Olympics games or shames?
Olympics hey? They are everywhere at the moment, and I’m torn between loving them and singing their merits from the treetops and wanting the whole thing to end in a firey explosion. I’ve been watching a fair bit of the games and have been getting quite into many sports that I’ve never really cared about before – European handball and BMX racing for instance. And it is sooo cool to have good stuff to watch on tele all the time, I just flick it on while I”m having lunch and i’m almost garanteed a good few minutes of sporting action. And looking on a larger scale the Olympics seem to unite the world, getting all countries to compete against one another on an equal stage, superpowers vs minows, wealthy vs poor, Eastern vs Western. All differences are aside and people are playing the same game against other people. This surely shows that we are all just the same as each other.
Yet at the same time this spirit of unity seems to be washed down the creek as people scramble to support their country, in whipping lesser countries that don’t spend as much money on sporting development as their own. The networks jump on board too as they follow what people want, as they are just interested in the dollar value of the games at the end of the day. And I can’t say that i’m imune to it either, if an Aussie is in the race i’m alot more interested and likely to watch. What really lights my sparkler is the advertising that goes with it. Now I really should know by now that Ads are not the shining beacon of truth and judgment for all to behold, but the way that they jump on board makes me throw up just a little bit (figeratively). I just saw one add that was so over the top with people saying how much they love aussie athletes, how they have done us proud, how they make our lives worth living, how they are putting us on the map and how they are the ultimate humans and that we should aspire to be just like them. Blah! When it all boils down, they are playing games or running in lines or having a swim. They don’t actually achieve anything, apart from making themselves a bit of money perhaps. They don’t really add anything to the world. The value of the games is in competing and that people from all countries do it – the sports themselves don’t add didley squat. If the Olympics games were actually a big sissor paper rock competition it would still hold as much value as long as all countries were represented and competing on an equal front. Although no doubt the obscenley wealthy countries would still invest in Institutes for developing their teams skills, and probably make shiney suits for them to wear to get every advantage possible. Hmm, so much money is spent on making a country good, and it is a monumental waste in my books, boo to sport and competiton and the Olympics…..But at the same time, we are 5th on the medal tally at the moment and are being beaten by the Poms, we must do better!
Kenya help?
Fourteen kilometres has always been for me the sort of distance that you drive in a car – roughly about half way into town from where I live. So when Dave my American buddy asked if I was keen to run that distance for the city to surf I said ‘yeah definetly, I can totally do that no worries, sounds like a laugh’. Inside I was cursing myself many times over for playing the ‘whose a bigger man’ game, but now I’m actually glad that my ego put me in that position. Since then I’ve been training with Dave starting with 5 or 6km runs, then working up to 9 or 10km, and although it felt pretty average at the time, right afterwards it feels sweet. Actually playing Oz tag today I’ve never felt better, I may even have to keep it up after the race is over – I have shelled out big time for some fancy running shoes so it’s probably worth it.
So despite the bunyons, blisters and shin splints I’m feeling pretty confident that I’ll make it all the way to the end of the race. It should be a bit of a confidence booster too as we applied quite late and could only get in at the very back of the field, the place reserved for ‘Parents with children, people in fancy dress, and wheel chaired competitors’ – then again if a child wearing a tiger costume beats me that is going to suck.
For the race we’ve formed a team and thought that we might as well try and raise a bit of money for a worthy cause along the way. Team Underdog – Running for Kenya!
If you feel like making a small donation or just want to see our awesome video click on this website http://city2surf.everydayhero.com.au/dave_and_justin , many thanks if you do.
work or play?
Last Semester I got pretty bodacious grades. I worked really hard and I achieved, but in doing so I didn’t meet as many new people from around International House (the college where I live) as I have in past semesters. It didn’t help that I was living in a part of the college commenly reffered to as the ’Townies retirement home’, where third years and med students go.
When ever I felt like having a chat to someone I’d just open up a new window on the computer where I was sitting in my room and have a squiz on facebook to see if anyone had left me a message, or I’d check my emails (at least twice a day). Now this sort of social interaction does have it’s advantages such as being able to chat with people a long way away, but it still leaves you with a bit of a nothing feeling, like drinking air.
So this semester I’ve decided to go out into the rest of the college and just walk into peoples units and actively meet new people, and so far I’ve been doing this a fair bit, and I must say, I’m loving it. I’ve met lots of really cool people from all over the place and have been doing a lot of fun things – watching movies, playing table tennis, shopping, going for jogs etc. The thing is though I’ve been having so much fun that so far, Uni work has been knocked off the perch of priorities and I’m not focussing on it as much as I formerly was. So I guess it’s back to juggling work and play and just trying to find the right balance. Hmm, perhaps i should go and discuss this with my friends…
