Half-Hearted Old Lady Post: Chievo. Bleh. Whatever

Originally posted on October 19, 2011




Chievo Verona 0:0 Juventus

It's not like I expected the Donkeys would crush the Zebes.  It's just that, well, you know, they can, and they have, and last year they did.  (Oh wait.  The andata last year was a draw.  It felt like a loss at the time and it still does.)  This time around, Juve managed a clean sheet on  a decent defensive performance and a lackluster offensive performance.  A null-null draw.  Just like nearly everyone else in Serie A last weekend.  How very exciting.


The star of the show:



And not just because he always is, either.  Because he came on as a SuperSub, immediately fired things up, made a crucial goal line clearance, and was mighty unlucky to knock a fine shot off the post.

I'm going to be blunt.  I'm really not in the mood for any of this.  However, it's not the players'  fault that I'm so bummed, and it's not your fault either.  I've got about 75 photos and some of them are pretty good and the Zebes survived an away game against the Donkeys.  Woo.  Hoo.  So on I go as is my  duty  privilege.  Fortunately, nothing much happened, so there wouldn't be much to say anyway.

*sniffle*

So a Springsteen song just came up in the IPOD rotation and I got all teary.  A lot of people think that ADP resembles Springsteen.  I don't see it, but I've heard it so many times that now I associate Springsteen with ADP every time I hear one of his songs.  I'm still very upset.  Very upset.  I feel like I need to go online and buy one of every ADP jersey that's available to buy.  Reacting to adversity by shopping.  And they say that my left-wing views and inside-the-beltway address mean I'm not a real American.

Unrelated to ADP, sometimes I'm struck by how mature and dare I say deep Springsteen's early lyrics are.  He was in his early 20s and barely begun to live.  What can someone like that possibly know about feeling trapped, the desperation to live as one's authentic self, or um.... llluuuuuuuuussssssssssssssst?  Fortunately, most popular music contains properly vapid and shallow lyrics so my mind isn't blown too often.

Old Lady Post: Niente Dire

Today at a shareholder's meeting, Andrea Agnelli announced that this would be Alessandro Del Piero's last season at Juventus.



I have always heard it said that Del Piero decides when Del Piero leaves Juventus.  So much for that.  Andrea Agnelli's Juventus is first and foremost a business run for the benefit of the shareholders.  Fuck the fans and fuck ADP too.  Don't even give him a chance to make a graceful announcement.

I'm stunned and can't decide whether to cry or throw up.

Old Lady Post: Made of Win

Originally posted on October 4, 2010



JUVENTUS 2:0 MILAN

I have stuff going on IRL (if you care, you can read about it here) so the euphoria of Juventus' glorious victory had faded a little, but then I came across a link to this video........






...and it's all back, baby.  This might be the last Bianconeri win of the season but, courtesy of the international break, I intend to savor it for the next two weeks. Look at it! Look at Conte glomping Andrea and Gigi! Look at Bonucci and Gio lifting il Mister clear off the ground with mighty arms and hearts full of RAWR! Look at Lichtsteiner all "Oh, we're hugging. Ew. Okay. *pat pat* Can I go now?"  And Pepe all "Hey coach!  Hug me too!  Hug me!"  Thank goodness my ovaries are old and shriveled because I'm probably past the age where I can get pregnant over the Interwebs.



Or maybe not.

Old Lady Post: Triple Dose of Coulda Been Worse

Originally posted on October 1, 2011


Hey Tifosi!


Remember me?

Like Gio, I've been around; you just haven't seen me.  I blame my boss, Uncle Sam, who can be a real dick sometimes.  But that's all done now, and Gio and I are both back.  The Milan match is tomorrow and I'll need to start drinking early, so here's the Cliff Notes version of the last three matches.

Lazy Day Partial Yarn Update

I think I must have at least 100 photographs of knitting works in progress to show you.  I'll make some cuts to whittle it down, but let's start with 5.

About three years ago, I made my mother a pair of orange socks.  The yarn was a bamboo fiber, and it did not wear well.  Bamboo yarn is not good for socks.  Lesson learned.

My mother got a kick out of them, however, and I saw a skein of orange wool, so I bought it and started some new ones:

Old Lady Post: Something is Different

Originally posted on September 13, 2011

JUVENTUS 4:1 PARMA



Guess which one scored a goal.

