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September 5, 2008

[loblo] Blake and I are like 12 yo girls... only geeky.

Me:: Aww, mature tranny party of one... your parade float is ready :-)
Blake:: Yay I am going to ride it into work to deal with the problem I caused yesterday :-)
You ready to teach a load balancer how to do its job?
Me:: I'm gonna show it how to blow and explode properly, and fuck everyone all at once. Fierce
So... My co-workers started calling me lotus Blossom... Go figure. They nicknamed me LoBlo.
Blake:: Bwahahahahaha
Me:: *pushes you off the float*
Blake:: *giggles and falls*
Me:: *sticks heels in your tiara and smashes it... and giggles*
Blake:: bitch diamonds are forever
Maybe you can tell it how to not be intimidated when big things enter small holes on the firewall?
Me:: Lol! You sound like you want to pound my, um, Check Point ;-)
Blake:: root@LoadBalancer01# Modprobe -tranny && finger localhost
Me:: Wow. I think you just pierced through
Blake:: I just SQL injected all over your database
Me:: Eww, virus
Blake:: It's okay, you scrubbed my input so nothing got in
Me:: It figures that your trojan horse is tiny in size and undetectable
Blake:: # whoami Daddy *w000000t*

But then he goes and calls me Daddy coz I'm one decade older.

Rude. @ 18:12

[hurricane tranna] Wow.

National Weather upgraded the Tropical Storm Watch to a Warning for early Saturday morning through Saturday afternoon. Expecting; 4 to 8 inches of rain and wind gust 40 mph for the Metropolitan Area, Including the District of Columbia.

4-8" of rain?? Eep!

I have been so totes busy with a crisis at work -- that began inauspiciously with a 5-hour workday on Labor Day... ONSITE! -- that I totes missed the big bad Tropical Storm Hanna churning up the Eastern Seaboard hot on the heels of Hurricane Gustav which evacuated 2mn ppl from the entire city of New Orleans -- only 3 years after Katrina -- and much of the Gulf Coast for almost a week!

Hanna is projected to come closer to DC than Isabel which slammed into NC 5 years ago (to the month!) as a Category 2 Hurricane and brought 71 mph gusts, record storm surges (10-12 feet) and knocked out power for 1.24 million people in the DC area, but with far less rain (2") than is predicted with Hanna.

This blog pays homage to Hurricane Trannabel because it happened 3 weeks after this blog was started :-)

L'David:: Are you ready for Hurricane Tranna?
Kiat:: Lol! I've got tranny-glue applied on my wig and tranny-resistant makeup
L'David:: The slut! There's a 3some out there right now, and she initiated it.
Kiat:: She's on top of Ike who's on top of Josephine. Sounds like a bad porn movie
L'David:: Hahaha! There's a FB group for Hanna. I dare you to become a fan.
Kiat:: Is that a tranny dare?
L'David:: Triple tranny dare!

Hanna is a Tranny Ferosha. Let the Hurricane Party weekend commence! @ 16:49

September 2, 2008

[chrome schmrome] I guess I got a little caught up in the whole "Google can do no wrong" Kool-Aid drunkenness coz I was giddy enough about the sudden announcement and the super quick availability of Google's new browser -- Chrome -- that I actually downloaded it a few minutes after it became available at 12pm PDT today (I know, I can be SUCH a geek!).

To my dismay, I couldn't use it at work coz of some PC firewall issues so I was very eager to use it when I got home.

Well, I've used it for a few now and the verdict is ambivalent. Let's just say I have no idea what the fuss is all about. Yes, it's got a cool name (so does Firefox... IE = Dumb). Yes, it looks neat and simple and streamlined, and it loads fast I agree... but I can't imagine ditching Firefox for this new Chrome thingie.

Two major drawbacks that I can think of right off the top of my head -- Java and Add-ons (thank you, Firefox, for getting us addicted to those little widgets). Java barely works in Chrome on some sites. I know this is easily fixed but still, very annoying.

Firefox launched with a slew of add-ons. Chrome could've followed suit but they didn't probably coz they were outed before they were ready. Whatev. Poor excuse. I absolutely cannot live without my weather add-on (1-ClickWeather) in Firefox. In the status bar. Which does not exist in Chrome. 'Nuff said.

At least kiat.net loads perfectly in Chrome, unlike the many HTML code tweaks I had to make in order to get it to display properly in IE (stupid Microsoft). And I do have to admit some stuff is pretty cool in Chrome, like the combined Search/Address bar (very very cool). And I think I could live without the status bar just as I think it's neat that the Windows-like menu bar is no longer there.

