World Cup Recap

The World Cup has been over now for 10 days. In looking back to the tournament I will list my top 10 things that surprised me about the World Cup

10. The way the teams from Africa performed. They played much better than a lot of people expected. Beware in 2010 when the Cup is played for in South Africa.
9. The amount of yellow and red cards given in the game. Were some of those infractions ones that warranted the giving of a card?
8. The US team that did not even show up to play after being billed as the best team put together for this tournament.
7. Suprised by how Germany performed in the World Cup.
6. Italy winning the World Cup, considering the fact that France was the better side in the match.
5. Disappointment from Brazil and Argentina for their early exits. (I was on the Argentina bandwagon)
4. The temper of Wayne Rooney and the effect it had on the England.
3. The inconsistent officiating at this tournament. Some referrees had control of the game. e.g. the ref from Japan, Argentina and the German ref. Referees that were inconsistent were ones from Russia and Paraguay. I give credit to the English ref who retired midway through the tourney because he made a big mistake in a match, though it had no bearing on the outcome. I give him credit for taking intiative and doing the right thing. Kudos
2. The number of miss penalty kicks. I may be a keeper when I played in leagues, but I am sorry, I have never seen that many kicks missed in one tournament.
1. Zidane headbutting Matterazzi for an alleged slur against his family.

World Cup Soccer

World Cup Soccer is upon us and it comes once every 4 years. This year the tourney comes from Germany and in 2010 the tournament will be held in South Africa. Maybe I will be able to go then.
Today marked the end of the first round of games. While some teams have yet to show up, some teams that are new were very impressive.
The first of these new teams is the Ivory Coast. They played a very good game against powerhouse Argentina last Saturday. In a very good game, Ivory Coast should have been awarded an penalty shot late in the game, but that was not awarded and as a result came up short 2-1. I have high hopes for this team this weekend against another powerhouse in the Netherlands.
Other teams that looked good and are new to this Tourney were Trinidad and Tobago and Tunisia and Saudi Arabia who played a spectacular game that ended in a 2-2 draw.
Teams that have been disappointing so far were the USA and England. The US team is being advertised as the best team put together for the tournament. They did not show me anything against the Czech Republic and I don't see them doing well against Italy this weekend. England on the other hand, won its game, but the team did not show up at all. They won on an own goal by a Paraguayan player on a fine ball by David Beckham. England is known to start out slow and then pickup the pace. We shall see how they do tomorrow against Trinidad and Tobago, who stunned Sweden in a 0-0 draw.
Who will win the Cup. I am not certain right now. I want to see how the second set of games go before I venture a guess. More to come

A rough Friday Night

Another week in the books and it was quitting time on Friday. All I could think about was going home to change and going out to NJ to spend time with someone I really like. Getting out there... easier said than done.
First off it was raining pretty hard during the 4 o'clock hour that all trains were f'ed up. Second, I agreed to help a co-worker get home since she does not know her way around NYC to get home. Third, I don't get home til 9:15 after telling this person I would have been over at her place at 7, but called her to let her know what was happening. I did not get to her place until 10:15.
I finally get there and I think that the night is going to be nice and relaxing and ultimately in the end I would fall asleep holding her. Boy was I WRONG!!! We went out to grab dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and then went back to her place. I thought things would be nice and relaxing. It started off that way. We thought about going to grab a drink at the jazz club around the corner from her place but we went back to her place and played a game of chess. This was the second time that we were playing and she thought that she was going to beat me fair and square.
We are playing the game and every so often I was nodding off a bit while I was waiting for her to make a move. Without going into great detail, she lost and she was upset about it. This led to a spiraling cascade effect where she talked about how she had a bad day and that she felt as if her confidence was lacking. I tried to comfort her and she did not want it. Tried to calm her down, but she did not have it. In the end, she told me that as much as she liked me there was no spark there and just wanted to be friends. I knew something like this was up for awhile, but got her to just try and see if time would let things build and such. While it hurts to have something end that in my opinion had potential it was nice to have someone be honest and upfront early before things any further. We agreed to still be friends and that is something that can be done, at least from my point of view. Time will tell what happens. If it is meant for this to ever happen then our paths will meet up again. But for now I will take what I can get even though there is an empty void right now for someone who somehow opened me up when I thought it could not be done again. This person I thought was really special with a lot of potential. Alas, right now I am wrong, but all I can say is 2 things: (1) Better to have tried then not to have tried at all; and (2) I will always be there (despite what others may think) and I will be the best friend that I can be and not be bitter. She was open with me and thus she has my respect and I will be grateful that things did not get any further that would have resulted in more difficult heart ache than is currently being felt.

Never give up!!

I decided that I would share with you one thing that I look to when in a tough situation. This was my mantra in graduate school.

A new Type of Outrage

I would like to thank my co-worker who posted this on his blog Hipster-Union which could can find to the link to his site to the right of this post. He may be slightly disgruntled at work when the stress level reaches a new high, but he is a great guy. Now to his rant which I can empathise with

"Greetings loyal employee. Your workday is brought to you by Happy Sunny Big Chinese Bank... our Bank will make you Happy. With Happy Sunny Big Chinese Free Checking and Happy Sunny Big Chinese Dollars, Happy Sunny Big Chinese Bank wants to be a part of your modern lifestyle. Together, we will embrace the Happy Sunny Big Chinese world. Come to Happy Sunny Big Chinese Bank. Thank you for your attention. This commercial interruption has been deducted from your paycheck."

