Saying one last farewell to PAC

Said my goodbyes for real this time. Everything will be taken down by the time I go by there again tomorrow. Everything was already being taken down. I never walked such a sad and lonely walk down that path before. I didn't know that the playground was just on the other side of the fence. I didn't know that's where Linton and I really said goodbye 2 years ago.

oh well. One more look over my shoulder, and I keep on walking.

it's so empty here

a podium finish with the best of the best.

Thank you, World. You've made this the best 4 weeks of my life.

Having Trouble Saying Goodbye

As always, once I find myself liking something enough to feel attached, I also find myself unable to let it go.

Tomorrow is my last shift at the Pacific Coliseum as part of Team 2010. It's been one heck of an indescribable, insane, inCREDible journey. Much more than I could ever have imagined and asked for when I first signed up for this 2.5 years ago. It's well worth the wait, well worth the anxiety for its arrival, well worth all the sleepless nights and days, etcetc.

10 shifts (because I was down and out for a weekend with my insane cold).
One smurf outfit, 12 new pins, a Quatchi doll, a Birks keychain, and a silver medallion later, I will be receiving my final shift gift, saying goodbye to the building I lived at for almost half a month, people I've checked in at 4 am, a team of fantastic co-volunteers, and 2 veryvery wonderful supervisors.



As Charlie Brown says...Where's the good in goodbye?


Thank you, Team 2010. For memories to last more than a lifetime, and the drive to sign up for London 2012.
Yes. I just did it. My friend looked at me as if I was nuts.



Oh God. Panic attack. What will I do on the weekends now?!
What will I do when I"m not actually meeting 400 people a day from every part of the world imaginable?! OhMyGod.

Our Golden Sweethearts

oh loves! Canada's first Gold in ice dance ever! history written by 22 year old Moir and 20 year old Virtue.

CONGRATULATIONS SCOTT AND TESSA!!!!

Motion Sickness

from watching too much tv. Who would've thought lol. Yes, I'm THAT out of practice when it comes to television.

Too much has happened since....I'm sicksicksick and can't carry on a conversation without coughing my lungs out, so I'll let the pictures do the talking today.

got free tickets to watch men's ice hockey, sweden vs belarus. so happy!!! choychoy was the only one who'd go with me. lol.! then found out they were suite tickets. omfg. sweet tickets indeed! happy surprises, non?

adam was the one who gave me the tickets. here are his long lost swedish triplets in action. sedin and sedin

welcome back, ohlund....i miss u!

putting super in supervisor. i wound up really sick the next morning, and brittney took care of me then sent me home for sleep lol.

battling the crowds after the game to leave Canada Hockey Place.

ugh ok going to sleep now. dear cough, please go away.

You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

That's what Wayne Gretzky said.

:D

I'm completely exhausted - both emotionally and physically. Every day, I come home be it from work or from volunteer, and I just collapse. Too much excitement, too much of everything happening, too many voices asking Echo to do something.

I'd complain, but I can't. I love it.

My body thinks otherwise, and it's definately letting me know. Eyes water, running for my bottle of Cold-FX, and before you know it, I'm dead in bed...fever, chills, sore throat, plugged nose and all. Oh God. Dragged myself out of bed today (literally) to go in to volunteer. Got to push people in wheelchairs for 3 hours. Ate enough Strepsils to make my doctor cringe. But I met so many nice people from everywhere, and they were all so grateful that I'm taking my time and energy to bring them from the entrance to the security gate to the shuttle bus. And they all laughed at the fact that "they found a girl [my] size to push [them]". Seriously, they all said that to me. And trust me, I had my doubts.

But hey, it's another adventure, no?

So, thus ended shift 7. Only 4 more shifts to go. I don't want this to end!

Never without a smile.

The two people who puts the word "super" in supervisor - Adam & Brittney.

I'll always remember, and will always look up to them, if ever I need to be a leader again.

Everyday, I crawl into bed wanting to write. But I have no energy for it. I hope that when I have the time and energy, I still remember what I wanted to write down. :D

Bienvenue! Welcome, World!

Hello, MukMuk.

I cannot believe that the games are here! I cannot believe that it's been 2 years since I've signed up to be a volunteer, and 2 years of waiting finally ended when they sent me in to get my uniform. I was so excited, so relieved...