That said, I probably won't be giving up on Firefox anytime soon. Maybe when Chrome is more mature and has a few more add-ons... One thing's for sure though, I am NEVER going back to IE. Ever. I only use it at work coz I have to for some sites. Otherwise, Microsoft is so done in my book.

Kick it up a notch, Chrome! @ 20:34

[vpilf] Who wants to fuck a Republicunt klondyke?

I love America. @ 15:20

August 31, 2008

[51] Happy 51st Merdeka/Independence Day, Malaysia! @ 00:21

August 30, 2008

[pussy humor] At Meridian Hill Park for Saturgays a week ago:

L'David:: You're allergic to cats aren't you?
Me:: Yup
L'David:: Pussy allergic to pussy
Both of us:: LOL!
L'David:: Do you have cats in Malaysia? [pause] Der, of course not. You eat them all.

Rude! :-D

And at the same venue...

Me:: You're a tranny
Claire:: Do you want to see my dick?

Aww, I *heart* my two minoritrannies -- L'David and Claire! @ 22:12

[more olympic humor] At Cobalt 80s night:

Friend:: Where have you been?
Me:: [drunk] I was in the Olympics
Friend:: You were *in* the Olympics??
Me:: I meant "at" the Olympics... I would only be "in" it if Bottoming was an Olympic sport
Friend:: And China would get another gold medal

LOL! @ 22:06

[y'all look alike] Since I have been asked like a billion times now by countless people how were the Olympics, I am retaliating by asking them back if they saw me on TV. Like, literally, *every*one wants to know if I went to the Opening Ceremonies (no), if I saw Michael Phelps (yes), if Beijing was polluted (no), and if the Chinese gymnasts are underaged (no, and no they're not my sisters). I have been recounting the same Beijing/China story over and over like almost a hundred times now. Totes ridick.

I can't remember who but somebody from JR's looked at me when I asked him if he saw me on TV and he was like...

"Gurl, no. You look like everyone else there."

Mmm-hmm, serves me right. @ 22:00

[1 billion] My co-workers and I were making our way through GWU in a car to get to Red, Hot and Blue in NoVA for a delicious birthday BBQ lunch...

Me:: Look, Mitchell Hall... Where's Kiat Hall?
Co-worker:: Isn't that McDonald's? Over 1 billion served...

Hrmph. Bee-yotches, all of them. @ 21:54

August 28, 2008

[we love bill] Wow. Bill Clinton's speech last night was nothing short of electric and showed why he is the only Democrat to have won two post-war terms in the White House.

What an amazing speech.

Last night, Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she is going to do everything she can to elect Barack Obama. That makes two of us. Actually, that makes 18 million of us... because, like Hillary, I want all of you who supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November.

Our nation is in trouble on two fronts. The American dream is under siege at home, and America's leadership in the world has been weakened... the job of the next president is to rebuild the American dream and to restore American leadership in the world. And here's what I have to say about that. Everything I learned in my eight years as president, and in the work I have done since in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job.

The long, hard primary tested and strengthened him. And in his first presidential decision, the selection of a running mate, he hit it out of the park. And so, my fellow Democrats, I say to you: Barack Obama is ready to lead America and to restore American leadership in the world. Barack Obama is ready to honor the oath, to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be president of the United States.

Most important of all, Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless we are first strong at home. People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.

"...more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power". I thought that was *the* most powerful quote of the night. Beautiful stuff.

And then he launches into a blistering attack of Republicunt policies.

In this decade, American workers have consistently given us rising productivity. That means, year after year, they work harder and produce more. Now, what did they get in return? Declining wages, less than one-fourth as many new jobs as in the previous eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits, rising poverty, and the biggest increase in income inequality since the 1920s. American families by the millions are struggling with soaring health care costs and declining coverage.

What about the military families pushed to the breaking point by multiple, multiple deployments? What about the assault on science and the defense of torture? What about the war on unions and the unlimited favors for the well-connected? And what about Katrina and cronyism?

My fellow Democrats, America can do better than that. And Barack Obama will do better than that.

At this point, the audience chants "Yes, we can! Yes, we can!" over and over, and Bill deadpans: "Yes, he can, but, first, we have to elect him."

ROTFL! I love Bill.

He continues skewering the Republicunts.

