World Cup HOTTIES

I had to do this.

I've watched probably 75% of the games played so far (although I am blogging during the Japan Paraguay match right now, so I don't know if that counts.) But here's WHY I'm doing this: I've always been a soccer kind of girl. I played (not well, I might add) from age 5 to 16. I've dated/had a thing with 5 or 6 soccer players since my freshman year of high school, and all of my steady boyfriends were soccer players. Not intentionally, I think I just must be drawn to them. They're hot. So, even though David Beckham isn't playing in this World Cup, I had to take the time (about 3 hours) and look up each team's roster and look at each individual player and decide HOT or NOT. And that's kind of an exaggeration, because there are LOTS of good looking men that I did not put on my list. Most of them were cute, but not the chiseled sexy or rugged hot that I was going for. And, I admit, a couple I put on there just because I felt obligated due to mad skills/he plays for the US haha. I'm going to put my entire list up (and if anyone ever reads this blog they should look up EVERY SINGLE one of these guys)... but I'm only going to put pictures of a few favorites. I might add that I tried to pick at least one guy from each team, except I think one team got left out. Maybe I'm being too picky, but here's how it happened:

WORLD CUP HOTTIES 2010

Group A

Uruguay

-Diego Lugano

-Sebastian Abreu

-Sebastian Fernandez

Mexico

-Francisco Rodriguez

South Africa

-Tsepo Masilela

-Thanduyise Khuboni

France

-Yoann Gourcuff

Group B

Argentina

-Sergio Aguero

-Mariano Andujar

South Korea

-Kim Jae Sung

Greece

-Nikos Spiropoulos

Nigeria

-Danny Shittu

-John Utaka

Group C

USA

-Carlos Bocanegra

-Landon Donovan

-Benny Feilhaber

England

-Gareth Barry

Slovenia

-Dalibor Stevanovic

-Matej Mavric

Algeria

-Rais M’Bolhi

Group D

Ghana

-Kevin Prince Boateng

Germany

-Mario Gomez

-Piotr Trochowski

-Holger Badstuber

Serbia

-Ivan Obradovic

Australia

-Lucas Neill

Group E

Netherlands (Holland)

-Ibrahim Afellay

-Michel Vorm

Japan

-Keisuke Honda

-Yuji Nakazawa

Denmark

-Thomas Sorensen

Cameroon

Group F

Paraguay

-Roque Santa Cruz

Italy

-Fabio Cannavaro

New Zealand

-Andy Barron

-Tommy Smith

Slovakia

-Stanislav Sestak

-Erik Jendrisek

Group G

Brazil

-Kaka

-Thiago Silva

-Julio Baptista

-Nilmar

Portugal

-Cristiano Ronaldo

-Deco

-Daniel Fernandes

Ivory Coast

-Guy Demel

North Korea

-Ri Kwang Hyok

Group H

Chile

-Mark Gonzales

Spain

-Iker Casillas

-Fernando Torres

-Victor Valdes

-Fernando Llorente

-Jesus Navas

Switzerland

-Mario Eggimann

-Eren Derdiyok

Honduras

-Noel Valladares

Now that I think about it, this was really hard to do. Not that I'm complaining about looking at sweaty, smoldering bodies for hours on end, but it's hard to make a list of hotties that encompasses everyone's tastes. Actually, if that was the case, I probably would have listed every player on every roster. I'm sure someone sees something in all of them. But I did the best I could with what pictures and videos can show me, and spent about 5 minutes considering who off my list I'd keep on there if I got the chance to meet all of them. I have to admit that some of them might be too skinny. I'm not normally attracted to someone who's 5'7" 140 even if he has a jaw and cheekbones to die for. Like I say, I did my best. And I'm really starting to feel bad about that one country I gave the shaft. I remember them all having crazy hair. That's distracting, and I think it was about 2:30 AM when I was checking them out. Maybe I'll try again later.

Here's my favorites...

Mario Eggimann

Fernando Llorente

Victor Valdes

Fernando Torres

Iker Casillas

Deco

Cristiano Ronaldo

Nilmar

Julio Baptista

Fabio Cannavaro

Roque Santa Cruz

Yuji Nakazawa

Benny Feilhaber

Yoann Gourcuff

And for kicks...

