Olympics and gaining my sense of humor back.

Okay, so while I am lying around a lot, I am watching the Olympics a lot.  This is a nice combination because while I ache to roll from my back to side and groan and moan, I can live vicariously through extreme exploits of the upper echelon of the athletes of the world.  I do recognize the humor in it and am revelling in the vicories, etc.  I'm also getting weepy at the inspiration stories of every profile excerpt between the various sports runs, etc.

I think we're in for an excellent show in the men's figure skating long program tonight.  I was extraordinarily moved by Lysacek's short program.  Even when I  thought Plushenko's was flawless, in my opinion, Lysacek's rose above program into transcendant art.  So what if he didn't do the quad Plushenko did.  His artistry and flawless technique were above Plushenko's.  Sorry, I can't recall the names of a couple of the other guys, but the Japanese guy who skated to Hendrix?  Beautiful.  The one guy who spun circles around himself and his competitors? We're going to see a lot more of him in the future.  I've never seen anyone come close to his speed and spin capacity.  At least double anyone else around him. Johnny Weir is a hoot and totally aware of what he can bring in his cheeky humor as well as the tech and art side.

Louie Vito was dissed in his scoring.  His halfpipes were far and away better than others who fell and got better scores.  I think he was being dissed for doing Dancing with the Stars.  And frankly, while he was unconventional for DWTS,  he was fun to watch because he was so out of his element and yet did everything to learn and improve for his new field of play and had fun doing so.  That's right, I have confessed to watching a show I did not watch for several seasons, but now really do enjoy.  again, vicariously.  I love dance, have a long history of it, so there.  LOVED when Cloris Leachman was on.  She's brilliant. I want to be her when I grow up, which is by the looks of her, never.

Shaun White is so ahead of his competition, it's unbelievable.  He's in a category by himself, truly.  Wow.  Loved the show last night, and it was a show.  There was no need for him to even do the final run, he already had the gold, but he did it bigger and better just for the sheer joy of 'just because I can'. And he gave the crowd the move - the double mac whatsi-doohickey that no one else can do and everyone wanted to see from him. It was stunning.  Man, he's on top of the world.

Okay, now it's time for my confession.  I tried really hard - really and truly I did.  But I just can't get invested in the Curling games.  Mr Cynic came in from the school bus or walking Lucy  when I was trying the other day.  He said it all: "Isn't that what old people play on cruise ships?"

I burst out laughing.  Not quite, but close.  I've played shuffleboard.  Frankly, I found it more exciting than watching curling, no matter how intense the athletes are.  I kept asking myself at what point does a kid or teen see curling and say, that's it!  I want to be the best in the world at curling!  It is my life's mission!  I have purpose!  

To the Curlers, (tee-hee - see, I can't even go there without thinking of the iconic comedic image of old woman in curlers ) I mean no disrespect, and I am trying really hard to relate to that, but it's just not working. Kudos for the hard work and intensity, though.  You deserve it.