Pinewood Derby

Today I got a blast from the past in the form of the pinewood derby.... A little-known event that I did during Boy Scouts (or was it Cub Scouts? I could never really remember). Every kid makes a small wooden car with wheels and enters it into a race with other kids' cars where they go down a long ramp..... Actually pretty exciting for a kid, unless you lost all the time, which I did. Probably one of the first experiences of losing and losing in embarrassing fashion that motivated me to be as competitive as I am.
I like games and competition. I convinced my girlfriend to go to Coney Island to visit the home of the annual Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest, I loved to play mafia and balderdash and group party games when I was a kid, I'm absolutely enthralled with this "goldfish scooping" summer activity that I've never tried but that they have in Japan where kids try to scoop goldfish out of an artificial pond with small nets. I personally think adults waste their time too much with drinking, chatting, and talking a parties. You can chat all you want on Facebook and text without even being present in person! But classic party games, with the laughing and joking and cooperating and stuff, you actually do need to be together and in the same location. Cmon adults! Make me feel like a kid again with more party games before that part of me totally dies away! (When I turn 30!)

On a somewhat tangential note, part of the intrigue of the Olympics is watching some sorts that I don't see very often, like archery, track and field, gymnastics, beach volleyball, etc. I absolutely avoid watching basketball or tennis if I can, and still haven't ever seen judo or a number of other sports, mainly because (as my girlfriend so expertly pointed out) America only shows the sports Americans are good at, and those tend to usually be swimming (Phelps), women's vollyeball (Misty May , Karrie Walsh) and gymnastics (McKayla Mulroney is not impressed). Even track has now lost a little luster now that the US isn't good and Usain Bolt is the only star garnering attention.We wait 4 long years for the Olympics, why not show all of the sports and get a taste of all of them? I can honestly say I've never seen the "canoe spring," "taekwondo," "synchonized swimming." The triathlon, though, that's a sight to see. And still coming up! Thursday, August 18. 

Today I got a feeling that took me back. Natsukashii! 懐かしい

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan