Germany Lost :((((((((((

Well, Germany lost to Spain.

I've already had 20,000 "congratulatory" emails, but that serves me right for having such a big mouth and I can live with it.

Mainly because....WE GOT FURTHER THAN YOU LOOOOOOOOOOSERS!

And Lehmann (our goal keeper)...now if I ever saw a reason for collar and leashes in real life, this is one classic example. A goal keeper...to me these two words mean that you keep your goddamned arse in the general vicinity of the fekking goal!!!!! The poor man is going to be slaughtered in the gutter press tomorrow. But hey..he gets paid enough and he was...scuse me French...he was a twat.

Shoulda attached his left ankle to the goddamn goal post. For some reason he seems to have thought that he was playing midfield or something. Idiot.

So, I'm retracting my application for joint German citizenship and will dust off my England t-shirt and flag for in 2 year's time.

Although Germany....3 (place in the World Cup), 2 (place in the European Cup)......1??? World Cup 2010!!!!

God...where will we all be then?

One thing that touched me though as I was busy teaching the Germans useful English swear words....one of my close friends and I chatted at half time....

Happiness is not constant. It happens in a blink of an eye. It doesn't continue blindly on a continuous basis throughout our lives. It happens in abstract moments.

So true.

In knowing this, we hopefully learn to appreciate the joy. Unfortunately it doesn't take away from the pain; but it gives understanding and reason to the pain. One does not negate the other; my joy does not become less because of hurt.

I hope to have this joy again. I hope that I don't have to wait 2 years. The pain will always be a part of it. And the pain could be a 1000 times worse; the joy always, always shines through brighter. I DO want the high again. The cost of this pain will never ever be high enough. The price is worth paying. I don't expect...I just quietly hope.

And the next match is in November...England vs Germany in the Berlin Olympia Stadium in November. I shall be there.

And either way, I get an "erfolgserlebnis". Rock on!!!

Venice

Well, I'm (sadly) back home and although I'm still off work, am getting slowly back into rl again - bleurgh.

And Venice...

...it really is a ridiculously romantic city and I certainly fell a little in love...

The view as you fly in to land at the airport is one of the most bizarre sights I have seen and the sight of Venice through the windows of the main train station is surreal - I felt that I was walking onto a film set.

It doesn't matter where you look, there is just perfect "typical" Venetian views. Ridiculous.

My guide through the city was wonderful - patient and let me look and snap piccies (Venice is so perfect that taking photos gets boring after a while because its almost impossible to take bad ones). Walking through the back alleys away from the tourists and sitting in quiet cafes in the shade and drinking coffee (always too damned small!) and lots of water and chatting. Taking time to relax and soak up the atmosphere and the company, being eaten alive by alien mosquitos on Lido beach at night and barely sleeping. High humidity and yummy food. Chuckling and smiling, dreaming a little and falling.

If you ever go, then I can only recommend the hotel where I stayed: Casa Villa Gardenia. A Bed & Breakfast run by Lorenza (speaks a little English and is nosy as hell, but in a charming way) and her husband who is slightly older and welcomed me as I walked through the door with a kiss on each cheek, a huge hug and a grin as he stroked my face and called me "bambina". Its not in the nicest area, but is just outside of Venice on the mainland and will save you a lot of money.

I can only say that the time was too short, but its a time that was wonderful and I'm grateful for it.

And if you haven't kissed your lover on a bridge in Venice, then you need to add that to your list of things to do. If I did or not is my little secret.

Update

Bloody hell, I've been away for ages!

Work has settled down to the normal hum drum and so that little drama is out of the way, thank God. And thanks to those of you who were sweet and patient and all smoochie whilst I was teetering on the brink of a meltdown.

Footie is mainly the thing which is taking up most of my time at the moment. Bloody hell, but Germany actually pulled their fingers out of their backsides and are in the semi finals! Woohoo!

I always go to my local and we sit outside watching it on the big screen; great atmosphere although you have to fight to get your beer order taken. The last match was cute coz it started to absolutely piss it down. Of course, we were dry and under an umbrella (I work in orga, of course we were dry!), but the rest stayed too. The only downer was the woman who was sat next to me...she was there with her boyfriend, they were both a little older and she was fucking irritating as hell with her simpering I-have-no-clue-and-am going-to-ask-you-to-explain-everything-every-five-seconds fake female helplessness. Women like that are an embarrassment to the female half of the species. Stay at fucking home, or shut the hell up!!

Next week's semi final will be interesting as Germany will be playing Turkey. They managed to get through, literally in the last minute and will face Germany on Wednesday. For those who don't know, Turkish people are the biggest nationality in Germany outside of the Germans themselves (obviously), so the mood will be very interesting to see. Not that the Germans will lose, but still.

Half...I'm positive - Netherlands vs Germany for the final. Oh lord - hehehehe!

Other than that, life is feeling really good at the moment. I now have a week off work and am hoping that it will be enough to help my shoulders get down to their normal place and further away from being hunched up by my ears through stress.

