"Another Memory"

Wow! The Carrie Underwood concert was awesome! She's beautiful inside and out. Her show was one of the best concerts I've seen in my life. It was just beautiful. It's hard to explain. There was a back drop behind her that stimulates movements of clouds, grass moving - like the scenery was real. During one song she swung from a tree, during another she came through the floor. Her outfit changing was amazing, during one change her dress lit up with different colors like she had fireworks underneath her! Then during one song the screen looked like a movie where she was walking towards us, stepping into a vehicle, then the real vehicle came out of no where; where she sung above the crowd. She spoke to the crowd about her life, about winning American Idol and following your dreams. She wouldn't be where she is today if she didn't take the steps, making the effort and just going for it! In one of her songs it displayed pictures through-out her life up until her marriage. She didn't come from money, life wasn't easy and her show was truly inspiring. I thought "Wow" this is great for all the young individuals out there wanting to become somebody. I really enjoyed how personally beautiful Carrie Underwood made her concert. My daughter, a friend and I walked on the ferry, took buses and sky-trains all over Vancouver for two days! Went out to Metro town, China town and walked all over downtown Vancouver. My daughter extremely enjoyed herself but she had a huge enlightenment with the street life of the city. It was really sad witnessing young woman messed up on crystal meth, picking their skin, homeless people wishing us a Merry Christmas. I wanted my daughter to see real people sick and hurting for a reason. This isn't just television. These are people that could be her birth Mother, they are someones son. It's really sad and I really believe our government should do more for the mentally ill and addicted people. I heard in Victoria they are changing one of the old Travel Lodges into a homeless shelter. Downtown on East Hastings in Vancouver needs more housing. It's unfortunate that people are hurting on the streets while we're shopping in China town, going to concerts and every night we're warm underneath blankets. When this one homeless man said, "Merry Christmas" I was instantly heart broken. I know some people have chosen this lifestyle but the percentage of the mentally ill walking the streets is high. It's their circumstances that have placed them where they are. No one is born wanting this lifestyle. I'm really glad that my daughter experienced this so we can talk and have compassion for humanity. After the concert we walked back to the hotel, tried to fall asleep around 12:30 am. By 2:30am the fire alarm went off! Normally we're trained from a young age to evacuate immediately, I on the other hand was saying, "Ignore it, some drunk pulled the alarm!" I was really tired. Well, we had to leave the building. From 2:30am to 4am we were standing outside while the fire fighters had to search the building for this "fire" Well turns out a drunk on the eleventh floor pulled the fire alarm because he thought the pop machine lights was a FIRE! Ok, I was frustrated. "I will admit it" We didn't get much sleep. By 8am the hotel lobby called and asked if we had enough towels and coffee for our morning! "WHAT?" When I answered the phone I was shocked, "Why are you calling us after being up all night?" Actually I wasn't pleasant. Turned out it was a prank caller! We dressed and left for breakfast. No compensation but an apology. After all it's not the hotels fault someone pulled the fire alarm and they have to follow safety protocols and evacuate. I do have to say my eyes were burning and my brain was hardly functioning for the day! We raced and missed our 4pm bus, caught the next one just in time for the 5pm ferry! Racing just making it! A memory that will last forever.