...on the two great questions of this election -- how to rebuild the American dream and how to restore America's leadership in the world -- [McCain] still embraces the extreme philosophy that has defined his party for more than 25 years.

And it is, to be fair to all the Americans who aren't as hard- core Democrats as we, it's a philosophy the American people never actually had a chance to see in action fully until 2001, when the Republicans finally gained control of both the White House and the Congress.

Then we saw what would happen to America if the policies they had talked about for decades actually were implemented. And look what happened.

They took us from record surpluses to an exploding debt; from over 22 million new jobs to just 5 million; from increasing working families' incomes to nearly $7,500 a year to a decline of more than $2,000 a year; from almost 8 million Americans lifted out of poverty to more than 5.5 million driven into poverty; and millions more losing their health insurance.

Now, in spite of all this evidence, their candidate is actually promising more of the same. Think about it: more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the deficit, increase inequality, and weaken the economy; more Band-Aids for health care that will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families, and increase the number of uninsured; more going it alone in the world, instead of building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities necessary to advance our security and restore our influence.

They actually want us to reward them for the last eight years by giving them four more.

Now, let's send them a message that will echo from the Rockies all across America, a simple message: Thanks, but no thanks.

In this case, the third time is not the charm.

Awesome!!! He ends with...

My fellow Democrats, 16 years ago, you gave me the profound honor to lead our party to victory and to lead our nation to a new era of peace and broadly shared prosperity.

Together, we prevailed in a hard campaign in which Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be commander-in-chief.

Sound familiar?

It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it will not work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.

Barack Obama will lead us away from the division and fear of the last eight years back to unity and hope.

So if, like me, you believe America must always be a place called Hope, then join Hillary and Chelsea and me in making Barack Obama the next president of the United States.

Trust me when I say you really need to spend 20+ minutes of your time watching the speech to truly appreciate how good it was.

Pure genius! And tonight, the whole nation waits for Obama... @ 10:37

August 27, 2008

[first black president?] Four years ago, Mr Obama became a member of the United States Senate after serving seven years as an Illinois state senator. Today, at 4:47pm MDT (6:47pm EDT), 47-yo Senator Barack Obama -- son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya -- was declared the Democratic Party's nominee for President; the first African-American to do so for a major political party.

With these words by Senator Hillary Clinton, his fiercest opponent during the very long Democratic nomination process, history was made:

"With eyes firmly fixed on the future in the spirit of unity, with the goal of victory, with faith in our party and country, lets declare together in one voice, right here and right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president. I move that Senator Barack Obama of Illinois be selected by this convention by acclamation as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States."

From WaPo:

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois completed an improbable and historic journey here Wednesday when he was nominated by acclamation as the Democratic candidate for president, becoming the first African American to lead a major political party into a general-election campaign.

Obama, who just eight years ago attended his first Democratic National Convention and who four years later shot to national prominence with an electrifying keynote address at the gathering in Boston, was given a final symbolic boost Wednesday by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who moved from the convention floor to suspend the roll call of the states and formalize her former rival's nomination by acclamation.

From NYT:

Barack Hussein Obama, a freshman senator who defeated the first family of Democratic Party politics with a call for a fundamentally new course in politics, was nominated by his party on Wednesday to be the 44th president of the United States.

The unanimous vote made Mr. Obama the first African-American to become a major party nominee for president. It brought to an end an often-bitter two-year political struggle for the nomination with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who, standing on a packed convention floor electric with anticipation, moved to halt the roll call in progress so that the convention could nominate Mr. Obama by acclamation. That it did with a succession of loud roars, followed by a swirl of dancing, embracing, high-fiving and chants of "Yes, we can."

From USAT:

It was a scripted scenario, the outcome never in doubt. But when history arrived on the floor of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, it came with the full force of emotion.

After an especially long primary season, after private wrangling and public battle, the Democratic Party became the first major party to select an African-American nominee for president in the nation's history.

With a roar of approval and a sparkle of flashing cameras, the convention's delegates nominated by acclamation Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who just four years ago electrified the Democratic convention with a speech where he first called for "a politics of hope." That message carried him in this election season to the top of his party's ticket.

Obama for President! @ 21:23

[no way, no how, no mccain] Last night while Llew and I were waiting at JR's for the witching hour before stumbling up the street to 80s night at Cobalt, we caught Hillary Clinton's "look at me, I'm wearing orange, it's all about me, me, me, me!" speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver's Pepsi Center.

