Laying in My Cave. Thinking of a Resolution. Or Maybe not.

It is better than going downstairs and pestering my parents night and day. I feel like if I came down here and laid down on the couch then I would do much more harm than doing it from upstairs in my own room, in my own domain where I can do whatever I want. Plus they don't know that I am just laying in my room (well they might now). I think about a lot of things and I think about what resolutions that I should think of. I thought and thought and thought. After all this thinking I've came up with this solution.

What makes you think next year is going to be your year?
Yeah, It is a new year and of course you want to do things different this year than the last. But after the year close we say the same ole thing. "Next year is going to be my year!" I've seen it time after time after time. There are probably only a few times in your life where anyone has had an extraordinary year from start to finish. I'm no longer going to see it like that. I am going to live every day as it is my last. You should make long term plans, I agree with that but my life has been full of changes that I just need to calm down and figure out exactly what I'm going to do. (It would be so easy if I had a suga mama instead, that would be nice)

So how about just doing what you need to to have a productive year. Maybe you need to make a resolution here or there. I don't feel the need to tell everybody my resolutions because they are my personal choices and probably are too personal for people to understand, Plus I don't have resolutions really. Just to find a job and not get on facebook chat so much because I can have better conversations talking to myself. Who wants to talk to somebody who is always in his room anyways? I don't think there are many people. As we got one more full day before this decade closes, I would like for you to go to your love ones and other special people, get them a hug or if they aren't within seeing distances tell them how much you mean to them. Because I don't think we'll all make another decade. 2k12 baby. hahahaha

I'm just kidding. Happy New Years and get in trouble tomorrow night. Not too much tho.

Can we skip passed January 2010 please!!/ Landon Donovan's loan to Everton and his resigning to Everton

I've beent trying to avoid the topic of seeing David Villa and David Silva leaving Valencia in the winter. I've been thinking of ways to figure out how to keep them. I just figured it out. I'm going to attempt to make sure that the new year doesn't happen. I know what you're saying: "Dre, what the hell you're talking about?" Listen okay. I know this is a hard mission and I know that I'm going to have to find a spaceship, and I know that I'm going to have to figure out the impossible mission of making the world stop rotating.

However I'm desperate to keep these two gems and I know that the transfer window is closed so no one can get these two until January 2010 at the earliest. And Valencia for some reason has been shopping them two around. If I can't get the world to skip past January at least keep these two players until the end of the season and hopefully we can make it to the Champions League next season so the debt could be eased and we can buy more players and build our club around Ever Banega, Mata, and others.

(Where in the hell am I going to find a spaceship)



I've been listening to the talk of Landon Donovan and what they make of his contract extension for the LA Galaxy that will keep him for life basically, also making that loan signing to Everton. And people have been saying that the MLS doesn't want to let go of their prize asset. Also it is a mistake for him to not try to make a big European deal. In his contract it says that he can make any loan deal for the winter and spring that he wants. I know exactly what Donovan is doing.

The reason why MLS signed this contract is just in the case that he does really well with Everton, then they are going to try to sell him for a high contract which more than likely Everton won't go with because he's going towards the older side of his career and he won't be worth all the money.

Donovan is doing this more for sporting reasons. He probably realize that this will be the last World Cup that he'll be in peak condition because once 2014 comes along he'll probably either no longer be in contention or he'll slow down and his performances won't match the ones when he was younger. I'll give him credit he realizes that he needs to have World-Class football before South Africa to help his country get the best chance of making it past the group stages. He cannot get this playing with the Galaxy for a couple of months. He'll be able to get better training in the four to five months in England than he would get in Los Angeles in a full year. So it is pretty ingenious that he decides to go to Merseyside and try to ply his trade in England.

This next year will be an interesting year. The World Cup is coming up, of course all the club competitions will be coming to a close, and it will be interesting where my two favorite players will eventually go. Hopefully they'll wait until July 2010 to make their decision. I just hope that they decide to play Champions League football with my club. hehehe

Leave the "Boy" Alone?

Everyone has had their say about Mario Balotelli, the Inter Milan striker who has heap of talent. However he is somewhat of a hothead and he gets in trouble almost every other week because of his on-field antics. His abilities are undeniable however he play acts and he also doesn't try his hardest when he's on the field sometimes. I remember earlier in the year when he got fouled for a penalty kick and he just stood over the ball even though Eto'o was suppose to take the pk himself and there was basically a 25 second stand-off until Dejan Stankovic had to pull Balotelli out of the box so Eto'o could take the pk.

I'm the first person to hate on someone when they act cocky on the pitch or show that they are better than the game. However I read an article today that made me realize something about the kid (Football-Italia) And he still is a kid.

When we see footballers on the tube, we except them to handle themselves in a professional manner, they should be respectful to the game and to other people. But we are talking about a 19 year old kid, who probably all his life has been one of the best players in his age group and also is starting games for a great club too. I've met people who played footy while they were 19 that were as cocky as this kid, the only thing is that Super Mario is on tv every weekend on Fox Soccer Channel so his actions are super magnified. Some people have to realize that the kid isn't even of the age of 20 and he is still learning things about himself that he doesn't even know. He has to deal with racist chants that even he shouldn't deal with in a young age. I don't support racist chants of any kind obvious because I've been a part of it but when you're 17, 18, or 19 I don't think that things like that should happen, no matter how bad he acts on the field.

Jose Mourinho has tried to motivate this kid by telling him when he plays bad and says at times he is uncoachable. I'm sure he knows more about the game than me but he has to realize that the youngster won't be consistent every week. He'll have his days and he'll have his off days he's not going to be great every week. Was Messi great every week when he was 18 or 19? Even Kaka? Being that age you'll have your days where you're great. Even a kid as cocky as Balotelli will over think things and he'll do what he can to win. You can question his commitment but I don't think that he never wants to lose. You can't be that good otherwise.

I might have been rambling on but the moral to my story is that give this kid some time. He's cocky and he even said that he's a bit impulsive at times. But being 19 years of age with lots of money, I'm sure women (Italian women at that ;) ) , and endless talent, why wouldn't you be cocky about yourself. I'm sure that if I had that then I would be as cocky as he is. If we are having this same discussion about four years time then I'll say that the kid is lost but when you see LeBron James doing river-dancing on the side-lines while beating a team, I think that some of Mario's antics are pretty tame. However the kid will need to learn from some of his mistakes before he'll get the respect from the fans. It's undeniable about his skills but he is going to need to do some growing up...

Seriously??

I read on soccernet.com and just watched Around the Horn in which they talked about a possible punishment for Thierry Henry on his hand-ball. Now I know everyone has talked about this for a couple of weeks now but I believe I should put my two cents in here because I like Henry, even though he plays for Barcelona and all. He has always been a cool footballer that I enjoyed watching on the pitch.

I am wondering how FIFA continue to get things wrong. Let's see, Thierry apologized, he was very contrite about what happened in fact he even said that he would be in favor of a replay. And yet FIFA would rather punish him than the people who really got it wrong. Making him a scapegoat because of your refereeing mistake will not make the problem go away. I can understand punishing those who dive, or yeah use their hands to gain an unfair advantage but he's already apologized and done everything that someone who knows they cheated should do. If they throw Henry under the bus then it is just going to make people increase the death threats that he and his family are getting.

I've already started my personal war against protecting footballing referees and I believe that this is a solid reason why. The linesman missed at least two or three players offsides. And you can't forget the double hand-ball that has gain worldwide recognition. How on earth can you miss that? And I still haven't heard any punishment for the referees. They should be banished from the World Cup, you think that it would be devastated for them to miss World Cup games and not Henry. If Henry misses at least one game then it would most definitely hinder France's opportunity of advancing to the World Cup final stages.

I've thought about this and I believe that a video replay would do wonders for Soccer. People would like to say that it would waste time. It would only take about 30 to 45 seconds. You can get the fourth official to see the play in question and flag the referee and tell him that he has made a mistake and give it a second look. That is just me.

FIFA stop your unnecessary protection of referees if they are wrong. I don't just want to hear that they are wrong. I want you guys to do something about it. Ban them for a game or two. If Henry claimed that he did nothing wrong then I would be all for punishing him but leave the guy alone, he's done more in his career than any of you suits have ever done.

I Don't Know Whatcha Talking About

If you must know all the rumors are false. No, it is not going to be my birthday tomorrow and no I am not going to turn 24 on December 2. I don't know where all this has come from. It says on facebook that I am having a birthday tomorrow and even in my parents calendars it says that my birthday is this coming up Wednesday.

Well, if it is my birthday. I would like FIFA 10, a gas card, annnnnd a pot of gold. The gas card and pot of gold are key because I am forever making a drive to Raleigh and my Jeep Cherokee is a gas guzzler. The gas card would make my life much better. The pot of gold is self-explanatory don't you think. I'm really hoping for a rainbow to come tomorrow so I can catch that leprechaun and take what's rightfully mine. And FIFA 10 would help me keep my mind off all the worries that I am having at this current time, you know not having a job, no one calling me for an interview nor I don't have a soccer team to play on. Putting in the CD and numbing my mind with my 360 in my room would probably keep me from concerning myself of everything.

