Tuesday 27 June 2006

We were ROBBED!!!

OK, this is about football again, but it will (probably) be the last time I mention the world cup because this afternoon Australia were robbed of their chance by the cheating Italians when one of them dived in the box and was awarded a penalty in the last 5 seconds of the game. What stupid, idiotic moron of a referee awards a penalty like that? He basically handed the game to the Italians because there was nothing Australia could say or do that would have changed that outcome, except a miracle save from Schwarzer, but no-one can EXPECT that.

OK, I'll admit that Australia should have won the game earlier anyway - they had more chances and more control of the game, especially once the Italian player was sent off (and just so you know I'm not a ranting totally biased fan, I don't actually think the guy deserved a straight red for that tackle). They should have scored and been in front and so even when the stupid penalty was awarded, it should only have made Italy catch up, not take the game.

I'm too sad, angry, annoyed, peed off to write more now, but it totally sucks and Italy are dirty cheats and I hope they get their butts kicked in a really embarrassing defeat. Oh, and that referee is never welcome in Australia, as far as I'm concerned, because I am quickly realising its the best country in the world and he doesn't deserve to ever experience it. And now I'll stop before I start swearing and saying things I'll regret.

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Friday 23 June 2006

The World Cup

OK, so I know some of the people who read this blog have no interest in sports. If that's you, you may as well stop reading now. The rest of this post will be about football (soccer).

I can't believe Australia made it to the second round of the World Cup finals. I mean, I wanted them to and believed they were a good enough team to do it, but geez, they gave us plenty of heart attacks along the way. First, they play all over Japan, but can't score for most of the game. We all think they're going to lose 1-0. Then they score. And twice more. All in the last 6 minutes or something of the game.

They met Brazil and at times outplayed them. They had opportunities, they had skills to match the best team in the world... they had the dodgiest referee EVER. The final score of 2-0 did no justice to the performance the Australian team gave. And if they hadn't been watched over by a referee who worshipped at the feet of the Brazillians, they could've come away with a win, or at least a draw, which probably would've been fair.

Tonight, they played their final group game against Croatia. Our captain, Mark Viduka, has Croatian heritage, along with a few other members of the team. Some of the Croatian team grew up in Australia. There was bound to be fierce rivalry and I was glad that Englishman Poll was in charge. For most of the game I was happy with the refereeing, well, except the two penalties we should've got and the guy that got a second yellow and wasn't sent off. That guy, by the way, was trained at the Australian Institue of Sport and chose to play for Croatia because he thought Australia had no chance of ever getting anywhere - sucks to be him :)
But back to the game...

Assuming Brazil beat Japan (which seemed a certainty, even though Japan scored first), Australia needed a win or draw to go through second in the group. Croatia had to win to go through. So, of course, Croatia scored first. A great goal really that they came into the game hungry for. I was (and still am) convinced that Australia play better when they are coming from behind, so wasn't too concerned. It was very early on, after all. I'm not going to give a complete blow-by-blow - you can go to a news site and read that. But suffice it to say, as much as they dominated the game and had plenty of chances, Australia had to come from behind twice and only pulled off the draw. The last ten minutes were hell, as they basically dropped back to a defensive position and the ball spent way too much time in Australia's half.

And then, the game ended in complete confusion, as someone got fouled, people thought Australia had scored a third and the Croatians (in particular the one who shouldn't even have been on the field) hurled insults at the referee. They should have won the game, but a draw was enough and now we face Italy on Monday afternoon. I'm definitely not looking forward to that game, since Australia has not had a lot of favourable refereeing and Italy are a bunch of diving cheats.

And now back to my regular blogging - whatever that is :)

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Wednesday 21 June 2006

who are YOU?

I know there are people visiting/reading/checking this blog, but since none of you leave comments, I don't know who you are (well, other than my mum). I like to cater to my public (lol - all 5 of you), so if you tell me who you are and what you're expecting to find here when you visit, I will try to oblige. Do you want the boring details of my everyday life? Funny stories about Graeme? (I think I'll try to remember to post these anyway :) ) More links to the random stuff I find online? All (reasonable) suggestions will be considered.

Stop just reading and post a comment, even if you just say hi.

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Saturday 17 June 2006

I am so persuasive : )

Sharon has started a blog about one of my favourite families in the whole world. I'm very excited. Check it out...

Boys and Puppy dog tails!

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Thursday 15 June 2006

How to: Make a Blog

(OK, so I know I just posted, but I wanted this to be a separate post.)

I was going to post a detailed tutorial on how to set up a blog, complete with screen shots and everything, but I realised it is too easy and that would just insult your intelligence.

So just click on the Blogger button in the top left hand corner of this page. Then create a blog. Follow the steps and a blog will be yours.

If you need help, leave a comment here, or send me an email.

And that's it. So all of my friends and family now have no excuse. Go get that blog so I can keep up with what's going on. Mum, Sharon, I'm looking at you :)

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Even Better News

So I just got a phone call from the school, asking if I'll be able to start July instead - awesome. I get to start teaching in like 2 and a bit weeks. Hang on, thats a bit scary... Oh well, I'll cope. And, I'll be getting paid. Woohoo. Plus they are happy for me to take the days off to go to Roland's wedding in Romania. I'm quite happy right now :)

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Wednesday 14 June 2006

No more job-hunting for me :)

That's right - I got a job. I went for an interview day today, saw the school, had an interview, I think they were ready to hire me before I'd even taught the trial class. Taught the trial lesson and it went great. Went back to office, Department Head spoke to school Head and they offered me the job then and there :) So I had my first English School Lunch and spent the afternoon there as well, hanging out in a class and talking to various people.

It felt good to come home and email the people who I was supposed to be interviewing with tomorrow. Especially since the info they sent me about the interview was very slim and it only arrived in my inbox late last night.

So come September, I start my first-ever proper full-time job - no more temporary teaching for me.

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Friday 2 June 2006

Apparently its Summer...

...but someone forgot to tell the weather.

According to the calendar, its the second day of Summer. According to my body, its still very much Winter. The seasons here run later or something apparently, but its overcast and dreary and the expected top for today is 20°C. I'm sure for the Brits thats considered warm, but I think when we go home for Christmas, we will spend the whole time thawing out.

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