Today Is Tooth Fairy Day

Today Is Tooth Fairy Day

What is the tooth fairy tradition in your family?

Today is the day to celebrate the tooth fairy. InciDENTALly, here are a few articles that might be of interest, as you BITE into this holiday.

Tooth Fairy Treat - How to Make a Tooth Fairy Pillow
Children usually lose their primary, or deciduous, teeth between ages six and thirteen. These baby teeth become loosened and

Music Time at the Library and Winter Closings

We are scheduled to have Music Time at the Library tomorrow morning (Feb. 26th). If the Victor Schools are closed tomorrow we will cancel our program also. We will reschedule at future date.

Saturday Stories and Crafts

The February Saturday Stories and Crafts will be held this coming Sat., Feb. 27th at 2:00pm.

Kids in Kindergarten and up are invited to come take a break from all the snow and hear some sunny, summer stores and make a fun summer themed craft.

Registration is required for this program, to register stop in at the library or call 585-924-2637.

All the world's a stage...

Once upon a time in acting school, we had to memorize Jaques' speech from "As you Like it".
Every now and then, bits and pieces creep into my head again so yesterday I had to look it up. If you follow me here then you know I have a deep love of WORDS. I hear bits and pieces of poetry and songs narrating my life all the time.

I just love it:


All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.


What a busy time it is right now. I like to think I can do it all. I try my best to do so, but of course I'm only human.
I wear many hats (as we all do). I am an actor, a model, an internet personality, a writer, a singer, a dancer, a wife, a poet, a daughter and so much more. You may know me as only one or two of these things but all of my skills and interests make me, ME. I am not just one alone nor does one alone define me. That being said, I have to shift priorities from time to time. When I have a lot of acting work in my real life then I have to put my online videos aside. Just like when I have free time I can devote it to more videos. It's just not practical for me to give attention to both equally. I know my limits and know when I'm spreading myself too thin. All I ask is that you're patient while I balance several projects and if you don't see a lot of me, or see me on youtube that's why. :) Sometimes people forget, or may not know what I'm up to and get antsy for my time and videos. Believe me, I wish I COULD do it all at 100% at ALL times! Nobody wishes for that MORE than me! I will tell you more soon, but at them moment I'm feeling overwhelmed with happiness. I am pinching myself every day that I will get to do things in my lifetime that I hoped and dreamed of as a young girl...I have never planned for a backup plan, never wondered what I might do if it didn't work out. I knew what I wanted, my passion never wavered and that was that. I feel incredibly lucky, grateful and a little teary these days :)

Thank you everyone who takes a minute to read this and follow and support me!
I appreciate you taking time out of your life and day to get to know me. You're all amazing!

Much more coming soon....


xo Deena Marie

A quote

I wanted to be an actress in 1912; I want to be an actress today. That walk from the darkness backstage through the door or opening in the scenery where I make an entrance into the bright lights with that big dim mass out beyond, which bursts into applause, then the first terrifying sound that comes out of my throat, which they describe as a voice, but that first instant it is the siren of terror and intention and faith and hope and trust and vanity and security and insecurity and bloodcurdling courage which is acting.

--- Ruth Gordon (1896 - 1985)

Spay Day 2010

Spay Day 2010
February 23rd is Spay Day. 

Spay Day is an annual campaign of The Humane Society of the United States and the Humane Society International. The goal of this yearly event is to inspire pet owners and other animal lovers to save animal lives by spaying or neutering their pet.

Spay Day is held on the last Tuesday of February each year. This event includes special activities and

there is such a thing as too much flag!

i'd been getting to know a lot of people here at the Oh-lympics! all of us were bonding over our stylish red Oh-lympic mittens!

speaking of bonding, my special talent agent peter bond finally came back from whatever it is he is currently organizing... he thinks these Oh-lympics are just the thing to make me and lillian really famous. i'm not sure, but for lillian i'll try anything...

man, i really should rethink that policy though...

because peter had yet another scheme up his sleeve tonight...

noticing how my mittens were making me the hit of the party, he wanted to try and increase my crowd appeal.

why we couldn't just see how the mittens would do on their own a bit longer was beyond me. it wasn't like they were a flop.

next thing i know peter comes at me with a whole bunch of canada flags...

and tells me to hold still while he puts them all over me!

i did mention there was a whole bunch of them right! so many i HAD to hold some of them, while peter set them up...

one or two i could have handled, but with the number he was putting in i was having real trouble moving. the flag poles were forcing me to stand up real straight.

that and i couldn't really walk fast, or for long without one or more (more often more then one!) of the flags trying to fall out. so i spent most of my time tending to them, putting them back on me in the first place... which wouldn't have been an issue if it let them go...

