Sacre Bleus

I am highly amused by the French National Team's coach, Raymond Domenech, and his apparent dedication to astrology in laying out his team. Especially his apparent distrust of Scorpios (wise man! "Domenech has a particular aversion to picking Scorpios for his squads, referring to them as 'feckless, unreliable, troublesome, pleasure-obsessed attention-seekers'" -- CACKLE) and not wanting Leos in his defense ("When I have got a Leo in defence, I've always got my gun ready. I know he's going to want to show off at one moment or another and cost us.")

Whatever his team's astrological lineup (and I'd love to know what signs he deemed worthy of fielding, but I'll wager from the results that he didn't have nearly enough Ariens on the front lines. He should have; then maybe France would've had better results.

Ah, here's the team. Yep, on a quick glance, I only see one Aries on his team (midfielder Franck Ribéry). Big mistake. One of the goalkeepers (Steve Mandanda). Beyond that, a fragrant melange of Cancerians, Virgos, Pisceans, maybe Capricorns. Too much Earth and Water make for mud!! You need FIRE to win!! Wind and Fire!

Sheesh

Sorry about that foot photo; had to share, it was so annoying and painful! Stupid big feet and tiny apartment (and it was because I stumbled on a toy one of the boys had left on the floor. D'oh!)

So, the US were bested by Ghana. I warned'em! Ghana's a really good team. I wanted Ghana to advance, but not at the expense of the Americans. But Ghana mostly outplayed'em, and the US just couldn't match them.

Tomorrow I'm rooting for Germany over England, and Mexico over Argentina! Hope they're good matches.

Footie

I just fucked up my toenail (third toe) -- I was cleaning in the boys' room, and totally snagged that toenail, almost completely ripping it off. OUCH! I snapped a picture of it, although it frickin' annoyed the hell out of me. Ironically, I had fucked up the left-hand toenail years ago, almost identically, losing that toenail, too. I mean, I basically ripped that toenail off (like 85% off)...

Piano Key

I got the boys a toy piano; it's mainly for B2, who loves any musical instrument he runs across, and I'd like to find some constructive outlets for his passionate, fiery spirit! I love watching B2 play on it. He really enjoys it, saying "I LOVE to play on my piano!"

Today I'm looking forward to the USA v. Ghana game in the World Cup. I'm really hoping the US advances. It's something of a longshot, as Ghana is a very good team.

Lookin' & Cookin'

I just heard that Giada (and her cleavage) is coming to the Taste of Chicago. The Taste of Chicago* just got tastier, with Giada in town!

*Which I habitually avoid, because it's insane and who really wants alligator cheesecake on a stick?

Hurly-Burly

I'm most definitely a stress-puker. I had an ulcer in late 1998, and maybe it didn't ever fully go away, not sure. But I've found that I get reflux really bad if I'm stressed, and I can totally go from normal to pukelicious when stressed. I really try not to internalize stress, really, really try to roll with things, but sometimes when confronted with something I can't roll with, the puke button gets hit and voila. Had that happen last night in a lengthy (yet coldly undramatic) confrontation with Exene. I really, really hope she gets the job she's interviewing for today (this is the third interview). Then I can finally move on. I can't believe the metric tonnage of emotional pain I soaked up over the years with her. It didn't break me, but sheesh. My stomach, however, is definitely my weak point. I've been fine for months and months, and we get in an argument last night (she confronted me about the Chore Chart, and away we flew) and it was hurlin' time (not a lot), and then I had reflux all night and had to sleep sitting up. I keep worrying about that with my own job hunting looming, thinking "PLEASE let me be able to manage interview stress without getting hurly."


I'm gonna watch the Brazil v. Portugal game this morning and then Spain's game against Chile later today, and just chill out in general. I'm generally a cool customer, but I'm passionate, emotional, and very sensitive, and I just soak up bad vibes like a sponge -- strongly empathic. That's good and bad. I'll work out extra-long tonight to help get at stress via cardio.

I had a dream last night that I was running. Running and running, chasing two people down in my childhood neighborhood. I couldn't fathom how I was losing the race, and just poured on the energy, to the extent that my dream-brain was like "You hate jogging; WTF??" I woke up before I reached my destination, kind of annoyed, as I was hauling ass in my dream, my eyes fixated on the sidewalk shooting by in my downward field of vision, my feet pounding. And, no, I honestly can't fully remember who I was chasing. It wasn't Exene, I know that for sure. There might've been a zombie apocalypse element to the dream, too.

Wow

Apparently 90,000 people were without power from the bad storms last night. My 'hood wasn't one of the ones affected; one of the benefits of living in a good 'hood, I guess! The power grid is always reliable, so the Chads and Trixies aren't made peevish.

I snapped a ton of pix of the sky after the storm, as it was surreal. Here's one...

The sky was actually yellow-orange, btw. It wasn't just the sunset; it was some weird storm-induced diffraction of light. Really weird stuff. And lightning every now and then. Wild skies.

Header

Many thanks to Corvina for the fab header redesign for the blog. It looks way sharper than what I had before!

Can You Drink from the World Cup?

