myOtaku.com: SomeGuy

myO Still <3's You

Vitals

Birthday
• 1983-08-05
Gender
• Male
Location
• Vancouver, BC
Member Since
• 2003-08-02
Occupation
• Writer; Part-Time Hero
Real Name
• James

Personal

Achievements
• Visiting eight different myO friends in person thus far
Anime Fan Since
• Winter 2001
Favorite Anime
• Neon Genesis Evangelion, .hack//SIGN, Naruto, Bleach, Beck, Peacemaker Kurogane, Ranma 1/2 (the guilty pleasure)
Goals
• Visit the myO friends I've missed thus far; complete a cosplay from 300
Hobbies
• Writing, Gaming, Kung Fu, Movies, Acting somewhat strange in general
Talents
• Can recognise most quotes from almost any movie/show on first listen; Can recite the entire 12 days of Christmas by memory

myOtaku.com: SomeGuy

Thursday, June 8, 2006

Secret secret, I've got a secret . . .
The Earl and Dutchess of Wessex were fun. They went around to everyone very methodically, shaking hands and saying hello. Heh . . . not like anyone expected we'd be running on time anyway, eh?

So first off, I slept in and didn't wake up until 10:30, the time I was supposed to already be at City Hall. Damn. So yeah, very fast clean-up and out the door. Parking, naturally, was impossible seeing as everything on the streets was cut off for press and other types - I ended up parking a few blocks away on the street. It was funny, because the sign said "1 hour max" and I knew for a fact that we would not be finishing that quickly. Ah well, if it happens it happens . . .

Caught up with my kung-fu people after getting my name checked off a list (hehe). Turned out there were five of us performing altogether: 2 guys in the lion, one drummer, one gong, and one cymbals (me). Not one of our bigger group thingies, but I guess this was kinda short-notice for us for some reason . . . that, and it was in the middle of the Wednesday, when people would be working and stuff . . . ah well.

We set up as the second group of performers along the royal driveway or whatever they called it (a driveway that went all around the actual building). Ahead of us was a girls' choir, directly after us was a group of wheelchair basketball playing kids, then an Indian dance group, then . . . some kind of First Nations something-rather group that had a trampoline, and finally a street dancing team. It was a good selection of Vancouverisms, I suppose . . . well, the wheelchair basketball guys were there more so because it was a flag-raising for the Paralympic Flag, but yeah.

Oh yeah, random Vancouver trivia: Vancouver's mayor, Mayor Sam Sullivan, is quadriplegic and thus makes quite an impression on people when he takes the Olympic Flag home from Torino on his lap and when you have stuff like this for the Paralympics.

Second Sam Sullivan trivia: he speaks better Cantonese than I do. First mayor of Vancouver to be able to do that, so the Chinese people like him.

Aaaanyways, so yeah, we're all set, the mayor wheels over to us and says some thank yous and stuff in Cantonese - it's just amusing, it really is - and then we all got ready. After a while a pipe band and stuff marched through, some police guys went through . . . and then out came the royals, slowly making their way along the lines of spectators and stuff while the choir sang the extended version of "O Canada" (the one that goes "This iiiis my hoooome, O Caaanadaaaaa . . ." and then goes into French). So yeah, very tranquil, very pretty . . . . .

. . . then it was our turn. Big drum, hard percussion, excited lion. Now, I was watching the drum for when to start, but right after we did I looked back up at Prince Edward and them and well . . . heh, I think we freaked him out. He and the Dutchess looked as though they were just recovering from a sudden start (y'know, heads back, touching each other, laughing . . .that thing). So we did our very quick performance, people clapped for us, and then they all came to chat with us for a bit.

. . . well, technically they chatted with Michael, the lion head. He and his brother are the club's poster boys, though, so it's okay. But yeah, just basic questions like "how long have you been doing this? How hard is it?" Y'know. A few good laughs here and there . . . and then they shook hands with them, nodded and said "thank you" to us the musicians (burn on us) . . and off they went to the next group.

After that the Mayor thanked us again, Premier Gordon Campbell (who was there but I had forgotten about) shook all our hands and said thank you - I received the thank you graciously in turn. Hey, like him or not, who cares, we're here to celebrate stuff; to hell with politics. There was enough of that as was . . .

. . . . . heh, protesters with signs in the next group of crowd. What killjoys . . . and how ignored they were . . . . . I mean come on, you're holding up protest signs about MPs, the Prime Minister and the Olympics at a Paralympic Flag-raising ceremony! There's school kids standing next to you who only know that the Queen's son is in town and nothing more . . . at least they were quiet, I guess. Whatever. . . . .

We packed up long before the actual flag-raising ceremony and went to lunch at the mall next to City Hall. We could still see the flags through the windows, though, so we did get to see the Paralympic flag up next to the giant Olympic one. Yeah, it looked a'ight . . . . . really I just wanted to go home and chill some more by that point.

Oh yeah, I didn't get a parking ticket despite being in that spot for over an hour. Go me.

Drove home just before rush hour so the freeway was slow. Inexplicably there was also a pooey smell in the car, either coming through the A/C or something I stepped in (though I constantly checked and saw nothing). And now yesterday is over. Hooray.

And then the Oilers got splatted. Dang . . .
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