The Christianville Spirit: The Olympic Closing Ceremony

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Uplifts Your Soul

February 26, 2014-TCS # 391

So, Last Sunday, I was so excited about something that I had been wanting to watch on TV. You See, Sunday was The Closing Ceremony of The Sochi Olympics, which was Very Interesting to see. When I watch The Olympics, My Favorite Parts to see, Besides some of The Sports, are The Opening Ceremony and The Closing Ceremony. I Love The Opening Ceremony for many reasons including, Seeing The Performances, Seeing What People from Other Countries look like, and The General Fun of It. The Closing Ceremony however, I Love because It is The End of the Olympics, so They do More Cultural Performances, Bring Out the Athletes all Together as a World, and then, Lower The Olympic Flag, Raise The Greek Flag (Because, That is Where The Olympics started), the Handover Ceremony, and finally The Raising of The Next Host Country’s Flag. A Common Thing that People sometimes have a Problem with is the Coverage of it or What they see in it. Now, I have to say (with respect to Russia), The Ceremony was a bit strange but, The Coverage by NBC in The United States was not that great. Sometimes, With Different Host Nations, It is hard to Understand The Culture of The Country. To People who have not seen it, Warning: SPOILER ALERT! The Beginning of It started with Dancers and Alot of Really Cool Effects. At the end of The first Performance, The Russians poked fun at themselves with a Re-do of The “Opening Fail” (By the way, “The Opening Fail” was when one of The Rings didn’t open in The Olympic Rings.) So, They repeated it with The Dancers, only this time, The Dancers did the fail and then, opened the Final Ring.  It was a Beautiful Performance after that but, For Me, It was a little hard to Understand. Usually, I at least try to Understand The Host Country’s Culture. 

After the dance and rings, but before the Performance of the upside down village, The Athletes came into The Stadium, following the Russian flag carried by the Russian Athletes. It was Really Awesome!

So, The Next Part was a bit upsetting for Me because It is an Important Part of The Ceremony. You See, What They are supposed to show is The lowering of The Olympic Flag (The “Oslo Flag” as it is Called) played with The Olympic Hymn, then They raise The Greek Flag, played with The Greek National Anthem, however, NBC skipped those 2 parts of it and skipped to The Flag going out of The Stadium and Then, the Handover Ceremony. I was upset at that, because I believed that it was Disrespectful to The Olympic Flag and Greek Flag. I blamed it on the fact that NBC had to rush through The Ceremony so that They could premiere their new show. I noticed it because when They came back on, The Olympic Flag was down and The Greek Flag has already been raised. It was Time next for The “Handover Ceremony” which means that The Mayor of The Old Host City hands The Olympic Flag (A Different One than the One They lowered) to The President of The IOC, and then to The Mayor of The Next Host City which is PyeongChang, South Korea (not to be confused with The North Korean Capitol of Pyongyang). After that, They rose the South Korean Flag along with South Korean National Anthem. Now, I have to say that The South Korean is Short and Sweet, which I like, unlike The Russian Anthem because it is long. Following that, They did The Presentation of The Next Host City/Country. It is always interesting to see a Short-show about the Culture of The Next Country. Unfortunately, They showed it and then went to break. I thought to Myself, “Is that It?!” Hoping that There would be more of a Culture Lesson about South Korea. Before The Olympic lowering, NBC cut The Russian Cop Choir and The Army of Pianists playing, “Piano Concerto No. 2” and After The Handover, They skipped “The Ode to Circus.” After the next break, They came back to The President of The IOC’s Speech and declaring the Sochi Olympics Closed. Then, The really weird part came. You See, The Mascot was a Bear however, They made it Very Big and Nightmarish looking. The Big Bear then came up to Olympic Flame (which He was Very Doubtful) and He blew it out, shedding a Tear afterwords. After That, The Fireworks started and NBC cut to Commercial shortly after. When They came back, The Fireworks were ending and The NBC Reporters rushed to talk to The Athletes about What They thought about The Ceremony, Which The Athletes thought that It was really awesome. Finally, NBC cut it all short and then, Premiered The new Show, Growing Up Fisher. I believe that NBC should have started the Ceremony earlier (like at 6:30 Central, instead 7:30 Central) but, They also had to show a Documentary about The Skaters, Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding because It was the 20th Anniversary of The Lillehammer Olympics. All in all, It was a Great Ceremony to Watch but, the Coverage could have been much better. I wonder, Maybe I should have watched it Live Streamed on The Computer like Family Friend, Monica Shevell did. An Added Honorable Mention, She is an awesome friend of My Mom and I. And, Yes, She mentioned My Newsletter in Her Blog.  

