Funny thing about riding my bike. Sometimes, someone wants to actually ride with me! It's kinda nice. I think back to the last time I had a ride scheduled. It was two months ago, June the 17th. It was a liesure ride. A friend asked me to come out for a ride and meet a friend of hers. We'd ride bikes. That was the deal.
We enver rode. Instead, we went to Eat-n-Park, and I met this friend. I asked her out, and she thought it was a good idea - she said yes. The last two months of my life have been a blur. Time spent with her has been utterly amazing, and with each dy I am surprised at her patience, her understanding, and most of all, her ability to lift my spirits.
I almost didn't go that day. I almost stayed home where I would have missed out on meeting with a wonderful woman who has changed my life. I would have been just fine, of course, but would not have the joy I have come to know. I am grateful for my friend, who thought to introduce us. I am grateful for my sweetheart, who brings sunshine into my life and makes giving such a pleasure.
TAKE THE CHANCE. We get up each day and go about our routine. Take the chance to get out there and do things, meet people, make a change in your daily order. Yes, there's a risk you might be hurt. Yes, things might not go well. Yes, it could always backfire. Those are the things Fear will tell you. And Fear's correct. But what Fear doesn't tell you is that taking risks is a part of life, and that if you don't, you will forever be afraid. Sometimes, you have to look Fear in the eye, and no matter what the consequences, no matter what might happen, you have to stare it down. You have to look at it and say, "Do your worst - for I will do mine."
Tonight, I'm going bike riding with my sweetheart. Finally. This has been the best first date ever.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
The gripe List: Top ten things I can't stand about the Olympics.
Oh Joy, oh joy! Now that the Olympic extravaganza is over, it's time to list the things I hate most about the Olympics, the way we as Americans get to see them. Now, when it comes to the spirit of the games, etc, I'm all for it. Yes, every athlete, everywhere, should go out and compete the best they can. Of course I want this. I think, at the very heart of the matter, most people do. And yeah, it's nice to see Americans winning medals. Yay. Joy....whatever.
But there are a bunch of stupid things we do, too, and frankly, I've had enough of them. This year, I actually watched about 2 hours of olypic coverage, and that happened to be because there was a television on while I was having lunch, and I didn't have the remote. BUT, these are pretty much the reasons why I never watched the games this year:
10) It's about the athletes, not Michael Phelps' mother. I really don't care about her. Come to think about it, I really don't care about him either, but at least he's the one in the pool splashing about. She's in the stands media-whoring. Seriously? Why are we wasting a camera on this? That camera could have been at the Judo matches where we won our first gold-medal ever. But yeah, I get it: she's obviously so much more important than watching athletics.
9) Everything is on a tape delay. They have all the footage. We only get to see the highlights of the things NBC declares are important. Seriously? Shut the hell up and let us watch the sport - the whole match would be nice. You have it all on tape. Just show it. Thanks.
8) In the spirit of international gamesmenship, getting-to-know-you-isms, and all that hunky dory good feelings stuff the games are supposed to represent, why do we only show sports in which Americans are projected to do well? Shouldn't we be - oh, I don't know - cheering for the spirit of competition, etc? Oh - I guess we're only supposed to cheer for American competition. My bad.
7) What is the deal with gymnastics? Seriously, I just don't get it. Sure, it's athletic and pretty darned amazing what they can do, but I think there are a LOT more stories out there than just gymnastics. The American love affair with this sport is silly, and only exists because that's what NBC puts on the air. Why must we endure the entire repertoire of this and not be allowed to watch an entire soccer match, or baseball, or - and I shudder to think of this one - bmx racing?
6) SERIOUSLY??? BMX RACING? No. Just, no. Not Olympic-worthy. Ever. They have their x-games. Give them that, and be happy. Can we stop adding sports, please? In fact, can we take a bunch of them away? We don't need them, they're not world-sports.
5) OK, I get that team uniforms are important. And, yeah, divers and swimmers and the like are going to wear speedos. Yeah, they're a tad revealing. OK, it happens, but usually, the small uniforms serve a purpose.. I just have to wonder at beach volleyball, though - particularly for the women's teams. Obviously, the solution to getting sand in the shorts - and other places - is to mke the uniforms skimpier???? Hey - sure they looked good. They ought to, they're playing the sport 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. Anyone doing that will look good. But you can't tell me a decent jersey and some form-fitting spandex would be more restricting. I think there comes a time when we gotta say a big "NO" to the "let's get sexier uniforms" look. This isn't a beauty pangeant, folks. Oh, and you don't get to argue about getting swweaty. London ain't all that warm, kids.
4) Bob Costas, SHUT THE HELL UP.
3) Interviews, OK. Life stories and "human interest" angles???? No. Let's just watch some sports, huh? You wanna comment on "This little girl came from a rough neighborhood?" great, say it while we're watching the sport, and be done with it. If they win a medal, we'll likely care for a while, if not,.......(crickets). Stop the exposee on how so-and-so devotes x many hours a day to their training, at great expense to their family, etc, etc....really, not all that important. Show the darned sport.
2) Yes, the point is to "win" - it's a competition, after all. But can we not make it about medal-counting? That's all I ever heard - "The U.S and China are in a tough race for the most medals.." blah, blah, blah. Again, shouldn't we be rooting for the celebration of unity under the dome of "sport"???? no, not here in America. Here, it has to be about getting more medals than the next guy. Bah.