The highlight of my holiday (*crosses her fingers and toes) will be Venice. A short notice, surprise trip and I cannot wait. Only for 48 hours, but ooohhhh am I excited!?! Details? Nah, bugger off...some things are private. But I shall just say, I shall let you know on my return if it really is the most romantic city in the world or not.

*grins

Damned football

I'd LOVE to get involved in the discussion taking place in the comments below, but it will have to wait...

...we're getting chucked out of the office and forced to go to the pub, drink beer and watch the Germany match.

*sighs...life is hard - I have so much work that I would rather be doing

Its true - Men really don't have it easy...

A man on a Harley is riding along California beach when the sky clouded above and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, 'Because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish.'

The biker pulled over and said, 'Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want.'

The Lord said, 'Your request is materialistic, think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking; the supports required reaching the bottom of the Pacific and the concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that could possibly help mankind.' '

The biker thought about it for a long time.

Finally, he said, 'Lord, I wish that I and all men could understand women; I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing's wrong, why she snaps and complains when I try to help, and how I can make a woman truly happy.'

God replied, 'That bridge? Two lanes or four?'

Courtesy of Banj...who through understanding this, is possibly half way to understanding us ;P

Attention! Attention!

I hear that there are some lucky bastards out there who can get onto SL at work, but if you're like me and have a boss who unreasonably expects you to work for your salary, I have just the thing...

Its summer and the beer gardens are thriving, football fever is taking over the continent (mainland as, and yes I repeat, the English FAILED to qualify) and we all feel guilty for not being out and about and living this thing which is rl.

And so, we all suffer from itchy fingers - who's doing what in SL?

Well, yes there's the web application, but a wonderful little company in the US is on beta testing for....

...SL on your MOBILE PHONE!!!!!

It had to happen, but OMFG!!

*feels faint at the possibilities...and the mobile internet phone bill.

Well, here the link boys and girls:

http://www.vollee.com/secondlife

See, Auntie Poppy has her uses!

Some very interesting YouTube links on the site too and the first month of testing seems to going really well. Beta is still free, but I can't quite work out yet if its only in the US.

Either way...join, get a flat rate for your mobile sorted and enjoy the Summer!

Now, sorry...gotta dash. Italy is playing Holland and 6 minutes have been played already and I need to concentrate to that I can shout at the TV.

My hope and prediction - 0:0

God I hope that neither of them score or qualify out of the Group stage!

2:0!!!!

Woohoooo! Yaayyhhhhhaaaaaaayyy!

For those of you poor unfortunate people who don't live in Europe, you might not be aware of the national importance of the next 4 weeks...

The European Cup.

Sadly, the English were too sodding stupid to qualify (oh the shame of it!) and so I am now 100% behind Germany...and they won their first game!!

Weehhheeeee!

2:0 against Poland.

Yipppeeee!

The World Cup should have been ours, but the time is near!

And thank god I actually did listen to my friend Vince and put money on Podolski to be the person to score the most goals of the tournament! He got both. If Germany wins and he gets the most goals too...then lil popette stands to win a mini fortune!

Poor guy though. Can't have been too easy as he was actually born in Poland.

And tomorrow Italy vs. Holland. A hard one for me. The Boss is Italian and the Germans traditionally hate the Dutch when it comes to footie, so I should be in blue. Then again, Germany has never beaten the Italians and I want them out of the way so that we can pick up the cup in peace and quiet.

;P

Tip of the Week

Well, the nervous breakdown that I planned for 16:34 a week on Wednesday keeps sending me invites over Outlook - it seems to think that it can't wait and that we should have our meeting earlier. I told him that he has to wait as the exhaustion breakdown is higher up on my "to do" list. Impatient buggers, the lot of them!

I work in the orga side of the events industry. This means that everyone wants a piece of me - colleagues, speakers, delegates, paying customers, hotels, caterers, restaurants, musicians, coach companies, printers, sound technicians....you get the picture.

My two, equally burnt out, colleagues and I get by at the moment through utter hard-core bitchiness, retail therapy, coffee and sick sick sick jokes - mainly at the expense of all of the above.

*smiles sweetly

To be fair, the emails that I sent throughout the whole of Friday to my best mate (sympathy helps so much!) did reach a kind of dangerous edge. I stopped when I got nervous that whoever may be scanning my work emails may have called the German equivalent of the SWOT team. If I end up arrested and in court I will blame my friend for egging me on; "But your Honour, it was he who suggested the blunt kitchen knife to gouge out my boss' eyes!"; "Ummm...yes, your Honour I have to admit that I sent three emails, each increasing in brutal imagery on the blood bath that I was mentally preparing to perpetrate"; "Your Honour, I'm sure that you would also wish to kill X's near and distant family after he asked for the 1000th time where the paper for the photocopier is stored right when the Internet crashed just after I finished loading the new website...and lost every fucking thing!"

