Growing up, I loved watching the Olympics.  It was a real family event where we would watch as many events that was broadcasted and with my dad cheering for China and me cheering for the US, many of these events were nerve-wracking.

As I grow older, the appeal of the Olympics isn’t as crazy as it was before.  Maybe because I’m not invested into the athletes who are competing.  I find myself cheering for different athletes, depending on how they are depicted by the media.  I would have never dreamed to cheer for another country back in 1988 and 1992, but this year, I’m cheering for Team GB for soccer as some of my favorite players are playing on that team.

I’ve been following it as much as I can, even waking up to reading up on articles regarding events I have missed.  This morning, I read about what happened to the South Corean fencer, Shin A Lam.  She was in the semi-final of the women’s fencing competition, where winner of the match would advance and fight for gold.  With one second left on the clock, all she needed to do was wait for the time to go out and she would have advanced.  Apparently, because of a timing error, the clock was stuck at 1 second and her opponent, Britta Heidemann from Germany, was able to get connect with her epee and land a hit, resulting in her advancement.

The clock doesn’t move!  (courtesy of buzzfeed.com)

As an athlete, you’re to trust that the people judging the event are fair.  You trust that whatever they say is correct.  As a viewer, you also have that kind of trust.  In these competition, there are rarely second chances and each and every time, you’re expected to be as perfect as you can, hoping that your best is the overall best.  If you make a mistake, your competitor will take advantage of that and your chance of gold, is over.  You’d expect the judges and organizes to also be perfect.

So what if they’re not?  What if they mess up and tell the victim of their error, “Sorry, we messed up?  Wait another 4 years?”  That’s unacceptable.  After watching the replays, Heidemann made 3 moves to score that hit.  It’s virtually impossible to do in 1 second.  I have not seen a replay which shows an assumed clock of exactly 1 second and better yet, should show the clock at a 1.99 seconds to prove a point.  MAYBE those 3 moves can be done in 1.99 seconds.  If that was a case, an argument can be made Heidemann could have won it.  But what if it took her more than 1.99 seconds to make those three moves?  

I’m not partial to South Corea in any way and while I’ve taken a few courses in fencing, the event itself isn’t something I care particularly much about.  But the fact that I know something like this has happened, it has negatively affected my feelings about the Olympics.  One caveat for those who still don’t know the entire story, Shin then sat down on the piste and refused to get off.  In fencing, once you leave the area, that means you are in agreement with the judging.  She waited till Corea officially appealed the decision and apparently, in order to do so, had to wire the money to lodge the appeal.  The whole thing took like 45 mins and eventually, they officials came out and announced that there was no appeal–the judge’s decision was final.

Shin, standing up defiant of the ruling before being escorted off by security.(from buzzfeed.com)

I’m sure right now there is some kind of investigation going on and at the moment, I’ll just wait it out.  That in fact, Heidemann was able to land her hit in 1 second or even hypothetically, 1.99 seconds.  However, if the investigation results in the judges to be wrong, I don’t think I can continue watching the Olympics.

This is the Olympics we’re talking about–the highest standard of athletic competition.  So call me an extremist. Sure, not watching the Olympics isn’t going to affect me in bad way, but until they resolve this issue of fairness to the athletes, I cannot support it.  I want them to at least acknowledge that they messed up and even though they cannot redo the whole thing over (which they should have done in the first place), that they did in fact completely took away the dream of this athlete because of their incompetence.

Click here to view the video.

I convinced my parents to try to buy organic. As Chinese parents, they are more worried about how much food costs, rather than the about all the potential health issues that one may get. However, as my father is probably suffering from celiac disease as well, he fully understands that what you eat can really make a difference.

Since I pretty much pay for everything around the house, I told them I’d pay extra for eating organic as well. Do I know for sure eating organic will be better for us? No conclusive study has proven that it does, but conventional wisdom tells me that the exponential increase of cancer and other diseases in the past 50 or so years and it may have to do with the things put into our foods.

Conventional wisdom also tells me that if spray 10-20 kinds of pesticides onto our produce to keep insects away, it can’t be good for humans. No amount of washing would get it off, especially if it’s absorbed into the fruit or vegetable. Conventional wisdom also tells me that growth hormones and anti-biotics injected into the animals will pass through to us when we eat them.

And even if you don’t believe in this, there’s really no way of denying that organic foods taste better. If you haven’t tried it, go to Whole Foods, buy some organic foods and then buy the same foods, but non-organic (inorganic might not be the correct word) at your neighborhood store and cook the same thing. You’ll realize how much more delicious everything is. I just hope that as more people begin eating organic, more farms will switch to it and increase supply, driving costs down a bit.

Obviously there’s no way I can eat organic all the time and every meal since dining out leaves you fewer options sometimes, but my entire family and I will work towards eating better and healthier. I realized that waking up and feeling better about yourself, yields a really wholesome kind of happiness. I just have to continue making better choices.

What are your thoughts on organic foods?

I found out Friday that I have celiac disease. It’s basically when gluten proteins cause your immune system attack the villi of your small intestines, the part that is responsible for nutrient absorption. Long term affects is malnutrition, which can cause all types of issues, ranging from headaches to depression to cancer in the small intestine and eventually, death. While there’s no cure, eating a gluten-free diet would give my small intestines the time to repair itself.

