Relational skill.. this is something to ponder. Discussion, and the ability to communicate with the people around you...
Roger Ebert writes:
"I wonder about something. With the invention of channel surfing, and then web surfing, have we all become rewired? Has the national attention span dropped? Is that why kids like shallow action pictures and why episodic television is losing to reality shows? And why sports, which offer a frisson every few seconds, are more popular than ever? Is that why slogans are replacing reasoning in our political arena? Is an addiction to video games the ultimate expression of this erosion of our attention span?"
Do we know how to talk?
I'm noticing that an increasing percentage of my moments of communication with others consist of multiple people, all talking at each other. Talking at, as opposed to talking to. What is relating? It's as though we've forgotten the first staple of relational living... the fact that other people are interesting. We gather in large groups, we spend entire evenings talking at each other, opening our mouths... What's said, in the end? Anything? What does anybody gain from the experience?
People my age seem to approach relationships with a sort of intensity... the breakneck hang-out. Embarking on an aggressively shared moment as a means of maximizing the individual experience. The idea being, "I've got to have as much shared fun with these people as possible, because I can't think of the next time I'm going to be able to fill myself up, and this is my only chance". But at the end of a social experience loaded with speaking, but short on conversation, something still feels unresolved. As though nothing really happened at all.
When a social experience is more about yourself than it is about the others involved, it's doomed to fail, right? And that, maybe, is the root of the problem. In today's world, the self is at the centre of everything. More of me. More of my content, everywhere, all the time. Check my facebook. Here are the pictures of my latest vacation. Here is a video of me playing a song. Here is a blog all about what I think about relating. We are a society of individuals, and our minds are largely occupied by our own pursuits.
What does the pie chart of my mental activity look like? What is the percentage slice dedicated to others?
It isn't natural anymore. We have to learn community. We have to study our own experiences. We have to get good at being friends. The contrary is immaturity. Self awareness is key. We have to step back, and think about how we relate to others, and why. Nobody needs to borrow my sugar. Nobody calls me up to ask if I can help them move this weekend. We need to find those opportunities. And we need to hold ourselves to high standards. We really do need to hold ourselves to high standards. To stop separating ourselves, fitting ourselves into a stage of life in which all things are permissible under the banner of youth.
We need to have this figured out, because it's going to make us better friends, better neighbors, and better people. It's going to alter how we think about others, and what we do with our wealth. It's going to change how we approach faith and spirituality. A generation of skilled conversationalists is a generation that continues to grow, and learn, and mold their understanding of the world based on a bigger picture and a higher vantage point. I think that is imperative.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
A great day!!
Sooo... Kar leaves for Leamington and I'm flying solo on a Sunday afternoon in cold, semi-snowy Toronto. What to do?
Food day!!!
Now, I'm no minx in the kitchen. I don't really have the serious skills, and everything I make would generally fall under the category labeled "simple". But I do love it.
So... ready to go? Come with me!!:
One of my favorites. Potato and Leek soup. Several yellow potatoes, chopped onion, two full leeks, one large sweet potato, two medium sized carrots, chopped, and most of a medium sized butternut squash. Pureed (or in my case, blended..) after slow cooking. Add a slosh of milk or cream, two table spoons of butter, let sit, and enjoy:
Next up.. drinks. Nothing particularly exciting in the fridge, but some Motts kicking around, and a few other odds and ends. Caesar time! 1.5 ounces of Vodka, Motts Clamato, a dash of Worcestershire, a dash of tabasco, Celery garnish in a salt/pepper rimmed glass:
And to finish? A bullet. Fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, with plain yogurt and So Good vanilla soy milk. Sooooo goood!!!!!:
And for this evenings entertainment... AVATAR. With my eyes closed. Gotta love aggressive sound design in a completely computer generated environment. All in all.. a killer day to end a killer weekend!
Salut!
JB
Food day!!!
Now, I'm no minx in the kitchen. I don't really have the serious skills, and everything I make would generally fall under the category labeled "simple". But I do love it.
So... ready to go? Come with me!!:
One of my favorites. Potato and Leek soup. Several yellow potatoes, chopped onion, two full leeks, one large sweet potato, two medium sized carrots, chopped, and most of a medium sized butternut squash. Pureed (or in my case, blended..) after slow cooking. Add a slosh of milk or cream, two table spoons of butter, let sit, and enjoy:
Next up.. drinks. Nothing particularly exciting in the fridge, but some Motts kicking around, and a few other odds and ends. Caesar time! 1.5 ounces of Vodka, Motts Clamato, a dash of Worcestershire, a dash of tabasco, Celery garnish in a salt/pepper rimmed glass:
And to finish? A bullet. Fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, with plain yogurt and So Good vanilla soy milk. Sooooo goood!!!!!:
And for this evenings entertainment... AVATAR. With my eyes closed. Gotta love aggressive sound design in a completely computer generated environment. All in all.. a killer day to end a killer weekend!