After I tell the judge that my boss was / is so sodding stupid that he had to send a courier to me at 22:30 on Friday night whilst I was merrily getting sloshed at a fantastically cool beach bar coz he had forgotten his office keys and couldn't lock up (he actually wanted me to come back to the office, the courier was my idea)...well, the case would be thrown out and I would be awarded so much compensation that I could retire on a quiet little island somewhere with no Internet connection.

Still waiting and hoping for the police to arrive.

Anyways...the above isn't my tip of the week on how to become a multi millionaire by the age of 30. Not a guaranteed tip and I doubt that I would get quite the same handling if arrested as an unwitting accomplice in your case.

No...my tip of the week - guaranteed to make you chuckle outwardly should you do it, and make you mentally give a one finger salute at your office / customer(s) / boss / suppliers / the world - is yet to come:

So...last week was bad. It was REALLY bad. The weekend was good (other than the shite hangover on Saturday - bleh). I wake up this morning. Eurgh, I'm feeling all funny from not-very-nice dreams. The thought of what I have to get done this week is going through my head again. On my way to work, half an hour late and I'm hoping that they fire me on the spot for it, knowing that I won't be that lucky because there's way too much to do. I actually have a quivering bottom lip on the train on the way in as I feel so crappy about work and sorry for myself. Wondering if I start howling then and there if some kind strange homeless person will cuddle me and call the ambulance. Deciding that most likely I'll be ignored, I don't become hysterical.

Get to the office and yes, its guaranteed, the first person I meet at the coffee machine is one of the perennially cheerful sales people who just got a deal in. Oh fucking marvellous. Stop
hopping around and rubbing your hands in glee you wanker and leave me alone. It means more work for me and no, I'm not sodding thrilled. Now piss off out of the way and let me get my coffee!

Turn on the pooter...Internet is down again and the new PR woman who is crap at English and demands that I proof read all of her work (and no its not part of my job description and yes, privately I get paid a mini fortune for it) does her usual annoying whispering thing asking for help. After pleasantly (well...I repressed the snarl) asking her for the 57th time to please move her head from behind the screen and actually speak with the volume of an adult, the nervous tick in my right eye starts up again.

The day carries on in this vein. Check my bank balance - the boss is too busy being an idiot to have paid us our wages and the direct debits are flying out quicker than my bank manager can write to whinge at me (yes..some of us manage to get overdrawn on our overdrafts you know - its not a special skill and see, no reason to be happy about the deals coming in which "pay" my wages). The weather outside is totally stunning. Our wonderful office on the 10th floor with the breath-taking view of Berlin through the 360 degree windows is heating up nicely. No need to whinge about the fact that the newly opened fitness studio downstairs has no sauna, we get it here for free! And no, please don't be silly...of course we don't have air conditioning!

We have yet another event on Wednesday so there's all the mind-numbing things to do like printing 100s of copies of things and making name badges...bleh. So...settle down and smile evilly knowing that it will at least piss off half of the office when I print stuff out for the whole afternoon ("Get your grubby fingers off my pretty printed pages! How many times do I have to tell you, you capitalistic, un-creative, money-grabbing oik that your pesky fax / deal will come out at the end of the print run and not half way through?").

And then....

Happily get out my lil iPod and stuff my ears full of those calming earphones which block out the perpetual panicky screams of "Poppy...I can't carry on working! I've run out of staples!! Argh!".
(Would you like a massage as I fill your coffee cup and pass you the staples whilst also wiping your backside for you, you useless Mummy's boy?)

And you know what I have playing on my iPod?

I have an audiobook. Oh yes...very calming. Makes me chuckle. And I'm oh so proud of myself for having the patience to wait 3 hours for it to download after working out how to do the whole torrent thing. Resourceful, me.

But you know the delicious thing? I'm not listening to soothing whale music or crashing waves. No birdies tweeting in the trees or cooing. No classical music or an audiobook on the topic of "10 Steps to Soothing Colleague Interaction: the Mother Theresa mantra for a healthy workplace".

No no no no no.

I sit there and happily staple piles of paper together and shove name cards into those horrible little plastic cases and listen to....

...erotic fiction.

"The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty" to be precise.

*chuckles naughtily (and anyone who's ever heard that chuckle...hehehehe)

Oh lordie...it helps!!! Really!

I HIGHLY recommend it!

Ok, I can only get away with my iPod when I'm doing shite routine stuff, but I "trained" my colleagues so that I just do it now when I need to. But the erotic fiction only occurred to me at the weekend (easier than sitting in the train and putting up with leers from old men when they see the title on your book cover). And to do it at work....sooooo good baby! Oh yeah! Mmmmm.

Not in any real sexual way - haven't gotten as far as the naughty bits and to be fair the guy reading the book makes me giggle when he speaks Beauty's part...too funny - but oh ha!

I can actually look forward to work again tomorrow and I have my giggle back. Especially as the afore-mentioned retail therapy now means that I have a brand new sparkling iPod nano: I can fit the Story of O on it too now.

Life is goooood!