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Celebrate The World and It’s Unique Cultures.

The Christianville Spirit: In Search of Bridgett

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Uplifts Your Soul

February 19, 2014-TCS # 390

So, Everyone, I believe that You will really enjoy this Newsletter. I believe it will Melt Your Heart. Why? Well, Let’s Find Out! You See, I Believe that I have a Gift. Yes, Besides making People smile, Touch their Hearts, and being an Inspiration toward PTLS Family Members, I hope. I believe I have a gift in the way of when I put something that I want Out into The Universe, that it somehow happens. Their are Many Beliefs concerning The Universe and a Wonderful Thing known as Serendipity. Serendipity, by the way, Is just a Fancy Word for Fate or Destiny (or Destino in Italian, a Movie Reference from the Movie “Only You”) Anyway, Some People believe that God controls your destiny as well as When or Where Something occurs, which He does. However, There is also Putting Things into The Universe too, in a way, help God assist you in Your Destiny. Of Course, The Universe works both ways, If You put Negative in, You get Negative. You put Positive, You get Positive. Now, How does that have to do with Me and My Self-Proclaimed “Gift”? Well, I believe in making Serendipity work for Me, in The Romantic World. For Instance, If You remember, Veteran Readers, That I had come up with a Story about a Girl who I had referred to as “My Dream Girl” named Carol Holiday, I came up with many details about her, like Her Dad’s Name (which was Exact), Her Name (which was Exact), and Where She Lived (I said She lived in Maine, Actually lives in Ontario, Canada), and Many other close similarities that I had mentioned. Now, That I think about it, It sort of taught me a lesson to be a bit more stricter with The Details that I mention. As in, God is saying, “Christian, Be a bit more..Well, Actually ALOT more Specific as to Her Age and Things that are More Important”. Here’s is What I had Projected, I had her name right, Her Hair Color right, The Fact that She likes Snow, The Fact that She loves Christmas, Almost had the Location right, and Had Names of Her family right. The Only Problem was that She was Married with Children but, She deals with Special Needs Children.  It was really interesting though, How I was able to find her, I Thought It was interesting how close she compared to The Details I did have of This Person, Carol. Don’t Worry, Folks! Nothing Happened! We just got a good laugh and scratched our heads about The Chances are, that I would actually find someone in The World that fit so much of The Description. But, As I said before, Details, Details, Details!  So, Several Years Later, in 2010, I came up with The Girl that I refer to as “The Girl (changed to Women) of My Dreams” or “My Soulmate” named Bridgett. This Time, I made for sure for her to be My Age. Because My Brother at the time was dating someone a few years older than Him, I made Bridgett a Year and a Half older than I am. So, I would be 26 and She would be 27; I called it, “Following in My Brother’s Footsteps”. Guess that says How much I imitate People! Anyway, I know that You shouldn’t plan too much with Your Life, but, I have planned My Future Life with Her. Now a Days, I focus more on What happens Well after We meet and We fall in Love. I see many different adventures with Her, Traveling to see The World, Go on Cruises, and Yes, at Some Point, Get Married and Live Together. I still get stumped as to The location of Our Honeymoon, The Caribbean (like Punta Cana, Dominican Republic) or Bora Bora. So, Follow Me in The Details of Who She Is. Besides Her Age mentioned; She lives in Norcross, GA because It is a Nice Suburb of Atlanta that feels like a Small Town and The Smith Family also lives in Atlanta as well. She works at Google in Midtown Atlanta (it is a better job for her, compared the Georgia Department of Transportation where she worked before), She loves Nature alot, She is into Sculpture Art, She too loves Christmas like I do, as well as Geography and News, and Finally, She has Blond Hair with Blue Eyes because her Norwegian-French Decent. When Writing up who She is, I thought that it would be Boring if She was interested in Exactly the Same Things as Me, so I came up with that She is Interested in What I like as well as Something that She teaches me about. So, I figured that I liked Sculpture when I was in School and The Fact that She loves Nature will show me the beauty of The World that I haven’t seen. Her Mom lives far from her. She has a bit of a French Accent, I got that Idea from A Movie I watched when I was younger named, Au Pair. She, like me, believes in Serendipity and Believe It or Not, She wrote a List about Me like I did for Her. Lastly, I have made Her Family to be of Norwegian, French, and Italian Heritage and She is a Family-Orientated Person as well. I have a Whole List of Many Details, since I learned the first time around, So Let’s just see how many she meets, when That Day comes. All in all, Stay with Me, Folks and Let’s See if Bridgett appears. Just a Little Note, This is the reason behind My “I Believe In Love” Campaign.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Believe that There is a Soulmate for You! 

