I 'm a huge fan of Damien Rice. I also happen to love Sia's song Chandelier. So imagine my (pleasant) surprise when I found out that Damien Rice covered Chandelier. I learned about it while looking for playlists that featured his music on Spotify. His version is a lot slower and more somber and emotional. I've been listening to this a lot now since I heard it first. Check it out here.
Video uploaded in YouTube by Damien Rice
I have a new hobby: Axie Infinity! A friend of mine who is into cryptocurrency knows that I play a lot of games (including Angry Birds 2 on my phone and a lot of online versions of board games) so he offered to make me an Axie Infinity "scholar", which means he will create an account for me and I have to keep playing and collecting cryptocurrency. An Axie Infinity account is very expensive so there really needs to be a commitment to keep playing. I spend a lot of time playing games so I figured I might as well earn some money while doing it. As it turns out, Axie Infinity is quite enjoyable. I especially love the Arena where I have to compete against other players. It took a lot of losses for me to figure out how to properly combine and sequence my cards and how to play against different kinds of Axies with different powers but thankfully, I can now win enough arena battles to complete my daily quest.
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| My first ever win in the Axie Infinity Arena |
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| My second GCash tree |
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| Crosta Shroomed Out Pizza |
I also got the Pepperonley Stuffed Crust, which is your basic salami and mozzarella with a spinach-and-artichoke stuffed crust (I actually wanted to order the Pork You but it was unavailable on the day I ordered so I got this one instead)
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| Stuffed Crust Pepperonley Pizza from Crosta |
I also decided to switch from movies to series on HBO Go. There are a lot of series on this platform, including some critically acclaimed ones like The Wire and Chernobyl. I decided to start my series-watching with The Nevers, mainly because it so far has only 6 episodes (Chernobyl has less with 5, but I thought that it might be a bit heavier to absorb and might require more brain power to properly appreciate). I finished watching The Nevers and I really quite enjoyed it. I loved how there was some pretty incredible plot twists. The last episode in fact was incredibly unexpected. According to wikipedia, "the first season will consist of 12 episodes, split into two six-episode parts, with the second half debuting in 2022." It's gonna be a while before the second half of season 1 becomes available but I am definitely looking forward to it.
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| photo from HBO Go Asia |
And finally, I got my first vaccine dose! I'm extremely grateful that my company got vaccines for all employees. I'm now halfway closer to significantly increasing my chances to fight off Covid-19 and preventing a severe case if I do get infected. That said, even when I get fully vaccinated, I will still need to keep my guard up. The number of Covid cases in the Philippines has gotten really high in recent weeks (especially this last one) and the Delta variant spreads a lot more quickly and easily. Hopefully, more Filipinos (and people all over the world) get vaccinated so people will be a lot safer and hospitals won't be overwhelmed anymore.
Still on the Olympics, I had my eye on the tennis event because Novak Djokovic was on the verge of even more greatness. After winning the first three majors of the year, he had a really good chance of matching Steffi Graf's legendary achievement in 1988, when she became the first person to win all four Grand Slam events and the Olympic Gold medal - the Golden Slam.
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| photo from https://olympics.com/en/featured-news/tennis-golden-slam-steffi-graf-1988-olympics-gold |
The Golden Slam is so elusive that even achieving a career Golden Slam - winning all four majors and an Olympic gold during your entire career but not necessarily in the same year - is extremely rare. Only three other players aside from Graf have achieved the career Golden Slam this so far: Andre Agassi, Serena Williams, and Rafael Nadal.
While Novak Djokovic lost his chance to match Steffi's golden achievement in 1988, he still has a more-than-fair chance to win the Grand Slam - meaning all four majors in the same year. If he does that, he will be the first male player to achieve this in the Open Era. He will also join a very exclusive club of athletes who have achieved the Grand Slam that includes Don Budge, Maureen Connolly, Don Budge, Margaret Court, and Steffi. I still don't see anyone being able to beat Djokovic in a five-set match at the moment. That said, his loss at the Olympics shows that even the best are vulnerable to pressure. The US Open starts at the end of the month and it will be really interesting to see what happens.
The Tokyo Olympics ended last Sunday after a highly eventful and even inspiring 17 days of athletic competition. For Filipinos, this has been the best Olympics we've experienced so far: we got out first gold medal, it was the first time a Filipina boxer won a medal in boxing, it was the first time we won two silvers, and this was the largest medal haul we've had to date with four medals. Once again, thank you to Hidilyn Diaz, Nesthy Petecio, Eumir Marcial, and Carlo Paalam for the honor you brought to our country!
FOUR MEDALS FOR #PHI! 🥇🥈🥈🥉
— CNN Philippines (@cnnphilippines) August 7, 2021
Congratulations to Hidilyn Diaz, Nesthy Petecio, Carlo Paalam, and Eumir Marcial for not only winning Olympic medals but also bringing glory and pride to the country. We are proud of you! pic.twitter.com/7x0R8mbYjb
Thanks also to the rest of the Filipinos who competed at the Olympics!