David Beckham

(who totally should be unhurt and STILL playing in this World Cup. Because Rooney and Company needed a hand)

Nacho Figueras (Polo player and Ralph Lauren model. To remind us all that there are other sports, other athletes, and other beautiful men.)

Oops, one more soccer player! This one's Greek. And he's the reason none of the other handsome men listed or pictured above matter at all to me. He's my guy!

I'm Rambling (And I love insights into souls)

There are 2 reasons that I have started to blog. The first is because I am obsessed with reading others' blogs...and their Facebooks, Wikipedias, etc. etc. I love stalking, you could say. (With my luck, one day I'll get into some sort of pickle where they uncover this blog from blank years ago and take that last sentence straight out of context to prove that I've always "loved stalking"...well, bah humbug. Not in that sense!) And by that I mean that I love history and facts and information and IMAGINATION. I love dates, and really detailed personal stories and 1,001 insights into anyone's soul, basically. For example: I'm the type to have a friend mention someone new they met and thought was really great so I will dare to friend request them on Facebook so that I can take a gander at their profile and then imagine the kind of person they must be. And that's it. It is, I imagine, similar to if one person meeting and making small talk with another was set up interview style, just to get the hard facts and that's all and be done with it. Name? Addison. Middle name? Claire. Favorite color? Turquoise. Birthday? April 28th. Siblings? 2 little brothers, Saul and Sam. Pets? Turtle, Benny; pony, Francis; beta fish, Fish. And so on. I do not know why, but I have always been fascinated with other people. Where they've been, what made them the way that they are, where they're going...the people they're connected to...and then simply questions like might be listed on some celebrity's personal site about favorite colors etc. etc. Case in point, I recently started watching Pretty Little Liars with my mom and dad. I could only make it through 2 episodes without HAVING to know how old each of the girls in it was. There are 4 main characters who are tangled up in the details of how their fifth friend died. There are 2 or 3 other girls, all supposedly the same age, involved in the storyline as well. I'm glad that I checked. I got a little background on all of the actresses and found out that the youngest is 14 and the oldest is 31. And they're all supposed to be the same age. Now, to me... THAT'S AWESOME. But then again, my friends know I've got some weird complex about age. I love knowing birthdays, and hoping that I'm the older one. I usually am, but I've had to grin and bare it when I'm around some people who are randomly and for NO GOOD REASON (haha) a month or two older. I remember dates. Not all dates, but many of them, and some that nothing important really happened on either. Important ones, however, really stand out. I can tell you the date of my first kiss, when my first boyfriend and I started "going out" and then broke up ...same with my second boyfriend. And, for a while, I could tell you the dates that I had my first kiss with however many boys I have kissed until I had my last first kiss and decided to try my very best to forget the others. I have succeeded in forgetting more than half. I remember the day that I met my best friend when we were 4. I celebrate all of my pets' (3 dogs and a horse) birthdays, even after they've passed. I remember the date I got accepted to college, the date that the classes 2004-2007 graduated high school, the date I got my hair cut and wore this turquoise and orange thing to a laser show, and the date that I last barfed. And the date I last barfed before that (these dates are significant to me, strange as it sounds.) I love facts about all of the people I meet. Some more than others, but for the most part, I'm just totally interested. This all segues very well into the second reason I am blogging.
I'm doing it because I am also fascinated with facts about myself. This isn't intended to be selfish or narcissistic, although I'm sure it fits into that category after all. The thing is, I don't always feel that I know myself very well, and it's great for me to vent or talk it out and explain myself to myself. So, more often than not, at least for a while, I'll probably ramble and blah blah blah about whatever. I think it will get better. I will not always have the need to record every axon, dendrite, synapse, neurotransmitter explosion about my issues (Lord, help me), but I'm not going to be in denial about it either. And, for starters, who but I reads this blog right now? I think I'll try to put up with myself.

