Order Soon Van
Creativity starves insanity
I can't understand why Volleyball doesn't rate higher. Someone must have noticed the photogenic Sandi Bowen. Then again, there doesn't seem to be a photo of her up on the web, not even on the AIS site. Looks like I'll have to take a few action shots of her, with a telescopic camera too. The free seats, usually reserved for IOC and athletes are up the back behind the team benches. That's why you don't see any camera shots up past the wall behind. It's all covered on one side.
I thought it was some kind of glitch on the first day but there seems to be a live camera feed along with the 40 other channels soley on the Olympic cauldron out at Homebush Park. All day, every day. The free access the print room gets is the one that SOBO sends out to the world, without the annoying commentary, but then again, I still have no idea on the sport of Handball.
I don't have to work tommorrow, but I will still be able to get in. Definitely going to watch the Aussie women take on the Kenyans.
Saturday and Sunday, the trains were barren, but the crowds packed the Ent Cent. Monday packed out the trains but the crowds were pretty quiet. Except for one Korean guy, spent most of his time chanting to the fans as opposed to watching any of the game. In which, by the way the Koreans slaughtered the Germans. Totally blew away my winner pegs. I'm not betting, just leaning. The Australian women are by far the best looking team in the competition.
You'll need a fast connection to watch the games live on your PC.
Soon Van - Wednesday, 20 September 2000 - 11:42
On any other day it would not faze me crazy, but today, I awoke from my deepset slumber at 13:00. It never occurred to me the impact that five hour sleeps would have on my body. It has been four days or so straight that I have left the house for my volunteer run at the Volleyball at the Entertainment Centre.
Usually there is nothing for me to do until the games are about to start over at the pavilion in Olympic Park at around 10:00 and then at 11:00 five other runners start their twelve hour shifts. Might seem excessive having eight print results runners hanging around but when an order comes through there just doesn't seem to be enough.
Every time a start list, match results or flash quotes get sent through I try and get the package for the Press Tribune. There's a funky canadian named Heather who makes the whole experience that much more pleasant. Not to say I'm not having a blast as it is. There is this white covered plastic tunnel that links the Exhibition Halls to the Entertainment Centre. This is where the Volleyball athletes walk down just before stepping onto the court. At the Exhibition end of the tunnel is our longest client, Sports Info Desk. While one runner delivers to the Desk, eight jobs would of been sent through and done. Most dreaded. That is of course next to the SOBO Tribune, a crabby lady commands this post. So damn finicky. Competition Management, the people who run the whole Volleyball administration once trashed forty copies of newly delivered results because they assumed they already had them. Calls were made, names were called and Comp Management got a fresh new batch.
'Mag and Bag,' I would have to say is the most nerve wracking thing I have had to face. I just don't like it when the guards have to place there hands all over my open hip bag in search of non-existant C4, knife or a gun. I enjoy the rest of the 'experience' though. I think my heart seized as I passed the metal detector on the first day. A runner friend found out that there was a thin metallic strip in the Aussie money bills. It was that sensitive.
They once had muffins. No longer. Merely two inch cubed cakes, crumbly too.
Soon Van - Wednesday, 20 September 2000 - 10:20
On my way to see the Cauldron be lit at Liverpool I spotted the Goodyear blimp. The sides were repainted with "G'Day" on the left and "Good Luck" on the right. Good luck indeed, the wind was a gustful of bitchiness that sent the blimp 'flying' out of control. At times it came close to re-enacting Hindenburg.
Woodward Park was crammed with people awaiting the flame. I had a pretty okay vantage point where my view of the cauldron was umimpeded, and then, the parents lifted their kids atop their shoulders. A blanket of prime soccerballs had taken away what little view I had staked out. It settled down for the thirty minutes I baked in the sun. Maddness ensued once again as the torch fed from the cauldron on its way to the Olympics. I dirtied my boots on the mess that was a sitting child's face. Luckily the stain wiped right off.
I later caught up with the torch just eight blocks outside my house. The left side of the road was lined with people all facing the oncoming traffic. I took to the median strip, the cars slowed down—because there was a road block—and some guy runs past with the torch. It is just a flame but I did get a stupid sense of completion as it ran right past me. Two feet away and not a single person in my line of view.