The Christianville Spirit: Infectious: A Love Story..Remixed!

This is a Heart-Shaped Feature in Australia's Great Barrier Reef

This is called "Make Peace Island" in Queensland, Australia. It is a small retreat and They get many Wedding Requests Each Year

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Uplifts Your Soul

February 12, 2014-TCS # 389

So, Considering that It is Valentine’s Week or “Singles Awareness Week” as My Mom calls it. I’m going to Share with You a Newsletter that I wrote back in 2012. This is One of My Gold Newsletters that I wrote and I think This Newsletter deserves a... Remix! You See, I wanted to mention about What Valentine’s Day was like In High School and I realized that I had mentioned it already, Silly Me! So, Without further a due, This is My Valentine’s Newsletter, “Infectious: A Love Story” Remixed!

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

It’s that time of year again, A Time for Luuuv and My Favorite kind of Movies, Romantic Comedies. This “Time for Love” is known as Valentine’s Day. However, with Valentine’s Day, people have different views of it, some people love it like crazy and others, of course some people hate it. My Mom calls it names like “Single’s Awareness Day”, “Unconditional Love Day”, and “Heart Day”. People who don’t like it call it “The Day of Evil” or “Empty The Wallet Day.” Anyway, then comes My View of Valentine’s Day. I don’t have that big of an issue with it, as far I know it’s a day for Lovers to be Romantic, A Day (or in this year’s case, a weekend marathon of Romantic Comedies) and A day where Card Companies become richer. Of Course, there’s also the aspect of Flower Companies getting rich too but, I’m okay with that because Flowers are at least, in my opinion, More thoughtful than a card. and, The Flower thing brings me to the story of this Newsletter. You See, back in High School (in most places, it’s considered Jr. High) when I was crushing on a girl named Ali; At lunch and before school everyday, starting at the beginning of February, they started selling roses that you could buy and have sent to your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day along with a serenade. So, each day I would walk by or watch what they were doing at lunch and before school. Of Course, it didn’t bother me because I thought it was cute what they were doing because the money helped them with something, I don’t remember what it was for. I even thought of getting some for Ali, but at that time, she didn’t know how much I liked her. But, Anyway, when Valentine’s Day came around and I watched them bring out the flowers and serenade people. And, it wasn’t just the girls that got them. So, I watched them deliver flowers and stuff to the guys and the girls (at least as far as I remember) and I was hoping that I would get something. Anyway, I kept watching and as Lunch went on I started to feel bad because no one was bringing anything to us at My Friends and My Table. Finally, at the end of Lunch, neither one of my friends (or myself) got anything. This was the only year that they sold Flowers at school besides once at Plano Senior High but, that one wasn’t much of a big deal. Now, of course, in Valentine’s Day History, I had many good Valentine’s Days. In the 2nd grade I got to hand out valentines to kids in my class and I got some from them. So, don’t think that just because I have Special Needs, known as PTLS, that I didn’t get to enjoy the day because I did. Of Course, My Mom will point out that there was one Notable Valentine’s Day in Middle School where I made a Valentine for Ali (yes, that’s the same girl) only this year I had just a crush on her. Anyway, on the day of, I was so nervous about giving it to her that I threw up (not in front of her luckily). I really believe in Loving Everyone and Love in General, one year I went to My Mom’s Office and I gave out Free Hugs to whoever wanted one. And, this gave me an idea this year, because the rose story in High School, I started thinking about spreading love to everyone and getting a pile of Roses and giving them to Random People. I think that would be fun and you can do it too. All in all, Valentine’s Day isn’t just about Couples but, it’s about the whole aspect of Love.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Spread the Love to Everyone on Valentine’s Day.            

