"We Are the Champions"

1. Saw my first Olympic sport live last week: Beach Volleyball.

As far as firsts go - that was really, really fun. I didn't expect to see quite so much...uh...dancing. The Fu Wa's danced, the audience danced (kind of) and the international Beach Babes danced (if you stretch the definition of dance).

2. Saw my first Peking Opera. The New Mdm White Snake Chronicles. It was at the Egg, which is a really cool building inside as well as outside. During the performance, there were subtitles in three languages. And in the first few minutes, I kept thinking of Ye-ye - my dad's dad - who used to watch Cantonese opera on TV. I was wishing he could have been here to watch the opera too. Crikey, it's been more than a decade since I lost him, my paternal grandmother, and my maternal grandfather - all in the space of 18 months. I miss them. I'd like to have been able to ask them what they think of today's Beijing.

3. Watched Singapore get it's first medal in 48 years. On TV anyway. Table tennis, silver. Some of my colleagues were at the stadium. SMSed them to cheer for Singapore. Wish I'd known about the embassy party. According to the WSJ, they were playing We Are the Champions at the embassy. And why not.