Three winter Olympics and much hilarity

It occurred to me the other day that I have been in three different cities for the past three winter Olympic games. There's no particular significance to this, other than the way it gives me an ability to gauge how much things in my life have changed in the past few years.

Nagano, 1998: I was in Vancouver, still in highschool, and likely with no idea of what to do next: probably still wearing a chain on my jeans and dying my hair bright colours. Oh boy.

Salt Lake City, 2002: At Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. My Queen's escape plan was well under way after I discovered that I infact did not love Sociology the way I thought I did. Me leaving the field was cited by some as "the single greatest loss in Sociological history"; in fact, I don't think the academic discipline has ever quite recovered from the loss. Ha. Next step: Business School.

Torino, 2006: Somehow I've ended up in Stavanger, Norway. It's amazing how things change; if you'd asked me 6 months ago where I though I would be now, Stavanger would not likely have been one of the answers. That said, me ending up here is the result of several of the decision during the phases mentioned above. If I hadn't gone to Queen's I wouldn't have studied sociology; if I hadn't studied sociology, I wouldn't decided I needed to leave Queen's; if I hadn't gone to Ivey, I probably wouldn't have gotten the job that has inevitably lead to me living in Stavanger.

Anyways, enough rambling. The Olympics have been pretty entertaining so far. Well, except for the fact that I haven't been able to watch my much beloved hockey games (except for a period here and there when the skiing events finish. *sigh*).

In terms of pure entertainment, let's take Lindsey Jacobellis as an example:

Jacobellis: Woo! I'm gonna WIIINNNNN!!! Yeah! Just one more jump...

Jacobellis: Ah, shit.

Jacobellis: Well, that sucked.
Other Girl: Woo!

Okay, so in a way I feel sorry for her; she wanted to put on a show for the crowd, I get that. But really, this is the Olympics, not the X-Games or some random annual competition. You don't celebrate winning until you've actually won.

As a second and final example of Olympic entertainment, I would like to present by far the most ridiculous looking sport to have ever graced the games: the two-man luge.

I can imagine the coversation that went on when the sport was first conceived:

Guy 1: Okay, so I'm going to slide down the hill first. You wait 15 seconds then go, okay? We don't want to run into each other.
Guy 2: Nah, let's slide down together!
Guy 1: Uh, how come? I mean, we have two sleds; I'll just go first, and you'll go second.
Guy 2: No really, it'll be fun! Here, hop on.
Guy 1: Uh, okay, I guess we can try it that way. I guess.

And the rest is history...