is the sign right in front of my house. All the signs get confusing, but this one bugs me the most. The bus sign points to the bus stop. After 10 years of living here with no way of getting to Yaletown we finally got a bus last year. It’s a half hour walk along the seawall (which is closed for the Olympics to get here), or it’s a bus ride…the next sign is our actual bus stop.
I’m not impressed that my bus stop is no longer there. Now, I can’t go to Costco, the liquor store or the Urban Fare market. I’d like to say I’ll be so busy going to all the events around me, that this minor inconvenience won’t bother me – but that would be a lie. We all know where the tickets went (hello city hall, hello fat cats, hello government trough dwellers, hello scalpers) and we all know that nobody we know is going to any of the big events with a face value ticket. I am going to some short track speed skating, some skiing at Whistler (don’t get me started on transportation) and I do have nosebleed (and I mean NOSEBLEED) tickets to see Burton Cummings at the Victory Ceremony. I bought a package early and got lucky. For $900 I am going to 3 events and a victory ceremony. I’d like to see the opening or closing ceremonies (they were fabulous in Salt Lake) but that won’t happen unless I get lucky. The last time I checked they were going for about $800 each. So, I’m not impressed with all the inconveniences and closures, but I hope the games are successful. I just wish Canada would smarten up and actually celebrate their athletes and be proud. I know more about Russian and Australian athletes than I do our own. Why would that be? Oh yeah, all our money went into the pockets of the rich and not into promoting the actual sports represented.
I don’t mean to be cynical. It just drives me crazy that we live in a country where we have great athletes and great opportunities. I used to idolize Karen Magnusson when I was a young girl and she would teach me skating; I sat on the edge of my seat watching Kathy Kreiner tear down the hills in Calgary. Why aren’t we celebrating these athletes in the run up to the games? Why don’t we hear more “ra ra Canada” as this is OUR Olympics? No, we’re too busy trying not to offend anybody to do that.
The games are almost here – pray for snow for Cypress. It’s not looking too healthy.
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The Games They Play Causes My Head to Shake
The Olympics are almost upon us. I am getting in shape – dodging requests to stay with me by strangers. I actually had someone I barely knew (met them at a meeting in Quebec City years ago) email me and ask me if they could stay with me for the Olympics. Oh, if I had a dollar for everytime I’ve been asked that in the last two months. The answer is NO! If I don’t know you and we don’t have some level of friendship you are not staying at my house unless you pay me lots of money as you obviously see me as a hotel.
While we’re on our Olympics rant…let’s talk transportation. From the beginning we were told that we would have to take public transportation (of course the system that already sucks and has no room at the best of times would be the backbone) in order to get around the city. They even built an amazingly expensive train to the airport which opened “just in time” for all those Olympics visitors. I guess that it’s not just the public who hate the taxi drivers and the taxi industry – Mr. Campbell obviously does too. In pushing the green agenda, they have cancelled the bus that runs by my house and is convenient to getting to a part of town that one can’t get to otherwise. Oh well, those businesses don’t need my business during the Olympics.
I have tickets to a 10am event at Whistler. This means I have to be on a bus at 5:05 am (have to be there three hours early so I can get through security, which means I have to be at the bus stop (not downtown, not anywhere I can walk to, not even by the bus station) at 49th and Cambie half an hour before that. There is NO way I can do that using public transportation at that hour (first train from my house is 5:05 am), on top of that, the taxi that might drop me off there, won’t be able to get anywhere close to the destination as they seem to be relegated to areas outside the “Olympic zones”.
For anyone going to Cypress “surprise surprise surprise” – it was revealed today that people taking that bus will have quite a hike to walk. It turns out the bus will drop you off 2km from the event site. It’s funny that Vanoc couldn’t tell anyone this before they bought the tickets. Had I been looking for tickets, it definitely would have influenced my decision, especially if I was in some way mobility impaired. Up until now, all the information made one believe that you would be dropped off close to where you needed to be (not 2km away).
While we’re on the subject of “misinformation” need I mention the word “hockey house”. The cost to get in there is $500/day. Well, I guess they weren’t selling enough tickets so they introduced a special price ticket for $99 – making you believe you were going to have access to all. Several days after these went on sale it was revealed that “surprise surprise surprise” these tickets were only good for the days that the women played. Not when the men played. This was beyond outrageous.
Canada has all kinds of rules and laws, and now we are changing the BC laws to make it convenient for people from other countries. After all but banning smoking in BC and bragging about the health benefits etc, and how green we are in all ways – it was announced that there will be smoke pits at the Olympic events. We can’t ban smoking. Why not? It’s our law. Why can’t we ask people to respect our laws? I shake my head. Of course the VIP’s will get special access to half the smoke pits and won’t have to do things like go through security again after having a puff. Everyone else (not rich or connected) will have to line up again and go through security again. I don’t smoke, so it’s not an issue, but I just think it’s ridiculous.