FC Dirtbunny Announces Reorganization for 2011-12 Season

The owners of FCDB (that would be Dirtbunny) have been on a long management retreat to contemplate the future of the squadra.  Frankly, the team roster doesn't get my heart pumping the way it used to.  Making lifetime acquisitions seemed like a good idea at the time, but certain players have done certain things that make them undeserving of the honor.  For others, well, it's just time to part as friends and move on.

Therefore, effectively immediately, FCDB players will now be organized into three groups.  There will be the active players, who are still around and still more or less as beloved as they were when they were called up.  There will be Dirtbunnies Emeritus, all of whom leave the club with honor and are free to publicly refer to themselves as Dirtbunnies.  And then there is the BadDog group, all of whom are being punished for some rime or another.  A few of the BadDogs can harbor some plausible hope for reinstatement if they make necessary changes and atone for their crimes.  Others are, I believe too far gone to ever come back.

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!

We had a 5.9 centered in Mineral, VA, near my parents' house and roughly 100 miles from here.  I was in the office and my best description of it is "freaky"  and "OMG earthquakewhatisitimsupposedtodo?"  There are no major injuries and no major structural damages in the DC area.  We had our usual traffic apocalypse, so it took an hour to get home instead of 20 minutes, but the hardest part was the first two blocks from my office.  I had my knitting.  What did I care?

At home, that wobbly thing on the shelf that falls over occasionally fell over and Kirby hasn't been this happy to see me or this reluctant to go outside in a long time, but all is well.  The worst after effect for me personally is that I got a light sunburn during the 45 minutes I spent on the sidewalk being evacuated with the rest of downtown.  Because there isn't much shade and what there was was taken, OK?  I did my best.

To sum up:

EARTHQUAKE!

• woah.  this is weird.
• I wonder how long we have to stay outside?
• If my meeting gets cancelled, I'm gonna bail.
• I hope Mr. D is OK.
• This traffic sucks.
• Geez, Kirbs, calm down.  I'm glad to see you too.
• Hm.  Looks like everything is normal.
• What's for dinner?

The Farm Box

Long-time readers (both of you) know that my aunt runs a non-profit farm in Connecticut that does animal rescue and animal-assisted therapy.  On years when I either have my act together so I knit a lot, or years when I am a complete mess so I don't do anything but eat/sleep/knit, I send her a box of my stuff to sell at her annual fundraiser.  Last year was largely OK but not great, so nothing.  This year I started out with my act together and have ended up a complete mess* so I have stuff to donate.  My aunt sent me a box of yarn spun from wool from some of the animals, as I documented here,** and I finally have some output.

Wretched

Summer continues to trudge along Chez Nous.  The farm box comes every Wednesday and the dogs beg for whatever might be in there, which lately has included a lot of kale.  You want kale?  OK, here you go:

They greedily grab it, chew it a few times, spit it out ("yuck") and then beg for more:

Old Lady Post: Hello, Goodbye, and Shirts; Plus Cannavaro Retires

Originally posted on July 9, 2011



 It's time for a brief Juventus mercato update.  Let's start with the ones who are gone.



*sob!*

Brazzo, marginalized for nearly the entire season, has finally moved on.  He's gone back to the Bundesliga, with Wolfsburg.  This means his #7 is up for grabs.  Let's hope that it goes to someone worthy.  The Elf, marginalized for most of his career, will stay with Parma, who have bought half of him.  Vaya con dios, both of you.

Season Survey Post: Mercato Edition

Originally posted on July 2, 2011



The Summer 2001 Mercato is open and Juventini are already traumatized traumatised.  While we try to find a way to cope, let's look back at some of the comings and goings of 2010-2011.  Today's topic is:  Notable Transfers! As usual, there is a lot of room for disagreement here, so please suggest your own in the comments.


The first one came early, before the lights at the Bernabeu had a chance to cool off.




The Special One left us for Real Madrid.  He took his coat and his notepad and his Rui and his crazy with him (but he left Beppe---whew!) and things weren't quite the same.