`

but they were peter's, and i hate it when people lose my stuff!

before i knew it, peter had me completely covered in maple leafs (and one BC flag too for some reason!). i couldn't see where i was going!

people weren't coming up to me to visit. they were coming to watch the "mobile flag stand"... seriously peter spent more time trying to convince them there was a dinosaur under them all, rather than me being some sort of robot...

`

which wasn't a half bad description. i felt like dark vadar, more flag then tyrannosaur, straightened and dizzy!

`

why couldn't we just stick with one big flag? even that one the size of a building i saw the other day wouldn't have been as bad (though i'd need an awful lot of fans to keep that sucker flapping in the wind!)

`

more Oh-lympics to come!

`

Also be sure to watch The Tyrannosaur Chronicles later this week for the start of...

Spread the word, and send in your requests for countries/teams to be present, and their Dinosaur competitors!

For more Prehistoric Olympic related fun, check out Walcott's Quarry!

the magic mittens!

i'm really starting to love these Oh-lympics! they are so much FUN!

regardless of whether they get me famous, like my special talent agent peter wants them too, i'm having a great time!
`
tonight i headed out into vancouver, and had my first taste of everything going on around here...

well okay it didn't exactly start off with that in mind. peter hauled me out to goto some big party to try and mingle. however just as we got there, and he was going to tell me what mingling was, suddenly peter's phone went crazy with calls.

i'm not sure what he's trying to organize, but he's talking to a ton of people and from a bunch of different places! i caught mentions of everywhere from calgary to africa?!? that and i know he plans on me and lillian being a part of it, as our names come up a lot in these calls... wonder what it is?

anyways long story short, peter had to run off and book some sort of plane tickets for someone (i'm wondering if i'm paying for those?). meaning he'd ditched me on the street!

now before you get all upset at me for not wearing my nice new canada hoodie, it wasn't my fault! i haven't gone back on wanting to wear it. however again peter hauled me out without much warning, and so i had no idea i was going outside... that alone it would be so chilly when i got out there.

before he bailed on me completely, and i complained of the cold, peter left me his mittens. at first i was a little annoyed by this solution. they were way too big for my tiny arms (that alone hands!), and as of such i thought they made me look ridiculous... at least they were really warm!

putting them on, i did like the way they matched my staff shirt, and they were kinda cool. they had these five rings that all linked up in a neat pattern... come to think of it, peter made me put it up on my blog banner... and they both said vancouver 2010 on them. finally the palms had some maple leafs, that brought my canada clothing content back up to par.

anyways answering whether the mittens were cool or not, within a couple minutes of putting them on, this really nice girl named laura noticed me wearing them and came over and happily greeted me. "happy olympics!"

`
"happy Oh-lympics!" i said back.

"aren't you just the cutest thing with the mittens on!" she admired my handware.
`
next thing i knew she kissed me...

not what i was expecting, and it was not to be the last.

you know what? these mittens are lady magnets! a bunch of laura's friends came over to hang out with me...

i was a real hit with the ladies! only they were all humans... if only lillian had been around right then!

okay, change that. it was human magnet. oh well...

i had been planning to keep the mittens till i saw lillian again. turns out the mittens were this big thing to do the Oh-lympics.

vancouver was so excited to host them that they came up with these mittens as a thing for people to wear to show they were excited too (though i'm still not sure what the Oh-lympics actually are yet, to be honest). apparently they took off, way more than anyone thought they would, and so now everyone is wearing them!

it confuses me as to why people weren't sure if the mittens would be popular or not. they're a stylish red (like a certain staff shirt... need i convince you more), and two they make a ton of sense in the winter as they keep your hands warm.

all i know is that if i wear these babies around vancouver for the time being, and i've got several thousand potential friends!

so i'll see what else there is to see and experience around here...

to be continued with more mitten related adventure

(and some flags thrown in for good measure... make that lots of flags)

Music Time at the Library

The library is giving babies and toddlers, ages infants to 2 years, a chance to experience the fun and magic of music this coming Friday, Feb. 26th at 11:00am. Children and their caregivers are invited to come to the library to dance, sing and play instruments.

Tara Sulecki, teacher and owner of "Music To Grow On" will be leading the class.