Now that my head is about to explode, I come to my favourite rule. They are going to confiscate any/all cameras that have a built in flash. So now I can’t take my “good” camera to Whistler because it has a built in flash which I never use at events like this. I don’t think I can even take my pocket camera as it also has a flash. When I think about it, the only cameras that don’t have a flash attached are those from years ago.
I’m sure that as time goes on we’ll learn more because the powers that be have been less than honest up to this point.
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A Bridge … Only In Canada eh?
The Rockies are beautiful and full of highways and animals. So, to save the animals (and people that hit them) they built a bridge. This is the actual Calgary turn off on Hwy 1. The animals figured it out!!
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Heal The World
Help a girl.
Please consider the micro loans. They can change lives.
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Jann Arden
Last night I was able to attend the Jann Arden concert at the QE theatre. The most stunning change (for me) was the lobby. They took out the ceiling in the lobby and made it the full height of the building and hung beautiful chandeliers. It made it feel so open and the glass walls now can be appreciated. The seats are all wooden now, having replaced the metal chairs that felt more like a movie theatre than a theatre house and the carpeting has been replaced. The sound was definitely a thousand percent better.
But I digress – back to Jann. The show opened with her stepping out in front of the curtain with her guitar and singing “Free”, the title track from her new album. Then the curtain opened and her band was there (minus Russell Broom). They were rocking to “Looking For It(Finding Heaven)” and “Where No One Knows Me”, and the sound was so good in the theatre. She also went “as disco as someone her age can” and sang her now song “Million Miles Away”.
She sang a lot of old favourites (Sleepless, I Would Die For You, At Seventeen). She also sang “Leave Me Now” – a song from the “Happy” album which she has never sung in concert.
Her jokes were hilarious and had me busting a gut in my seat. She did a family slide show which was torturous but hilarious because of the stuff she said. She showed pictures of her band when they were kids and made all kinds of comments about what they were wearing or what it looked like they were doing. She poked fun at her parents, siblings, uncles…nobody was immune. It was sooo hilarious though, which is what made it tolerable.
Jann was inducted into the BC Entertainers Hall of Fame by Red Robinson and Elizabeth Ball. Her acceptance speech was a riot and funny. She stood in the light not knowing what to say, holding onto her plaque and said “I believe in gay marriage.” “I believe everyone has the right to be miserable”. The crowd went wild and she broke into song.
As long as Jann performs, I will continue to go to her shows. Heck, it’s been sixteen years since I first saw her, why stop now?
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KISSed (And I Liked It)
The first time I saw Kiss was September 14, 1977 on their Love Gun tour. I went by myself, waited in line for hours for general admission, ran like hell when the doors opened, and found myself at the end of Gene’s feet with my arms hammering on the stage. I was an excited 14 year old, out on a school night at a concert nobody approved of me attending.
I went on to see the band many times over the years. I saw all their major tours, including their farewell tour. I saw them on the “Alive II” tour; “Dynasty” tour; “Unmasked” tour; “Lick It Up” tour; “Crazy Nights” tour; “Kiss My Ass” tour; “Alive” tour; “Psycho Circus” tour; “Farewell” tour; “World Domination” tour and now the “Sonic Boom” tour. I always maintained that my favourite tour was the “Alive II” circa 77-78 but this show last night really kicked ass. They opened with “Deuce” and wound up with “Shout It Out Loud”. In between was a rocking good time. I still get a kick out of watching Gene fly up to the lights and play from high above the stage. The pyrotechnics have gotten to be so much more over the years. All the flame throwers, fireworks, confetti just makes for an absolute assault on the senses.
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More Love For Sears
Sears Canada call centre for catalogue orders in Regina, Sk closed on Sept. 17/09. That left 250 people out of jobs. The call centre in Belleville, On. was also closed leaving 230 people without jobs. Now when you call your order in you will be speaking to people in the Phillipines. That’s right folks Sears has moved it’s call centre to the Phillipines because it is cheaper. I don’t know about you people but with the way the economy is I know I will no longer be shopping at Sears. If they can’t keep the jobs in Canada then they can move all their stores to the Phillipines.
Please pass this on. We need to make a stand. Our economy is not going to get any better unless these big companies start sourcing in the country that they do business.
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Miley Cyrus Is Da Bomb!
