Off Day

As I mentioned in my last post, today was a day off from competition. I figured I'd head into Olympic Park and get some shopping done at the Super Store while I had some free time.

The line outside the Super Store always stretches for miles (or so it seems), but I didn't have to wait very long to be let in. Here's the scene that met me when I got inside...

The best part of that photo (obvi) is the news cameraman getting a shot of the swarm of people around the pin section of the store. That was the most chaotic area in the place, but the rest of the store was pretty packed, too.

After dropping 100,000 won on some sweet merch, I went over to the Alibaba House, which is a very prominent building in the Olympic Park...

I had never heard of Alibaba until I got here, but apparently it's an e-commerce company that paid a buttload of money to be an Olympic sponsor. There are a few different fan experiences you can have inside the Alibaba House. The shortest line was for the facial recognition technology station, so that's the one I went to.

And, well, here's the result...

The problem with the technology, as you can plainly see, is that it doesn't recognize facial hair, which seems like a pretty big problem when you're touting your technology as FACIAL RECOGNITION and facial hair is part of one's face. It left what looks like a smudge of dirt above my lip and on my chin, which is wholly unflattering. Needless to say, their technology is not yet ready for the marketplace.

I went and got some lunch, and while I was waiting for my food to come out, I noticed this tub of...something sitting by the pickup window...

Is it yogurt? Sour cream? Mayonnaise? WHO THE FUCK KNOWS??? I'm referring to it as a Big Tub of Nope.

As I was walking through the park, I noticed a crowd gathered around someone, so I went over to see who it was. It turned out it was Maame Biney, the African-American short track speed skater, being interviewed...

Most of the rest of my day was spent in the Mountain Cluster, where I attended a press conference, got some work done and went out to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. It wasn't the most exciting day of my trip, but they can't all be thrill-a-minute adventures.

What time is it? You know what time it is.

The things I do for you people.

You read that right: Those are tuna mayonnaise-flavored potato chips. I stood in front of the rack at the convenience store for a good five minutes debating whether I should get them, whether I was strong (stupid?) enough to eat something so vile sounding. But I made a vow to myself and to you, my readers, that I would expand my horizons and try the weirdest of the weird, so I sucked it up and dove in.

I can't say I'm glad I gave these a whirl, but I also don't regret that I did either. Neither the tuna flavor nor the mayonnaise flavor was overwhelming -- they were both mild, actually -- with the former coming through more than the latter. (I could only think of the poor food scientist who had to continually go back to the drawing board to tweak the formula for mayonnaise flavoring before he got it just right.) They certainly were not off-putting -- I happily ate the whole bag -- but I would not go back for seconds.

Rating: 6.4