February 2006

What a great weekend. Friday night I was out for a meal and a few drinks for my friends birthday. The meal was at a Mexican restaurant, and we all ate so much that the rest of the night we all just wanted to take a nap. After a few drinks we had to call it a night because we were all so lethargic.

Saturday was a day of sports that had the potential to be one of the greatest sporting days of the year, or a shit day that everyone would want to forget.

Scotland -vs- England

The oldest international rugby union match in the world. A game Scotland had won twice since 1990. This time it was being played in Edinburgh at Murrayfield and the city was buzzing with anticipation.

Earlier in the day the Scottish cup quarter final matches were being played. Hearts managed a win against Partick, and Hibs destroyed Falkirk to take us one step closer to an all Edinburgh final, if they can avoid each other in the Semi-final draw tonight. So with those expected results out of the way it was time for the rugby.

What a game. There wasn’t a great deal of flair, and there were no tries, but the defensive effort by Scotland was simple stunning. The number of tackles they made was nothing short of heroic. Wave after wave of English attacks were efficiently snuffed out again and again. When one man wasn’t enough to stop the behemoths the English have somehow bred, a second man in blue would appear instantly to lend support.

Both sides ended the half level, with the commentators saying at half time that after such a grueling effort from the Scots they would have to tire in the second half and England would inevitably begin to break them down. I must admit I thought the same. No-one can do so much defensive energy sapping work and last the full game. Everyone expected England to wear them down and with 10 minutes left begin to pick them apart.

We were all so wrong.

Not only did Scotland keep up the unbelievable defensive effort, completing 94% of their tackles. They managed to add pressure to England. At one point being mere inches from scoring a try. In the end it came down to some fantastic kicking from Chris Paterson for Scotland to win the 12rd Calcutta Cup 18-12.

After the match we did what any good Scots would do. We celebrated. The headache I had all day yesterday was testiment to the fact that I partied hard until 4.30 in the morning before finally going home. Edinburgh was overflowing with people in Kilts, people wearing Scotland strips and dejected English fans who took the good natured taunts the way they were intended. When we beat them once every eight years they can afford to let us gloat, they know the next time we play it’s probably going to be a different story. So we have to enjoy these things when they happen.

I’m still in a shock that we won. It’s great to see everyone in Edinburgh wearing the stupid grin and the look of disbelief on their face. It’s even better to know that they see the same thing when they look at me.

Match reports:
The Scotsman
BBC

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I can’t believe I’ve been in my current job for two years now. The time has completely flown by. That’s a testament to the fact that the company I work for is  a really fun place to be. You never know what any day might bring.

I had the assignment I was stressing over returned and I managed somehow to get the 2nd best mark I’ve had so far in the course. I was sure I’d made a complete mess of it too.

There’s not much to speak of happening at the moment. I’m still broke until next week and I’ve got to try to scrape some cash together to go out for dinner tomorrow night for my friends birthday. Hopefully the weather at the weekend is going to be good too so I can go for a wander around Edinburgh with my camera and try to keep myself busy. It’s crazy that I live in such a great city but never take any time to just wander around and just relax in it.

I played a little poker when I got home from my parents last night. I entered a $3 MTT on Stars. There was 2100+ people and I busted out 340th. I was in the money but very early into it when my pocket Kings ran into pocket Aces. I never improved and I was done. I got around $6 back for finishing there which was a little disappointing. I’d played really well and made a lot of very nice decisions and I was hoping for a better finish. The good thing about it is though that I don’t seem to be playing under the funk that’s decimated my bankroll since October anymore.

I can’t tell you how much of a relief that is.

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That wasn’t one of my most productive weekends. It started on Friday night with me playing a lot of poker. My bankroll has been crippled in recent months and I’m going through the process of rebuilding. I’ve started to play the $3 Turbo 1 table SNG’s on Stars. So far I haven’t failed to cash in them which is helping my bankroll recover.

Saturday, I woke up very late and spent the day watching DVD’s and just chilling out. In the evening I had a wedding reception to attend, which ended as they all tend too….hiccups and vomiting. It was a fun night though and I’m glad I went.

Sunday I decided that I really wanted to go to the cinema, so I trudged down to our local Vue and decided to watch the next movie that was on. It turned out to be Aeon Flux. What a complete load of shit. It just rolled along in a haphazard way and then came to a pointless conclusion. The only and I mean only good thing in this film is that Charlize Theron looks fantastic.

It was a very relaxed weekend with the only drawback being I am now totally broke until payday, and that’s not until next week. It’s a good thing I’ve got a lot of sudying to do since I cant afford to do anything else.

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I’m absolutely knackered. I’m pretty sure the earliest I’ve gotten to bed this week has been 3am, and with getting to work for 9am and not leaving until after 8pm most nights my brain his gone a little gooey….is that how you spell gooey??…..screw it, it makes my point a little more if I’m wrong. On top of it all I think that because I’ve not been getting enough rest I’m coming down with a cold….

My assignment was sent off last night though so I can get some sleep tonight before I get the grade back.

Lot’s of work to do so I’ll post again later.

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Aaaaarrrghhh!!!

I’m a little stressed at the moment. My latest assignment is due on Friday and I’m having a little trouble focusing on it and getting it done. I know what I want to write but I just can’t seem to get my ideas out and written in any kind of satisfactory way. It doesn’t help that I am a master of finding distractions at the moment. Whether it be football on TV, or having a beer with the guys while playing online poker. All of which I did last night.

I started with the best of intentions. After playing in the weekly 5-a-side game of football with guys from work, I came home, had a shower and grabbed my notepad to work on the essay. The Liverpool -vs- Arsenal game was on tv but I was able to ignore it mostly and just let the commentary flow over me, only paying attention to the game when it sounded like something monumental was about to happen, (nothing really monumental happened, from what I heard and saw except the only goal of the game).

After a while though things started to distract me, between having a beer or two and general conversation my attention was drawn further and further from the essay that I was adamant I was going to get as close to complete last night as possible. I haven’t done as much as I really should have and that’s the main reason I’m a little stressed. I always leave these things till the very last minute and it makes things a lot more difficult now because of my second course and the fact that the assignments are getting tougher.

So to avoid any distractions tonight I’m planning on staying at work until the bloody thing is at the very least 90% done. I think the only way to avoid something drawing my attention away from the assignment is to make sure there is no possible distractions at all. At work I can’t play poker, there should be no one else around to distract me. Hell I’m even planning on taking my laptop off the network so I have no internet connection. That should stop me firing up Mousebreaker and wasting valuable time. There’s going to be vast quantities of coffee too, which I think I’m going to need.

Once I get this thing done I have to make a conscious effort to get ahead for the next part of my course and not leave everything so late, (I say that after every essay). I’m getting to the most important and difficult part of the course and now is not the time to fuck things up.

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With lunch fast approaching, I’m going to go and get another one of those toasted spicy Italian meatballs and cheese panini. The one I had yesterday was fantastic so I’m going to indulge myself again today.

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