I Suddenly Remembered My Charlemagne

So apparently the internet in my apartment is not as "unlimited" as Upstairs told me it was when I moved in, because I have already used 100% of this month's bandwidth, presumably streaming the Olympics. I'm really annoyed because 1. WHO SAYS THEY HAVE UNLIMITED INTERNET WHEN THEY DON'T? and 2. I couldn't watch the Olympics!

(I mean, I COULD have, and I have certainly have no intention of not using the internet for the REST OF THE MONTH, but I'm nice enough not to stream when we are at our bandwidth limit. Except for the two pairs routines, which I did watch.)

ANYWAY, so we got a silver! And it's kind of a neat story! Our best skater fell during the qualifications, and missed getting a spot on the team, but his training partner got a spot, and then GAVE IT TO HIM. And then he won Silver! I really love that a lot of these sports are becoming more and more team-related. I think it's good for everything.

Also on the ice was pairs skating, which I mentioned before. Emma told me what was happening, so I know the Germans had a rough skate, but I think the Canadians all skated very well. This is, I think, where the team skate is amazing, because four of our six pairs are medalists anyway, and that medal was clearly a ball to win (quoth Emma, "Man, it's weird to only see four people in the kiss-n-cry!").

Hopefully the internet situation gets resolved. I mean, Olympics aside, I need it. But really.

Now that we're finished, I am going to go ahead and call my favourite moment of the Games.

Marianne St-Gelais watches the Mens 500m Final (They do cut away before you see how she gets back up over the rail, but she's still freaking adorable. I love that she was as happy with her silvers as she was...and that he did pretty much the same thing during her races, including the ending!)

...I'm going to have to download that song, so I can cry on command at any point in the future.

+++

I still think someone at CTV needs to sit all their commentators down and tell them to STOP MODIFYING THE WORD "UNIQUE"!

OMG I LOVE TESSA VIRTUE AND SCOTT MOIR!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know how you can tell Skeleton is one of the greatest sports of all time? You finish by crashing into a GIANT PADDED WALL. (Also, every single one of them is going to have the same bruise from coming out of Thunderbird. It's like the Skeleton Badge of Honour.) Also, they have to program the cameras by computer to catch the athletes.

HA! Our dude is a car auctioneer. That is too funny.

I cannot accurately convey how excited I am right now!

*I will not stay up and watch women's curling* *I will not stay up and watch women's curling* *I will not stay up and watch women's curling* *I will not stay up and watch women's curling* *I will not stay up and watch women's curling* *I will not stay up and watch women's curling*

BOOOYAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OPEN THOSE FLOODGATES, BABY!

(Man, we are so not watching the rest of Avatar...)

So, flist, you are (mostly) liberal, bleeding heart females. You've exploded over Stargate Universe (rightfully so), and you complained about the finale of Battlestar Galactica for reasons that I don't entirely understand or agree with, but can come to terms with.

You have not said anything about Caster Semenya, and I am wondering what you think.

Background: Caster Semenya is an 800 metre runner from South Africa, who has blasted away a bunch of records and is currently undergoing a gender test to see if she is, in fact, eligible to complete as a woman.

More Background: At the Melbourne Olympics, Tamara Press won the shot put and discus, and was later suspected of not being female. Her gender could not be determined, but testing became mandatory in 1966 and Tamara never competed again. The testing is only for females, and nowadays typically involves evaluation by gynecologists, endocrinologists, psychologists, and internal medicine specialists. (Source) There are also new rules that allow people who have had reassignment surgery to compete as the gender they identify. The IOC discontinued the testing process in 1999 (currently it's being brought up again by the IAAF).

So, flist, how do you feel?