i seem to be changing in unexpected and strange ways. for example, this morning i got up at 5.30am - to watch the soccer! (i actually set my alarm for 5am but just couldn’t drag myself out of bed. i then fell back to sleep and had a nightmare that croatia was leading us 7 to 1, so i just had to get up to prove to myself that this wasn’t true. it was worth it.)
i have dabbled in watching individual sports such as gymnastics (my true love) and tennis, but teams sports have never drawn me in before. but world cup fever (and the desire to be able to join in the conversations at work) has touched even sport-hating me.
it was a pretty exciting game. poor calvin suffered. he’d taken advantage of my unusual early rising to have a few biscuits and then curl up on my lap (it’s cold outside). but when australia got that second equaliser goal, he was most unimpressed as i bounced up and down - he leapt off and gave me the evil eye in that way that only cats can do. i think bean was also pretty unimpressed when i whispered in her ear that we were through to the second round as i kissed her goodbye. i am alone in my house in my soccer fever.
i think one of the things that i’ve been enjoying about the soccer is the way it seems to stuff up some of the more established norms about national identity. i’m sure other people will be able to express it more clearly than i can - it’s a bit of an unformed thought. but i’m loving the way that the australian team is jam packed full of folks who have had a lot of crap thrown at them in most other contexts in this country. what i would really like to know, though, is are the players paid to be in the world cup? or do dual citizenship players pick their side based on whichever nationalistic fervour grips them the hardest?
the other show that i am loving at the moment is the documentary about the kids competing to represent australia in biology at the International Science Olympiads. it makes me cry to see nerds like i was find other kids like them (something that never happened for me). it bites especially hard because biology was my subject…