The program is free but due to space limitations, registration is required. To register visit the library or call 585-924-2637.

a few doubts

well, here i am at the winter Oh-lympics. peter, my talent agent, thinks this will be a great way to get us famous.

though so far i'm not convinced. especially with his first request. putting on a new hoodie.

peter thinks i'm weird for not wanting to put it on, but i don't care.

my old trusty tyrrell uniform has literally been a second skin. i never take it off. it such a big part of what makes me different than my brutish relatives. i will not abandon my human upbringing and risk becoming a prehistoric savage like my still living relatives today...

even if i'm replacing my staff shirt with something else human. this new shirt didn't play any part in my childhood of coming up civilized... how could it possible help anchor me away from my primal instincts?

yet as i walked around vancouver this morning, rebelliously not wearing peter's new sweater, i came across an unexpected feeling.

canada was everywhere in vancouver. which i know sounds weird. as vancouver is in canada, so it really is canada everywhere in it. however this is just a part of canada.

during these Oh-lympic games vancouver was somehow becoming the very essence of canada. something i'd never encountered before...

normally canadians aren't so big on pushing their country on each other or others. something i've picked up growing up here. yet this not always the case with vivus-dinosaurs. for example many of the american dinosaurs i've encountered have an intense love of their country... which i thought was weird, and something i'd never feel in my life.

though as i walked around town seeing all the flags and people in the "team" canada outfits, i started to kind of get into this whole representing canada thing. especially with all the other countries of the world coming here.

i wanted them to know i was from this great place, and that i think it is great enough to display on me...

which is why today i decided to complete get over my paranoia of losing my human like ways. if anything joining in on team canada makes me more like the people around here. you don't exactly see any dinosaurs wandering around the streets in their countries... though come to think of it i don't see any other dinosaurs around here...

more to come... as i explore vancouver during the Oh-lympics!

Also be sure to watch The Tyrannosaur Chronicles later this week for the start of...

Spread the word, and send in your requests for countries/teams to be present, and their Dinosaur competitors!

For more Prehistoric Olympic related fun, check out Walcott's Quarry!

a quick announcement

Hi there readers of Traumador!

May I start off by saying what a wonderful taste in blogs you all have! Thank you for your ongoing support of everyone's favourite Official Dinosaur of the Winter Games! We hope to enjoy more of this ongoing support, and perhaps some money, in the future!

I am of course not the main Rex himself, just his special talent agent, Bond, Peter Bond. I'm just popping on the Tyrannosaur Chronicles here today for a quick service annoucement of sorts. Though, I'd appreciate you not telling the little green guy I was on here. I'm not sure he knows I've hacked into his account (oh and certainly don't mention that either please!).

I couldn't help but notice the rather popular palaeo-blog Dinosaur Tracking has today posted a poll about which sport you'd like to see an Albertosaur play at the Olympic games. It is a terrific question, and one I'd love know the answer too.

However I can't help but notice the question was asked in a hypothetical manner. Meaning the guys over at the Smithsonian's Blog are unaware of Team Canada Prehistoric's current presence in Vancouver for the games. How I know this is that we have an actual Albertosaur with us here, and frankly how can you ignore a star of Lillian's calibur?

Normally I wouldn't bring this up, but it sort of crosses hairs with what I've been up to this week, and why The Tyrannosaur Chronicles haven't been quite as live and up to the minute with the Olympics as Traum wanted.

You see I've been on the phone with several museums and other people who manage these "Vivus", or currently living, Dinosaurs, throughout the world and have been trying organize a special event.

The 2010 Dinosaur Winter Games here in Vancouver. We'll be assembling Dinosaur teams from all over the world to participate in several popular winter games.

Naturally this is pretty much what Dinosaur Tracking has outlined, and well call me paranoid, but I just wanted it on the record that I was thinking of the same thing! Great minds think alike, and so despite my having to let the cat, or should I say Raptor :P, out of the bag early, the good news now you all know.

So definately tune in here to The Tyrannosaur Chronicles next week for the beginning of the games. Also be sure to pop by Dinosaur Tracking, and thank them for independently thinking of the idea, and showing me there is indeed interest in such events!

Heck with the Smithsonian behind such sports how can everyone else I'm contacting say no?

So we'll see you here for the games. Maybe send in your suggestions for countries and their potential team partipates!

GO CANADA! (I had to say it!)

a new look?

okay i'm here for the Oh-lympics. my special talent agent peter bond thinks this is a perfect way for me and lillian albertosaur to become famous.

as of such we're going to need to do anything and everything we can to become the official dinosaur(s?) of vancouver 2010.

tonight peter showed me the first of the drastic things i was going to have to do. peter had bought me an official Oh-lympic hoodie he wanted me to wear everywhere.

i wasn't sure. "come on traum baby," peter tried to pressure me. "no one will take you seriously if you don't show your olympic colours."

i still wouldn't budge, i was going to need more convincing.

