Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded by rabbiwolfgangrabbiwolfgang:

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Friday, October 6th, 2000
2:21 pm	Volunteer Walk Yesterday I went into Sydney and went in the pararde of Volunteers. What a great time - I rekon it will be the only time a whole bunch of people will be cheering me for the part I played in something. So I lapped it up. Waving, cheering it was cool. When we got to the end [at the domain] there was a free concert, free food, free drink, free stuff everywhere. What a great thank you. I left early at 1:30pm as the guys were in theline for food - apparently it took them an hour or more to get their food. I met them at our local station when they got back and they had 4 slabs of coke - boxes of free programmes and T-shirts - they had collected all this not for themmselves but for their familes and the guys at BB!!!!!! Absolutely awesome. Doesn't feel yet ass if the holidays are over - but they are. In fact that marks the end of the Olympic Experience in total. By MOnday all the photos should be on the web site - [link above]. As for the future of this jounral - not sure. Brendan has been speaking about taking over - but then we both agreed it would be cool to leave this as an Olympic only journal. A permanant record rather than have it over taken by brendan's future enteries. Anyway, for those who have been reading thanks - i hope it was interesting and informative and maybe even a bit entertaining. Remember next Monday night should see the phtotos from the walk up on thet net. And if you liked this then check out The Paper a weekly newsletter which Brendan does for his youth group - it's pretty funny and always looks good. Until monday - bye. Current Mood: excited (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 4th, 2000
8:27 pm	Parade!?!! Back to work Tuesday and today. Being a teacher I had an easy return - only 2 periods each day. It's been cool swapping stories with other volunteers - the ones who really worked hard. Tomorrow is going to be a cool day and a great finish to the whole Olympic thing. SOCOG have arranged a parade of all the volunteers and the govt has given all it's workers a paid day off to attend! SO i'll be there. A few of the guys and girls will also be available. I rekon this will be THE time when crowds will gather cheer me of the part I played in something. I was in the VP Day parade a few years ago - but those cheers weren't due to anything I had done and I was proudly supporting the people who'd fought. This time people will be thanking me for the small part I played. I hope to get a few stories about other people's Olympic experiences too. We get the parade - lunch and a bit of a concert. It'll be great!!! Will the journal end???? I don't know. We will have to wait and see. Bye. Current Mood: excited (Comment on this)
Monday, October 2nd, 2000
5:22 pm	Super Ceremony Stuns Stadium Spectators From a crazy four wheeler to Sorry from Midnight Oil to eskys being waved during the deep spiritual Greek thingy from a bogon moth on Kenny's dress to pawns on bikes from glitter balls to hill hoists from the beach to the desert it had it all. Juan chanted AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE and congratualted us for getting the OI OI OI right. Fatso extinguished the flame. The show was awesome. If you missed it then you should try and see it - it can not be described. I am so thankful that my volunteer effort meant I was able to scam a seat at the closing ceremony. The best part was that we didn't do anyone else out of a seat. As we left we used our passes to get down to level 0. Saw Elle, Phil & Tommy, a few atheletes AUSSIE and the world, props, and got myself an audience kit and a half after I gave mine away to someone in the audience who'd missed out - theirs probably blew away. I can still feel the power of the F-111 jet as it powered over the stadium taking the flame onto Athens for 2004. I will be marching through Sydney with the real hard workers of the Games - the other 47,000 volunteers who spent hours and hours every day making sure that it all went well. I am not putting down what us Audience Kit Assistants did - it was important and we did a great and hard job without much support from the Ceremonies people - but our effort was two days only where as most others worked for 12 or moere of the 16 days. Well done to them. Current Mood: ecstatic (1 Comment | Comment on this)
