When the Cheshire emerges...

Dear Diary,

I couldn't bring myself to write in here again before now, I'm still crushed by the Socceroos' loss. After my last entry I slept in my sorrows for five hours and still felt like absolute shite when I had to get out of bed. Yes, even though it was a public holiday I still had to get up. Can't believe they're considering suspending Tim Cahill for TWO games because of the red card. If anything I would think FIFA had the authority to REVOKE the decision because it was unwarranted. However, the upside to yesterday was that I managed to get myself on TV. TWO stations (Nine and Ten), one as a vox pop with a comment (thanks Nick lol) and one belting out the national anthem with scarf above head. Sound embarrassing? It still is. But for some reason I find myself hilarious. Should I be admitting that? Now I feel like a comedian should when they laugh at their own jokes: like a douche.

Last night I have to admit I hit struggle town. Now, lately I've been okay with handling long hours at work and everything else, but I think adrenaline has a lot to do with it. Watched bits and pieces of Netherlands v Denmark (the og was HILARIOUS, at least the guy himself saw the humour in it), but I was really keen on Italy v Paraguay at 4am. So after sitting in front of the lappy until midnight I got my shuteye.

First half, I was fine. Saw Paraguay's goal, the Italians were panicking and noticed they had a few younger players in their squad (although it's interesting that they're still a VERY strong side and it's the oldest in the Cup). Second half, kept drifting off... 'woke up' at one stage to see a 1-all scoreline, nodding in agreement. Next thing I notice it's NOT 3-1 in Italy's favour. Guess the images I saw of two extra goals being scored were figments of my imagination. My bad. Before I know it, it's 6am and Mum's asking me to take her to work. And so began my day.

Hours of sleep: 4. Have slight headache, but that could be from straining my brain at French class before. I couldn't remember what 'vous vous appelez comment' meant when she sprang that on me. It's only what we learnt in the first lesson... Idiot.

OMG, NEW ZEALAND JUST SCORED. WHAAAAT??? First goal for NZ at the Cup in 28 years apparently. First POINT in Cup history (think I heard that right). HA, they've drawn with Slovakia. Wow, that's fair impressive. Go All Whites. Ok, looks like I'm ending this on a good note. Ivory Coast and Portugal to come. Brazil later a possibility.

Dear Diary,

It's 6:31am and I'm feeling awake - but I'm surely in a nightmare. I have to be; the Socceroos can't have just lost 0-4 to Germany...

Maybe I had too much expectation. There was certainly a lot from everyone else though so it wasn't all on me. The line at the Rosemont was crazy and we were lucky to get in after a half-hour wait. No regrets on going out - as my first real 'sport with people' experience, pre-match it was incredible. Drums, plenty of singing - and the place to be with the media, with AdelaideNow and Ten (at least) there with cameras. Could be on Ten tonight thanks to Nick (connections haha).

Watching the Socceroos unravel was heartbreaking. Schwarzer was rattled, and the ref was really off his game (except for dives, he pretty much picked all of those out). TIM CAHILL GOT A RED CARD FOR TRIPPING OVER HIMSELF? REEEEALLY?! It was beyond a joke, and now he's absent from the Ghana clash. Spewing. The first goal was also clearly offside, but we won't go there...

We had six in defense and still couldn't stop the (admittedly pretty good) plays from Germany. They're obviously a better team, but we could've been if Kewell, Kennedy and Bresciano were on. Perhaps Verbeek saw the game as a no-win and wanted to rest them - but what's the frickin' point? EARTH TO PIM: IT'S THE WORLD CUP! Kewell maybe, coming from injury, but not the other two. Why does Jesus never start? I don't get it. The Socceroos were afraid to attack - Cahill was quiet - and the only solid performers were Neill and perhaps Wilkshire. And Garcia (who I don't reckon I've ever watched play before) tried to create scoring ops, but there was no-one up front for support!

Hours of sleep: 3 (and that's WITHOUT watching Serbia v Ghana). Maybe that's why I'm so cranky. No, that's not it. It's that we can do so much better than that and it wasn't reflected on the scoreboard. I think I'm going to drown my sorrows in sleep. And then face the day looking forward to Saturday night's game with Ghana. If we don't win that one... oh man...

Yes, by Totally Wild I am talking about the TV show. I'm currently halfway through a week of work experience at Adelaide's Channel Ten studios, and today was the first of two days in the Children's Unit, which holds one of three Totally Wild bases (Brisbane's the HQ and Melbourne plays a small role too).

To say I had a different experience to the general newsroom is an understatement. Today was one of the most fun days I've had in ages. Fun normal days that is (which I guess doesn't count parties/pub crawls etc. which lately have raised the bar). TW's feature format

First was overlay footage of two dogs for Bondi Vet (produced interstate); we had to get a Jack Russell (named Jack haha) to drink out of a swimming pool. It took us at least half an hour. Even then we only got a bit of footage and ended up getting him to drink out of a bowl. Turns out he likes chicken. Talk about never working with animals...

Our main story of the day was on arborists, who prune trees without harming them, etc. Standing in the wind for about 3.5 hours wasn't too ideal, but seeing Colin (the presenter) and Matt (cameraman) being harnessed and lifted 12m up a 30m redgum tree to get an interview was pretty awesome. Then I got my 15 minutes of fame. No, I did not go up the tree. Although that would've been pretty fun. But I'M IN THE STORY! With LINES!

I was 'Sarah', Colin's past love interest (fabricated for purposes of childish humour) who's curious about what he's doing up a tree. But I reject his invitation for a milkshake because I'm 'more into TV presenters'. It was so much fun; Colin, Matt and soundman Savvy are champs and I couldn't stop laughing as Colin was shouting after me from the tree with a broken voice. Hilarious. Won't be on air for about 2 months, but I'm glad I've got something to show for my work experience now (because I can't shoot a news story)!

After going out on politics/education-related interviews with the seriously awesome journos Daniela and Jemma, and the Totally Wild gang today, I understand the different types of news journos can present. Absolutely loving this week. It's getting better and better! Although I'll be sussing out why I was given what I think was a (mediocre) latte instead of a chai...