TV Chat - Watching Olympics from Japan

Oh, the intensity of Olympics ping pong.

What is up? Nothing much here but I will tell you what is DOWN! (quote from Sharon).

I went shopping today and blew some cash on random things I don't need. I'm in shopping hell, btw, where I'm surrounded by the hottest fashion and unable to fit in any of it. Funny moments trying to make a cute top fit because I just want it so bad. Sizes usually go up to a Small, and sometimes a Medium for tops... size 0-7 on pants, length = short and medium. *$%@!^& This of course, including shoes, (not surprised), that only go up to an 8.5 in the entire country [my size = 11]. You know, I've had problems finding cute shoes my entire life. Whenever I find a shoe that is semi-cute, I have to buy it whether I love it or not. Now, if I wore a size 7 or 8, I would have NO excuse for wearing ugly shoes. I was chilling at McD's tonight (McDonnald's), and there were some not-so-cute shoes in the scene... How can those girls actually choose those shoes out of all the cute shoes around Tokyo!

I’ve been addicted to CNN International, BBC News, and the Discovery Channel over the last month, but have been recently trying to watch local Japan broadcast channels to catch some live Olympics races [aside from updates from CNN and BBC].

I just tuned into Japan versus Korea women’s ping pong. It’s the sport being featured at 10PM on the only channel featuring the Olympic games here in Tokyo. I mean, who didn’t want to become a ping pong star when they were a kid, you know? Trust me: I am a ping pong fanatic myself. In ping pong world, there is nothing more intense than watching Korea versus JAPAN, you know?!

Things are pretty serious at the moment. The TV camera zooms in on their faces as both Japan and Korea players get ready to start the next play…. the expressions. They are like the pitcher in a baseball game, who squints his eyes and stares at his opponent. They look pretty mean yet focused. Intensity settles in. The game starts. All you can do is watch in complete wonder while the camera zooms out to show the four opponents from an above shot. Complete wonder at how insanely well they can spin a small white ball with the rackets, let alone look like they’re playing tennis but in a small ping pong table… All this while hearing the little ball going back and forth, and short bursts of yelling.

What’s up with MIA YouTube videos of the Olympic races?? I’m trying to turn to YouTube for content, but only few videos exist. CNN.com is doing a terrible job posting videos as well. Maybe I feel this way because I don’t have enough time to search online the right way.

Oh. Korea won the ping pong game. How did that happen? They just did a re-run and it was a really close game. The end was unbelievable – they were attacking from yards away from the ping pong table. The speakers end the show with “Arigato gozai mash.. taaaaaaaaa”. (quite funny way of saying Thannnnnnk you verymuch!).

Next up on TV: Japan versus China (or Taiwan) Baseball. No English or westernized writing on the screen for me to tell whether it’s China or Taiwan. Hm. Baseball; Can be the longest game in the world in my opinion besides of course cricket in India (let’s not even get into that one). I usually can’t sit through a US Baseball Game live, let alone a game on TV during the actual Olympics! I give up. Flipping the channels right now ... Note: this is under the regular broadcast channels.

QVC. =\

Sex in the City [must pay to watch]

Ooo. A black and white documentary in German about the Nuremberg Nazi court trials back in 1945. They’re talking about Albert Speer’s confession and its effect in history. Well, at least I understand the language… and I do like anything related to German history. I’ll just try to forget that I’m watching this over Olympics.

Tuning out soon.