the price i pay...

i forgot how much i liked vancouver.

as far as human cities go this one has to be among my favourites. especially at night...

can you blame me really? it is just so pretty at night.

as much as i would have liked to just linger and enjoy the coloured darkness of vancouver i had business to attend to.

that business being the dinosaur OH-lympics organized by my special talent agent peter bond. he'd summoned a bunch of other dinosaur from around the world and wanted us all to compete against each other in some winter sports...
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the problem is i had no idea how or why.

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peter organized a meeting to discuss just that. funny enough he picked the same place where we first met, and i signed him on as my special talent agent...
`


i immediately complained how peter hadn't given me any notice before committing me to these "OH-lympics" of his. "traum, baby when you're dealing in the world of talent and fame you have to be ready to react to opportunities in an instant," he tried to assure me.

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"what about the opportunities in new york?" i demanded.
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"ah yes, new york," peter paused, as he seems to a lot, and after moment. "though new york was defiantly chance for lillian to regain her status as a museum attraction. it would have been just that, regaining. she'd have been nothing more than she was before. lillian would be just another dinosaur in a museum. these olympics could very well catapult her to a whole new level of stardom and fame. besides you were getting nothing out of our being in new york."
`

i was getting lots i thought! i was giving the girl of my dreams happiness and a chance at the life she'd always wanted. through that i was hoping i'd gain a lot more. her heart namely! not that these OH-lympics were hurting that plan, i had to hand it too peter. if anything this put me in position to collect on my winnings if they were to be had!
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that and it would be nice if things were to go my way too!
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good now that i had that rant out of my system time to get to these OH-lympics.
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peter outlined how he was hoping to run several events for us dinosaurs. some of them i'd heard of like ice hockey and uh... okay ice hockey was the only one i'd heard of. i am a canadian dinosaur afterall :P
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some of these other ones though... figure skating, whats that? the skinniest on the ice wins? cross-country skiing, man why couldn't he have organized that in a nice small country like new zealand? canada is way to big to ski across! ski jumping sounds silly. even i know that skis aren't alive or have legs capable of jumping! curling just sounds like we're all going to get sick tummies! bob-sled takes the cake as the sport that sounds the most ridiculous! none of us dinosaurs are even named bob, why not dino sled or saurus sled... oh wait sledosaurus!
`
peter then grabbed my glass and clanged his own into mine... i'm not sure why. he called it a toast, but i KNOW that happens to be a breakfast with bread (something i would never have! it would make my carnivorous tummy upset). "here's to the olympics!"

still not sure what this had to do with breakfast toast, i asked. "where's to them?"

"what?" peter asked me back.

"you said 'here's to the OH-lympics', but that doesn't make sense. they're not here now, and you didn't give me proper directions to where they're going to be," i pointed out, not sure why this was confusing peter... though i guess if he always gives bad directions like that he might not understand my problem.

peter just laughed. "good one, traum," i just blinked. "okay never mind," peter dismissed the whole conversation. "moving on then."

i saw a good point to bring up something i'd wanted to say in relation to the OH-lympics. "it sure was nice of the city to let us host the games here," i complimented our large host. "you must have asked them really nice."

peter chuckled confidently. "nothing says please like several thousand dollars."

i paused thinking about that for a second. "where did you get that much money?"

"from you of course," peter pointed out.

"WHAT?!?" i yelled.

people from all over the restaurant started to look at us really funny. "finish your drink, and calm down!" peter instructed me as he looked frantically around worried about all the probing eyes.

as i angrily chugged on my vanilla cola, peter anxiously sipped on his drink, a metro something or other. i'd given peter permission to fund a world tour for him and lillian. i hadn't given him permission to use my money for funding big sporting events!

i didn't have that much money to begin with... just a museum security guard's meager savings.

peter finally finished, and more to the point was comfortable that no one was watching us argue anymore. "look big guy, i know it sounds like a lot of money, but you can't make money if you don't spend money."

"i wasn't wanting to make money!" i stated. "i just wanted you to make lillian famous again!"

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"not want to make..." peter couldn't believe his ears.
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"what have i been paying for?" i wondered outloud.

"nothing much," peter started. "just the application of a event to the city, renting the venues, insuring the venues, the flights for all the competitors and their coaches, renting a TV studio and equipment, oh speaking of which i'm going to need to buy a suit for when i am doing the play by plays, hiring an artist to make the games logo, and..." he looked up to my glare. "well you get the idea traum."

"how much do i have left? " i demanded.

peter looked sort of sheepish. "not much."

"how am i supposed to get back to new zealand and my job?!?"

