Friday, August 15, 2008

Megaracer

First of all, wow. You guys are so helpful and sweet. There seemed to be an overwhelming majority in favor of the third pair of earrings yesterday, but now I'm really not sure I want to wear any of the ones that I mentioned in that post. And I was incredibly touched by the flood of emails from people who searched everywhere to help me. There were so many fabulous suggestions that now I really do not know what to do. But I'll figure it out.

Also, the last couple nights I've dreamed about the wedding, and the amazing thing is that the dreams haven't been nightmares. Things have gone wrong in them (last night I had lipstick all over the skirt of my dress), but overall I have been incredibly happy and beaming and generally thrilled to be getting married. Apparently even my subconscious has achieved that zen state wherein it understands that the details don't really matter at this point, and the important thing is that Torsten and I wind up married at the end of the day.

In non-wedding related news (I KNOW. Who knew there WAS such a thing, right?), who stayed up until 1 a.m. to watch the Olympics last night? And wasn't it SO WORTH IT? The pink leotard and the matching scrunchy! The insane eyeliner on the Americans rivaled only by the ridiculous eyeshadow on the Chinese! The girl who wobbled throughout her entire beam routine and still got very few deductions!

But OMG speaking of the beam, I can hardly bear to WATCH those routines. The beam is just so LITTLE and also so HARD. It's one of those things where I have to cover my eyes with my hands and peek through my fingers, because I am so expecting one of them to crash onto the beam and crush her skull during those gravity defying spins that they do.

Also, even though I was really glad that the medals turned out the way they did, I felt a little bad for the Chinese. It just really seems that Chinese Olympic sports are a machine. The commentators say that these kids are plucked from their daycare centers when they're THREE and set to work training intensively on their assigned sport until they become an absolute master. That's all they do. It's really their lives. Which, to be fair, could probably be said of Olympic athletes from every country. But the difference is that I suspect the Chinese athletes get physically punished when they mess up, and I doubt that's the case with the Americans. So a part of me wanted them to win for their own sakes. Although I do think bronze is prettier than gold and silver. There, I said it.

Lastly, for those of you looking to waste some time, I have a little present for you. You're welcome. I love that thing because it confirms to me that I DO type fast. Its highest rank starts at 50WPM, and I'm averaging 108. Which means I would make a damn good secretary. Or maybe a court stenographer. It's always good to have a backup plan, right?

28 comments:

  1. I toatlly stayed up watching the womens gymnastic events! WAY. TOO. LATE.

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  2. I was up a couple nights ago watching the women's gymnastics and I said the exact same thing about the beam event. It terrifies me. One little slip and they could whap their head on the beam. Scary!!!

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  3. I thought I was the only one who was afraid of the beam!

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  4. I never learned to type. I just hunt and peck, but I'm pretty quick at it now, since I've been doing it for years.

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  5. Hey! I'm a "Megaracer" too (oddly enough, I type with two fingers). I was really into watching the Olympics all week, but staying up too late finally took it's toll on me and I was asleep by 8:30 last night :P

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  6. Damn you, megaracer. I've been playing this thing for the past 30 minutes, and I haven't been able to get any work done.

    Oh, and I'm super proud because I'm averaging 107. It makes me feel like I'm in the Olympics, and I'm so out front that you can't even see the rest of the swimm. . ahem, typers on the screen :)

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  7. Heh. I was up way too late last night too and wondering how many people were going to work bleary eyed today because of the gymnastics timeslot. :)
    My favorite part is watching Bela Karoyi's commentary. NBC needs to hire him full time!

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  8. When I was, oh, 7 or so I actually managed to do a cartwheel on a balance beam. Mind you, the beam was only about 3 inches off of the ground. I revel in that accomplishment almost 20 years later!
    Also, I am NOT going to click on that link because I'm sure I will like it too much and waste too much of my day...but thank you anyway :)

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  9. I can't handle the gymnastics. I would watch them all the time if I could - so amazing! And I can barely stand to watch the beam. It's terrifying!

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  10. I stayed up until midnight then dvr'd the rest. I gotta go watch it now!

    The Chinese gymnasts, while very good, are sad to me since so many of them are forced into it while other countries gymnasts are doing it because they love it. Poor kids.