"you haven't gone kiwi have you?" peter asked. i looked at him puzzled. "do you like new zealand more then canada now?" he clarified pointing to the big canda printed on the front of his new article of clothing. ah, he thought i wouldn't wear it as i suddenly didn't like canada or something

"no," i responded. "new zealand is fine, but i'm still a canadian dinosaur at heart." especially when i consider the dinosaurs of new zealand. they don't exactly make for good company.

"if it is not the patriotic factor, why won't you wear the canada sweater?" peter pleaded.

at first i wouldn't tell him, as it was a personal reason. finally peter convinced me if i couldn't tell him, my agent, what he needed to know than how could he help me.

"fine," i gave in to his battering. "the thing is, i've never worn anything above my staff shirt before, and i don't feel comfortable covering it up."

"above?" peter repeated baffled. "i was thinking you take that old uniform off altogether."

"what?!?" i cried, looking to my shirt. "i can't take this off!"

"why not?" peter clearly didn't understand me.

"when i first earned the right to wear this 5 years ago it was the first time i was acknowledge as being equal to a human," i furiously defended. "to take this off would be like taking off one of my limbs. i will never go back to the time when i was a second class being!"

peter looked concerned, but yet confused. i don't think he'd ever seen me this worked up before. heck, i haven't seen me this worked up in a little while (at least since getting to vancouver i guess).

peter then thrust at me with the sweater, having come up with an idea in his head. which bugged me, as he hadn't run it by me. "well by that logic," he said as he grabbed my arm. "this will make you twice as equal to a human. afterall this is the 'uniform' of the vancouver games. so if you wear this you'll fit in with everyone around here."

i thought about this grumpily as i was forced into the hoodie regardless of whether i agreed or not.

i watched my old tyrrell uniform, half expecting it to explode or melt as it came into contact with the new canada hoodie. it seemed fine with the coexistence.

fine i decided. i'd give this idea of peter's a shot. what could it hurt at this point?

peter was ecstatic as i started to put the hoodie on by myself.

you know it wasn't half bad! in fact it was nice and comfy. especially given that vancouver was a little chilly. this made up for my lack of feathers, and i wouldn't always be so cold.

best of all, i have to admit it was rather cool to sport my countries colours and name.

i'd been noticing how vancouver had suddenly come alive as something of an international jungle. flags grew like flowers off all the buildings, and the people suddenly were taking up the patterns of their homelands. it felt good to join in.

a rather nice man from behind us leaned over seeing my new hoodie. "i love the hoodie dino-man. GO CANADA!"

for some reason i yelled back. "GO CANADA!!!" too?

peter leaned in. "nicely done. see like i said twice the equality." i was stoked.

though i couldn't help but notice the stranger was suddenly happily holding $5. i could have sworn i had a fiver in my wallet earlier today, but peter assured me he watched it carefully all day. oh well...

next peter was trying to play with all the different ways we could play my new look.

i did not care for the gangster style one bit! gangs are not cool! i simply have to point to the pack of the primoridal feather as an example!!!

peter conceded. though not willingly.

i'd just put my claw down... on his tigh, and he could tell it'd hurt if i put any more pressure down!

"okay," he changed subject. "we've got you the threads. now it is time for the goods."

he pulled out a card. "what's that?" i inquired.

"this my friend is your card. or rather i want you to think of it as you!" he answered. "and as we're trying to get you out there, so must these cards. you'll be giving these to anyone and everyone who will take it!"

an interesting idea. i give out these pieces of paper to people, and they will remember me. how does peter think up these incredibly great ideas?

so watch out for me people of the vancouver wide web. if you spot me on the streets of vancouver as i'm out and about, not only pop by for a photo with me... how did peter say i was supposed to say this. ahem "everyones' most... no... ah yeah... favourite tyrannosaurus rex."

not only will you get a cool photo oppurtunity with me, but get your own free copy of my website card... telling you how to get here... wait a minute!

to be continued...

we're going to have to be everywhere? (oh-lympics part 2)

my special talent agent peter bond has brought me to vancouver for something called the winter Oh-lympics. he thinks that it might be just the way for me and lillian albertosaur to get famous.

i could care less about that. i'm more excited just to get to see the theropod of my dreams once again. last time i saw lillian she'd been devastated by losing her stardom (again!). hopefully all the time with peter (and the money i've spent to fund their expedition) will have put her in better spirits.

there'd been no fallout from peter's stealing an Oh-lympic torch and making me run it... though it'd been a close call.

as the torch relay moved on, every one's attention had left with it. leaving me and peter pretty much alone.

"that didn't go quite the way i'd planned," peter admitted out loud, clearly disappointed. "i'd kind of hoped a tyrannosaur running the torch for a leg of the relay would have been all the rage. oh well. you win some and you lose most. the key is to keep your eye on the gold."