Season Survey Post

Originally posted on June 10, 2011


I am so effing bored! The offseason absolutely sucks and checking for mercato news every ten minutes is not exactly calming me down or making me happy. I was looking for football on the TV listings and I actually paused to consider watching the USL, so help me God.

Since there is no new material, let's look back at Serie A 2010-11.


Today's topic is: THINGS THAT ARE AWESOME

There were many, of course, and these are only a few.

Best video evar of the year:






For me, it's the Norwegian fruit advert, first brought to our attention by Martha. Among other things, this introduced me to Morten Gamst Pederson, which means I was paying attention the day Joey Barton sucker punched him on the pitch for no reason.  Meaningless violence = awesome, as long as it's not IRL.

Season Survey Post

Originally posted on June 3, 2011


It's finally over.  Trophies have been handed out, kits have been thrown in the wash, and everyone who isn't on the national squad is at the beach.  While we all take a rest and spend some time watching the ice in our margaritas melt, let's review some of the stuff that made the 2010-11 Serie A season the.....um.......the 2010-11 Serie A season.

Today's issue is HAIR

The past season was notable for three important makeovers, and one makeover that desperately needed to happen but didn't.




Remember this guy?  Whatta sweetie.  He had some grooming issues and some fashion issues, sure.

Juventus Mercato Post

Originally posted on June 2, 2011


 Y'all already know this, of course, but Juventus has officially signed Antonio Conte on a 2-year contract to replace Delneri.



I'm not sure what to make of this photo.

Summer Yarn Post

It is unnaturally hot.  Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say that I am having an unusually bad time with fairly ordinary summer weather.  I really ought to be working on farm squares or I won't have anything for this year's auction.  However, the wool for the yarn squares is rustic and coarse and warm, and it makes me even hotter to think about it, so instead, I'm doing this.

The biggest yarn news is:  The cable love cardi is finished!

It's pretty and it fits and it's way less ratty than the cardigan I keep for work.  For a while, I tried to kid myself that my work cardi was a "jacket" but I now have to face up to the fact that it's the kind of thing you might wear when you're sick because you can wipe your nose on the sleeve and it won't make things any worse.  Now I have cable love to replace it.  If I wear it, I'll get compliments, and that will be embarrassing.  OMG did you make that one too?!  Hm.  And I will have to be gracious about it because people are only trying to be nice.

I have also finished up some Ye Olde Yarne projects from leftover stuff.

 (Yes, that's me in the Minnie Mouse t-shirt.  I was always fat.)

This one was taken on a nice day when it was possible for me to go outside.  Ah memories!

And finally, socks from the last of the crap yarn.

I'm waiting for the yarn for my next sweater to arrive, and I think I know what I want to do with the llama wool I have.  For now, I have farm squares and one pair of socks to finish, and one scarf.  The next big cast-on day isn't for a month, but I probably won't make it that long.

It's the dead part of the summer.  There's no football except for a few junior international tournaments, and the Tour de France is three weeks or so away.  It's too hot to lounge outside, much less exercise.  My hair is too short to put in a ponytail and too long to leave down.  They keep promising me thunderstorms, but all I really want to do is make gelato, eat cold fruit, and take naps.

Old Lady Post: Paolino Lives

 A fair number of photos from the Napoli match were posted late, and we have some mercato news to catch up with (nothing you don't already know, of course), so let's dig right in.




Hooray for Loooca! A meter ninety six of green-eyed gorilla love. *swoon*

Old Lady Post: Fail. FAIL FAIL FAIL

Juventus whatever:  Everyone else  Forty Billion


So.  Three matches, two points, Zebes can't keep a lead, Delneri is canned, mercato rumors blah blah blah.  Is there really any point to a big rehash?  No.  No there isn't.  It might have been different.....




...but it wasn't.

Spring Update

The Helping Profession has changed my meds again and the adjustment period has been a bear.  I've been feeling sick pretty much all the time, plus confused and depressed about being sick, and angry that I haven't figured out how to regulate my treatment regimen so that I'm not feeling lightheaded and stupid all the time.  I think the worst is over  *crosses fingers*  because I'm back to being ordinarily stupid rather than exceptionally stupid.  I just have to remember to eat before 3 pm and space my calories out more throughout the day.  I've "just" had to do this for the last decade and so far I haven't done that good a job but, hey, tomorrow's a new day.