Even tho I listed off my "gifts", it is still not my birthday tomorrow so please don't listen to what I said in the middle paragraph and I don't want to see any facebook "happy birthday" greetings because I am going to look at you like you're crazy and not knowing what the hell you're talking about. But if you still aren't going to take my word (nobody takes my word anyways) I'll let you know my address so you can hook me up with the pot of gold that I'm desperately wanting.

My Favorite is leaving :(

I'm going to be sad when you leave me. There is going to be a massive hole in my heart whenever you decide to go to England. I am not going to know what to do with myself. Maybe I'm going to have to hold on to my other favorite until he finally decides to leave himself. When you said before the season that you wanted to stay in Valencia, I was one of the only ones that believed you. I took your every word for it. And I thought that you would never want to go to England. You wanted to stay in your home country. But now it seems like you've gotten a change of heart and you're leaving me. Possibly forever. It'll be tough for me to swallow when I go to play my FIFA and you're not on my team. I don't know if I can stand you being in a different color other than the white and orange. Maybe I can go back to the old days and play FIFA 08 or 09 and relive when we were happy. Now I guess I'm going to have to cry and realize that it's inevitable that you're going to be leaving me.....



Pause.

http://www.tribalfootball.com/man-utd-chelsea-alerted-villa-now-open-england-option-452791

Driver Seat is in the Correct Side

Saturday night at 9pm I got into the Charlotte Airport and my journey was officially over at that point in time. Of course I'm going to miss everyone in Auckland, but it's glad to be back home. My momma made the drive to pick me up and take me home. The only minus on my return was that my luggage was left in Los Angeles (argh). I was bit upset about it but there wasn't really any need to bitch out the people at customer's service because I knew that it wouldn't help any. No worries I got my luggage today so that's all good.


So what was the first thing I did when I was back?
Honestly, I found my keys, grabbed my ipod, and went out on the road for a little bit. When I was here before I left, I use to go on drives around the city just because I wanted to cruise and get out of the house. I wasn't able to do so when I went to NZ and it was even more uncomfortable being on the other side of the road or having the driver's seat on the right hand side instead of the left. Let alone feeling uncomfortable driving someone's car. I didn't want to make a mistake or anything. The two times I drove in NZ, I felt so uncomfortable driving and I was worried if I still had the skills to drive a car. I got into my laredo and it was just like riding a bike. All the skills were there and it felt good passing people on the road also. Luckily I wasn't driving very first fortuntely.

"I love my babymamas, they get my highest honor. I got to take care of the kids, man I know you heard Obama."- Lil Wayne- Swag Surfin
There is actually no meaning in this quote. It is more just stating the fact that I miss having songs on time. And once I got back home, I made sure to get this song among others. Another thing that I'm going to do is listen to the radio (shocking because I never listen to it) and watch MTV and BET for the hot music out. I have to get back in touch with the music so my ipod will be bumpin in the streets of Greenville/Raleigh/ or Chapel Hill. I'm not trying to impress people with it. I more just want to feel good listening to music because that is one of my more favorite things to do with soccer and video games being a couple of hobbies of mine.

Still got more work to do.
Well, I've been asked: Now what? That is a good question. I'm still trying to play soccer so training with be an important thing for me. Plus I am 23 years old, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to find some sort of steady part-time work so I can make some coin and not slog around the house all day and night. It gets boring after a while and like I've said in previous post that it's very hard asking parents for money even though I'm not asking for much. So that's another thing. I have to look for teams to tryout for or teams that are in need of players. I'll never know what will happen so I have to keep my eyes and ears open you know.



The experiences will hopefully make for a better person on my part. I was having a conversation with a good friend yesterday who wasn't feel the best about his time outside the U.S. Of course there will be hard times and there will be times you have to do things that you don't expect to do. I mean I think I'm getting better because I'm doing a bit of the little things now. I actually made up my bed today, which shouldn't be an accomplishment but I never did it when I was home because more than likely about a couple of hours later, I'll be right back at that spot so I might as well save the trouble of making it and having it ready for me. Being in NZ, I wasn't forced to make my bed but I felt as if that would be a good thing to do especially since the family was kind enough to let me stay in their house. So I made my bed for them. Also clearing things in my room, that's another thing I hardly use to do because I either didn't feel like doing it or I forgot that I should clean up the mess that I make.

One other thing that I'm learning to get use to is not to be upset over the little stuff in my life. Things happened like not finding a job, at times not having enough money to pay for the hostel that me and Greg lived in, and just feeling out of place and not wanting to go home. Those are the things that you have to get over because you made the sacrifice to get over here. It would be selfish of myself to end a trip without completing the season because I'm sad over things. Me and Greg overcame these things and I think Greg can testify to this too that it made us better people. Now what does that have to do with things over on this side? It has helped me become a better person because I try better not to sweat over small stuff anymore. Most of my previous frustration while I was here was because I felt like people ignored me or didn't want to hang out. That's small things compared to hardly being able to pay for rent and having to sprint to the Western Union (yeah they had those) and getting it paid in time, also having a soccer game right after that. So I think I'll be good if you "ignore me", I'm not going to be concerned about you supposedly feeling sorry for me.

I think that's it from me. I didn't think I would get this far on this post. I'm still dealing with the time difference as it's almost 5am Monday morning in Greenville, NC. And it's about 10pm in Auckland and I know I would be awake at this time. So I think I'm going to stay up, get a work out in and hopefully I can make it through the rest of the day so I can finally get adjusted to the time again. Other than that the nonsense will continue!

It's about that time I say farewell.

New Zealand, It's been real. I loved my time here and I most definitely enjoyed the experience. I've had my ups and downs emotionally here but overall it was great to feel those feelings. It makes you understand how to work when you aren't feeling your best and to snap out of any worries that you feel.

The football was decent enough. I was luckily to play on a great team so that made everything much easier for me. And the fact that all the guys were great was even more enjoyable. Most of the other teams we played didn't have any style to their game. They wanted to either just pump balls over the top or play roughhouse tactics which really didn't work too well against us. We only lost one game all year and unfortunately it was the Chatham Cup Final. I'm sure that everyone of us learn a lot from that game and we took it into our final game and clinched the league.

I'm kinda at a lost for words. I feel like it's my time to head back home however I know that I'm going to miss a lot of great people over here. They made this journey a memorable one that I'll probably never forget. I can't honestly say that there's any one person that I can't stand or dislike they've all made me comfortable in many different ways. Gave me shit for my accent and all but even if it upset me at the time I knew they were just having fun with me.

It'll be good to get home. I can finally refresh my mind and refocus on what I want to do next season and that is play soccer. It won't be as easy as I would like it to be but I plan on working as hard as I possibly can to make this goal. Also I have to figure things to do when I'm back home. I remember everything I did before I left for New Zealand. I understand that it won't be the same when I get back. There has been a lot of change of people and especially in Chapel Hill where about I probably won't know about 55 to 60% of people who live there now. (I didn't know that many to begin with). So I guess I have to find a "crowd" in my age range and that'll be somewhat hard since I'm not the best at meeting people but I will definitely try. I might as well I don't have much else to lose by doing so.

Well, I don't really have much else to say. I don't think I find any more witty statements to make all I'm going to do is put a couple of links of some of my trip updates and such. As for those kiwi's that are reading this. I'll be out and about on Friday so maybe try to at least see me before I leave if you can, if not it's all good there's definitely no hard feelings on that. Farewell...

Past Trip Updates
Back on My B.S.
Right about now, I'll work for food
Splashing in a Mud Puddle
Uhh I guess a NZ Update
Live TV, Big Stadium, Big Crowd, and a Sunday Afternoon. What more can you ask for?



P.S. Oh By the Way, the journey ends, but the blog will never end. muahahahahaha!!!

No Kangaroos, But warm weather and a beautiful beach (My Gold Coast Trip)

Last weekend, I head to Australia for a few games against a couple of representatives from Brisbane Football. Now that's all I want to go from that part of the story because we lost both games. I really wanted to talk about the rest of the trip. Which included a A-League game, going out at Surfers Paradise during the night and day.

It was nice to see warm weather for a change. I most definitely enjoyed not worrying about whether it was going to rain or not. Or if it was going to be cloudy and not clear skies. My impressions from Australia? I feel like it is just like America almost. The motorways, the housing designs, even the cars look similar even though they try to make their trucks look much more sportier than in America, the similarities are endless.

We only got to see a little bit of Brisbane because of the soccer game we went to after our Saturday game but most of our journey was spent on the Gold Coast and boy that was beautiful. Large buildings, long beaches, and everyone enjoying the weather with shorts, bikinis and everything else. People watching was very enjoying, seeing those who were playing sport out on the beach or running in the sand, or just glazing at the water made for a good time even though I wasn't doing anything active. Another thing is that I don't really understand how everyone could eat such disgustingly fatty foods but still have good to perfect bodies. I saw a couple of girls go into a Hungry Jacks (which is basically an Australian version of Burger King) and three model shaped girls go into there and order whopper combos. It truly amazed me. Especially due to the fact that, you probably wouldn't ever see that in America in which looks are everything.

