Olympicmania: Ode to the Olympics.

The Olympics brings the world together.

 

 

Is there something magical, intriguing and even a big mesmerizing about the Olympics, or is it just me? I do enjoy the occasional sport, but I am by no means a huge sports fan. After going to football games my entire high school and a few in college all I really know is they run back and forth across the field hoping to score a touch down.

 

Not that football has anything to do with the Olympics—by the way, what does that say about the sport? (If you can’t tell I’m not a big fan of the football.)

 

Anyways, that opening ceremony was fantastic. I didn’t watch all of the countries in the opening ceremony, though now I wish I had. Some countries had one or two representatives, and other 10, 15 or even more. Either way, it was evident that every person that qualified for the Olympics and is there in Beijing has a sense of patriotic pride. I almost found myself routing for those smaller countries because this is their once shot at a real dream come true. These people from third world countries have nothing else to look forward to, or hope for.

 

On the other hand I surprised myself when I realized I was yelling at the TV routing for the US to win. And boy, when I saw the US Men’s Swimming Team beat France I was excited—didn’t quite go nuts like Mr. Phelps but still, it was quite the excitement.

 

I looked over at my sister and we both gave each other the same look, and then she finally said, “I don’t even know why we’re excited. It means absolutely nothing to us.” It’s not like we’re there, and guess what? Neither of us even knows how to swim! Yet, that rush of winning, and that competitiveness of human nature gave us quite the rush.

 

Dream: Cover the Olympics as a journalist. Or at least get the chance to go to one…It could happen??? Bob better watch out! HAHA. if only.

Through My Looking Glass (es). Part One.**

I’ve always been somewhat of a slow reader, and as a journalist, that’s not exactly the best thing to be. But, the other day I finally realized why. I’m not the kind of person that can just skim a book to get its general plot, and breeze through it without paying close attention to details and say that I read it for what it’s worth.

 

Also, in a nerdy sort of way, I often find myself re-reading particular sentences over and over just to admire the style in which the author chose to write it—it’s complexity, diction, beauty, etc. For that reason alone, I often get stuck spending more than needed to finish just one page of a book. I also sometimes feel that I have a bad memory, another characteristic that’s not exactly good to have as a journalist. But, through my over analysis of things and drive to get every detail perfect I feel it’s not important to have a good memory in general, but rather important to remember what’s important. So by reading books with a detailed eye I feel that I pick up on things that others might not pick up on, which may be important details later on in the book. So essentially, by taking more time to read the book I can understand it better and get a greater experience from reading it than those who rush through it.

 

Anyways, I guess the point of this blog was to say that I made a goal for myself this summer to read as many books as I possibly can. Needless to say, that goal was quickly broken. I started off the summer strong reading Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns before May was even over. I had read Hosseini’s Kite Runner after my older sister and I made a deal. I was to read Kite Runner, and she was to read, Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith (a book I read in my Ethics: Ethnicity and Eating class a few semesters ago) which of course she never did. I however, always (  J ) keep my end of a bargain…not to mention the Kite Runner was a great book.

 

Anyways, I started reading A Thousand Splendid Suns after finals were over and I have to say that it was one of the best books I had read in a very long time. Though both Hosseini’s books were amazing, I think I liked Splendid Suns better than Kite Runner (one person suggested that perhaps the reason for this was because Suns was written from a girl’s perspective while Kite Runner was from a boy’s perspective, which very well might be the case). I rarely find books that I am sitting on edge trying to figure out what happens next, but this was one of those books. At the same time I ruined the book for myself, which I often also do with movies, because I have a bad habit of guessing what is going to happen next…and am usually right :]. But nonetheless, for me, this book gets and A++.

 

 

**OK, in an effort to make my blogs not seem endless, I am going to try to break up these next few according to the different books/topics from each book they are about.

 

If this was boring for you I’m sorry. I promise this blog “series about what I read” will get better and more interesting!…I hope.

 

Keep reading and feel free to leave me comments :] I know this isn’t your typical blog with juicy details of the happening of my weekend or day, etc. but hopefully it’s still interesting.

 

 

ALSO, if there are any typos in any of my blogs I apologize. Please don’t think I’m dumb. I just simply don’t have time to go through all of my entries and make sure all of the grammar and punctuation is correct.