Light The Cauldron

There is a lot to be excited about with the upcoming Olympics. I mean, this website's name is "Light the Cauldron," so there's not much that beats Olympic talk.

However, it is not a good idea to miss out on all the stuff that's leading up to the Olympics. Know your athletes! See their conquests! Understand who they are and where they came from, and make your mind up about them before NBC narrows your fandom to its handful of profiled athletes.

This is the season of Spring. Winter sports are just about done, and the sports that feature in the summer Olympics are starting to ramp up.

Which, of course, means that I start waxing poetic on track and field.

(Wait - I've already been doing that? Well, whatever. Now it's outdoors.)

It's easy to watch track and field because it's on or around an oval track. Marathon viewing is easy because the cars can lead the runners on, and cameras are easy to find.

But have you ever watched cross country? No, not cros…

Yesterday, the Men's World Figure Skating Championship program concluded with a wonderful free skate final. Where figure skating had transformed into a "he who doesn't fall wins the medal," the rule changes of last year brought wonderful artistry to all the disciplines - none more so than the men's program.

Everyone was waiting in anticipation for the Yuzuru Hanyu vs. Nathan Chen showdown. While both of them were in last winter's Olympics, Chen's multiple falters in his short program left him well behind the pack, even though his long program score actually exceeded Hanyu's.

This year, it was Hanyu who was struggling after an injury in the fall left him trying to recover in time for this weekend. Meanwhile, Chen was soaring, winning the ISU Grand Prix Final as well as the U.S. National Championships with an insane (and probably inflated, let's be honest) score.

This weekend, both men came out strong, but it was Chen's short program skate that…

What happens when there are over 6,000 spoken languages in the world and you are hosting a wordwide event where everyone needs to understand what's going on?

Not only is the spoken language a struggle at international events, but the written language can make things difficult. Maps, signs, and directions are usually in the native language of the host city. And while they change their signs to be bilingual with the addition of English, that still doesn't cover everyone's language!

So how is a host city to solve the problem?

If you're Tokyo back in 1964, your answer was pictograms.

The more people started to travel for leisure, the more necessary it was to find a way for people with different languages to understand where things were in unfamiliar cities. The way for everyone to universally understand what was going on was to create a picture language.


For the Olympics, spectators needed to understand where they needed to go to view the events they wanted to see. So pic…

So I quit my job.

I mean, I am not currently jobless.

But once the fiscal year is done, I am out of a job.

So what's next?

Freelance?

Pros: I can work my own schedule. I can reach out to companies and individuals who share my interests and work with them on projects that help get their name out there. I can pick and choose what I want to do. I can work from home or travel. The world is my oyster!

Cons: Freelance is what the name implies: yes, I am free to choose, but there's also a chance I won't have any work. The pay that I get will be very low. I'm not even sure a good place to start!

Organization?

Pros: I could use my insanely handy organizational skills for a variety of projects. That could include administrative or executive assistant or something else that's related. I definitely know that I'm good at it.

Cons: There is a lot of assistant skills that require a bit of education, including accounting and billing. Plus, most companies want a bit of experience, w…

This week I am going to take you to Tokyo.

Well, not the Olympics in Tokyo.

But today (Sunday, but Saturday in the States) the Tokyo Marathon was held. With my NBS Sports Gold Track and Field Pass, I was able to watch the entire thing. And I don't do this out of obligation; I do this because I love watching the marathon.

Most of the time, the marathons are run while I'm at church and I have to watch them later on replay - probably knowing who already won. But with an event halfway around the world, it works to my advantage! Plus, I'm not attending any events this weekend, so I can devote my Saturday evening to watching a bunch of men and women run a lot.

Watching marathon for most people is like watching paint dry. But when you watch from start to finish, the tactics of the race pop out, and result in an enthralling two-plus hours of racing.

So I'm going to prove it to you. I'm going to watch the Tokyo Marathon and break down the race into 5-kilometer segments. As…