Wednesday, August 6, 2008

8-8-08 Lucky Olympics? Let's Hope So!


The Olympic games always seems to bring out a certain excitement in me. When I was a little girl, my family watched the Olympics and talked about them and just all around enjoyed the every four year event. This year is no different for me, only this time, I am a little worried. China has always seemed a rather mysterious and exotic place to me, and I have to shamefully admit that I know very little about China and the Chinese culture. I was reading a little article about how the Chinese believe that the start date for the Olympics: eight minutes after the eighth hour of the eighth day of the eighth month, is lucky--except of course if you were born under the astrological sign of the Rat, in which case, astrologists suggest that you wear a pendant of an Ox to ward off clashes with those who were born under the sign of the Horse. These sorts of ideas serve to make China seem more unusual and strange to me. At any rate, I am looking forward to the couple of weeks of sporting competition. Regardless of what year it is and how lucky the Chinese seem to think it is, I sure hope their claims of safety and security for the athletes and observers are true and that these 29th Olympic Games are remembered only for the records that were set, and the great competitions that took place instead of one of political disaster and mayhem.

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