I've got a new nighttime routine that involves watching the Olympics. It's on in the background right now, actually. I wasn't especially excited going about these games going into them -- if anything I was soured on them because of the whole holding-a-massive-international-gathering-during-Covid thing -- but I'm a sucker for good competition, and the Olympics, for all it's faults, can still deliver on that front. It's ideally timed for me, as the live events are on at night after S and the kids are in bed. Plus, the YouTube highlights are the perfect five-minute break during the workday. That's when I like the Big Brother algorithms: Why yes, I would like to watch Chen Meng winning the women's table tennis gold medal. How ever did you know?
The big story of this Olympics is gymnastics G.O.A.T. Simone Biles withdrawing from competition. My take: It's fine. I don't think it's particularly brave or an amazing display of leadership or anything like that, but I do think it's good that she's prioritizing mental health. I see it similarly to somebody turning their ankle or pulling a hamstring. If you're brain is not right and you can't perform well because of it, it should be okay to sit out and heal the same way you would if your body is not right. Plus, Biles gave her teammate Jade Carey a chance to compete that she wouldn't have had otherwise, and she was there to support her other teammate Suni Lee, who, by the way, just won the gold in the all-around.
Obviously, I have no idea what's going on in Ms. Biles' head, but if I may speculate recklessly for a moment (and I may because it's my blog), I think there was at least a tiny bit of f-you to the powers-that-be in her decision to withdraw. It's no secret that she doesn't have much love for the administrators of the US women's gymnastics team (understandably so, to put it lightly, given the rot they let fester for way too long), and NBC was basically hyping these Olympics as "SIMONE BILES and some other stuff," advertising on her name for free. I think part of her was just sick of doing all the work, taking all the stress, while others profited off her and then just put more stress and expectations on her. In short, she was feeling used, and, consciously or subconsciously, she just said screw it. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't blame her for feeling that way if I'm not.
One thing Biles offered as evidence that she's having mental struggles is that she couldn't nap. To some people this might seem like a small issue; to me it does not. I recently wrote about my own sleep problems, and I can attest: There are few things worse mentally than needing to sleep and not being able to. It's its own hell.
I'm still having issues, by the way. Sunday was another death-spiral, literal-one-hour-of-sleep nights. But I found a secret weapon: Tylenol PM. Okay, that's not secret; in fact it's pretty obvious. S takes it sometimes, but I never wanted to, because I didn't want to become reliant on it, and because I was worried that I still wouldn't be able to sleep and then I'd be even more out of it. But Monday night, when I still didn't fall asleep right away, I got desperate, so I popped a couple pills, and they worked -- a little too well. One hit and I'm hooked! I took some last night too. This is exactly what I don't want. I'm a fussy enough sleeper as it is. I definitely don't need to add drug-taking to my laundry list of bedtime requirements. Now that I know it works, I'm limiting it to emergency use only.
In non-Olympic sporting news, I won the "King of the Ring" championship in my wrestling class on Tuesday. At the beginning of class, I was feeling sluggish and my right groin muscle hurt (my latest injury), so I figured I would just take it easy. But then the instructor came in with a WWE belt and told us we were going to have a competition for it, and immediately I was like, Screw that! I'm gonna win that toy belt! And so I did. In the semifinals, I took down last week's champ (I wasn't at class last week) who probably has about fifty pounds on me. And then in the finals, I beat this other dude relatively easily. I did a front headlock snap to get him to his knees and then I just plowed him on his back with my hips. That's a sweet move -- very demoralizing to the opponent because it's just pure imposition of will. Straight-up bully ball.
As it turns out, the belt didn't even fit around my waist, and I only got to hold it for a few minutes before I had to give it back, but still. I did a Ric Flair "Woo!" and strutted across the mat and it was cool.
Until next time...
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