the ups and downs

Bafana Bafana did us proud! They have not made it through and the critics will say they have let us down but it is not true. They beat france; a team ranked approximately 70 places ahead of them; a team which is a former world cup winner. They won without their first string goalie! They are an amazing team which has made us proud. It has been full of ups and downs in every match. First, Bafana tied with mexico is an amazing display of their skill and spirt. They we lost, very sadly, to Uruguay and our goalie was sent off. But now we have come back with an amazing win against France. It was an intense game. The first goal sent us all on a high! Fantastic! Then the red card! Excellent news! Funny how when it happens to the other side everyone cheers but for us it was a huge betrayal. Then we had a couple shots at goal that missed, and then that wonderful and rather awkward second goal! Things were looking up. But then one of our players had to be taken off on a stretcher...very sad! But Bafana and their supporters did not let that hamper our spirit. We kept fighting. Some say we lost the plot a bit in the second half, and I agree, the team did seem to stop attacking as much. But we still tried and had some great shots at goal! The real down point though was the France goal. Not a great goal on their part, and not all our fault, but a blow to our confidence. We tried to rise up and attack but the spirit seemed a bit down. Nevertheless, we defended our hearts out and still beat the odds and won the game. The critics said Bafana was doomed to lose 5-0; they said we had no chance and were not in the same league as the rest. Well they were wrong and we show'd them all. Bafana Bafana may have not made it through, but our boys ended on a high note...on the top of the game. They won our game, they played like stars and did you did the country proud! Bafana Bafana, I will support you always!

Life seems to be one of those things that has ups and downs; good things and bad things and it seems to parallel a soccer game quite a lot. You play your heart out and sometimes it is not enough; sometimes you are lucky and they other team messes up; sometimes you get injured and have to bow out; and sometimes you succeed and score a magnificent "Tshabalala" goal. There are highs and lows, good times and bad but all in all...it is supposed to be fun. When you stop having fun, you should take a half time break and rethink your strategy because, after all, you are there to enjoy it and try your best. At the end of the day, it is only a game (though many will disagree :-) ).

I seem to find myself stuck in a match where i am losing quite badly and am sitting in the change room trying to regroup so i can come back and dominate in the second half. It has been a rough first semester- very rough and with marks coming out in 10 days, the cloudy seem very dark. To be honest, I am scared to go back out there. i would rather stay in the change room; actually i would like to sneak out the back and drive far away. Avoidance...the best way to deal with everything :) Sadly though, we all have to face reality, even when we try really hard to run from it. People have said to me that the reason last semester was so rough was because I took on too much and didn't have enough time for fun. That is definitely true. So they say don't do that again; work out what was bad and don't do it again. However, that is easier said than done. Some things you just can't change. I kind of think my degree is lame and the prospect of having to take another semester worth of courses does not make me excited in the least. The prospect of doing reading after reading and writing and writing- no excitement there! Part of me wants to get this stupid masters over and done with, but that requires writing, on top of the courses, a 25 000 thesis by February next year; a thesis which has no topic at the moment. And a topic, as i am sure many of you know, is no easy feat.

Wouldn't it be easier to just sit in my purple room on my blue bed forever and ever? Why can't i just take that route? Why can't life be fun and games all the time? I know we harp on about the bad and we hardly think of the good, and we forget the good things we have in life, but sometimes the bad seems really bad.

I know I have to play my second half; I can't give up. I have to go out there fighting and have to be confident it will all work out, but right now, I don't feel it. I think i need some AYOBA to try and shake me into action. And I hope that AYOBA will come soon!