Medal Table

I've probably mentioned this before - indeed probably during the last Olympics - but the US inexplicably orders its medal table by total number of medals.  Whereas the rest of the world more sensibly orders it by the number of golds, number of silvers, etc.  So Americans are currently rejoicing that they are atop the medal table.  In reality, as I write this, even we are ahead of them in the proper medal table.  Though I'm sure that won't last.  And I maybe think that too much attention is paid to the medal table, with it's totally ridiculous imbalance between sports.  I can't get over that swimming has 37 different gold medals, which is way too many and more than double any other sport at the Olympics (apart from athletics - but I'm OK with that, since athletics is the GOAT of Olympic sports).     

Deja Vu

Oh no, I have another neighbor causing me grief.  This time it's the Spanish-language speaking family south of me - below and across the street.  Since last week, they've got some kind of souped up car (maybe a buggy?) with an incredibly loud engine and an incredibly loud sound system.  And it's really been testing my over-sensitivity to noise.  There have been multiple occasions when I've been disturbed by either a revving engine (or indeed, just the idling engine) or playing their stupid Spanish-language music exceptionally loudly.  After one too many times of being bothered by the thumping bass, I did manage to shout down to them a request to turn down the music - and they have obliged.  But that hasn't stopped me still being occasionally bothered by the sound of their engine, and still being able to hear their music even if it's played  at a quieter volume.  I don't know how long this is going to go on for - I fear it might not get better any time soon.  Do I consider next steps, or do I just suck it up?  To be determined.          

Exercise

I played over 2 hours of ping pong today in 2 sessions.  I'm exhausted. 

Bird Bath

I don't know how this has happened, but my bird bath has sprung a leak.  I guess that's what you get for buying a cheap one (or should that be cheep one - ha ha!).  I only noticed the other day that the water level had dropped significantly, and the damp patch below the bath on the patio was not drying away despite how hot it is outside.  I thought it might just be that one of the birds had just had a vigorous bath - which wouldn't be the first time I've seen that - especially as the water was an alarming shade of brown.  But closer inspection reveals a split in the polyresin.  And I have absolutely no idea what could have caused it.  It doesn't look like something a bird or an animal could have done, and it certainly wasn't me.  A mystery.   

Homeownership

Today, for some reason I became profoundly worried about the fact that I am still not a homeowner.  If I am to be a forever renter - which seems likely - then that means I'm going to have a huge housing expense in retirement that most other people my age will not.  Do I/will I have enough saved up to account for this?  I honestly don't know.  And if I ever want to become a homeowner, then I really need to do so soon - but that is just not going to happen while I continue to live in the Seattle area.  What a dilemma.  And it all makes me very nervous - I really need to find a trustworthy financial/retirement advisor.    

Paris

With the opening ceremony being held today, I have a lot of thoughts on the Olympics.  The main one being I probably won’t watch much of it.  And I’m not just talking about the opening ceremony (which I probably won’t watch at all), but the Olympics as a whole.  And the American TV coverage can take a lot of the blame for that – with its bloated and jingoistic coverage.  It’s a shame, because I do like checking out the cornucopia of ridiculous and stupid sports every 4 years that otherwise I couldn’t give a monkeys about.  Though I could hark on forever about which sports should and which sports shouldn’t be in the Olympics.  Similarly for which sports have too many medals (swimming), which sports are too reliant on subjective judging (any “trick-based” events), which sports are particularly boring (sailing, synchronized diving).  I could dwell on the very dodgy politics and shady finances of the games.  Or who in addition to Russia is conducting state-sponsored dosing (I’m looking at you Chinese swim team).  I read somewhere that Team GB is expected to get 50 to 70 medals – which seems an awful lot, but then we have done inexplicably well at the last few Olympics and it’s not like we have to worry about Russia and Russian athletes in many of the sports this time around.  But don’t expect me to be rabidly cheering on the British athletes – I don’t care enough.  It’s telling how very fleeting the winners’ moment of fame is e.g. how many of the 22 Team GB gold medalists in the last Olympics could you name?

Cat

I didn't post any photos of my landlord's cat that my trail cam captured, even though there were a few.  But maybe I should have kept them, because speaking to my landlord today he said that his cat has gone missing.  I wonder if it has become a victim of one of the predators captured by my trail cam (i.e. coyote or bobcat).  Apparently my landlord has owned a lot of cats over the years that have just gone missing - suggesting that these predators are probably even more prevalent than my trail cam suggests.