Overall Olympic Impressions

Despite an additional 4 medals at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, approximately the same number of countries had at least one medal, 26. Some countries improved overall, the United States by the largest margin overall (Canada in terms of golds) and some countries fared much worse (Austria and Russia each lost 7 medals overall). The countries with fewer medals picked up the ones the larger countries left off.

Canada maintained its position as third overall if going by medal totals. If going by gold, Canada went from fifth to first.

Of Canada's 26 medals, 10 were from Speed Skating, split evenly amongst long and short track.

Despite having very uneven percentages at the beginning, the women/man ratio of medal count ended at 56/44. This shows strong athletes male and female in Canada. As per usual, it was the women who won more medals in the Winter Olympics overall.

Canada slightly improved in its total medals, but the increased amount of gold medals show that the "Own the Podium" program does work. Canada literally owned the program, as always, in the second week of the games.

Notice the drop off that Italy, the host country of the 2006 games had. They lost 6 medals overall, likely due to lesser funding, which will happen in Canada. The question is if we will see a medal drop off, and if we do-how much?

Overall Canada had a very successful Olympics, and has London 2012, Sochi 2014, and Rio de Janeiro 2016 to look forward to. In London, Canada will be looking to best its record of 22 (Actual record is 44, but half of the world did not compete due to the Cold War). Canada is coming off of an 18 medals in Beijing.

Overall, Canada has done very well at these Olympics and won the event that mattered to Canadians most-men's hockey. Go Canada.

Oh, technology

Why must you be moving so fast? It seems like just yesterday MSN Messenger came out. I could take to people, but not on the phone. It was very weird, new, and cool. Everyone had it and everyone talked to everyone. Secret friendships made, strong bonds broken, it was all good.

Then MySpace, which I never even got into. A social networking site that is now more popular for simply being outdated.

Facebook, BAM! That one really took off. Everyone now has Facebook, and it completely replaced MSN for me. I never really have to go on the computer with Facebook Mobile at my fingertips.

Twitter, oh how I love thee. I actually really, REALLY, enjoy Twitter (As my followers can likely guess, and tell you how annoying I can easily be). Its hip, its cool, and exclusive. Only a week or two after the Twitter revelation comes blogger.com.

Although not new, it certainly has been very refreshing to myself. This site has offered so much to me in such little time.

But now, tumblr. Oh dear. Its the new thing. Its like amix of blogger and Twitter, two of my favourite things. Is it time to switch over? Why does everything change so quickly?

Oh, technology.

Life Post High School

I dropped out of high school. I did. I could not take anymore of the classes.

But already, I am realizing just how much I am going to miss my friends. These people really helped me out, much more than they really know. I am going to specifically mention three people from this year (Most likely the only 3 technologically savvy enough to read this)

Lauren, in grade 11 we really first got to know each other. It started in Marketing, since that class we bonded in Accounting, Math, Geography and more. I want to let you know just how much your company has meant to me. we had a lot of good times and I really enjoyed going to class looking forward for more.

Sean, we met pretty much on the first day, ut it wasn't until grade 9 English that we really became friends. Since then, we set a record for most classes together. You have always been there and I really appreciate that. We've really had some great times that I will not forget. You too, made it a little easier to come to school every day.

Lastly, Kirstyn. We have always kind of known each other and we have always somewhat talked. But it wasn't until grade 13 (Sad, I know) that we really became friends. Too bad it didn't start earlier. I probably saw you the least, even though we had the most classes together this year, because of both of our attendance records. I will remember lunches, and picking on Sean and Denisa the most. Really glad we became much better friends this year.

I was so used to seeing these people every single day that I didn't realize just how much they made school easier for me. It is going to be different now as we all start to actually move forward in our lives. Starting last year people have just started dropping out completely, moving on to bigger things. Some, if not most, of these people I will never see again. That truly saddens me.

There is a lot of people that I will miss. But it is these three that have impacted me the most, in class, this last semester of my high school life.

Thanks.

My Trip to Toronto

I left London all by myself for 2 days. No parents, and I made it. I came back home, alive and well. This was one of my first tastes of independence. This was step one of my adult life, and although there was a couple of bumps along the way, I think I made it out alright.

Here are just a few of the memorable moments from my trip, the ones that I find most enjoyable.

I am notorious in my house for getting my boot laces stuck. Often, someone else must undo them for me as they get much too difficult for me. The morning we left for Toronto I put on my boots, but far too tight. Before I even got on the bus my foot was hurting from the boot. I tried for the next two hours to remove it, to no avail. Even my roommate of the trip tried helping me out, but it was no use. My boots were stuck. I was forced to cut the laces off using my sole razor of the trip. I sliced open the laces and ruined my razor. My foot was swollen and still hurt for hours afterward. it wasn't the best way to start the trip.