Plus whatever happened to young ladies looking their age? It was ridiculous to see all these young girls out on the beach and looking just as developed as those who are in their 20s. I didn't see much of that when I was young. All I could do is shake my head and feel dirty for even giving them one glance. I'm certainly glad that I don't live here or I could be in trouble hahaha. In general the trip was fun, even though the soccer didn't go well. I enjoyed being in Australia with great company along the way. I'm definitely going to have to try to make another visit to another portion of Australia if I could.

I was honestly sad when we were leaving there to head to the airport. I realized that we were probably going to be heading back into a rainy Auckland scene and I was right for the most part. Especially due to the fact that I was stuck in the Auckland International Airport car park for a couple of hours because my coach's car died and we had to wait on help to get it started. On Tuesday morning when I was waking it, it was raining in bits and pieces and all I could do was day-dream about the few days I was in the Gold Coast.

Hopefully I can write another post summarizing my overall journey here in the South Pacific area. I'm leaving very very soon so I should at least do a final saying from Down Under.

The Update that you haven't been looking for

Last weekend after our game in Waikato, we went to Rotorua and to my friend's lakehouse with Tavis, and Anthony Murch and his fiancee. We got into Rotorua at about 6pm on Saturday evening. One thing that was noticeable right away was the smell. Until you get use to it, the place smells kind of bad. But I was explained to that the smell was probably coming from the sulfur that were coming out of the hot springs that were pretty much everywhere. This place is known for its hot pools. After we ate dinner, we went to a place called the Polynesian Spa which had lots of hot pools everywhere. They weren't the natural hot pools that you would see near a lake or something, they were just basically regular pools with heated water. It was nice and warm in the pools. I enjoyed it a lot. Especially since I had a game earlier that day, it got all the soreness out of my legs that I would have had if I didn't get into the hot pool.

On Sunday, we went out on the lake. Daniel, the guy that I'm staying with, went out on the lake and started skiing a little bit. They were trying to get me to go in the water, I'm like I'm not getting in that cold water. I think I'll pass on that. After that we drove the boat into a natural hot pool and just chilled out in their for a while, throwing rocks at each other and such. Then we headed back to the lakehouse and just chilled til it was about that time to head home. I tried my hand at a little cricket. The guys were giving me crap for getting out so quickly. I told them I didn't care and I was going to try to wack the ball as hard as I could. I don't care if there's a house in the way and I might break a window, it needs to get out of the way.

Mostly what I enjoyed from the trip was the land and water features. I'm a geography major so I somewhat have a soft spot for almost anything nature. I mean other than going into a forest with bears in it, I'll enjoy myself in nature. I caught myself taking lots of pictures of hills, valleys, mountains, and even farmland with sheep (lots of them) and cows everywhere. It felt like being in another world rather than staying in big city Auckland where I don't really see much else of the country.

This week is filled with a whole lot of nothing until I go to Brisbane on Friday. Maybe training on Wednesday if it isn't raining and I can get there (the bus drivers are currently on strike and the fields are all the way across town, there's no other way I can get there). I'm beginning to think about if I should leave next week. There is prize-giving on the 30th of October but I'm not really keen on staying here that long and there are two reasons why.

1) After this weekend, there will be no more games for me to play, so I will not only sit around the house, I'll be sitting around the house with hardly anything to do and nothing to look forward to. I don't really go out during the night times and usually go to sleep at about 10pm (boring life I know)
and 2) Halloween. I think that's pretty self-explanatory

I got time to think about it. I don't have anything else to do with my time this week. I'll come up with a decision by the end of this week going into next and I'll let ya know on this channel. As for Australia, there will be a lot of pictures especially knowing that I probably won't ever go there again (you'll never know) It will be a fun weekend I can tell you that even though I'll be playing two games blah!....

Shutting Myself off of FB Chat. is it possible?

Whenever I get on facebook, I check on the facebook chat box and see who's online. It's an easy way to see if there's anyone to talk to and such. There are occasions when I'm very very bored and want someone to talk to, then I try to talk to them and they either a) don't say anything back or b) only say two things and look for the nearest excuse to leave and then come back once they think I'm gone. So I've been trying to find ways not to have that urge to talk to people who can't be bothered saying anything but two words to me. I mean I would say that it's a waste of time but honestly facebook in general is a waste of time and me being on there checking up on my "friends".

I should think about what I'm going to say to a person and if you are fully aware that this conversation is going to be 5 minutes or less then I really shouldn't be bothering with this person's time. They don't feel like contributing to the conversation so why should I? You have that pit in your stomach that says, "this person is annoyed." And I can tell because I've felt the same way when other people tried to talk to me. Not that they were trying to strike a conversation more because they were just asking for something and that's all that they wanted to get in contact with me about. Which I understand, but a simple e-mail or facebook message would do just fine.

Not getting on facebook at all helps a bit. Here's exactly what I do on there. I check to see if I have any new notifications, go to my profile, go on my friends list to see if there's any updates and I see if any of my friends have any interesting pictures and after that it's just basically mindless screen watching that's basically a waste of my time. At the same time that I do this, I could have read at least three to four articles on the BBC website or I could have something else that would be more productive in the time of boredom that I currently am going through. And the facebook chat makes things worse because I spend about 10-15 minutes waiting for people to come online so I can talk to them (okay 10-15 minutes may be a bit extreme but whatever). I mean if I want to screen-watch, I might as well put in a video or play a game of some sort. It'll at least get me out of the thinking that I have to talk to someone.

This is going to be a very gradual process. It's not impossible (okay maybe near impossible) but I need to begin learning not to put my hopes on everything facebook. I can go on there and see if my two only real friends are on and if not immediately log myself off and do other things with my life rather than be on fb. I need to learn that there are more things going on then someone's update status or if someone's in a relationship with another person. It seems like something out of one of those tabloid magazines or something. I need to get out of the tabloids and go into the real world...... or twitter either or will do :)

Mini-Post: One Final Game Here

I think that I should get a huge sending off parade where all the kiwis pay tribute to me with gifts, saying that I'm the shit, and bringing all their women to me. (Shoot, if that would be tight if that were to happen.) I brought some excitement into their lives. Like scoring on my first touch playing in New Zealand, shoring up the backline and helping us win a title and almost another, also having someone's southern accent to make fun of at times. You guys know you enjoyed it. So today at 2pm, I am hoping that a red carpet will be waiting for me so I can walk on it, play about 45 minutes (because that's my wishes), and head off into the sunset...


What I am talking about is that this is my final game in New Zealand (probably forever unless something crazy happens). No, I'm sure there won't be any tribute to me, no red carpet, probably will play all 90 minutes in windy weather, and I don't think any women will be brought to me *tear* We go out to Ngaruawahia and play a NZFC side Waikato FC, who is currently getting ready for their national league season. We're hoping to improve on our performance against Auckland City last weekend. I just hope we can come out with the win. Until then I will just day-dream of all the tributes that you guys should be giving to me. Ha!

English FA and Referees: Harden up a bit

I just got through reading a soccernet.com article in which it says that Rafael Benitez might be charged with improper conduct for taking out his glasses suggesting that the referee in their match against Tottenham might need them (Rafael Benitez facing FA rap for removing his glasses). I am quite sick of the English FA holding refs hands and coddling them. They should be held responsible for their actions like the players and managers who gets charged for improper conduct. I don't hear many stories about referees who made the wrong calls or are un-fit to handle a Premier League game.

Now I understand that if you do charge referees for their mistakes then you might bring some of the games in disrepute by saying that he clearly affected the game. However there needs to be the same responsibility passed upon them that every club has to deal with. I also know that they will be graded at the end of the year for their performances but if they have a one off game in which they've clearly made mistakes then they should be punished for them. Refs make mistakes like all others but I don't think you should charge managers or players for words that they say after the heat of battle when they've poured their souls out for their respective teams. Now if it's a couple of hours later when they say these statements then obviously you can charge them for criticizing the referee because they've had time to think about what they wanted to say and none of it was spur of the moment.

I think there's one concrete instance where you can charge managers or players. This instance is when they say that the referee is favoring teams or protecting certain players. That goes into something altogether, this is saying that these games could possibly be fixed to help the favored team. And it goes straight to the FA because they appoint the referees to the games, so what you are indirectly saying is that the FA is fixing results basically because they appoint these refs who favor certain teams or give more PKs to one team rather than the other. Those are statements that should be stamped out.

I don't think that this coddling of refs will stop because even if they do get charged for making blatant mistakes then it won't protect them from the abuses that they'll receive from fans, players, and managers who think from then on that the refs will always make mistakes. Other the other hand, you can't charge those who don't have a favorable opinion of the men in black. They shouldn't be protected from that standpoint unless they talk about favoring teams in which there's grounds of charging because you're saying that the whole thing could possibly be rigged.

