Olympic musings / catbird seat & magic pen / writing / family

[oiran]

That Michael Phelps looks like someone drawn by Shiuko Kano. Little, pointy-chinned head on a broad-shouldered, elongated (sexy) body. She's far from my favorite mangaka - one of the reasons being that I was under the impression that her renditions of the male form were particularly distanced from reality. Apparently, she's been watching a lot more swim meets than I have...

I have Olympic fever. Sort of. I especially love the summer Olympics, as the sports tend to be even more body-specific than the winter games. I am not necessarily cheering for the U.S., though. My choice of favorites is most definitely based on their attitude as well as their performance.

I love watching gymnastics, both male and female. The men are actually more interesting overall to me these days, since their routines are free of clumsy "dance" flourishes. Do they even use music with their floor routines? I don't recall hearing it in the recent telecasts. When I was very young, i.e., the 1970s, female gymnasts were much more graceful than the latest bunch--although their acrobatic/strength skills were nowhere near what you see now. I was good friends with a world-class gymnast and her twin sister (also a gymast) for a couple of years, and I was fascinated with their grace and strength. That godawful Mary Lou Retton with her fireplug figure and Hulk-like muscling through every routine as if it were a battle seemed to turn the tides of women's gymnastics such that it remains a fight instead of a flow.

Except for the Chinese team. Damn, those girls are cute! And talented! And graceful! Also, they are the only women smiling and having fun. The US and Roumanian teams are dour and tense. The Chinese are giggly and gleaming. So, yeah, I guess I'm kind of rooting for the Chinese here post-prelims. But I like the US men's gymnastics team, so I'm not totally unpatriotic.

I was happy the US men's basketball team lost. What a bunch of pouty thugs! And Puerto Rico kicked their not-really-entitled asses. It was beautiful to see.

Looking forward to women's track & field and seeing Amy Acuff in action. I'd never heard of her until a NYTimes article about all the Olympians posing for Playboy...and she has what I think is the perfect body. Long, lean, but still girl-shaped. I want to see her in motion now.

~~~

New toys [to keep my head expanding]: Mr. Glove decided we needed new stuff, and who am I to disagree? I now have a new desk chair, to replace the 12-year-old number with the foam-spitting seat cushion. This is a drafting chair, very tall, with a footrest, since my "desk" is of a non-standard height. Also, a special treat: digitizing tablet!!!! The pen is a bit strange to get used to, but I think it will be a hell of a lot of fun and, of course, a big help with actual drawing vs. "collage" work in Photoshop. Up until now, I've done all my digital artwork with a trackball (!!), so I'm expecting great things from myself.

