Suddenly June flipped to July the other day and I came to the sudden and jarring realization that half of 2021 is already over! The next week is a huge vacation week for many Americans, with many using the July 4th holiday on Sunday to observe a normal day off on July 5th but then just giving everyone the entire week off, something most will likely take advantage after a travel-free 2020. The Olympics are still happening later this month despite lots of consternation about the pandemic......America's gotten lucky with the vaccines helping to immunize most people, but it's important to note most of the world still isn't immunized; a lot of developing countries didn't get the vaccine yet, and don't have access to 3 different ones like America has. There is a bit of good news for JNJ vaccine recipients like myself that the delta variant of the virus seems to be contained by that vaccine.....so yay something to counterbalance the risk of blood cots in certain women!
The Olympics were a good time for me to learn about other countries especially in the Opening Ceremonies when all the countries would parade around with their flag, and as a child I had a globe I would consult to see where that country was (that globe still sits in my parents' home along with ridges for mountain ranges). I was never given this option, but Korean people have a ceremony where they place objects in front of a one-year-old baby and see which object the baby takes, with the objects being symbolic of what profession that baby will eventually grow up to be. (This was actually depicted in an episode of LOST way back when to the character John Locke, who picked the knife). I'm sure Chinese people, like naming of kids "Doctor," might try to give a little "help" to the baby and push them towards a scalpel, or a calculator or something. Depending on the objects placed in front of me, I feel like I would have liked the globe: in a different life, I could imagine myself as an explorer, traveling to all parts of the world and blogging about it like Rick Steves or LonelyPlanet (maybe call it LonelyBobby?)
Other than being an international showcase of sports talent, I always liked that the games showcased many sports that I wouldn't see normally, a change of pace from the Big Four sports that got coverage in North America (I can only handle so much dissection of baseball and the NBA Playoffs). It was a chance for athletes who didn't happen to choose one of the "money sports" that got the most attention to be in the limelight for awhile, if just for those 2 weeks or so. My parents got me into gymnastics because China usually had a good team, along with diving and some others, but the most exciting had to be the track and field events. I'm "interested" in watching Taekwondo and archery, sports that Korea excels in.
In Los Angeles, it's a race to get ready for the 2028 Olympics......should be exciting (and crowded), but the best thing about it is is the urgency to FINALLY FINALLY get a subway or rail system to LAX.....the airport is really getting backed up now that everyone's traveling. Wouldn't want to be there for this upcoming holiday rush. Or maybe Elon Musk's Boring Company can get the underground tunnels ready by then. Whatever it is, I look forward to seeing extra roads on a globe/map of L.A.......or at least showing one extra route to get to LAX that's not red all around the airport.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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