Back to other peoples blogs:
I love to find or "Stumble Upon" random blogs online. After I find one, I see whose blogs they are following and click on and on until something really catches my eye or I read something that grabs my attention and then I read and read and read until I am forced to click "follow" and check back every day for updates on the life of a stranger. (Aside: Since I am a self-diagnosed over-thinker, I have considered that I read stories of the lives of strangers because I am too frightened to risk living my own. I'm not sure if I just love to read about others' adventures or whether I am trying to live vicariously. The jury is out.) Lately, I found a blog, or blob, rather, that I LOVE. Before I get too far into describing the blog, though, I'm going to tell how I found it. Long story real short: I have friends who have friends and these friends appear in pictures or wall posts or what have you on my Facebook news feed all the time. One particular girl I have seen on campus and all over the place because we have about 97 mutual friends, so I clicked to her Facebook page and saw almost immediately that she had a blog listed under her website. Since I'm a blog reader I clicked over and checked it out. I loved reading her blog, and saw that there were others who had found her blog and commented as well. Other strangers who enjoyed reading what she offered. I decided to go on a blogventure and clicked onto another blog from the list of blogs followed. That took me to a blog that was the best kind of blog (or at least I was getting warmer...) where the blogger is experienced, and able to write about the kinds of things that offer insights into the soul as well as engage the reader. I loved. The blogger reminded me of myself, as well, because she opened up about her worries and issues not to be a Debbie Downer, but for the sake of interest and honesty. She mentioned how there were other people she admired, and wondered to herself why she couldn't be more this like whoever or more that like whoever... and she included the links for clicking onto these other blogger's blogs so that her readers could see exactly what she meant. The first two didn't get me too excited. I think one was a blog about cooking (which I like, and steal recipes from, but can't really get into) and the other was about sewing (which looked really cool, but, again...couldn't get into it), but the third link absolutely hit the jackpot. It was the best blog, NO! blob that I have ever read. And I call it a "blob" because that is how the owner refers to it. Strangely, I feel awkward explaining away about someone's blob who I have never met, so I can't bring myself to go into too much detail. But I will say that she (yes, she) is very honest, witty, fashionable, and REAL. She oozes realness. She looks like a doll (no, really, she looks like a perfect porcelain doll with great clothes and hair) and like she would have a perfect life, but explains her struggles and simplicities with such grace that her "problems" start to look good!? Or, really, they start to look like they are not problems, but just things, and they're okay because she's so good at going with the flow and living vibrantly that it doesn't matter what happens, she's still glowing. Today's insight into her soul? She was running a race and puked all over the people running around her. Sounds graceful and heartwarming doesn't it? But if you ever have the pleasure of bumping into her blob, you'll see what I mean. Makes you want to roll with the punches. And then blob about it.

Upcoming topics:
World Cup Hotties (prepare to DROOOOOOOOL!)
and Problem Child

Bringing Blogging Back

Michael and I were hanging around in my room earlier tonight when, for whatever reason, I decided to post. Actually, I was hanging around my room and M was in the bathroom reading my 10 pound Vogue picture book on the porcelain throne. But, before I could type about WHY he was spending some quality time with bff John Crapper, I had a random urge to dig up truths from the past. MY XANGA. I had totally forgotten about it and hadn't checked in since my last blog post sometime in 2006 I think. And I thought I was a new blogger. False.... this is my second, and, after going back to read my Xanga, which I somehow remembered the log-in and password to, I believe my first attempt, at age 17, was MUCH better than this one has been so far. For one thing, after reading so many other people's blogs, I can't stop blogging as though my goal isn't to tell my invisible, non-existent readers about something, but to be really well-spoken, charming, and witty. I am transparent. I suck at being a journalist. Especially now since I just called my own bluff. OH WELL. But the point is that I was REAL then and I'm not 100% sure what I am now. And that seems odd, seeing as I was in high school during my last blog, and am now a college graduate. Shouldn't I have needed a reality check then? But I don't feel like that's the case. Maybe after 10 years if I take a look at this thing and compare it to the Xanga, I'll see the light. I'm hoping so. At any rate, the blast to the past got me excited to blog again. Even if there are no comments or readers at all. Maybe one of the best things about my old blog was that I wasn't droning on and on like I am here. I'll get better, hopefully. Before I drop the Xanga topic, I have to say that I was really surprised to see how freakishly the same I am from then to now. Here's a list:

