Shoveling and The Godfather

From around 2:30 to 4:30 the entire family helped shovel snow around storage units.My dad and sister did the remaining on one side of D, A and B, while my mom and I finished the big units on C, and the other side of D. It was good exercise, and I was glad to finally be able to help (I didn't other times because I was supposed to do my job manning the office in case there were calls/someone came in). But I did always feel bad about not helping, and it was enjoyable to do, if not just for feeling good and it being something "different." Despite being averse to change, I'm contradictorily someone who likes when things are changed up, breaking free from the monotony of everyday life. I think I mainly just don't like change when it's permanent/hard to go back on. But getting sick, or shoveling snow is different, since it's a temporary change from monotony. I like things like that.

Yesterday (Saturday), my dad and I watched The Godfather, me for the first time, and him for the first time in maybe 40 years. It was pretty good. As usual with me, it was hard to keep track of all the characters at first, but once Michael was the obvious main character, I could follow it well enough. I wouldn't say I utterly adored the movie, but I thought it had a lot of good camera work, and that scene at the end with the juxtaposition of the godfather/baptism and so much death and sin was really good. Excellent scene. The original "godfather" of the movie was hard to understand, though. In that way, I was kind of glad he died. :|

On February 2nd, we watched Part II. This one was rated (ever-so-slightly) higher, but I preferred the first. This one didn't have any scene I felt was truly iconic, but it was still pretty good. I heard Part III is the weakest, but I'm still looking forward to finishing it up.

Winter Olympics - Milano Cortina (Italy)

The Olympics are here at last! My mom and I love them, and even my dad watches a few things (Curling, Snowboard Cross, Halfpipe). As usual, my mom watch TONS of stuff, all day long. With my Video Speed Controller extension able to speed stuff up, I rocket through a lot of stuff during work, and tell my mom what she can skip, deleting repeats as I go along. Then, at night, we watch a bunch of stuff together (especially Figure Skating).

February 13th: Men's Long Program

This was a bloodbath. All of the Top 3 failed miserably, making the guy from Kazakstan in 4th end up getting the Gold Medal (though Yuma Kagiyama, who was in second, did still get second, but only because first and third failed worse). Our guy who was a nice 5 points in the lead before the Long Program did the worst. He planned for 7 quads, and at least two of his turned into a single and a double, and he FELL on the double. It was painful to watch. He was 15th for the Long Program, falling to 8th overall. The third place French guy ended up being 7th overall. Wow.

Chocolate Fest!

After not happening in at least a year—maybe more—Chocolate Fest is back, though my dad isn't happy about that. It's smaller than other years (just two combined tables, in the back room), but it's still very nice. The rest of my family and one other lady are the only people helping with it; I would've gladly helped if I didn't have work. Due to it starting at 10, I was able to stop by a little early and go to work 40 minutes late, which 2orked out nicely. New to this year, people get served instead of picking up the food themselves, to help with cleanliness, but also to secretly try to stop greedy kids from wasting tons of food. My dad indeed did have to tell a kid that his plate was enough for now and he can come back later if he wants more, and Yai came in and told us that kids are still wasting food. Kids are terrible sometimes. The parents should know better and either finish the food themselves, or have the kids take it HOME, darn it.

But that aside, I love Chocolate Fest. I love library things in general. If there's a job opening, I should work there part time, after my dad sells the business.

The Olympics Ends...

I'm sad to see it end, though also relieved, because my mom and I basically dedicate our lives to it, watching as much as we can (albeit, fast-forwarding through a lot of the slower/less interesting stuff like the long races or Ski Jumping).

Figure Skating

The Women's made it to the Semifinals for the first time, but sadly, they did lose, thus didn't medal. Still, they did a great job, and there were some very tense games (US/Britain comes to mind). There was a cheating scandal for the Canadians, with touching the stone, which the Swedes recorded. I learned that a guy I play Geist with was a "Curling head" (his own words), and I asked him what he thought about "Touchgate." He was more well-versed on it than me and said that the Canadians 100% touched it, and after reading into it, yeah, they almost certainly did, given I learned one can only deliver the stone by the handle, yet his finger was pointed at the stone, definitely touching, from the photo. Some argue that the stone is round, so the photo is deceptive, but if one has to deliver it by the handle, why else would his pointer finger be pointed out like that? GUILTY. The men went on to win Gold. I was rooting against them, but I guess, even if they are technically cheaters, touching the stone didn't exactly win them a game. Still, they should follow the rules.