5:21 pm	Super Ceremony Scam - Part II What were we to do - risk getting kicked out or leave and watch on one of the big screens out side or stay and experience one of the most awesome shows ever..... I turned around and there was Debbie - smiling and laughing. "Wanna sticker!" Matt F and Tim H joined us and we took our newly accrediated passes and headed down to Level 0. We did a lap underneath the stadium - passing Vanessa Amorosi's van and heaps of the performers. Eventually we made our way up to the dinner room - where else would we be able to sit around and do nothing. Debbie was there before us and she had managed to scroe some meal tickets and so we got fed - thanks SOCOG. We then headed off to the top of the Southern Stand - sure enought the top two rows were made up of mainly free tickets given to other volunteers. I helped out by directing people to their seat - i felt I should do something. A couple of people got caught out as they had bought stolen tickets - they got asked to leave. In the end we all got seats to see the show. We had an awesome veiw of the Stadium but also of the Fire works - from out seats we could see the river of fireworks and the Brigde itself. The show was awesome - but more on that in a moment. Current Mood: ecstatic (Comment on this)
3:55 pm	Super Ceremony Scam It's been a very cool weekend. Lan Party, AKA volunteer work and free seats at the closing ceremony of the 27th Olympiad!!!! Friday was an all night LAN party for the guys from Boys Brigade. Saturday was recovery day and then Sunday was the day of the Closing Ceremony and I was off to be an Audience Kit Assistant - the team who made sure that the kits that the Audience got were all on the seats. Well the organisation was non-exsistant - there were programmes all over teh stadium - except where we needed them to be and as for the torches - we ran out and couldn't find any - eventually we found out that their was only 80,000 anyway and so not everyone would get one. Anyway - despite the complete mess made by Ceremonies we had a great time and got everything done. As someone said though, it wasn't that they weren't organised [although I rekon they weren't] it was more that no one outside was consulted to check their thinking. The kits were so light that they were blowing away as quick as we put them out. Anyway the cool part began at about 3:15pm as after struggling to get some more kits to put out we suddenly found everyone leaving. Me and Rob decided to drop our kits downstairs under the Stadium in what they called Level 0. By time we got down there it was 3:30pm - Rob and I looked at each other and wonder - are we going to go or stay down here and get into the closing ceremony for free. I had already spotted where we could maybe get seats - the last two rows on the southern stand [opposite the cauldron] we not to get kits and so I guessed they must have been for workers or volunteers. All we had to do was to avoid detection until about 6pm and then head up to the seats. While we debated whether to leave or not we headed out toward the exit. So there we were standing round wondering what to go - go or stay????? We had a small problem in that to be in the Stadium we needed not just our passes but also a small sticker [see Olympic Photos under - TICKETS] to authorise for the closing. I spoke to a SOCOG offical and he advised us carefully about what we should not do. I knew that Debbie had got a few stickers but the rumour was she had left. What were we to do - risk getting kicked out or leave and watch on one of the big screens out side or stay and experience one of the most awesome shows ever..... Current Mood: thoughtful (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 28th, 2000
5:34 pm	Pain Saw repeats of the Womens 20k walk and saw an interview with the Aussie girl who was red circled just as she began to hit the Stadium - she could see and hear the crowd - then disaster as she got too many warnings and was disqualified. I could not even begin to imagine the pain she must have felt when that happened. How do you come back from something like that - to be so close to gold and then to lose it. I really felt for her. AS a rabbi it makes be reflect on how much fervour I have for serving God. I am just now watching another run of the NBC story about ROy and HG and Aussie sport as they consider how such a small country 19 million can be getting medals like countries which have cities almost that big. It's cool being an enigma. Roy and HG are absolutely brilliant and well worth checking out. Current Mood: sympathetic (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 27th, 2000
1:49 am	yada yada yada Well my sleep pattern is totally stuffed - another 5am finish last night/this morning. Watched Freeman run the 400m last night - a huge effort - it does make you proud. PLayed Mthy II last night/this morning did ok - some victories and some defeats. Prefer that to Quake3. Quiet day today. Next LAN night Friday. Sunday we will be back into the Stadium to put out audience kits for the closing ceremony - rumours abound - some say we may get the extra seats [if there are any] and get to stay and watch. I just hope the tight arses give us something for a trouble - more than a T-Shirt, Thanks and threats of arrest to kids if they take left over programmes home. Very low. see ya Current Mood: indifferent (Comment on this)
