Everyone's a critic.

THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPICS. A TIME TO REJOICE. A TIME FOR DEFEAT.

But everyone thinks they can make the calls. No matter what sport or racing event that takes place in Vancouver this year, people have this thought that if they are in possession of a remote, they have the power to determine whether the racers or bobsledding teams or cross-country skiers are justified to receive that gold medal they've been working their butts off for.

Hold up. Who gave you the power to decide who gets a medal or not? Obviously, we all know that Apolo Ohno deserves a medal. But who are we to decide if the Yugoslavian from all the way across the world has the perfect ski-flying technique? Or if the Chinese skier, nicknamed "princess" has flawless form? Who are we to rescind the judge's decision?

We're not in the jury room and we need to get over ourselves.

Too many people think that they have the medals in their hands. They think they have the power to decide who gets what award. And do they? Well, just take a look look at them: the choleric viewers are sitting on their leather sofas staring at their flat screen tv's eating cheese puffs and screaming at the tv. Tell me frankly, how does this compare to an actual Olympic judge, with years and years of training and a keen eye for rigid form and slight ?

It doesn't.

The laconic arguments people make to justify why Shaun White should not have won the gold medal this year don't stand a chance against the judges' official marks. He justifiably won that medal, not because viewers with cheese breath were sitting at home cheering for him but because he spent years and years diligently training for these seventeen or so days.

I may sound malcontent, but I think everyone should stop screaming at their tv's and start respecting the judges.

**And congrats to the parvenu who won the silver medal this morning in the biathlon (cross-country skiing and shooting). He was the first Yugoslavian to ever win a silver medal. And he won it because the judges made the call, not anyone else.**

When Pigs Fly...

A whole post on colloquialism. Lucky you! Have you ever noticed the stupid things we say? Not we as in my friends and I, we as in the human race. The whole human race, that is. Not just Americans. Not just Spaniards. Not just people from Norway. Everyone! In no way am I deprecating this behavior (nor do I aim to terminate this all but surreptitious behavior). I am merely noting its overt presence in our busy lives.Ponder for a moment why we might use these expressions...They're usually extremely colorful or imaginative. They paint a picture that. They half-satiate a unquenchable craving, an instinct almost, for adventure. It's simply blissful perfidy in a cruel world...

Some colloquial expressions you have probably heard in everyday speech:

I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!

Could you now? Really? A horse? For breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? Do tell.

I'm just pulling your leg.

In Spanish, this phrase is "I'm just taking your hair." Go figure.

This comes from old crime-ridden London where criminals used to trip victims with a wire that pulled on the victim's leg so they could steal from the person while he was on the floor.

Not the sharpest crayon in the box, are we now?

I have yet to say this to someone...I love this expression though

Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.

The most polite way of saying you're wasting my food. And the very opposite of "you're fat."

You eat like a bird.

My sister gets this a lot. Me, not so much...

Hold your horses!

What's with the horses?

You're driving me up a wall!

I got this from my mom a lot when I was younger.

He's lost his marbles.

...and where have they gone?

What's the matter, cat got your tongue?

Ouch. That sounds painful.

Just like two peas in a pod.

You can be eaten? Oh, never mind.

Look what the cat dragged in.

Dude, I think she just called you a mouse!

and to end it off...

Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!

This one actually came from the 1800s when beds were made out of hay and little insects called bed bugs crawled around in the hay and sucked people's blood when they slept. Hope your not reading this before bed!

Anyway, to fix this dilemma and force the human race to cede this cryptic language, I prescribe a large dose of do-absolutely-nothing. Why suggest a moratorium on something that makes our day-to-day life more ebullient? Don't you think they add a little zest to our monotonous routines? I mean, heck, they make us happy as clams! (By the way, clams spend their whole life under sandy muck only to be dug up by human beings and boiled alive. Remind me, if you will,

why clams are so happy?)

**websites used in this post:

http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/phrase-finder/phrase66

Would you rather...

Hot or cold? Soup or ice cream? Heat or AC?

There's always a choice between winter or summer where we live. But what about places that are one season practically all

year round? And what about those cynical people who claim they would be happiest if they lived in Florida or Vermont?

How dare they say such a thing!! Don't they know how many people would love to live in a place with more than one season? Nevertheless, four seasons?! How do they know they won't get tired of the same weather day after day after day?! Be gone with them!

I'm totally kidding, folks, I am one of those people. Were you credulous enough to believe I would discriminate against people who have a predilection for one season over the others? Do you really think that would be of paramount importance to me? That I would want to eradicate those who love one season in particular?

Call me aloof if you will but personally I know I would be happier if it snowed almost every day of the year. I prefer winter. Although I'm always castigated by summer-lovers, I am stoic in front of nay-sayers. Avoiding superciliousness, I make my arguments clear to people who dismiss me as unhinged. Wary of cajoling summer-lovers, I stand by my quixotic belief that I would be in a complete state of bliss...in Alaska.

My preference for winter primarily stems from my infatuation with snow. Yes. Infatuation. I. Love.

Snow. I can't get enough of it! The way the trees look right after the snow falls, the way each snowflake is different from every other snowflake, the crisp, fresh smell of the air right after it snows, the noiseless sound of a gentle snowfall. I love everything about it.

But that's not all.

Even when it isn't snowing, I still love winter. Meandering through the park on a cold Sunday in January really clears the inane, superfluous thoughts from my head. Although spring might provide the opportune weather for a bike ride and fall the ideal time for pumpkin picking, nothing beats a cold walk in the park with the dog.

Besides snow and weather and the obvious aspects associated with winter, there's one more thing that makes winter special. Holidays.

Christmas, Hanukah, kwanzaa, ramadan, winter solstice, whatever it may be, holidays are the best winter events. Forget the winter Olympics, ignore the snow tubing, and put aside the hot cocoa (although that stuff's heartwarming too). Winter holidays bring together families and let's remember what's important here: friends and family and celebrating all the good times in life, whether they be big or small. Winter holidays, no matter which one(s) you celebrate, bring family and friends together in the warmest of environments (double entendre intended).

So whether you are convinced I am a behemoth for loving winter, you've heard my reasons and probably found my argumentative flaws.

Now, I leave you to decide: winter? Summer? Vermont? Florida? Or plain ol' Jersey?