Salut!
JB
Monday, April 26, 2010
Musings after church...
It's frustrating to me that so often, when we talk about things that happened back in 'biblical days', everything seems way too easy.
The general public is one large, amorphous mass that generally agrees on an obviously asinine concept (ie./ killing other Christians with differing belief systems during the reformation). The good guys are eloquent heros who stand on boxes declaring truth in the face of certain torture and death. The resultant death is followed sharply by an upturn in courage on the part of fellow believers, and a general understanding that the inspiring selflessness of the decision to die has resulted in a furthering of the cause.
What actually happened!? If a guy stood up in a hostile environment today, in another part of the world, and declared his truth, and was shot... would we call that martyrdom? Wisdom? Foolishness? Ridiculousness?
Would not our thoughts have less to do with the guy who was killed, and more to do with the people who killed him?
How about the crucifixion? What happened to the mob? What was their reality? On an individual level, what brought those people out that day? What made them so angry? Were they just simple, unintelligent people? Again... this image of a large, jeering, hostile crowd is unbelievable! Who are they? They're the 'biblical public'. It's fascinating that they're a part of the narrative of our faith for the sake of telling the story, but nothing more. When Christ was finally killed that day, did they shuffle off towards their homes for dinner? Did they suddenly recognize the error of their ways, en masse? Was it awkwardly quiet?
What about the family in the next town over, who were out taking their kid to soccer practice (or whatever the comparative norm of the day was..) and declined to follow the crowd as it made its obnoxious, over-energetic way down the road towards the hill? The husband said, 'you wanna go see what's up?' The wife said, 'you know, I really do have to get this washing done, and it's been a while since we spent an evening alone together anyway...'
I recognize that I'm skipping over culturally specific factors. The questions still drive me crazy.
Every time I see a video in church... something representative of that time, my thoughts go in the opposite of the intended direction.
Was Christ literally so entirely polarizing that the entire community hated him? This is the guy who kissed babies and gave a crap about the homeless? And if that was the case, and he was so completely hated that the entire general public would relish the opportunity to come out as one and witness his being put to an excruciatingly painful death, then what the heck was their deal!? Seriously.. guys.. chill the heck out! Let's talk! We're all human beings here! And if Christ really was that aggressively difficult to like.... well... then why would it be expected that anybody would ever be particularly on board with his message?
Sometimes I think that the whole thing would be far more convincing if it was a back room deal. He was smuggled out of his home in the middle of the night, and by the time the town woke up, everybody was asking where he'd up and gone to. And the community leaders spun some sort of clever little thread about how he had left suddenly, and somebody had seen him hightailing it out of the gate, making sure he wasn't followed. The whole thing would've left a seed of doubt, and people would've started asking what they had ever done to him, anyway? And why did he think he was so much better than us?
But that's not how it went down, because the Pharisees.. those guys weren't particularly intelligent. Just angry, grumpy, small-minded old men with a vendetta the size of texas.
Nah.. I don't believe that. I think the extra dimensions were all there.. just not recorded. We have the basics, I suppose.. the meat of the story. But man, more often than not I find myself wishing there were more bones...
JB
The general public is one large, amorphous mass that generally agrees on an obviously asinine concept (ie./ killing other Christians with differing belief systems during the reformation). The good guys are eloquent heros who stand on boxes declaring truth in the face of certain torture and death. The resultant death is followed sharply by an upturn in courage on the part of fellow believers, and a general understanding that the inspiring selflessness of the decision to die has resulted in a furthering of the cause.
What actually happened!? If a guy stood up in a hostile environment today, in another part of the world, and declared his truth, and was shot... would we call that martyrdom? Wisdom? Foolishness? Ridiculousness?
Would not our thoughts have less to do with the guy who was killed, and more to do with the people who killed him?
How about the crucifixion? What happened to the mob? What was their reality? On an individual level, what brought those people out that day? What made them so angry? Were they just simple, unintelligent people? Again... this image of a large, jeering, hostile crowd is unbelievable! Who are they? They're the 'biblical public'. It's fascinating that they're a part of the narrative of our faith for the sake of telling the story, but nothing more. When Christ was finally killed that day, did they shuffle off towards their homes for dinner? Did they suddenly recognize the error of their ways, en masse? Was it awkwardly quiet?