Monday, September 25th, 2000
6:01 pm	oh YEAH! all nighter LAN last night again. Watched the Beach Volleyball on TV today - great spectacle - and a fantastic battle with a best of all endings. Gold. Again - a sport I didn't know we were all that good at. I hope the exposure for these sports continues after the games. It was amazing to learn that the two winners only came back together again about 1 year ago and now they are the best in the world. Of course tonight Cathy Freeman and her 400M final - I think she will not just be running for her own Gold but also the 100th ever Gold medal for Australia so a huge run tonight. Yet another drug bust announced today. A friend of mine says that every one at that level uses drugs its just timing that is important to dodging the testing. I am all for more testing and I'm glad that we have really pushed hard for testing and more of it. We won't be the "clean games" it's still too early in the new anti-drug mindset - but at hopefully we will be remembered and the cleaner games and the Olympics at which the mindset really turned - maybe even the beginning of the end for drug cheats. tomorrow. Current Mood: ecstatic (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 24th, 2000
12:39 pm	Hike ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch Got back from the hike yesterday. We went from Somserby to Yarramalong - not a huge hike we've gone further over harder terrain but this old rabbi needs to get fitter - I am sore sore sore - feet, back and shoulders. It was a good hike - enjoyed it. A variety of bushland and we were done walking by 130pm yesterday. Had the radio along so we could listen to a few olympic moments. The great thing about the Olympics is that no sport is too small - if an Aussie is in it we will hear about how they did - so I am finding out that we are pretty good in events I had no idea we were good in. Softball and rowing and waterpolo are three that come straight to mind. I must admit I wasn't impress by the bit of the Womens Marathon coverage which I saw - I don't think they did the city justice in the coverage - maybe the overseas coverage is better but for local consumption I thought they missed some spectacular shots - in particular they missed the crossing of the Anzac Bridge. Admittedly we were watching the rowing final [8] where we got Silver but still some great vision missed. What I wonder is why they aren't doing more picture in picture stuff - so that we can at least get some idea of how other sports are going - or the ticker machine across the bottom of the screen with results of all sports as they happen. Current Mood: sore (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 21st, 2000
5:45 pm	Photos Brendan has just finished uploading images from the Dress Rehearsal of the opening ceremony and also some of the shots from when we were putting out the Audience Kits for the opening ceremony check out Brendan's web site and follow the links to the olympic photos - or just click on the photo link above. Still very proud to be Aussie - as someone worked out last night for The Dream since we have about the same medals as the yanks but we have 1/13 of the population we must be 13 times better - but we knew that anyway. It is a great feeling to be a part of the greatest show on earth. Warm and a bit humid today although once you get out of the sun and have a cool drink you can cool off quickly. Off hiking tomorow and Saturday - hope it cools down a bit more though. See you Sunday. Current Mood: happy (1 Comment | Comment on this)
2:12 am	Round and Round and Round they go.... Went to the cycling last night - saw a Aussie get 4th and two medals decided. Great buzz in the place especially whenever an Aussie did anything. Had an old guy sitting next to me who knew what was going on so he could point out a few things I missed. As we came around the corner in the bus there was another bus crashed into someones front yard - oh well the transports being ok, with just a few minor hiccups. If you are in Australia watch The Dream on Channel 7 after the main telecast is over - about 11pm - for a different, no holds barred, loo at the games - a truely Aussie view for those visiting. Hosted by two guys called Roy And HG they often hit the mark with their comments on the games. Current Mood: high (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 19th, 2000