Would you understand how big of a hug this opportunity represents? Someone somewhere thinks I'm good enough. Good enough to stand in this wonderful uniform to represent Vancouver...British Columbia...Canada.

Never have I been so proud of myself.

Bienvenue

When I looked at my schedule, and saw the 5am, 4:30 am shifts, I nearly fell out of my chair. Oh God I hate mornings. Winter mornings stink even more. Not to mention that starting from mid January, I was essentially saying goodbye to weekends, and pretty much life in general. Still, 2010 was to be mine, and how better to start this adventure?

Working before the games were here, getting to meet hundreds of people every day, working with the best people I could have asked for...with the best supervisors ever! I have raved over how much I love this volunteer post. I love Brittney, she's so chill so easygoing, and she knows absolutely everything and everyone at the Pacific Coliseum. I love Adam, he's so funny...he IS the UN...and he taught me my first ever Australian slang. Budgey stealer. lmao.

I actually found myself saying certain words with an accent. I'm still not sure what accent because I absorb so many different ones every shift. I figure it must be Australian somewhere in there lol. You'd be surprised at how receptive you are at 5am. ;)

So now the wait is ended, and the torch is lit. I cried watching the flame approach. I cried when Gretzky lit the torch finally. I cried watching every re-play of all the Olympic moments. Perhaps pride is not a virtue, but I am so very proud to be Canadian.

It's been a fantastic ride so far, and 2 weeks left to go.

I waited so long for this - I don't want it to end.

Promises to self.

Even though I once said "Don't make me a promise. You'll just break it, and break my heart along with it."

I hope I have more credibility than that?

Anyway, it's been way too long. It's been a heck of a ride since last fall. I have done so much, met so many people, and in the process I have shed a piece of the past half decade. It makes me sad when I think about it, because I learned to stand for myself in that half decade. I had found so much of who I am, and found the courage to show the world who I can be. Funny because the courage did not come from myself, but from a boy I had considered to be my best friend. Even funnier because with him, I forgot who I was and would up totally unsure of who I am. and even funnier still because everything was a big fat joke to him.

[insert rude comment]

So I try hard not to think about it.

Still, sometimes when a picture of him pops up out of nowhere, it breaks my heart. Then I scramble to put the pieces back in place, because you know what? I won't settle for a boy anymore.

Following that train of thought, I have rediscovered parts of myself, uncovered parts of myself, and created the remainder to the specifications that please me and only me. That sounds sort of selfish, doesn't it? But it makes me happy. And for now, that is enough.

I've done so much in 2009. Thank you 2009.

I swore to myself that 2010 will be mine. Looking at my little planner, I don't think I have time to not claim it mine.

January was full of partying that couldn't fit into December, Kathy was in town, and some extra shifts at work purely as a favour to my manager;

February is full on Olympics (7 day weeks for one month. I can do this!), and Valentine's Day movie comes out.

March is for bachelorette party planning, and holyeff Rob's new movie;

April is for Kathy's visit plus the MAN (my baby...times two!);

May is TwiCon (*jumps around) and Vegas (hello Sin City, it's been way too long.);

June is my birthday...and ECLIPSE comes out just in time for it;

August is Kylie and Noah's big day...reminder to self to get some sleep for July;

November will be my trip to NYC.

December is as always my Christmas insanity. I can't wait.

2010...

January had proven itself insanely busy. I'm not quite sure where it went, really. Went to a fantastic 100 Monkeys concert where I took a good 1500 pics in a mere 2 hours. FIFTEEN HUNDRED. Even caught a kiss from Jackson. Hahaha.

February. Honestly, I don't know what date it is. I count my days now as "bmo" or "olympics". Tomorrow is BMO day. I'll figure out the date when I make it to my computer tomorrow. I'm looking forward to all the post work activities, plus the games. The count down thing says 3 more days. It's almost like Christmas. Except I've waited way too long, and it's going to go away way too soon. I think I'm going to look into volunteering for the London games soon. Line, hook, sinker - I think I'm going to be stuck for life.

I'm loving my position at the games right now. I love meeting and talking to hundreds of people every day. I love learning new things, seeing new things. I love the fact that I can speak English at work.

I'm OBVIOUSLY in need of a new career job. At the very minimum....I need to speak more English.

Looking back, I also really need to hit the slopes soon. My skis are starting to feel lonely. Anyone game?

(Dream searching temporarily put on hiatus. I have no time.)