Friday Shuffle - With A Fireworks Finale Edition

It's been a frantic day here and it doesn't seem that I'm going to be able to pull off the single themed, complete, well thought out paragraphs thing. You know what's coming, don't you? Break out the dots.

• I was totally digging on the opening ceremonies of the Olympics this afternoon. Beyond impressed with their originality and precision. And the fireworks. I'd have probably lost my ever loving mind had I been there to see the fireworks live. I know that some folks are anti-Olympics this year because of China and their human rights thing and I can respect that. However to me it seems too late for that. The time to be up in arms over it and register outrage was before the games were awarded to Beijing. That would have been the time to actively protest human rights violations and the potential screwing over of some of the Chinese people and the disgustingly filthy environmental conditions there. The horse is long gone from the barn and I don't see how boycotting is going to get it back. Right now I'd rather enjoy the performances of the athletes and support their efforts. The Olympics in general have turned into a farce of greed, power and corruption and the only the athletes - the one thing that should take precedence over everything else - are the only things that remain that keep alive the whole point of the games...and unfortunately even they have their own problems with corruption. Still I want to see the efforts of those who have trained for years and are finally seeing their dreams come true, even if it meant some others got rich and powerful in the process.
  
  
• Last Friday I told y'all how I'm knitting a scarf during seventeen days of the Summer Olympics and today when the opening ceremonies began I cast on and knitted like I was on fire. Of course I may be like those who run long distances who don't pace themselves well. I may knit on it like my life depended on it for a few days but I also see me getting 2/3 of the way through and thinking that I can't. knit. one. more. stitch. I love scarves when they're finished - it's the process that can drive me a bit batty. I get bored with scarf knitting rather quickly because even if it's a pattern that has a fifteen row pattern repeat it's the same thing over and over for sixty or seventy inches. I don't have this problem with sock knitting because of how they're constructed. By the time I get sick of the leg, it's time to knit the heel. By the time I want to scream from doing the gusset decreases it's time for some zen knitting on the foot. By the time I'm bored of the seemingly unending foot it's time to make the toes. Scarves are just long rectangles and the scenery on that ride doesn't change. But I shall meet this test of endurance because it would be humiliating not to get a prize in a virtual contest.
  
  
• Gerd had his jaw surgery today. And it also seems that B and I understood incorrectly the story of what caused Gerd's jaw funk. We had understood my MIL to say that it was an impacted wisdom tooth that caused this problem. In reality the wisdom tooth had been pulled nearly forty years ago but somehow a bit of the root was left behind. Over the years this bit of root had dug into his jaw and ended up fracturing it. The break never healed, became infected and ended up destroying some of the bone. Today the funky bit of root was removed, the infection cleaned out and some sort of brace was put in to build up his jaw. At least we think that's what happened - it's what the surgeon told Gerd yesterday would happen. He was also told they'd make his jaw immobile but that doesn't seem to have happened. My MIL went to the hospital late this afternoon to see Gerd and his jaw wasn't immobilized - Gerd was able to talk some although it was very difficult to understand him. He's unable to eat but he's is able to drink. Gerd was so groggy that he wasn't able to say much and he hadn't spoken to the surgeon since waking up from surgery - the doctor would be around later to speak to him. All I can say right now is that the surgery seems to have been successful and we're hoping that Gerd will have a quick and complete recovery. For that alone we're all very thankful.

Wow. I wrote complete paragraphs after all. They're not related to one another but they're complete. And on that note, let's shuffle.

1. Flamethrower - J. Giles Band
2. A Fool In Love - Ike & Tina Turner
3. So It Goes - Nick Lowe
4. Two Halves - My Morning Jacket
5. All I Ever Wanted - Michael Stanley Band
6. Whatsername - Green Day
7. Fire In The Canyon - Fountains of Wayne
8. Soul Deep - The Box Tops
9. Rockin' At Midnight - The Honeydrippers
10. Beautiful Dream - Adam Ant