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I love watching tennis! I'd honestly forgotten just how much I love it. I missed the Aussie Open last year. It's been way too long since I've devoted any decent time to watching and following the tennis. I don't know why. I have no idea what happened. Somehow I forgot that I love it. I just forgot. Crazy.
I think perhaps you need someone you want to follow; someone you want to see win. I still say tennis hasn't been the same since Rafter retired. And losing Agassi hasn't improved matters. But I'm also getting a little bored of seeing Federer win ... he's fabulous and I love him, but it's no longer exciting to see him win. And Hewitt has never really excited me. Roddick seems to have dropped off the radar somehow. Casey Dellacqua made an impact, but I've never been a huge follower of women's tennis.
Tsonga has captured my attention this year though. I missed a lot of the Open while I was in Darwin ... caught snatches here and there, and followed some of the results, but still missed a lot. I've seen some of a couple of Tsonga's matches though, and I'm loving them! I'd rather like to see him win. He's appealing. What I've seen of him is anyway. He's friendly, and has the most beautiful smile, and seems to be really enjoying himself. And I love his French accent and broken English.
I suspect a new player to look out for will certainly help me remember how much I love tennis. :)
PS. I'm back from Darwin ... survived the heat, had a fabulous time, and a travel account complete with obligatory photos will be shared sometime soon!
Last night I went to the final Qld Roar home game of the season - we were playing Sydney FC, and large crowds were expected. The same game last year (final home game, also against Sydney FC) also attracted record crowds, and this year we're playing far better than we were last year - already guaranteed a place in the finals, and good chance of claiming the minor championship.
Rather happily, expectations were easily met ... 31,933 turned out to watch the game!! It was insane!!! Apparently the record this season for any A-League game anywhere in the country. The atmosphere was incredible!! I have never seen so many people at a Roar game. The noise just seemed to travel around the entire stadium ... especially towards the end of the match. It was intense!
The entire lower section of Suncorp appeared to be sold out ... and thousands of people were sitting way up in the very top of the stadium. A couple of friends who came with us didn't bother getting tickets until we got there - big mistake - they ended up four rows from the very top!!
For a nil-all draw, it was an incredible match too. We totally dominated, and the boys were playing well! Shame we couldn't get a goal ... but at least we got the point! And we're now top of the ladder again!! Purely on goal difference that is ... top four teams are all on 31 points. It's enough for now though. Next week's final round is going to be interesting ... and I'll be desperately checking for score updates while in Kakadu and Darwin. Crazy!!
So as it turns out, football can be fun even in the rain! Tonight the Qld Roar played Central Coast ... and it rained basically the entire game. Convincingly at times, less so at others. Enough that we spent the entire game sitting under plastic ponchos though!
I pulled out my Shakespeare poncho ... the one I got at the Globe in London when we went to see Romeo and Juliet and stood in the rain for the entire play. Such a cute poncho ... clear, but covered in red letters quoting Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor ...
"Let the sky rain potatoes, let it thunder to the tune of greensleeves, hail kissing comforts, and snow eringoes; let there come a temptest of provocation, I will shelter me here."
The game was actually pretty good ... although the result was rather less than desirable. The visitors are going home with yet another win ... their third for the season, and they're still the only team in the A-League to win a game this season. It perhaps wouldn't be quite so frustrating if it weren't for the fact that we were by far the stronger side tonight.
Oh well, we played well, and it was a fun night despite the rain and unfavourable score line. I think we earned our place as true fans tonight too ... we were among a mere 8,815 people at the game (in a stadium that holds 55,000). Shame, but not surprising really. Brisbane isn't used to rain! We hide indoors whenever it threatens.
The football season has begun again! Proper football that is ... the type I still can't get used to calling soccer. I'm becoming such a fan too! This year, I've purchased season membership to the Roar ... eleven home games, and I have tickets to them all already! Well, they're coming out in the mail at least ... along with a few other supporter bits and pieces. So exciting! I'll be going to each home game with a friend from uni and another from SES ... along with anyone else we can drag along on the day. First home game in a couple of weeks ... can't wait!
