olympics 08.08.08

i'm not into sports. never have been. never played them. don't have the attention span to watch them. however, when the olympics are on, i'm somehow glued to my tv set in anxious anticipation. i get all excited the days before, like it's about to be my birthday or something. i print out the schedule and circle the events i want to watch as if it were a list of sales i need to hit at the mall. and then, the opening ceremonies. YES! sweet! i turn them on and the blare throughout my home in all their triumphant glory.
so this year, of course i was a tad more excited because they fell on 08.08.08. how serendipitous! and of course, the chinese did it up in all their splendid grandeur. how fantastic were the details? how glorious were the colors? but seriously, how much more synchronized could they have been?!? amazing.
the banging drums, the perfect lines of thousands of people with NO marks on the ground, the lit up dancers, the performers graceful tai chi...it all made my heart flutter. and then - the games start. phelps lands his first gold with his first race of the games. and breaks a world record.
then i cry.
the men's gymnastics team performs and nail it.
i cry.
the synchronized divers float effortlessly through the air at warp-speed and land in the water perfectly at the same time with NO splash.
i cry.
i cry tears of overwhelming joy for these people. i cry tears of amazement at what humans can do.
i cry like those people are my relatives, like i was part of their training sessions, as if their winning somehow is directly related to some success in my life. kind of like when a guy gets upset when "his team" loses - as if he was actually on the team. as if he actually knows the players.
actually though, i cry because i'm sick and morbid sometimes. i'm actually scared that those girls' knees are gonna blow to smithereens when they land their double spinning triple back flip whatevers on the BALANCE BEAM. i cry because i'm afraid those chinese boys' shoulder muscles are gonna give way when they're holding themselves up on those fucking rings in the air.
and i cry because i could NEVER DO THAT. really, i just cry cause it's so damn awesome the things that us mere mortals can really do when we try, when we practice, when we persevere, when we set our minds to something. it's incredible.
the host city for the 2016 olympics is still being bid on but chicago is one of the candidates. hopefully they will be there and i can get my head out of my ass to plan a trip far enough in advance. i NEED to see some of this shit in person.
seriously.