Miley Cyrus rocks and I love her. There, I said it. Ha ha. Now let me explain. She’s a twerp, but a twerp with a whole lotta talent (she must have inherited the talent her father had, that he could never parlay into anything substantial). I was dragged to her movie (whatever it was called) last year being told that I was being a “good aunt” and this was my duty. Ok, the movie wasn’t THAT bad.
I do like Miley’s voice. It has that “je ne said quois” quality that I like. Britney had the same thing in her voice, as did Rachel Sweet, Bonnie Tyler and numerous others before her. She also seems to have a talent for writing decent songs. I know its pop schlock…but that’s what I like.
(I can’t believe I’m mentioning her in my blog)…..but I digress…
The latest from Miley is that she is leaving Twitter (has left). I’m always surprised when celebs tweet personal stuff anyway. There are some who only seem to tweet that which will help their profile or help sales or promote their causes (hello Donny Osmond). While I see nothing wrong with this, I just roll my eyes. I don’t want to be anyone’s friend, but I don’t need fifteen messages to vote for Donny on DWTS thank you very much. Rainn Wilson twitters, but all I think when I read his is that he’s nuts. Will Wheaton twitters but only to apologize or say what “con” he’s appearing at this week. John Mayer twitters but it’s boring. The list goes on. The only celebrity tweets I really enjoy are those of Jann Arden. The woman is crazy, normal, human,obsessed and fabulous. She’s also terrifically funny.
Back to Miley though. Miley didn’t like that the press, paparazzi, stalkerazzing, (insert derogatory term here) were taking everything she tweeted and making it into news. So…she wrote a rap about it. I think it’s pretty funny…and that’s why I think she rocks.
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The Beat Goes On
It’s been a while since I made an entry. I have spent the last three and a half weeks recovering from surgery. While I always thought it would be great to just have some time at home to do all those things on “the list” – this wasn’t that time. I wasn’t able to do anything really until last Thursday. Sitting up for any amount of time was uncomfortable. I was tired of lying down and the only real comfortable position was elongated (but not laying down). Now I feel guilty that all this time was wasted sleeping and watching tv. Well, I couldn’t do anything else! I thought I would be a hero and be strong and get over it quickly, but that didn’t happen.
So, here I am over a month later, thinking about going back to work tomorrow. It’s amazing to me how life just goes on. It doesn’t matter if I participate or not – it just goes on. Sometimes I wish it would just stop until I’m ready, then I won’t have to worry about wasted time!
Today is my last day of being able to sleep in before the 5:30 a.m. alarm starts blaring at me. So, this morning at 7am I was jolted awake by the loud sound of blaring music coming from across the street. Of course, we have to have a rock concert in the parking lot at that hour. With fifteen apartment buildings in the neighborhood it’s perfect. It’s the worst band I’ve ever heard, massacring songs I actually purport to have enjoyed at some point in my life. Of course, this is all because there is some run this morning. I don’t know who’s running, or where (I suspect it’s another Breast Cancer Run), but all the runners have run away! They’re not standing there listening to you play. I would have run really fast just to get away from the sound. I don’t get it. I don’t know why this has to happen weekend after weekend. Do we really need rockbands at 7am??? Really? All it does is make me want to support the cause even less.
Sigh. I’m cranky in my sleep deprived state. I can’t even watch tv with this noise in the background – when is it going to end? Obviously no city official lives within earshot or they never would have allowed it!
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For Those Who Came To Rock….
They came, they rocked. Brian Johnson sounded as good as ever, Angus and Malcolm played together as though they were attached at the hip and Angus scooched across the stage a little slower, and for a little shorter period – but he did it and was great. The whole show was reminiscent of the decades ago shows they put on, except now of course, the whole set is bigger and bolder with more fancy effects.
The show lasted just over 2 hours thanks in part to a 20 minute guitar solo by Angus. He can play and I found myself wondering if that guy has blisters on his fingers! This is the set list:
Rock n Roll Train
Hell Ain’t a Bad Place To be
Back In Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Shot Down in Flames
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack
Hells Bells
Shoot to thrill
War Machine
Dog Eat Dog
Anything Goes
You Shook Me all night long
TNT
Whole lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock
Encore:
Highway To Hell
For Those About To Rock
The crowd was wild. There were little kids to grandparents. There had been a whole lotta drinking before the show by a whole lotta people. The AC/DC girls were there ready to rock and the guys honed their fist pumping and air guitar skills. As they say…a good time was had by all.
Once again BC Place sucked as a venue. The sound is soooo bad in there. I put in ear plugs which made it a bit better but you couldn’t even understand what anyone was saying when they spoke (although Brian was really the only one who said a word). Our view was through a speaker tower which kinda sucked and they were having major video problems with their right side screen, but it was still a great show.
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tigersluv.com- And the Sign Said… February 8, 2010
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