1) Along those lines, how many athletes did we send? 530, according to one list. so, 104 medals among those 530 athletes. The only country to send more? Great Britain, the host nation. So, assuming that each athlete competes individually (Yes, I'm aware there are team sports, so this percentage is off) the U.S. sits in at just shy of 20% success, where success = getting a medal. China, by comparison, sent only 280 athletes, and came away with 88 medals. Making the some erroneous assumptions (gotta be consistent, here) they were just over 23% successful. Who had the better olympics? If we flood the playing fields, are we really the better team, the better athletes, or the better country??? All it really means is that we throw more money into training people so we can pretend to look good, and that's mostly to ourselves.
I like the idea of the olympics. I think we should ahve them. I think they are valuable to our society. And I think that America has it all wrong. Yes, the spirit of competition is to win, and winning is good. But I am left to ponder if we are winning with dignity and integrity when we flood the playing fields with so many athletes. It seems appropriate topic when "winning with integrity" is such a hot-button issue these days. I wonder how much we might be fined, collectively.
Thanks for reading,
The Fat Kid
But there are a bunch of stupid things we do, too, and frankly, I've had enough of them. This year, I actually watched about 2 hours of olypic coverage, and that happened to be because there was a television on while I was having lunch, and I didn't have the remote. BUT, these are pretty much the reasons why I never watched the games this year:
10) It's about the athletes, not Michael Phelps' mother. I really don't care about her. Come to think about it, I really don't care about him either, but at least he's the one in the pool splashing about. She's in the stands media-whoring. Seriously? Why are we wasting a camera on this? That camera could have been at the Judo matches where we won our first gold-medal ever. But yeah, I get it: she's obviously so much more important than watching athletics.
9) Everything is on a tape delay. They have all the footage. We only get to see the highlights of the things NBC declares are important. Seriously? Shut the hell up and let us watch the sport - the whole match would be nice. You have it all on tape. Just show it. Thanks.
8) In the spirit of international gamesmenship, getting-to-know-you-isms, and all that hunky dory good feelings stuff the games are supposed to represent, why do we only show sports in which Americans are projected to do well? Shouldn't we be - oh, I don't know - cheering for the spirit of competition, etc? Oh - I guess we're only supposed to cheer for American competition. My bad.
7) What is the deal with gymnastics? Seriously, I just don't get it. Sure, it's athletic and pretty darned amazing what they can do, but I think there are a LOT more stories out there than just gymnastics. The American love affair with this sport is silly, and only exists because that's what NBC puts on the air. Why must we endure the entire repertoire of this and not be allowed to watch an entire soccer match, or baseball, or - and I shudder to think of this one - bmx racing?
6) SERIOUSLY??? BMX RACING? No. Just, no. Not Olympic-worthy. Ever. They have their x-games. Give them that, and be happy. Can we stop adding sports, please? In fact, can we take a bunch of them away? We don't need them, they're not world-sports.
5) OK, I get that team uniforms are important. And, yeah, divers and swimmers and the like are going to wear speedos. Yeah, they're a tad revealing. OK, it happens, but usually, the small uniforms serve a purpose.. I just have to wonder at beach volleyball, though - particularly for the women's teams. Obviously, the solution to getting sand in the shorts - and other places - is to mke the uniforms skimpier???? Hey - sure they looked good. They ought to, they're playing the sport 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. Anyone doing that will look good. But you can't tell me a decent jersey and some form-fitting spandex would be more restricting. I think there comes a time when we gotta say a big "NO" to the "let's get sexier uniforms" look. This isn't a beauty pangeant, folks. Oh, and you don't get to argue about getting swweaty. London ain't all that warm, kids.
4) Bob Costas, SHUT THE HELL UP.
3) Interviews, OK. Life stories and "human interest" angles???? No. Let's just watch some sports, huh? You wanna comment on "This little girl came from a rough neighborhood?" great, say it while we're watching the sport, and be done with it. If they win a medal, we'll likely care for a while, if not,.......(crickets). Stop the exposee on how so-and-so devotes x many hours a day to their training, at great expense to their family, etc, etc....really, not all that important. Show the darned sport.
2) Yes, the point is to "win" - it's a competition, after all. But can we not make it about medal-counting? That's all I ever heard - "The U.S and China are in a tough race for the most medals.." blah, blah, blah. Again, shouldn't we be rooting for the celebration of unity under the dome of "sport"???? no, not here in America. Here, it has to be about getting more medals than the next guy. Bah.
1) Along those lines, how many athletes did we send? 530, according to one list. so, 104 medals among those 530 athletes. The only country to send more? Great Britain, the host nation. So, assuming that each athlete competes individually (Yes, I'm aware there are team sports, so this percentage is off) the U.S. sits in at just shy of 20% success, where success = getting a medal. China, by comparison, sent only 280 athletes, and came away with 88 medals. Making the some erroneous assumptions (gotta be consistent, here) they were just over 23% successful. Who had the better olympics? If we flood the playing fields, are we really the better team, the better athletes, or the better country??? All it really means is that we throw more money into training people so we can pretend to look good, and that's mostly to ourselves.
I like the idea of the olympics. I think we should ahve them. I think they are valuable to our society. And I think that America has it all wrong. Yes, the spirit of competition is to win, and winning is good. But I am left to ponder if we are winning with dignity and integrity when we flood the playing fields with so many athletes. It seems appropriate topic when "winning with integrity" is such a hot-button issue these days. I wonder how much we might be fined, collectively.
Thanks for reading,
The Fat Kid
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