Trying to lose myself

Today, I meant to go for a walk and think about some things. I started to feel somewhat frustrated about things that were happening around in me or for that matter just in my world right now. So I picked up my earphones and my camera (because I wanted to talk pictures of things also). A strange thing happened to me.

Normally when I think about things, I get upset about it and feel like shit for a few hours then get over it. However this time it didn't happen like this. The music helped me cloud out these things whether it's perceived or not and taking pictures kind of made me forget about what was going on around me. By the time I ended my walk I wasn't unhappy or midly disappointed, I was more ready to get on with the world and do things that can help myself and my family.

I don't know whether I'm heading into a new phase in my life or it is just an one off deal and I'll be back to my usual self and being mad because this or that is happening to someone else and not me. While I'm in New Zealand, I've had the freedom to think for myself and to express myself in many different forums. Doing things that I never thought that I would do, whether sober or drunk. But it's helped me learn who exactly am I. And when I get back home people can take it for what it's worth. If they want to make an concerted effort to be my friend (like I do) or do they just want to be friends only if it is convenient to them.

If the latter is the case then, I have but no choice rather than to shut you out of my life. I don't really need to deal with those people. I'd rather deal with the two or three people who won't ask for everything all the time or they'll just strike up a conversation with you even if it's the most random mess that anyone's ever heard before.

So I've got about four weeks left in this country before I head back home and that will start the test of whether I've grown up a little bit or I'm the same little kid who gripes about anything that doesn't go his way. We will see. Well I will see at least...

Because 6:28am on Saturday is the same as 1:28pm on Friday. (think about it)

Don't DM me about your "illegal extradition" to the U.S.
I don't know what you're complaining about. The U.S. is great! No offense to Scotland but if somebody told me that I had.....

My Realization: Okay, Then I realized being extradited isn't really the same than being deported and if you're being extradited then you're actually being arrested for a crime in the other crime and they want you back in their country. So fair enough on these people, I'm still interested in what exactly they did to possibly be extradited back to the United States. I would click on these people's link but I don't really trust anyone's link on twitter. Especially due to the fact that I just got my computer fixed and I don't want to get it messed up again. So I pray for these people who are trying to fight extradition back to the United States and I hope it works out (forgive me for my moment of stupidity)

Have you ever been around a group of people and tried to join the conversation, but once you try you wish that you hadn't tried to. People use to wonder why I was always quiet. Well when I do start talking and then might say something that someone might not get or the whole group might have this awkward silence, I might as well be putting my foot in my mouth for the rest of the day until I leave. I'm not going to put myself out on the limb for no reason especially if others aren't really that receptive to it. If I'm with a group of people at least make me feel comfortable, I don't even mind if it's a round of 21 questions just seeing who I am. I mean if it's the other way around and there was one person who didn't know everybody else, I would make sure they would feel at home in their surroundings and enjoy themselves. Different people different experiences.

I'm trying not to be "bi-polar". I put this in quotations because I know it is a disorder than people deal with everyday and if I was bi-polar then I'm sure I would not be in New Zealand right now. When I say "bi-polar", I am just meaning not to be too sad when things don't go the way I would want them to go. I've been working on this a lot lately. I think of the reasons why I get angry or sad and I just really think they are stupid reasons to get like this. I mean honestly I get bent out of shape over some dumb shit sometimes. So I want to be more consistent with my behavior, obviously there will be happy days and sad days but I just don't need to turn it into some sort of soap opera in my mind.

Getting back into a consistent schedule of working out. I haven't been able to do this while I'm in New Zealand. It isn't anyone's fault, it's more mine because I have just neglected doing any type of workout routines. I've still got lots of work to do to go back and make it playing football somewhere. So in my "make-shift" lab, I've been piecing up together a workout schedule for me until I get home. It'll also help me do more stuff and get out of the house while I'm at it. I think the weight training is going to have to wait til I get back home but I can do other things to keep myself busy while I get into some decent conditioning. Who knows.

6:20am NZT Saturday Morning
I've been up since about 4am. I've gotten about 4 hours of sleep. It's no worries or anything I've been use to this a lot lately. Only this time it's not like I've slept all day or anything. I woke up at 6am just to go to work at that warehouse again. Yeah I worked two days for them. I'm kinda glad I did because there's more money for me to have while I spend my last three to four weeks left here. Back to the sleeping problems, it could be worse. I could be sleeping two to three hours everyday and being an insomniac like I was when I was in college. Yeah that was pretty bad. I would end up spending most of my days playing 360 and doing school work. (uhh yeah school work). The football was never affected by it in fact I think it was some of the best I've played in a long while (I've guess I've already peaked huh, it goes downhill from there) I don't know how I snapped out of it, I guess it was the one day where I slept about 20 hours and got it all out of my system or it was the Ambien I started taking for a couple of months, Yeah it was the Ambien.

As of right now, I have a game today, then AFF's (Auckland Football Federation) prizegiving to get our championship medals (that one is going home with me). Then we are heading into the city and watching the Fight of the Century!! (Well for New Zealanders) Tua vs Cameron, after that who knows. More than likely and if I'm luckily, I'll probably be up all night and won't be asleep until another 22 hours. I just love not sleeping let me tell you...

The mad writer is back..

I remember back in the day when I can go off the top of my dome and whip up some crazy stuff for my blog post. I was use to ranting about what I thought about during the days or my nights. Now I cannot even get a proper blog post. It's only a half page or so and most of the time I don't even make much sense to begin with. I try to be a proper writer but it doesn't work like that for me. I have to be the mad-writer that says whatever I want whenever I want. I'll still avoid the ranting that I use to do. Let's be honest, it'll probably until I get back to the U.S. before the unnecessary rants begin. Now the mad ghostwriter has come back to you and with vengeance of some sort.

"Man, why do I love women that wear glasses? I just don't understand. I saw this girl on the bus and I just couldn't help but stare. I have problems lol."

This is the text that I sent the "Con Artist" while I was on my way to work. I saw this girl who was either a) getting ready for work or b) had a presentation and had to dress-up. I have this weakness for women with glasses. I don't really know where it comes from. She wasn't even that attractive (wasn't ugly either) but there was something that I couldn't help but not look. It was weird. It's not all women with glasses that attract me, but it's just most of them. There are two other fetishes that I have. And I believe there are only two people that know them. And I hate both you guys for it. Well I don't know if I'll ride on that bus again or see her again but I would have just liked to say hi and asked her what's her name then go on from there.


I'm missing my favorite red-hoodie (which is shown in this picture). I know exactly where it is at home. I left in on the rocking chair I have in my room (don't ask). I hung it up after the night I was in Greenville for the last time before coming to New Zealand. I got the hoodie after working a soccer tournament and I always wore it around. I'm an avid hoodie wearing because of two reasons 1) most of the time my hair is nappy and I'm too lazy to ever comb it. and 2) there are times where I don't want my thoughts to be known so I hide it. Sounds crazy but that's how I feel. I'm a pretty reserved person when it comes to my thoughts. If it is too personal, then I'm not going to talk about it. It's strictly for me to deal with and I'll deal with it in my own terms.


So Dre, what have you been thinking about?
My mind has been pretty blank lately. Even though I've been on this love song tip for a while now (Trey Songz's new album "Ready" stays on my ipod), there hasn't been really one instances of me thinking about anyone. Well maybe that person on the bus, but I probably won't remember her face again (only that she wears glasses). I go on facebook now and it's not like there's someone I check up on a lot. I just really see if my good friends are online to chat and then probably look at my page for 5 minutes, look at photos of me for another five minutes, and then mindlessly clicking buttons for the rest of the time. It's probably because I'm in a different part of the world and I'm out of sight to them and they're out of sight to me. Chances are that I'm probably going to have to meet new people as it is. So I'll get to that when it comes.

Actually my whole mental state is pretty blank. When I am "sober", I'm not too sad nor am I took happy. I'm at a neutral place now. Been trying to take everything in strides and going on with life how it's going to come. I can only control the things that I can do. If shit doesn't go my way then I'm not going to bend myself out of shape about it. There's no need to really. I enjoy my football and yeah maybe life isn't how I want it to be, but people are in worse situations than myself. I just need to find myself first, then life will come. I'm going to live in the current.


What else can I think of, what else? I find it funny when rappers rap about their favorite basketball players. Currently listening to Lil Wayne basically dedicating a song to Kobe. (aww he's sweet). I think rappers see a lot of themselves in the players, that's why you see them hanging out with basketball players. I mean how many times you hear about any rapper make a song about a football player. There's not many. You see Jay-Z hanging out with Lebron James. It's a game that most people identify with. Streetball games are played everyday in courts everywhere. So I won't diss on people for making songs about Kobe, Lebron, Wilt Chamberlain, or Michael Jordan. But if you talk about Stephon Marbury then I might have to stop you there.


