1-29 Germany
2-25 USA
3-24 Canada
4-23 Austria
5-22 Russia

This is my final coverage on the XX Winter Olympics 2006 at Torino, Italy. And so, Canada is still one medal short of her 25-medals target. But it is an improvement from the 17 medals they got in 2002. A strong push into the XXI Winter Olympics 2010 in Vancouver, Canada!

I watched the Closing Ceremony live from Torino, and I have to say that though it was colourful and unique, I didn't really understand it. It was artsy, and portrayed the Italian culture I guess. Anyway, there was a short performance by the organising committee of the Olympics in Vancouver. It was kind of interesting, and there definitely was a sense of pride and jealousy at the same time. FYI, Avril Lavigne sang for the performance too.

I am happy that the next Olympics will be held in Canada, yet jealous too. Jealous that Vancouver, not Toronto, will be hosting the event. Jealous that Vancouver, not Toronto, will have an influx of tourists come 2010. Jealous that Vancouver, not Toronto, will have new and upgraded amenities and public services. Jealous that Vancouver, not Toronto, will be a stronger unit when they gear towards 2010.

Toronto was in second place to win the bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics. However, as we all know, Beijing won. Toronto wanted to bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics (which eventually went to London), but after Vancouver got the 2010 Winter Olympics, Toronto withdrawed from the bid, as two Canadian cities hosting the Olympics in a timespan of 2 years is just too much.

So I wonder when Toronto will get to host an Olympic? Maybe in years down the road.. But for now, the spotlight is not on Toronto, and no more on Torino, but on Vancouver. Hail the next great Winter Olympics with the Maple Leaf!!!

PS I am getting serious with typing in caps where appropriate. Guess this will be the way my future posts will look like.. Oh, and I spent my last day of Reading Week CLEANING! Believe it or not, the neat freaks in me, and eventually my brother, sprung out and we started wiping the dusts and clearing the cupboards and tables! I am so please with the outcome, but at the same time scolding myself for not studying. Aaarrrgghh.. I will be rushing the midnight train tonight, and tomorrow in between lectures and my midterm, I will surely make full use of those time.

1-29 Germany
2-25 USA
3-24 Canada
4-22 Austria
5-21 Russia

the second last day of torino olympics 2006. canada is just short of one more medal to meet the 25-medals target. but apparently, this may be the final medal tally for canada, seeing how today's games are over and there won't be any matches that canada really stands a chance for medal contention.
there were some close calls today. two fourth place finishes, and one fifth place. how frustrating can it be? plus, if canada's men hockey actually played as well as in 2002, then they would be in the final match tomorrow, and a sure-medal to round up the 25 medals.

but who knows? maybe a miracle may happen tomorrow.. like how i'm hoping for a miracle to survive my coming midterms.

1-24 Germany
2-23 USA
3-20 Canada
3-20 Russia
5-19 Austria

no new medals for today, except the guranteed curling medal. and yay, for it is gold! 5 more medals in two days.. possible or impossible? two more days to school. many more stuffs to read for midterms.. possible or impossible?

1-24 Germany
2-20 USA
3-19 Austria
3-19 Canada
3-19 Russia

canada added one bronze medal for the women curling team after they beat norway today. so it turned out to be something good afterall. tomorrow the men will be playing for gold in the final match..
though only one new medal, there were some really close medals. i hate it how one can be so close to the podium, but then get pushed down the ranking table by athletes after. like in the case in women figure skating and men aerials freestyle skiing. in the former, one canadian got 5th place in the final ranking; in the latter, two canadians were placed 5th and 6th. they nearly got a medal, but were pushed down bit by bit. irritating!
but i guess it's a good experience for canadians, many whom are at their first olympics. the next winter olympics in 2010 will be held at vancouver, canada! so hooray! i wonder if i will still be living here then.. if i am, i will be cheering on team canada! the torino olympics is drawing to an end on sunday, and canada had another 6 more medals (5 if you count the guranteed men curling medal). i am hopeful they can meet the 25-medal target.

i guess my recent blog posts have been boring with all the olympics documentaries.. it will be over soon. but by then, i wonder what interesting stuffs are there that i can blog about? aahhh, bummer..