MARAMING SALAMAT SA INYONG PAGLABAN PARA SA BAYAN! 🇵🇭💪🏻
— Rappler (@rapplerdotcom) August 8, 2021
Taas-kamaong pagpupugay sa ating mga atletang Pilipino na buong tapang at lakas na lumaban sa Tokyo Olympics para sa Pilipinas. 🥇🥈🥈🥉#Tokyo2020 #Olympics #PHI https://t.co/Vtt4GMiJ0q pic.twitter.com/UERqphxDNN
Given that we are still in a global pandemic, there was a lot of uncertainty heading into the event, but it pushed through. Sadly, fans were not allowed to watch the events due to the rise of Covid cases in Japan. That didn't stop the host nation from organizing what may be the most logistically-challenging games ever, given that safety protocols had to be followed to prevent athletes from contracting Covid. While Tokyo may not have been able to recover the cost of hosting the Olympics through tourism during the event, I'm sure that once people are allowed to travel and the pandemic is under control (whenever that will happen), millions will flock to Japan, including me. Check out highlights of the closing ceremony here. (I'm impressed at how the Olympic Rings were formed during the futuristic light show!)
video uploaded in YouTube by Olympics
I also want to mention a couple of really interesting things that I found really interesting. The Mixed 4 x 400m Relay is the first time I saw a mixed-gender athletics competition at the Olympics (tennis and badminton of course have mixed doubles). It was also heartwarming to see Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy both winning gold medals at the Men's High Jump. Then there is Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands who tripped over another runner in the Women's 1500m heats but still finished first in her heat (she would win bronze in this event and gold at both the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters).
Thank you, Japan, for successfully organizing the Olympic Games. Thank you to all the athletes for playing hard and striving for excellence. And thank you to the Filipino athletes who fought hard for our country and who brought us honor and glory, medal or not.
What an amazing week it has been for Filipino boxers at the Olympics! In just five days, three of our boxers won medals!
On August 3, Nesthy Petecio won a silver medal in Women's Featherweight. It was the first boxing medal won by an Filipino athlete since 1996. Nesthy is also the first female boxer from the country to win a medal. She is also only the second female athlete from the Philippines to win a medal in any sport (the first being Hidilyn Diaz). Congratulations Nesthy!
It's silver for #PHI!
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 3, 2021
Nesthy Petecio gives the nation their second Olympic medal of #Tokyo2020 after a thrilling victory in the women's #Boxing featherweight category!@olympicphi pic.twitter.com/VUizJPw5Nz
Two days later, on August 5, Eumir Marcial won a bronze medal in Men's Middleweight, giving the Philippines our third Olympic medal in Tokyo and the second in boxing. It was a very tough fight, ending in a 3-2 split decision. Looking at the judges' scorecards, it was extremely close and it really could have gone either way. Congratulations Eumir!
Eumir Marcial wins bronze in the men's #Boxing middleweight category!
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 5, 2021
It's #PHI's first men's boxing medal since 1996. @olympicphi pic.twitter.com/cYpGGphD70
Today, August 7, Carlo Paalam won another silver medal, this time in Men's Flyweight. This is now our fourth Olympic Medal in Tokyo, three of them coming from boxing. I saw the fight earlier today and Carlo buckled after a couple of hits in the first round but he got up and still fought really hard after that. In fact, he managed to win round 3 and the decision was still split. Congratulations, Carlo!
It's another #Boxing medal for #PHI as Carlo Paalam takes silver in the men's flyweight category!@OlympicPHI pic.twitter.com/8d0W32Loff
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 7, 2021
I would have loved to write separate blog posts about them, honoring each of their victories, but I got so busy and worked long hours last week. By the time I was ready to write about their triumphs today, all of them had already won medals.
Thank you once again, Nesthy, Eumir, and Carlo, and congratulations on your incredible world-class achievements!
This post is a week late but I of course still had to write about it. Congratulations, Hidilyn Diaz, for winning the Olympic Gold Medal in the Women's 55kg weightlifting event!
JUST IN: GOLD AT LAST!
— ABS-CBN News Channel (@ANCALERTS) July 26, 2021
The Philippines has finally secured a gold medal at the Olympic Games as Pinay weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz reached the top podium in the women’s 55kg in Tokyo. #Tokyo2020 #Olympics
Photo: Edgard Garrido, @Reuters | via @cedrickkbasco pic.twitter.com/xy96r4S7Fz
This is the first official Philippine Olympic Gold Medal so I was one of the millions of Filipinos who were overjoyed when Hidilyn successfully lifted the winning 127kg in the clean and jerk. (I would like to mention that Arianne Cerdeña won a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, but she did it in bowling which was a demonstration sport so her achievement isn't included in the official medal tally.) The 55kg weight class is new in the Olympics so she now holds the Olympic records in both the clean and jerk and total weight lifted. Awesome! But beyond the records, what I do find even more inspiring is that she has continued to get better and she achieved personal bests when it mattered the most. In an interview, she said that she had never lifted 127kg prior to the weightlifting final which means she peaked at the right time. Also, back in the 2016 Olympics, her total lift was 200kg so this means she managed to lift 24 kilos more than she did in Rio, blowing way past her silver medal achievement four years ago. That is just astounding!
THE FIRST FILIPINO GOLD MEDALIST IN THE OLYMPICS.....IS A FILIPINA!!!!! HUHUHU 127KG OLYMPIC WORLD RECORD FOR C&J FROM HIDILYN DIAZ!!!! 😭🥇💗 pic.twitter.com/UYC0CJSMJY
— d (@dannielledivine) July 26, 2021
Hidilyn is also the first Filipino to win medals in multiple Olympics since Teofilo Yldefonso won bronze at the 200m breaststroke in both the 1928 and 1932 Olympic events. It's amazing to think that Hidilyn has actually competed in four consecutive Olympics now, dating back to 2008 in Beijing. While she may not have won medals in 2008 and in 2012, the fact that she competed means she has been world-class for at least 13 years now. Incredible!
It's been a week since Hidilyn won her gold medal but I am still really happy and moved by her remarkable accomplishment. I am certain she has inspired many Filipinos and Filipino athletes to strive for excellence. Thank you, Hidilyn Diaz, and congratulations!