-I still have never been drunk, done drugs, shoplifted, or cheated.
-I still don't understand why women want to tote around a kid in their uterus for 9 months before suffering labor and birth and DIAPERS. (oddly, this doesn't mean I'm totally opposed to doing this myself.)
-I am still a Georgia Bulldog. Even though I'm done with undergrad
-I'm still obsessed with RONALDINHO! (who is, for some stupid reason, not on the Brazilian national team for this World Cup.)
-I still enjoy (no really. or maybe not) bouts of hypochondria and anxiety.
-I still am too lazy to drive out to the barn often (doesn't help that Skipper's in a pasture with Eclipse, who will NEVER LET ME CATCH MY OWN HORSE).
-I still like designer jeans...and still know they're a rip off.
-I still want to be closer to God. And still get in my own way of forming a healthy relationship with Him every chance that I get.
-I still use all the hot water.
-I still don't like Wedding Crashers.

And, I guess there are a few differences:
-I no longer eat Uncrustables. Because I no longer eat gluten.
-I am WAY OVER the emo music stage. Like Jimmy Eat World and The Spill Canvas. Is it bad to say I'm embarrassed I was so into that stuff? And Yellowcard. Gag.
-I no longer have issues with boys. Only man. Only one :).... and only occasionally.
-I am no longer so pissed that Marissa died on The OC that I will scream.

There's other stuff, but I think I'll let the Xanga spin around in oblivion another 5 years and then dig it up again.

The whole original purpose of the blog post?
Michael and I decided to dinner at Frontera Mex-Mex Grill...He got steak fajitas and I got fajita nachos. He filled up on chips and salsa before we got our main courses (like 99% of the population does) and then felt like death afterwards. The summary, in closing, moral of the story here is a public service announcement. you're welcome in advance.

DON'T EAT GREASY NASTY SHIZNIT IN LARGE QUANTITIES. YOU WILL WANT TO PURGE. YOU WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME FAT. AND INDOLENT. AND AFTER THAT YOU WILL DEVELOP TYPE 2 DIABETES. LASTLY, YOU WILL HAVE A HEART ATTACK. AND DIE.


I already hear the thank yous galore raining down from the avid readers I don't have. To sleep!
-

Can't make up my mind...

The last couple of days I've been contemplating what I want to blog about. For myself. Here's what I came up with.

1. All about my OCD, hypochondria, anxiety, etc. etc. Never a dull moment HAH!
2. The World Cup. I can't peel my eyes from the TV screen.
3. Healthy living and well-being.
4. How fascinating people are, and how much I love their blogs/facebooks/any insights into their souls.

It's after one-thirty in the morning, so I'm going to watch a couple of Ronaldinho videos on YouTube since I'm SO BUMMED he's not playing for Brazil/Brasil in this World Cup, and then I'm going to sleep. I will say, though, that I stumbled upon some girl's blog.. she lives in New York with her husband and daughter, she is flawlessly dressed, loves to run, and just oozes beauty and personality all over her blog. You know, blog design has a lot to do with your personality. And I'm a novice, but I've just got to find the right buttons to click to make this thing beautiful and maybe the kind of thing someone would want to read one day. But for now it's just me here, listening to myself.

PS: I might add that today would have been my Golden Retriever, Lady Joanna Ashley's...18th birthday today if we hadn't sent her with bags packed to Doggy Heaven almost 3 years ago. I miss my Woofy. Happy Barkday, Lady!

Never Never Land

On November 12th of last year I got a phone call with a nice lady on the other end of the line who had some REALLY GOOD NEWS to share with me. It was a great way to end a week that I had otherwise spent bracing myself for rejection and prepping to "take 2" the whole shebang. I was interrupted during my graphics class, in which I was slaving away on my advertising portfolio, to answer a phone call with the jury's verdict about what I would be up to for the next few years of my life. People, I was about to find out whether or not I had charmed the pants off of my interviewers enough to snag a real job. Like sit-in-traffic-for-an-hour-wear-clothes-that-make-me-look-constipated-and-frigid-and-collect-dust-while-my-eyes-glaze-over-in-front-of-my-PC-in-my-4x4-cubicle style job.

I DID!!!!!

I GOT A JOB!

