We only have one year until the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. To be honest, I didn’t want them. I’ve heard and seen some terrible things about the Calgary Olympics (winter 1988) and the Montreal Olympics (summer 1976). We already have tons of ads about the 2010 Winter Olympics because a Canadian has never won Gold on Canadian soil.

The reason I didn’t want them is because a.) Calgary apparently went into a huge deficit when they thought it would open them up to the world; b.) Vancouver’s tourism industry is fine; c.) When I visited Montreal I learned about the stadium where the roof was supposed to open and make it an open-air roof, but apparently it didn’t work, it’s a huge disaster, and it leaks; d.) They wanted to tear up the Cambie Heritage Boulevard to build a skytrain.

Now, this isn’t meant to be a hugely pessimisstic post, I’m just explaining my reasons. I was still in high school when Vancouver went in for the Olympic bid… and now with one year to go, I don’t think Vancouver is going to be ready. There is a lot of talk about no money being left to finish things like the Athletes Village and other structures for the games. I remember there was talk about updating the Sea to Sky Highway which goes to Whistler (where most of the mountain events will take place), but I don’t know if that ever happened. And, they still aren’t done the Canada Line — their solution to not destroying the Cambie Heritage Boulevard was to tunnel underneath the road. Pure chaos for the past three years in my neighbourhood.

But there is nothing I can do now. My parents are already talking about going out of town during the Olympics. Renting out the basement (which has a full kitchen) and having my sister and/or myself live upstairs. They want to go to Hawaii or Mexico.

I don’t know what I’m going to do during the Olympics. It will be pure insanity and I work downtown, near the historic part of Vancouver (aka tourist central). I have nothing against tourists… but I’m not a fan of crowds.

The whole “1 year until the 2010 Olympics” celebration is supposed to be positive, but I’m a little nervous. We’re welcoming the world and we’re not even ready. There is nothing I can do about it.

P.S. I just thought I should add that I don’t like the logo. We only have one inukshuk in Vancouver (it’s more of a Yukon/Northwest Territories/Nunavut symbol) and it was a gift to BC from the Yukon. I much more enjoy the Paralympic Games logo.

A couple weeks ago on Tuesday (January 27) was Family Literacy Day. Which got me thinking about reading… and so when I heard about Freedom to Read Week, I just had to share!

Freedom to Read Week is celebrated in Canada for the last week in February: February 22-28, 2009. There are a number of books that have been banned worldwide, and several that have been contested in Canada which are written by Canadian authors. On the Freedom to Read website there is some information about challenged books and magazines, and I’d like to mention a few that I have read.

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