Slowly fading into the dark. I've got a game this weekend against Auckland City so I'll be busy with other things rather than be on my blog or twitter talking nonsense. Even though I'm sure to be on here in the odd occasion, because let's face it. The keys call out to me to go on this sites...

That's a Wrap? Almost

We won the league last Saturday 4-0 . We had two games scheduled to play but those games have been defaulted to us. So we pick up the points and the wins. Hmm I wonder if we get the money bonuses from those games also. So in all reality, the Three Kings season is over. It's been a real good year, we've only lost one game all year, however it was one of the most important games of the year. Damn. But it's alright great never the less and I'm going to miss going out to Keith Hay Park for training.

I still got a couple of games to play. I was invited to play on an All-Star team that will go to Brisbane, Australia in about three weeks. All expenses are going to be paid for (woo!) and on that Sunday after our last game we are going to go to Surfer's Paradise. I don't know much about the place but I heard that it's an all-day/night party zone. Honestly that's what I'm going to need after this season is over.

Well that's about it. My personal well-being is fine. Haven't had much stress lately. Maybe stress that I put on myself at times but nothing too crazy or anything. No need to start ranting about things not under my control. I've said all this before. It's going to be boring nowadays due to no training. Waiting three weeks for the Australian trip is going to feel like it'll take forever. I believe that I'm going to have to take up a new hobby. Maybe going mini-golf? or smacking a tennis ball around? Need to do something to do. I have actually been searching for books to read. I could hardly find anything, not that I have been searching hard but no books that I'll be interested in. If you have any ideas of what I can do during my spare time (other than facebook or twitter) it would be well appreciated.

Real Madrid > Barcelona?? Nah not right now...

The start of this La Liga sees Real Madrid and Barcelona ahead of the pack. And contrary to what people are saying, it seems like it's going to be a two horse race for the La Liga crown and possibly the Champions League. After watching Real Madrid the other day, I still feel that they have a long way to go before they can mount any sort of challenge for Barcelona. Barcelona is the complete package at the moment. Plus the fact that Ibrahimovic doesn't have to shoulder the load that he had to for Inter, they are even more potent. There are still faults for Real Madrid and their chase for multiple trophies.

Seeing multiple games of Madrid, they just don't control games the same way that Barcelona does. There instances in each of the games that I watched when the opposition had the majority of possession and were getting quality looks on goal. Even during the Villareal game, the Galaticos were a man up and they could not control the match and step of the opposing team's throat. Obviously the midfield is the major factor in controlling games. I just don't see that bite in their midfield. Even with Lass Diarra, Xabi Alonoso, Guti, and company. They should impose fear on teams but they just don't and they don't hold onto possession as much as they should. Another reason why they probably don't hold more possession is that for the most part C. Ronaldo dominates the ball with his constant dribbling and shooting. Don't get me wrong, he does a good job with it. However he seems to be trying a bit too hard to impress that other players don't get much of the ball. It took Kaka about four or five games to finally get his first goal, many because CR9 is scoring the majority of the goals and taking all the headlines.

I believe Kaka is the key in this side. C. Ronaldo can easily be frustrated if things do not go his way. And he can play himself out of games. Kaka is the more stable force who does the work that no one knows about. No one knows that he has four assists already. Everyone wants to talk about the spectacular goals of Ronaldo.

Madrid cannot keep on relying on magical moments from CR9 or Kaka to lead them to trophies. It has to be a total team effort, especially against teams who are able to defend them. They will struggle at times. Barcelona seems to be more stable in the way they are approaching the season. Their defenders are much better and they possess the ball at a higher rate than Real Madrid. Plus having Messi and Ibrahimovic at their disposal doesn't hurt either. It will be an interesting season that will probably be filled with ups and downs. The true champions will come when things are going their way.

Me? As of now I'm still picking Barcelona. They are just on another planet at the moment and Ibrahimovic has been a great signing for them. Real Madrid aren't too far behind. They still need some work.

Live TV, Big Stadium, Big Crowd, and A Sunday Afternoon. What more can you ask for?

On this coming up Sunday, I'm going to be walking out of North Harbour Stadium, playing in my first final in senior football. We are playing against Wellington Olympic for the Chatham Cup. It should be an exciting day and the team is preparing every day for this massive challenge that we have.

Many of the guys have played and won this trophy so they know how it feels. However like I said before, this is my first final and I would like to think that I will be in many more finals. This might not be the case, hell I don't know if I'll even get to play senior football after this year. So Sunday afternoon will be a great day for me, a day that I'll get to cherish for a long time. Hopefully it'll end in a happy ending.

At the same time, It is still just a game. The occasion is huge of course, but still once that whistle blows, it's 11 v 11. The ball hasn't gotten any bigger, maybe the field is a bit bigger but that'll play into our advantage a little bit. I don't think I'll be any more nervous for this game then the Semifinal game a couple of weeks ago. I was more nervous for that game, because I was only able to play 30 minutes of the Quarterfinal match and we won that. I was grateful for them to win that game and nervous about whether I would be able to play my part in the Semi's. Luckily I did that and we took care of business on Aug. 30 to get to the final game.

So on this Sunday, I'll have a smile on my face. It'll be a good day and hopefully I can have a good game and make everyone proud. This is somewhat why I came here, playing in big games like this and having a team that is as balling as this one.

Update?

I know what you're thinking now. Andre, Why haven't you been blogging about your travels? Well the thing is I haven't really been traveling much. For the most part, I've been in Auckland during this trip. And I've pretty much seen everything that I needed to see here. Well almost everything.

What else can I update you on? Oh we made it to the Chatham Cup Finals at North Harbour Stadium. That'll be a good Sunday, hopefully it'll be fair weather so we can have lots of people show up at the Stadium. The kick-off is at 12:30pm NZT which is about 8:30pm ET on Saturday (you see I have my time zones on lock right now). We are playing Wellington Olympic, who are also undefeated, so if we can get past this weekend's game unscathed then it will be a battle of the unbeatens. (Greg Walters updated most of the rest of this on his page so I don't want to go in depth with it)

Last night, we were promoted to the Northern Premier League with a 6-1 scoreline against Ellersie. With our focus and attitude, you could tell there was only going to be one winner of this game. They tried hard to stifle us but we were the better team and we were able to open them up with beautiful football even though the surface was rough and bumpy. I figured it out, If we win on Saturday and Ngaruawahia Utd loses then I'm pretty sure we wrap up the Northern Division 1 title because as of now they are on 46 points with three games to play and we are on 50 with four. We win against Fencibles we'll be on 53 and if they lose they'll still be on 46 with two games and they'll only be able to get a possible 52 pts. So we can wrap up the league before the Chatham Cup final which would definitely be nice heading to the big Cup Final.

Other than that, I've been okay. Just been walking around and trying to see new places within the distances that I can go without getting lost somewhere. It's been fun and the weather has been beautiful most recently. I can tell that spring is fast coming around here and I hope that I'll be able to enjoy at least a bit of it before I dash off.

I know what my problem is...kinda? maybe?

I've been in this country for over three months now. It's been good to the point where I can get away from all my perceived "troubles" back home but it's bad for the blog because I don't have these upset moments where I go to the blog and write about everything that I'm currently seeing and worrying about what's wrong with me.

You see I concern myself on trying to find someone. I feel like it's never them and it's always me. Then I begin to realize. What if I'm looking in the wrong places?? That's a good point. Maybe what I want isn't exactly what I need? That's something I'm going to have to re-organize about myself.

Then another question arises Who is the right person for me? Is it someone who is like me? Quiet, reserved for the most part, but always likes to have a good time? Or should I look for someone who is outspoken, cocky about themselves and such?

Most of these things confuse me. I know it isn't a perfect science finding a suitable mate who you want to spend time with. I see people all the time holding hands, hugging, or talking to each other and they seem (at least on the outside) to be a perfect match. Yeah I want that but also I don't really know exactly how to go about it. People say that women are attracted to confidence, however what if that person isn't attractive at all. Even if he is confident, you're not going to want to talk to them. You're just going to take the drink and "head to the bathroom"

I've been trialing and (mostly) erroring all kinds of "options" for the most part, it hasn't really worked. It's been a total failure most recently. It gets me down sometime but maybe there will be one. I'm not holding my breath about it but just maybe.

It's been easier nowadays because I haven't really been talking to people much. That statement might not sound right, but it sounds good to me. Not worrying about people I like and trying as best as possible not to talk to them is making me feel a bit better. This is maybe because they are probably the wrong woman for me. There have been times where I thought this person has my same characteristics and such but it ends up with egg on my face and making everything even much more awkward then it should be.

So I'll chill out, be myself and see what happens to me. There's a saying that things aren't going to just come to you. Well I've been going to things and that hasn't worked, so why not I just kick up my feet, put my hands on my head and not worry about it because when I was back home that was the source of my "unhappiness"





After re-reading this, people might say that I have it all wrong. Well maybe I do, but you don't see it through my eyes now do you? *click publish post*

Taking It One Day at a Time

It's impossible to look into the future and see exactly what you're going to do with the rest of your week, year, or life for that matter. Sometimes I get into these phases where I daydream about where I want to be in my life. I want to do this or that, get a nice paying job, a steady girlfriend, the whole lot. This is where the frustration comes in because when things aren't going my way, I tend to get upset about what happens.

