Singing
I have a seminar to give next week. For two hours. I have to give a talk and answer questions, all by myself, for two whole hours. My paper for it is nowhere near finished (comes from writing a new thing instead of just talking about what I had already written). I am starting to have nightmares about forgetting my English (fairly common before stressful situations. Before the Oral Qualifying Exam for my PhD, I was sure I had forgotten all the English I knew). My draft PhD proposal, which I was supposed to have sent to Weberman ages ago, is getting progressively worse as I chop, change and repeat the process (and he still has not seen it yet).But, right now, I don't care. Liverpool are in the Champions League final for the first-time ever in my memory (I would say lifetime but they were there 20 years ago. I am definitely older than that). For those uninterested in football, this is like (actually I can’t compare it to anything). It is perfect. It is brilliant. It makes me want to run around and sing (though obviously won’t since my singing prowess is non existent as is my running capability). I have been reading the methodology and other discussions at TUWSNBN. I have been wondering how it is possible to communicate across academic disciplines when people usually don’t even acknowledge they have methodological orientations. I have been worrying about having to return to the US in July and not having money or a home to live in.
But, all that seems far far away now. Who cares about methodologies and money when Liverpool are in the finals of the Champions League? Yes, they will probably lose (we fans are not noted for our optimism. Ask IntLaw for confirmation) but they are there. Did I mention I have an (almost uncontrollable) urge to sing? Though, as Elizabeth told me once, being a fan of a team which has an old Rodgers and Hammerstein song as its anthem probably does not help (though it makes it easier to remember).
All I can say is that I am looking forward to a day off tomorrow (holiday for the day when Christ went up to heaven. I had thought this was it but apparently not. I learn new things all the time here in OOD). Maybe I will run away to the beach (and try to contain that urge to sing)…
posted by Priya @ 9:37 AM
6 Comments:
It's not quite as good as the 1997 Stanley Cup finals, when the Wings took it for the first time in 42 years. Maybe like the Buckeyes' win over UM in 1994, when they hadn't won since 1987? Or the 1998 win, when we tied for first place in the Big Ten? Something like that. There was rioting in the streets that day; couches burning and police arresting everywhere you looked. Those were the days.
for those of us in the football deprived states you need to blog the highlights of the match along withe the drunken brawls that occur before during and after.
And Elizibeth, sorry you have tried many times to teach me the riotous ways of the ohio state and red wing fan, but nothing comes close to the fun of a european football hooligan, except maybe a south american football hooligan.
I can hooligan with the best of them. And I've got the pictures to prove it. Soccer is not a requirement for major property damage where I come from.
property damage is small time, i was on franklin street jumping through fires (again) this year when they won the national championship. they actually managed to melt the asphalt in many places.
But tru football hooliganism also reqires drunken damage to ones self and other people, plus if you are scottish i understand the ability to sleep of hangovers using farm animals for warmth.
One of these times, you're going to catch yourself on fire.
I disagree that true hooliganism requires drunken damage to oneself. I think the drunken part is enough. It never adds to the experience when I wake up two days later wondering where all the bruises came from.
Now, if I saw someone else wake up wondering about the bruises, that would be funny. So I guess I half agree with you. But not about the soccer part. I still think hockey teamsters make the best hooligans. And they know where Hoffa is.
DC Utd matches involve lots of little kids (usually with a parent in command), halftime entertainment of people dressed up as giant birds or animals, and v polite cheering in the stands. V unlike the (v few, admittedly) live European football matches I have seen where chants and songs about the opposition players (often involving doubts about their parentage) and frequent swearing are common. Though in the US, you can buy beer in the stadium (can't imagine this catching on elsewhere). Also, "tailgating", an activity which I had not known had a name until I came to the US (though the activity is, I believe, widespread :-))
Post a Comment
<< Home