"why gold, and why not steel?" i asked confused. "last i heard steel was stronger than gold anytime."

"i think we need to get you some lessons on this whole olympic thing," peter considered out loud. he then snapped into full fast motion. "not right now though. now we get ready for a busy couple of weeks!"

"how do we do that?" i asked. peter answered with something, but i didn't take notice at all. within a moment of asking my question a most welcome smell filtered through the air (peter's kinda weak human nose wouldn't have picked up on it so he happily talked on).

"so we get together as a 'team', and figure out our game plan," peter concluded whatever his long answer had been. it was at this moment our other team member approached. LILLIAN!

i've never been so happy to say hello to anyone ever! lillian was happy to see me too, which i have to admit was still something new to me. back in the old days lillian hardly acknowledged my existence. who knew spending thousands of dollars on a world tour would pay off like this?

speaking of the world tour, i had to find out how that had been going. fortunately we were conversing in tyrannosaurese so peter couldn't ease drop much (he was only just starting to pick up a few phrases of our language lillian complained, and only if she spoke really slowly. meaning our conversational speed would lose him quick), which was probably a good thing. not everything lillian had to say was nice.

not that lillian disliked peter. quite the contrary. for a human she found him both pleasant, and incredibly supportive. however she also found him incredibly confusing. she had little idea of what she was most of the time. that alone why she was now suddenly in vancouver. they'd both left new york abruptly with no warning.

i thought they'd found a good spot for lillian there. what happened to make these Oh-lympics more important?

interrupting this discussion a tourist spotting me and lillian eagerly requested (of peter of course... we lowly dinosaurs can't choose for ourselves) that she take a picture of us. "they'd be more than delighted!"peter eagerly responded.

as peter forced us into a pose (well okay forced me... lillian was a bit big for him to man handle) i had to ask peter. "why are we in vancouver?"
"that is a good question," peter replied, but paused to put a big smile on for a shot. "the whole world's eyes are on here right now! meaning if we can get into view, everyone will see us, and that will mean we can hit the big time, baby!!!"

"so how do we get 'seen'?" i asked confused on what he meant. i had another picture of me snapped that moment... weren't people seeing me already?

"that is the thing," peter levelled without dropping his smile. "there is no one easy answer to that. we can't just stand around taking pictures like these," me and lillian too this as permission to stop posing, but peter barked. "but we will as long as people want snap shots!" we both got back into position (if you'd worked at a museum as long as the both of us you'd be sick of people taking your picture too).

"no, its not just one tourist shot at a time," peter said building to more. "we must become part of the olympics themselves. no matter how or why. we want tyrannosaurs and/or albertosaurs to be the lasting memory of vancouver 2010 the world takes from these games."

"so you want us to be mascots?" lillian asked slightly unimpressed. her whole life she'd been a mascot, and it wasn't that she hated doing it (rather the opposite in fact). she just didn't like peter talking it up like he'd just done.

peter just blinked at her. he hadn't understood her. i translated into english. "oh good!" peter said relieved. "for a minute i thought she wanted a man sandwich! mascot versus man, i'll have to remember that."

"i suppose if it comes to that my big gal," peter answered lillian. "we're up against some tight competition in that department. they've got some mighty fine mascots already lined up for these events."

"no we need to figure out some way for one or both of you to become the official dinosaur of the olympics," he outlined. "i don't care how or what it takes, but that is our goal. we won't stop for the next 2 weeks until that occurs!"

to be continued... with a makeover

Story Times for Babies and Toddlers Begin Next Week

Mother Goose Time, our lap-sit program for babies 0-18 months and their parents or caregivers, begins on Monday, Feb.22nd. Held at 10:30am, Mother Goose Time is a program of rhymes, songs, finger plays and simple stories.

Each class lasts about 20 minutes and is followed by an open play time. This is a drop-in program, no registration is required.




Toddler Time for children ages 18-36 months and a parent or caregiver begins on Thursday, Feb. 25th. There will be two classes offered on Thursdays, 10:30 - 10:50 and 11:30 -11:50. The Friday morning class which will be held from 10:00 - 10:20 will begin on Mar. 5th.