Everything in Toronto is big. They do not "do" small. The Eaten Centre was ridiculously large, and had numerous stores. Within the 4 floors of the building, were MULTIPLE locations of Kernels (2), McDonald's (2), Starbucks (2), Manchu Wok (2), New York Fries (2) and then 2, or 3 Tim Horton's. Banana Republic and Abercrombie were split amongst genders and age groups, so they had multiples as well. The stores that only had one location were big. Sport Chek had 5 levels, one less than the ROOTS store. For some reason these stores were massive, and confusing.

The Bay itself was this MASSIVE building, towering at 11 floors. The first 7 floors were bigger than both floors at the Bay in White Oaks COMBINED. One floor of the store was just carpets. It was big and daunting, and I am a little embarassed to admit, I got lost for about 30 minutes inside of it.

The hotel room was extremely cold, I could not figure out why. I put the heater on, even up to full blast, almost constatntly but the room still had a chill. It was not until the next morning that I, frozen solid, realized that the window had been opened the entire time. That was very embarassing for me as well.

At the Raptor's game, Toronto was winning 97-95 with 1.7 seconds left. Guess who got the last 2 points? The other team, forcing the game into overtime. In the OT, Memphis absolutely dominated, and Toronto lost. All hell broke loose. Before the game even officially ended, people were leaving the building in droves. Before the game was over, about 60% of the stadium had left. People were booing, and small children were being sacrificed. It was definitely not a pretty site.

Even though there were some bumps, there was one major plus. I saw the Ted Rogers School of Management, a university I have been accepted to. I discovered its location (In the heart of the city and the Eaton Centre) and I realized that I could move to Toronto. I could do it, I could survive on my own. Whether it was blending in as a local, walking and finding my way around, or even dodging the crazy traffic, I realized that I might have just been visiting my home for the next 4 years.

And you know what, I liked it.

Vancouver 2010

Every two years, the same thing happens: I become completely obsessed with the Olympics. Regardless if it is in the summer or the winter, I find myself glued to the TV, researching and watching, even rewatching events to determine who will win, what will happen.

Its not just for the medals either. I watch events where Canada may not even participate, just to watch the games. Why do I watch them so intensely? Even though I do not watch sports on TV at all. How do the games capture me?

I start preparing for the games months in advance. I learn the events, the athletes, and their track records. Medals are not everthing, but its really nice to see Canada perform so well on the world stage, especially given our small population. I print of different schedules, in different time zones, to make sure I have a plan to watch as many events possible.

Then they begin and I tune out of the real world and slip into this world that the Olympics have created for me. Here, even last place is a huge accomplishment, a vindication of one's greatness.

Skiing, hockey, weight lifting, and my favourite, speed skating, are all watched and enjoyed by me, as well as practically ever other event that the games have to offer.

I sit there and cheer on the people who have devoted their lives to performing in sports they love more than anything else.

I count the medals, and then compare to countries of similar populations, and then compare to previous Olympic outings. I track Canada compared to everyone else and wait on more medals and more great performances.

Then comes the end of the games, for better or for worse Canada is finished and we look at what went right. There is then a depressing stage when I realize that the next games are about 2.5 years away.

But I do not get bored easily, I research the next games. London will host the 2012 Summer Olympic games, followed by Sochi's 2014 games, and Rio de Jeniero in 2016. I start the whole process over again.

But I think the games are good, and I think they stand for the good in all of us. They represent our deepest goals and desires, and just how far we are willing to push ourselves to reach them.

The games represent true sportsmanship, unity, peace, and acceptance. So watching a televised event that represents all of this to me can not be that bad-even if it is a tad excessive.

Questions to Myself

Why am I a loner?

I don't make an effort to meet people, I have no desire to make new friends. Even when given an opportunity to make new friends I pass it up, its too much work to be nice to strangers. too much effort to open up.

Why do I not try and make a difference?

Even though I complain all the time, the sad truth is that I do nothing to change my life. I hate school, yet I stay in. I hate being so selfish, yet I do not help others. I hate being out of shape, yet I do not go to the gym or even try to workout. I have ample time that I could volunteer, instead I play games and do stuff that most people can not afford. I hate being so selfish when I can easily make a difference.

Why do I have no work ethic?

I have no desire to work hard in class, and I have no desire to continue school. I don't want to work either. I messed up. I worked hard in public school and now I'm burnt out. Now is the time I get to goof off, I should get it as a reward. But no, my reward for working hard instead of clowning around is more hard work and I just don't want to do it anymore.

Where do I go from here?

I have no plans for my future whatsoever. I am not prepared. I am not ready. What am I going to do with my life? I have no idea.