Music and Match Musings

I have forgotten to bring my camera along a number of times this past week, which is unfortunate because there have been multiple document-worthy occasions.

Saturday night I went to a gig at the Norwich Arts Center, which is a music venue created from an old church, so the acoustics are amazing. The opening band was Beth Jeans Houghton and the Hooves of Destiny. She was wearing a long sleeved black sequin mini-dress and an enormous platinum wig and she sounded like a mix between Gwen Stafani and Regina Spektor, a little bit ska, a little bit Irish folk. Her band mates all had eye liner-drawn mustaches. They seamed really young and made a few mistakes, which was endearing. But the sound was incredible. It gave me goose bumps. I forgot how much I love live music. It brought me back to when Jeffery and I used to see a lot of shows. Here's a video that hardly does her justice.

I walked home from the Art Center that night under clear sky and stars. I really like walking. Not so much alone at night, but in general. And I like being alone. The other day I went for a run in my neighborhood, which gave me the opportunity to go down streets I've never been down before. I found a butcher! Alone time is good for reflection, but I also look forward to having Jeff's hand to hold.

Sunday morning I was captain of our football match, and I completely forgot to give an inspirational pep talk before the game started. I was too busy sorting out position rotations because we were starting a man down and planned on taking turns in goal because we didn't have a keeper. Our opponents were really unpleasant. They spent the duration of the game whining, contesting every call, and screaming at one another. The also played dirty and really threw their bodies around. We finished the first half up 1-0, after a breakaway goal. Two minutes into the second half, my mate Ashley sprained her ankle really bad and ended up going to the hospital. Bernie, my fellow center midfielder accompanied her, so we were down to 9 players. Then something miraculous happened. We started playing really good football. Our passes were crisp, we defended relentlessly, and we beet them to the ball. With another goal we were up 2-1, and sitting on it. The non-keeper who started the game for us was incredible, saving shots left and right. They out-shot us probably 10-1 but we ended in a 2-2 draw, and it felt like a victory.

That afternoon five of us celebrated Valentine's day with a roast dinner, complete with apple crumble. We ate until the food coma set in, and watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Me and 4 single girls, drooling over Brad Pitt.

On Wednesday we played at Oxford, our final away match. The pitch was beautiful, it looked like a bowling green. We had blue sky and sunshine for the first time in a long time. 4-nill victory. The highlight was when I scored a header off of a corner, which I haven't done since my first match playing for UEA.