WWDFS?: Who Would Dr. Freud Support?

From wikipedia:

Dreams, which Freud called the "royal road to the unconscious", provided the best access to our unconscious life and the best illustration of its "logic", which was different from the logic of conscious thought.

So what then would he make of the following dreams I had recently:

The USA has one more match. It is a 5-1 defeat to Turkey.

I work in an office. Sven Goran Eriksson is the boss, but I am confused by his presence. I tell him, "Shouldn't you be coaching a football team in Germany right now?"

The easy answer is that he would have supported Austria-- but no great Austrian players are coming to mind--(hangover, sorry). I think he would have said though that "Sometimes a match is just a match." Ha ha ha. I have had other dreams where I play for the Metros and am temporarily concerned at being the only girl on the pitch. I am a sick, sick individual who needs years of analysis.

A Thai psychoanalyst would be funny: as you lie back on the couch, could you really be sure that he wasn't dozing? (A poor joke, and not at ALL representative at the very fine medical care you receive in this country.)

Also: I cannot even express the love I have for my Power Book G4 which is currently hooked up to my DV cam and batch capturing footage automatically using the metadata on my camera's chip. I am not even paying attention! Attention PC people: life does not have to be that hard. Attention bosses in Singapore: we can do this easier!

A Time To Make Friends-- Oder Vielliecht Nein?

England v. Ecuador, Stuttgart

A long-held to wish to watch a WC match with N came true last night when we went to an outdoor pavilion in front of a mall that is undergoing furious construction to keep up with the Mallses here in Krung Thep.(The newest and most glorious shopping phenomenon being Siam Paragon.)

I had to shoot and think which made me a bit hyper, but I think we got it all in the can. It started to rain and N and I moved in under the massive tent and then it started to POUR...people on benches in front of us stood up on them. I rumbled with expletives and digits, but then soon realized why as water pooled at our feet, like in a cartoon flood...

As we watched soggily, I did regret we weren't getting to watch Brazil v USA and had a simultaneous thought (since the last USA match was the last I watched--there was something different about this match):

It was actually fairly officiated. Which leads me to....

Portugal v. Holland, Nuremberg

FOUR red cards

SIXTEEN additional bookings

"Jesus Christ may be able to turn the other cheek but Luis Figo isn't Jesus Christ."
- Felipe Scolari

If this is happening to Portugal and Holland, good teams though consistently overrated (POR more than NED), then it take a tiny bit if the sting out of the red mist and spurious penalty and just the general limp-dicked barrage of calls against the US. Okay, there is the fact we could have played better.

Read about this match, though:


Das ist ja unglaublich! Now go say it in Dutch!

One World, One Goal

You guys know that I love soccer perhaps more than anything else, except food and fashion. (Any suggestions on how I may hit that trifecta?) It can break your heart, but not any worse than people do. (I once got broken up with during Leeds v Chelsea, and continued, a bit teary, to watch the match.) Sometimes it may not feel that way (RIP Metrostars), but hope does spring eternal and there is always next time or a new exciting player, hand over heart, in the lineup that gives you a frisson of anticipation. Plus, we, the United States, have nothing to prove to the eyes of many around the world who are self-appointed authorities of the Beautiful Game. That just makes it sweeter when we pull it off.

Not Pulling It Off: USA v Czech Republic, Gelsenkirchen

We got thumped, 3-0. Badly. Outclassed. I am not going to offer any excuses.

I, in Singapore, tried to follow online but then found myself pulled out of my hotel on to the street. I was "adopted" as keeps happening to me, a young woman alone watching football, by three nice guys at a table outside a Kopitiam (Singapore's answer to a chain food court cum coffee shop). They were nice, if incredibly drunk. They asked me twice which team I was rooting for. I was wearing a t-shirt with UNITED STATES written on it. "No chance, sister," slurred one of them. The other was asleep. The last one said that he thought I knew a lot about football. You'd be right, mate. The US team, however, seemed not to.


Una Partita Per Rompermi Il Cuore (A Match To Break My Heart): USA v Italy, Kaiserslauten


Abbiamo parreggiato contro gli Azzurri! Uno ad uno. Nevermind that it was an own goal, we played with heart, while Italy did their whining, pampered, "we are Italy and look good in tight kits" thing. And I love the Italians.

Again, I thought I wouldn't bother watching-- kick off was at 2 am. I had been out at dinner and then people watching on Soi 4 with the boys. And truth be told, the last match was an exercise in depression. I apparently just didn't have the right pharmaceuticals.

My taxi home passed the World Trade Centre Mall with a gigantic screen out front at 1.56 am and I scrambled out to stake out a bit of concrete. I dispatched some nice Thai men for a few Leo beers and proceeded heart in my teeth to watch. I jumped up and down, confusing everyone who were cheering for the italiani (since they'd bet on them, capisc'?) I berated the ref, cheered on the boys, (Mc Bride has titanium plates in his face?!) and extended middle fingers at will. Even more confusing to onlookers was the Japan National Team dress that I was wearing. Luckily, this is Thailand and people are accustomed to crazy farang.

What I Need Now:

USA defeats Ghana, Italy defeats Czechs and we go through. It won't be the end of the world if we don't go through-- WE had the Group of Death no matter how many soccer pundits tell you otherwise-- but N is coming home and we have never watched a US match together. Wouldn't it be lovely to have the first one be in the second round of the Weltmeisterschaft? Even if it is against Brazil? How romantically underdog is that?

One Year In Thailand: Mission Accomplished

June 9th was my one year anniversary in Thailand. I did it. I did it. I did it.