Granted, we were a wee bit tipsy after 1 1/2 glasses of wine each at Logan Tavern for dinner and a little exhausted after having woken up at 7:30am (for my citizenship interview!), but her speech wow-ed me to the point where I yearned again for a female president. Absolutely brilliant stuff.

The NYT has a really cool interactive video and transcript of Senator Clinton's speech last night, check it out.

It was a sweeping speech that emphasized unity while arguing passionately for her supporters to throw their full support behind Barack Obama, and excoriating the Bush Administration and John McCain all at once. Her soaring "this is not about me, it's about us" speech was nothing less than historic for women all across the nation on this day, 88 years to the day when the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote was enshrined in the US constitution. She brought the house down when she appeared onstage in a jaw-dropping orange pantsuit to uproarious applause that lasted for minutes, and in the end she left the crowd drooling for another Clinton Presidency.

The speech hit its highest points when -- after attacking's the past 8 years of "failed leadership" -- she said "no way, no how, no McCain" (*loved* it!), and when she gave a shout out to all her supporters by referring to them as the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits", LOL! Priceless. I also loved it when she said that government must be about "We the people" not "We the favored few". She also gave a great big nod the the Clinton years:

"And when Barack Obama is in the White House, he'll revitalize our economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our time. Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, we did it before with President Clinton and the Democrats. And if we do our part, we'll do it again with President Obama and the Democrats."

Highlights of speeches from others in Denver:

"George Bush has put the middle class in a hole and John McCain has a plan to keep digging that hole with George Bushs shovel." -- IL Congressman Rahm Emmanuel

"If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and misappropriating, this administration would take the gold ... They want another four-year term to continue to alienate our allies, spend our childrens inheritance and hollow out our economy." -- OH Congressman Dennis Kucinich

"Im sure you remember a girl from Kansas who said theres no place like home. Well, in John McCains version, theres no place like home. And a home. And home. And home." -- KS Governor Kathleen Sebelius

"If [McCain] is the answer, then the question must be ridiculous." -- NY Governor David Paterson

"...not four more years, but four more months." -- PA Senator Robert Casey Jr.

Hillary's speech comes 11 weeks before the Presidential Election of 2008. It is *THE* most important election of our lifetimes. Even if the outcome of your state's election is no longer in doubt...

...VOTE! @ 11:04

August 26, 2008

[approved] It's my favorite word in the world and after 2 years and 2 months of waiting, including a tale of my expired fingerprints (yup, my fingers change every two years *eyes rolling*), I finally went for my citizenship interview in Merrifield...

...at 8:40am! *faints*

Needless to say, I was a lil' hungover and very groggy (with 5 1/2 hours of sleep) when I got there -- and late even -- and was quite relieved to learn that the entire process took only 15 minutes. Shocking, I know. The wait itself in the all-Hispanic waiting room packed with Spanish-speaking people was all of 10 minutes. I was one of like 3 or 4 Asians in the room. No white people. The interview went super quick and before long, I had this in my hands:

The "tests of English and U.S. history and government" consisted of reading and writing exercises with this sentence -- "I drive a blue car". Two thoughts went through my head. (1) WTF? A 3yo could read/write that, and (2) How did they know?? She laughed at me when I told her I actually do drive a blue car (and drove it to the interview) and wondered how the USCIS knew about my car. Purely coincidental, she assured me. Mmm-hmm, not in this Patriot Act era.

Because the interview itself went so fast, I didn't even realize it when the 10 questions (of which you have to get 6 right) portion of the interview commenced. First question: What are the colors of the stars in the US flag? I was this close to saying yellow (that's the color of the stars in the Malaysian flag which is oddly similar to the US flag) before I thought about it a lil' bit more in my hazy state of mind and said white. The other questions were brain-dead: How many US Senators, who becomes President when the President dies, what are the three branches of gov't, what year was the Bill of Rights introduced (ooo, tricky), etc. I got the first 6 right at which point the Q&A session stopped. Boo. I wanted to answer more, and tackle the challenging ones!

I almost wished they had asked me who the President is coz I would've said Al Gore (or Barack Obama)! *giggle*

Anyways, very quick, painless and easy... I am one swearing-in ceremony away from holding a US passport.

Woohoo. Yes, can you tell I'm thrilled beyond belief? I'm actually quite blase about the whole thing. It really doesn't make a difference to me whether I become a US citizen or not. But it's now almost my 12th year here and I was like, why the hell not.