"ah now there you have nothing to worry about," peter tried to calm me down. "see with all the marketing tie ins i'm hoping this will generate we'll see you getting double your investment back out of this little venture," i didn't look convinced. "come on traum, with all big name museums i'm drawn into the games how can we not make a mint?"

i just looked away overwhelmed. a tiny part of my tiny brain had wondered if it was a good idea to give peter total access to my money... now i knew!

noting my concerns peter tried to summarize. "look traum, i know this looks like it was a waste of your money, but i assure you i've only spent money where it was absolutely needed! from here on in we won't spend anymore unless it is absolutely necessary!"

i'd paid for the whole thing to happen, but for what reason? simply to make back what i'd spent on it in the first place! there was no guarantee with all these other dinosaurs around me and lillian would come out as the stars of the whole thing. more to the point, what did peter consider absolutely necessary spending?

as if to answer my question fireworks broke out on the harbour! oh man, i better not be paying for those too!!!

`
peter noticing my anxiety. "oh yeah, i forgot about those."

what am i going to do people of the innerweb?... especially now that we were in the thick of it all. i couldn't pull the plug now can i?

next: preparation for the first event!

pain in the neck!

after all the stuff peter has had me up to with these OH-lympics of his, i haven't had much time to myself.

so today i decided to sneak off and check out vancouver a little bit on my own.

holy smokes! i have to say there has been a lot of change since the last time i'd been here in town!

a weird forest made of paper had grown in the middle of downtown... which i thought was really weird. isn't paper made from trees? not that other way around.

not that i had to worry about this problem for very long!

you see despite sneaking off by myself, i hadn't planned to stay alone. hanging out with peter the whole time so far, i hadn't had a chance to properly catch up with who i'd really wanted too...

that was of course the theropod of my eye... lillian the albertosaur!!!

i'd paid for her and peter to go on a tour of the world, in an attempt to get lillian famous again (she'd been fired from the tyrrell like me). the last i'd heard from the two of them (before we all suddenly showed up here in vancouver anyway) both of them had been in new york city... which led me to the natural question. why weren't they still there anymore?

not that i was in a hurry to find out. i just enjoyed the stroll through the paper forest (though seriously what is up with it?!?) with lillian!

our destination was the beach front in west vancouver. the last time i'd been here, had marked a major shift in my life. i was kind of hoping for that again. only this time with lillian involved. oh and nose snuggling (a theropod's version of kissing... on account of our lack of proper mammalian style lips), lots of nose snuggling!

this time around i couldn't help but notice the giant inukshuk that stood by the beach. according to the arctic house, these big stone statues of people are the symbol of the OH-lympics. so i guess, despite not knowing what these OH-lympics are about yet, there is a connection between us dinosaurs and the OH-lympics for peter to try and make. inukshuks are made of stone, and we dinosaurs are found in stone...

which didn't really matter today!

i was for all intents and purposes on another date with lillian!!!

unlike all my other dates with lillian, this time i'd overcome her dislike of me. heck last time i saw her, lillian had given me a small nose snuggle! the equivalent of a human peck on the cheek, maybe not a full on smooch, but considering she tried to eat me the first time i asked her out... i was possibly really close to making lillian my mate!!!

of course one can't just rush into these things. especially since we had a lot of catching up to do. i'd had all my adventures in drumheller and calgary to tell her about! lillian thought they were quite amazing, and didn't entirely believe me in parts (especially dr. paradigm's kung fu!). not that i blame her, but they were the only stories i had to tell. believable or otherwise...

as for her adventures, i was surprised by what i heard. as far as lillian could tell peter had pulled them out of new york for no reason at all. she'd been a big hit in the american museum of natural history's galleries. peter had maintained that lillian was a welcome addition to the museum. yet lillian leveled with me, peter had always seemed to be constantly arguing with the museum's staff about something. though she couldn't figure out what about, as the staff was really nice towards her (and usually peter... just not when he talked to them about one thing things got a little tense).

oh well. i trust peter with making lilllian famous again. what else are special talent agents for?

with the catch up complete it was now time to try and win over lillian's heart. the problem is i don't have a whole lot of experience with wooing the ladies... so i had to kind of make stuff up.

humans are all about touching and stuff, something we theropods aren't naturally all that into. physical contact usually means we're having problems with each other, and will lead more often to a fight then a date. still sadly i'm more human in some ways than t-rex. so i tried something i'd seen humans do on the TV a few times.

i started rubbing lillian's shoulders. at first she didn't notice, on account of how light i am in comparison. if you think a human shoulder can be tense, wait till you try a full grown tyrannosaurid one! as i worked my full weight into the task of massaging lillian she began to notice.

at first i worried i'd anger her, but much to my surprise lillian was really enjoying the neck rub.

