one more miracle

A brief update because I feel like I neglect my LJ far too much these days!

Basically to sum up, everything from my last post is still pretty awesome. Indoor soccer was great again, except for how I managed to INJURE myself, god-fucking-dammit. I pulled my quad in high school and I managed to aggravate that old injury pretty badly tonight. :( I really hope the pain will pass quickly, because I don't want to be hampered for next week. I guess this is what I get for not treating my body right for several years. Oops! But the game was much more even this time, we won 2-0, and the guys and gals on my team continue to be really lovely. Iker!goalie is still super hot and super competent, so that is definitely not a bad thing. :D

Science is awesome with a side of terrifying - so many new things to do! Will I be up to it?! Eep. But it's exciting too. :)

And Matt is... Matt is kinda super awesome. I'm really enjoying this thing we've got going so far. Sunday, we went to see Inception (!!!!!!!!! TOM HARDY, PLZ DO ME. OR DO J GORDON-LEVITT. He was JANOVEC in BoB, you guys! <33333) and then back to his place where we just hung out, listened to The Postal Service on vinyl, and exchanged backrubs. I'm super comfortable with him - everything is at this really lovely place of affectionate physical intimacy that's really just cuddly and sweet, so I don't feel pressured or scared like I did with Dave. Basically the speed is lovely and I'm really enjoying it. Today, I went to visit him at the cafe after I left lab, which basically meant hanging out with my laptop, getting a free mug of AMAZING HOLY CRAP coffee (Intelligentsia's Summer Solstice - UNF. I didn't need sugar OR cream!), chatting with the German owner of the coffee shop, and meeting several of Matt's friends. Oh and flirting with Matt outrageously of course. :) It just felt like such a lovely, comfortable, domestic scene and I enjoyed it tremendously.

Fun story - a couple of Matt's friends had just walked in, and Matt called across the room to ask me what kind of coffee I wanted. I flirtatiously said "Why don't YOU decide for me?" A few minutes later, Matt introduced me to his friends, and the girl said "Ohhhhhh! I WONDERED why you were being so flirtatious! That makes more sense now!" And I just laughed and laughed, but I was also delighted because the fact that she recognized my name meant that he's been talking about me, which is rather :DDDDD. Hee!

Also, the other day he described himself as a "radical feminist", which is A++++++ in my book. It's hard enough to find a guy who will understand feminism, let alone one who IS a feminist. And he's not a poser - he's studied this shit and he really believes it. I said something like "I'm sorry I need to shave!" and he just shrugged and said "Why? I don't care. That's your choice." And I was like sdlkfjlskdf awww! I got big hearts in my eyes! ♥

My #ger girls on Twitter continue to brighten my life, as does Die Mannschaft itself. Today a video came to light which was a MONTAGE OF GERMAN FOOTBALLERS HUGGING that had AIRED ON GERMAN TELEVISION. Ahhhh I love Europe. ♥ Oh and I caved and ordered Die Spieler! COME TO ME, 200 GLOSSY PAGES OF MY BOOOYS.

I also spent this Saturday with my cousins and my sister at a Renaissance Faire! Always an amazing time. We saw REAL JOUSTING, as in, huge ass horses and genuine lances. It was a father against son joust, and the son (19 years old and adorable) got brutally unhorsed. Took quite the fall in 150 lbs of armor! He got back on the horse though, which was very impressive. That was a fantastic sight! And my favorite Ren Faire act, the Rogue Blades, was there, YAY! I've seen them probably 6 or 7 times now. :D They're a comedy-sword fighting troupe, and they've had the same skit for years upon years, but I always always love them. This year, they spontaneously added a fun twist where it became a Star Wars adlib on top of the usual plot, so they pretended their swords were light sabers, made sound effects, and called the short one Yoda. It was phenomenal. <3333

How are you, darlings? I'm ashamed to say I'm falling more and more chronically behind on my flist. :( I miss you!

I joined a local indoor soccer league! And we had our first game last night! \o/

As SOME of you may have noticed, I caught a bit of the soccer bug during this here World Cup. :) It has always been far and away my favorite sport, both to play and watch, but this World Cup was a really exciting kick in the pants and revived my interest in a very real way. I played soccer in high school - varsity for four years - and it's one of my favorite parts of my childhood. I haven't played since then though (five years) and I miss it a lot. So I got the idea to join a league, and I'm so glad I did!

I was really nervous because it's co-ed and my team is mostly dudes. I also had no idea what skill level the league would be at, even though it's called "recreational". Well, as it turned out, I was on a team at a similar level as me - had played in high school but not much since then. But we were up against people who obviously play competitively on a regular basis - they were so good, holy crap. (One guy reminded me strongly of Connor from Angel - with the lanky and the haircut and the MOVING FREAKILY FAST.) So it was a pretty intense and fast-paced game, which I don't think any of us expected. We lost 8-0, haha. I still had a lot of fun though, and WOW was it good to get my foot on a soccer ball again! I even loved putting on shinguards and soccer socks and indoor soccer shoes - so many memories just came rushing back, and it was amazing feeling.

