Paralympics

 2020 Paralympics Olympic Games are being held in Tokyo, right after the Summer Games. This is an assembly of handicapped athletes who overcame their difficulties and excelled in their chosen sports. I give them all my admiration!

I don't think it is very important which country wins the most medals, what is important what these people achieve. An also ran is just as victorious as the winner. I saw men in wheelchairs playing basketball, I saw swimmers with various physical imperfections swim honorable times.

But what stood out for me was a one legged Chinese ping pong (table tennis) player playing a first class game against an American. The man played with the help of a crutch and he was fast, he was strong and he was all over the table. I don't remember who won but to me it was not important. The human effort was more important than anything else.

And, I have to think twice if I am up to taking out Robin for his daily pee walk. Shame on me! 

Non-events

I can see camel races to be interesting, if one lives in the Sahara Desert, elephant polo if one lives in India or Thailand, hot dog eating contest if one lives in (intelligent) USA.

But next to the super exciting curling I found another hugely non-entertaining sport: beach soccer (football). I can see beach volleyball being interesting, mainly the women part, where good looking young females in itzy bitzy bikinis play the game on sand. Even the men tournament holds certain amount of interest.

But beach soccer to me is a poor effort at making a sport worth watching. Five men in each team kick the ball and sand at each other trying to score goals. I watched the other day and turned it of after a few minutes. There was a FIFA World Cup held in Russia just now. 

Japan is playing against Russia in the final. Both countries are powerhouses in this sport! These countries will try any sport just to get victories. I can see the popularity of this sport in Russia. They will probably set up large sand filled area front of the Kremlin for the whoever want to play this sport.

Another idiotic (if you can call it) sport is cornhole toss. This is totally American! This is a backyard game that is now gaining popularity. One tries to  toss a 16 ounce bag filled with corn kernels, I guess through a small hole cut in a wooden board about 30 feet away. Now, beer in one hand, and corn bag in the other this might seem a little complicated and confusing.

After three beers one might be a little confused which hand he is to throw. The sad thing is that TV is beginning to show this non-event. Spike ball joins the list of waste of time.

   

Sunday

 Today is Sunday and we know what it means. All day siesta.

Birdfeed

I mentioned it before that we live in a quasi garden apartment. The apartment building is surrounded with grass and various bushes meaning, that when we step out our front door ae are in the green. Well, a while back my wife decided that she would feed the hungry "wildlife".

Wildlife in our area is limited to squirrels and sparrows. But better than lions and tigers! So, she set up a few feeders for these living things, and fresh water (not necessarily bottled). The squirrels get a daily dose of roasted peanuts, the birds get bird feed.

I have to note that I love roasted peanuts, but it seems that the squirrels have an advantage over me. She fed them my jar of peanuts when she ran out of their portions. Now, that she is away it is my responsibility to keep these critters fed. But you know what? All the peanuts are gone so neither the squireels or I are getting any. Starvation time!

But the sparrows are luckier. A little while ago she bought a hanging bird feeder that can hold about 1 1/2 lbs. of seeds. In less than a week it was all gone. These birds eat until they can no longer fly because of their weight, I guess. Anyway, this morning, the good guy that I am, I filled the bird feeder. A 3 lb. bag of seed, and half of it is in already. I wonder how long it will last.

I wouldn't be surprised if one day they would start to talk to us like in the Dr. Dolittle movie.

Athlete

There was a political story during the Tokyo Olympics about a female Belarus athlete who defected to Poland because of her disagreement with decisions that was made about her at the Games. She was afraid to return home because of possible repercussions from the regime. Instead she asked for political asylum from Poland. which was granted. This is the short version of the events.

She is living somewhere in Poland with her husband in a government paid apartment. According to an article just published she does not know her own address and because of it she is unable to shop online. It seems she is lacking clothes because she only had whatever she took to the Olympics. Not knowing the address is a safety issue for her protection. As far as I understand, she is free to move around.

Living in a government supplied apartment, having a cook come in and cook one's food does not appear to me as a very bad life. They also taste her food to make sure it is not being poisoned.

Now I ask, don't they have street signs and house numbers in Poland? If one is really curious it is always possible to find out the location where one is living. How much intelligence one needs to find out his or her own address if one really wants to know? 

Academia

There might be an Afghan crisis, there might be a political crisis in Washington or in Albany, NY. There might be a covid crisis in here or everywhere else but they all take second place behind what is happening in our house.

On Tuesday, Abigail went to college the first time! I mean she finished her first year already, but never been inside the school, yet. Yesterday was the big event. Her mom being away in Europe I was the designated mother hen. 

She was asked to be there by 8:30 am, and that meant real early wake up call. She diligently took Robin out for his first pee stop, then got ready. The plan was that she would go into big, mean Manhattan by herself on the subway. This part made me a little nervous but it worked out fine. The only complain she had that the train was full and there were no empty seats. I explained that this was rush hour. But a full train is always safer than an empty one.

She was a little anxious before going because of the new environment and not knowing anybody but according to her that feeling didn't last long once she got to school. Abigail was always a very shy person, afraid of the unknown and unknown people. Yesterday, she got to school early and sat outside the lab waiting for the start of class. While waiting she surveyed the people coming and when somebody sympathetic showed up she addressed that person. By the time class started she knew a few girls. This is a huge step for good old Abi.

By lunchtime (they were served lunch) they were sitting together and at the end of the day she didn't walk to the train alone. I was really happy and relieved to hear this and I hope her other classes will turn out this well (socially, I mean).

Today, it is Wednesday and she is going in again. As far as I know she will have two days in school and one day at home classes. But that can always change.  That is three days a week, leaving ample time for socializing.  

 

Sport

Yesterday I was watching an extended showing of the World Athletics Championship U20 from Nairobi, Nigeria. U20 means under 20 years olds. It was very interesting tournament to see. Olympics caliber. Actually. many of the participants were in Tokyo before.

Looking at some of these under 20s reminded me of the eons ago Soviet female athletes, like Nina Dumbadze discus thrower in the 50s. As I remember she was huge, and very strong. Her femininity was questioned but the Soviets swore on Das Capital that she was a female.

Anyhow, yesterday's athletes might have been under 20 but most certainly didn't look it.  This event being held in Nigeria, every African country was represented and a smidgen of Europeans, Americans, too. It was interesting to see how much advantage blacks have in sprint and other distance runnings. Most of the time they just left the white participants in the dust. I guess that explains why very few of them are ever eaten by lions. They can outrun any swift animal.

Track and field is a total race separated area of activities. If it has to do with running the blacks rule. Other activities like high jump, javelin, discus throwing, hammer throwing, pole vault the whites have opportunities. There were a few Hungarian girls in the running numbers but they just did not finish very honorably. Not for the lack of trying.

Oh well, at least they had a chance to see Nairobi.