7:25 pm	Today Played RISK last night and managed a second place. Came home and got my butt whipped on line at Quake3. Woke late today - ahhh holidays. Watched a bit of the Olympics - saw the Equestrian team win again - 3rd Olympics in a row for the Australian team [only onemember had done all three]. Did a practice run out to the Bass Hill park and ride in preparation for my trip to the Cycliing tomorrow night. Traffic seemed lighter than usual. Transport system is still holding up ok in Sydney - buses are getting lost and one of the events started late - but considering how many people they are shifting they aren't doing too bad. A local party rekons we will finsihed with 99 medals - whilst the Australian Olympic Committee rekons we'll get 60 - that sound a bit more realistic since our biggest previous medal tally had been 42 at Alanta. All quiet in the Olympic city tonight. Still feeling tha buzz although my life isn't that much different. Lookging forward to 2morro. Current Mood: content (Comment on this)
Monday, September 18th, 2000
5:49 pm	What's ON I found out what is happening when I am at the Cycling. Great selection. Cycling - Track Men's Individual Pursuit Qualifying, Women's 500m Time Trial, Men's 1km Time Trial, Men's Individual Pursuit Semifinals. Current Mood: okay (Comment on this)
5:36 pm	Feel it in the air It's been a few days since I wrote any entires because I'd been busy preparing for a sermon. A rabbi has to work too you know! The buzz in the air is pretty cool. Everyone has an Olympic story to tell. Gold medals and the national anthem make a feeling go through you. I am hoping to visit a few olympic Live sites over the next few weeks - they are outdoor areas with huge TV screens and entertainment to let us normal everyday people see the games in a special way. Every day I expect to hear about some transport hassle but it is all running smoothly - which surprises us all here in Sydney. I managed to score a free ticket to the Cylcing on Wednesday night - I have no idea what will be one but I am looking forward to being a part of the whole thing. Not one to usually get excited by Nationalism and stuff like that - you still can't help but be proud when an Austrlalian does well. Thought it weird to hear 8th place in the tri-athlon being described as a disappointing result by a commentator - hey only 8th in the world what a loser!!!!! I don't mind when the athletes say that - they know what their best is and can make thay call - but a commentator - I doubt that the commentator who said that was the 8th or even 20th best commentator in the world. about 30 minutes until the BIG race Thorpe V Hoogie - Go Aussie Go. Current Mood: chipper (Comment on this)
5:36 pm	Feel it in the air It's been a few days since I wrote any entires because I'd been busy preparing for a sermon. A rabbi has to work too you know! The buzz in the air is pretty cool. Everyone has an Olympic story to tell. Gold medals and the national anthem make a feeling go through you. I am hoping to visit a few olympic Live sites over the next few weeks - they are outdoor areas with huge TV screens and entertainment to let us normal everyday people see the games in a special way. Every day I expect to hear about some transport hassle but it is all running smoothly - which surprises us all here in Sydney. I managed to score a free ticket to the Cylcing on Wednesday night - I have no idea what will be one but I am looking forward to being a part of the whole thing. Not one to usually get excited by Nationalism and stuff like that - you still can't help but be proud when an Austrlalian does well. Thought it weird to hear 8th place in the tri-athlon being described as a disappointing result by a commentator - hey only 8th in the world what a loser!!!!! I don't mind when the athletes say that - they know what their best is and can make thay call - but a commentator - I doubt that the commentator who said that was the 8th or even 20th best commentator in the world. about 30 minutes until the BIG race Thorpe V Hoogie - Go Aussie Go. Current Mood: chipper (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 16th, 2000
2:20 pm	Video 4 U Found a video of the flame lighting. So check it out. Apparently there was an electical problem with the disc part of the cauldren - thankfully they got it fixed quickly. It was exciting to read of a SILVER medal in the TRIATHLON already and to hear Thorpe breaking a record in the 400M heats. Current Mood: excited (Comment on this)
