SAMUEL'S RANTS

By which I mean , spotty infrequent blogging in bad English. Hopefully there are no long breaks this time.

Before I leave, it is so refreshing to watch Euro 2008 without rooting for anyone. This has been a good tournament for a neutral, but is it too much to ask for Russia to do well? All teams I have supported bar the Red Sox have lost this year, so I hope I am not jinxing Russia, but seeing them lose would not hurt at all.

Seeing Arsenal lose everything can do that to you, you no longer care much about other teams cos no other disappointment is likely to match it, so hey the Lakers went down, but it isn't a big deal anyway. Here's hoping Arsenal and Lakers do better next year.

If anyone has noticed, there haven't been many posts on the political scene here. Primary reason being John Edwards stepping out early and also the fact that I took the Dem loss in the previous election hard and have no reason to get into the whole process this time. I am quite resigned to accepting the same outcome as earlier. I am having a very hard time believing Obama can overcome Mccain.

But hey maybe 'We can' do it. Wouldn't that be an awesome day?

There, I have finally posted something. That's a huge load off my back.

"It is commonly a weak man who marries for love." - Samuel Johnson

Never have I seen a top tier team so brittle as my beloved soccer club Arsenal, the question not being if they would fuck up, but when they would, and man oh man what a way to end the season.

 No win in five games and well on their way to a flameout today, already down to ten men and going by the track record of these petulant whiners, surely one more red card is in the waiting. Who would have thought that it would be a Manyoo - Chelsea race again, I thought this was Liverpool's season with Torre's addition, but they are out to prove that they are no less chokers than Arsenal.

 I am not waking up early for anymore of these paper tigers' games.

PS: I never saw great worth in Diaby certainly not to merit the comparisons with Viera, what a horror tackle, I do hope he gets the three match suspension. 

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking* in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard*,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the canon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon* lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws* and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon*
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his* sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans* teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything

(As You Like It, 2. 7. 139-167)

My thoughts are with my 98 year old maternal grandmother who is in the final stages of her seventh act and has just lost all movement on her left side among other things. As callous as this sounds I hope she gets her wish of leaving this earth real soon. It is really painful to hear my mother recounting my grandmother's frustration and helplessness.

    Run in the shadows
    Damn your love
    Damn your lies

    And if You dont love me now
    You will never love me again
    I can still hear you saying
    You would never break the chain.

I swear I am not going looking for these songs, these songs are finding me and resonating with me. And again this is a really really good song and I am talking about the song overall not the lyrics alone. I have never liked a song just because of the lyrics and it is not about to change anytime soon.

I never 'got' poetry despite the efforts of many people to steer me towards it. If there's any poetry I get it's Ogden Nash though someone (Nayagom periappa) might have told me that Jacques 'All the world's a stage' was poetry too. It was part of our syllabus for ninth grade and I remember that being the most beautiful thing i had ever read up to that point. (I hadn't read Emerson yet). So maybe I am not a lost case after all.