August 5, 2008 – Media Day

TIME: 1910hrs

Day 5 down… 11 more to go.

Today was quite a relaxing day for us. I woke up early for some reason this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I decided to go check my email and update my blog. Garry and Michael eventually migrated out to the lobby and joined me until it was time for breakfast. After breakfast (delicious pancakes) Michael and I went to meet Asanuma Sensei at the front of the University. We were able to get him guest passes until Friday. Now he can get in and out whenever he wants. By the time we got Asanuma Sensei situated it was time to leave for practice.

Today’s practice was a lot like yesterday. A bunch of drills. I was Sayaka’s uke the entire time … and was uke for Valerie Gotay for awhile. The drills were intense – 30 second intervals for 5 minutes of various drills. It was tough! The drills were high intensity for the constant 5 minutes. Today’s practice was media day. There were tons of cameras and reporters filming and snapping pictures. Towards the end of practice, Sacramento‘s KCRA’s Domi and Deirdre showed up. After practice the Olympians were in back to back interviews. I was grabbed by Deirdre and did an interview. It was cool… I liked the questions that were asked:

"You’re a long way away from home, you’re in a different country, how’s it feel to finally be here?"

"What do you do on your free time?"

"What’s it like to be training with your teammate?"

"Is there a line where you’re pushing the Olympians too far?"

After practice, we all came back to shower and get changed before heading down for lunch. We tried to get Asanuma Sensei into the cafeteria but they wouldn’t let him come in. So we quickly ate and then met him upstairs in our lobby. We decided not to do anything exciting so Asanuma Sensei decided to go back to his apartment. Once he left, Michael and I spent a few hours on the computer catching up with pictures, blogs, emails, etc.

Now, we are watching Talladega Nights in the Athletes Lounge. Michael and I came down here to find the rest of the crew jamming out on Rock Band. Then we migrated to the movies. Soon, I’m sure we’re going to venture upstairs to the cafeteria to get some dinner.

Tomorrow the plans are: Breakfast, Judo and then Forbidden City. =) It should be fun… I’m excited.

I’ve updated pictures through Day 4, so make sure you check those out.