I finally feel like my ping pong game is really coming together. The first week of lessons was really great, I felt like I was learning things and I was hitting the ball really hard. Then after we got past that, we moved onto some of the more complex stuff, like the more complex strokes and putting spin on the ball. To be honest, it was really frustrating. I couldn't hit a forehand loop drive if my life depended on it. Don't even get me started on the backhand cut. Now I've finished learning all the strokes and I feel a lot better. Sure, I'm probably not getting as much rotation on my forehand as I could be, but I can tell that the topspin is there. So the foundation is set. If I compared myself to a diamond, which I do regularly, I'm still raw and uncut. It's going to take quite a bit of practice for me to really shine. Luckily, there's still plenty of time until 2016.
My future as a professional table tennis player.
I've thought long and hard about my future and this is the only way I see it happening:
- Early September 2010 – I move to Seoul for a new job, but I have to quit going to the Champion Ping-Pong Club. I thank my coach, Park Young Gil, for teaching me the basics of table tennis.
- Late September 2010 – After finally settling into my new job and apartment, I sign up for ping pong lessons. At first, I'm a little hesitant about my new coach's training program, but I finally settle in and start learning more advanced techniques.
- Mid 2011 – I go back to Los Angeles, taking the ping-pong techniques I learned in Korea with me. I sign up for lessons at the Westside Table Tennis Center, taking lessons from former U.S. Olympian Wei Wang. Of course, I purchase my own table to practice at home.
- 2012 – I enter into a few basic tournaments. Being unable to shake the nervousness of competitive play, I lose horribly in the first round of the tournament.
- Early 2013 – I start finding my groove in competitive play and decide to enter more competitive tournaments, so I enter the California Open of Table Tennis. I lose miserably.
- Early 2014 – After my loss at the California Open, I decide to switch to a new ping-pong club to get training from a different coach and new practice partners. Once again, I enter the California Open. This time I manage to get third.
- Late 2014 – I enter the nation table tennis tournament. I know I still don't have a shot of winning, but I go for the experience. After the tournament, I go to a doctor because of recurring shoulder pain. They tell me that I lose my arm if I continue to play competitive table tennis.
- 2015 – This is the year of change. After hours and hours of pondering, I decide that I can't give up table tennis. Instead, I decide to start training myself. What I come up with is a new defensive style of play that's less strenuous on the shoulder. I re-enter the national tournament and take first place with my new style.
- 2016 – With winning the national tournament, I'm the American favorite in the 2016 Olympics. My new style of play manages to win me through the early rounds, but is still not enough to beat the Chinese powerhouse. I end up finishing just short of a medal in fourth place.
- 2017 and beyond – I open my own table tennis center. Players from around the world come to be coached in my defensive style.
Yep, that's how it's all going to work out. It's seriously the last shot I have at getting into the Olympics, unless they decide to finally make bowling an Olympic sport.
I finally found an image for Miki Ando's nipples.
Finally found a picture from this article which reviews the outfits of the Olympic figure skaters.
I’m believe that Kim Yu-Na is possessed.
Korean figure skater, Kim Yu-Na, won the gold medal and set a world record earlier today. It's not like I really know anything about figure skating, but since she set the world record it's probably safe to assume that she had the best performance ever to take place on the ice. I was watching the competition for most of the day on the TV in my classroom. Since mine was the one of the two television sets that got the game, I had a few other teachers watching the competition with me. It was sort of funny to see 6 men in my classroom watching figure skating while eating the cookies my students baked earlier today.
Anyway, the reason why I think she's possessed is an anime I watched a couple of years ago, Ginban Kaleidoscope. I have absolutely no idea what an ice skater's personal life or training entails, but like a lot of other things I don't know about, I turn to anime for an accurate and totally reasonable explanation. Ginban Kaleidoscope is about a Japanese Olympic ice skater who is haunted for 100 days by the ghost of a Canadian stunt pilot that died during an exhibition. While haunting her, he manages to teach her how to become a better skater and they end up falling in love with each other. I SERIOUSLY COULDN'T EVEN MAKE THAT SHIT UP IF I TRIED. I even managed to find the series online, so here's the part one of the first episode for your entertainment.
For Kim Yu-Na to be as good as she is, she has to be haunted by the ghost of some great historical figure, like FDR or something.
If you were watching figure skating…
Anyone else notice you could sort of see Miki Ando's nipples through her dress?
Kim Yu Na is dominating.
After the short program, Korean figure skater Kim Yu Na holds a commanding lead. She seriously is why all of Korea is so invested in the Olympics this year. I walked into Pizza School yesterday during her program and everyone in the place had their eyes glued to the TV. After her performance, the whole place erupted in applause.
The table is taken from the Korea Times article if you wanted to read more about the whole thing.
Winter Olympics 2014, here I come!
I seriously think I could be on the U.S. Olympic curling team when 2014 comes around. Shit, if I went home right now and started a team, we would probably be number 1 in the entire state of California just because there isn't any competition. I'm not hating on the sport or anything. I actually do like watching it. Maybe it's because I'm a big fan of sports for old white dudes. If you think about it, curling is bowling on ice with a bunch of janitors on your team. There's more drama in curling too. Have you actually listened to the teammates yelling at each other? I seriously considered starting a team. Not a serious team but as a recreational hobby. Imagine that conversation. "Oh, what do you like to do for fun?" "I curl. That's right, mother fucker." I would probably would be well on my way to starting this shit if it wasn't so damn expensive. A used set of curling stones would cost me $3,728 without shipping. Also, a carbon fiber broom stick is $149.00. And if I'm not serious enough to buy a carbon fiber brush, then I sure as fuck shouldn't even be playing.