I've had a few sick days, so I've had some extra TV time and, around here, TV means football.  The season is almost over.  Two more weekends before we enter the Dark Times.   Meanwhile,  ADP just signed a contract extension so he's good for one more year.  The zebes aren't completely out of it yet, but they've reached the point where it isn't enough for them to succeed--others must fail.  Today's Juventus match is probably ending right about now, so you can guess what I'm doing tonight.  There's also the Giro d'Italia.  My boyfriend Fabian Cancellara, along with the Schleck Bros., moved to team Leopard trek this season, but none of them are participating.  Someone from their team actually died today after a crash.  Wow.

Old Lady Post: How I love those stripey morons!

 Lazio 0:1 Juventus



Lichtsteiner can't believe it and neither can I.


Just when you think you can get some distance from the fail and maybe even go on with your life, they do something wonderful and before you know it, you're forgiving them and letting them move back in with their ugly sofa, even though you know in two days two hours they'll have their asses parked on that sofa, watching WWE Smackdown,  spilling beer and getting Cheetos dust all over the place.   You know you'd be better off with some other squadra, one that at least puts some respectable effort into their fail, but you just can't live without them.  Bastards.

Zebras:  What?  *BELCH!*
DB :  *sigh*

So here they are with their low-hanging pants and backwards baseball caps and they flex their biceps and do some idiot new skateboard trick* and say "Aw, come on baby.  You know you're my girl."  And here I am tripping over their stinky gym shoes, doing their laundry, and fetching stuff from the fridge, loving every minute of it and hating myself for loving it.


*Was "cool" once, but may no longer be cool.  I'm old.  Please substitute updated imagery if necessary.

Old Lady Post: Masters of their Own Demise

 ADP  2:2  Juventus Defense



Don't bother, Fabio. I am unmoved by your "remorse."


*throws up hands in disgust*  What am I supposed to say?  *sigh*

Napoli, Lazio, and Udinese all lost (thanks Parma!  um  and Inter, I guess) which means that the top of the table is even more compact than it was and this might have been a chance to, not move up exactly, but get closer and keep hope alive.  However, the Muscle-Headed Fuckwits in Stripes are all so.... so..... so......FUCKING STUPID  that they forgot how many times they've blown a lead in the last two seasons, and they decided to end the game early cos it's only Catania, after all.  When it was over, a few of them were pissed, but no one bothered to show any passion while they were on the fucking pitch.  If they can't be bothered to stay in the game until it's over, if they're happy to sit around and rely on the genius of their elderly captain---who is ONCE AGAIN the side's leading scorer in official matches this season, if they think running is too hard or defending is too boring, then why on earth do we bother with them?

Old Ladzzzzzzzz

 Fiorentina 0:0  Juventus


It's kind of difficult to complain much.  Maybe the zebes aren't actual shit, but they play football like they're shit.


Sooooooo boring.  The whole match was a Festival Of Feh in which the most exciting thing that happened was that Leo yelled at Sorensen for getting a stupid yellow card.  Roma lost, so the boys had the chance to move into sixth, and they didn't do it.   Actually, they didn't do much of anything.  Fortunately, neither did Viola.

Old Lady Post: Three in a Row

 Juventus  3:2  Genoa 






I don't care where Genoa is in the table.  The last few seasons, you never know who Juventus is going to put on the pitch.  Could be a herd of zebras, moving in concert  against a common enemy.  Could be a bunch of broken draft ponies painted black and white, each one trying his hardest not to get caught  by the man from the glue factory.  Again, with no Gigi, no Gio, and no ADP--and NO GROSSO!  hahahahahaha--- who could know what would happen?  Milan. Inter, Napoli, Lazio, and Roma all won this weekend, but Udinese lost, so Juve gained points on someone, anyway, AND they're mathematically guaranteed not to be relegated.  Hot diggety.

Loooca Lunedi

Things are different over there.

The Impending Shutdown

[My employer, the United States Government, has been operating without a budget since October 1, 2011.  Funding expires Friday night at midnight.  If Congress cannot either agree on a budget or pass another Continuing Resolution containing a temporary extension, the government will shut down at 00:01 hours on Saturday.]

