I believe....

Anyone watching the Vancouver Olympics has heard it about 3.8 billion times already. It's now embedded in the collective consciousness of all Canadians, the most epic earworm of this new millennium thus far.

Of course, I'm referring to "Believe", sung by Montrealer (!) Nikki Yanofsky.

Our Canadian Olympic coverage is underscored by this instrumental at every turn. I find myself absentmindedly humming it while cooking, folding laundry or driving. And naturally, it blares from every loudspeaker whenever a Canadian athlete wins a medal, which means - seven times so far.

The Believe movement has its own logo, too, translated into hats, t-shirts and every conceivable article of clothing you can imagine. It's been reproduced on banners, copybook covers and scarves. In short, we're all being urged to "believe", as though having collective faith in our athletes will somehow improve their performance.

The logic (or lack thereof) doesn't matter. Our country has embraced the movement, and the song, with open arms (ears??)

As I stopped into my local hockey arena this afternoon, I saw yet another banner, this one made by schoolchildren from the local elementary school, posted prominently in the lobby. Hand- coloured and cut in a slightly wobbly hand, it nevertheless represents the hopeful anthem we've been singing for the past week...

A housekeeping note: I'll be out of town this weekend, and I'm not sure I'll be bringing my laptop with me (electronics and arenas are somewhat incompatible creatures). I'll keep clicking away, but I won't be posting any new pics until our return late Sunday. Have a good weekend, gentle readers.

Unplugged

I finally got the camera cord working again. I had been faithfully snapping pics, but couldn't download them either here or to my Facebook Project 365 photo album, so I found myself silenced and speechless.

As anyone who has spent a quarter of an hour with me will tell you, this is a most unnatural state.

Things have been strange here. My work is sporadic and the bills are piling up. We're having a grey but snowless winter, and the urge to sulk and hibernate has been overwhelming. My normally boundless creative and physical energy has deserted me, and I feel dusty and underused.

Also not typical, and quite uncomfortable.

This project has been a decent motivator over the past few days. Forcing myself to find interesting angles, or looking at everyday objects in new ways, has given me a creative push on days when I'd really rather fall into inertia.

And so, these photos are somewhat abstract and unusual. This first one is of our local library, as seen from the outside. Staff has placed a red plastic film over the windows, presumably to counter the bleaching effects of constant sunlight on their collection. As I peered in, the yellow lights gave the scene a rather chilling effect.



It kinda looks like The Library of East Hades, doesn't it?

This evening, as I drove home from my play rehearsal, I grabbed the camera at a stoplight, rolled down the window and snapped a few photos of the train tracks which run parallel to the highway service road right near my house. I suppose I wasn't entirely stopped, and so the lights near the tracks seem smeared and surreal...

Monday Monday....

Still no new camera cord. I was told by a knowledgeable friend to try downloading some drivers. He was supposed to send me links... but I'm still waiting.

In the meantime, I found one more pic from Friday. There is little capturing our imagination at the moment, other than the Olympics. The joy of winning Canada's first gold medal on home soil (despite hosting the Olympics twice before, in 1976 and 1988) has suffused the entire country. Even here, in our less-than-enthusiastic province, the gold medal mogul run by hometown hero Alexandre Bilodeau has generated huge excitement and momentum for the Olympic frenzy.

And thus, why not wave our flag a little bit, in a rather unCanadian way, and celebrate a true milestone in our sports history?

Oh dear

Well, it was bound to happen. I've hit my first snag of the project.

Yesterday, as I tried to download the day's photos, I realized my camera cord wasn't working properly. *sigh* So I've been unable to load or edit any new pictures, although I have been snapping away...

So today, you get two days' worth of "old" photos, all taken Friday - the last time my accoutrements decided to be helpful. Until I can replace the cord (hopefully tomorrow) this'll have to do.

Saturday: A whimsical photo. The sun was flooding in from the south-facing windows, and I happened to be picking something up from the floor and looked up. The shadows of the barstools on the wood-grain counter were stark and interesting.

One of the "tricks" I've been reading about in the Project 365 forums is to see ordinary things in new ways and through a different perspective. I think this photo (my skills notwithstanding) fit in with that philosophy.


Sunday: Later that day, I headed to the local mall. One of the boutiques there had an absolutely gorgeous chandelier, draped with iridescent satin. When I sat down in the "waiting" area and looked up, I thought I was seeing a giant suspended orchid in the ceiling. A beautiful effect, and definitely worth a shot!