I couldn't believe my earballs. Partly because it was my first interview, but mostly because I am still consider myself a ninth grader who's certainly not old enough to have a mom and dad kind of job let alone be in college. These nutcases hired me! BY GEORGE. November 12th was a happy day. And I spent the next few months contemplating another date: June 7th. My "start date". I thought that made me sound like a rocket ship that was scheduled for take off, and Lord knows I needed some clothes for that. So I made Banana Republic my new BFFL and wrote a bucket list for all the things I wanted to do before I was, more or less, locked in a dungeon from which I would be lucky to escape 43 years later and in considerable disrepair. I say this because all I've ever known about jobs my whole life is that you can't live with 'em and you can't live without 'em... I'll reevaluate after a while and see if that's so. I'm still optimistic that I'll love my job. We shall see.

At any rate, having a job was a fun fact I could share with other job hunters and friends and family in November and December and January and February and even in March. Then it became April, and I realized that my fun fact had transformed into a time bomb that was going to explode in 2 MONTHS. 8 WEEKS. Like 60 DAYS. WAY. TOO. SOON. I suddenly gasped and thought BUT I'M TOO YOUNG! and freaked out a little and then thought back to the day I was hired and remembered a little something HR had mentioned in passing...: there was an alternative start date in August. August 2nd. Hmmmmm. Well, I figured, they've already hired me. It can't hurt to try. So I talked to my Ma and my Pa and my boyfriend and my roommates and a couple of other friends about it for the sake of second opinions... and then I called my job. Actually, I called the really nice HR lady. I woke up at like 8 in the morning, and as soon as my alarm went off I reached over for my phone and called. Still half asleep. I didn't want my request to sound rehearsed so I figured I'd do it with half my brain functioning and my eyes still shut. And I tried as best as my 15-year-old self in a 22-year-old's body could to sound professional, convincing, and charming all at once, and, in a nutshell, asked... Can I have my summer back?
The answer: YES!

Well hot-diggity-dog thanks a billion! I could have done a cartwheel over it. Except that I cannot do a cartwheel. But I digress.

All of this to say that today, June 7th, 2010, I am NOT at work. And am, in fact, sitting and blogging. Because I'm bored. And I'm hanging on to the last days of juventud. I've got less than 2 months before this rocket launches and I'm pretty sure there are no more alternative start dates :) I guess everyone's got to take a vacation from Never Never Land every once in a blue moon. I'll make plans to go back ASAP.

The Best

First blog post to a blog I do not intend to share with anyone I know. Actually it's the second because I deleted the first. I have to start by admitting that I'm not super eloquent and I'm not going to try to get all dictionary on anyone (myself) so I'm just going to blah blah blah and see what I write. Today, it's about music. I just snagged the new Rolling Stone issue dedicated to "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"...and I like. SO MANY of the songs are old.. like, mainly in the 60s... and I can happily admit that I know the majority of them because my mom and dad, who grew up in the 60s, raised me on all of this ridiculous music that's the kind of stuff that would have gotten you ridiculed in 6th grade. 12 year olds aren't supposed to like Bob Dylan. Or The Beach Boys. But, ya know, I did. Honestly, though, the 90s kid in me was REALLY pulling for the Backstreet Boys to have snuck "I Want It That Way" in there, but no can do apparently, because the closest thing to "recent" music was a little Rihanna, Beyonce, Jay-Z (Rolling Stone has a thing for him, because he had more than one song in there and wrote an article for the front of the issue)...Justin Timberlake managed to weasel "Cry Me a River" in the top 500... so that was that. I was pretty okay with all of the songs they had listed.. maybe like 20 I hadn't heard of, but I was a little suspicious that the #1 song was "Like a Rolling Stone" and the #2 song was by The Rolling Stones. Not subtle enough, Rolling Stone magazine. Basically any song with the words "Rolling Stone" in the title made the cut. And, while I'm sure it doesn't make much of a difference if you're ranked 294 or 316 I was a little offended that "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve was ranked 392. Come on. Definitely should be in the 200s.

Ok, enough of that. I will say though, that's its worth the $9.99 to buy it because they give a little 411 on all the songs chosen and this baby will sit by your toilet for years and you'll never get sick of reading it. Gotta make the best of the days of our lives spent on our porcelain thrones, yes?

Other words to the wise: Eat Lindt dark chocolate with "a touch of Sea Salt". Trust.