I was not in attendance at the closing ceremonies, though I did catch some bits and pieces of the broadcast, as displayed on this massive contraption across the street from the Hua Ting apartment complex. I think it's a hotel, and it's supposed to resemble the Olympic torch. There's a line of little brothers behind the big one, sans TV screens, marching along for half a kilometer next to the Olympic Park. They remind me of Starman and Starman Junior from Earthbound. Come on, someone knows what I'm talking about! No one? Whatever. It's probably just the psychadelic background.
THE QUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEBBBEEE.
It was a photographic orgy in the square outside of the Bird's Nest (or Bird House, as the Bejingiese call it). Mostly couples snapping shots of each other, though there were plenty of photographers photographing the photographers, not to mention photographers photographing photographers photographing photographers. Yeah baby, that was me.
This one was cute. She was running in big arcs around the square, pretending to be oblivious to the long string of kites and photographers chasing after her.
One day, I would like to meet the fancy-lad bird that's supposed lives in this place.
The stands were chock-full on this, the last night of competition before the closing ceremonies. Cheers!
Though I arrived more than two hours early, I was wandering around the stadium when seats started filling up and ended up in the rafters. My spot was right on the finish line, which wasn't bad. When things started thinning out towards the end of the night, I didn't hesitate to sneak down and catch the wheelchair races from up close.
Though legal methods of procuring Paralympics tickets were both scarce and convoluted, the legions of scalpers outside the stadium were more than willing to lend a hand. Even with the mark-up to 140 RMB (bargained down from 200^^), an all-day ticket only ran me about $23; not too shabby.Despite being in Beijing at the opportune moment, I was admittedly not feeling the Olympic bug. Lack of available information re: tickets, venues, events had dampened my enthusiasm. Once the end was approaching, however, I started feeling like a bit of a louse for missing the opportunity, hopped on my bike and headed over to the park to see what I could see. With the help of a handy scalper, I procured a shady ticket and hopped on line. I was nervous that I'd been grifted, but at 140RMB there wasn't potential for any catastrophic damage. I was pleased when the ticket turned out to be totally legit, though not so pleased that the only way to get to the games was through a scalper.
If I hadn't gone, I would have been dumb. It was a poignant experience. Seeing athletes at the top of their game locked for a single moment in the competition of their life, you know, like, wow. It sticks with you. I felt like, even though I couldn't totally follow what was going on, I had participated in someone's momentous, personal struggle.
Compounding my generalized ignorance of sport, the balkanization of paralympic events into many sub-events, based on disability, made things somewhat confusing. Luckily, it was a night of straight gold medal matches, which kept it all simple enough to cheer to. I couldn't tell who was competing against whom in the various discuss/shot put events, but I did get a kick out of the very large eastern European ladies lobbing heavy objects across the green.
My only regret is that I didn't see any Paralympic rugby, which I regard as way hardcore based on an interview with the director of the documentary, Murderball. I also regret that I haven't seen this movie. Anyway, I could have attended the gold medal match between the US and Australia; I further regret that I did not know where it was. I wandered into the indoor stadium on my way out of the park, just in time to catch the medal ceremony. Blast!!
Akihabara is not the best place to buy consumer electronics. Granted, it's an AMAZING place to find rare, esoteric, new, or otherwise difficult to find bits of bits, stuff for ham radio, transistors, computer parts, and lots of things that you didn't know existed but do. Commonly available consumer electronics, on the other hand, are generally overpriced in Japan and only slightly less overpriced in Akihabara. I went there to buy a new Sandisk Ultra II 16GB memory card for my camera and couldn't find one for less than double what it goes for online. What I did find was a plastic edamame that you can squeeze to make a little plastic soybean with a dog face pop in and out of its skin. And thus we have the true reason that one should make the trek to Akiba: weird, weird toys, and the girls in maid outfits that come to buy them. Oh Japan, you're the best! Also, I bought a new mouse; I feel like buying it in Akiba has imbued it with mystical powers. This is a bit of willful delusion, as the same logic has quite obviously not panned out re: the GameboyDS that I bought in Akiba last year, on which I continue to suffer one brutal defeat after another in Mario Party, at the hands of Julie DePaulo. Darn you Jukie!!!!!