Old Lady Post: \o/

 Roma 0:2 Juventus




You tell me.  The game is about to start and you discover that Gigi, Gio, and ADP are all hurt.  Then you see the Line-Up of Low Expectations and discover, to your horror and disbelief, that Not Ciro is starting the two worst fullbacks in Serie A at the same time.   You consider their shitty current form and then you see Mirko hit a screamer that Marcostorari saves (just barely) and then you see Mirko take a selfish, crappy shot when Matri was wide open.  As the first half continues, Roma's attack looks more and more dangerous, Marcostorari is forced to make miracle saves that no one should ever have to make, and Krasic continues to act like a selfish twat.  Did you actually think the match could possibly turn out the way it did?  I sure as hell didn't.  In fact, I kept a sickening sensation of impending doom in my stomach until the final whistle blew.

Coverciano spam

Originally published on March 31 2011


By now the Azzurri have returned to their clubs and resumed training for the three (!) very big matches this weekend.  For a while, though, they were all best buddies.  Here's a collection of training and presser photos from the last week or so, "organized" by subject and not by date.





Unfortunately, one smurf was missing.




Come back Quags.

Old Lady Post: Brescia Spam

Originally published on March 28, 2011

Juventus 2:1 Brescia


Looks like someone's been watching Quags highlight reels.

That's better!  The good news is that the zebes can beat a relegation-bound squad when the relegation-bound squad's best players are all suspended or sucking like woah.  The bad news is that the zebes are not yet mathematically safe from relegation themselves.  Also, late post means I can't remember much, but the photos are better cos Daylife posted photos late themselves.  Captiano scored a goal in the run of play, Gigi was not forced to commit any professional fouls to save the match, and Krasic woke up.  Vincenzo hurt himself during a training session and is out for the season, which is too bad, but it wasn't like he wasn't always injured anyway and this might give him time to rest and actually recover.

More odds and ends

I think I've finally found the perfect coffeemaker.  See if you can find the one thing that keeps me from getting it.

We have a new tenant at our office building.

Odds and Ends

Number One

I've had a question or two about the football photos.  Tuttosport, being in the tank for Juventus as it is, usually has some really good stuff, but it's protected from downloading.  I get most of mine from either Daylife.com or Zimbio.com.  There are some on Getty's site that don't show up anywhere else, but they all have water marks.  I haven't found anything from last week's Juventus-Torino charity match.  However, a few days ago Daylife posted a few photos from the Bari match back in January, so sometimes they publish things late.  Photos from the Toro match could show up later.

Juventus Offside has posted video of the match, if you're interested.

Yarn Post

It has been a busy day.  I got rid of the dead chrysanthemums, I either prepped or trashed everything in the vegetable bin, and I did the taxes.  The only thing left on my weekend to-do list, aside from making dinner tonight, is pestering Mr. D to verify the taxes so we can e-file them and be done with it.  I've got this one leetle post to finish, and then I can knit, watch football, knit while watching football, or nap, whatever my heart desires.

I've finished a few things, and that has given me the urge to start some new things, but aside from the Cable Love Cardi, I've decided not to cast anything else on this month.  Having a startitis festival once a quarter is enough, but when April 17 gets here, watch out!

So, the finished things.

Kirby goes for a walk

Kirby doesn't go on walks any more.  This started in the fall when he couldn't walk.  Once his treatments started working, he was able to go, but had gotten used to being a couch potato, and we didn't have the heart to force him.

Since then, I have tried to walk him, but his stubbornness goes to 11.  He sits his little dog butt down and makes you drag him.  I guess that at some point, he gives up and does what he's told.  But first, you have to drag him far enough for him to get little scrapes on his legs and tummy.  You may think that a steady application of calm, assertive energy will work as magically as it does on TV, but  no.  When he starts to bleed, I give up, so I don't know how far I have to go to win the battle.

This cannot stand.  He needs some exercise for one, and he needs to be reminded that the house does not revolve around him.  Stop laughing.  So today we went for a walk around the block.  Sort of. Tiki and I took a walk around the block.  Kirby took a ride halfway around the block to Bogie's house and walked home from there.

