4 Weeks and Counting...

Photos By: G. Pollak

Please note that the above and all following images are, to my knowledge, the work of the above photographer.
The images were incorporated into a PDF file that was a chain email to me from my father.
He thought it might be "interesting" or amusing to put on my blog. Would love your input.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics are quickly approaching. They begin August 8th and continue through the 24th. Now I am not a huge sports fan. If I never saw a football game, baseball game etc... I could care less. Unless of course said game was featuring one of my children as a key player. But the Olympics... They have a certain Je ne sais quois! The word Olympic. They history. The feeling and camaraderie. All the countries represented. I REALLY enjoy the Olympics. I usually prefer winter as I am a big skier and really enjoy the ice skating. But the summer Olympics are nearly as exciting and hold some sense of Nostalgia for me. My how things have changed in the past several years.
4 years ago, I watched the games in Athens at all sorts of odd hours. The events were replayed several times. I had a newborn baby girl (my first child) who was only a couple weeks old. So I was nursing around the clock basically. Many events, I missed. Many I saw on a repeated a few times. Funny how that works. It was a time when my only concerns were taking care of, feeding and playing with my baby. I didn't have any pending work. I slept when she slept. I read or watched TV while nursing and playing. I was tired. In a different way than now. But it was a time of great contentment. Life was easy.


Wind back another 4 years. I lived alone in a hip apartment complex that I payed way too much for. I was working for an ad agency in Newport Beach and was dating-- A Lot!!! Nobody serious. But I had plenty of dates. Plenty of fun. Right about the time the games started in Sydney, I had a few dates with a young man from Australia of all places. On one occasion he brought over several Australian beers and we watched the games while doing a taste test. It was a fun summer. Lots of parties. Lots of beach outings. Lots of "boys". A Hawaiian vacation and more. Work had its stress but everything else was pretty carefree.

So now I have sooooo much more to do! The kids. The business. The house. I cannot say life is carefree or mellow. But it is good. Very tiring. Sometimes frustrating. Sometimes overwhelming. And sometimes I really really want a break. A day off. A day of no kids and no work. But that is probably a looooonnnngggggg way off. But all in all it is good.

Now back to Beijing. Here are some more of the sidewalk food stands that are purportedly in the area.










Now what will our Olympians eat??? Would you eat any of this? I like to think I am an open eater. That I have a wide palette. But these delicacies? Yikes! I guess the corn looks alright. My diet would go a lot better/easier over there in the east. I would be sooooo thin if this was all I had to choose from. Let me know your thoughts!