I loved soccer as a kid. I played as much as I could at recess, and eventually rec leagues. It was so much fun and I seemed to be good at it (especially defense). At some point around 6th grade I tried out for the Comets and made the team, it was the first year they formed and our coaches were awesome. I was one of the worst on the team, def the slowest, but I had so much fun. The team was really talented, and it was awesome to be part of it. My proudest moment was winning MVP during a state championship, we had a lot of injuries so I got a lot of playing time and played well.

The Comets straddled a confusing time in my life, I had a bad teacher in grade school who told my mom I would never be more than a D student and bumped me out of all the honors classes for my first year of junior high. So all the people I had known in school were not in my classes, and I was in a lot of remedial classes. I don’t know why the teacher was so pissed, but the rumors is I said something offensive to her and hadn’t realized it since I was just a kid and just asking an innocent question. Throw in the aftereffects of a divorce, a lot of guys turning into assholes in junior high, and a lot of other things and it was generally a shitty period in my life. I really disliked junior high and high school. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

In early high school I had a bad knee injury, it turned out to just be a severe bone bruise instead of a tear. But I ended up quitting soccer, and switching to Ultimate Frisbee.

PS. I loved my bowl cut!

We survived our first game which was Cameroon versus the Netherlands. We pre gamed a little too hard but were none the worst for wear. And I will say in our defense it is a long walk to the stadium and really really fun to walk all the way with tons of cheering fans moving from bar to crazy dance thing to bar to live music on the street to bar. And apart from getting pretty lost leaving the stadium it was an awesome experience! Our next game is pretty far away and requires a 12 hour bus ride, but we got really lucky and are seeing England versus Germany which hopefully is one of the most brutal soccer games seen yet. And hopefully the USA beats Ghana so we can party with everyone once they get to the semis!

Click the first image as its a big panoramic of the stadium and really really cool to see what a monster it is. I was really impressed as you have a great view of the players and everything from everywhere!

What a great game with so many chances and in the end the USA finally scored to win their pool (they got robbed by a ref again and some bad finishes)!!!! Awesome game and great fan base here in Cape Town to cheer them on!

I almost wish they had gotten second in our pool as I’m going to see that game live! So instead I’ll see England and some other team, hopefully Germany. I will be cheering for whoever is playing England, I usually cheer for England but I just watched some English fucker try to pick a fight with some Americans for no reason down on the street. So fuck them, they should be used to coming in second place.

“I bought a cactus. A week later it died. And I got depressed, because I thought, Damn. I am less nurturing than a desert.”
– Demetri Martin

The apartment is fantastic which you can see below, and watched two games in a local bar today and had a great time. The weird food item is a “Russian Dog” which was actually quite good, and I haven’t tried the blueberry energy drink but will report on my findings shortly. South African wine is also quite good.

I’m on my way to South Africa, will get there Monday and looking forward to the crazy that is the world cup!

What I love most (and hate if you are there) about Italy is that they will never be any kind of economic threat to the rest of the world, ever… Why might you ask? Because if you are wanting to buy a drink at a disco, you might think oh i’ll go buy a drink, but nay, you must first buy a ticket in a very long line, and then after that you must go to another line to present that ticket for that drink, oh and they don’t really take credit cards very well, and they have nothing like a tray to hold all the orders. I’m so glad I was not born in Italy as I would have shot myself in my sober sober head years ago from frustration. I encountered this again with sandwiches etc. My only guess is they like lines, or they like to pretend they are employing twice as much people, or they like being inefficient.

I exaggerate a little as I wasn’t that frustrated (mostly cause they have a lot of cheap wine which makes you very patient), but it is very evident they will never be able to complete globally with the USA and China’s and even Japans of the world. It’s just sad to see. Beautiful country through, and at least they make great ice cream.

I am also biased as I HATE their “soccer” team, I use quote marks as their team is mostly just a bunch of pussy actors who spend their time practicing their dives. And when I start to love a head butting french man over you, you might be in trouble as a country.

Venice was absolutely amazing, most expensive place I’ve ever been though. Go for a day or two and see a dieing city and just imagine how amazing it would have been 300 or 400 years ago.