1-22 Germany
2-19 Austria
3-18 Canada
3-18 Norway
3-18 USA

how should i start? for starters, the good news first. canada picked up quite some medals today in different events, and the men curling team made it to the final gold-medal match after beating usa. yay for another guranteed medal! another step closer to the 25-medals target..
now for the bad news, team canada and usa men hockey are out of the game after losing their quarterfinals match. usa, the 2002 olympics silver medalist, lost to finland 4-3. canada, the 2002 olympics gold medalist, lost to russia. 2-0 again! the third time losing in this olympics with a 2-0 shutout! canada's men hockey team must be cursed to suffer such fate. just a shocker.. but it's a good thing as it shows the changing face of hockey domination, which used to be by the north american teams of canada and usa.
finally, for the not-too-good, not-too-bad news.. canada's women curling team lost in the semifinal round. so the shot for gold and silver is over. but hopefully they can rally back a win in the bronze-medal match.

in tv news, american idol saw the guys perform. i must say the guys this season is better overall, despite the girls having a few outstanding ones. it's a good thing, as a guy should seriously win this competition again, especially since ruben studdard seemed to have disappeared and there are awesome female winners like kelly clarkson and carrie underwood. this season is a total toss-up. i wanted to make my own prediction on who will win, but it's still early on in the competition and when i tried, i ended up with 8 names which is equivalent to making my top 12 predictions..

loving the reading week. i am studying, with constant breaks. i want to get my metropass (buss concessionary pass) from school tomorrow, but i'm so lazy to do that. in the evening, will be going to chinatown for dinner. finally i am going out! i need to stretch my legs and breathe outside (cold) air. but it also means less time to study. buck up me!!!

1-21 Germany
2-18 Norway
2-18 USA
4-16 Austria
5-15 Russia
6-14 Canada

didn't watch any olympic broadcasts today as i went to get some/alot of groceries. haven't done grocery shopping for weeks, so the fridge is finally filled again. anyway, how can canada ever get her 25 medals now? with less than a week and 11 medals more to go, that target seems so much further away..

the fuse of the apartment's rooms and toilets blew just now. it happens all the time, just have to replace it. tried other fuses, but it didn't work. we called the management for help. none came. we called again. none came. we called yet again. then, they told us we have to be responsible and fix it ourselves. my housemate was so pissed (she needed the lights to study for her midterms) that she scolded that guy on the phone. 'damn you', 'fuck you'.. it was hilariously bad. i guess that guy is going to take revenge and never come to our apartment if anything happens.
i fiddled with the fuse box and it finally worked. our lights, internet modem, and laptops are charged and running now. the frustrating thing is that we pay rent, so we shouldn't be taking this bullcrap service they are giving us. my housemate is planning to write a letter of complaint, and hopefully get that guy fired (which is highly unlikely, though it's nice toying with that idea).

also, the power of the whole apartment went out twice with an interval less than 5 minutes in between. we were watching american idol when it went out. thankfully, it didn't last long. power outages are very common here. since electric charges are one-fee bills, everyone just keeps using electricity. thus, the environmental degradation and power overloads..

speaking of american idol, the girls performed today. it was disappointing for many, with exceptional performances from the young contestants. perhaps my prediction of a more powerful girl group this season is wrong, seeing how many seemed to have an outage. i hope the guys are better tomorrow..

going to watch my missed sunday's GA episode. then i will study.. yes, i will.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLEO chen xiangting !
a birthday shoutout from across the globe, via the web. ahhh, the greatness of technology! happy sweet 18 girl! and no, you're not old.. because if you are, that will make me too, in 2 months.(:

1-18 Germany
2-17 Norway
3-15 Austria
3-15 USA
5-14 Canada
5-14 Russia

hhmmm, nothing much for today. except canada's women hockey won gold!!! beat sweden 4-1, to retain the gold medal. sweden got silver, and bronze went to usa. also, canada's men and women curling team made it to the semi-finals. tomorrow is the start of figure skating! this will be interesting..

i should slap myself up to study.