The Christianville Spirit: My Thoughts on Sochi

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Lifts Your Soul

February 5, 2014-TCS # 388

So, Usually, I would avoid Writing Newsletters about something political but, I think that I have held in about it long enough. You See, I absolutely love The Olympic Games, I love all the aspects of it, what it stands for, and the Fact that Our Crazy World comes Together for 2 Weeks or Usually 16 Days. But This Time, As Excited as I am about it, I’m a little worried. Now, With the Utmost Respect to The IOC or The International Olympic Committee, They are the ones who vote on Who gets The Olympics, by the way. The IOC, at least, I believe Picked The Wrong City to Host The Olympics because They picked Sochi, Russia. Now, Two Notes before I mention why I think so. Respectfully, I note that The International Olympic Committee does do a lot of Hard Work to Pick The Host City and Country. For Example, They send “Observers” to check on The City’s Structure and The Runnings of it To Make Sure that It can handle The World with it’s Millions of People (Not Including Athletes), and That The Host City can Let Alone Pay for The Olympics to show up. After all the “Observing” is Done, then The IOC meets together and votes on a list of The 3 Host Cities for a Summer or Winter Olympics. Finally, After 3 rounds of Voting, The Winner (or Host City/Country) is Chosen and Announced 7 Years in Advance. Finally, My Second Respectful Note, Although I have never been to Russia, I respect Countries, regardless of How I feel about Them, Out of The Kindness of My Heart. Therefore, I must say I Do Not have anything against Russia. I do want to mention that Russia has a Horribly Long National Anthem, that is 4 Minutes Long! So, Now We move to The Reasons Why. The First Reason Why Sochi is The Wrong City is because it is Very Hard to get to for The World. In other words, It is not near any International Hub. The Nearest One is Moscow. Secondly, It is a Very Small Coastal Town, with a lot of Environmentally Protected Land surrounding it which makes it hard to be a Tourist and To Fit The World coming to see The Games. Now, The Olympics have been Hosted in Small Towns before, for example, as I like to point out; Lillehammer, Norway and Yes, even Lake Placid, New York. However, Lillehammer is much closer to the Major Hubs of Oslo, as well as Stockholm, If you want to go that scenic route. Now, Lake Placid is a Small Town too, as well as far away from New York City, but There is also Montreal, which is closer. So, The Next Reason is a much more Concern-able Reason. Sochi is not only near The Nation of Georgia, which is a Dangerous Area at This Time, but also There is a Terrorist Sector not far from Sochi. They are The Chechnians, The Chechnians are The People responsible for The Boston Bombing as well as The Bombing of The Train Station in a nearby town. I have heard that The Chechnians, although not as well known as “Mainstream Islamic Terrorists”, are just as strong, if not More Violent and Hardcore than The Rest of The Islamic Terrorists. And, The Final Reason is because, Sochi is not ready for it. In Fact, They are still building hotels and working on projects for The Olympics. Now, According to The New York Times Article I read, It could be The Weather, so You can’t blame them for that, It could be “It’s Russia!” But, Most Likely, They waited until The Last Minute to Start The Projects and They had Plenty of Time (7 Years!) To get ready for The World and International Attention to come to Their City. Right Now, Sochi appears to be Halfway Done in both The Coastal and Mountain Sector, However, The Olympic Venues and Village, within The “Rings of Steel” are all done and are Nice and Shinny. Now, I also want to mention that The Fact that Sochi is The Host City, has turned Very Political with The President of Russia and That too is very wrong, as We know that The Olympics are about World Peace, Harmony, and Sport for One Time Every 2 Years. All in all, I hope that This Olympics goes Very Well and That is There is No Trouble in it. And, to The IOC, Thank You for All the Hard Work You Do with Bringing The World Together, but, Please Consider all aspects of The Host City before Picking It.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Join With The World and Celebrate The World that We Live In.