Of course you need to plan out things that are under your control. However those uncontrollable factors, I should just let it all pan out and see what happens. I won't always get what I want and I will be rejected at times but the best thing to do is to not let it affect your morale and just try to see how I can make things better. It'll make me a better person by doing so and that's all I want to be at the end of the day no matter what happens.

So my mission for this week is to take it one day at a time, not worrying about the things I can't control, and just enjoying life. People say that it is a hard life, but the thing about that is, it's only as hard as you make it. So I'm not going to set goals for the week or worry about what places I'm going to go on Saturday night. I'm going to head into Monday and see how I can make this Monday the best Monday as possible (if it is indeed possible) and go on from there. Maybe I can make this a habit to where I'm doing this for everyday of my life. Only planning things of the future if I really need to.

Don't ask me what I'm doing on Friday. I don't know. I'm trying to make it through Monday first.

R.I.P to my laptop....for now

It finally bit the dust. My laptop finally stopped working on me. It happened about two weeks ago but I still haven't came to terms of it dying on me. I shed a tear when I took it to the computer repair's shop. I thought they were going to tell me that I needed to buy a brand new laptop which I know for a fact that I cannot afford at this time.

Well bad news turns into somewhat good news. The guy at the shop said that the motherboard has died and he will be able to fix the problem by putting in a new motherboard but it'll cost me $260, which I'd rather pay then the possible thousands that I would have to pay. So I left the shop confident that I would get my laptop within a week.

Week has passed by and I was told that the problem was not fixed and that they need to import the motherboard and it will take another week for the problem to be fixed. Of course my morale went down even more at this point and I just hung up the phone comtemplating what life will be like without my baby for another week.

I know what you are thinking. Aren't you taking this a bit to hard? Probably, but I don't want to pay 6 dollars to go to an internet cafe and use their computer. Also I don't want to overuse the computers in the house that I am in. I feel that it would lead to a worn out welcome if I'm just on their laptops or desktops all the time. Plus I don't want to upload any photos that I've taken because I don't want to overload their computers with things that I have.

It's just a host of things that I'm currently concerned about. It just turned Thursday and I got a couple of more days until I'll get the call that will tell me my computer's fixed and I will be able to pick it up. To see it again will be worth the 260 bucks I have to splash out to get it fixed. I'm sure it will cost more really since they had to take another week to pick up the part. Uhh crap???

Great Start, Great Start

The good thing about ESPN in New Zealand is that they have the Serie A and the Spanish La Liga. Tonight I was able to watch my favorite club Valencia go up against Sevilla in the Mestalla. To tell you the truth, the groundskeeper needs to work on the pitch because there were way too many patchy areas. It looked like the pitch is in mid-season condition unlike the pristine conditions it should be in. (I guess that's what happens when you don't have money). This game was a good early examination to see if Valencia will be able to mount some sort of challenge for a Champions League spot. I'm not dismissing the title but Barcelona and Real Madrid are on a planet on their own. So getting a third place finish and getting that Champions League money will be important especially with keeping key players and such.

You would think in a game where David Villa was average that it would be a long night. However many other players stepped in tonight and did pretty well. Ever Banega had a very good game in the heart of the midfield. Mata was causing Konko, Sevilla's right fullback, lots of problems. Pablo on the other side was dangerous also. The game was flowing nicely with nice passing from both teams however everything broke down in the final third. Alexis and Dealbert impressed me at center defense. Frustrating Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute who both seemed disinterested in the game. Especially with Kanoute getting two yellows in the first half and leaving Sevilla with 10 men.

That was the difference in the game because when even it was just going back and forth but nothing was happening. However in the second half Valencia dominated much to my delight. Mata scoring two minutes after the starting of the second half. And the fluid movement of the team's front six was nice to see and a promise of something special this season (I know I might be jumping the gun a bit). Pablo Hernandez scored 10 minutes from the end to finish off the game in Sevilla's eyes. Banega was in the heart of both moves. Dribbling across the edge of the box and laying it off to Mata. In the second goal, he dashed through three players and struck a firm outside-foot pass to Pablo who finished with a first time chip over Palop.

The new signings were pretty good. I've already said that Dealbert was impressive in his first run out. He was sure-foot on just about every tackle and header against the taller Kanoute and Fabiano. I couldn't really point at any time that he made a mistake. He was solid. Bruno was okay. Tommy Smyth, the ESPN commentator, was loving him because he had grit, but he left me wondering with his touches often going out of play and didn't really get forward as he needed to. He did have to deal with Jesus Navas which is a pretty tough task for any left fullback. Then again, I didn't really have much expectations of Bruno to begin with so maybe I'm being rough on him. When Jeremy Mathieu came on for Bruno, I thought he was much better than Bruno. Got forward often and actually quiet down Navas a lot for the second half. He did make some mistakes towards the end of the game but I'll forgive him for that. In my opinion, he should be the starting option at the left fullback position. Bruno just didn't cut it for me.

I think Unai Emery has got this time on the right track right now. I'm sure David Villa will be better in the next game. I don't think that I even needed to say that because he's world-class and will probably bang in 20 goals this season. Hopefully Mata, Pablo, and David Silva can bag about 30 between them. And Emery giving Banega more freedom in that central area of the midfield will make teams nervous when they go against Los Che. It's still early and we'll see what will unravel in the rest of this season. A run in the Europa League and a top four finish will make me a happy person.

Walking Alone?

Two losses out of the first three games isn't what Liverpool supporters would have envisioned for this current side. With the likes of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, you'd expect them to have nine points out of the nine possible. However they are currently struggling at the moment and even though I have yet to watch a game, I believe I know where some of the problems lie.

Fernando Torres and who?

During this summer, it was said that they were chasing after the likes of David Silva and David Villa. Well both of those players weren't available for them and I believe only chasing after those two players probably stunted their transfer season. They did not buy a creative enough forward to match the likes of Torres. And the current strikers just aren't good enough to mount a challenge for the Premiership title. Ryan Babel has regressed as a player during his time at Merseyside. He can't even score the open net chances he has. Andriy Voronin probably wishes he was back in Germany because I don't think his game is made for England. Good player but just not Premiership material. Playing a one-man front-line with Steven Gerrard just behind isn't going to scare many. Stevie G is at his best when he's making deceptive runs into the box area or bursting runs from his deep midfield spot. This is much harder this season when teams are stacking two defensive midfielders in front of him and after he gets through there, he has a back-line to worry about, even for a World-Class player of his stature, it'll be hard even for him to break down defenses. I believe a 4-4-2 formation with a defensive midfielder and Steven Gerrard as the attacking midfielder would be much more suitable because Gerrard could come into play almost un-touched due to the center halves having to cover the responsibilities of Torres and another forward. However who is that compliment striker??

Aquilani? Is he the answer from the departing Xabi Alonso?

I've read a blog on football-italia.net (http://www.football-italia.net/blogs/al99.html). The blog says that the transfer of Alberto Aquilani is more gain for AS Roma than it is for Liverpool. The blog also goes in depth with the fact that he was suppose to be the next Totti of AS Roma and is suppose to be Italy's next best thing. However Roma gave him away for fish and chips (well not exactly) and you know why? Umm I haven't seen Aquilani in any of the three league matches that Liverpool has played in. Oh that's right he's injured. AGAIN. Roma gave him up because he cannot stay off the treatment table and now he's out until sometime in October. Xabi Alonso was the protection that Steven Gerrard needed, even though Mascherano is a suitable defensive midfield. He still cannot provide the threat that Xabi does and I don't think that Aquilani would be enough also, I mean if he cannot handle the Serie A game, what's going to happen when he plays against a Wigan or a Bolton side who loves nothing but to run into you and hurt you.

Does Benitez really want to be there anymore?

With the lack of huge signings and the money he got from the Xabi Alonso deal not being used at all. One may have to wonder about Rafa Benitez's commitment to this current side. I do not know if truly believes that he can win the Premier League with this club as currently constructed. He's always complaining in the media about why money isn't being used to sign the players that he wants to sign. I believe he's growing tired of the English game. Having to deal with the American owners who don't want to give him a dime and managers in this league getting under his "use-to-be" thick skin (i.e. Sir Alex Ferguson). I think he just wants to enjoy the nice warm weather of Spain and have full control of his club like I'm sure he was use to. I don't think Real Madrid will be a club he could go to, especially with the things he's said about Xabi Alonso even saying that Aquilani is a better passer and creator than Xabi. That's not going to go well with the current Galatico.

