#173 - back

olympics is over and i now feel like i'm back. well, it wasn't just because of the olympics, but it seems like all of the big events of the past... whatever, world stuff, family stuff, life stuff... have wound down and i feel like i'm back to myself again. one thing that helps is sleep. i've been seriously sleep deprived from watching all the olympics coverage, which was great, but towards the end i kinda had to skip a lot of it to get through each day and try to sleep some also. still, i got to the best of everything and i think it was a pretty great olympics. i like how they do the pass the torch thing to the next olympic city at the closing ceremonies. i'm excited about london 2012 already (and even more excited about vancouver 2010), especially because the tennis will be played at wimbledon, woo hoo! but anyway, how 'bout them chinese huh? well, don't you think that it's fitting that they dominate the medal count? i mean, they've got the hugest population in the world, boast high technology and allow their children to leave home when they're 2-years-old to train single-mindedly for a single "sport" their entire life (not that it's necessarily a bad thing, it's a different culture sure, but they lead pretty fulfilling lives, trading home life for ambition and possible fame, sure people argue that it's "wrong" because they don't have a choice, but eventually they get old enough to have a choice, and who really HAS a choice when they start out at life anyway?). so good for them they did good (although i have issue with some of the sneakiness during the games, e.g., judging during like gymnastics or whatever, but that doesn't matter because it's not a sport anyway so tough luck for them they need to submit to that). who says asian people can't be athletes? well, i guess just not runners, like all the track & field people were black or russian or whatever. all the asian people can do is gymnastics (because they're short and thin and have huge legs) and diving (because they're straight up and down and go in the water like a pencil). but hey, check out kei nishikori, a japanese guy playing tennis and winning! how about that? well, upset the #29 seed at the US open at least. of course, he's not a short, small japanese guy, he's one of those freaky tall japanese guys that seem to popping up everywhere (what happened to the good-ole traditional tiny japanese guys that i have to compare myself to?). still, someone to root for? he's kind of american too because he trains at the bolleteri academy (where maria sharapova came from). and on that note... olympics is over, US open is here!

well, maria sharapova (after winning it in 2006 and having an injury-plagued year last year and losing 3rd round) is out this year with another shoulder injury. too bad, but that brings up a whole slew of new favorites now that i don't have maria to root for.

1. ana ivanovic - not my pick to win the whole thing, but i would like to see her do good as the number 1 seed. i definately believe she's got the game to win the open, but maybe this year is not her year yet... still, she's my next favorite after maria.

2. jelena jankovic - she's the no.2 seed but i don't give her much of a chance, i just don't think she's got that game for it. still, she's a likable person, i would be happy to see her do well.

3. the russians - svetlana kuznestova, elena dementieva, dinara safina, a whole ton of other ones, but i give the edge to either dementieva or safina. dementieva got the gold in beijing, but i don't think she has the chops to go through another 128 player tournament and come out on top. my pick is safina, who's looked just spectacular this summer, the biggest serious threat for the title in my opinion.

4. the williams - well, i just want to see both of the at the top again. i don't think they've spent enough time up there. i don't think they should dominate like federer (because their games are too erratic, it's inevitable that they'll have an off day and are prone to upsets, which i'm fine with), but i'd like to see both of them at #1 and 2 again.

for the men, i don't have anyone anywhere close to winning the title except for federer, nadal, and djokovic... and i really hope federer "salvages" his year and wins this one. that's all i'm gonna say about that.

so that's what i'll be watching the next two weeks. i love it when my weekly ups and downs can be organized by sports and what's on tv, add to that wahine volleyball, UH football, and my favorite shows coming back on air with new episodes, and we're back in the groove, yeah!

during the olympics they were re-running all episodes of terminator from the first season (great idea, nbc, good on you) so i dvr-ed all of them and am watching them as we speak. very rarely can i watch tv shows more than once and really enjoy them (i can only do that when shows have really great writing, like buffy, angel, firefly, the office, fraiser, futurama) and this one is on the verge... the good is that it's got a great storyline, pretty good humor and action enough to satisfy. plus, i think summer glau is hot. and that's a great reason to keep watching alone.

heroes is coming back on, then the office, and 30 rock, plus a new one, bones. except i've got nothing to watch on tuesdays now that american idol and even i survived a japanese gameshow (aka MAJIDE!) is gone. speaking of american idol... did you guys hear that they hired a FOURTH judge? some record producer lady, you know what that means... pack your bags paula, you're on your way out! haha, don't you think? continuing to speak of american idol... david archuleta released his first single. well. he's like 17 right? so this is supposed to be like a hannah montana/jonas brothers song? well, it's called "crush" and it pretty much sounds like how you'd expect. oh well, the young girls and boys will be happy at least. i absolutely think he was right on in his choice to go the direction of chris brown type songs though, i even think his voice actually sounds a lot like chris brown's. but, we'll see what happens eventually.

lastly, on a very unrelated note... i found this article online that was kinda funny. i don't watch a lot of these shows (because they're mostly about high school and, y'know, barf right?) but i thought that "worst schools for life expectancy" was pretty funny (except that they gave a tie between the schools on buffy and on smallville when they should have given it to buffy outright, espeically with the quote "If we can focus, keep discipline, and not have quite as many mysterious deaths, Sunnydale is going to rule!") and it reminded me that mtv show "daria." that was a great show. i miss that show. it was one of those, "yeah, i can relate" kind of shows.

wow, look how much i had to write about tonight since i have no olympics to watch, huh? plus i even went to the gym and am right now watching terminator and still i have time to write all this. it's like i have life again. watch, tonight i'm going to actually sleep too! wow. okay, but next i have to go online searching for my halloween costume this year, i need a real one because of sammy's birthday party (i was already warned, haha). i like 80stees.com for those "back in the days" ideas (now that i'm getting older and things in my childhood are actually part of the past), but i'm thinking this year will be something old school nintendo, maybe some ryu from street fighter... shoryuken!