"oh my," she said rather blissful. "what are you doing?"

"its called a massage," i informed her, almost panting. it was a ton of effort to smooth out muscle bundles that were as big as me!!!

"i've never had anything this amazing before," she said arching her whole front half into me, so that i could work deeper into the muscle.

okay so now we were getting somewhere! now i just had to think of what to do after this... though for the time being the neck massage was going so well i could just continue while i tried to think of my next move.

i'm sure i would have thought of something, but the most unexpected thing ruined the moment. a number of scents had been gently rolling in from behind us. i'd been trying to ignore them and focus on the great moments i was having with lillian. especially as i figured like most weird smells in the big city they'd fade away.

however these smells didn't go away. if anything more of them started to build up. finally one particularly good waft of wind caused both me and lillian instinctively raised our heads. "are those..." lillian started to ask, but before she could finish we both looked up to the obvious answer.

all around us were a bunch of other dinosaurs!!!

a few of whom i knew, but most i didn't... not that it mattered.

all that mattered was that they'd all just interrupted my best date with lillian yet! the worst part, i didn't even know why. though i had my suspicions that peter knew a thing or two about it...

next: let the games begin!

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 future?

67.2 million BC

i spent the majority of the day wandering through the rest of vancouver... can't say whether it was nice or not. my heart just wasn't into it.

so Larry was right. this isn't the land of prehistory. not the REAL BCs... rather just a human place with a convergent name (i'm so sad i'm not getting big words wrong... oh man). i've wasted 2 whole months pursuing a imaginary goal...

the moral being so far i haven't managed to fit in with other dinosaurs yet. we t-rexs are not popular based on our virtues it would seem. just our scariness, and you're not scary if your not big...

the first spot i hit that snapped me out of my gloom was a beach. the sun was setting over the ocean, and all the ships off in the distance... what a majestic sight to see!

watching the reflections of the sun in the water i pondered my life. compared to this i was nothing. i'm an insignificant speck in the universe. even just this ocean goes on for as far as i can see, and there is a lot more out there then just it...

you'd think in a world that big there'd be a place for me out there...

i mean there has to be a place somewhere that needs a t-rex. or even just a dinosaur... if only i knew where that was...

as i stand here gazing across the colossal sea i can't help, but feel that over the horizon lies an answer to my existence...

what i do know is this. i can't stay here in the BCs... the trip (espeically that fake dinotown i built) has left me broke. even with the salary i'm still getting from the eco centre won't be not enough to pay for my living here...

i also still haven't found my roots. i don't care if i can't find out what it is too be a true dinosaur anymore... so far they've all been jerks or worse. that and we dinosaurs are extinct everywhere on the planet with minor exceptions in museums and shows apparently...

i DO still want to find out who i am and where i came from...

there is only one place i can goto find that out...

looks like i'll have to go back to where it all started... drumheller... while i'm there though it can't hurt to see if the dinosaur boom has busted, and who knows? maybe there'll be an opening for me when i get there, and i can resume my old life!

well people of the innerweb i'd say this concludes my quest into BC... now i return home!

lonely road

66.4 million BC

well naturally today was not such a fun day. i'm in fact very bummed out. no bummed isn't the right word...

everything just seems kinda of pointless...

peter said i needed to cheer up. he's taken me to "drown my sorrows". i told him i wasn't in the mood for swimming... he said that wasn't the plan. we were going drinking... these must be pretty big cups if we're going to drown... be easier to just go swimming, i'm a lousy swimmer

well it's a really nice place that he took me too. a restaurant on top of a tall skyscraper... you can see the whole city from up here.

i just wasn't in the mood for refreshments... they taste funny, and make me feel even dumber then normal...

peter said as my agent he won't let me go till i let some of my sadness out somehow...

that's when i noticed the piano in the middle of the joint...

i decided that would be the best way to let out some of my angst... i played the one song that seemed the most appropriate... boulevard of broken dreams... got a bit of a crowd watching me too!

peter said it was really good, and that managing talent this great he's job was easy... though if i'm that great how come none of the other dinosaurs want to hang out with me?

then peter dropped a big bomb...

due to the responsibilities of managing his clients, and their major distribution across the world peter was going to have to leave vancouver... more so he was leaving canada altogether!

right when i thought i had some backup in face of all the stuff going wrong in my life...

i'm right back where i started before my BC quest. homeless. alone. and confused