1-18 Germany
2-16 Norway
3-13 Canada
3-13 Russia
3-13 USA

so far, this weekend hasn't been a good day for the canucks men's hockey. men's hockey lost 2-0 to switzerland on saturday, and finland just now! heart-wrenching.. canada has clinched a quarterfinals spot though after the czech republic beat italy. ironically, canada will face the czech republic in the last round-robin lap. the thing with the current losing streak of canada, is that all the players had just come together. before the olympics, they were all in each individual teams in canada and usa playing in the NHL. similarly for usa, who still hasn't made it to the quarterfinals after losing to slovakia yesterday, and sweden today with 2-1 for both matches. now thinking, it's feeling a little dejavu for both canucks and the americans with 2-0s and 2-1s?
other than that, everything is fine. canada picked up 2 medals today, none yesterday. both men and women curling team are sitting on the fence; they either win and qualify for the semi-finals, or lose and fight for fourth position. the former option sounds better eh?

i'm staying away from watching olympic broadcasts in fear of jinxing the team. superstitious me. but it may be a good thing, as i am supposed to study for my midterms. which i am.. i think.

news headlines #1: WEIRD WEATHER.

yes, this morning i was awoken by the loud bangings (even though it was closed) of my room's windows. when i was walking to the subway, the wind was blowing so strongly behind me that i couldn't even stand still and wait for the wind to stop. i had to run with the wind, and i believe if i actually tried jumping, the wind could have picked me up and i could fly. i'm dead serious..

all the pathways are covered with a layer of slippery ice, and snow remains accumulated over the week in piles everywhere. visibility is bad, since all the snow is swirling around. this is causing many accidents on highways, and even some roads have been closed.. it's not just in toronto, currently at -13 degrees celsius with windchills, but across canada too. winnipeg for example is -39 with windchills. gawd. and it won't be getting any better over the weekends. this feels like winter, but it should be the close arrival of spring. has the winter season shifted a few months back?

i was chatting with my friend in school. she told me she was waiting at those shelterless bus-stop. the wind started blowing and she had to hold on to the post, otherwise she would have been blown away. i laughed hard..


news headlines #2: WONDERFUL OLYMPIC DAY.

this is the current medal standings (position-medals):
1-13 Norway
2-11 Canada
2-11 Germany
2-11 Russia
5-10 USA

woohoo! canada picked up another 3 medals of each colour today. 2 of them are from the same category, where canada got gold and silver. also watched an olympics broadcast as i had lunch just now. it was women's hockey: canada vs finland, the semi-finals round. this match was to determine who would play against sweden (who upset usa in a shootout) in the gold-medal match. and canada won!!! i was so freaked out at the first 10 minutes of the game as finland was strong and was afraid of an upset. but then canada started scoring and ended with 6-0! awesome. an adrenaline rush.. i was sitting at the edge of my seat and jumping about through the game.

talking about sweden's upset win, i'm going 'nanny-nanny-boo-boo' to the usa women's hockey. canada won all her round-robins (preliminaries) with big defeats (16-0 with italy, 12-0 with russia, 8-1 with sweden). a usa team member criticized canada, saying that they were raking in the scores. but this is a sport, so you always have to do your best and have good sportsmanship. see what that (playing strongly) didn't get the american team to now..

i'm so cheering for the canucks to get more wins and meet their 25-medals target. with 9 days and 14 medals (13, since women's hockey are now guranteed a medal- gold or silver) to go, i hope they, or we, do. yay!

i have bits and pieces of updates/news/gossips. so let me dive into it..


psychology exam
my professor was out to kill me/us! it was hard, and so specific. especially since he included many questions on past psychologists and their works, and videos he showed us during lectures.. i'm hoping to pass, if not do well enough.


chemistry lab
today's lab was fun! we made a cold pack using ammonium nitrate. had a little presentation with my other group members. the target final temperature was 5 degrees celsius, but we only managed a 9.. i'm starting to love chemistry lab. way better than last semester's one. definitely.


weather
woke up this morning to a snowy white day. slush and iced-up grounds marked today. temperature is expected to dip even further with windchills. and i still thought spring was coming.. what a bummer.
ADDED: OMG it's raining, with THUNDERSTORMS and LIGHTNING! how long has it been since i heard the rumble and seen the flashes of light???


torino winter olympics 2006
the winter olympics is here! i didn't watch the opening ceremony, neither have i watched any games on broadcast. but i am following the news and medal tally on a day-to-day basis. anyway, canada is currently at 5th with 9 medals (a big jump from yesterday). weee!!! it feels good. ice hockey is like canada's biggest sport, and it's now in the preliminary rounds.. canada is the defending champion. and it is predicted canada and usa will face off at the showdown once again, like the last winter olympics.
this olympics hasn't been all glee. michelle kwan droped out due to injuries. (sad) boo.. figure skating will be missing a great star, since i guess she would be retiring after this. she has had a great career, just fell short of olympic gold (she has silver from the 1998 games, and bronze from the 2002 games). this is from youtube, a retrospect of michelle kwan's filled with grace and passion ice-skating career. i had tears in my eyes as i watched this..

