Searching for warm places, fun things in January

First of all, No Pity Ale is one aptly named beverage. Criminey. Second, the limeys lost to our "3rd rate yank team," as one messageboard poster called us, and now their coach is all wah wah wah about it. The turf! The ref! Wahhhh! Yeah, the ref sucked, but the ref always sucks. Shitty refereeing is as constant as the shitty surface at PGE; it's not like they brought out the dud just to spoil PNE's last match in the U.S..

But, to the point. I have nothing to do this winter. This is due to my department at PSU only offering a certain degree-requirement class once a damn year, which means that while my credits are fulfilled by December, I have to wait until April to get that last class. Graduating in June as opposed to December is pretty disappointing, but that's life, I guess.

I do have a list of options for this winter, which have already been mentioned: more school, take advantage of my last year of eligibility for a student rate Eurorail pass, work some shitty minimum wage job, etc. Just added to the list is teaching English in Korea. The first downside to that that comes to mind is that Korea is fuckin' ugly in the winter. Brown, brown, brown with a backdrop of grey. Second downside, is that I've already been there and while I miss it, I'm not sure I want to spend another three months. The advantage to working in Korea is that it usually pays well, and even if it all goes to hell, I speak Korean, I've lived there before and know how to function, and I have friends that are still there.

I'm also looking at internship/volunteer/field school stuff for archaeology. I found one for Malta (how cool would that be!), but I'm pretty sure I'm already past the deadline, as it's more of a study abroad than a normal work position.

The job fairy needs to get her act together and drop a deal on my head that involves good pay in a warm, foreign place that doesn't have any work visa hassles. Is that too much to ask for?

Should be a Good Day...

...now that I've finally gotten around to starting it (it's 3). The Oregon Brewer's Festival is going on down at the waterfront, and then in the evening the Timbers are playing a friendly against Preston North End. Unfortunately for the latter event, I don't have tickets, and because I can't just buy a general admission ticket and sit where I please like in a normal match, I'll probably end up seated next to a buncha soccer moms and their kids, which means there'll be no standing, singing or swearing. Booooo. Plus, not a single one of my friends and family who would like to go can make it. But it should be a good game, anyway. PNE is bound to be sick of losing on this tour, and Portland will be loathe to end their undefeated-at-home streak (the entire season so far, including friendlies) to a team that just lost to Seattle (and if you were wondering how Timbers' fans feel about Seattle, it starts off with "build a bonfire..."). Plus, I'm not sure how I feel about losing to a team that plays in the Coca-Cola League, is called the Lilywhites, and has the mascot of a lamb. But hey! one time they won the Double! ......in 1889.

I was extremely tired this morning, and a bit paranoid that I'm going to die of food poisoning due to the nearly raw burger I ate half of last night (oh god, that isn't tomato?), but I had work to do, so I rearranged some cables so that I could work on my laptop from bed. Sadly, there seems to be something wrong with my lappy and it won't download stuff or run new programs, so I had to get up and run the desktop anyway. Oh well, the Brewfest runs through tomorrow, I guess. I played a lot of soccer this week, and all of the teams I've played with like to go out afterward and nullify the good effects of exercise by drinking a lot of beer, so this week I've been getting more and more dehydrated. Maybe a day off would be good.

Thirsty Thursday and the Singapore Prison Whore

Thursdays at PGE park, regardless of the sport being played, are $2 beer nights.
Cheap beer + soccer = great night, bad morning. [that's two posts in a row now with math equations in the first paragraph. that's a trend that needs to stop. I apologize.]

I got to the pub a little early and without a group of friends to blend with, I was immediately roped into conversation with an older gentlemen at the bar (this week I seem to be flypaper to extremely talkative strangers) and it wasn't until the end of a two-beers-long tirade on George Bush that my friends showed up to the rescue, full of snark, of course ("*snort* Sorry to interrupt things with your boyfriend there," etc). As they had catching up to do we didn't get to the park until a few minutes before game time, and were caught in the aisle when the national anthems played.

A little background on the post title: Vancouver's keeper awhile back played with our current manager for a team in Singapore. During that gig he was arrested and convicted of match fixing and spent 100 days in a Singapore prison. Newspapers have him as practically innocent and a scapegoat, but our manager isn't so lenient (although, I think this is just mind games with the other team, not necessarily his actual opinion), saying he cost their former team in money and reputation. In any case, this made the perfect fodder for many chants throughout the evening, particularly in the second half when he was posted directly in front of the supporters. The most popular one went like this:

Singapore prison whore
How many goals will you let us score?

Genius.

The answer to that question, by the way, is two. Although Vancouver scored first, no one seemed to be that concerned as unlike the previous game we were playing extremely well, actually passing and dribbling as opposed to chasing down long balls. Not long later our captain put in the equalizer and sometime in the second half (things started to get fuzzy for me about then) the SPW let a ball slip past him, right in front of all of us (haaaaaaaha!). Nothing seemed threatening from then on, even in the ridiculous four minutes of stoppage time.

Afterwards, I was dragged to the post-match bar and was forced to drink many more pitchers than I intended, despite telling everyone that I had a paper to write. Band practice was the excuse they used to justify their sudden inability to consume the large quantities of beer they'd just purchased, so apparently their priorities and commitments outweigh my paper. Bah to them.

My head was grateful this morning for the complete lack of sunlight, the low temperatures, and the on and off rain showers. However, after worming my way into an additional twelve hours for my paper, it's one in the morning and I have to spend the day tromping around the mountain again for class, which starts too, too soon.

This summer is way too busy for my lazy ass

(19 credits X 8 weeks) + social life = exhaustion, possible impossibility.

