Have you been watching the Olympics 24/7 (or perhaps it just feels like it)? I can’t get over how many different volleyball and water polo events there are. It seems one of these two sports is on every time I turn on the television. For this reason, I’ve caught up on a lot of my DVR viewing and on-demand HBO and SHOWTIME episodic TV instead.
I do enjoy the Olympics, though it does help when they’re taking place in the same hemisphere of the world so my Internet feeds and my TV viewing can line up somewhere in the same hemisphere of the day and it’s worth tuning in. Most of my Olympic winner revelations have come courtesy of my laptop during the day as I work and head online to do some web research or check email. The spoilers have made watching the Olympics a real let-down this year. I should have known what was to come when I saw leaks about the opening ceremony’s components early during the day of that primetime TV spectacle. Sigh. Oh well, such is life and the trouble with tape delayed drama.
This week, our little Olympic challenge involved no drama and simply imagination – pure imagination. I posed to you the question:
You’ve just won three medals (you decide gold, silver, bronze or a combo) — for what skills or talents did you just earn these achievements? And tell us about your special, medal-worthy ”gifts” that earned you the coveted prizes!
I hope you had some fun dreaming up the results for this one. I certainly did. And lucky you, you can read about my medal-earning exploits below…
So did you hear? I am now officially an Olympic champion…cue the music, hoist the flag and bring on the me-branded cereal box (I’d prefer my face plastered on the chocolate cheerios box please.) Let me tell you about my big victories.
On Wednesday, I took home the bronze for Most Concise Back-in Parking in the Ruth Eckerd Hall parking lot. I never considered myself an ace parker — don’t get me started on the completely pointless and potentially esteem-damaging torture of parallel parking instruction, particularly for young Florida drivers where there are few places to use the archaic skill — but that night while picking out my parking spot in the mostly empty lot as my husband and I prepared to go in for a pre-show media event, I noticed car after car struggle with the basic skill of backing into a space. In fact, some of the drivers not only took six or seven times to attempt parking in the same spot, even then many of these final parking jobs left their auto neighbors to come with some not-so-roomy spaces. I on the other hand, managed to back in with one try and determine not only the appropriate space on each side but the proper depth to back in just far enough to stay out of the way of incoming cars and leave ample room between my car and the row behind me. Clearly, parking is a dying artform and I humbly accept this award.
Thursday, I snagged a silver medal for Most Diligent Mowing. You see, I finished the front yard in the morning WITHOUT any music to keep me going. That’s right, not one but TWO Ipods were down for the count —both mine and my husband’s — and for me, doing the lawn in the summer heat without soothing sounds between my ears to encourage, enthrall and distract the hell out of me is almost a deal-breaker. I’ve been known to completely change out of my lawn clothes and reschedule for another day based on the unfathomable discovery of uncharged MP3 players. But Thursday, I persevered anyway. I took charge and completed the front. Then, as the noontime heat drenched my lawn wear and I felt like the main course at a fish fry, I booked it indoors and started charging my Ipod furiously while I vegged for much of the afternoon. But at 5 p.m., much like my MP3 player, I was recharged and ready to tackle the backyard, even though the clouds started eating away the blue skies overhead. I headed out to the back lawn and revved up both the music and my little red mower and let ’em rip! In an unusual twist of fate, I managed to mow the entire back lawn without a break thanks to a lovely medley from Jimmy Eat World, Collective Soul, Lenka, Foo Fighters and Shakira, among others.
On Friday, I scored the gold medal for Fastest Amazon.com Ordering – I even set a new world record. Having just spent the morning wrapping up book one of the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy, I booked it to the laptop across the house in about 10 seconds to immediately place my order for books 2 and 3 and even managed to resist the overnight shipping though I was mighty tempted. Within less than 2 minutes, the order was complete. I believe I even saw some scuff marks from the living room to the office marking my quick beeline to oh so glorious and hot and bothered online shopping therapy. Now, I wait longingly by the door every day for the U.S. postal service, stroking the gold medal around my neck but that’s the extent of my activities with the heavy object on the end of a chain. I’m simply intrigued with where this drama and Mr. Grey will lead next but that is all. I swear.
So tell me about your own medal moments from this week… I’d love to hear all about your thrill of victory but stay mum on the agony of defeat because we’re trying to be uplifting here, alrighty? Fire up the Olympic torch and let those imaginations run wild!
Cheers to finding that daily spark in your life,
Chris
0 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks