庆祝北京奥林匹克运动会

Someone asked me if Friday was a special day for me as a Chinese.

I said sure, it's the start of the Beijing Olympics.

Apparently, he was referring to the numerology aspect: all those 八 in the date 08/08/2008 are supposed to sound like 发as in 发财.

But hang on, isn't 八 still pronounced "ba" in Cantonese?

Where's the connection with prosperity?

Anyways...

We've been following the events a lot more comfortably after CA shifted the TV into the dining area where the reception works properly.

On Friday, my cousin came over for dinner and we stayed up till midnight trying to catch the Singapore contingent make their cameo. She finally gave up and went home. I think it must have been 2 am Melbourne time when the opening ceremony finally ended - in an orgy of fireworks, of course.

We were lunching at Noodle Box on Watton St after church today when Stephanie Rice won the gold in the 400m individual medley.

I actually had tears in my eyes when she stood on the podium mouthing the words to Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem played.

I was thinking of how much it must have cost her to get to this moment, and the dignified, mature way in which she'd recently handled media scrutiny of her private life.

Well done, Steph!