Since finding out, I have been reading up in it and learning more about this new change in lifestyle that I have. For a little over a month, I’ve been eating like 95% vegetarian. I lost some weight and felt lighter, but a friend of mine suggested the opposite approach and reintroduce meat in my diet. He told me to read “The Primal Blueprint,” which is a book that mainly talks about the Paleo diet, except not as extreme. Both diets are basically about eating the ways humans have been eating for the past 2.5 million years, mostly meat from hunting and whatever you can get from gathering like some fruits and seeds, but absolutely no grains or legumes.

It’s interesting that after some research, everyone who goes on it, swears by it. Yet those who have never tried it, would think its counter-intuitive where conventional wisdom tells us that consuming mostly fat and protein, and cutting out carbs, is a bad idea. The backers of the primal/paleo/”caveman” diet believe that we have trained ourselves to be a carb consuming society, but our bodies have not adjusted.  One interesting point is that there is a correlation between how much insulin your body produces versus how long your life span will be.  Those who consume huge amounts of carbs all the time, statistically have a shorter lifespan than those who do not consume as much.

Since I am going gluten-free for the rest of my life, I’m going to try this primal way of eating. Only meat, vegetables and fruits,–basically eating as close to natural as possible. I will be going to a gastro-intestinal specialist and getting a second opinion on this celiac disease.  Hopefully, what I have isn’t too serious yet and all I have to do is basically eat better. It seems like its so hard to be healthy these days, because despite how much you try to exercise, your choice in food really does dictate your health.

The saddest part about this whole gluten-free thing, is that I won’t be able to consume any of the beers I like for the rest of my life.  

Just the other day, while going to Facebook, a friend of mine posted a rant about people who are always asking her the baby question, when is she planning, is she working on one now, what are they waiting for, etc.

She’s been married to her husband for a few years and for whatever reason, do not have kids. I’m never curious about these things, but since getting married, I’ve gotten that question quite a few times. While it doesn’t bother me, I can certainly understand what my friend is going through. Would people really feel better knowing the answer? It’s a very personal thing–something that should be between two people.

What would these questions accomplish? So they can know that they might not want children? To know if they’re having sex? To know that maybe there’s a problem? Whatever the response is, it’s no one’s business.

So next time you bump into a friend and you want to catch up, maybe a simple “any kids yet?” is sufficient. If the response is in the affirmative, great, but if it’s in the negative, it’s best to stop right there and not venture into private territory. I don’t know anyone who ever wants to be pressed for answers when it comes to these questions–cliche, but we should always remind ourselves that we should treat others in ways we wish to be treated.

This past weekend, I went to a wedding where I heard some of the worst speeches I have ever heard in my life. After going to over 70 weddings in the past 6 years, I definitely feel like I’ve heard them all. I was wrong.

The Best Man speech was hands down the worst speech ever. I’ve heard very long and dull ones where the story and speech was going nowhere. I’ve heard some inappropriate stories. This one topped it.

The Best Man began the speech by calling the groom a “dick.” As soon as I heard that word, I knew it wasn’t going in the right direction. There’s no place for profanity in such an environment, not only because you’re on video, but mostly because friends and family, including children are there. The speech goes on to tell a somewhat story about underaged drinking, laced with profanity throughout and that’s when disaster struck. He then basically tells everyone the groom was a manwhore/womanizer and was always about “quantity over quality.” Instead of saying he’s a changed man after meeting the bride, he then tells everyone that that bride is on the top of that quality list.

The Maiden of Honor and Maid of Honor speeches were not as bad, but that’s only juxtaposing it to the Best Man’s. Maiden of Hour was crying throughout her speech, often mumbling words where no one could hear. Maid of Honor was giddy and bubbly, but gave off the feeling of bitterness in her speech that she was always the one just tagging along–always the third person between the bride and the Maiden of Honor.

If any of you reading ever get married, do what I did and tell whoever is giving the speech that it shouldn’t be more than a minute long. I’ve been timing speeches in the past 15 or so weddings–the average Best Man speech is about 4 mins. The average Maid of Honor is about 6 mins. It’s way too long. People’s attention is lost within the first 30 seconds if your speech is not interesting. After 2 mins, people don’t even listen to it anymore. Make sure you also tell them to make it funny, but also keep it classy.

I’ve noticed that the guys tend to try and talk about random stories that don’t have a point or punch line or they go extreme and try to embarrass the groom.

The girls usually get very emotional and usually in most cases, seemed to google every positive adjective they can find and then say the bride is all those things. I’ve heard speeches from maids of honor where you could substitute the bride’s name from the speech with anyone else–very generic.

If you’re the one making the speech, follow a very simple formula–
1. Introduce yourself.
2. Quickly thank everyone for coming
3. Quickly tell everyone where/how you met the bride/groom, focus on a trait and then tell a funny, but not too embarrassing story as an example of that trait.
4. Then be serious and tell everyone 1 or 2 extremely positive traits about the bride or groom.
5. Focus your attention on the new spouse and congratulate him/her for marrying your friend.
6. Congratulate the new couple.

Luckily for me, my self-proclaimed “Best Man” made an awesome speech, probably the best I’ve heard. People remember who gave the good ones and who gave the bad ones. Don’t be remembered for giving the bad ones.