Toddler Time is an eight week lap-sit program that consists of stories, finger plays, flannel board rhymes and songs. This is now a drop-in program, no registration is required.

a blazing start... (Oh-limpics Part 1)

[Production Note: Please pretend we'd managed to get this post up 4 days ago like we'd planned. With the creative team busy helping Traum have his current Vancouver adventures at the real events, we haven't had a lot of time for blogging. So please enjoy, and stay tuned for upcoming live posts that will be up with current events at the 2010 games!]

my special talent agent peter bond, had called me up and given me an HOUR to get to the airport in calgary. doing so, i suddenly found myself in vancouver again... it has been a long time since i'd last been here!

why i'm here, i can't say. peter insisted it was an emergancy, hence the last minute flight over here. i was worried something really bad had happened to lillian the albertosaur, who i'd entrusted peter to look after.

what had me the most confused was last i'd heard from both peter and lillian they'd been in new york. what were they do back in canada, and on the opposite side of the country?

peter had left me some pretty speific instructions on where and when to met him. i had to race straight there from the airport upon landing to make it in time mind you. good thing i didn't have any luggage (either to bring here or pack in calgary! i won't have been able to bring in either case!!!).

"glad you could make it!" peter greeted me as i walked up to him.

"i didn't have much choice did i," i replied. for an emergancy peter was seeming pretty happy... "what happened to lillian?"

peter looked confused for a moment. "the emergancy you brought me here for," i tried to prompt him.

"oh no, lillian's fine. in fact she's better then fine. they love her at the japan house!" peter proudly declared. i wasn't following a thing he said. "though speaking of that emergancy, thanks for reminding me!"

he beckoned me over to a red carpet. "welcome to your welcoming here at vancouver traum baby!"

i didn't get it. i told peter so. "what's not to get?" he thought i was joking.

"i'm not famous," i answered. "why would they put out a red carpet for me?"

this seemed to offend peter to an extent. "well to start off with, you'll never be famous with that attitude. think you're a super star traum, and you will be..." he zoned out for a moment looking about, as though he was worried people would be watching us. "as for why the red carpet would be out for you. well they may not have technically put it out for you," he side noted out loud. "but one can always come up with a reason after the fact to make it so it should have been!"

with that peter snuck off... snuck off on an empty red carpet mind you. which i found a bit weird. at least all the people who'd been checking it out (whoever had been on it) earlier had all left the carpet, and so they didn't see how silly peter looked sneaking on a red carpet. there wasn't a person around us, everyone was lined up on the sidewalk looking for something that must have been coming down the road.

suddenly peter reappeared, trying to hide a really big white stick (thingy?).

"what's that?" i wondered.

"a torch," peter informed me. though i didn't quite follow him. was it a torch torch like those sticks people lite on fire in the olden days? or was it a flashlight and just called a torch (like in new zealand) to confuse me?

"what's it for?" i tried to find out.

instead of answering, peter shoved the wand stick thing into my arms. "here take this!" i instinctively grabbed it so i didn't drop it and scuff its pretty white polish.

flciking a futuristic switch on the torch, he caused it to suddenly burst into flames! i nearly dropped it out of surprise.

"there we go," peter said statisfied. "time to make history..." he suddenly shooved me towards the road. "run traumador! run along the red carpet as fast as those little t-rex legs will take you!"

not sure what to do, other than follow peter's instructions, i took off down the carpet. i'd only run a few seconds when i suddenly hit the wall of people lining the sidewalk. the red carpet ended on the road, and i needed to get through to get there.

"uh excuse me," i asked politely of the many backs that were turned to me. "excuse me, please! this stick is getting kind of hot!"

one of the dudes in line turned to me looking annoyed. yet his face changed to absolute delight when he saw the white wand i was holding. "the torch is back here everyone!" he screamed, causing everyone to turn around. upon seeing me the crowd all broke out into massive cheering, and they all parted like one of those magic doors at the mall!

with them out of the way i jogged out onto the road. okay peter, mission accomplished. the whole mob of people lining the street was still chanting and cheering, but i couldn't tell what i was supposed to do.

as if that were bad enough, suddenly a police car came up behind me and flashed it lights at me. oh man, i was in the middle of the road... i was breaking the law! they were here to arrest me i realized!!!

hoping for mercy, i held up my hands along with the torch above my head. nothing happened for a minute. till finally the police officer stuck his head out he window. "what are you doing?"
i blinked blankely back. "yes very good you found it! i can't believe you lost the torch in the first place! we're late now. getting running."

"where?" i had to ask.

