What I learned from FIFA 2010 about soccer and life

5. Spanish players are hot.

Okay, not all of them, but c’mon, Casillas? Torres? For David Villa, his hotness is amplified from what it actually is for being this tournament’s goal scorer for the Spanish team. I never followed soccer before this year, so when it came to choosing a team to root for, I arbitrarily chose Spain gauging by the hotness of their players. I may not have started out as a “true fan” or anything, and I certainly haven’t ended up there yet, but I feel kinship ties to both the team and their fans after this tournament.

4. Soccer is pretty rad.

Lol, Ghana.

I’ve never been a sports person, but after deciding to follow the tournament this year, I can see where all the excitement is coming from. It’s really intense, seeing if your team will make it, calculating how many goals it takes to get them to where they need to be. I can’t say the same about hockey, or American football or anything, but I do get a thrill from watching soccer games. I used to be in the same boat as others when they say, “How can you watch a game that goes on for 90 minutes and no goals happen?” Now, I see how much thought and play goes into the game. It’s not just a bunch of guys mindlessly passing the ball around, they’re running up and down the field, finding ways through the opposing defence, stealing the ball back. And when a game goes on for a long time, tied, especially during eliminations, it is nail-bitingly nerve-wracking.

3. It’s okay if you lose your first game.

Aka tournaments and life are the same in the way that even if you fail the first time around, things can always turn 180 degrees and surprise you. Wow that sounded really corny. But I’m just happy that even though Spain lost their first game against Switzerland, they came back, won the rest of their games, and then the World Cup. WOOOO! Get back on that horse.

2. Competitive rivalry sucks.

I heard so much shit talking about Spain and how all the other teams are gonna kick their asses, wipe the ground with them, etc etc. It’s one thing to be confident about your team and cheer for their win, but during this tournament, I’ve had so many people verbally stomping me just because they see that I was a Spain supporter. It may only have started with their looks, but once the games began, I really started to feel like a supporter. And who’s to tell me I wasn’t? When you first start to support a team, what reasons are there behind it? You come from that region? It’s your ethnicity? It’s who your parents are rooting for? Each reason might as well be as arbitrary as the last. Because it doesn’t matter where you start, but how you feel about your team in the end.

When they see I don’t retreat when attacked, tail between my legs, and instead start defending Spain, they’ll pull out, “She isn’t even fucking Spanish.” So I’m not, despite me telling you that I am half Spaniard. I don’t think Vietnam or Canada or even China was playing in the world cup (my Chinese roots are really a stretch). And when these fans start regaling me in the most malicious manner for whatever reason, I develop a strong dislike for the team. Ahem, Germany. Yes, the Germans. I started out being pretty okay with them, till Germany fans start coming out of nowhere and ruining the spirit for me. By the end of it, I didn’t even care if Spain lost to the Netherlands (well, till game day at least), as long as they beat Germany. And beat them they did.

1. A lot can happen in 5 minutes.

From this tournament…

And other leagues…

3-0.. oh wait, 3-3

5 minutes how long it takes me to brush my teeth. It’s how long it takes me to choose an outfit, to change laundry loads and fold them, or to make some toast and spread butter/nutella/jam/peanut butter on it. 3 of those minutes are spent waiting for the toaster. I digress, 5 minutes in a game of soccer means a lot of action. Considering it takes them 5 seconds to get from one end of the field to the other. There have been goals within minutes of each other. Corner kicks, free kicks, fouls, shots that ricochet off the goal post. It’s just too much.

Because there’s so much happening, 5 minutes lasts a really long time, and that’s with them not stopping the clock. Basketball, 10 minutes actually means about a half hour. So. What I mean to say then, is that you can do a lot in 5 minutes, even if you’re not playing soccer. So do it. Fill up your time. Do something productive. I should probably start living by that.

What is this?

This is a new blog, to update you, cher(e) reader about my life because it is oh-so-brilliantly exciting. And because you love me so.

Along with moving away from the Montreal area that’s been my home for just about six years, I’ve also vacated blog posts from my tumblr account. Though, I will still be posting random photos and videos over there.

June 29, 2010

Dan Potthast, the Wonder Years, the Supervillains, and Streetlight Manifesto. We went to see them at the Metropolis.

Taking a Photo

This was my second time seeing Dan Potthast in concert. Clad with his black glasses acoustic guitar, he stood on the stage, solo, interacting with the crowd, and with not a bit of uncertainty or nervousness. None that I could see anyway. He sang ‘Fan’. First time I saw him, he introduced that song by saying it was written when he locked himself in his room for a couple weeks, and eventually ran out of things to write about. The song is about a ceiling fan. I think. He also took out a camera in the middle of the performance and took a picture of the crowd. And then of himself and the crowd. Glorious.

The Wonder Years were nothing special in my eyes. The lead singer danced oddly. More punk rock, less ska.