Figure Skating

The Figure Skating was probably my favorite, as usual, since it's always so tense (but feels great when we win, like in the Team Event. So fun). Our Pairs were shafted by a likely-biased French Judge (we got silver), the Men's Free Program was an absolute slaughter, and I feel bad for the skaters who failed, but also do appreciate the Kazakstan guy who crazily jumped from fourth (Short) to first. He seems like a nice guy, and his silly Kung Fu Panda program in the Gala is extra amusing, given he's the Gold Medalist. The Women's competition was both emotional and beautiful, with Amber Glenn missing a jump and getting zero points, rocketing into 15th, but then her skating a nigh-perfect Long Program and surprisingly getting into 5th overall. It was so nice seeing her happy with her coach during the Long Program, and cheering the skaters after her on. I learned afterwards that she protected the second-place retiring Kaori from cameramen, while she was crying over getting second; that was sweet. But also, my mom and I got exactly what we wanted with the final scores (well, "exactly," when knowing Amber Glenn couldn't podium due to the Short Program): Alysa got first, Kaori (retiring Japanese skater) got second, and Ami got third (I have nothing against her, but she has plenty of time to get a Gold later). I thought there was no way it'd work out that way, but it did. Alysa is such a beacon of positivity too, and I'm so glad she got the win, especially given her story of quitting in 2016, then coming back without any need to medal, just to have fun. What a great attitude to have, and yet, she got Gold anyway.

Seeing all these Japanese people celebrating both the American and their own skaters was also super sweet, drawing fanart, or saying how they loved how protective and supportive Amber was, or how infectuously happy Alysa was. Awww. 🥰 This is what I love about the Olympics: coming together in competition (though rivavlries are great too, so long as they're in good fun).

Snowboard Cross

We didn't do well here, but it did bring back a forgotten old memory of the past games that I'm sad I forgot about (it was probably my highlight of the last games): Baumgartner, a guy in his 40s, who never medaled, getting a Gold Medal in the Team event and their shared happiness. Anyway, that's last time. It was nice to see him back, but he didn't win anything in Singles or Team this time. But his attitude was still wonderful, saying how (paraphrasd) it was the most fun he had losing. I love it when people have such a positive attitude.

I still like Ski Cross, but it was more boring to me, with less tense maneuvers and crashes. Having no Americans in it (I think?) also played a role.

Bobsled (especially Women's)

Either this or the Women's Figure Skating was my highlight of these games. I didn't think we had much of a chance here, since I don't remember us really doing well in "slidey sports" (though I guess we have done better than I thought and I just forgot). I'm so used to Germans winning these things, so it was so nice for us to beat this super skilled German "Nolte" woman and win Gold and Bronze (Nolte Silver). What made it even better was the Gold medalist, Elana Meyers Taylor, never won Gold before. She was so happy. I believe both of our medalists were in their 40s, and I know both were moms. Elana's kids were both deaf too, which made the Medal Ceremony all the more heartwarming, seeing her husband with one of her boys, who was signing things about his mom. Awww.

Aerials

I didn't remember caring much about Aerials, but that was surprisingly fun, due to how tense it is: you only get one run. Part of my enjoyment was definitely biased, since in Mixed Aerials, we were a contender, and won, which made all the tension worth it. It was even more impressive since we were going up against China, who had Solo Gold, Bronze, and Bronze. We had nothing from this year. China ended up getting second, I believe, despite two falls. We had zero falls.

Ski Mountaineering

New to this year—and airing only three days before the entire games end (Thursday)—was Ski Mountaineering, and I can't say it was one of my favorite sports, but I can respect it. It's neat that so much of the sport is about quick transitions, them sometimes making or breaking someone. Spain got their first medal of the games during the Women's race (Bronze), and I cheered for that, only for minuts later to cheer for their first Winter Gold in 54 years, with the Men's race. Very nice! Sadly, they did not podium for the Mixed event.

The Olympics as a Whole

As usual, the games were filled with happiness and heartbreak, and that's what I love about it. I jokingly scoffed at any time "Klaebo" was brought up (a Norweigan NBC wouldn't stop talking about, due to him winning 6 Golds in one games), and of course, rooted against the Netherlands in the speed sports. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies (especially Closing) were meh, but that's the norm, and simply not my thing.

I also GIF'd a bunch of things I found interesting, from impressive Curling plays to crashes, but I read that since Rio, even GIFfing the Olympics isn't allowed, so I will keep them to myself, sadly. I wish the Olympics were less corporate and controlling, when it's a game about unity and coming together, but oh well; everything with enough attention on it becomes a greedy corporate entity eventually.

As usual, I'm excited for the Paralympics too! I'm looking forward to Biathlon, and I had forgotten about Hockey being neat too. I think every year, I'm surprised by how few sports there are, but it'll still be a nice extra week of competitions and more touching stories.