The only benefit I see -- besides voting in a state that doesn't really matter in the Presidential elections anyway -- is a US passport which will mean that I don't have to apply for a Japanese visa among others. On the flipside though, the cost of obtaining all sorts of visas will increase dramatically compared to my Malaysian passport. Hmm, maybe I need to learn how to use both strategically :-D

Anyho... long day ahead as it's Llew's last full day in town! @ 10:03

August 24, 2008

[golden gay] On the penultimate day of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, 20-yo Australian diver Matthew Mitcham made history by being the first out gay male gold medallist in the history of the Olympics and, at the same time, denying the Chinese of a historic sweep of all the diving gold medals.

From Reuters' "The greatest dive in Olympic history":

The Water Cube was almost silent as a slight blonde man who two years earlier was not even diving leapt off the ten metre platform, twisted and somersaulted through the air and slid into the water with just the slightest of splashes.

Matthew Mitcham resurfaced to an explosion of applause and as the judges scores came up his smile of delight dissolved into tears of disbelief.

He had snatched a medal gold from the Chinese favourites with just one, perfect dive.

For the next hour the Australian looked how I always imagined Olympic gold medalists should overwhelmed with disbelief and delight.

In some ways it was incredible Mitcham was even in Beijing, much less topping the podium. He had battled depression and burnout, retired and come back before he turned twenty. And shortly before he came to Beijing he went public about his sexuality, the only openly gay male athlete at the Olympics.

I felt sorry for the Chinese diver who came second. But after watching his team mates take the other seven medals, some apparently more relieved to have done their duty than excited about the result, it was an unforgettable upset.

Matthew Mitcham is the first Australian male to win an Olympic gold medal in diving in 84 years. He also received the highest single-dive score in Olympic history with his stunning sixth and final dive in the 10m Platform event. After trailing by 34 points leading into the final round, Mathew amassed four perfect 10s en route to a whopping 112.10 points on his last dive -- a back 2 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists -- to pull off a stunning upset when the China's Zhou Luxin faltered in his last dive. In the end, Matthew defeated Zhou by a razor-thin 4.8 points (537.95 vs 533.15).

Matthew Mitcham dives for gold

His same-sex partner, Lachlan Fletcher, was by his side the entire time.

Matthew is one of 11 out athletes at these Olympics and the only gay male athlete in Beijing; out of 11,028 athletes from 204 countries. Shocking. Greg Louganis won four gold medals and a silver and he is gay but he only came out after he had retired from the sport. So, Matthew's achievement is nothing less than historic as an out and proud gay man at the Olympics.

There have been other gay Olympic medallists -- double gold medallist Camilla Andersen (Denmark, handball) and Gigi Fernandez (USA, tennis), American cyclist Robert Dover who won four bronze medals and Sheryl Swoopes who won three gold medals in basketball.

But Matthew Mitchan is as gay as gold... and he's cute to boot!

From Gay City News of NYC:

"Mitcham's reaction to the victory was an iconic gay moment. Eschewing any signs of macho stoicism, he let loose a torrent of tears, ran into the stands, and kissed Fletcher. Still giddy with joy at the news conference, he hugged the Herald journalist who wrote the story confirming he is gay. The post-victory pictures of Mitcham in his Speedos with his frumpy mom and his lover present a mix of perfectionism and unabashed ordinariness. Mitcham murmurs; he isn't handsome, just goofy."

Cheers queers :-) @ 11:23

August 23, 2008

[underaged sistahs] Chuck just IM-ed me on Facebook...

Chuck:: what are you doing? are you going to have to go back to beijing to testify that your sister is really 16?

ROTFLMAO! I just crapped a panda laughing. @ 11:47

August 20, 2008

[see the world, visit london] As the Beijing 2008 Games draws to a close with only 4 days left of competition, London 2012 is gearing up for an 8-minute handover ceremony (with David Beckham and Michael Phelps!) at the Closing Ceremonies this Sunday with an awesome advertizing campaign designed to celebrate the (undisputed, if I may add) global status of the British capital.

