Sunday, August 24, 2008

Goodbye, Olympics / Hello, Clarification

to nobody in particular:

...as the Olympic Games come to a close, I have had a few thoughts...

...one: the New Zealand athletes need to step it up a little bit before they hit London in four years...

...two: yeah, yeah, yeah, Michael Phelps may be a spectacular swimmer, but that gets me to thinking -- is his entire life revolved around swimming? his days filled with training, stretching, exercising, practicing strokes and doing his absolute best? he is a swimmer -- and an excellent swimmer, no doubt -- and he can now be labeled as the best swimmer in the world today, if not ever. and yet, so? feats in sports are amazing -- the way individuals are able to perform, persistently at times, and do things us "normal" people could never come close to -- and yet, so? do i have a secret desire to be a great swimmer? do i want to hit the ball over the fence more than any other player? do i want to pull a semi-truck faster than any other man (or woman) on this earth? not really, and kudos to those that do -- and, you know what, congratulations to Phelps and other people who hold records and are good at what you (hopefully) like to do...congratulations, Mr. Phelps -- you are the best swimmer in the world...now what? i hope you feel your life of tiresome days swimming, preparing and training pay off. i hope your life is overwhelmingly filled with meaning. i can't imagine how much time of your life has been spent in preparation for this, and it humbles me, but yet it baffles me...congratulations, but i hope you do and be more than just be a great swimmer in your life...but again, you did do a fantastic job...

...maybe i'm just being a little silly...

...and three: i find it funny that whenever i have seen the medals table these last few days either on the official Olympics website, or on BBC news or here on local German news, China is listed as being first because of having the most gold medals, and when i see the medals table on MSN.com, they show the United States in first place because of having the highest total number of medals...

...well, no comment on that last one -- i think it stands there pretty obviously within the observation...

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..."you learn something new every day"...

...today, i learned: "u.s.w" in German stands for "und so weiter"...

...i knew it was like "etc." in English, but couldn't remember what it literally meant...

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currently watching: Vantage Point



...the movie was alright -- style and pacing -- but could've been better (potential, development, bad guys easy to spot, u.s.w.)...

1 comment:

Optimist Prime said...

i didn't see Vantage Point yet. The previews made it look captivating...