06.13.10
Posted in Family & Friends, San Francisco, Skating, Sport, Theatre at 11.15 pm by Caitlin
San Francisco really turned on the summer sunshine this weekend – I think the city is trying to convince me not to leave! I won’t be fooled – I know the summer fog is hiding somewhere.
It’s been a fantastic weekend, crammed with fun things. Yesterday was especially full. At lunch time we headed to Golden Gate Park for BattleUS, a slalom skating competition. Our friend Natalie was competing in the international women’s tournament and we arrived just in time for her heat. We were well impressed by her mastery of tricks and speed – and so were the judges, as she got through her heat to the semi-finals held today.
I didn’t make it down to the park again today but I was excited to hear that she made it through to the finals and came fourth overall in the women’s comp. Her world ranking was 53 before this weekend and she’s probably shot forward a few places now. Well done, Nat! (It’s not been updated yet but I’m sure they’ll show the results on this page soon!).
Slalom involves skating around cones in all sorts of configurations including on toes or heels and even jumping. It’s pretty cool to watch! As well as the women’s heats, we saw the men’s heats. It was a warm day and I enjoyed sitting on the hillside, chasing the shade as it retreated the hill and tanning my legs. As well as the slalom, I also watched a gopher digging up the hillside and poking his head out from time to time, which was terribly cute!
In the evening we met up with a friend FeLicia, who I met in writing class. We had a simple Asian dinner at a restaurant called LimeTree in the Inner Sunset. Then we went to see the end-of-year show for the San Francisco Circus Center. It was a really high-quality show for only $20 – my favourite act was the aerial hoop spinning. In the first act, they had a man doing it; they topped this with twin girls in the second act! I also loved the rope climbing, the Chippendale-inspired shirtless hoop diving, the unicycles and several (though not all) of the clown acts.
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06.22.06
Posted in Sport at 9.43 pm by niltiac
We won! We won! Okay, we didn’t win – we drew! But that’s as good as a win coz now we get to go through to the semi-final. And in my heart we won 3-2 even if Cahill’s final goal was disallowed because the ref had already blown the whistle for full time.
I’m glad we sent the Croatians home. They were playing really dirty and that’s not just me or other Aussies saying that – check this report from the BBC. For starters, I thought it was called ‘football’ (even though I call it soccer) on the basis that it was a game played with your feet. So why did the Croatians repeatedly jump up and knock the ball with their hands in the goal box? Sure, we got the corner kick as a result but corner kick versus goal, let me see, it’s a hard choice innit? Secondly, that arsehole that held onto Viduka’s shirt for most of the game – and tackled him while he was shooting – should have been sent off long before, not just when he got narky with the ref.
I do have to admit though that the Croatians played really well, especially at the end. I was really uncomfortable at the end because the Croatians seemed to have almost continual possession. Thank goodness, they couldn’t convert and thank goodness, that third disallowed goal was a third not a second. Those extra goals against Japan last week really matter now.
We watched this at the pub – Brazil v Japan was on in the other room but most people were watching the Australia v Croatia game. This being South London, everyone was fully on side with the Australians, even the Brits. In contrast to Paris, where I saw lots of Brazil shirts ahead of Sunday’s match.
Some commentary in the UK has focused on how three members of the Croatian team were born in Australia and seven members of the Australian team are Croatian. If this were true, so what? – we’re a multicultural country. But the fact is it’s not true – I looked this up and in turns out that all of the Socceroos were born in Australia. Eight are of either full or part Croatian descent but the dates of birth list respectively, Sydney, Melbourne, Sydney, Mt Gambier… Anyway, there certainly didn’t seem to be any mixed loyalties on the night.
So next we apparently meet Italy next (my second favourite team). I wonder if this will cause any confusion on Norton St or if it will just be unbridled passion for Italia as per usual.
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