OakMonster’s Den

CBS Sports actually has Thailand’s Olympic Medals history. It’s always been the boxing boys since the first medal, a bronze, in 1976 Montreal, to the first gold in Atlanta, and 3 medals maximum.

Here in Athens, we’ve beaten all the odds and all the records with 4 medals won already and the boys are just finishing up quarterfinals. All the medals so far are in weightlifting, and all by women.

Thai female athletes, basked in the glory of the women’s lifters, and the men, wanting the medals more than ever, are putting in their efforts to garner more medals for their country.

High Hopes:

• Boxing: Bantamweight quarterfinals tomorrow morning, Middleweight and Flyweight quarterfinals on Wednesday, and Light Welterweight semifinal on Friday.
• Taekwondo: Another potential for a woman’s medal here. TKD bouts start Wednesday.

Others left standing:

• Tracks and Fields: Only one high jumping lady left in the competition, and we’re not supposed she’s going to go too far.
• Sailing: What do I know about sailing? But the guy is still hanging in there so that’s good news.

*THIS JUST IN* - It’s not even on the official medal count yet, but it seems Thailand has just won another bronze in Men’s 1500 meter wheelchair.

*THEN AGAIN MAYBE NOT* - Okay we came in 3rd in the final wheelchair, but there’s no medal for that? I guess maybe it was an exhibition sport? Hmm….

Another gold for the ladies! Pawina Thongsuk, weighing in at 152 lbs. and lifted total of 601 lbs. to get to gold. Pawina first broke the world record by lifting 270 lbs. which was broken in the next turn by the Russian at 275.5 lbs. Matter not, at the end, the Russian contender and Pawina lifted the same weight but Pawina won because she weighs less.

That brings Thailand up to 4 medals total - 2 golds, 2 bronzes - ALL from women’s weightlifting.

I’m crying again!!!

On other notes: The lone Thai badminton player lost in the semifinals, but he has one more shot for the bronze. All 3 boxers are still going strong.

I could be jinxing it…but this is looking to be Thailand’s best Olympics EVER!

The first Thai badminton player ever to reach Olympics quarterfinals has just advanced to semifinals!

On that note - Nice try, Kevin and Howard of the US Badminton team. Not bad for your first time out.

On another note - 3 Thai boxers–each in a different weight group–are still hanging in there. This year may be the year we have the most Olympics medal yet!

I remembered when I was a kid, and the first Olympics medal was won. It was a silver in boxing. Then we didn’t win anything for a couple of Olympics, and then we hit the first and only gold with boxing.

Winning a medal in the Olympics is THE biggest thing for athletes and fans back home. No higher honor, and no one prouder.

Fighting for your country is probably the most revered aspect in Thai cultures. Stemming from earlier years of war against everyone else, many of Thai legends are based on war and honor in fighting to protect the King and country. Olympics, though not lethal, plays out the same blood, sweat, and tears. You’re still doing it for the King and country.

I’m damn proud to be a Thai.

**LATE EDITION** The guy didn’t get any medal in the end. But did to back to Thailand to a huge chunk of change for making it THAT far.

Vote for your favorite advertising mascots and slogans today.

As much as I wanted to veto these polls altogether because they didn’t include JACK IN THE BOX, but I’ll forgive them.

My vote is for M&M guys and “Got Milk?”

Another bronze is won in women’s weightlifting for Thailand. 1 gold and 2 bronzes from weightlifting, all women.

Our boxing boys have a whole of a lot more to fight for now! Haha!

We were jolted awake late last night/early this morning. It felt like a truck rolled gently into the building, one jolt that rattled the windows and shook our bed. It turned out to be a 2.5 magnitude earthquake epicentered in Rossmoor/Los Alamitos area at 12:56 a.m.

One thing that is so essentially California I can never get used to is the earthquakes. Big ones, small ones…doesn’t matter. It unnerves me. Yeah give me howling winds, heavy rains, and hefty thunders anyday. I’m not afraid of those. But a 2.5 quake hit, and I was up for another hour.