Meanwhile, the English Premier League has kicked off this weekend, and Everton has won their first game against Wigan. Very good! I've spent far too much time procrastinating today as well, figuring out where all our Aussie boys are playing this season, and as such which teams I'll attempt to follow the results of. Such fun! Procrastination is so, so easy!
Uni work, on the other hand, is suffering dearly. Thank goodness it's Ekka week ... no Brownies or Gumnuts this week, and no classes on Wednesday. I am heading into the Ekka one day to help man a stand for the Department of Emergency Services (and SES), and will probably have a look around afterwards - I haven't been to the Ekka in years! But otherwise I should have a little more time at home this week than usual. Hopefully enough time to catch up all the work I should have done already!
Then on Sunday Annette (from Sweden, and prior to that Pax) flies in with a group of UK Guides! Such excitement! Will be so lovely to catch up with Annette, and also to meet all the UK Guides. So exciting to have international visitors!
For now, however, I shall need to sleep I think! I have a ridiculously early start in the morning. While everyone else in the area has a public holiday tomorrow, I must go to uni. Such is the hardship of living in one city and going to uni in another. On the flip side, at least all the shops nearby are open when I have my day off. :)
I've recently reinstalled the little "On This Day" bit in the sidebar, which I had in MT and have thankfully rediscovered in WP. It's purely for my own benefit - I find it a more convenient (and random) way to visit my archives than actually searching through them. After over five years of blogging, it's fun to see what I was doing in previous years. I always find it intriguing though, to find a date on which I've never posted. With five years to choose from now, it doesn't happen too often. But it has today! Apparently I don't tend to blog on April 9th. Who knows why.
I really shouldn't be now. I'm still working on my second assignment. I've been trying to work on it all day, but completely unsuccessfully. My head has basically given up. After three and half days of continual study, this morning it just wouldn't work for me! Concentration and productivity just wasn't an option. I've got my first assignment (due tomorrow) fully completed (unassessed components included) and printed off ready to hand in. I started this one yesterday, and I was hoping to finish it off in time to hand it in tomorrow as well, but it's not looking likely. I've got until Wednesday evening to hand it in, so I think I'll have to continue working on it tomorrow and make a second trip over to uni to hand it in after it's done. Frustrating, but I should have expected it. I never seem to get anything done early.
Meanwhile, football is on. I've got the tv on Fox Sports, but it's muted. I'm trying not to get distracted by it, but my Everton boys are about to play Bolton, and it's a rather important match in the fight for a place in the European Champions League next season. I'm torn between climbing into bed and watching it, continuing to attempt productivity with this assignment while half paying attention to football, and forgetting either exist and going to sleep. It's late, and I need to be productive tomorrow to get this assignment done, so sleep would be a wise choice. But it's a big match ... and I actually remembered it was on (usually I completely forget until after the event). I should try to keep working, but my head is still fuzzy and having trouble focussing. I'm torn!
Footy is back! The AFL season is under way, and while attempting to make a start on one of my assignments I have the Lions v St Kilda match on in the background. Going well for us, so I can't complain about that. Watching now has made me realise though, how little AFL I've actually watched. I support my team, follow the results, pay attention to the news and read the back pages of the paper ... but very rarely do I actually watch a game. Shameful.
In fact, I don't think I caught a single game last season. I know this because I recognised one of our players. Or rather, recognised his name ... Stiller. Not from his football career, or hearing his name mentioned regularly throughout a match (as it has been tonight) ... but because I used to work with his brother. And he's been playing for the Lions for a year tonight! I had heard that he'd been playing for the team, but I'd basically forgotten. Watching the game and hearing him mentioned so often is kind of exciting. He seems pretty good too!
Anyway, as much as I'd love to be out with the rest of Brisbane celebrating the start of the Easter weekend, I have intentions of waking up early tomorrow and getting stuck into my assignments ... so I think I might crawl back into bed. An early night is almost worth celebrating anyway ... I think I'm due one!