PTSD

Next year, Oceania...after that, Asia

Good on the team, eh? the Australian football team (called the "Socceroos") qualified for the World Cup next year by beating Uruguay on penalties (despite the presence of Mark Viduka, who did his best to help Uruguay through. Unfortunately, that sentence will probably be lost upon many of our non-footy following readers).

This is the first time they've done so since 1974 and it's the last time they will do so as Oceania's representative. From the next qualifying round, Australia has decided it will be part of the "Asian" teams and play as part of Asia. So, there you go: A country (Australia) has changed from being Oceanic to becoming Asian, just because it and the other "Asian" countries have agreed upon this. And, people still argue (I was in one such class just today) that state and regional boundaries are "natural". Footballers and football associations have got the memo, it seems, so why haven't IR folks?

FYI, I am still working on my paper. Yes, I promise, barring unforseen occurrences, I will be at the Conference to present something. Just don't ask me what, yet. And, E, good luck tomorrow morning and have those G&Ts ready :-)

Also, E and I managed to submit a joint abstract to anotherbignamemeeting for next year. Let me tell yous, that was quite an accomplishment since we made it with about an hour or two to spare. And, yes, I'm gatecrashing regionalmeeting this Friday. I'll keep yous updated on how that goes.

posted by Priya @ 11:08 PM