What about the family in the next town over, who were out taking their kid to soccer practice (or whatever the comparative norm of the day was..) and declined to follow the crowd as it made its obnoxious, over-energetic way down the road towards the hill? The husband said, 'you wanna go see what's up?' The wife said, 'you know, I really do have to get this washing done, and it's been a while since we spent an evening alone together anyway...'
I recognize that I'm skipping over culturally specific factors. The questions still drive me crazy.
Every time I see a video in church... something representative of that time, my thoughts go in the opposite of the intended direction.
Was Christ literally so entirely polarizing that the entire community hated him? This is the guy who kissed babies and gave a crap about the homeless? And if that was the case, and he was so completely hated that the entire general public would relish the opportunity to come out as one and witness his being put to an excruciatingly painful death, then what the heck was their deal!? Seriously.. guys.. chill the heck out! Let's talk! We're all human beings here! And if Christ really was that aggressively difficult to like.... well... then why would it be expected that anybody would ever be particularly on board with his message?
Sometimes I think that the whole thing would be far more convincing if it was a back room deal. He was smuggled out of his home in the middle of the night, and by the time the town woke up, everybody was asking where he'd up and gone to. And the community leaders spun some sort of clever little thread about how he had left suddenly, and somebody had seen him hightailing it out of the gate, making sure he wasn't followed. The whole thing would've left a seed of doubt, and people would've started asking what they had ever done to him, anyway? And why did he think he was so much better than us?
But that's not how it went down, because the Pharisees.. those guys weren't particularly intelligent. Just angry, grumpy, small-minded old men with a vendetta the size of texas.
Nah.. I don't believe that. I think the extra dimensions were all there.. just not recorded. We have the basics, I suppose.. the meat of the story. But man, more often than not I find myself wishing there were more bones...
JB
Monday, April 19, 2010
Track 1, Drums. Track 2, Bass. Track 3, Inspiration...
I've been wondering about how the changes in life always happen with a sort of immediacy that escapes cognizant experience. Dude... I don't even know if that sentence means anything. I love the word cognizant, though. Cognizance is just pretentious awareness.
When someone asks me how long I've been working with CTV, I always seem to stumble around, muttering, "year and a half?.. no.. wait.. two years?.." until Kar looks at me like I'm wearing zebra fur and says, "four and a half Jon.." I'm just not aware of the timeframe. I keep thinking I just got out of college.
I'm uncertain as to where the border lies. Pay your $2.75, declare any purchases, and enjoy your stay here in "that period in your life that you always used to talk about during the lofty, late-night conversations that started with, 'someday I'd love to..'".
At the Junos last night, Drake rapped, or guest-rapped, or just hung out on stage high-fiving people during almost every performance. Anyway, during his one solo performance (are any hip hop performances ever really 'solo'?), he was saying a bunch of stuff about ho's and cash-money, and then something about bottle service at a club, I think.. and then at his most enlightened, he dove into a chorus about "I'm just doing me, living life right now..."
Which is actually a really interesting statement. I feel like I'm there, right alongside my boy Drizzy. Only, in my mind, it's less a statement of false bravado, and more a moment of intrigued self-observation. The fact is, I am, currently, just doing "me". Life changes. I can alter my course. But for the moment, I'm existing on a daily basis in a scenario that I've created for myself.
I remember golfing alone once, at Orchard View, back when I was young, and cocky, and had buck teeth. These 3 dudes were slow playing in front of me, and asked me if I wanted to join them to make 4. They were all 30 somethings... business guys. I'm sure I was amusing to them.. what with my sharp pants, junior spikes, and 130 yard drive. Anyway, one of the guys asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I remember saying, "something to do with computers.." I also remember taking as many math and science courses in high school as I possibly could. Somewhere along the line you develop a better sense of who you want to be, and what you're meant to do in/for this world.
This has been a stellar weekend. We painted the laundry room. I always have to work so hard not to get paint in my hair. Paint in my hair is to reno days what ketchup on my shirt was to hotdog days. Anyway, I look over across the laundry room, and my girl is over there looking unreal, doing a way better job than I ever could at painting in a straight line, and ensuring that at least one of us is very successfully not getting it on the ceiling, and we've got MJ's 'Billie Jean' bringing the bass good and proper, and I've gotta give it to my man Drake. Cause here's the both of us..