I had heard a couple of songs from the Supervillains and they are so ska it hurts. A beautiful blend of ska and chills reggae beats. Wonderful energy on stage. Mr. Saxophone player (google tells me his name is Jonathan Cestero aka Smally) was wearing a Spain jersey because Spain had beaten Paraguay that day in the semi-finals? Quarter finals? The one where there are eight teams left. I had worn mine too, but left it in the car because I didn’t want to ruin it. I was still wearing red though. I shouted, “Españaaaa!!!!” but he didn’t hear me, seeing as he was on stage and playing songs and whatnot. But after the show, on our way out, we passed the Supervillains table and he was standing there. I shouted for Spain again, and THEN I HUGGED HIM. OH MY GOD AN ACTUAL (kind of ) CELEBRITY HUG. WOOOO. I thought that was the highlight of my night. But moving on…

Partial group photo - Too many members to fit into one shot

Backtracking to Streetlight Manifesto’s set: They were headlining yet again, and this was my fourth time seeing them. As always, right up front, pressed against the gate. Beautiful. Of course, the biggest name in third wave ska, aka punk ska, etc etc. They always put on an amazing and energetic show. The security were very friendly, spraying us with water. My hair got caught on a crowdsurfer’s something and I was nearly decapitated. It was fun. Hohoho. After the show, Adrienne got a set list and because she loves me, she gave it to me to keep and it was wonderful. After the show, we said goodbye to Claire, and went for a beer. The new Station Sports at Berri is huuuge.

Here is the best part of the story though, on our way back to the car, we passed Streetlight’s tour bus. I saw people. I jumped and waved. It was awesome. And then Adrienne and Andrew convinced me to go ask for an autograph. I hesitated, but then I went. Luckily, before the concert, my overactive imagination convinced me to bring a sharpie, and that I did. I went up to the bus (those things are mighty tall), jumped up and down to get their attention, and then I think it was Mike Brown (Mr. Saxophone) who came out and they brought out Tomas Kalnoky (holy crap I’m still freaking out) and he signed my setlist.

[Insert mega freak out]

I tried to play it cool. It didn’t work. It was Judy gone into hyper fangirl mode. I talked very fast and I don’t remember what I said, but it was the greatest moment of my life. Andrew, I want that video. And then I walked to my car.

And while driving them home, I started crying of joy. I was not my most gracious moment, I’ll admit.

June 30, 2010

My entire life fit into the whole of my little Honda Civic. Well, save for a bookshelf and my books. How I miss them, but there just wasn’t enough room in the car. I will be going back in a couple of weeks to pick that up and a few other knick-knacks that I left behind. I drove down to my new home. It took about 7 hours because we were stuck in Montreal traffic for a while. Half of the way was in the dark, and I have learned that I do not enjoy driving in the dark. Not one bit. Well, long distances anyway.

July 1, 2010

I went to a barbecue for my cousin’s birthday. I was hot.

July 2, 2010

Errands

July 4, 2010

Beach times

July 5, 2010

OCAD orientation, where I met up with another Montrealer whom I went to college with for three years. And then met another Montrealer who knew this other person that I went to college with for three years. It was a long day. I was there from 10:30 till about 5 pm. A fun day, but a long day. First day by myself since I got to Toronto, and I was talked into signing up for a new credit card. Woo!

I was making my way back to Sauga from OCAD and was driving through downtown Toronto in rush hour. As I passed the traffic lights however, I noticed that none of them were on. For some reason, I just thought that Toronto turned off their traffic lights during that time (wtf?). And then I passed by an intersection and a business type man was directing traffic. That’s when I realized there was a power outage. Didn’t know it was so big though. Anyway, as the man was directing traffic, people standing on the corners and in the cars were smiling and taking pictures of him as if it was so weird for someone to be doing such a nice thing. I’ve seen a few minor black outs in QC and this just always seemed like the norm for me to have someone there directing traffic. Oh Toronto, that’s discovery number 1.

July 6, 2010

Uruguay vs Netherlands game

Tiny sofa... or giant lamp?

Claire and Adrienne came to  visit me for the day from Montreal. What wonderful friends I’ve got. We went through antique shops in Parkdale to look for furniture for Claire’s new apartment. I bought this delicious hot pepper sauce from one of the stores. I tried it on some chicken, and also with korean bbq. It is so delicious. Can’t wait to try it on my burger at this Saturday’s barbecue. It was a very pleasant visit, and we walked a lot. It was HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT.

July 7, 2010

VIVA ESPAÑA

Claire and Adrienne left. I watched the Spain vs. Germany game. SPAIN WON. It was glorious. Too many German fans were smack talking me for being a Spain supporter, so I guess we showed them eh. Thank you to Puyol for this game. Woo.

Nachos and Stella

And then I went to the London Tap House, I think it’s called, in downtown Hamilton with my cousin to celebrate the win, where we had beer and nachos. The nachos were amazing. Like SO amazing. With cuts of medium rare steak cubes and freshly made guacamole. So freshly made, that when we asked for some on the side, the server told us that we had to wait a few minutes while they made some more.

July 8, 2010

I did chores. And wrote this post. Later on, CV+Jobs. :D