A cloudy autumn day

I’ve been doing research about Hawaii, in case I should ever find occasion to live there.

I think I will be avoiding Hawaii. …

The Ecuadorians have been progressing through the sub-diecisiete World Cup. Our latest victims, in the round of 16: the Russians.

This morning, I went for job training at the downtown office of the school corporation. How sad, I thought, that I’d miss seeing the highschoolers dressed up for Halloween. … But the training ended early. I walked to the school to do a couple of hours’ work. It turned out, few of the kids were in costume; but one of the teachers did look like Bo Peep (correction: like Dorothy, from The Wizard of Oz). … After school, I visited Mary at her job, and then I went to Karin’s apartment and visited Jasper, and he and I snuggled for a long time, until he got bored. I had planned to spend most of the day downtown, buying books, but this was a good thing to do instead.

The Orc movie

I bought some donuts to eat at school.

When I opened the box, one of them seemed to have been nibbled on by a mouse. Mary Mouse.

Right now, Mary is watching The Two Towers (which has Miranda Otto, one of my favorite actresses from Australia). … There are subtitles, because Aragorn and Legolas are speaking in Elvish to one another. … The Elves have just arrived to help to defend at Helm’s Deep. … Soon, I hope, the Ents will decide to lend a limb.

Mary knows all the behind-the-scenes lore. “That’s Peter Jackson,” she remarks of a scraggly-looking extra. She thinks it’s funny to see the Elves marching in rows: the actors were teen-aged boys, and it took an eternity for the directors to get them to behave.

The puddle game

The Bolivians wore red, not green.

We Ecuadorians struggled mightily. Puddles obstructed us. Puddles defended against us more effectively than the Bolivians did. Like this:

How sad, I thought, that we’d fail to win at home, because of the puddles.

At halftime, the rain slowed and the groundskeepers did something to the grass and the puddles mostly vanished. And so we had forty-five “proper” minutes during which to construct a victory.

Despite our dominance, the situation seemed grim. At last, Juan Cazares and Miller Bolaños created a goal out of a lovely, long-distance wall pass (which, earlier, would have been obstructed by the puddles).

We also converted a penalty at the end.

Some highlights.

A victory

Messi didn’t play. The rest of Argentina barely showed up. I don’t mean the team; I mean the country. How empty the stadium looked!

The other big names were on the field. At the beginning I was a little worried about el Fideo Di María, but after the first few minutes, he hardly touched the ball. We defended high up on Argentina’s half, all game long. It was as if we were the home team.

Special credit to Christian Noboa and Pedro Quiñónez – and, later, Segundo Castillo – our defensive midfielders. Antonio Valencia made some freakish runs, one of which you’ll see below.

Ecuadorians in Buenos Aires.

A clearer view of the goals.

In Ecuador: a news anchor with one eye on the game.

I wonder if the Argentinians will keep their #1 world ranking.

My various loves

Karin had her birthday last weekend. I bought her some chrysanthemums. Turns out, they’re mildly toxic to cats; since Jasper eats everything, I decided to keep them next to my own kitchen sink (Bianca is terrified of the sink).

We had plans for tonight, but I had to cancel them.

Pray for Ecuador to win. And pray for me: I’m not ready, emotionally, for this newest World Cup. I’m still reeling from the defeat to Switzerland.

At least I have it better than Martin. He’s a nervous wreck because the U.S. must play against Mexico to qualify for the Confederations Cup. That, to me, seems not worth worrying about.