Lordy, after the US's nail-biting squeaker of a win yesterday (seriously, that was one crazily intense game), to Italy's amazing/stunning defeat at the hands of the plucky Slovakia team, I don't know how much more drama I can take! There have been some incredibly exciting matches of late. So, who advances to the elimination rounds? (it's not done, yet) My favorites are in italics...

1. Uruguay
2. Mexico
3. Argentina
4. South Korea
5. United States
6. England
7. Germany
8. Ghana
9. Paraguay
10. Slovakia
11. Netherlands
12. Japan
    

There are a few more matches to sew up the remaining teams, as the remaining groups sort it out until the final 16 are reached. This afternoon, I'm watching doomed Cameroon (going nowhere, statistically) go up against Holland, just to watch them play again; they were a good team, but just didn't have it when they needed it. I also want to see the Dutch play again. For all of the talk of how great they are, I haven't been so impressed. I like watching the World Cup on the front end, sussing out the teams, seeing who the good teams are, versus the floppers and foulers. I really wanted to see more African teams advance (and I'm in a pickle with the US having to go up against Ghana Saturday -- I was really wanting Ghana to go further, but up against the US, I have to root for the US, because the US is such an underdog in soccer, and Ghana is a very, very good team that would totally stick it to the US if we're not careful).

Tomorrow has Portugal v. Brazil (10 a.m. EST) and Chile v. Spain (2:30 p.m. EST), among some other games. Both of those should be fucking sweet, if those teams play well. Normally I wouldn't root for Portugal, but going up against Number 1 Brazil, I totally am. Get'em!

Except that if Brazil manages to spank Portugal, AND Ivory Coast manages to clobber North Korea, then Ivory Coast could miraculously advance. The odds are very long for this, but I would like to see another African nation advance to the final 16.

Better Living Through Chemistry?

Still haven't gotten the test results back for Exene (or haven't heard, anyway). The meds she's on at the moment seem to have finally made a dent in whatever the hell she's got going on. She particularly liked the steroid (big shock; I said she'd be quaffing beers and getting a mullet in no time), and yesterday was the first day she'd been without a fever in five weeks. We'll see how the meds continue to work, and what happens when she's off them. Weird shit.

She's got a promising lead on a good job downtown, which, if/when this clicks (I don't want to jinx it; lord knows I don't want to), it'll make everything infinitely easier. Fucking FINALLY -- an end to the financial stalemate and a way forward.

We had some wicked storms pass through here last night. Even tornado warnings, which are rarities. The klaxon for the tornado warning really sounds like some crazy calliope, and when it sounded, B1 asked what it was, and I told him it was an Evil Clown Warning Siren, and he said "No, Daddy, it's a TORNADO SIREN." (in that classic little kid "My Dad is an Idiot" tone of voice).

I really need to record that klaxon. It is the most dreadful-sounding thing. I'll give it credit, however -- it's impossible to ignore, even if it really does make you think some insane clown is going to go after you.

I snapped a bunch of pix of the skies last night. The sunset was particularly cool, owing to a skyful of lightning and this swatch of sunlight at the horizon. Lots of people were on their balconies and roofs, snapping photographs at the incendiary sky. I just missed capturing a lightning stroke (it was just out of the frame of one of my sunset shots).

Oh, I scissored my left index finger last night -- I was cutting something and got distracted by SYTYCD for a second and cut my finger -- a nice, v-shaped slice. D'oh! My editing finger! Oh, noooooo! ; ) 

Tiramisu

You know you want some.

I used coconut rum, espresso, semisweet chocolate, and marble poundcake (and, of course, marscapone). I didn't plate it nicely, was too eager to dig into it, it's so good.

Mal-aria?

So, the ENT specialist did tests on Exene to see what the hell's wrong with her (where to start? I can think of a few key areas) and the results aren't back, yet. Meantime, they've got her taking Clindamycin and a six-day course of Cadista (methylprednisolone, a steroid) for the inflammation. She also had to quaff a barium smoothie tonight (mmm, banana-flavored barium beverage) for the CT scan tomorrow morning, just to check out that inflamed spleen. I'll be curious what the test results indicate, when they finally come in. The ENT hadn't entirely ruled out mono (wonder where she picked THAT up? Probably those sailors from Smolensk), saying that the original test used can often give false negatives. The ENT doc also thought maybe her tonsils have warehoused some particularly nasty bug that can't quite be dispatched or overcome, and she may have to get her tonsils taken out, assuming it is some kind of pathogen at work, here. Exene's under the delusion that tonsil removal can be an outpatient operation that won't require her getting knocked out, but I told her that it's very likely that it will, which predictably has her being obstinate and pig-headed. She's motivated to get them out, if that's the problem, but doesn't understand the procedure so much. I got mine taken out in the mid-70s, when I was a little kid. I remember getting that done at St. Elizabeth's, long, long ago, in my hometown. Anyway, we'll see what the deal is, and you'll know as soon as I do, just because it's weird.

We're supposed to get serious storms tomorrow at some point, and the high'll be around 92 degrees. Yowza. Hot stuff, comin' through!

I got fuck-all for sleep last night, so I should be way sleepy, but for some reason, I'm not. I had some of my homemade tiramisu earlier this evening; maybe that's the culprit. I should post a picture of it, so you can see it and covet it. It's sooo good.

*Snicker*

Okay, seeing these two paired on the marquee, I had to laugh.