As if I'm not outraged enough, I have found yet another level of outrage - a deeper outrage that taps into my Communist-leaning soul. Because of commercial announcements in the workplace.

I just endured a meeting that was, on one level, extraordinarily awkward and, on a whole different level, representative of the level to which America has sunk. Myself and everyone else who, like a good little worker bee, was eating lunch at the desk, were called into the Boss' office for a very special announcement. What could it be? Did we win the big case? Did we sign up a big new account? Was a Very Important Person stopping by to thank the firm for all of its hard work? No, I am now receiving commercials at work. It's come to this.

We received a speech from someone at the Bank, telling us about the Bank's fabulous new free checking deal. Sign up for a free checking account and get a free one-night stay at any Marriott in the country. Then, the Boss proceeded to tell us that we are probably paying for our checking accounts now and we should all switch to that Bank. It's a great deal. You can't beat it with a stick.

This is what I've been reduced to: eating my lunch at my desk only to have it interrupted by a f*cking COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! WTF?!? I am getting advertising delivered to me IN PERSON AT WORK WHEN I"M ON LUNCH! This job! this country! this system! is so mother*fcking f*cked that I can't see through all the outrage.

F*cking commercials at work!

On top of that, I'm disgusted at myself and proud of myself for the remarkable restraint I showed. I have a "free" checking account with that Bank. It's not free. And I don't get a free night's stay at any Marriott hotel in the country because I've been a loyal gullible easily appeased customer victim of the Bank for seven years (fifteen if you count the two banks that this Bank bought out). Oh, and in case you're wondering which bank, it's the Chinese bank owned by the House of Saud. I'm extra-special proud of supporting that sh*t.

And don't get me started on the Russian that they have who sells annuities to people who don't need/want annuities in a boiler-room style delivery. How skeevy can it get?

I swear, I think that "he" must be lonely. He called a salesman to come down to deliver a pitch. His new name is Bizarro Burns. In the normal world, people don't welcome salesman into their homes/paces of work. In Bizarro world, our workday is interrupted to hear pitches from salesman. F*cking Bizarro workplace. This place needs a match in a file on a Friday night.

Why am I outraged? A "free checking" account at that Bank is nothing I don't know about. I have that account. So, is it because I'm being offered something that is meaningless to me?

A free night's stay somewhere in the country? My two week's vacation is in North Carolina where I stay with my family at our house. Moreover, my random free days are generally spent at other relative's houses around the country. So, is it because the fabulous prize is unusable by me?

I've sort of given up on raging against the machine. Nevertheless, there was something vaguely wrong about two people then signing up for the "free checking" account. So, is it because of the pervasiveness of our consumer culture?

Yes to all, no to all. Mainly, it's because my time was wasted. So now I am wasting time in revenge. It's all I have left because I don't even have possession of my own time. F*CK AMERICA. F*CK THE WORLD. F*CK THE BANKS. F*CK MY BIZARRO BOSS.

Now then...

...where did I put those matches?

Chemistry

Is it right for someone that barely knows you and with whom you have had more cancelled dates than actual dates?

Why is it that someone who claims to know what they want and believe in soulmates afraid to commit? Why should I be compared to an ex on the anniversary of her break up? Is it necessary to tell someone that who is interested in you that so and so was so perfect that his only flaw was his use of marijuana? This break up occurred 5 years ago for a relationship that was 6 month old and yet she appears to have not gotten over him.

Is she not over him? Is she a hopeless romantic and there is no spark b/w us or as one of my co-workers put it - She is so fucked in the head that she does not know what the fuck she want and is only using her. Get rid of the bitch! You deserve better!"

The good Dr. is looking for a good opinion.

END OF YEAR ONE OF LAW SCHOOL!!!!

In the spirit of having completed my first year of law school, I want to just say

"WOOHOO!.!.!.1. WE DID IT!!!! IT IS OVER!!!!!"

But alas I was unable to find a video clip of Homer Simpson running around in joy and happiness. I guess this will suffice

Da Vinci Code

This upcoming Friday, the Da Vinci code will make it way out into theatres. I read the book last winter and was able to finish it in 2 weeks and am now looking forward to seeing this movie.
The movie has received a lot of publicity and of late from many different denominations in its fictional portrayal of Jesus actual being married and having produced offspring. People are in an uproar about this and to some extent I can see as to why everyone is so upset about this. I can understand why it would keep a lot of bible thumpers such as those in the South from going to the movies.

Howeverm the more fascinating discussion came from a discussion with a friend of mine over the weekend. In the discussion, I expressed how I was looking forward to the release of the movie. She responded by saying how sacreligious it is and how people who go see it will need to be prayed for so that their souls are saved. She followed it up by saying that if I, hypothetically, was her boyfriend, she would forbid me from seeing the movie and that if I saw it and she found out, she would break up with me in a heart beat. Needless to say, that would not stop me from seeing the movie. There is a fine line as to what one person can and cannot be allowed to do. You know where this falls.

And on a final note about this friend, she was unable to get into movies like X-Men, Spiderman and the Matrix..... No further comment to be made by me, but for everyone else feel free to chime in.