"that way," the police officer pointed the way he was driving irritatedly. i turned around to find i was facing an ocean of humans. as far as i could see the road ahead of me, were people lining the sidewalk. all looking my way. holy smokes!

suddenly the siren of the police car behind me blared to remind me to run. so i followed orders again and started down the road. as i went everyone within closeish range of me began chanting, calling, and cheering. it really was quite empowering. i felt really cool right then.

peter meanwhile was doing his best to keep up with me running and fighting his way through the crowd. the whole time estatic at what i was doing... not that i got what it was i was doing, or why peter would be happy with it?

after a few blocks of the amazing crowd response an obstacle came into view. a bunch of trucks and buses all parked up ahead on the road. they were mostly blocking my route. i wasn't sure what to do and slowed to a jog.

my slowing down allowed peter to properly catch up to me. through the noise of the crowd he yelled to me. "lite the other torch." the crowd had grown my excited as i got closure to the jam of vehicles, and they droaned out the rest of peter's instructions.

torch? what other torch? then as i closed on one of the buses i thought i saw the solution to my current problem. on the side of the bus was a painted man holding a proper torch (i saw proper, as it was one of those old fashion stick kinds you see in the movies called a torch... unlike the futuristic wand i currently held).

this must have been the other torch peter had mentioned. so i held my torch up to the side of the bus...


next thing you knew the whole side lite up in flames. brilliantly bringing the paintings torch to life! i can totally see why peter thought that would be awesome.

the crowd didn't think so though. suddenly their loving cheers turned to boos or angry yelling. several of them ran out, and tried to put out the flames with their jackets.

peter cringed. "oh boy!" he said nervously. "this is not good at all!"

during the chaos my mistorching had caused, a bunch of people were running down the street after me, and we now closing due to my stopping.

one was a dude in a white jump suit who when he spotted me from a block away yelled. "there's the guy who stole the torch!"

what? how dare he accuse of that! i hadn't stolen anything here in vancouver. if he thought he was going get me in trouble for... oh right. peter!

as he got up to me the white suit man snatched the flaming wand from me. "how dare you run my leg of the relay!" with that he ran off the way i'd just been going...

another guy in a red jacket that said security on it leaned towards me. "if it weren't against the spirit of the olympics, i'd report you to the police, man. that was so low, stealing the torch!" with that he wandered off, leaving me not sure if i should feel bad or guilty about the whole thing... whatever it was?!?

as the security guy stormed off, peter snuck up to me. "phew, that was a close call," he said relieved. "that could have turned out really disasterous."

"if only you made it half a block more though," he mournfully stated. "we would have made all the 6 o'clock news with that stunt. and after all that trouble i'd gone to, too steal that torch!"

i just looked at him scorningly. funny how it was me who was getting in trouble so far for this whole "stunt" of his. i didn't even know why it could have been disasterous! "peter what's going on?"

"its the olympic relay here in town today," peter stated rather excitedly. "that means all the fun and games start now!"

"the OH-limp-picture what?" i demanded.

peter just stared at me for a moment in disbelief. "have you watched the news even just once in the last little while?" i blinked. "oh, man. traumador... welcome to the winter olympic games."

"okay," i said trying to absorb that. "what does any of this have to do with the emergancy you phoned me about?"

"what does it have to do with the emergancy?" peter parroted my question mockingly. "traumador, the olympics were the emergancy i was calling about! they are only the biggest event in the country this year. if you're not here, we can't use them to make both you and lillian super famous!"

as if agreeing with what peter said, the crowd just down the street what way crazier then they had before.

the white jump suit man had run up to another guy who was like an exact copy of himself right down to the same wand stick. the two white suited clones touched their torches together, transfering the flame of mine old torch to the new guy's. with that the new guy started running in the same direction i'd been going, and the crowd's happy response followed him...

"oh see," peter said frustratedly, as though i was following his logic. "had that been you, we would have made the top story across the country. maybe even the world!"

so peter had hauled me all the way to vancouver for these OH-lympics to try and help my career... i could see the emergancy in that. at least from his point of view. it is what i'd hired him for, in this very city, 3 years ago!

i suddenly had multiple chills of excitement. peter had implied lillian was in town with him... meaning i had every chance of seeing the girl of my dreams again! more to the point if i could pull off what bond had just mentioned, i could save her career and make her the star she deserved to be!!!

based on the power of the emotions people were showing just a few minutes ago towards me with that torch, there was every chance peter was right. these olympics might just have be the thing me and lillian have been waiting for!

to be continued with the OH-lympic games!

the victors

despite the fact i'd beaten the pack of the primordial feather, it didn't feel like i'd won. sure i'd stolen the extremely evil crate 14 from them, but i couldn't have been celebrating less then i was at that moment!

partially my lack of enthusiasm about my success was due to a major delay in that success. the crate was due to be shipped to me in new zealand in just over a month, but of course that was lots of time for things to go wrong. especially since i figured it would be a safer for me to get out of calgary in a hurry. i had suspicions the pack might come after me, now that they knew i was in town.

killing any sense of this being a win was the contents of the crate though... i knew exactly why the pack had stolen them... but it was as though they'd tried to personally target me and everyone i'd known in my childhood... if only it were just that. the ramifications of the whole thing made me sick to my stomach.

as for the crate, carmen (the university collections manager) was very confident nothing would happen to it. she'd altered its paperwork to a level the pack couldn't hope to touch it (unless they managed to replace almost everyone in the WHOLE geology department!). not that it they'd get a chance.

carmen had done it all on the down low. unless the pack were extremely into getting tangled in red tape and reading a million of shipping vouchers, the pack wouldn't have been aware the crate was being shipped to me instead of them now. as far as they were concerned it would ship to their destination as they'd planned.

i couldn't stop taking my mind off the cargo in the crate though... which would soon be mine to safe guard (i had no clue what that was going to mean!?!).

fortunently my co-conspirators caleb and kirsten showed up at the rendevous as per the wrap up of our crate caper plan.