The main problem was that I am so out of shape. I'm terrible at exercising for the hell of it and have only been in shape when I participated in organized team sports. As a result, I was huffing and puffing within 10 minutes, dripping sweat and actually a little dizzy. It was not so awesome. :((( One problem was that our team had only 3 girls and the rule is that 2 girls need to be on the field at all times for fairness' sake, so we actually ended up working harder! I did get to play defense though, which is my faaaaavorite position (one of the many many reasons Philipp Lahm is my VERY FAVORITE). I didn't play as well as I would have liked, mostly because I was so out of gas and just could not go everywhere I wanted to, but I was pleased to find that I still had a pretty good instinct for the game, and a decent touch on the ball. By the end of the game I had gotten more of a sense for things and was even making good passes. My roommate Emily came to cheer me on (♥) and one guy on my team got injured so he was next to her on the bleachers; she said he was grumbling about how our team was playing, but that about me he said "She just needs to loosen up." That made me smile, because he saw potential in me! In my first game in 5 years! Yay!

One awesome thing about playing co-ed is that you get to play with hot dudes. :D Case in point: our goalie looked like IKER CASILLAS (Spain's goalie). Not as devastatingly attractive, of course, but still very cute. He even played amazingly even though he'd never played in goal before - he's the only reason the score wasn't 15-0! AND we had a midfielder who looked like ARNE FRIEDRICH, my daaaarling, so I was very charmed by that as well. They were for the most part nice dudes, if a little dismissive of the gals, but a couple of them were really sweet and I think it'll be a fun team to play on. A bunch of them already know each other so it's a little hard to break into that, but I think I might be able to. We'll see! We have one game a week for 8 weeks. Should be a good time.

OH AND WE PLAYED WITH A JABULANI! Hee! I don't think we got it up to 40 mph, so I didn't see the beach ball effect, but I was so pleased to be playing with one. :D

Another funny thing about all this is that when I went shopping for soccer gear, all I could buy was Adidas! I mean, I've always been an Adidas fan - in high school my socks, shinguards, and cleats were almost always Adidas just because I think the three stripes is such an elegant design, and they're good quality - but this time I was like "My Germany bbs looked so good in it, must have!" *facepalm foreverrr* I can't believe branding worked on me, oh my god. /o\

SPEAKING OF GERMANY CLOTHING, I bought myself a Lahm away (black) World Cup jersey!! *happy dances* Number 16 baby! I hilariously bought it as a replica from some random person in Thailand on eBay, so it was only $6 plus $21 shipping, which is kiiind of awesome. They had a lot of good reviews on similar jerseys so I'm hopeful that it'll look fantastic! I CAN'T WAIT to represent my bb captain! \o/

The worst consequence of launching back into things is that my back hurts like a MOTHERFUCKER. I permanently damaged my back in high school when I tried to dead lift a stupid amount of weight (the chiropractor x-rayed me and one of my vertebrae isn't properly in line anymore /o\) so I've had chronic lower back issues for years. Even just sitting still for an extended period of time is uncomfortable - at the movies I have to continually shift my angle because my back starts to hurt. :( So you can imagine that doing a twisty, physical activity for the first time in a long time might have done a number on my back. Aaand it did. I have felt like an old lady today. D: You know how you have to lift boxes with your knees, not your back? Well I have to lift my OWN weight with my knees now, hahahasob. It's not cool at all. The rest of me is a more pleasant ache, a lot less than I expected actually. But I might have to look into a chiropractor if I want to continue playing soccer.

There was one really nice guy named Andre that I liked a lot. He said he plays with another group and that it's NEVER this intense! I actually ran into him today at lunch because he has a class near my work, and he invited me to come to practices with his league, because they're just fun and lowkey. I think that sounds fantastic and will probably take him up on it! Good times, good times.

All in all, I'm really really glad I did it! Something about playing soccer just feels right. I hope now that I've taken the plunge, this will be something I genuinely take up as a hobby. This could very well motivate me to get in shape again, and perhaps eventually I could really play on a team again. Fingers crossed!

♥

I said "if they keep up their form" - and they didn't. I don't understand why they didn't (was Mueller that crucial? Were they that scared of Spain?) but... they didn't. It wasn't the same beautiful game we saw the past couple weeks.

I am heartbroken. It ended 2 hours ago and the tears are still flowing every few minutes. I never expected to get this invested in any sports team, and I suppose I should have prepared myself for the worst, but - they looked like they were going to win. They DESERVED to win with they way they were playing.

But you know what? This team was considered underdogs entering the tournament. They were young, inexperienced, and riddled with injury.

But they got to the semis. They still have the highest goal count of the tournament, and can add to it on Saturday. They have a chance to land a golden boot for Mueller or Klose, and a Best Player of the Tournament award for Basti, which he fucking deserves.

In short, they were amazing. And I am so, so proud of them. I'll see you in 2012 boys - my heart is yours forever now.

Oh and also - DESTROY URUGUAY! I really want to see you smile again before I have to say goodbye, okay?

&Die Mannschaft; Thanks for a great ride. I love you.

Bleeeurgh.

