The Olympics and Thursday

First, the Olympics: I love them. I would never watch them on my own, but if someone else has them on, I'm glued to it. And of course Anna's had the pretty skating people on anytime she can, so of course I've been watching.

The Olympics always really get to me. I get all choked up and emotional, so even the commercials will bring tears to my eyes.

But honestly, isn't it awesome? How people from around the world come together, share in the victories and the defeat... how once someone's out there on the ice (or the slopes, or the field, or the court, or the track, etc.) it barely matters what nationality someone is, and you can't tell if they're from your country or anywhere else in the world just by watching them skate. Sport is an international language, probably even more so than music.

And when I'm done getting my global pride on, I start getting all patriotic: I love that the US competitors are so international themselves. Individuals of all histories and ethnicities and races are up there competing for the old red-white-and-blue; one of the pair skaters got his U.S. citizenship just in time for the games. Y'know?

So it never fails: watching the Olympics, I get all choked up and teary-eyed so easily, it's ridiculous and embarassing. But there you are. It's a beautiful thing.

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And then, Thursday.

Thursday is generally my hell day. I've got class, break (during which I usually cram in the rest of my art homework), art class, hurry to rugby practice, team TDR dinner, shower, a short break, and class.

Today, however, wasn't that bad. I enjoyed the art work I crammed in last minute, and in class the TA (who is AWESOME) taught instead of Professor Ass Crack (who was beautifully absent). Then Nips and I left early to get to RUGBY PRACTICE not horribly late, and practice was full of tackling drills - and the PUSHUP DRILL!!! (Which is sort of like a series of very short rugby scrimmages - it's about as close to a real game as you get in practice).

It makes me so unbelievably incredibly happy to be able to do contact again. After a whole season of just watching rugby, with only one week of experience playing (during which I was utterly, utterly befuddled as to what was going on), and now I get to be completely back in, a real player, rolling around in the dirt, running into/through people... it just makes me feel so amazing.