If you must know anything about, know that I am a total whore for the Olympics. I am glued to the TV for two straight weeks every two years and I can never get enough. I am bummed that I'll miss a lot this year because I don't have cable and basic NBC will only show super huge events and I'll miss the cool small events that you only get to see at the Olympics, like handball or table tennis or whatever.

I went out last night with my friend Jay, so I naturally taped the opening ceremony for what I would miss at the bar, and I just finished watching it now. It was pretty bad ass, although I wasn't too wowed by the torch lighting. It was cool, but will anything ever beat that aflame arrow shot in Atlanta? Or when the USA hockey team did it in Salt Lake? But I guess all the passion and emotion that swelled up in me while watching SLC was probably similar to what Greeks felt yesterday, so it's all relative. All that statue and history recreations on the floats was AMAZING, it looked so cool I was really floored by that. And of course DNA in green lasers was also really neat.

And I don't know what's really going down with Miresmaeili, but if that's true I am extremely pissed. Seriously dude, that is the lamest thing I've ever heard. I'm not saying you should check your country at the Olympic door, just the opposite actually, you are there to represent your country and act in a manner according. But this is absurd. I'd like to think this is the one time that it's okay to put all the stupid politics behind and do what you came to do. How could you work your whole life to come to this point and then drop out because you don't like the country your competitor came from or the religion they practice? I know it's more complicated than that but I think that's a backward ass way of thinking, and if Olympic athletes can't look the other way, then we are all really screwed.

I can't help but assume I'll catch a lot of flack (and possibly worse) for being an American in a foreign country. Another American in London just told me as much. And at first I was scared and nervous, but now that's changed (perhaps my American colors are starting to show!) But honestly, if you are going to be mean and give the cold shoulder to a student from America whose come to your country to explore the world and get a different perspective while she works very hard to help get medicine into the bodies of sick people, well then forget it! Your loss! And this because
1. I am fun and cool, and I love debate and will hash it out with you if you'd like over a pint.
2. You hate me because Bush is the president of my country? I didn't vote for him, it's possible the majority of Americans didn't vote for him, and I'll show you the pictures of me protesting on the Mall in front of the Capital with my "No blood for oil" sign if you'd like to judge me for my leaders.
3. Last time I checked, at least 8,000 British soldiers in Iraq. We may be leading the charge but we aren't there alone.
I mean, I don't know why they'll hate me. I am just assuming there are some haters that are going to be gunning for me. And to some extent on some issues, I totally agree with them! Our foreign policy sucks, our pollution record is atrocious, our hypocrisy is unbelievable. I get it. I just hope that the majority of people I meet judge me for me and not where I come from.

And to Miresmaeili, wouldn't it be way cooler to go out there and crush Vaks and toss his Israeli ass around the mat? I mean, wouldn't it be better to take all your hateful energy and transform it into power and victory? Wouldn't it be more gratifying to beat him in a head to head competition than to run away from him? Or maybe that's it. Maybe you're scared what would happen if you lost. So sad.

P.S. I heard that 130,000 condoms were distributed throughout the Olympic Village. That cracks me up, but when you think about it, people traveling from all over the world, met all these new people, everyone's in perfect physical shape, all the excitement pulsing through the air.... hee hee hee!