However it could be said that he isn't placing huge priority to the Premiership. He wants to stay in the top four so they can get a Champions League spot, but maybe he doesn't have the desire to win the Premier League like Chelsea does or Manchester United every year. Every year he eyes the Champions League as his trophy that he wants and we'll find out in the next few weeks whether they can mount a challenge for it. If he feels like he can't win that this year, I won't be the least bit surprised if he ponders about leaving. Even though I said he might be tired of the English game, he might think that Manchester City (if City don't come up with the expectations of this season) could rejuvenate him. Think about it, he will have good players to his disposal plus he could jab a knife into his most hated rival Sir Alex by moving across the street. You never know with football.

I don't know what's going to happen with this current side. Last season, I was saying that they would probably win the Premier League and look what that got me. Maybe this is just a start of the season slump that they will hope to get out of in tomorrow's game against Bolton. But with Manchester City and Tottenham playing very well and the rest of the top four looking good at the moment, I'm not liking their chances at a top-four finish.

It's a beautiful Friday afternoon, I might as well blog

It's always the Friday afternoon that I sit myself down on an internet cafe and just ponder things. Well not really ponder, I just sit here mindlessly going on facebook every other couple of minutes. I guess I should update you on my life or just update you on what's going on around me.

All the team's preparation for our Sunday afternoon Chatham Cup semifinal match is pretty much done. It was a pretty productive week of training. Our possession training has been intense and the 11v11 work has been going well. I don't want to leak anything out but all I want to say is that we are going to be well-prepared and ready.

I got terminated from my job the other day. It's not a big deal, it was going to happen since the company was going out of business anyways and they just needed warehouse workers to pack up things and send it elsewhere. Once there wasn't anything else to send out, I guess our jobs were over. Well I guess I should look for another job or something. I just got to figure out if I'm going to be here past October or am I going to be in Auckland for the summer (I'll speak on that later).

Things are alright on my end. I have the rare day off on Saturday. I don't know what I should do for it because we are usually on game mode from about 12 to about 5pm. Now during that time I'll have the time to enjoy the day and hopefully it'll be a nice sunny day for me to enjoy.

Oh my September 13 return date is possibly going to change to sometime in October at the earliest. I'm sure I've said that earlier but I just wanted to say it again even though I truly doubt anyones listening. So yeah, if all of you planned on meeting me at the airport, then you can postpone that. As if I was holding my breath for that anyways

The new season has arrived!!!

The new season has started (well the Premiership and the Serie A has started) and of course this is the most exciting time of the year for me. Unfortunately living in New Zealand, I have to either stay up or wake up at early hours to watch matches. I made an attempt to watch the West Ham and Tottenham match at 12:00am NZT on Monday and about 30 minutes into the game, I passed out. Not because the game was over more because I was just tired and couldn't watch it. I wanted to watch Juventus' first game against Chievo and I couldn't muster the strength to wake up at 6:45am.

Also during this time, I usually make predictions of what's going to happen in this season. Well I'm deciding not to do that. Because I usually get them wrong and look foolish when I review previously posting and seeing the ridiculous predictions that never came to true. So I'll wait until about a couple of months into this 09/10 season to make my bold predictions.

I haven't been able to watch much of the opening round of the Serie A but it's about the third game of the Premiership and a couple of teams look very good. Tottenham have been looking pretty good in beating Liverpool, Stoke, and West Ham. I'm guessing I made that prediction a year too early. The money-machine of Manchester City is rolling too with Emanuel Adebayor leading the attack and also Arsenal with their free-flowing scoring are close to the top. The next couple of games are going to be a true test to see who are going to be challengers for the Premier League when Manchester City, Arsenal, and Manchester United all play each other within the next couple of games.

I'm waiting for the La Liga to start and seeing how my team (Valencia) fare in this new season. Hopefully we can get into the top four this season and challenge for a Champions League spot. I'm sure that it will help eliminate some of the debt that is currently on the team's head. Also with the likes of David Villa and David Silva back for this season, I'm liking the team's chances. I think next week's clash against Sevilla will be a good test to see whether we deserve to be challengers or not.

I'm wishing that I will be able to catch all the big games that I can possibly see. I enjoy watching my football and rather be watching this than the stop-and-go of American football or ass-grabbing of Rugby. The creativity and flair keeps me interested in the beautiful game.

The Big Week Arrives...

This isn't any signal of me leaving or anything. I'm talking about the week leading to the big Chatham Cup Clash against Mirmar Rangers of Wellington. According to all the pundits (or the one or two that are in New Zealand I guess) they are the favorites to win the tournament. However they still have to go up against us. And we are going to make it hard on them with our free-flowing football. We are coming into the game with confidence due to our 5-0 victory against streaking Onehunga-Mangere. So hopefully we'll have a good week of training before next Sunday's clash.

Miramar will be a hard team to crack. They have a number of NZFC (New Zealand Football Championship) players on their squad and a couple of players who either have or still are playing for the All-Whites. Luckily we have the home-field advantage and the nice pitch of Keith Hay Park's No.1 Field on our side. We'll be prepared with the training that we are going to do. If we have last week to go to, then we'll be just fine.

I wonder where exactly am I going to be playing on Sunday Afternoon. I may be playing at center back or left fullback because they have pretty good wide-guys. And there is a tall forward that we have to deal with. I mean I understand since I may be a few inches smaller than the guy but I believe I can hold my own against those players. Use their height against them in some way and just keep them uncomfortable when they have the ball or about to get the ball. However I won't mind playing at left fullback either. I think I am physically fit enough to handle that position for 90 or 120 minutes. The real test is getting my positioning correct and keep my mind on the task. Usually when I play at the fullback, I would like to make more plays and I'm usually antsy about it. After playing it during the Lynn-Avon game, I felt more comfortable about what I was doing because I wasn't antsy about making plays and I thought it was the best I played in that position so I know I could play it. If you were to ask me, obviously I'd rather to play in the center but I'll do whatever is best for the team.

Other than the training, I'm probably just going to relax. I thought about going for a run during the day or going to the weight room but I think I should just keep my body relaxed for the week, maybe doing some stretching to keep my body limber. I'll probably just walk around this suburb taking pictures of spring coming in to New Zealand and just enjoying the warm weather. Then again, I won't be the least bit surprised if it rains tomorrow. It would be my luck....

Some Retropsect

It's been 13 days since I last wrote on my blog and believe me I've been trying to cook up things to say or be ridiculous about. However I haven't been successful and I don't know whether I'm losing the feel to blog or I was blogged for the wrong reasons before. I was so use to ranting and raving about my life that maybe some people (the people that read this thing) know more about me than they really should and might think that I'm emotionally unstable.

So I got away from writing about the ultra-personal things in my life because it's not your business what's in my head at all time. I don't think you knowing that I'm mad is going to change much. And I should just control my feelings and whenever things go wrong I should be more mentally stronger to handle it than I have before. And that would help wonders in my life and possibly others who have things go wrong for them. In the last year, I've heard from the newspapers and internet sites of people killing themselves because they couldn't make payments to their home or cars. Those people just weren't tough enough inside to handle the reality and may the Rest In Peace, they can't deal with rough situations that were brought to them. Granted in each case other things might have happened to lead them to the edge, however when it gets tough that's when the real person comes out.

Where was I again?

Oh why I haven't been writing on the blogs, well I have been trying to think of ways to redefine my blog. And to just to keep the personal feelings of myself out of it. I've been tempted to write two to three posts about my situation here and why I think staying here or going might be a good idea or bad. I stopped short from publishing because it sounded more like a crying baby rather than a young man trying to make decisions for his life. I may revisit those post and "grow it up" a little bit but now I'm just going to enjoy each day that I have and not worry about the next because it may or may not be coming.







Otherwise I'm fine today. I've gotten the day off from work just to rest a bad quad muscle for tomorrow's game. Hopefully nothing happens to it so we can win tomorrow's game leading up to our big Chatham Cup Semifinal game against Miramar Rangers (Wellington). I may walk around just to see how it feels. Other than that nothing huge is going on. My return date has been postponed until early October at the earliest. We have a couple of more league games to make up due to our cup committments so hopefully we can win the cup and the league and be greedy.

I'll be back with you guys later. I'm just glad I was finally able to complete a blog, it's been hard with this writer's block going on in my head.

Boxes, Boxes, and More Boxes

Yesterday, I woke up at about 7am, hmm I mean at 7:30. By the time I got dressed our ride was waiting on us to come out as we go to work for the day. We were working in the warehouse at Line 7 today. Line 7 is a clothing company in New Zealand that is current going out of business. So our mission for the day was to take apparel from their A1 collection (which is basically racing gear) and put all the boxes into a big container that was downstairs at the loading area. The thing was that there were hundreds and hundreds of boxes that we needed to put on palettes and take them down. Of course all the boxes were on the third floor, so we had to take the shady old elevator that we had to close ourselves and put the boxes on the palettes, take them downstairs, then we had to put the boxes in a huge container.

I'm sure it was sweet revenge for the boxes because a couple of weeks ago we had to take them up to the third floor and just toss them to the side with no thought of ever using them again. I was thinking that especially since the company is going out of business and our supervisior Woody said to just toss them wherever. So going back over picking up boxes that we just stacked was a real pain, especially with most of the boxes being torn in the first place. It was a real long day.

