My Own Version of Olympic Fever

Good morning! I am up super early today because I had an anxiety dream about going to see the Olympic torch relay. Apparently, that is a thing that can happen if you spend your evening trying to coordinate plans for 8 am with a husband who works nights, a daughter who stays over at her dad’s and a client who usually comes at 8:05 but might be somewhat late because they are also going to see the relay. But I mean, how could we not go see it- it’s passing by just a block and a half from here!

I admit it, I am kind of a secret Winter Olympics dork. I remember in 1998 I was unemployed in February and my marginally employed boyfriend and I would stay in half the night watching live events from the Nagano Olympics and it was actually pretty awesome. I almost wish I’d bothered to try and get tickets to some events but oh well, I can just watch them on tv. Last night I finally pestered Taylor into hooking up the cable in the living room. I mean, we have cable, but a few months back my digital box died (it was way old) and since we never really watched tv we never bothered getting a new one. We’ve been paying for it all these months just for Symphony, really. Anyway he was loath to do it, like hook the cable DIRECTLY to our big fancy tv but I managed to wear him down.

One thing going on for the Olympics (it’s part of the Cultural Olympiad) that I am basically IN LOVE with is this amazing art installation, Vectorial Elevation. It’s a series of like, twenty huge searchlights beaming up into the sky down by the beach. I remember seeing and ~artist’s rendering~ of it on the front of the paper a while back and thinking to myself “WHAT, that is just stupid,” but it’s actually not! The lights are also interactive- you can go to vectorialvancouver.net and program in your own 12 second light display.

You can see the lights from the alley behind my house, and the first time I did I almost had a heart attack! I was taking out the trash and when I looked up there were these huge unexpected beams of light moving across the sky! It’s pretty cool watching them from up here but on Tuesday after Symphony’s piano lesson we all went down to the beach to see them up close.

The lights are on both sides of False Creek, on Sunset Beach and in Vanier Park

They are huge and eerily silent- you expect them to make noise as they swing around but they don’t. It’s a little creepy.

Symphony described it as like being inside a circus tent made of light She also said it was an awesome experience, before she got crabby because I wouldn’t give her candy. Kids.