1:50 pm	JUAN IS HERE!!! After putting out the boxes we all settled down at the church to watch the opening ceremony on the big screen projector. I was totally awesome - we'd seen a large part of it when we went to the Rhersal the other night [part of the thank you from SOCOG] and so we knew it would be huge. It was an awesome sight - highlights for me were the fire eaters, the nature section and the arrivals section. Being so tired and worn out the athletes arrival was hard not to sleep through. When Australia came on we woke up! Picking the person who would light the flame kept us guessing - and David did pick who it would be. The relay around the stadium was a great idea as most of our choices got involved one by one. The actual lighting of the flame was absolutely spectacular. Get hold of the video somehow if you didn't see it. At one point we wondered [in typical Aussie style] if the whole thing had broken. And then it raised up and YEAHH!!!! A great openig ceremony with a truely Aussie feel to it. The only part I cringed at was the rings made from kids pushing lawn mowers - very Australian though. I thought Cathy Freeman as flame lighter wasn't a great choice - only because she is young - but as an Australian she represents just about all parts of our countries people and the great athlete of the games - Australian, aboriginal an female - she does embody all of the country in one. My choice would have been Betty Cuthburt but one look at the podium showed that it couldn't have been her. Well done SOCOG - after so many stuff ups it went well and they did us proud. Well now the Olympics is just a back drop to my holiday until the end when we get to do the audience kit placement again. Current Mood: ecstatic (Comment on this)
1:22 pm	Doing it for Juan Yesterday went very well.... AFter a Lan party tuesday night my sleep patterns have be totally stuffed up. Add the excietment of the AKA job for Friday and it all adds up to not much sleep on Thursday. 430am start. We got to the Stadium a bit late. But then so did others. We eneded up working on the Northern stand where the cauldron is. When we got there the palettes of yellow audience kit boxes were not to be seen - but palettes of programmes were - we'd got the side with the programmes to go out. At least they'd realised that. Found the palettes stuck in one corner and a trolley JACK!!!! Thank goodness otherwise we would never have got the job done. I spent all day moving palettes around and riding the trolley jack - so I had a fun time. We got morning tea at 930a a bisket and a bottle of water. And lunch at 1230a sandwich, bottle of water, apple, cake and museli bar [a good lunch actually] All was going great until we ran out of boxes and programmes - we were a palette of of both short. We had to wait for about half an hour while they sent us another palette. By now it was about 20 to 3 and people were arriving - some of the food staff went into the stadium and nicked stuff from boxes and everyone wanted us to put stuff aside for them. By a quarter to 4 we were all finished [we had been told we wuould be finished by 1pm] [including cleaning up the area we were in]. The SOCOG person in charge told us to grab a programme - which we gladly did . When we got down to ground level other SOCOG people took them off us - they were left over programmes but they still took them off us. They even scared the younger kids by saying Police had been arresting people who had one. Which was crap - we didn't even pass a cop on the way to deregistration and leaving - they were just being mean spirited. SO we got deregistered, got our black T-Shirt and went home. It was 545p by the time we were home. A hard days work but some good fun too. Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
1:16 pm	Video 4 U Found a video of the flame lighting. So check it out. Apparently there was an electical problem with the disc part of the cauldren - thankfully they got it fixed quickly. It was exciting to read of a SILVER medal in the TRIATHLON already and to hear Thorpe breaking a record in the 400M heats. Current Mood: excited (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 14th, 2000
8:50 pm	115,000 to go - 114,999 - 114,498 .... Well I am very excited - tomorrow is the big day - Audience Kit Assistance will be happening. The rumour is that the programmes didn't arrive at the place where the kits are put together on time and so 50,000 kits are without programmes and it is possible that that the forklift drivers filling the trucks didn't separate the two. SOCOG called today to touch base about tomorrow - she wanted to know if we were partying all night tongiht - unfortunately I had to disappoint her - we are sleeping tonight [5am start tomorrow] and party tomorrow night when we get to see the fruits of our labour. Drink and lunch are now promised for tomorrow. Oh well off to bed to get some sleep - tomorrow promises to be huge - hopefully not too many crazy things happen. IN OTHER NEWS: Caught up with Brendan and he tells me that the OIympic part of his site is up and that he has given the journal page a make over. Check out the Photos and even the rest of bjd.au.com by following the links above. (Comment on this)