Soon Van - Thursday, 14 September 2000 - 07:37
Saturday: Never realised the kind of filth I lived in until I needed to use the place to take a still. It took me just over two hours to make the backdrop come up to some kind of decency. It was a maddening search for white towels as I raced to beat the late morning shadow. Everything had to be close to perfect. Too perfect would be insane. At 14:45 I took the shots, accidentally caught myself in the mirror of the second photo. I had two hours to set it up and still forgot to place the redfest ticket within the frame. Wasted.
Sunday: I went through my first mag and bag. The magno-something and the bag search. It was okay, except for the fact that my belt buckle didn't scare the cops enough to warrant a physical pat-down. The entire section of Darling Harbour that includes the convention centre and the Entertainment Centre have been locked down. Can't get through any of the barricades without the proper accreditation. I have the power.
I was thinking about buying some tickets to the Volleyball. No longer. I was told that being a sports volunteer automatically gives me free games, all I have to do is flash my accreditation, walk through and sit in the stands. Excellent. Some others where trying to scalp theirs. Losers.
A volunteer friend of mine was offered $2000 for the jacket right of off his back. I haven't even broken the seal on mine, might get $5000. Should decide well before the gold medal games though, 40,000 jackets will flood that market and drive the margins into a kamikaze state of no return.
Soon Van - Tuesday, 12 September 2000 - 03:32
The Olympics are right here. In the next two weeks I will spend most of my free-time running around and under the Entertainment Centre handing out the results of the Volleyball to the press and officials.
Could mean some exposure. If you spot an asian who looks suicidal, that's me, the Sleeper/Bad Ass Ninja/Ethan.
Soon Van - Saturday, 9 September 2000 - 10:48
Saw this on the Official Olympic Site as I was checking out who were going to be the local torch runners for my area.
Torch Relay - Daily route
Day 97 - Highlights of who's running today
5.08am
Nathaniel Blacklock will start in Cronulla on Captain Cook Dr from Cronulla High School. Nathan plays first grade rugby league for St George Illawarra and is a role model to young Aboriginal people.
1.08pm
Olympican Daniel Esposito will start in Liverpool, on Elizabeth Drive from Macquarie Street Mall/Westfields.
...
I always thought only Olympians competed at the Olympics.
Soon Van - Saturday, 9 September 2000 - 09:43
This is unbelievable, the Torch Relay comes close to my house twice on Tuesday, September 12. Should make up for missing the one down at Campbelltown. Can't wait to bag myself some cauldron shots.
Soon Van - Saturday, 9 September 2000 - 09:28
I've searched all over the web for a particular article but seems I had to write it myself. It was this piece I heard on the radio as they read from the paper. I was busy on the can at the time. Seems diarrhea can hit you if your the kind of PC user who chooses not to utilise the TAB on websites and browsing. You could get diarrhea. That's right, the index finger links up to your lower intestine through one of those aura-gasmic vibes. The constant and repetitious pressure applied in a way fondles the organ and flatulence abounds.
Could explain why I've been farting so much and so often.
Soon Van - Saturday, 9 September 2000 - 07:33
Three weeks past the final cut-off date and I still sent in my tokens to RedFest. Despite claims on their website stating otherwise, I still grabbed a ticket. Three weeks after they proclaimed that all had been given away. Ticket No: 25555. Certainly not 30001. The fest is supposed to go ahead at Royal Randwick Racecourse, I have no idea where that is. "No Pass Outs will be issued," that's a bold statement.
Soon Van - Saturday, 9 September 2000 - 03:34
For two months not a single movement of the jaw went smoothly, the right side had become annoyingly rigid. Lockjaw had hit, but unbeknownst to me. A week or so ago on The Late Show, Dave was going on about missing a shot for tetanus and how he got lockjaw as a result. I remeber getting an injection for something awhile back. Not clear on what. An audible *glock* of the right jaw joint and relief soon followed as I awoke in the cold dark morn from my slumber. I thought for sure my jaw was broken for all those weeks. Only a slight numb misalignment remains.
Soon Van - Friday, 8 September 2000 - 09:36
Watching Michael J. Fox leave Spin City on Monday night was such a painful experience. The tearducts of both my left and right eyes sealed up six years ago due to lack of use. I believe I wanted to cry but all that I could experience were the seizures and convulsions as the eyes tried to force some saltwater through the closed canals.
