Dirty Laundry

Here Come The Olympics

Or is it, “Here Comes The Olympics?” This kind of thing always confuses me. Is the Olympics a singular event or ARE the Olympics considered plural because they represent a number of sports. The Olympics SOUNDS plural but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s supposed to be referred to as singular. I will have to ask my editor about this. She is much more “studied up” on these matters. For instance, I was under the impression that you were still supposed to put two spaces between a period and the next new sentence. But apparently that has changed. And not that recently, either. Something to do with typewriters and monospaced typefaces. You’d think as a writer I should know all these things.

Well, I’m here to tell you, I don’t. I’ve learned quite a few new “tricks of the trade” working with an editor on my books, including the use of the em dash, of which I am now a huge fan. But the good thing about writing in the first person (and particularly from the point of view of a teenage boy) is that I can get away with a lot of slang and improper usage because, well, “that’s how he thinks, that’s how I hear him speak, etc. etc.”

Anyway, onto the subject of this blog. We here in beautiful British Columbia are about to be the focus of the sporting world for the next little while and I’m truly excited about it. I know that there are people who are upset about how much money is being spent, and how many services are being cut, and how the roads are being blocked off, and construction is a nightmare, and the Olympics historically does (do???) not bring money into the host cities, and blah blah blah blah blah. I understand all this and I do feel a twinge of guilt about being so incredibly excited about it. And really, not because I care one bit about any of the other sports beyond hockey (sorry all you Skeleton fans). It’s a completely selfish reason but having the chance to see the world’s greatest hockey players match up against each other is a huge thrill for me.

Since I will be attending some of the hockey games, I have it in my head that I want to do a “Live At the Olympics” blog, complete with photos and everything. I am going to bring my computer and my camera and I will try to give you my impressions of the events, the city, and everything that’s going on. We’ll see how that works. If I can manage to steal (borrow???) some internet while I’m in Vancouver (as the apartment I’m staying in for the six days is not equipped with wireless) I might be able to keep you all up to date.

And so, until then, I’ll leave you with this:

 

 

Posted by Don Calame on 2.10.10 at 11:08 am in Prattlings. (0) Comments