Seattle and the Olympics

So here's a life update. And then I'll add a bit more on the Olympics, since they are half of my life at the moment.

Seattle was nice. I think I'm going to like it there. The weather was pretty good, hotter than expected and quite sunny. I spent three of the days in the first week taking care of housing stuff and bank accounts. Two or three days for shopping for stuff to live. So really only a week of real stuff. I got to see some relatives (I'm not sure what the term is for them but my mom's cousin and husband and kids) and we gave them the ridiculously huge red Fuwa stuffed mascot thingy that my brother got in Beijing. I went with my sister to Pike's Place Market and did lots of browsing, got lost in a bunch of underground and above-ground malls, looked at lots of furniture stores (I like looking at furniture, so what), went to the Seattle Art Museum, the Museum of Glass, Henry Art Gallery, hiking once, Olympic Sculpture Park and Space Needle area (did not go up it). So not really much - like 5-6 hours out, played some tennis, did laundry, went on the internet a lot. Probably could have blogged, but I was on vacation. I could have also continued to study Croatian, but took a break. If only that beautiful language wasn't so hard to learn... Yes watched a lot of Olympics, more than half of a J-drama of epic emo proportions (enjoyed the realistic portrayal of a lesbian and her situation, remembered how Japanese actors border on the side of pretty and not on the side of hot). The only thing that really sucked about Seattle was the airport. Took forever to get luggage, and then almost missed my flight back home!

Side note, since my mind is jumpy. It is quite unfortunate that none of the beach volleyballers that I have seen are truly hot. Yes they all have nice bodies and I wouldn't mind being the bitch of most of them, but compared to tennis players they fail. So I guess I should be happy I follow such a hot sport haha... Um yeah, and Michael Phelp's face is ugly. He looks better with the swim cap and goggles on - maybe I can somewhat pretend he looks different? Ryan Lochte pwns all in male swimmer hotness - at least that I know of. Let's say I rather watch track. I shoud really go for gymnasts, since they are actually close to my height, but so many of them just look goofy...

So let's actually talk results. The Olympics have been quite interesting and enjoyable. I do find myself being a bit patriotic but somewhat not, and wanting China to sometimes do well and sometimes not. I like Dara Torres, even with the people who doubt that she's clean (aka not doping) but I didn't really like the idea of Phelps getting 8 golds here. Yet I didn't root against him - sometimes rooted for "him" - aka rooted for the USA relays. I rather the US win over Australia in swimming, so what. In gymnastics I just wanted to see clean routines, though people messing up allowed the US men to get 3rd in team finals. The women's all-around was perhaps the best competition to watch and super happy for Nastia and Shawn. Liked Yang Wei too, despite how painful it was to watch his high bar routine. Fabian! Unfortunately could have gotten silver had he stayed on. Life happens and Sasha Artemev would have medaled had he stayed on the horse in pommel finals...

What is really sucky is that Liu Xiang is out for track. Meanwhile Jamaican 21-year olds have been tearing up the 100 m distance in crazy races. I think if I ran on the Beijing track I would get a PB as well... U.S. Track isn't doing as well as it should this time. I do think that the 200 m will also be a cracker, and can't wait to see the relays!