OW! The Podium!

Oy. It's not like I have nothing to blog about.

In fact, now that I have finally decided to devote some time to updating this , I feel like I could be here all night recording all the exciting happenings of the last few months. OK. Not exciting. And I'm here because I think if I watch one more second of the Winter Olympics my eyes will begin to bleed. It was this or Ice Dance. Again.

I will start by addressing my long absence from this space. It's not that I have lost interest or have naught to say. It can be partially explained by the fact that my job only allows for "blogtime" during the summer. At the beginning of the NHL Hockey Season all bets are off that I can reliably devote more than 9 consecutive minutes to crafting even an email response to my mother, let alone a full on blog post. And my other blogging window, which was on weekend nights when Eric was out playing with his band, dried up when the female singer of said band was gestating/birthing/breastfeeding a baby which necessitated a several month hiatus from performing. But, whaddya know? The band is onstage somewhere right now, the Olympic brain seizure is in effect, so blogging it is.

And you know, I could go back and start chronicling all that I have missed (Christmas..awesome. Winter...where snowflakes only ever fall during my commute. Registering Kieran for Kindergarten...Yeehaw!!) but I think I would like to talk about my current/recurrent obsession, which is the Olympics.

If you know me in person you will likely know that I am not a sports fan, and yet I am, and have always been, an Olympic addict. I remember during the 1988 Games in Calgary, re-enacting Olympic Figure Skating routines with my friends in our basement. I remember the following September watching Ben Johnson win the 100 metre in Seoul and, even more clearly, the horror and collective mourning that followed two days later at my high school when he failed that drug test and lost the Gold. But being Canadian, I identify more with the Winter Games... Lillehammer, Albertville, Nagano, Salt Lake City, Torino (and no, I did not have to check with the internet to verify the order of the cities...I do remember them all.)

And now we can add Vancouver 2010 to the list. Hopefully, years from now I will have forgotten how the Games opened, that unfortunate juxtaposition of a jubilant torch run that cut to the sight and sound of a Georgian luger smashing into a steel girder and knowing right then that, even though they wouldn't officially say it for at least another 90 minutes, that he was dead. (This was the one and only time that having an HD Plasma screen installed three feet from my head in the office was very, very bad.) But things have been brighter from there...at least now all I hear all day long from the huge TV beside my head is the collective suck of Canada's best athletes. It's like they are just now saying: "What? OWN the Podium? Dude...I thought that read "OW! The Podium! Because it really, like, hurt when I careened off the hill and smashed into it "

But, even still, I am a fan. I think I can come to terms with the undeniable fact, that, with notable exceptions, no matter how much they try, Canadian athletes can rack up World Championships, International Accolades and World Records...until the Olympics. Its like we see those mascots, hear the orchestra swell in a David Foster-esque theme song and dive for cover. I accept that. And I love the Games regardless. Which is why, I must now return to Ice Dance.

ETA: While I was writing this, Canada won a Gold Medal. Ah, sweet irony.