For a dog with mental issues, he's pretty good at geography.  When we're going away from the house, he fights every single step, but he always knows when we've reached the point where we're starting back, and from there, he's all "race ya!  Last one home has to feed the beagle!"  So you see, it isn't a matter of "can't."  It's all about the "won't."  Silly boy.

Dog News

Ugh. So as we all know, Kirby Sweetheart has numerous medical problems. The most troubling right now is an inflammatory disease which may or may not be GME (if you look up encephalitis in dogs, you'll find it. There's a reason no one calls it by its full name). This is what is suspected to have caused his little "can't walk" problem last fall. Since then, we've been going in every six weeks for a chemotherapy treatment called CCNU (I don't know what that is either). It suppresses his immune system in an effort to calm the inflammation that gives him so much trouble, so we have to get blood work done regularly to make sure he hasn't got an infection. The treatments have been more or less working. He's always walked funny, and now he just loses his balance on the rear end more frequently than he used to.

Only last week he started limping on his front legs. We went through another round of very expensive tests and the latest is that this is probably is progression of the inflammation and, since it manifested while he was in treatment, it means the CCNU isn't working as well as it used to.

There's a lot of uncertainty in all of this. GME is progressive and usually/eventually fatal. I've known this for six months or so, but he's been doing so well that it has been easy to pretend that this is just another one of his chronic problems and it's perfectly manageable. He's getting to be an old dog, and he could be even older than we think since we don't know where he came from. Right now we're going to switch to more frequent treatments and when that stops working, there are other drugs we can try, and so forth.

He's happy and doesn't seem to be suffering at all. However, the bottom line is Kirby is getting worse. This is real.

My immediate coping strategy is to eat everything in the house that's remotely appealing. Maybe I'll snap at Mr. D over something meaningless and maybe I'll look to see if there are any cigarettes in the drawer. I hope to have a better plan for tomorrow.

Old Lady Post: The Juventus Defense----60% of the time, it works every time

 Cesena 2:2 Juventus



What a big improvement!  Instead of the Zebes uniformly playing shit, they only played partly shit.  It was an exciting match.  Juventus went up 2-0, then gave up a penalty that could have been a whole lot fucking worse than it was, and then the second half was thirty five minutes of nail-biting to see if the boys could hold.  Alas, they could not.  Also, I'm pretty sure that Lady Luck hates seahorses.

Old Lady Post: Milan Cheats

  Juventus 0:1 Milan




Well, what else would you call it?  With all the attacking threats Milan has, who would have thought that Juventus would have to protect the goal from Rino Gattuso?  I mean come on!  Rino almost never scores.  His last goal was October 23, 2008 against Heerenveen, whoever the fuck that is.  If Rino is going to score, Milan might as well have been playing with an invisible extra man, and maybe I can't find a rule against that in The Laws of the Game, but that doesn't make it right.  Sheesh.

Old Lady Post: It's Official

Juventus 0:2 Ex-Juventus Bologna




The Bianconeri have their heads firmly up their butts.

Whew!

When last we spoke, I had finished the body of the purple Bud Collins sweater and was worrying whether I had enough yarn left for the sleeves.  I had two skeins, one skein per sleeve.  For a while I turned over various scenarios in my head as to how I would get more yarn when I needed it, but I finally decided to find out if I needed it.

Nope.  One sleeve, one skein, with a bit left over, but not enough to trigger leftover yarn angst.  Perfect.

Old Lady Post: Colossal Fail at the Via del Mare

 Lecce 2: 0 Juventus






The awesome thing about being a District Champion Pessimist, aside from the t-shirts and free drinks, is that I'm never disappointed.  Sort of.  I guess you can expect failure and think you're prepared for failure and still be disappointed by failure.  This game sucked so bad that I stopped watching at half time and just sort of listened to the second half.   I have never bailed on a Juve match before.  Nevar.  Sorry guys.  You lost your grinta and I lost mine.

Mac says Hello

*takes a deep breath and clicks*

Hooray!  That photo is remarkable for two reasons.  First, the knitting is beautiful.  That is the Purple Bud Collins sweater in progress.  I decided to seam the front and back and knit the neckband because I'm running really low on this yarn.  I thought it I left the sleeves for last, I'd know whether I needed ore yarn by the time I finished the first sleeve.