This was definitely an all-day operation. Looking at some of the gear I was thinking of who actually would be dumb enough to buy some of the stuff in here. I mean a Czech Republic A1 Racing Polo? I don't think there are many Czechs in this country to buy the gear. It was stupid some of the things that were in there. There was a toy racing car which I thought was cool but I couldn't take it. We were putting the boxes in the container because Line 7 is having a big sale at the Fairgrounds next week. It's just irritable that I don't think that any of the A1 gear will be sold. Oh well, I'm not paid to think just to throw boxes into a container.

By 4pm we were done with all the packing of that gear into the container. I honestly didn't think that we would get done with all of it but it happened. We started at 8 in the morning and emptied out most of the 3rd floor of those boxes. We felt relieved about it and tired at the same time. After that we mucked around for a hour until work was finally finished. Me and Greg walked around trying to find the right bus to get on. It was easier when we lived in the hostel because we knew what bus to take. However this time, we didn't have a clue which bus we needed to be on. So we were just walking and walking and walking, don't forget that I have a hurt quad at that and of course we were walking up hills also. We finally found the right bus and made our way home.

I wanted to do some extra thinking so I took an earlier stop and went walking around Dominion Road and such. I grabbed a bite to eat and then headed home. It was about 7:45pm when I got back and I just laid in bed and watched internet tv for a few until my laptop inexplicably turned off. So instead of trying to go through the trouble of turning it back on, I decided to go to sleep. And the nightmares of the boxes haunted the night.

Time flies when you're having fun

On August 8, it will be a year since I first started my blog. I would talk about the type of evolution that I've had over this year. However I don't know if I've evolved too much. Obviously the random emotional outburst have subsided and I've learned to live by myself (um sorta). But for the most part, my blogs take on the personality of myself. The random and crazy thoughts of a ridonkulous person who is trying to grow up. And honestly I'm glad to have an audience for it (the three or four of you that actually read this excluding my family who usually get to see it everyday when I'm at home).

Now what I have planned for this anniversary. Well first of off, my club has a big league game against Fencibles on that Saturday so most of the focus will be on that. But obviously I have to write something on this special day. Will it be about my experiences here in New Zealand? Nah. Will it be an overview of my life this year? Meh Nah. Will I explain the my "fifth year of college life." (three of you know exactly what I'm talking about). I'll pass on that. I want to go further back. Way back. I've been trying to go to sleep tonight and a single thought has crossed my mind. I don't know where it came from. It's been hiding in the distant past. However I shall bring it to light or explain myself to this person (who probably doesn't even pay my blog any mind). I'll intro it for you...

"I've called this person up and told them that I would be in town for the weekend and just wanted to grab a coffee and talk for a little while. I'm not really looking for anything, I'm looking more for some closure. Well I've left this subject open for about a good 10 to 11 years and there should at least be an explanation. I was more surprised when you picked up the phone and said that you would indeed have the coffee with me and just talk for a little while. It's more of a surprised since the fact that we haven't really talked in person before. Now here's my chance, just to close the subject and at least let you know why. I don't even think you've gave it a second thought and to be honest I didn't either until now..."

I'll see you guys in about four days or so. Peace!

Uhh I guess a NZ Update

I should be doing much more updating on my experiences of New Zealand however I don't really think that there is much to update you on. The only real thing I could update you on is of my trip to Dunedin however I was sick for most of it and I couldn't even play in the game a couple of saturdays ago. Dunedin is in the South Island. It is in the region of Otago (wikipedia it) and it is famous for Speight's (the beer company) and it's wild university life. Now I didn't get to experience any of it because on this occasion however all the other guys made it a point to me that they had a good night.

On that Sunday, me and a couple of the guys went site-seeing before we headed on the plane going back to Auckland. It was cool, we walked around the university a little bit. It looked like your typical university except for the fact that the buildings looked more like castles and such. We also got to see the proclaimed "steepest street in the world." (seen above). We walked up the street and it was pretty steep I have to give it that. I would never want to drive my car up that street. I don't know if I would want to drive down it, I think I would lose control of the car or something.

Once we got on the top of the street, you could almost see all of the town. It is a beautiful town seeing it from the top. I'm glad I was able to go around and take pictures of it. We were going to go to the only castle on the Southern Hemisphere and take pictures unfortunately we didn't have time and we had to pay to get into it. That's the end of my experience in the South Island.

Other than that, I mean I can count the memorable things on one hand. All I do nowadays is play football and walk around this city. I've gotten to the point in my walking that I could pretty much lose myself and then get back to where I am going. Sometimes I walk 5 to 6kms (you do the conversions, I don't feel like it) and then just walk back like it is nothing. Most of the time I walk to see anything interesting but only some of the times I see anything worth interest. Just lots of mounts, even though I hardly get to see back home, I'm quite sick of it really.

Football? It's the same story. I got to play the full 90 against Papakura City on Saturday. This was after I could only manage 30 minutes in the Chatham Cup Quarterfinal game in Dunedin. So I miss out on the chance of playing in a big Cup game in the South Island and then I'm able to play in dreary conditions in South Auckland on a muddy pitch. I swear all the best things happen to me. Anywho, we won our league game 1-0. I don't really think that the game should have even been that tight. They did all they could to make us as uncomfortable as possible. I mean they weren't even worried about winning the game. They were celebrating the fact that they were tied with us at halftime. Even their coach said that they game probably should have been a tie. Are you having a laugh? Fortunately we put the game away with a single strike in the second half. It would have been pretty miserable leaving that field, playing that team, and tying the game, I wouldn't really know what to do. I feel like in this league a draw would be considered a lost because most of these teams aren't good at all. I mean the colleges in North Carolina (UNC, Wake Forest, and Duke) would all do well in this league, probably would be second behind us of course.

I think that's about it from my end. I don't know what else to really tell you. If I get time to explore more of this country then I would most definitely fill you in. However with the time that I'm playing football, it's highly unlike that I would have the time to do so. I'll continue to try and draw up more nonsense for you. Unfortunately there hasn't been too much nonsense in the bag lately. I think I'm drying up. Or I'm being too lazy to write up anyting. I'm choosing the latter.

A little Self-Reflection, If You don't mind?

As I sit here, I try to reflect about who am I exactly. It's difficult in trying to find a meaning of yourself because if you are a humble person, you sell yourself shorter than you actually are. Then again, if you're cocky, then you make yourself larger than life and unless you're Obama or Oprah, then that's just not the case.

Trying to find that medium. Being humble sometimes and then not being humble at other times. Most of us want to be liked by everyone. We want to do everything in our power to make sure people like us. It is the same with the humble and the cocky. Those that are humble usually concede to those and be nice to everyone around them just to be accepted. The cocky ones try in a different matter. They try to show how much they are better than others at certain things and hopefully others will become impressed with their abilities.

I bring this up because I read a facebook note in my "distant" past that I wrote talking about these two extremes. I've experienced both of them. Most of you know me as the humble, quiet type now, but I did have a cocky side that has been put to the shelf hopefully for a while. Or should I say confident side? Cockiness and Confidence can go hand and hand. Most of the time I was perceived as cocky and they were right to think that. I've done some embarrassingly stupid things due to my cockiness. And I've let pride get the best of me at certain times at my life. Not proud of it but I've learned from it.

I continue to try and find a medium. In this world that I live in I need to be self-confident in myself to succeed in this life. There are times where I go somewhere and the first thing I think about how is: how much better than me this person is? I shouldn't think about that. Nor should I think automatically: Oh I'm way better than this person already, I can just see it in him that I'm better than him. My thinking should be more of. Okay. I don't know this person's ability, but I'm going to try in my power to out-work him and out-play him and put myself in an advantage. Someone can be a better person than you in certain things, however if you put in the work and try to master the things that you aren't as good in, then you can be on par or be better than that person.

I'm still often apologizing for things that aren't in my control sometimes. I'm learning that apologizing isn't always necessary (sometimes it is) and just because you apologize it doesn't make it right or you liked more. '

I'm just going to go out and do things the best way I can and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Shit happens. I'm going to continue to grow and be a better person whether I fail at certain things or I succeed at others. I can't just give up because things aren't working out.





I wanted to do a little self-reflecting since I've got lots of time to do so. I think that you can handle my thoughts and I don't think that these thoughts are extra-personal for you to hear them from me. Some of you might have these thoughts of yourself and I feel that if you've had these same thoughts and you aren't necessarily ranting all over the post then it is fair game to put on here. I'm not ashame of what I put on here. It is just an extra outlet of my life during this current time. As of now, I am empty of thoughts for current blog topics so any suggestions would be nice or you can catch me on my twitter site (twitter.com/aht4005). I often say thought-provoking things on there (LOL uhh not really though).

If there's anything of interesting, I would put it on. Otherwise, keep thinking, don't let your mind rest for one second or something will pass you by.

"Your priorities can change, even when you don't think they will."
-AS