#054 Golden Accolade and Alien InvaShawn

I've done it.

I won Gold at the 1st Sleep Olympiad.

To be honest it should come as no real surprise... I was the only competitor.

:-)

A side effect of all the extra sleep and my overall restfulness of the past two weeks has been increased dream activity.  Most of it was just the repetitious dreams each night that would continue after I'd wake up in the night and just continue on once I got back to sleep. 

To be honest most were hardly news-worthy, and not worth repeating. Most I could delve into lucidly after waking up and going back to sleep two or three or four times during the night. All except for one night. Last night...

It was a long standing re-occurring dream I'll have once every year or so. I've been having it now for a good 15-20 years. I've never really taken that much notice of it, recorded dates or times. Which, all things considered, has me kicking myself in the pants for that now.  I have other re-occurring dreams but this one is different.

This particular dream vary somewhat over time. What remains the same is the fact that it is about an alien invasion of Earth, and they always take place at home (Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia). While other re-occurring dreams I have will be set in different locations, the Alien Invasion one is always at home. 

The other facts that remain the same are:

The invasion comes out of nowhere.  There is no warning, no notice. No one is prepared. The sky instantaneously fills with hundreds, if not thousands of alien aircraft. As far as you can see there are star-ships, war-craft of every type and dimension, from right above us to the horizon. No matter where you look, 360', there are craft flying.

All of the alien ships are always flying from the South-East towards the North-West.

There is no direct violence in view, but it can always be heard in the distance, and the glow of fire and explosions, as well as the sounds of aircraft (theirs and ours) exploding and crashing into the ground.

And finally, even after those times where it repeats within the night, I have never been able to enter or re-enter the dram lucidly. I always have to let it continue without my interfering, and it never ends well for us.

While I never wake up from these dreams like I do from some night-mares, I always wake up with the same feeling, and that is total defeat. But that's not the worst part, for me it's the first glimpse of the ships in the air, and that the keep on coming and coming and coming, there is no end, and you just feel so small and insignificant and weak, knowing that this is the end. 

With this dream, that is always what remains with me... from the moment I wake up, and usually for hours if not days after. And nothing I've ever been able to do allows me to change that outcome...

...yet.

#048 Near PerfecShawn

Well Virtue and Moir came in Silver to Davis and White's Gold, but it could have gone either way. 

That said, I had a feeling that this is what would happen. Having seen their two long programs multiple times throughout the season,  aside from artistic arrangement, the only real difference has been consistency.  Davis and White are nothing if not consistently flawless, Virtue and Moir are amazing but unfailing repetition has never been one of their calling cards.

Certainly, Scheherazade is not a very well known story, the music a little more so, but I have to say it; had Virture and Moir skated to some music and or a more recognizable story I think that would have put them farther ahead over the season and at the Olympics. Both pairs are known to be at the top of their class so it's the small things like connection to the music and performance that can give an edge.

Now, I'm not looking for something so common, I mean how many skates have we seen over the past week that were performed to Les Miz or Romeo and Juliet?! It gets old. And even more so when someone skates to something that the audience claps along, often times getting louder and louder and sometimes clapping faster and faster, and UGH! that's  annoying, if not distracting to the skaters. 

Choosing something that the audience knows and will draw them into the skate without overly participating to the rhythm is as much a skill as every twist and turn on their blades.

Many skaters have selected music from Russian composers, some were a little blatant about it, if not painfully obvious: the Russian couple skating to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, or even Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet are just green thumbs. Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade  had just the freshness and slightly less well known feel to it that gave it an edge.

Add that edge over Virtue and Moir's skate and when you have two excellent skates you need something that is going to grab a little bit more attention.

I congratulate all the skaters, those that did as well as did not medal, but at the end of the day, Davis and White received an extra tip of the hat from me.

#039 Olympic Medal AmbiShawns

Well thus far today we've watched a little over 8.5 hours of Olympic coverage. And we've seen Canada win our first Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals!

And even though we've been watching everything PVRed, we've been avoiding all other media and limiting our viewing on Facebook so as not to spoil the excitement of watching the events and our athletes winning. It's no easy task, but we're managing.

Our three medalists have to be so very proud of all they've accomplished, and too, all the other Olympians that have competed so far. Certainly they all want to win a medal, but I see they're even being there as an immense accomplishment. As they say on award shows, 'It's an honour just to be nominated', so too, it's an honour to simple qualify and make it to the Olympics.  In pure and simple terms it means that you are among the most elite of those in your sport in the World. And to represent your Country on the World stage is no small thing. 

For us to have one three medals on the first full day of competition has to be a huge inspiration and incentive to all the other athletes.

So far Canada has impressed.  

There are a few more hours of today's events left to watch and  even still, we cannot wait for tomorrow.

...but now to get up off the sofa and stretch.

GO CANADA, GO!