Going Crazy

You know when you are going crazy when you can't stop laughing at funny/weird/wrong tennis headlines in a forum that aren't really that funny in the end. But you can't stop... Hot, humid days and long days in lab with E. coli (which smells slightly better than shit...just slightly) are causing my brain to rot. Well at least things at lab are sort of working...

(And what's with Federer losing to Canas again? And what's with Canas looking insane and me being a terrible person and thinking that Canas may be doping again? He's being crazier than Nadal and it is scarying the wits out of me...like that shouldn't be humanly possible.)

Yay for being outside during the thunderstorm. I remember how one day at Driver's Ed. it began to thunderstorm while we were driving on the enclosed track (or the range?) and I remember sharing the fact that I like thunderstorms (hearing/seeing them) when I'm not actually outside and that my driving companion felt similarly. It was a random memory and probably the only good thing he may or may not remember about me, because I was the worst driver ever.

I really can't wait for this semester to be over. Biochem 452 is making me go crazy. If only I could have taken this class after I got into a grad school...would I be so ready to get a C in this class. But I can't, unfortunately, and I want the A without the work. If Biochem was bad last semester, I think this one torches it. Thankfully I only have two other "real" classes. Winter semester next year will be amazing, though, since I plan to take only 9 credits and only two required things: biochem 454 and my upper level writing requirement. Sweet.

End of a Dream (more sports rant)

2 hours of an emotional rollercoaster. And when it was over, I could only just stare at the TV screen. It was done, it was gone...it could never happen again. That was probably the saddest part of Oregon's loss today against Florida. I'm not Oregon's biggest fan or anything, but I could sort of emphathize. It was a different sort of feeling than what I'm used to, because it's not quite like the Olympics but it's also not like the championships of the other sports I follow. By following mostly individuals instead of teams, the whole "this team will never be the same again" is somewhat of a new concept to me. And the whole college aspect of this tournament means that the team has only 1 year to be together, which is more like 4 or 5 months together, and that's it. It's just crazy...and despite the lingering sadness, the whole experience was worth it. I am definitely following the tournament again next year.

For figure skating, I have decided on Yu-Na Kim. She looks "stronger" than Mao Asada...it's not really anything I can explain. They are both skinny as hell and also young-looking (both are only 16) and they are both East Asian and it's not like one is a power skater or anything (e.g. Emily Hughes). So I don't know...Mao randomly reminds me of Kimmie Meissner...whoa... Anyway, Yu-Na Kim's amazing form did not carry over to her free skate program. She feel at least twice and just seemed not at her best. I was sad for her, but she still medaled (bronze). Mao got silver, and Miki Ando got gold. The surprise win was kind of cool, but poor Mao! Almost everyone thought she would get gold after her solid performance, but she ultimately lost because of her short program.

Tennis is going well, except that Ana lost early again and Gael needs to stop losing. And this weekend was EURO 2008 qualifying and Croatia won. So Croatia is on top of their qualifying group, which is sweet considering their group has England, Russia, and Israel. Well at least Niko gets good minutes in the Croatian national team if he doesn't at Portsmouth.

Speaking of crushes...

I think I have a "crush" on the NCAA basketball tournament. Just kidding. Just an overwhelming obsession with the tournament this year. Actually this year I have been more obsessed with sports than ever. I've watched more gymnastics, soccer, figure skating, basketball, and tennis than I have in a long, long time. ESPN2 is basically my TV channel, and I don't know what I would do without cable TV. The sad thing is that sometimes having sports to watch is the one thing I look forward to the most, short-term of course. It's so much less work than playing RPGs and I know I will enjoy it rather than playing until I get stuck.

Well my crush of the NCAA basketball tournament, Kevin Durant, is out. Texas lost on Sunday to USC by a lot. Most likely he is going to the NBA and then I can forget about him maybe. Of course next basketball season I will try to catch more games so maybe I won't miss him. I'm going to try to spread the love to more sports without overloading on TV-watching, but I don't know how successful that will be.

One of my other crushes, Brian Joubert, just took the gold at the World Figure Skating Championships. Since I recorded the reair of the show, I didn't get to see his "007" routine but had to YouTube it. It was just hilarious. And the Japanese guy who got silver, Daisuke, was amazing. SO good. I'm not jumping onto his bandwagon or anything (the only thing going for Brian Joubert anyway is that he is too damn cute) but I want to watch him skate some more. Evan Lysacek got 5th and they didn't show his long program on the rebroadcast. But they showed Jeff Buttle and poor guy, falling like 4 times on the long program. He's also fun to watch. Meanwhile I need to catch up on my girl skaters. I want to see both Yu-Na Kim and Mao Asada again so I can choose which one of these two can be my "official" girl skater crush. Haha I may be finding a crush in like every sport but I'm also trying to limit myself, so I can have a large orgy instead of a gigantic one. Does that make any sense?