Old Lady Post: It wasn't just a dream

  Juventus  1:0  Inter




Are you serious?   Raise your hand if you thought that beating Inter was even possible.  *looks around*  That's what I thought.  I suppose we Juventini have gotten so used to playing without real forwards and a real left back for so long that we lost sight of what our boys can do.

"Our boys."  SNORT!  Of the eleven starters yesterday, only four of them were regular starters last season.  Maybe if you either sell or bench everyone who sucks and go out and get all new players who are better, the team will achieve better results.  Who knew?

pagelle

Old Lady Post: Sardine Spam

I know this is super tardy.  I know there was another match today.  I've seen it, but I'm not sure I can trust my eyes.  There's the delicious grape, see, which may be clouding my judgment.  I'm really not convinced by the score I seem to have seen, because I'm not that lucky.  This feeling that my senses can't be trusted is intensified by the sight of Leo running around the Stadio Olimpico in his underpants.  I must be in some state of altered consciousness, because God doesn't make them that special.  Boy puts DDR to shame.

Tomorrow, when I'm sober, I shall look to see what really happened.  Until now then (see?  The brain she is not functioning properly), I bring you last weekend's match.  I can't remember much about it anyway, so it's not like my commentary would be improved by mental lucidity.  That's not a nice thing to say.  Fine.  Relative mental lucidity.  Is that better?

Cagliari 1:3 Juventus

pagelle

Another Yarn-Related Photo Dump

It was a month ago now, but I recently had a birthday.

For those of you who are new here, a birthday Chez Nous means a wicked yarn crawl.  What happens when you combine snow days, yarn crawls, startitis, and power outages?

I suck

Wow.  I am the epitome of a neglectful absentee football owner.  I called up a whole mess of Diegos after the Diego-rich Uruguayan juggernaut at the world cup FIFI World Cup 2010 (tm), and then I went back to my favorite Italians and forgot all about them.  Oh sure, I still saw Diego Forlan at Atletico Madrid, and I hoped rather than believed that Juventus would get him during the winter transfer window.  I saw Diego Godin, also at Atletico, but he's been injured a lot this year.  I remembered Diego Lugano, but he plays in Turkey and his team bombed out of Europe early so no dice.  I pretty much blew off Diego Perez, because he plays in France.


Only he doesn't.  He plays in Italy.  He transferred to Bologna FC this summer.  And I didn't notice.

Bad, bad Bunny.  He's got commie hot and he's got grinta.

He's got the Rossoblu, which I'm actually fairly fond of.

Plus, he gets to hang out nekkid in the dressing room with pretty, pretty Juan Martin Caceres.  I could smack myself.

Diego, bb, I'm sorry.  Why don't you come over here and hang out for a while with me 'n' Ale?

No Big Deal

It's 6:30 pm on Friday night.  You're hungry.  You're tired.  Tomorrow is Saturday.  On Saturday, at 10:00 am, you are expected at Mel's for craft club.  You have promised to bring food--specifically, madeleines.  You made this promise willingly and enthusiastically.  Somehow, however, you have arrived at 6:30 the night before and you have not started the madeleines.  What do you do?  WHAT DO YOU DO???

Old Lady Post: Effin' Pinks

 Palermo 2:1  Juventus

Oh.  My.  GOD!  Let's just save everyone the inconvenience of travel and the risk of injury and fucking forfeit the Palermo matches, hmm?  Yes, there

were a lot of bad calls, including two missed penalties, but CRIPES! what about all the blown chances?

I dunno man.  Is it me?  Am I cursing the squad by

wearing my Juve scarf whenever they play?  Has my bad attitude and general aura of gloom and pessimism transferred to the boys?  Does my overarching self-absorption

exhaust them to the point where they have no energy for football?  Whaiiiiiiiiiiiii?  WHY?  WHYWHYWHYWHY?  *pulls out hair*

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Photo Dump and FCDB mercato results part two

The power appears to be back, so onward.

Inspired by that stack of Knitty.com mitt patterns, and annoyed by the single ball of Rowan All-Seasons Cotton I bought because I was going to knit a blue sweater and then they went and discontinued the color, I made these:

These are nice and cushy, but they're cotton, so they stretch out of shape too soon.  Bummer.