Check it out:

Globe shows the Thames snaking across the earth

Explosive uses fireworks to represent the capital's festivals

Rhythm uses a microphone to highlight the thriving music scene

27 July, 2012 seems far away -- 1437 days to go! -- but so did Beijing 2008.

The Bird's Nest, Water Cube and Tiananmen Square were awesome, and soon we will be greeted with Wembley, Wimbledon and Trafalgar Square! London 2012 is gonna be awesome!! @ 11:58

August 18, 2008

[one world, one dream] From UPI:

The Olympic Games often have been the butt of bitter cynics, who snarl that they do not change human nature or resolve the underlying conflicts of shortage, hunger, hate, fear and war that plague the human race -- as if they or anything else could do all that.

But the Olympics do fulfill their primary function of celebrating the best in human athletic achievement and displaying the aspiration of the human family at its most inspiring and hopeful -- in peace and unity, with its finest young athletes hosted in hospitality and generosity.

China and its people have been upholding and fulfilling all those admirable ideals in this 29th Olympiad of the modern era. Let us cheer them for doing so.

The Olympics first and foremost are about sports -- international sports. The Olympics, by bringing the athletes of the world together, are, therefore, instrumental at promoting understanding between cultures. But most of all, the Olympics allow countries -- big or small, rich or poor -- to compete in a stadium, instead of a battlefield, and on a level playing field with each and every athlete given the chance of seeing his/her national flag hoisted on the world's stage and his/her national anthem played in front of an audience of billions in what is the biggest international sporting event in mankind's history.

There will be time after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games to talk about China-related issues from Tibet to Taiwan and everything in between. More importantly, there *should* be a time after the Olympics to focus international outrage against Russia for invading Georgia, the US for invading Iraq, and all wars in general.

The Olympic ideal shone at its brightest when Nino Salukvadze (Georgian bronze medallist) and Natalia Paderina (Russian silver medallist) embraced on the medal podium despite the fact that their countries are at war and their people are dying and suffering. They were friends before the tanks, missiles and bombs, before the killing and carnage.

"If the world were to draw any lesson from what I did, there would never be any wars. We live in the 21st century after all and in the 21st century we shouldn't really stoop so low as to wage wars against one other. There should be no hatred amongst athletes, and there should be no hatred among people, either." -- Nino Salukvadze

For now, the spotlight should be on the athletes. Let them compete, and let us bask in the glory of their achievements.

One World, One Dream. @ 11:48

[where were you...] ...when 23yo Michael Phelps from Baltimore (our neighbor!) won his historic 8th gold medal of these Beijing 2008 Olympic Games?

Tony and I watched it all begin on Day 3 of the Olympics -- Sunday, 10 Aug -- live at the Water Cube, where President Bush (gag) was also in the audience, when Michael Phelps started his record run of 8 gold medals by winning his first -- the 400m Individual Medley. It was an ecstatic win, though lacking in the drama of his most recent races which have varied from competitive (4x100m Medleay Relay) to screamingly-close (4x100m Freestyle Relay) to I-think-he-lost-but-OMB!!!-he-won-by-a-fingernail photo-finish (100m Butterfly).

This past Saturday night (Sunday morning in Beijing -- Day 10 of the Olympics), Blake and I arrived at an overflowingly packed Nellie's (around 11pm) just in time to watch Phelps swim his butterfly leg of the 4x100m Medley Relay and lifted the US team from 3rd place to 1st just in time for power-freestyler Jason Lezak to outtouch the Aussies at the end of the race in world record time, thus sealing Michael Phelps place in history as the Olympian with the most gold medals in a single games AND the Olympian with the most gold medals, EVER. With 14, he has won 5 more golds than any other Olympian in history. Amazing.

It shouldn't have been a competitive race -- the US has won this race every time it's entered the event since 1960 -- but before Phelps got into the pool, there were lots of worried faces in the crowd of mostly gay boys (and a smattering of straight by-passers who were watching from the sidewalks). Nonetheless, we all erupted when Phelps jumped into the pool for the third leg and brought the US back from 3rd place, and practically brought the place down when the US team won, joining in spontaneous chants of "USA! USA! uSA!" -- how butch right? I wonder if I can use that to bolster my citizenship interview next week, hmm...

On the same day that the Phelps-tastic phenomenon happened, China boosted its gold medal tally to a record 35, surpassing their haul of 32 in Athens four years ago and setting the proud nation up for an unprecendented top place finish in the medal tally (the US has been on top of both gold medal and total medal counts for the past three Olympics).

And we have only just passed the halfway mark of these Beijing 2008 Olympics (165 golds have been handed out, 135 more to go).

Nonetheless -- 9 days, 8 gold medals, 7 world records... Phelps is immortal. What an extraordinary chapter in Olympic history.

