(diaryland) September 3, 2000 - 16:06:13

The Olympic games are coming. The soccer is going to be played here in Melbourne, but everything else will of course be in Sydney and its environs. When I say environs, I mean the toxic waste dump thingy they built the Olympic village on.

I can't wait to see all the events on the TV - I love watching people running away from starting blocks and the weird shit those cyclists get up to. That pursuit event is strange; one person on a bike with a helmet shaped like a leaf chases another person on a bike with a helmet shaped like a leaf slowly. And that team thing; four people on bikes with helmets shaped like leaves keep taking turns in being first in line while four other people on bikes with helmets shaped like leaves do exactly the same thing on the other side of the velodrome. Compelling stuff. I don't understand why cycling is one of the only events where being really fast is not the answer to all your problems. Those "sprints" go on for ages with both cyclists almost at a standstill until one dude decides to suddenly go really fast, and then the race is over. Why don't they both go really fast at the start of the race? Hm. Badminton rocks because everything is so fast you don't know what the hell is happening.

Anyway, yeah. I decided I had feelings because tonight on the news they had this old chick who had carried the Olympic torch a short distance. She was interviewed afterwards, and she said, "Yeah, it was fun," and she got all teary. What shocked me was I got all teary for her too. And then they had footage of this blind kid carrying the torch and I was gone, man. I felt almost overwhelmed with emotion.

Yesterday I accidentally watched the trophy presentation of the football Grand Final, a sporting event I was trying to avoid all day. The important man gave the football players with thick necks the trophy and said, "I present to you the 2000 Coca-Cola Premiership Cup." I was pretty much underwhelmed with emotion at that point.