Photo Dump and FCDB mercato results part one

Uhhhhh, I got a little startitis on my birthday and cast on a crapload of new projects, mostly from old yarn.  Now I have little piles of stuff all over and I feel like things have gotten a little out of control.  And I'm way out of date on my reporting.  Let's do a little at a time, and let's start with finished stuff.


Remember this?  I made that with two strands of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed--one dark grey and one light grey.  That led to this:  a pile of leftover yarn.  Ye Olde Yarne.   Even when enhanced by Kirby....

......It haunted me.  I tried to use it up.  I made mittens, I made socks, I made another pair of mittens.  I still had three balls of dark grey left.  I also had a stack of patterns for mitts from Knitty.com.  The patterns all wanted worsted weight and the Yorkshire Tweed is sport weight and then I remembered that if I knit with two strands, I get worsted weight.  That was all I needed to hear.  I took one ball and divided by half and joined each half to one of the whole balls and LO! I now had two balls that could combine into one skein of worsted weight yarn.  But was it enough?  I went back to the scale, weighed one of the balls, calculated the yardage and......YES!  It was enough.  So I made these:

And now the offending grey yarn is gone.  Totally and completely gone.

And now my power is cycling on and off, so I'm going to just post this as is and finished later.  Cheers!

Old Lady Post: Why We Love Quags--and Udinese Spam---But Mostly Quags

Juventus 1:2 Udinese


Let's all pretend that the match ended here, mkay?


That blew.  I'm not even sure what the problem was.  Gigi had an awesome save or two.  Claudio scored a miraculous Quags-style goal.  Pretty much everyone else failed to deliver.  It's too painful to do an actual spam with my usual uninformed commentary, so I'm just going to post some photos.

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After that, we have an important birthday to celebrate.

Old Lady Post: *Opens mouth. Closes mouth. Shakes head Ruefully*

Juventus 0:2 Roma




That one hurt.  For a while, it looked like something good was possible, then it looked like nothing was going to happen at all, and then the usual shit happened courtesy of the usual suspects, and then the whole thing ended with a goal from Taddei.  TADDEI!  I don't know what to say.

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Old Lady Post: Um....Ouch. Plus, Breaking Gio News

Sampdoria 0:0 Juventus





Any questions?


Oh boy.  This was a match in which only the brutes and Pepe stood out.  There was kicking and screaming, pushing and shoving, eye-poking and hair-pulling, shootings and stabbings, military coups and counter-revolutions, and one poor excuse for Zorro in a tricked-out mask saving the day.  OK, not really, but this was a crazy physical match that probably has every single player for both sides in the whirlpool as we speak.  Poor babies.  And the bit about the Zorro is true.

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Old Lady Post: Due Principini

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 19, 2011

*crosses fingers, cuts-and-pastes from notepad, and strikes off to edit html codings that I don't really understand*


Juventus 2:1 Bari



So that brings us to Sunday, which was the day that the Reds did not lose the Merseyside Derby, and the first day of the Ritorno for Juventus. Juve met Bari. Bari is at the bottom of the table, and the match was at the Stadio Olimpico, and Bari has already beat Juventus this year, and the only Juve striker who is not broken is Niccolo Giannetti. Four reasons for Juventus to choke hard. Did they?



I'm told this is a celebration.  Romans.  *shakes head*


No they did not.

Pagelle

Old Lady Post: Coppa Spam

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 18, 2011




Juventus 1:0 Catania

It was a busy week.  Juventus advanced in the Coppa Italia and beat Bari at home to scrape up three much-needed points.  There were some injuries and some recoveries and some transfers that ended up not happening, but by far the most important thing that happened was this:
Gigi is back.



That face!

His back is squared away.  His hair is squared away.  His form is squared away.  His attitude is squared away:

It’s a beautiful emotion that for someone who has won a World Cup, played in a Champions League final, and played in so many important stadiums like me, that this night meant so much to me even if it was “just” a Coppa match. I must thank the fans who often said “Why the hell are you staying here when you could leave and win in other places?” I don’t think I could find this kind of affection anywhere else, and maybe it’s true that I could leave and win elsewhere, but the love they give me is worth more than any kind of victory, it’s amazing. I thank them from the bottom of my heart.  source

He loves us back!

Catania pagelle