since next week is my reading week, i will try to catch live broadcasts of figure skating and ice hockey.. but it wouldn't be the same without michelle kwan.


america's next top model
cycle 6 is here! it premieres on march 8. marking that day down. surprisingly this season is so much more ethnically diverse! besides that, the model-wannabes are all taller and thinner, which by high fashion standards are good things.. visit the site for more. anyway, my top 3 favourites are: joanie, leslie, brooke.


american idol
season 5 is back! the judges have whittled it down to the top 24 idol-wannabes. hhmmm, it's a strong competition overall this season (with the girls having an edge again). i'm hoping for a guy winner as american idol has it's share of girl winners (hello kelly, fantasia and carrie!). but then again, it's so unpredictable.. next week, america would vote for the top 12: 6 boys, 6 girls.
my predictions for top 6 females (* are favourites): paris bennet* (OMG talent talent talent, speaking and singing voice so different, and just 17), lisa tucker* (16 with a strong voice), becky o'donohue* (very pretty), kellie pickler (but do we really need a kelly-carrie cross?), mandisa (big person, big voice), and stevie scott* (try a mixture of opera, jazz, r&b).
my predictions for top 6 males (* are favourites): ace young* (red cheeks, good looking and cool voice), chris daughtry (rocker voice), david radford* (charming country crooner at just 17), taylor hicks* (grey hair, your average joe, but damn that voice), jose 'sway' penala (i don't know, but he's been generating buzz), and ???.. it's a toss-up among a few.
so you see, the girls are still stronger. i had difficulties picking my top 6 females, but not for the males with still '???'. i hope all goes well and my predictions come true. well at least let 75% be accurate. visit the site for more..


grey's anatomy / lost / desperate housewives
so the last episode continued from the cliffhanger. and it literally ended with a BOOM! this is what i call good tv. and because the producers were clever enough to make use of the recent superbowl, many people who watched on are now hooked on to grey's too! seriously, grey's owns me now.
which leads me to lost and desperate housewives. awesome shows. and they are getting more exciting: still unsolved mysteries, deeper look into the characters, and a revolution on the island in lost; more secrets, lies, humour and desperation in housewives.


reading week
i have one full week of a study break starting coming monday. i have still have 3 midterms after the reading week, so i know i have to study. but the question is: how much? there will be so many distractions (ahem: olympics, american idol). i will try my very best..


music
i'm so in love with jack johnson and joe purdy right now. the songs from 'in between dreams' and 'julie blue' of each respective artistes are awesome. the alternative bluesy sounds. aahhhh, soothing.
oh oh oh! the song playing now is entitled 'let go' by frou frou. the first time i heard it on grey's anatomy, i didn't really like it. then i heard it on the garden state movie (starring zach braff and natalie portman, which totally rocks!), and i fell in love with it. enjoy!


comments
you all, the comments function is UNDERUSED! so, any comments to this?!? LOL.


yeap, i hope that's it.. (:

there's a gap between the last time i blogged and now. a very simple explanation for that: been busy. busy with school, assignments, and coming midterms. in fact, i just came home from my first winter midterm.

environmental science wasn't that bad. i spent quite some time reading the whole chunk of information in the textbook. then did some online quizzes, which thankfully i did. many of them turned up in the paper just now! (:
my health studies assignment is due on tuesday. though i started on it, i'm completely and utterly lost in what to do next. wednesday would be my psychology midterm, which i have yet to fully study for.

oh, i had a chat with adeline, a drama junior in amkss, and she was saying they got back their O's results. guess what? amkss did well! yay, i'm so happy for them and my alma mater (partly also due to the fact that our year didn't do as well as hoped).

i'll be gone with my books for a hiatus. been having late nights, so my eyes are all droopy. still, there will be more late nights to come. i want to type more before i end this post, but i cannot seem to recall the chunk of words that i had accumulated over the week. it's like a memory-gap.

anyway, leaving with a temperature update: cold with snow (just when we thought spring was coming).. also a funny clip of the opening scene from the mind-blowing episode (the BEST) of Grey's Anatomy. the full episode is on my friendster profile - that video has been removed, so i swapped it with another clip. i'm tempted to post the cliffhanger clip, but guess i won't spoil it for all.. erm for this clip, parental supervision is advised? LOL enjoy!