'just doin' me, just living life right now, mayne.. '
I'm gonna hold it down.
Jay-B.
When someone asks me how long I've been working with CTV, I always seem to stumble around, muttering, "year and a half?.. no.. wait.. two years?.." until Kar looks at me like I'm wearing zebra fur and says, "four and a half Jon.." I'm just not aware of the timeframe. I keep thinking I just got out of college.
I'm uncertain as to where the border lies. Pay your $2.75, declare any purchases, and enjoy your stay here in "that period in your life that you always used to talk about during the lofty, late-night conversations that started with, 'someday I'd love to..'".
At the Junos last night, Drake rapped, or guest-rapped, or just hung out on stage high-fiving people during almost every performance. Anyway, during his one solo performance (are any hip hop performances ever really 'solo'?), he was saying a bunch of stuff about ho's and cash-money, and then something about bottle service at a club, I think.. and then at his most enlightened, he dove into a chorus about "I'm just doing me, living life right now..."
Which is actually a really interesting statement. I feel like I'm there, right alongside my boy Drizzy. Only, in my mind, it's less a statement of false bravado, and more a moment of intrigued self-observation. The fact is, I am, currently, just doing "me". Life changes. I can alter my course. But for the moment, I'm existing on a daily basis in a scenario that I've created for myself.
I remember golfing alone once, at Orchard View, back when I was young, and cocky, and had buck teeth. These 3 dudes were slow playing in front of me, and asked me if I wanted to join them to make 4. They were all 30 somethings... business guys. I'm sure I was amusing to them.. what with my sharp pants, junior spikes, and 130 yard drive. Anyway, one of the guys asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I remember saying, "something to do with computers.." I also remember taking as many math and science courses in high school as I possibly could. Somewhere along the line you develop a better sense of who you want to be, and what you're meant to do in/for this world.
This has been a stellar weekend. We painted the laundry room. I always have to work so hard not to get paint in my hair. Paint in my hair is to reno days what ketchup on my shirt was to hotdog days. Anyway, I look over across the laundry room, and my girl is over there looking unreal, doing a way better job than I ever could at painting in a straight line, and ensuring that at least one of us is very successfully not getting it on the ceiling, and we've got MJ's 'Billie Jean' bringing the bass good and proper, and I've gotta give it to my man Drake. Cause here's the both of us..
'just doin' me, just living life right now, mayne.. '
I'm gonna hold it down.
Jay-B.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Let's go.
Coming into summer has a way of turning my thought process around. Winter is about conservation. Energy, heat, time... everything seems fleeting in the colder months.
Working on the negative side of the ledger is always frustrating to me. I've never been particularly inclined to put my energy into saving money, for example, when the same energy might be spent earning it. And so, as the oppressive dark lifts into longer days, warmer evenings, and brighter mornings, a subtle shift in mindset is the push-off into my best months.
This summer is going to mean something. I have an awareness right now that's been absent for a while. I'm doing my best work... hearing things like I haven't before. I have a sense that the ceiling is climbing. Karen is going to be coming into a new stretch as well, which will change things in our home.
This is life, right? We live, we juggle. It's utterly unwieldy, and stunningly simple in one glance. One day's matrix of goals, plans, and ideas, boils down into another day's simple question: "what do you want to be?"
I want to create excellent work that is something to listen to. I want to be a master on the BBQ. I want to drink a fine scotch, and know the difference. I want to be able to articulate my thoughts, and understand theirs. I want to walk fast, but experience slow. To make the most of every hour of every day, and then to be able to remember what they looked like later on.
Like taking a photo with both eyes open.
JB
Working on the negative side of the ledger is always frustrating to me. I've never been particularly inclined to put my energy into saving money, for example, when the same energy might be spent earning it. And so, as the oppressive dark lifts into longer days, warmer evenings, and brighter mornings, a subtle shift in mindset is the push-off into my best months.
This summer is going to mean something. I have an awareness right now that's been absent for a while. I'm doing my best work... hearing things like I haven't before. I have a sense that the ceiling is climbing. Karen is going to be coming into a new stretch as well, which will change things in our home.
This is life, right? We live, we juggle. It's utterly unwieldy, and stunningly simple in one glance. One day's matrix of goals, plans, and ideas, boils down into another day's simple question: "what do you want to be?"
I want to create excellent work that is something to listen to. I want to be a master on the BBQ. I want to drink a fine scotch, and know the difference. I want to be able to articulate my thoughts, and understand theirs. I want to walk fast, but experience slow. To make the most of every hour of every day, and then to be able to remember what they looked like later on.
