Round 16

Watching World Cup matches are taking its toll on me; not that I'm complaining, but my share of sleep deprivation and sudden binging is a bit alarming. Technically, I only spare Spain's matches my entire attention though I manage to catch glimpses of other teams I'm partially cheering for. Early morning's match against Chile made such a mess out of me my crying from the Switzerland defeat looked like a child's tantrum. Everyone's contesting about the beauty of Villa's goal some 40 yards away, but really, that's one fucking amazing goal. A huge, absolute gaffe from Chile's keeper to run out of his box to counter the ball only to pass it along to Villa that sent Chile's play snowballing into panic mode. Reckless tackles and the onslaught of yellow cards chased them till half time whistle. I couldn't blame them with Iniesta earning the second goal, too. But really, with some respect to Chile, they were absolutely playing the game at the start, unsettling Spain's formation and defense with the ball possession constantly almost equalized. They were just too hyped up and aggressive that their tactics were turning against them with Spain's passes negating their moves. And for the record, that fucking goal on second half from Millar was totally unexpected, and not even the greatest keeper in history can stop it. Please review the highlight because even Pique and the gang of defenders were only able to stare at the ball slinging through the upper left in the net. So yeah? Casillas is a professional and a bloody veteran of the game. Pundits can go the fuck off, especially those bandwagon teens spewing critiques like they're the ace of all football comments. He may have had a stormy season in La Liga recently but I do think he's managed to work himself up into a tidy state since this is the fucking World Cup, and he knows it's Spain's golden era, and lightning never strikes the same place twice. And onto the brighter part of the match, topping Group H means Spain will face Portugal on the knock-out round; that's practically miles better than facing Brazil this early. That would've left me shitting my lungs and bleeding from the scalp in complete 3-hour agony. If Portugal still has yet to come down from their 7-0 cloud nine win over North Korea, then Spain has a fat lot better chances in advancing to the next round. I'm not sure those world class passing techniques of Spain can see much of the back of the net when they two teams almost share the same proficiency in dealing with the ball. And for the love of all things holy, please shut up about Fernando Torres' inability to shake off the rust from his recent injury an and treating it like a national emergency and generalizing it as Spain's upcoming defeat. Torres is not the only player in the team and Villa's bursting with enough libido to overcome Raul's all time scoring record in a few more games. Torres has had 3 games with nothing but failing shots and lack of effective usage of crosses and passes, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I seriously cannot see the hoopla over Torres's success, but that's me and my tendency to shun the EPL.

USA's going face to face with Ghana tonight, and the bloody fuck are they having a relatively easy path up? I'm still not taking them seriously and they can go fuck off with their soccer loving fans. Germany and England's match is going to be a lot more interesting. It's going to take more than a 1-0 win from England over Slovenia to dredge up the necessary confidence and skill from their veteran players to go against the youngsters of Germany who have the aplomb of a killer team; they nearly nailed Spain in the Euro2008, after all. Argentina, on the other hand, has had far more ease than most teams with their games. You can fault Maradona for everything he says to the media (and Pele! LOL) but you cannot fault his determination to see Argentina rise on top. I haven't seen any Argentina matches but with Pipita's hat trick still lingering gleefully in the back of my mind, I can't say I'm unhappy to see them progress.

In my more domestic news, I took it to myself to extend some effort and get my civil service certificate yesterday. The process was relatively easy and pain-free, a rather big surprise from the appalling standard treatment from government agencies. I got a passing but pathetic score, which obviously mirrored my lack of motivation and regression of knowledge in anything academic at the moment. Which leads me to a rather scary notion of failing my entrance exam for my master's. I can't stop thinking about the consequences and suicidal tendencies if I were to really fail a goddamn entrance test at this age, but fuck it if it's not for my inability to do anything than practice indolence like a nun on high. The scholarship program also took on a sour turn as there are no available slots for psych applicants. It's going to be a hell of a time saving money when I can't even stop myself from stuffing myself at the slightest hint of my mind and stomach rumbling in complaint.

I'm slowly enjoying Hard-boiled Wonderland; as always, Murakami's characters earn more than indifference with their personalities; there's always something definitely quirky and idiosyncratic that very much reminds me of anime. I got the chance to scour Booksale and got a good catch with Shakespeare's Othello and Measure for Measure. My eyes were as good as programmed to track down Card's name--which I saw, but it's not of the Ender series. It's a co-written work for a medical/thriller novel which I'm not really interest at the moment as I keep repeating to myself that I still have tons of books lined up on my bookshelf. Shakespeare is the great exemption. I can basically read his works and appreciate it even at my darkest hour of literacy. It looks a bump in the arse, but once you get the hang out of his prose, it's almost a cake walk to enjoy and appreciate his genius and wit.

As for work, the project's all out for extending my contract until October or at least until the project's completion. I'm not turning away from the immediate money here, but I seriously want to consider other job prospects already. I just need my post-grad units to apply for certain jobs and leave the entirety and possible worsening of the project with the top boss leaving a sense of hopelessness and enough dedication to blink an eye for the project's success. Beth managed to coax her project team to sponsor the fee for the psychiatry-related seminar at V. Luna this coming July, which led me to thinking that I might as well do some wheedling of my own to the boss to pay for it. It's only 300 bucks, but damn if I'm going to easily let go of my dough that easily when I'm preparing to cash out some hard bucks for my studies.

ETA: Pepe played in the Portugal-Brazil match! And I didn't even bother with the line-up, pretty stupid of me. It's good to see him on the pitch again, and I'm looking forward to see him back at Santiago Bernabeu making a difference in the defense!