Monday, September 28, 2009

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.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

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.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

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.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

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.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

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???

Those darn imaginary readers