One of my best buddies said to me the other day, “You know, I’m so American that I don’t even care about the Olympics.” I laughed, because these are the kinds of things that she says to me fairly frequently. At the time, I wasn’t all that excited about the Olympics. It wasn’t that I wasn’t looking forward to them; it was just that I had a hell of a lot more on my plate.

Still, as we get closer by leaps and bounds (only hours away!) to the Summer 2008 Olympics, I guess I am kind of excited. I’m sure I’m not as psyched as lots of die hard sports fans who will be watching the Games like a hawk. But I am looking forward to seeing that torch lit. Just…not for reasons that I think resonate with the majority of Olympics viewers.

Love Those Losers: My grandmother and I started the tradition about ten years ago of watching the Olympics and rooting for the country with the least chance of winning. I’ve always had a thing for underdogs; I don’t know if it’s because they’re so utterly pathetic (really, you should watch just to see their, “Well, I saw that coming,” expressions when they fail horrendously) or because of how awesome it is when the team no one thought would even place gets the gold. Either way, I’ll be keeping a semi-close eye on the teams that the rest of the viewers and participants could care less about. (But I won’t be making any bets. I always lose those.)

Summer Olympics are HOT: I know you know it. Gawker knows it. We know it. This summer there is a delicious smorgasbord across several of the sports, and I do not just mean the competitive spirit. Two of my favorites are USA softball girl Jennie Finch and Australian diving boy Matthew Mitcham. Too bad I’m pretty certain Finch is straight and I know for certain that Mitcham is gay, so I’ve got no chance with either of them. Still, I can gawk and unfairly root for them. Read More »

As I was typing this up and most likely while you are reading it, I was and still am chuckling. I can’t help but be amused. I know you’d like to know what’s so funny. Well, it’s nothing, really. I mean, it’s no big deal. It shouldn’t even upset you. Everybody loses the Game at some point, right? Your time had to come.

What Game? I bet you didn’t even know you were playing a game, did you? There are a ton of people right now playing the Game, and quite frankly, most of them are doing better than you. Now, I know it’s not really fair of me to tell you that you lost the Game when you don’t know the rules, so I guess I should lay them out for you. Don’t worry; there are only three of them.

1. You are always, always playing the Game. No exceptions. Everyone in the world is playing the Game in some capacity, really.

2. When even the very thought of the Game comes into your head, you lose it.

3. When you lose the game, you HAVE to announce it. Read More »

Grieving the loss of a relationship is painful; but not as painful as grieving the loss of a whole family.

The hardest part of ending my last relationship was the fact that I had to end my relationship with my ex’s parents and sister. After two and a half years of dating someone, you tend to grow close to the people they’re close to. So, when you stop talking to the person you were dating, you’re forced to break up with their whole family as well (except you usually don’t have any hard feelings against the family members). And just like that, they’re gone from your life.

My ex-bf had (and still has, I suppose) an amazing family. The Martins were the types of people who would do anything for you. Because they lived near my college town, I spent a lot of time with them and they became my second family. Throughout the ex’s billions of hockey injuries, surgeries, and hospital visits, I was there like one of them, sitting in waiting rooms and trying to lessen his pain and make him feel better.

They let me use their car to come back and fourth from campus to their house and later from Boston to their house. His mom would call me at work and ask me to check up on him. They cooked me dinner and asked me to help. We all watched American Idol together. I shared fashion tips with his ultra-stylish 13-year-old sister. Read More »