World Cup Weekend 1 in Pictures (oh joy!)

So I have a crapload of photos from this past weekend but not a lot of verbiage.  There isn't that much to say, really, except that I hardly got any sleep and I drank a whole bunch without getting messy.

My intentions on Saturday was to let Andy slip out of the house silently at 4:30 AM while I blissfully dreamed my early morning away, eventually meeting up with him at 7 AM.  Sadly I'm a light sleeper and while Andy was as quiet as I've ever known a man in the early morning to be, I woke up at 3:30 AM to him brushing his teeth. I was never able to fall back to sleep, as much as I did try.  I refused to go to the pub any earlier than I originally planned so I simply groaned in tiredness on the couch until it was time to get ready.

Surprisingly (to me) by the time I got to the Harp, it was already quite busy.  Andy even failed to get our regular table in time.  By 7 AM though, he had made friends with all the surrounding tables, including a table of drunken Koreans who had stayed up all the previous night to make sure they caught the 4:30 AM Korea vs. Greece match.  They were hammered, and funny, and obnoxious, and were doing shots as soon as the bar started serving at 6 AM, and one of the girls threw up in the bathroom, and it was all a lot of stimulation (and smells) to take in that early in the morning.

Around 9 AM, more of our friends showed up taking the last of the patio seats.  It was all standing room only after that and scarcely so.  By 10:30 AM, the Harp was packed - three times over capacity, with a line, K-EARTH 101 set up outside, beer being sloshed and spilled, shots being done, toes being stepped on, the US National Anthem being sung - all for the 11:30 AM match USA vs. England.

 Standing room only (if you can even call it "room") during the match.

There was a line out the door.  None of these people got in as no one was leaving.

Thankfully we were tucked in a corner where we could actually sit down.  I suppose it didn't matter since this 10 foot tall guy with a big Grizzly Adams beard ended up standing in front of us so we had to stand to see.

We are absolutely shocked how the waitress managed to navigate through the bar with 10 drinks on her tray at a time.  She was well tipped.

For once, our local Johnny Foreigners were the minority in the bar.

This was after the match when there was finally room to stretch out again.

This is our new friend, Jeremy.  Jeremy got drunk rather quickly and ended up buying round after round of shots for anyone and everyone that was in his general vicinity.  We had a $1.00 in bet between us how much Jeremy's tab would be by the end.  Andy won by guessing $400 (before tip).

Fergie and Bishy show off their rip off England jerseys, complete with ligers instead of the proper lions.

Things might have gotten a bit messy at this point.

A picture of Mari enjoying the chaos.

 Fergie, Me, Chris, Nigel, and Frenchman who's name I have forgotten.  Maybe I was a bit messy.

Jill and Dave conveniently show up after all the matches are finished.  Smart people, those two.

I think this was taken at about 4 PM.  I might be smiling but I'm wondering what is an acceptable time to go to bed without seeming like a nancy.

Davey Davey, Fergie, and Andy.  Fergie is still showing off those ligers.

When Nigel saw this he said, "I remembered his head tasted sort of salty."

"It's seriously time to take me home."

"OK"

Around 4:30 PM, Andy and I went with Dave and Jill to El Matador for dinner.  This was a huge mistake on my part as beef enchiladas taste really good going down, they don't taste that great coming back up.  When I talked to Kristie the next day she stated, "yeah, drinking and El Matador don't mix - it's like cement in your stomach." That is completely true as cement is exactly what seemed like was shooting out of my mouth later on that night.   

Andy and I did manage to fall asleep at 7:30 PM on Saturday night, but I was awake again at midnight and couldn't fall asleep until 1:30 AM.  Of course at 3 AM, Chloe (stupid cat stupid cat stupid cat) decided it was the perfect time to get in a heated cat fight with another cat that was in our garden even though there was a large piece of glass between them.  Andy decided to get up at this point as well so there was no point in trying to sleep anymore, so we headed to the pub at 4 AM to watch the Slovenia vs. Algeria match.  

