When the Cheshire emerges...

Dear Diary,

I'm a bit sad this morning... the World Cup so far has provided almost sleepless nights and interesting results but I let myself down overnight. The one day I was feeling fine (even on 2.5 hours sleep) and had time to relax at home what happens? I end up falling asleep on the couch BEFORE the start of Greece vs Nigeria - and then not even my brother could wake me up properly until his scream of 'Ohhhhh!' in the latter part of the second half. Shameful.

Had been hanging out ALL day, and then I was struck by stomach pains. So fine, it wasn't something I could control - besides lying down, but as soon as I do THAT what else is going to happen? Make me MORE awake? Pfft, sure. So I watched the last 20 minutes intently and by the end felt more awake than I had for half the day. Aaaaargh!

Found out some interesting things though. Chris reckons he tried waking me up at least twice last night - but did he emphasise that GREECE was on? Don't think so. I don't remember any of this, I must have been so out of it. Then he tells me when the Portugal vs Ivory Coast game ended a few nights ago and he woke me to go to bed I said: 'I have to wake you up at 6am to go to bed'. Or something. Rambling and not making any sense.

It got me thinking whether it's worth watching as much as I can at the expense of my inability to actually keep my eyes open. For some reason I feel like I'm missing out, like I'm not paying 100% attention to the good matches. Got shittier when I heard the commentator say how good a game it was. And it's not like I can really watch a replay when I'm back at work (and reality, yesterday was such a productive day off...). How frustrating. At least I found my Hellas scarf (authentic and all), I'll be wearing that today!

Oh yeah, (when I load it) I want to put a photo of me with a vuvuzela up. It's hilarious.

So the first round ended with the games overnight, with my pick of the three games on offer Spain vs Switzerland. The Swiss captain Alexander Frei is out, who I actually remember from four years ago (shame, he's fair good). That's what I'm loving about watching all these games; picking out those I remember from '06 and those I don't recognise. A lot are still around which is good. It bothers me that I don't watch a lot of soccer regularly so it's interesting to refresh yourself on players' strengths after so long.

Ok so to the games: saw last part of Chile vs Honduras - but saw the end of the first half while DRIVING in my car, on an iPhone. How am I excited about an iPhone? Oh how the times have changed; from me being totally against it the whole app/everything else thing I now find myself getting an iTouch as a replacement for my 3rd (or 4th)-gen iPod! Such is life. Anyway, I informed my friend Nav (see 'Navioli' blog) that because she's with Optus she has free live access to all the games. So she tried it, and it worked. And it's a really good picture too. Very clear. Considering the roads were wet it probably wasn't the best idea for me to be looking at the phone half the time - but I was impressed dammit! Meanwhile I've paid $8 for the month to access SBS unlimited on my own phone - but for some reason it won't connect! And it's not just SBS either, other channels are the same. So maybe there's something wrong with my connection :(

Watched most of Spain v Switzerland and was pretty impressed that the Swiss team held the favourites scoreless. Seems they needed Torres for longer than they had him on. Sure, he's been injured, but not on for the whole first half? Oh well, it was surprisingly worth seeing him anxious on the sidelines. And he's cut his hair - therefore looking a whole lot better.

Because of my radio work I'm up early on Thursdays anyway so figured I'd get up for South Africa vs Uruguay at 4. But instead I found myself setting my alarm for normal time and resting on the floor for half an hour. Saw Diego Forlan's amazing goal though, the yells from the commentators made me jolt up... So I watched the majority of all three games, a PB so far. Sleep count: 2.5hrs (uninterrupted, again another PB. Actually proud of this.). I have the entire day off, which is a miracle, but it's not one of rest so I'm going to be knackered. But hey, it's worth it.

I JUST TRIED BLOWING A VUVUZELA!!! That's the opportunity that live radio gives you... and I failed miserably. Jase had one in his shed from years ago and we dubbed today's show 'The Vuvuzela Special'... I actually managed to finally get a sound out of it, so so proud of myself! My South Africa experience is almost complete. Oh, and a small sidenote: a regular customer at Valleygirl comes up to me yesterday and says: 'Saw you on TV the other night!' She said I looked nice... that's reassuring. Greece tonight - I'm going to watch it regardless of how tired I am!!!