Bored On A Friday

Lightning Bolt

The Beijing 2008 Olympics has primarily been about two names: Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt.

Michael Phelps made history by winning 8 gold medals in the swimming pool and he did it with style (6 or 7 world records along the way).

After him came another man, Usain Bolt. The lanky Jamaican won the 100m without even trying. And today he won the 200m and both times he beat the world record. He's up for another gold in the 4x100m relay and seeing how good the Jamaican sprinters are, it's quite possible he'll win another one.

The debate continues about him winning the 100m. He started well, went ahead, and with 20m left he stopped trying and was celebrating already. Some people say that was disrespectful to the Olympic spirit (what spirit?), some say that he was just enjoying himself. Since everybody has an opinion on this one, I like to add mine.

For me, the Olympic is about winning, about getting gold medal. If you know that you have it in the bag, why try harder? Why not celebrate? It's not disrespectful at all. He was way ahead of everyone else, he looked around and then started slowing down and celebrating. Why should he run faster just to please the people? His aim was gold, he got gold. Simple.

I guess some people want to know how fast he could have been had he pushed all the way. Well, he would have definitely been faster, but he doesn't want it so why should we push for it? He beat the world record anyway (how did he do that? I still don't understand).

If only I could run as fast as Bolt...

Stan Da Man

About two months ago my girlfriend found out about the local dog refuge, where they keep all the stray and abandoned dogs. We went there a couple of times and thought about adopting a dog, and mostly we came there to walk a dog. It's quite nice, you can come in the afternoons and pick a dog and walk around the countryside. It's pretty relaxing.

After a while, my girlfriend found out about a dog called Stanley, who was left there by his previous owner. It is a 6 year old American Cocker and quite a small and cute dog. We walked him a couple of times and then decided to adopt him as he can live perfectly in an appartment (he doesn't need a big garden).

It took a while before we got him as he has some skin disease which needed looking after by the vet, but last Saturday we finally got him.

He's a kick-ass dog. He can walk off the lead, he lives perfectly in an appartment, he is very well housetrained, doesn't bark a lot. In general, the perfect dog to have. It's very nice to have a dog and I'm enjoying it very much.

All he does is eat and sleep, and even in his deepest sleep he will wake up and follow anybody who goes into the kitchen with the hope of getting more food.

Ages ago I would have said no to having a dog, but now I'm loving it. People do change.

Stag Do (and NOT drinking)

Last Friday was a public holiday here, and being in the middle of summer, it means a nice long weekend. As one of my mate here is getting married next month, it was the perfect occasion to have a stag do.

Good weather, bunch of guys, the girls were away, and an appartment with a garden in the country side (they had the hen do in London) means three things: alcohol, meat and more alcohol. Friday afternoon we set-up the barbeque and put on meat on it. The fridge was packed with beer and other alcohol. Although only 6 could make it, we went through a lot of alcohol and a lot of meat. Somewhere during the night we went to a bonfire and played frisbee around (and over) it. All while still drinking alcohol.

Saturday was the outing. We went to Walibi to have some fun on the rides there. But this meant that one person was going to be a designated driver. I voluntarily took on the role and ended up not drinking. But with the amount of alcohol I drank the night before, I was pretty much still intoxicated for most of the day.

In the end, during the whole of Saturday - including dinner at a Brazilian where they serve great meat and kick-ass caiprinhas - I only had two alcoholic drinks: a bottle of beer and a caipirinha during dinner.

It was a weird feeling, because normally I would have been one of the first to be drunk and in that kind of opportunity I would have drunk a LOT. But being sober gave me a different feeling and I still enjoyed the night as much as I would have if I was drunk. And I remembered everything that went on the morning after.

I guess I can do it without drinking. I never thought I could but I did. Another lesson in life learned.