~~~

I wrote! Only about four paragraphs, and only via a sort of stealth not-noticing-what-I'm-doing technique, but I wrote!

~~~

I spoke to my mother and father for the first time in...eight months. They are still exactly who they've always been, and they still have no understanding of why I am upset with the way they handle (or, rather, avoid handling) things. Mr. Glove thinks that I seem less depressed after talking to them, though I don't know that I'd agree that what I'm less of is depressed. I feel less of...something else. I can't quite identify the feeling, but it's not depression that seems lifted to me. Anyway. And now I finally know: my mother isn't dying. She just had several weird/gross health issues that she is blaming on "heat," though I'd blame them on smoking and malnutrition.

I am too old to care so much about the way my parents treat me, or so I try to convince myself. I mean, I'm old enough that I could theoretically have my own teenage child who hates me and thinks I've ruined their life. I need to stop being one, yes?

Comments

[justblue0162.livejournal.com]

i have missed you. *hugs*

i usually love the olympic swimming too, but i am disheartened this year with all the full body-covering suit things going on. i mean, um, athleticism, yay! but i need my torso fix, guys.

and then there's the synchronized diving. guh.

i have always admired gymnasts. they do all that stuff under their own power, you know? it's like the ultimate independence. screw you, gravity! *triple twisting layout backflip* but i do miss the grace in the floor exercise. even the ribbons and hoops are too rehearsed. i mean of course they're rehearsed, but they don't have to look that way.

say hi to misterglove for me, please? and please tell us more about the new toy. i've always been curious about those tablet things.

i am blaming any incoherence in this comment on my cold, despite the fact that i have not taken any drugs. yet.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those full-body suits are a little disappointing... But I haven't seen Mr. Phelps in one of those--yet. And I don't really find his face very attractive, but the fact that he looks like manga gets me going.

Hopefully, divers will be wearing the teeny suits, since speed isn't necessarily their thing.

My gymnast friend was tiny but dense. She barely came up to my shoulder, but she weighed only about 15 lbs less than me. Solid muscle. And she was so at home in her skin, and very physical with other people. She liked being small. She liked being carried and manhandled, and would frequently jump into my arms, since she liked how much taller I was. She was definitely a straight girl, but not afraid of touch. I realize not all physically skilled/oriented people are that comfortable with being groped, but I certainly started thinking of athletes differently after my friendship with her, i.e., having a sort of tactile yearning for strong bodies in a manner much more sensual than sexual. And when I get even a little sense of my own body as having that kind of power...very nice.

Oh, but back on topic: I agree that gymnastics are rather robotic these days. Except for those Chinese girls! They were so cute! And happy!

I drew some ugly faces with my tablet. Too ugly to share, but fun to play with. I think I actually need to turn down the sensitivity (assuming I can!), as right now it transmits every beat of my pulse into the onscreen lines. It's got a sort of delirium tremens look that I don't much like...

[angryhamster.livejournal.com]

those tablets are the bees knees. you wont have it a week before you'll be wondering how you ever managed without it. which one did you get?

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

It's the most "junior" model - Wacom graphire3 4 x 5. I already know that I do want a bigger one, but I can certainly make do with this one for the time being ;)

[angryhamster.livejournal.com]

i actually prefer the graphire to the intuos, but that's just me. i think i have the largest graphire, or maybe the middle one... can't remember at the moment.

i actually got my first one so long ago it was serial and not usb, and that was a wacom graphire 1.0 or 2.0 or something... they're at 3.0 or 3.5 or something now. i've had lots of other brands in between, but wacom are definately the only way to go, i can tell you that for definate. they can be a hassle to uninstall, though.

have fun playing with it. after all, size isn't everything (especially when you can use the zoom tool). :D

[fleegull.livejournal.com]

Men do not use music in their floor exercises. My cousin used to date a world class gymnast - on the trampoline. The poor guy never got to compete in the Olympics because by the time it became an Olympic sport, he was too old. He did help coach some of the women that have competed.

I enjoy watching the gymnasts - to a point. I prefer watching the men because I think that their bodies recover better from all the traning after they retire than the women who seem to end up riddled with early arthritis and totally screwed up reproductive systems.

[pun.livejournal.com]

Word. The men seem so much healthier. More like athletes and less like tiny, yappy over-bred dogs. I didn't watch the women's team prelims, but I watched the men's, and I liked the U.S. team ok, but I liked the Japanese and Chinese teams more.

I love the Olympics! I cannot freakin' wait for the TKD to get underway. I'm so excited!!

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

The Chinese women were totally fun to watch. Graceful, giggly, girlish, and having a great time. Also, incredibly skilled. The U.S. and Roumanian women were all grim, tense-jawed, glitter-dipped robots. With really bad hair, for the most part. Well, they all have that, actually.

I was happy to see the Hamm brothers on the U.S. team. I actually watched them as college athletes (when they totally fed my twin kink with lots of hugging and handsy encouragement) but hadn't paid attention for a couple years, so it was nice to see them again. Heh.

And I'm planning on watching TKD because I know a TKD black belt! I've been kicked by a TKD black belt!

[pun.livejournal.com]

I remember the Hamms from the last Olympics, and they seem nice enough, but they don't make a strong impression on me. (not cute enough to get my twin kink motor going, I guess.)

And I'm planning on watching TKD because I know a TKD black belt! I've been kicked by a TKD black belt!

Hee. These folks are a little out of my league, but I apreciate the sentiment.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