Holy crap I'm tired. I was only home for a total of about one hour this weekend, thanks to an eight-hour class on Mt. Hood and fulfilling an agreement with my parents to check on their cats/garden while they are galavanting around the Canadian Rockies. Immediately after the mountain class, I bussed home to grab the only thing I really needed for the 80-mile trip south: a book for the paper that was due Sunday. I didn't even need to bring a toothbrush, just the book. It would really suck if I didn't bring the book, since I had to drive home and had planned on watching the Timbers game Sunday evening. Yeah, I forgot the goddamn book. Plus, there was no food in the house, barely any coffee, the hotwater was shut off, the note with instructions was swept under the table and I didn't find it until Sunday morning, the cats took 45 minutes to locate and I stepped on some sort of fur/shitball in the doorway. It was also the annual Philomath Frolic and Rodeo, an event that totally destroys a perfectly neat word like "frolic" by making it into an event about rednecks and really bad music. Said bad music was reverberating around the valley that night and accompanied by the near nonstop wail of sirens (no doubt picking up the drunks leaving the rodeo) that kept me awake even after I'd managed to get to bed.

I didn't get out of there until 1:30 on Sunday, and got caught in traffic on the freeway, further adding to my delay. I elected to go to the Timbers game, rather than attempt to write a shitty paper moments before the deadline. Turned in today, it's only ten points off. I think I can live with that.

The game was a lot of fun, even if I had to guzzle diet coke in order to stay awake in the beginning. The team was playing the California Victory for the fifth and final time this season, and the for the second time in three days. Everyone is sick of them, even if we keep getting points. Somehow the Losers scored first and there was confusion in the stands. But right before halftime the score was evened up. Then, midway in the second half, substitute David Hague came in and almost before anyone knew he was on the field, scored a goal. 20 minutes later and he had a hat trick. Hague is a rookie and brings with him an awesome Geordie accent a even more awesomer scoring ability. Hooray, we have an offense! Apparently, this is the first hat trick this season for the LEAGUE, let alone the team.

Speaking of, We're on top of the league and we're takin a piss!

Wow, last year I didn't see the Timbers score a goal, let alone win a game. This year, we're undefeated at home and on top of the league! Sadly, I've just discovered that my trip to Ireland will coincide with the semi and quarter finals for playoffs. I will, however, be home in time to catch the championship. :)

Ok, have to write a paper and ride my bike around N. Portland taking pictures. Sounds kinda fun but also tiring. Too bad I can't fake picture taking.

One more thing: Figures that my first time on TV I'd have a beer in my hand. And no, I'm not telling you where I am. From the Friday match.

A Day at the Mountain

A Night at the Ballgame

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! wait, YES...maybe.

First HELLFUCKINGYEAH!!!! The Pogues - THE FUCKING POGUES - are playing in Seattle! Sucks that it's not Portland, but I can live with a three-hour drive to see one of the greatest bands ever, right? 'Cept I have class that day. It's a one day a week evening class that's four hours long. It's a class I don't need for graduation, but pretty much need for employment/grad school. Why WHY WHYYYYYYYYYYYY couldn't there be another show??

But wait! There may be! Rumors are that Seattle will have 2, possibly 3. Pollstar has a second one posted already! There may be hope! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

Bloggy Stuff

In preparation for whenever the hell I get out of school and out of the country again, I've started a travel blog. This is so I can send my family to a place they can read about happenings (so I don't have to call them all the damn time), but that isn't linked back to my personal blog in case they get nosy. (like I post about anything interesting anyway) The blog is called "Are we there yet?" and is located here, for all you that like to type things in by hand: http://maps-shmaps.blogspot.com/

Also, I've added some soccer links here on the main page. Timbers won tonight! Three goals in 9 minutes! Currently we're in fourth place, but with 4-6 games in hand on the top three. We're gonna win the leeeeeeeeeeeeeeague, we're gonna win the league!

The week in review

Yawn.

It's been hot, I've had some schoolwork to do. That about sums up the majority of the week. Wednesday, the fourth, was pretty cool, though. The previous day, in an attempt to get home at a reasonable time and pick up groceries on the way, I got on the MAX.... on the wrong line. How I mistook red for yellow I still don't understand, but when I figured it out, three stops beyond the point where the two lines diverge, I ran into a friend who then invited me to his 4th o' July BBQ. I accepted thinking that maybe I'd get to meet some new people.

It turns out, however, that he lives with some old Corvallis friends of mine and even more of them showed up! These were people I haven't seen in at least 7 years. There was plenty of beer, plenty of food, plenty of other neat stuff. And, as coincidence would have it, I ended up in left in a room with two other people: one of them was an expert in Celtic languages, one in Celtic mythology. "heh, and my focus is in Irish archaeology." "Whoa," we all said.

That conversation was only broken up over the prospect of finding a suitable place to watch fireworks. This is ordinarily the exciting part of town where people ask you if know where they can find their drug dealer and real life prostitutes hang out on real life corners, and that night it was only amplified by the illegal fireworks exploding everywhere. The roof ended up being the best place to get a panorama view of both the fireworks and the firetrucks and ambulances zooming around dealing with the mayhem caused by drunks/idiots/children (and occasionally all three) shooting fire at one another. Plus, it'd been a long time since I'd drank tequila on a roof on the Fourth of July.... in fact, not since I lived in Corvallis!

Thursday? Not so great. Early morning class, then soccer on the lava field (have I mentioned it's hot?). While I was peeling off my ultra-smelly socks, I started talking to the only other girl that shows up regularly. Turns out she's also from Corvallis and knows nearly all of my friends! Small, small world this is.

Hot Guy has reappeared in my evening class.... and he cut his hair. :D