Like taking a photo with both eyes open.
JB
Monday, March 1, 2010
Olympic Wrapup
The beauty of sports is that sometimes you get an ending that simply can't be written.
The best screenplay, with the best actors and the best director, couldn't have come up with a more fitting ending to what turned out to be an incredible 2 weeks. When you have the world's best competing on the biggest stage, and the biggest guy scores the biggest goal.. well... you can't really do better than that, right? I'm trying to be aware of these moments as they happen. Our parents had the summit series... The Henderson goal. The Crosby goal... the Golden Goal... that was big.
These games were an interesting experience. As a viewer, I loved them. I love what these types of events represent, and I do believe that this was a pretty special, "once in a lifetime" type of experience. There were so many incredible moments. Montgomery's walk into Whistler has to be one of the great joys I've had as a viewer. This wasn't hype and drama. There were no media-day scrums, or Superbowl scenario breakdowns... this was a guy walking into town in an impromptu celebration... cheered as a conquering hero for a gold he had won just minutes prior.
Clara Hughes' bronze winning run in the 5000m was another that stands out to me. The look on her face when she saw the clock... that wasn't "I won!" It was, "I did my best. I did what I came here to do." That does something to my own thought process...
When you try to create great moments, they rarely seem to work. Our attempts at creating heart during these games usually fell with a dull thud. They always do, right? Gathering all of our medalists around the piano for an emotional rendition of the National Anthem, Landsberg at the helm, had to be one of the single most awkward and hard to watch moments in television history. No... the great moments happened on their own. Montgomery grabbed that now-infamous pitcher and chugged in a moment of glory, no mind for who was watching, or what it might look like on TV.
It's a scenario that played itself out in the closing ceremony. For all the pomp and volume of Avril Lavigne, it was Neil Young who owned the show. Just a guitar and a good song. It seems like great moments always happen on their own, and in the midst of simplicity.
I'm learning that great TV is like great live sound. If you're aware of it, you're doing it wrong. A well mixed live gig is the one where nobody notices the mix at all. There were some truly astounding bits of work during these games. Camera's in the right place at the right time to catch that wink before hitting the ice, a smile, a scream... defining images. Cuthbert's call of the "Golden Goal" is right up there with "Henderson Scores!!!". Out of breath, unprepared for the sheer immediacy of the moment.. how quickly everything came together in the goal that turned the entire country into a giant party. I love it.
On the work side of things... well... I'm never satisfied, am I? I'm tired, I'll say that. I don't notice when I'm overloading. I enjoy my work, and I'm passionate about the quality of our end product. It wasn't that it was overly busy. It was long. I wish I was always on the bleeding edge, barely able to keep up with everything around me. That isn't usually the case in this environment. A fair amount of time is allotted to standby. Being in the building and on call means that, when you're needed, you're ready. All told, it will have been about a month's worth of work without a weekend or a break. What wears you down isn't the amount of time you spend at work, but the amount of time you spend not going for a run, or playing guitar, or eating pancakes on a Saturday morning with kar. I can't wait for next weekend.
I very much wanted to be in Vancouver, but it just wasn't a possibility this time. It's against my nature to be ok with that. It's a healthy jealousy to listen and watch from the outside, here in Toronto. If you don't want to be there, at the heart of the action, then you're probably in the wrong place to begin with. At the same time, I'm really proud of the work I did, both on the music package for this games, and on the lion's share of voicework heard across all of our networks.
The view from the inside has been a great learning experience. I'm looking forward to London, 2012!
For now, it's time to take a night or two to be home, get some groceries, get the car fixed, and do a few of the things we haven't had a chance to do over the past few weeks. I've got another two sets of tracks to mix for Bartel Audio, and then I'll be back on the horse, working on digging up gigs for the coming months.
Don't forget to file your tax returns, folks.
Life's good, isn't it?
JB
Friday, February 19, 2010
Who We Want To Be:
I just finished watching a devastating interview with Melissa Hollingsworth... tripping into tears, trying to atone with words for what she felt was a letdown for her family, her country...
I think we're confused as to who we are as a country. We want to be both things.
We've heard it repeatedly over the past few days. Canadians are polite. We're friendly. We're upset when people don't hold the door because we know we'd hold it for them. We hate crossing the border because we'd sooner assume that somebody is good than that they're bad.
My speculation, though, is that in sports, the guys who win, more often than not, are the guys who you hated playing against in rec league because they took everything way too seriously. They're the guys who got all sweaty and aggressive when everybody was just trying to have fun. The guys who threw their weight around even though nobody was wearing pads.
