Who is Chris Olson?

I am a woman who was born in March 1950 and who lives on the East Coast of the United States with her husband of 50 years, overlooking the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. My full name is Christine Aleta Olson. One of my ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence and my husband’s Grandmother immigrated to the United States from Sweden in the early 1900’s. We have the genes of our strong-willed, fearless ancestors.

Education & Career

My formal education started with a B.A. degree in Art History from Temple University. I have a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Maryland.  I have another Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Johns Hopkins University.

During my early career I worked in medical and technical engineering environments.  I worked at the U.S. National Cancer Institute on the team that created the PDQ cancer information database. By 1980 I was working on the Internet before it was called the Internet!

I started my own consulting practice in 1983 and helped clients for more than 40 years before retiring. I am an expert advisor who assisted librarians and knowledge managers working in companies and organizations. I guided and advised them about incorporating marketing and communications into their management strategies.  I worked with over 100 different clients during my career. I gave seminars and made presentations to thousands of colleagues around the world, including a privately televised global program to librarians who worked in hospitals and medical settings.  I designed and taught post-graduate level courses about marketing information services.  I wrote and published a newsletter called Marketing Treasures that was read by thousands of information professionals and created a collection of clip art images for librarians to use.

Before retiring I applied my knowledge and experience to private competitive intelligence and market research system portals operating inside a global pharmaceutical company.

Hobbies

I enjoy growing flowers and I have a large perennial flower garden that keeps me busy most of the year. I love to work in dirt and watch plants grow, observe insects, and listen to the birds sing. When the weather is nice I take my cup of morning coffee and walk around my garden to enjoy the flowers that bloomed overnight.

When my garden is covered with snow and sleeping in the winter, I piece together jigsaw puzzles, read novels, and laugh at the cartoons in The New Yorker.  And, of course, I research and write the Wallace Chung & Bagel Adventure stories.

Discovering  Wallace

Thanks to YouTube, I discovered Chinese dramas during the Covid pandemic, and “fell into the water*” over Wallace Chung soon after.  I was a fan of the Outlander series of books until Covid hit. The author, Diana Gabaldon, hadn’t finished writing the next book in the series and I had already read the others several times. Filming for the series stopped so there were no new episodes to watch on STARZ.  One night I was searching  YouTube for a series to watch when it suggested a Chinese drama called the General’s Lady. I thought why not and started to watch it and found myself completely entertained by the costumes, storyline, acting, and crazy martial arts scenes. It was wild. 

I was hooked on Chinese dramas and sharpened my ability to watch the drama action while reading English subtitles. I watched several Zhang Ze Han dramas and other actors. And then I stumbled across My Sunshine with Wallace Chung playing the lead male role. I was stunned and smitten by his eyes. I surprised myself! I am an aging hippie who went through Beatle mania, The Rolling Stones – you name it and never once did I swoon over a singer – even Elvis Presley didn’t turn my head.  To be captivated by Wallace was such a surprise I wondered if I my teenage self had emerged 50 years later!

I learned about Wallace, his talents, personality, beliefs, and more, thanks to the patient help of other Wa fans. I joined fan Facebook groups, played his albums, watched his other dramas that had English subtitles, watched the variety shows he appeared on and of course, I watched his concerts. I was like a sponge soaking up all I could about Wallace.  I met many people through Wallace FB groups and learned I was not the only one who “fell into the water.” Through his fans I learned about different cultures and how their love for Wallace manifested itself in their posts and enthusiastic replies to other fan comments and posts.  Reading the posts of members brings smiles to my face and I am happy to call several members close friends.

………..

How the bagel stories began

The full backstory about how I began writing the bagel stories is included in the bagel autobiography. The abbreviated version is this: Wallace Chung was preparing for his first “O” concert in the summer of 2023. He had a bagel he was going to eat, but he dropped it while filming a video about concert preparations. When I saw the video, my imagination wondered what happened to the bagel? I quickly jotted down ideas and a poem emerged about the bagel. At the same time the Facebook group of North America Wallace fans were trying to invite Wallace to hold his “O”concert at a venue in Las Vegas. I felt the bagel poem might be a good way of attracting the attention of Wallace or his team, so I published the poem on Chinese social media sites. While we never heard from Wallace, I did have a large number of people who read the poem and became fans of the bagel’s story. I wrote another poem that continued the bagel’s adventures, and it too was well received by fans of Wallace.  From that point on, I wrote daily short stories about Wallace and the bagel, from the bagel’s perspective. As of this writing, there are now over 450 bagel adventure stories, each with a photo of Wallace that sparked the storyline. The original poems are here, on this web site, and all the daily adventure stories are archived here as well.

Does Wallace know about and read the bagel stories?  As an information professional, I believe in the right to privacy and the freedom to read and learn. I  keep the identity of who views the stories and who follows them confidential.  In the fall of 2023, the bagel was excited to see Wa wearing the WaWa pin that is holding the bagel. Coincidence? You decide. 

Hmm…. that wasn’t the abbreviated version I set out to write. oh well.

December 2024 update.

On November 30, 2024, Wallace celebrated his 50th birthday with his fans during a concert called “Family Reunion.” Before the concert, he invited his fans to send videos of themselves wishing him Happy Birthday. Friends urged me to submit a birthday video. At the last minute I decided to film myself wishing him a happy birthday. The first few seconds of the video, when I say “Hello Wallace!” were included in the concert’s happy birthday video wall. Wallace waved “hello” back at me in the video and fans in the concert hall cheered. I was, and remain, very happy that he received my birthday wishes for him. It is fun to know the bagel and his adventure stories are read by thousands around the world, including Wallace and his team.

Here is my birthday wish video.

Send comments and questions to me using this email address:
chrisolson@wallacechungbagel.com