i had a good chat with my dear good friend MELISSA FU. she sent me this chinese song by wilber pan. i really don't feel the vibe. but she forced me to say i love the song. so fine mel, i love it! ;p

anyway that alone sparked off a desperate attempt to reconnect with my chinese roots. i went around the web trying to find for chinese songs from artistes that i like. chinese words were popping around the screen, and i had to take time to read word by word. i have really lost touch with the chinese language/entertainment-scene. i guess that somehow started in secondary 4 after we had our chinese 'O' levels.

well i managed to find the latest albums (latest as in 2005) of stefanie sun, wang leehom, and penny dai. so let the chinese revolution begin? erm, i think i will stick to english songs for now, with occasional chinese influences.


watch this karaoke version of penny dai's 'fang kong dong'. sing along! LOL.

and then there's stefanie sun and tanya chua's duet of 'yuan dian' (karaoke version). so sing along again..

and from stefanie sun's latest album, here's the MV for 'honey honey'.

also 'ying xing ren'. love the song, dislike the MV. that dress and makeup makes her look like a star from back in the 1990s.


i'm hoping i won't be out of place with my chinese background. i don't think i will, but i'm starting to feel a distance between me and the chinese language, both mandarin and cantonese. there's the psychological barrier of wanting to speak proper english and not wanting to mix chinese into it, yet wanting to practise more chinese without compromising english. this is the fix one faces when they are faraway from their home and roots..

and also with culture and tradition. what about the traditions of praying on a certain day, believing in a myth or superstition, etc? those were part and parcel of life when we were young. and as we grow older, things change. no, we change. imagine down the road, the new generation of chinese all losing part, if not all, of their connections. i'm being dramatic now, and i should stop to go do my assignments and study.

PS i know my radio.blog has been down for quite some time. apparently there's something wrong with the host. trying to fix it, and once i do i will update it with new songs, both english and chinese. (:

double double-U = Warm Winter.

what ever happened to the extreme cold that required many layers of clothing to be warm, strong snowstorms (to the extent of causing school to close for the day), iced up pathways, thick snow?

i remember last year when i first came in january, there were snowstorms and windchills that could kill. a year later, last month was as warm as fall/spring. it feels as though we skipped winter. spring is still a month or two away. but current temperatures makes it feel like spring will arrive in two weeks.

SNOW was falling to the ground for a while just now, and we thought it would be the first major snowstorm this winter. but after a while, it stopped. now, it's just pouring heavily with WATER.

global warming has to be so bad that snow turned to water. wise up human beings.. soon floods and even more quirky weather will befall on us. i know i do complain about winter, cold and snow, but now i rather they come then not at all. next week may be a 'true-blue' winter week. here's hoping that weather predictions stay accurate..

i feel as though i am suffocating in my own mess.

my chemistry lab yesterday was horrendous. i barely made it on time to finish. instead of the usual lab notebook to hand in, we had to hand in the data sheet and 3 graphs by the end of the lab. my lab partner was kind enough to clean up the work bench and let me copy the last part of her calculations, since time was running out for me. i didn't finish writing the experiment details in the notebook. it won't be marked this time, but it feels weird for me as i try to never leave things unfinished..

it seems like i'm having troubles with time management. i have a biology lab report due next week, a midterm for EESA06 next saturday, a health studies assignment due the following week, and a midterm for PSYA02 in that same week. then BGYA02, CHMA11, and HLTA01 midterms after the reading week.
the lab report is based on the rat dissection practical last week and this week's tissue-observation. the assignment is based on a computer game developed by my prof where we have to investigate a mysterious illness spreading through different settlements by collecting surveys, plant specimens, talk to the characters.. kindda fun actually (the playing part, which sadly i have completed, not the report part). but wait, i'm rambling and this isn't my point. the point is, i haven't started on any of them yet. AAHH!

during the fall semester, i did catch up with each courses' readings till at least the midterm, after which i stopped reading. but for this semester, i practically opened the first page of one coursebook, and eversince then i haven't been reading the texts. somebody, shoot me. i made this mess myself.

my mother was telling me that this year, those born in the year of the dragon and tiger will have difficulties academically. so.. is this just paranoia?