I do not feel well right now. I had a headache yesterday but I wrote it off to two nights in a row of 4 hours sleep. Last night, I slept over 7 hours, but I still had the headache when I woke up. The headache has persisted throughout the day and is only getting worse, and is now accompanied by mild nausea. Also, being in the sun makes it a lot worse. I don't feel tired, just shitty. A significant number of Advils hasn't seemed to do anything. :-/ I've never had a migraine before, but this seems to resemble that - can anyone who's had them comment on the likelihood? I'm not incapacitated, but I am considering going home early because I'm just not functioning well. (And to answer the common question: no I'm not noticing light or noise sensitivity. Yet?)

In much, much better news, I took my sister to Lab (my favorite cafe in Ann Arbor - it serves Intelligentsia coffee, is owned by an adorable German dude, and has super cute baristas) for frozen yogurt, and one of the aforementioned baristas hit on me! :D I've met him a couple times before and he was cute and sweet (and makes fantastic iced raspberry mochas, om nom nom), and this time we got into a pretty lengthy conversation and it was really fun! He recognized my Threadless t-shirt, and made a joke that involved a 20-side die, hee. I told him me and my sister were gonna go watch some of the game (Netherlands-Uruguay) so when we were about to leave, he offered to give me his number so I could tell him where we were watching (!!!!). But I (being a total idiot) said oh we won't be watching long, I have to go back to lab, so I didn't get his number. :( But I said I would definitely be watching Germany-Spain! (like a total idiot AGAIN - I don't want to subject him to my squeals of BASTI!!! and LAHM!!!, d'oh) And he said he'll be working at a diff restaurant, but they have a TV so I could come by? :D? So I agreed to that, lolol. What is my life? I think my plan is that I'll go there for the first half, keep the verbal capslocking to a minimum, and then go home to watch the second half with my sister. Because omggg I need to be able to FREAK OUT appropriately, haha.

Still - yay boy! He's adorable and I'm very open to this idea. :D

You might have noticed other news in that paragraph - my sister's here! I picked her up from our cousins in Ohio yesterday and now she's with me for three days, then I'm going to take her to our other cousins in Lansing! She's spending a month up here bouncing between our different relatives, lucky girl. It's good to see her. :) We spent last night rewatching Ger-Arg and watching videos of Germans being adorable. I heart my sister!

Now to try to make it through the rest of my day without keeling over. Ow my head. D:

PS I AM SO NERVOUS ABOUT GERMANY-SPAIN I COULD DIIIIIIE. I thought that was why I was nauseous, lolol. I have been obsessing about my boys non-stop, even to the point where I started a Twitter!party with fellow Germany girls from loewsmiserables, and we've been having a blast ever since! I love themmmm, gah. Please do me proud tomorrow, boys. ♥

I AM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW MY HEART IS ACTUALLY RACING AND I AM FLUSHED AND JOYOUS AND HAPPY.

I watched the game with my roommate in my favorite coffee bar in Ann Arbor where the owner is GERMAN. And CUTE. That was so super fun. I got very loud and people laughed at me but I DON'T CARE because they were soooooooooo amazing. What a gorgeous, GORGEOUS game of football they played! Every single goal was gorgeous and composed and well-deserved, and involved different people almost every time! I might have these mixed up, but as far as I remember: 1. Poldi assist, Mueller goal. 2. Poldi assist, Klose goal. <3333 3. Schweini assist, FRIEDRICH goal OMG!!! 4. Oezil assist, Klose goal. (!!!!!) Just - so much beautiful football from EVERY SIDE. The Schweini assist was my FAVORITE piece of artwork - he just kept his composure so, so gorgeously, tapped a perfect pass back and Friedrich buried it. I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE THEM OMG. FRIEDRICH, AKA THE HUG MONSTER, GOT A GOAL. I love when my lovely defenders get goals! (It's your turn Lahmi!) And there was a Poldi/Klose magic goal!!! Just like 2006!! AHHHH THEY KILL ME SO MUCHHHH.

Even more poetic, this was Klose's ONE HUNDREDTH international cap, and he scored TWO GOALS. He is now only ONE GOAL behind the ALL TIME WORLD CUP SCORER. What!!! And there's (probably!) two games LEFT in this World Cup! I predict that by July 11th, he will be the top World Cup scorer of ALL TIME EVER. How incredibly deserved. We love our Miro!!!!!

HE EVEN DID THE FLIP OF HAPPY JOY! YAAAAAY.

Who thought that Germany would ANNIHILATE Argentina? NOBODY, THAT'S WHO. (Except for Paul the octopus, lololol) I was so, so nervous, thinking about Ger-Serbia and Ger-Ghana, but it seems that once again, Germany has gelled at the crucial time and has pulled out all the stops. Argentina looked a bit threatening for a while when it was 1-0, but they never looked SCARY, and after it was 2-0 Germany just dominated. Beautiful passing, composed and thoughtful plays in the box. I am SO PROUD.

I'm sad that Mueller won't play in the next game, but hey, we have three OTHER fantastic strikers! AHHH I LOVE MY TEAMMMMM.

COME SQUEAL WITH ME BBS. I AM SO HAPPYYYYYYY!!!!! *twirls forever and everrrr*