I once had my eyes opened in a gust of wind. They remained opened for at least seven minutes, they dried up nicely. Closing them, however, made the eyes water. Did this again till my train came. The drip ripped down the side of my face like acid. I don't think I can differentiate between a real tear and a droplet of eyeball film—whatever that's called—they both cause me pain.
Soon Van - Thursday, 7 September 2000 - 10:17
There aren't any Olympic Venues round here in Campbelltown, but there are cheap bastards. First there was this seven foot, slow giant in the uni toilets in full volunteer gear. And today hoards of indians are getting around on the network using suspiciously hokey accreditation passes.
At least I have the knowledge that my pass has full access to all areas.
Soon Van - Thursday, 7 September 2000 - 06:04
The corners of my lips have of late been peeling. The cracks let through blood in saltified slits. A remedy was needed and in a hurry. I remember watching a Stupid Human Trick on The Late Show a few months ago. There was this guy who sucked the air out of Coke bottles and then slid them across his face so that they would just hang off his face. I thought I would try this with a Bickford bottle. Blood from under the frail skin of the right side of my mouth shot straight to deep purple. I now look as though the car jostled as I was applying my lipstick.
I don't wear lipstick.
Soon Van - Tuesday, 5 September 2000 - 10:43
I woke to what felt like a searing hot poker gyrating around in my right buttock cleft. My whole right leg in sheer pain. I was totally doped up on sleep deprevation. I should be immune to the feeling. After all it has been a decade since I last slept a full eight hours. I missed the running of the torch through Campbelltown. It all had to do with me reading the timetable wrong. As Michael Knight and Pat Farmer were lighting the cauldron in Leumeah I was baking in the hot morning sun at Koshiyaga Park watching it all on a big screen among hundreds of school kids. Obviously truants. The cauldron was only ten minutes away. I had passed it earlier on thinking that it had already been. At least I still have one chance left in Liverpool next week.
Soon Van - Tuesday, 5 September 2000 - 06:08
Have not been able to get to sleep before 01:00 for the past fortnight and now my gums and teeth are killing me. Every time I brush or floss the nerves send a most unpleasant signal to my brain. This causes me to reel back and to the right, back, and to the right. I woke up this morning and almost felt the teeth that flank the upper-left fly loose. Good thing they're only clicking. Much of the pain is as though I've jacked my gums into a live wire. The price of late night television.
Soon Van - Saturday, 2 September 2000 - 11:18
Weeks of constant flame bashing mean nothing to me. I love the Olympics. I am after all going to volunteer at the Volleyball. The Olympic Torch Relay makes it's way over to Campbelltown on Monday. Gonna burn the rest of my day and week to see that. It would have been the day I watched, Scary Movie, but the flame won't be around here a second time. Not counting the U-turn it does.
Nor the fact that it'll be closer to home Tuesday 12.
Soon Van - Saturday, 2 September 2000 - 11:06
Sweating dams here in the labs as I try to finish off work for three subjects amidst a bevvy of loudmouthed and figidety uni students. I suppose I could just take off my parka.
Damn! I got spit-ricochet from this lady next to me who was adjusting her piece of gum.
These strands of hair that tickle my right eyelid are killing me. Can't wait till I 'accidentally' trim my fringe.
I can't move my left hand, it still feels moist.
Soon Van - Saturday, 2 September 2000 - 09:51
There was this funky looking package on my train ride to uni yesterday morning. It might of been wrapped in a 'Downtown Duty Free' bag but I'm not too sure as I was half asleep and focused most of my energy trying to remember where I was heading to so early in the morning. When I got home there was a story on the news about a bomb on a peak-hour train. I was jazzed to the fact that it might of been my train ride. The bomb train, however, was sitting at Kirawee when it was blasted with water. It should of been my life that was in danger.
I don't litter, even when I'm on the train. But since the Olympics are getting closer and closer they have gone ahead and taken away all the station bins. They also recently implemented some unpolicable littering laws. I still will not litter in public.
Soon Van - Saturday, 2 September 2000 - 04:37
I'm only just starting to get into Now and Again when I read over at DarkHorizons that it's gonna get axed. I haven't even seen five episodes and I hear that the next few months are it? Typical, only the ones that I like from the get-go get canned. Just like Sliders.
Soon Van - Friday, 1 September 2000 - 10:41
