Soccer

Goooooooooaaaaaaalllllll! Hey, I score so few these days that I have to celebrate. This one was sweet, too.

We were already up something like 7-2 anyway, against a weak side. I had had two shots (coming up from the back line) already, that were deflected out for corner kicks. Midway through the second half a made another run up, and found myself unmarked at the 18, and called for the ball. The pass to me was deflected slightly, so the ball was bouncing nicely, about a foot off the ground. I volleyed it first-time, beautifully into the far corner of the net. The keeper never had a chance. Memorable, even if it wasn't terribly consequential. We went on to win, something like 11-2.

Injuries: Ah, who cares?

Movie

Saw "Ratatouille" again, on rental this time. Amazing movie, even better on a subsequent viewing.

Soccer

Missed the report from last week - the game was way out in Upper Woop Woop (aka BFE). Okay, it was just Eltham College. We scored, they scored twice, then we scored twice in the last five minutes for an awesome win.

Today we had our first home game, but not on a proper pitch - just a tiny little pitch near our usual home pitch (which is still recovering from the Grand Prix). I actually enjoyed playing on the smaller pitch. We had some of our key players back but weren't used to playing with them. We scored first again, but then they scored twice, and we had tons of chances that went begging. Including my own - I had a run from midfield, and after losing and recovering it a few times, I ended up with a clear chance by myself in the box, but I gave the ball a heavy touch and couldn't catch up with it. Final score - we lost, 2-1, and we should have won.

Injuries: Slight knee scrape, and a bit of a charley horse. Heels still problematic too; I might have to hit a PT this week.

Movie

Rented "American Teen", which, for a documentary, seemed suspiciously scripted.

Movie

Saw "As Good As It Gets" again on TV, which is aptly named. One of my top ten movies.

Movie

Why do some movies stay with you, so that you can remember almost every scene for years afterwards, and others you forget the plot of immediately, even if you enjoy them?

I rewatched "The Departed" on TV, which I definitely saw before, but didn't remember a damn thing about. Scenes looked familiar, but it was still like seeing it for the first time. Anyway I enjoyed it again, and will probably remember it better this time, especially considering I had dreams about it that night...

Movie

Rented "Boogie Nights", which was enjoyable.

Soccer

Game three, right up the street from home. We were determined to score this week, even though our star striker STILL hasn't been approved. I had my usual role, but due to a lack of players, we ended up putting our coach/regular keeper in as striker, though he's not particularly known for his speed or ball skills. But what do you know, a half an hour in, he scores! The joy was short-lived, as they equalized about three minutes later. Halftime, 1-1.

We must've tired again, as we fell apart in the second half. Actually they were a very skilled team, and the goals high-quality, but we ended up copping another four goals, and losing 5-1. Partly due to the fact that we were chasing the game and starting going man-to-man on the back line, and partly due to us having no subs, again. I can't wait to play these guys again when we have our full roster.

All in all I didn't play too poorly. I had a few decent runs up that ended up in decent chances after I passed it off. Fell on knees AGAIN, some blood, but not as bad as previous weeks. General soreness as usual.

Movie

Just caught all but the first half hour of "Beach Red" on TV. Wow, where did this one come from? It's the stylistic 1967 precursor to one of my favorite movies, The Thin Red Line. A psychological war drama, gritty, strange and occasionally surreal. And it even dares to humanize the enemy. Well ahead of its time, I'd say. I'll have to catch the whole thing sometime.

I should add that by today's standards, the acting is often dubious, the action scenes far from convincing, and the feel as a whole is somewhat dated, even hippyish at times. I guess I'm more forgiving of that sort of thing these days.

Soccer

Game two today, and another nil-nil draw. Obviously our star striker has yet to get his paperwork sorted. We were lucky to hold them off as well, but that's largely thanks to our star sweeper. Man, it's a treat to play in front of him.

I actually played my best game in years in the first half, with several key tackles, no mistakes, and kept my head up and made several good passes. I even had two clean chances off of corner kicks. The first, I pounced on a poor clearance, caught it on the short hop and forced a good kick save by the keeper. The second was flicked on, where I met it on the far post and it came off my thigh and into the post, only to bounce out and be cleared.

Second half, we tired (we only had 11 men show, it was a fairly warm day, and we're old), and so they had a lot more chances, but luckily weren't able to finish.

Fell on my knees a couple of times; the left one is bloody yet again. Also managed some sort of contusion just under my collar bone, which I have no idea how it happened.

Movie

Rented "Frost/Nixon". It's an engaging subject, and a watchable movie, but like every Ron Howard production, it plays fast and loose with the actual events, is overly dramatized, and lacks anything resembling subtlety. It's time to shipwreck Ron and Oliver Stone on an island somewhere.