"why do you look so down?" kirsten asked with concern. "don't tell me we went through all that, not too get that stupid box in the end!?!"

kirsten was of course referring to her and caleb's valiant efforts at distracting the pack, so that me and carmen could sneak to the crate undetected.

"no we made it," i assured her miserably. my remorse turned to guilt (my tiny brain often shifts between similar emotions), as i was suddenly concerned for their safety during my stupid plan. "you guys okay?!?"

"we are fine," caleb smiled. "your hunch that the pack would not attack us, due to us being humans, turned out completely correct!"

"so why are you acting like it is someone's funeral?" kirsten demanded. you know she wasn't as far off as she could have been.

"i'm feeling helpless," i stated matter of fact. with that admition every single doubt and worry in my head came spilling out. "sure we've stolen the crate, but the pack will still win in the end. i can't keep the crate safe forever! eventually the pack will get it back, and knowing my luck i can't fix the contents before that point. meaning this was all for nothing!!!"

"what are you carrying on about?" kirsten came close to scolding me. "the tyrannosaur with a brain the size of peanut outsmarts an entire gang of theropods, not to mention two palaeontologists..."

"grad students," caleb factually corrected kirsten mid-sentence, causing her to glare at him for a moment before continuing.

"grad students," kirsten acknowledged caleb annoyed. "your plan accomplished everything you set out for with no real loses, and your think you lost?"

"hey," i realized. "you're right! i did outsmart all of you..."

my dread and depression was suddenly changed to the glory i should have been feeling (another of those trademark me emotion shifts). caleb and kirsten were right! i had some how out thought and schemed both them (in that they thought my plan won't work), and certainly the pack. who i'd just stuck it too... at least in a month...

i launched at my two grad student friends with a mega high 4 (i'd give the full 10, but i don't have enough fingers...).

"that's more like it!" kirsten said with a sigh.

caleb in his usual logical manner. "what was in the crate that had you so upset?"

some of my apprehension returned, but only a little bit. a nagging worry about the future. not to worry people of the innerweb, suddenly i felt like i could take on the whole pack single clawed. it was just going to require a lot of thought and effort...

how to tell caleb and kirsten? in many ways the crate concerned them too, as they'd been in drumheller in those key years...

before revealing the secret, i made both of them swear to keep the secret. of course they both did. "alright, well inside the crate we found..." i began, but was suddenly interupted by my cell-phone ringing!

what? that hasn't happened in a long time. i put my claw up in the air to ask for a moment. "hello?" i ventured to the person on the other end.

"traumador, baby, why haven't you been answering your phone?!?" came the familiar voice of my special talent agent peter bond.

"oh hi peter," i replied. how to put this delicately. "can i call you back? this isn't a good time."

"no i can't traum," peter said with some urgency. "it's an emergancy!"

what?!? i suddenly felt dread and fear again... something happened to lillian?!? i'd entrusted peter to look after the albertosaur of my dreams. why hadn't he done that?!?

"look we don't have a lot of time," peter stated, fairly cheerfully for an emergancy i have to say. "i've already booked you a flight here, but it leaves in an hour. so you need to get to the airport right away!"

what!!! it was all happening so quickly. "where am i going?" i demanded.

peter sounded surprised by my not knowing. "where else? vancouver!"

"why?" i again demaned to know.

"we can work that all out when you get here!" peter dismissed. "just make sure you don't miss that plane! it cost quite a bit of, your, money!"

with that peter hung up. leaving me with two very confused scientists. i started to rush towards the door. i explained i had an emergancy to attend too.

immediately i had to reassure them it was not a crate related emergancy, and that they should keep tabs with carmen to make sure it stayed that way! while they were at it, i told them to get the laydown on the crate's contents from carmen. she knew almost as much as me.

i on the other hand had to race to the airport to get to peter, and find out what he (and hopefully) lillian were doing in vancouver! they'd been in new york last i heard. what could possibly be in vancouver to get them to leave???

to be continued with the big start to 2010!!!