I was watching the Snowboard Cross event with some buddies at work. We were yelling at the TV mid-race as the two American guys were throwing elbows and shoving our guy out towards the edge of the course... it's so inherently unlike us to approve of that type of activity, right? Fight fair. Fight clean. "C'mon man...!" is what we say.
So do we want to be known as, "Canada... reserved, humble, polite"? Seemingly.. because, let's be honest.. we do not want to be known the way much of the world knows the Americans. And we swell with pride during the Opening Ceremony poem, "We Are More". "Damn right!" we all say..
Or do we want to be known as, "Canada... owns the podium"? Win at all costs, utter brash confidence, mercilessly competitive, ultimately victorious. Well...
My take is this:
I love good stories. I'm not particularly competitive. In fact... really not much at all anymore. In the end, I don't really believe that sports, as a singular event, mean anything. They're the least of all things... with the power to excite, and inspire, and, as such, to become so much greater than their original, base-level value. I've found that I don't have a ton of interest in expectations. Melissa Hollingsworth was expected to win gold. She didn't. Somebody else did, and I suspect that the other girl has an amazing story.
This whole "Own The Podium" excercise has done its job. The proverbial "bums" are "in the seats". People are watching. The show is rolling, and the advertisers are buying.
Every win means something great for somebody. When a Korean wins a gold, they're guarenteed a government issued salary, for life. For life!! I love those great moments where everything falls into place. I enjoy the ones that go our way. As one of my bosses said when he walked into the room immediately following the Canadian "Crosby Show" shootout win, "now THAT's GOOD TV!!" Sure was... a huge moment. Fun to be a part of.
If, at the end, Canada was to be known for something, I'd prefer it wasn't that we were great at winter sports.
These games have been a blast to watch. Great moments left, right, and centre. Athletes reaching the absolute pinnacle.. sometimes ours, sometimes not. It's how it should be.
Here's to a great second week!
... but we better friggen win Hockey!
JB
I think we're confused as to who we are as a country. We want to be both things.
We've heard it repeatedly over the past few days. Canadians are polite. We're friendly. We're upset when people don't hold the door because we know we'd hold it for them. We hate crossing the border because we'd sooner assume that somebody is good than that they're bad.
My speculation, though, is that in sports, the guys who win, more often than not, are the guys who you hated playing against in rec league because they took everything way too seriously. They're the guys who got all sweaty and aggressive when everybody was just trying to have fun. The guys who threw their weight around even though nobody was wearing pads.
I was watching the Snowboard Cross event with some buddies at work. We were yelling at the TV mid-race as the two American guys were throwing elbows and shoving our guy out towards the edge of the course... it's so inherently unlike us to approve of that type of activity, right? Fight fair. Fight clean. "C'mon man...!" is what we say.
So do we want to be known as, "Canada... reserved, humble, polite"? Seemingly.. because, let's be honest.. we do not want to be known the way much of the world knows the Americans. And we swell with pride during the Opening Ceremony poem, "We Are More". "Damn right!" we all say..
Or do we want to be known as, "Canada... owns the podium"? Win at all costs, utter brash confidence, mercilessly competitive, ultimately victorious. Well...
My take is this:
I love good stories. I'm not particularly competitive. In fact... really not much at all anymore. In the end, I don't really believe that sports, as a singular event, mean anything. They're the least of all things... with the power to excite, and inspire, and, as such, to become so much greater than their original, base-level value. I've found that I don't have a ton of interest in expectations. Melissa Hollingsworth was expected to win gold. She didn't. Somebody else did, and I suspect that the other girl has an amazing story.
This whole "Own The Podium" excercise has done its job. The proverbial "bums" are "in the seats". People are watching. The show is rolling, and the advertisers are buying.
Every win means something great for somebody. When a Korean wins a gold, they're guarenteed a government issued salary, for life. For life!! I love those great moments where everything falls into place. I enjoy the ones that go our way. As one of my bosses said when he walked into the room immediately following the Canadian "Crosby Show" shootout win, "now THAT's GOOD TV!!" Sure was... a huge moment. Fun to be a part of.
If, at the end, Canada was to be known for something, I'd prefer it wasn't that we were great at winter sports.
These games have been a blast to watch. Great moments left, right, and centre. Athletes reaching the absolute pinnacle.. sometimes ours, sometimes not. It's how it should be.
Here's to a great second week!
... but we better friggen win Hockey!
JB
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