Lately I've been staying up until the wee hours of the morning to watch the Winter Olympics. Since the games this year are in Vancouver and since I'm in France this year, this means a 9-hour time difference so I've been awake until 6a.m. in the morning to watch some matches/performances. Last night, I watched the U.S. vs. Norway (Men) and U.S. vs. Finland (Women) hockey games and it really made me miss playing it... not to mention that 1 player on the men's Olympic team and 5 women from the women's Olympic team are UW-Madison alumni! WOO, Wisconsin represent! Snowboarding was fun to watch as well, but since I had a chance to board a couple weeks ago, I'm not as nostalgic for it. Ice hockey, on the other hand, I haven't played in over 5 years. Too bad the equipment is really expensive and I know of no intramural hockey teams in Strasbourg.
What I will comment on, actually, is figure skating. My mom is a huge fan of figure skating. As a child, I learned how to ice skate when I was 3 and my mom tried to direct me toward figure skating. The ultimate tomboy, even at this early age, preferring toy trains and Lego®s instead of stuffed animals and dolls, I took no interest on my own. Instead, I took up skateboarding a couple years later, to my mother's horror. She then made me quit and forced me into ballet classes, in hopes of them somehow inspiring me to combine ballet and ice skating to become an interest in figure skating. The only thing ballet inspired me to do was to start playing soccer, basketball, and track in order to compensate for the humiliating pink leotard I had to wear for ballet. Still, I woke up from my nap to watch the men's figure skating finals "with my mom" (I was on the phone with her while watching). It's a Winter Olympic tradition that we've developed over the years, almost as a way of compensating for the fact that the only sport I played on ice was ice hockey, I watch figure skating with my mom every 4 years.
I must say, what man decided that jumping up, doing some twirls in the air, then landing on one foot should become a sport? And what man would think that spinning around on ice in a graceful manner was remotely masculine? I'm an equalist in that I believe men and women are equal in every way, but that doesn't mean that I don't have certain standards for masculinity that men should have. For instance, I would never date a male figure skater. They're so thin, flexible... and, I have to say, I think they're all too feminine. Not surprisingly, some figure skaters are flamboyantly homosexual. I thought that the Russian skate, Evgeniy Plushenko, was gay with violinist Edvin Marton. Why? Well, Edvin Marton composes songs specially for Plushenko's skating programs and they're purportedly good friends. I just thought "friends" implied they were boyfriends, but I was wrong. Edvin Marton is dates a girl practically half his age and Plushenko got married (to a woman) last year. Still, when I see images like this:
You can't blame me for thinking he might, you know, "swing the other way" so to speak. I have nothing against gay figure skaters. I'd love to have a gay best friend and my favorite male skater, if I had to choose one, is Johnny Weir, who's pretty obviously gay:
I mean, what "straight" man would pose in high heels like this, right? While I was watching the competition with my mom on the other line, there was one skater from Japan, Nobunari ODA, who, according to the announcer, was a direct descendant of the Japanese daimyo ODA Nobunaga, who is often credited with being one of the major players in the unification of Japan. That made me think what would the famous Japanese warlord think of his descendant being a figure skater, pulling tricks like this:
Ok, ok, I'll stop now. I'm not hating on the male figure skaters, but you have to admit, it's not very masculine. Would YOU date a male figure skating knowing he probably eats less, is thinner, more graceful, and more flexible than you are? Just ask yourself that before hating me. I personally couldn't do it. On the ice, I'm more familiar with ramming other players into the side of the rink, fighting for a small puck, slapping that around on ice having it fly at 71+mph (113+km/h). Besides, I think I'd develop some sort of complex if I were to date a guy thinner than me, but maybe that's just me.
Today's Random Quiz:
You Are a Two Dollar Bill
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 You are a very quirky character. In fact, you're so weird that you've got some people doubting your authenticity.
You may not have a lot of money, but you certainly make up for it with creativity and downright wackiness.
You are very resourceful. You're the type of person who is able to barter their way up from a penny to a million dollars.
You don't need money as long as you've got your wits. For people like you, money is practically irrelevant.
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