No, they are not cute enough, really. But I remember them standing forehead-to-forehead with their arms around one another doing this very intimate twinnish pep-talk/comforting thing, and that makes up for some of the lack in cuteness.

Their necks have gotten really big, though.

[pun.livejournal.com]

Oh, also Sir Pun has convinced me to have a prejudice against any sport that requires makeup.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

TKD doesn't require makeup? Not even glitter hair gel?

[pun.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't count the fake fangs as makeup.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Well, no. Everyone knows they're categorized as athletic equipment.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

I didn't think the men used music - it seems dorky that the women still do, though.

I can't remember if it was the last Olympics or the one before - I think it was 1996 - where there were 13-year-old "women" competing in gymnastics. At least they have to be 16 now.

A mature female body can't do world-class gymnastics, whereas a mature male body is better able to perform (to a point). It's a world of 16-year-old girls and 24-year-old men. One of the gymnasts I knew had a destroyed shoulder by age 20 - and having been a world-class gymnast doesn't really count for anything in the real world unless you've got an Olympic gold medal, so that's pretty much all she got out of gymnastics: an arthritic shoulder.

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

That's what I hate about competitive sports. You win gold, you're a god. You don't, you're a Big Failure and everybody hates you. It doesn't matter what you've achieved, how far you've pushed yourself, how much you've trained - failure to win means you're just not good enough, and if you're lucky, you get out of it without horrific damage to your body.

Of course, it's losers like me who are responsible for New Zealand failing to win every single sports event it ever enters now, because my wimpy generation thinks self-esteem is better than driving people to suicide because they're Not Good Enough. According to aged ex-All Blacks, anyway. Imagine treating physical activity as if it might be something *fun* that everyone can do!

[miella]

I was just pondering the fact that my allegiance varies depending on the sport. I tend to root for Aussie swimmers, anyone-but-the-US in basketball, and a wide variety in gymnastics and diving. Of course, in the winter, I'm often all about the Canadians. A lot of it is attitude-based, I know. It's often shaped by root-against-that-one for lousy attitudes. I want them to be having fun and pleased to be there, you know? Mostly, I am sad that I have to be at work and therefore can't do a full-day marathon of Olympics. I must content myself with the evening hours. *g*

Oh, and, I'm also sad at the lack of gracefulness in women's gymnastics these days. It can be so *pretty* when given the opportunity.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

Something I hated during the last Olympics was that the only events we saw were those where U.S. team members won something, basically. I'm glad that this time the telecast is more balanced and varied and thus interesting.

My favorite Olympics to watch up until now was the Lillehammer games (cowbells! daytime drunkenness! everyone so happy!), but I think these could become my new favorites. The only thing that disappoints me is the vast, empty expanses of seats in the stadiums. I'm rather insulted on behalf of the athletes. Europeans! Get your asses to Greece, and sit in those seats!

And, yeah, gymnastics can be fabulous to watch. The Chinese women are my front-runners because right now they seem to be the only team able to incorporate those graceful, effortless gestures into feats of ridiculous strength and skill.

[littlebad.livejournal.com]

'fraid to point this out but the teenage years don't stop at 19, they may go away for a while so you can pretend to be a grown-up but in my case came back in my 30s and now at 42 and a half are still there! My brothers are all in their 50s and are still pretty juvenile. But then a good side to this is that my 16 year old nephew thinks I'm really cool!

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely still very teenage despite being 38. I find most teenage trends stupid, but I still pay attention to them. And now that my body is becoming thinner, I'm gravitating toward "younger" clothing instead of the more staid, shapeless garments I was hiding in before.

And, of course, there are all the psychological issues that seem just as fresh as they were when I was in high school. Twenty years ago. Gah.

Yesterday, I ran around with my hair in big "anime buns" on either side of my head and wore glitter lipgloss. Some days I think I have a "timeless quality" and other days I'm just immature.

[fleegull.livejournal.com]

I know it's jingoistic, but I'm all about rooting for the USA, it's my country, I love it and I make no bones about it. I love the idea of all these countries agreeing to set aside their differences and just compete based on their love of the sport and I think that is a beautiful thing to witness on its own. But as for who I'm going to root for - it's the USA, no contest.

ALthough, the Dream Team getting it's ass handed to it by Puerto Rico is endlessly amusing, of course the fact that the USA team is made up of a lot of players from the Lakers and I HATE THE LAKERS, doesn't hurt one bit. Also, because I'm Puerto Rican, I can totally say this, getting beat by the PR's is like having your mentally retarded step brother beat you at checkers.

[velvetglove.livejournal.com]

I'm rooting for the U.S. by default - except for men's basketball. Or when swayed by adorableness - I was rooting for the U.S. women gymnasts until I saw the Chinese prelims...

I hate pretty much all pro basketball any more, although I used to be a rabid Sonics fan. It's just gotten so ugly and money-oriented that it's no fun to watch. I much prefer college ball - or even high school ball! But, of course, I also hate the Lakers most of all. Who doesn't?

Heh. Checkers.

[oehel.livejournal.com]

Yay Olympics! I like watching swimming, because well, it's pretty. Like diving. Yes.
Tablets are great fun, aren't they? I love them so much. :)
Wait, trackball? Those little swirly ball things that come on laptops? Woah. That's amazing! I can't even use those as a regular mouse...