Oh finally one of my tennis crushes, Novak Djokovic, made it to the final of the Pacific Life Open but lost in the final to Rafael Nadal. But now he's in the top 10 in the rankings and maybe he won't be drawn to meet Federer in the quarters as often. Best of luck to him, as well as Richard and Ana and Sveta, at the Sony Ericsson Open. But poor Mario...I think he is still out with mono or something...

Ah...Kevin Durant...

It looks like this crush isn't just a one-day affair (I've had those before), so I went and read some interviews/articles on Kevin Durant. Basically he has been molded to be this type of basketball player since the age of 7. Just looking at what kind of coaching and schools that he has been to, he has had the best that he could get since day one. So he's probably a hybrid of a natural talent and a hard worker, which is why he still has so much potential. I'm so glad that he's at Texas...I don't know if I would have this crush on him if he had gone straight to the NBA...

But his dedication to basketball...I'm envious of people who know what they want and can be so dedicated to it. I'm more of a person who needs to have at least 3 things going on at the same time in order to feel right. Like I can't be completely dedicated to one sport, one area of study, one hobby...no I must try to achieve them all. And sometimes I'm worried that I won't be able to find a career that I will love enough to spend the rest of my life doing, and I can't believe that I need to make that decision so soon...

And my bracket says...

I finally decided on my bracket, and after much revision I'm putting my luck on Texas. I don't exactly want them to win the NCAA tournament, but out of the teams I think may win it I like them. It's all Kevin Durant's fault. Why do I have a random crush on him? As if I didn't have enough athlete crushes. And he looks like he's 17. Randomly, one of my other young "crushes" (except he's not as much of a crush as Kevin), Theo Walcott, is turning 18 in a few days. Finally they will all be legal...I mean...except for Vania? Except she's not an athlete crush so I guess she doesn't count...

Seeds are being planted like it planting time at Indian Wells. First Federer loses among a bunch of men's seeds, and now the women's seeds are falling. First Maria, then Ana and Martina and Jelena (Dinara was yesterday) and hopefully not Sveta! I want her to win this tourney, and if not then I guess Nicole Vaidisova...

The warm weather today has messed with my head. I can't think at all. I probably wasted a day at lab and a night where I could have studied for that orgo test next Tuesday. Oh well...

Post 101

I think this is kind of amazing. I have posted 101 times now. It took me about a year and 2 months to do that. That's pretty good, since I change things up just as quickly as the direction of the wind. Ahh my analogy sucks.

So what should I write in this post? Well it has only been about a week since school has restarted again. It has seemed both short and long. I got to Friday pretty fast...I can't remember anything useful that I did this week. Then starting Friday I started watching Men's College Basketball again and all was good. I'm going to fill out the bracket this year and hope I get something right. I haven't gleaned enough info from the games I've seen this year but I much more informed than last year, in which I knew zilch.

Tennis-wise, I'm keeping up on scores. Federer amazingly lost in his first match at Indian Wells against Guillermo Canas. That's awesome, because I really don't want Federer to be unbeatable. And also Novak has an increased chance of making the final! I found it funny, though, that the one week I tell other people that Youzhny might be dangerous, he decides to lose in the first round. He's probably worn out a bit, but still...bastard.

I still hope to catch a few soccer matches here and there. So I guess I'll be hermitting myself in my room and watching a ton of TV again. Ahh the joys of sports...

Futile Cycles

Break was fun but also full of studying for Biochem. And I did alright on biochem, but not as well as I hoped to after studying so much. I didn't fail though.

The weather was interesting. On Friday it would be a blizzard for 10 minutes and then it would be sunny for 10 minutes and all the snow that fell melted away. It was funny to watch, but not fun to drive in. I didn't have to drive in it, but my Dad did.

I also have gained a few pounds since Winter break but I'm pretty sure that I can lose them again before summer. This happens almost every year, this cycle of weight gain and weight loss. I guess it would be better if I just maintained my weight, but that requires monotony and that is no fun.

I swear I have writer's block again. Ugh.