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  11. Oooo! That typing game is coooool! Thank you. No really!

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  12. I'm floored you got almost 80 comments yesterday. Damn, you're a rock star! That's one comment for every guest at your wedding and then some, right?! :-)

    I hate the balance beam. Instead of being impressed with what they do on the beam, I'm fatalistic about it and expect them to fall, and land straddling the beam ... and then whither in pain. I can't stand to watch it. So, I don't.

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  13. I think I liked the #3 earings because they looked a little more sophisticated than the other ones, but only really by a little, and I think anything dangly, sparkly and purple will prettymuch look awesome. So all of them are really winners.

    I am guilty of not watching much of the olympics even though I absolutely LOVE the women's gymnastics (also men's, but not as much). That's too funny that there were bizarro makeups and scrunchies. I always laugh at all the glitter glue sprayed everywhere on the heads of these girls.

    I myself love the beam and was best at that in gymnastics. It gave me a big welt on my neck, though (from doing backwards summersults on it).

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  14. I did the same thing and stayed up way too late to watch last night because I kept falling asleep the other days it was on.

    The balance beam freaks me out too. I always feel like they are going to seriously injure themselves. Remember Dominique Moceanu in 1996? She face planted on the beam, and it looked like she broke her neck.

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  15. One reason why I love living in the Midwest: Central Time zone! I get to watch everything live, but it was done by midnight.

    I think the vault is scarier than the balance beam. You have to run as fast as you can and then throw yourself headfirst at an immovable object! And then flip around! Aaaa!

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  16. i didn't stay up to watch - i'm a sissy when it comes to staying up late :)
    thanks for the link - it will definitely help pass the time!
    btw, not sure if you still want suggestions for earrings, but maybe simple diamond studs or pearl studs would be nice and then you can wear something purple as a necklace??

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  17. Delurking to say...if you want to find earrings and you live in/near DC, go to the jewelry show at the Dulles Expo this weekend. They have EVERYTHING...from beads, to semi-precious gems, sterling silver, to diamonds and platinum. The bling will burn your retinas, but it's totally fun (plus you get to try all kinds of stuff on). http://www.intergem.net/event/detail.cfm?showID=63

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  18. I'm always scared of the body beating from the bars when someone slips! The beam also freaks me out.

    Megaracer = FUN!

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  19. Yeah I stayed up late last night watching too. I'm very happy that the Americans pulled out the #1 and #2 medals.

    Now to go waste some time on Megaracer....

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  20. megaracer = megatimesuck. thanks a lot.

    (but it's so fun!)

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  21. I CANNOT STOP WATCHING THE OLYMPICS. it's a sickness.

    and i have to admit i'm thrilled nastia won. as patriotic as i am toward shawn blah blah blah, i think nastia is just so BEAUTIFUL when she's performing. so elegant! and effortless! yay for her!

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  22. I have been on TypeRacer all day. Thanks. Although, it does sound like I'm being mighty productive at work!

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  23. Even I though I really suspect the Chinese are cheaters, I can't get too mad because those poor girls and all the pressure they live under. I feel so bad for them.

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  24. Beam is scary, and so are the uneven bars! Every time they let go I gasp because I'm petrified they're going to plunge to their deaths on international TV.

    Also, watching the Chinese kids made me physically ill. They were so little, and it was so obvious that they really weren't old enough, or that if they were they had been given drugs to hold off puberty. I worry about their families, too, if something happens and they lose terribly; will their families be punished? The entire thing is too distracting for me to really enjoy myself.

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  25. I have stayed up late way too many times to watch Olympics. But it's always worth it (especially last night when NZ got 5 medals(!), which is a lot for us...)

    And I have also been spending WAY too much time on typeracer - thanks! I don't understand how you can type 108 wpm. I sit around 60, and I think I'm pretty quick! Your fingers must fly...

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  26. I love that you notice these little details like eyeshadow and eyeliner. It never occurred to me to watch for that :-)

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  27. Gah- I've been watching as much Olympics as possible. I'm obsessed.

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  28. Dammit; I am trying to catch up on my blog reading and you give me a distraction like that to suck more time?? That said, thank you. I have been wondering just how fast I type. Not as fast as you, but way faster than the last time I was timed (probably in high school).

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