Meet Udomporn Polsak, the first Thai woman to ever won a gold medal for, of all the sports that are unpopular among Thai women, weightlifting. Weighing in at 53 kg (117 lbs.), Udomporn lifted the total of 222.5 kg (491 lbs.) to win the gold.

Read about her, and our national, triumph in this report from Yahoo! toward the end of the article.

I actually cried when I saw her picture of her in a Thai online newspaper. I’m so goddamn proud!

And again, I fucking hate NBC fol the time delay coverage.

Yet another culture shock. When I was growing up, Olympics is a very big deal. The whole country seems to stop to watch, to cheer on our own team–and even other countries’.

2004 Athens Olympics in the U.S.?

*cricket chirps*

Yeah.

Nobody around me is as excited about the games. Actually, nobody seems to care that much.

Another reason to feel home sick. We used to stay up even during school nights to watch the broadcast of any major sports events. Sometimes Daddy would come wake us up when the games were on, and let us slept the rest of the night on their bed or at least in their room.

But here, it seems I’m the only one staying up half the night watching the ceremony and following the games. In 2000 the NBC coverage was horrible I didn’t even bother to try to follow it. Although the coverage is a lot better, but NBC still sucks. Most of the coverage is not live on the west coast but time delayed from east coast, and other “important” matches are broadcasted later for prime time or some juicy television spots.

I have to rely on Yahoo! Sports and the NBC Olympics site to keep up to date, or else I just get left behind.

On that note: Thailand won the bronze in women’s weightlifting under 48 kg (about 106 lbs.) Yeah. The lifter is about my size and she frelling lifted about 221 lbs. to win the bronze.

Tomorrow morning, all of Thailand will be watching our boxer compete. Our hopes and dreams. This year we also have high hopes for Taekwondo and possibly tennis.

Thai-land! Thai-land! Thai-land! Thai-land!

On additional, boy-crazy note: I watched E! Special presentation/interview with Tom Cruise during my cold medicine haze.

After all these years, after Brad Pitt and many other hunks, Tom still does it for me. His smile still quivers my heart and buckles my knees.

Tom was the first celebrity I had a mad crush on. Top Gun did it. And it was all about Tom all the time sometime in 6th grade. I think that may be where I developed affinity for white boys.

Well, actually that would split between Tom Cruise and Fabian, the boy from Germany I met at the international camp I went to when I was 12. Fabi and his little fang and blond hair. My friend Peg and I codenamed him “Shark”. I even managed to dance with him at our formal. Fancy that.

Back to Tom. Yeah. He’s still a hottie. After I watched his special on E!, I felt like…man only if I get to meet him, he and I are going to click and he’ll know that I’m the one…the real Mrs. Cruise he’s been looking for all these times. But then, I remembered the judge said something about being 50 feet away…

In Thailand, there’s one of those superstition things that says that: twitchy left eye means good things are coming, and, of course, twitchy right eye means bad things are coming.

My left upper eyelid has been twitching for over a week now. If that was real, I should’ve won the lottery, got discovered in a mall or by someone who heard my musical “talent” seeping from my apartment, escaped from the topic mentioned in “Grrr”, or at least found a $100 bill. Make that a $20 even. No. $1.

Not a single good news.

And I have the cold. Again.

I thought working out was supposed to be good for your health. How come I got a cold twice in one month since I started working out. Explain THAT.

Nothing sacred. Yeah. The theme of the week on FX and my life.

On Nip/Tuck, Sean finds out his first born son is not his but from his wife’s one night of passion with his best friend/partner. The lady who claimed to have stigmata with all the right proofs–square holes, blood that isn’t hers–turned out to be a product of an elaborate scheme to keep the halfway house running and her staying in it. She told him, “There is nothing to believe in any more.”

On Rescue Me, Tommy questions God’s existence with his best friend and cousin died in 9/11, his wife and him being separated, and now his daughter in critical condition from a car accident.

Yeah, only if they had President Bartlett yelled at God in Latin on Bravo, I’ll be all set.

Fortunately for me, I don’t have to doubt God. I’m frelling Buddhist, man. It’s all about karma.