Monday 14 June 2010

No writing yesterday

Yesterday, I spent the day packing more boxes and starting to throw out what's left in the old flat. I'm amazed how many boxes you can fill with the contents of one flat. Also amazed at the sheer number of books I own. I'm filling two rooms now - the library and the study. And there are more books piled up everywhere. This time round, I'll be clever and kick out all books that I don't need. That will most definitely mean that most fiction will get kicked out - anything below a "desert island keeper" is Oxfam fodder. That's why I like e-books. They don't compete for space with my reference library and I can just delete them when they were bad.

The early evening was, of course, spent watching Germany massacre Australia. After the fourth goal came in, I started to cringe on behalf of the poor Australians, who simply didn't have the momentum in the front. Relying on one striker - who then gets booked/red carded for a yellow card offense - wasn't a winning strategy. Just looking at their faces, you could see the "please make it stop" exasperation, and I really felt for them.

The German side, though... NICE. Having all that youthful exuberance rather than plodding Ballack was so refreshing. I'll never be a fan of the "pig climber", but Lahm, Klose and Oezil were inspired, Mueller the same. Everybody worked hard and showed some pretty nice football. Before the game I thought "okay, we won't have a chance, but give then four years and we'll rock the next world cup" - well, I think there's ample potential to rock THIS world cup now, just keep going on that trajectory, boys.

(And a small voice in my head really wants to see England/Germany - shambolic England with superstar Rooney versus Germany that, by tradition, gets stronger from game to game... a real "tournament team". Okay, granted, that would be war, but how much fun? Of course, I may have to hide the fact I'm German for a few weeks, especially if our boys mop the floor with the "lions" - I'm just glad my accent can be mistaken for Dutch, and, apparently, Canadian, so I'll survive, if I manage to not brag out on the street.)

The mind begins to clear, in any case. The house is coming together. Biggest concern now is that with all the expenses and costs of the last six weeks, I'm skint. Super-skint, in fact. I still have a few reserves squirreled away, but June/July will be very lean months indeed, until I get paid by the new job end of July. I do hope for some royalties payments to help me weather the worst, but I'm not quite sure when they pay. Right now, I only expect a chunk from Dreamspinner - so thanks to everybody who bought "Clean Slate". This month, that money will make a real difference.

13 comments:

  1. thanks to everybody who bought "Clean Slate" - you´re welcome

    Well, the way the English play and with the kind of goalkeeper they have... I´m not so sure, the US wont be the groups first ^^ and there you have your match in the 16th.

    Oh and just because, good ol´Gary Lineker:

    "Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end the Germans always win."

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  2. @Kat: I'm not writing off the English quite so soon, Rooney is arguably among the top players in the world and the English do have an amazing capacity for suffering - but of course their first game was pretty disgraceful.

    It would just be so cool to win the world cup with all these young puppies :)

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  3. Those puppies are playing hell of a game... and just imagine... in 4 years, they´ll be in best football age. be scared.

    As for the English... they wont win. That´s one of the very fundamental rules of the parallel universe that is football... no matter how good they are.. they wont win *g*

    To me the English are the total opposite to the Germans. Germany gets better the longer the tournament lasts. but the way to the tournament is sometimes really scary... as for the English, well...

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  4. YES! I want to see these puppies play in 2014 (where is that again?) Maybe this will be the World Cup where the young guys showed their mettle first time (and at least Ballack will be too old to do it then...).

    The English tend to blunder their way through with pig-headedness alone, but I assume Rooney will get sent off (little hot-headed guy) or get kicked so badly he can't run and then the whole team just collapses.

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  5. 2014 is in Brazil... so, basically, this Cup is our chance. In 2014 Brazil will very likely win... with the added boost of home soil, they should be pretty much unbeatable.


    btw, should I read the words "Blitzkrieg", "Panzer" or German "War-machine" one more time in connection with German football, I´ll come and beat up some Sun editor myself *grumbles*

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  6. Ack, Brazil. NOT COOL.

    *lol* That's the only vocabulary that the Sun has. Their German-hating, xenophobic, immigrant-hating homophobes should be ashamed.

    (I remember a headline that read "LET'S BLITZ FRITZ" prior to a FRIENDLY German-English match)

    I'm looking forward to the Germans wiping out the English when we meet. (How's that for war metaphor?) Besides, "Blitzkrieg" is fairly flattering. It revolutionised warfare and, well, if it's just 11 versus 11 on the pitch, you don't get to throw the American economy at "us". :-) They should be very careful with their war history metaphors... especially knowing very little about actual history.

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  7. Well, then let´s pray, the US will make their group´s first, because England can´t possibly survive Argentina in the quarters ;)

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  8. GO AMERICA! :)

    lol, somehow... I don't think you really mean that. :P

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  9. OK, Alexsandr, don't gloat too much. We Aussies lost the futbol game because we're still relatively new to this effete game for bloodless sissies. Australians are used to the tougher, rougher, macho action of rugby union, league, & what we call AFL (a sort of speedy cross between rugby & soccer). However, in fairness, we certainly received quite a trouncing at the hands of the Germans (Sure, but don't mention the War!)

    It's amusing to note how writers of romance, m/m romance, gay romance, & borderline gay porn can still display an interest in The Beautiful Game.

    George Gardiner
    www.mmromancenovels.com

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  10. @Amora: Well, if they do well, I get to see my dream game. :)

    @George: Yeah, you can't fault the Aussies for sheer macho athleticism, whenever brawn and determination is involved, they do really well (even though my heart beats for the All Blacks...). Rugby is madness, went to a Rugby game and must admit I was a little worried about the bones/health of the players. (Rugby is virtually unknown in Germany - "American Football" is still pretty much a fringe activity, but trying to explain rugby - or, hell, CRICKET - to Germans is pointless... "WHAT, THEY WERE NO BODY ARMOUR???")

    Yeah, I'm glad nobody mentioned Gallipoli...

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  11. Were = wear. I'm pre-coffee this morning.

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  12. lol, awww, you do mean it after all. Although...

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