My intent was that after the Slovenia game I would go home and take a nap, but after the game, the next game started and I thought, "OK, I'll just watch this match and go home and sleep."  Except for after that match our friends started showing up for the Germany vs. Australia match and I decided that there was really no point in going home anymore.  All in all we put in a 12 hour shift at the pub and we forced ourselves to stay awake until 8 PM so we didn't end up waking up too early for work.   Not that I was able to sleep.  When I force myself to stay awake so long I have a hard time shutting down.  Of course Andy woke up AGAIN this morning at 4 AM to watch the Netherlands vs. Denmark match.  I'm so tired people.  There aren't enough words on this planet to describe my tiredness.   The World Cup is going to kill me.

 If you were wondering what 4:30 AM looks like, here it is.  It's not pretty.

Slovenian Dance

I seriously have to learn how to do this fantastic Slovenian "we just scored a goal" football dance.  Just think of the hit I'd be at parties.

My own photos from the weekend will be up soon.  If I can finally open my eyes up long enough to post them.

Why I won't see Andy until July

When the alarm went off at 6:15 this morning, Andy jumped out of bed and exclaimed in his too loud for 6:15 AM voice, “Everyone get up! It’s fucking World Cup Day, bitches!” Before you imagine that we have the English Premier Soccer team sleeping in bed with us, Andy was speaking to just myself and the cat, both of whom looked at Andy with the type of furrowed brow expression that comes from being exclaimed at too early in the morning.

Andy has been “It’s my birthday! Its Christmas morning! It’s the last day of school! We’re going to the zoo today!” excited for the World Cup for about 3 months now. Many of our plans for June revolved around the World Cup schedule. Andy has even worked out a ‘flexi-time’ work schedule with his boss so he can catch the week day games. Unfortunately for Andy though, my birthday – and therefore my Official Birthday Weekend – falls smack dab in the 2nd round of World Cup, a fact that he is none too happy about. In fact he mentioned when he found out, “it’s an oversight on my part. I should have realized your birthday was in June before I married you.” He was kidding of course, or at least I hope he was, and he is still planning on taking me somewhere (it’s a surprise he’s managed to keep from me) with the stipulation that he can catch at least a couple of the matches. I’m not a cruel woman, I agreed – with the stipulation that I am not expected to get up early on my birthday weekend to watch these matches with him.

Speaking of getting up early – you know what time the first game starts on the West Coast? 4:30 AM. FOUR. THIRTY. A. M. Seeing as Andy wants to see as many games as possible of the World Cup, guess what time he is waking up both Saturday and Sunday this weekend? I wholly plan on getting my sleep on Saturday but will grudgingly get up at the ass crack of dawn (is it even considered ‘dawn’ at 4:30 AM?) on Sunday to see the Slovenia vs. Algeria match. I’m not sure why though. I don’t really like soccer. Oh, sorry sweetheart, football. I don’t really like sports in general. I mean, I like hockey. And I’ve been watching the Green Bay Packers play the last few years because I miss Wisconsin (especially in the fall), but all other sports? Nah. But that’s what I get for marrying outside my accent.

In an effort to get myself into something that I don’t really care too much about, I put some money down on Davey Davey’s World Cup pool. Nothing gets me involved faster in something like good ole fashioned gambling. By luck, I drew Brazil (which I hear is good) and Slovakia (which I hear is bad). Andy, as an early birthday present, got me Slovenia (for obvious reasons). I’m really rooting for Slovenia - somebody has to you know. Which is why I’m getting up at 4:30 AM on Sunday morning to watch football; I have to make sure my investments are paying off. And what I mean by ‘investments’ is actually ‘betting money that I will never see again’.

It’s fucking World Cup, bitches. While my dear, sweet, husband will be spending all of June doing this:

Andy puts away his difference to Froggies during the World Cup - as long as they buy him a pint and promise not to talk about mimes.

I will be stuck here, doing this:

But it's World Cup, bitches!