And to celebrate, Blake and I waltzed into Town for Madonna's 50th birthday celebration! All-Madonna, all-night. Even Phelpsmania couldn't match that :-D @ 06:25

August 15, 2008

[17!] Did you guys see the live shots of Tiananmen Square and the Olympic Green last night (Friday morning in Beijing)?? Blue skies, cloudless and crystal clear! Shocking.

We weren't so lucky during our time in Beijing. Officially, the Air Pollution Index was:

AUG 06 -- 85 (we landed in Beijing and it was choking with haze)
AUG 07 -- 95 (our first full day in Beijing -- awful!)
AUG 08 -- 94 (Opening Ceremony -- oppressive)
AUG 09 -- 78 (better... we were outdoors for 4 hours for beach v'ball)
AUG 10 -- 82 (the rains came... poor visibility)
AUG 11 -- 37 (fantastic picture day! we departed today, pout)
AUG 12 -- 32
AUG 13 -- 60
AUG 14 -- 61
AUG 15 -- 17 (!! amazing...)
AUG 16 -- 23

As you can see from the above, we only had one picture-perfect day during our time in Beijing and that was on our departure day (this past Monday). The pictures we took from Tiananmen Square and the Olympic Green that morning (before diving) were near-perfect. The ones from the night before (10th) were not bad either after the rains had washed a lot of the heat and humidity (and pollution?) away.

Bird's Nest (and the Olympic Flame!) from the rainy night of the 10th

Beijing 2008 @ Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen on the morning of the 11th

Yea, yea I did more jump shots :-p Peer pressure, LOL!

For the most part though, we couldn't really take pictures because you could barely see the buildings across the street, much less the skyscrapers that seem to disappear into the smog/haze.

But the pictures from Beijing on NBC today these past few days... WOW. The first half of the Olympics is coming to an end. Phelps swims for history tomorrow. Woo! @ 23:10

[0.01s!!!] OMB, watching Michael Phelps come from second-to-last at the 50m turn, to beat the Serbian guy (who was first at the turn) by 0.01 seconds for the 100m Butterfly pretty much took all the voice out of me.

He won by ONE ONE-HUNDREDTH of a second!!! That is like the skin off your finger. For a few seconds there, I was like, "there's NO way he's gonna be able to catch up from second last to gold medal."

But WHAT an INCREDIBLE finish!!!

Amazing. He has now tied Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven goal medals at a single Olympics.

One thing though... he *only* won in Olympic Record time... not World Record time...

Pfffttt... He is Phelp-tastic!!! @ 22:27

[o-lee-mpics] I was so wrapped up in the women's Gymnastics Individual All-Around final last night (USA! USA! USA!) that I totes overlooked the fact that a Malaysian shuttler is now in the finals of the Men's Badminton Singles event and will be guaranteed at least a silver medal! Our fourth ever! (I know, how pathetic)

This Sunday at around 9pm Beijing time (9am EDT), the 28 million or so Malaysians will be holding their collective breath as LEE Chong Wei battles LIN Dan of China for what-may-be Malaysia's first ever gold medal at the Olympics. The sport of Badminton has historically been dominated by China, Indonesia and South Korea who have won every single Olympic gold medal (except for one -- Denmark in 1996) in this sport since its inception in 1992.

If Chong Wei wins Malaysia's first ever gold medal, he will become an instant sports millionaire in Malaysia, where the prize money for an Olympic gold is RM1 million (about US$300k), a silver is worth RM300,000 (US$90k) and a bronze is worth RM100,000 (US$30k). Even with that incentive, Malaysia has only ever won 3 medals in the Olympics -- 1 silver and 2 bronzes -- and not one in Sydney 2000 or Athens 2004. It has been 12 long years.

Malaysia first participated at the Olympic Games in Melbourne 1956 (as Malaya in 1956 and 1960, and Malaysia thereafter) and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then except for the US-led boycott of Moscow 1980. Malaysia has never participated in the Winter Olympic Games (der). In all those years, the Malaysian national anthem ("Negaraku" or "My Country") has never been played at an Olympic venue.

South-East Asia has never been a sports powerhouse. Only Thailand and Indonesia have ever won Olympic gold medals; the former has won 6 in boxing and weightlifting and the latter has won 5, all of them in badminton. North Asia has always been far better at sports -- I mean, com'on, even Mongohria has just won their first ever gold medal!

The hopes of a nation now rests on one man. @ 11:06

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