Thursday, June 12

 
not sure if i said but the way i got to watch the ducks games on tv here was via a channel they put out from the nearby military base. they produce one channel that basically shows a “best of american television” for each time slot. so a sample schedule might go from friends to the tonight show to sportscenter to saturday night live (or whatever).

and there aren’t even commercials. so all in all it’s pretty great – except for the ludicrous nationalistic propaganda. i mean, i gotta hand it to these guys for the success of this subversive campaign. hitler youth, eat your heart out. each program break i learn about anything from fdr's childhood home to our righteous victory in taking texas from the clutches of those dirty mexicans.

uh oh, time to go do laundry.

posted by from shannon at 8:31 AM

Tuesday, June 10

 
delayed posting, obviously - new tactic is writing blogs at home and posting them when i get to work. i am heartbroken today. not even the sparkling waters of the mediterranean (even though the glitter is just the sun's reflection of the filth floating in the heavily polluted waters of napoli's harbor) can cheer me up today. as j-s giguere cries, so do i.
posted by from shannon at 8:20 AM

 
hooray! the first update bootside. and sadly, i cannot start it with riveting tales of gondola chases or mozzarella/pecorino mix-ups. even in italy, i care about one thing above all others:

the mighty ducks of anaheim.

i stayed up until 5am italian time last night to catch the game at another intern’s house, where she gets a satellite feed from the nearby naval base. and oh god, was it worth it. despite the hours of nailbiting anxiety from 10am on – game 5 hadn’t been broadcast and so i feared a similar disappointment – i was rewarded at 2am with my long-lost and deeply loved ducks pre-game show. never have before have i weeped so openly at the sight of a mullet. barry melrose, despite your uneducated picks, how i love you so.

and in case anyone who dares to call himself my friend did NOT catch the game, let me fill you in: the ducks won 5-2. they scored three goals in the first period alone, though they are a team who rarely scores in the first period at all. highlights:

*rooch’s near hat trick.
*the captain earning the new nickname paul “the badass” kariya from ben and me. first the man took a hit from arguably the toughest defenseman in the nhl today that left him breathless and concussion-looking on the ice. then he came back into the game minutes later to score a goal on the man who is arguably the best goaltender in the nhl today, martin “where the hell is the puck” brodeur, in what was definitely a “quack you, devils” move. he is my new god.
*that idiot reporter asking emilio estevez to rate coach mike babcock’s performance.
*not seeing that stupid monkey kid in the crowd. if joe, brian, ben, my brother and i couldn’t get tickets to any of the finals games, i’d rather not see our seats go to any o.c. poseur fans. much better that they went to the real fans i saw on the screen. like michael eisner. and david hasslehoff.

so, yes, i will be up all night again tomorrow night, despite the ungodly necessity of my presence at the consulate the following morning at 8am. no fear – i will do whatever it takes.

side note: i just got a great deal on the mighty ducks box set and saw d3 for the first time tonight. is anyone else horribly offended to hear joshua jackson spew forth the line, “you’ve never heard of the anaheim mighty ducks? they named a professional sports team after us.” dear god. beelzebub (aka michael eisner), have you no shame? i’ve never wanted to wring that kid’s neck so badly in my entire life. not even when he had greasy hair on that horrible creek show, or when he was the only kid whose voice hadn’t yet changed in d2 (even though he was at least 15 by that time.)

oh yeah, so i bet some of you guys are wondering about italy. um, yeah. it’s italian. i’m actually enjoying myself a lot so far. and i start work tomorrow (that really means today by the time you’re reading this – for future reference, it’s just that i have to write these blogs at home and then download them from a disk at work.) so that looks to be really good. and so far i’m just really liking italy. i feel so comfortable here. i guess that’s fair after having lived here already for a combined total of six months. but it’s a real change of pace from my usual oh-my-god-i’m-so-stressed-and-crying-why-did-i-ever-leave first few days here. so i’m pleased as punch over that. in short, the food’s good, the people are good, my italian’s good, my place is good, and the only time i’ve cried since i left my folks’ house was when i visited the military base yesterday and found out i could get a whopper, jr. – and pay in american dollars. you’ve never seen my eyes tear up so fast.

more italy soon, i promise. i know this isn’t much but it’s all i’ve got for now. flying v…

posted by from shannon at 8:18 AM

 
hooray! the first update bootside. and sadly, i cannot start it with riveting tales of gondola chases or mozzarella/pecorino mix-ups. even in italy, i care about one thing above all others:

the mighty ducks of anaheim.

i stayed up until 5am italian time last night to catch the game at another intern’s house, where she gets a satellite feed from the nearby naval base. and oh god, was it worth it. despite the hours of nailbiting anxiety from 10am on – game 5 hadn’t been broadcast and so i feared a similar disappointment – i was rewarded at 2am with my long-lost and deeply loved ducks pre-game show. never have before have i weeped so openly at the sight of a mullet. barry melrose, despite your uneducated picks, how i love you so.

and in case anyone who dares to call himself my friend did NOT catch the game, let me fill you in: the ducks won 5-2. they scored three goals in the first period alone, though they are a team who rarely scores in the first period at all. highlights:

*rooch’s near hat trick.
*the captain earning the new nickname paul “the badass” kariya from ben and me. first the man took a hit from arguably the toughest defenseman in the nhl today that left him breathless and concussion-looking on the ice. then he came back into the game minutes later to score a goal on the man who is arguably the best goaltender in the nhl today, martin “where the hell is the puck” brodeur, in what was definitely a “quack you, devils” move. he is my new god.
*that idiot reporter asking emilio estevez to rate coach mike babcock’s performance.
*not seeing that stupid monkey kid in the crowd. if joe, brian, ben, my brother and i couldn’t get tickets to any of the finals games, i’d rather not see our seats go to any o.c. poseur fans. much better that they went to the real fans i saw on the screen. like michael eisner. and david hasslehoff.

so, yes, i will be up all night again tomorrow night, despite the ungodly necessity of my presence at the consulate the following morning at 8am. no fear – i will do whatever it takes.

side note: i just got a great deal on the mighty ducks box set and saw d3 for the first time tonight. is anyone else horribly offended to hear joshua jackson spew forth the line, “you’ve never heard of the anaheim mighty ducks? they named a professional sports team after us.” dear god. beelzebub (aka michael eisner), have you no shame? i’ve never wanted to wring that kid’s neck so badly in my entire life. not even when he had greasy hair on that horrible creek show, or when he was the only kid whose voice hadn’t yet changed in d2 (even though he was at least 15 by that time.)

oh yeah, so i bet some of you guys are wondering about italy. um, yeah. it’s italian. i’m actually enjoying myself a lot so far. and i start work tomorrow (that really means today by the time you’re reading this – for future reference, it’s just that i have to write these blogs at home and then download them from a disk at work.) so that looks to be really good. and so far i’m just really liking italy. i feel so comfortable here. i guess that’s fair after having lived here already for a combined total of six months. but it’s a real change of pace from my usual oh-my-god-i’m-so-stressed-and-crying-why-did-i-ever-leave first few days here. so i’m pleased as punch over that. in short, the food’s good, the people are good, my italian’s good, my place is good, and the only time i’ve cried since i left my folks’ house was when i visited the military base yesterday and found out i could get a whopper, jr. – and pay in american dollars. you’ve never seen my eyes tear up so fast.

more italy soon, i promise. i know this isn’t much but it’s all i’ve got for now. flying v…

posted by from shannon at 8:17 AM

Monday, June 9

 
hooray! the first update bootside. and sadly, i cannot start it with riveting tales of gondola chases or mozzarella/pecorino mix-ups. even in italy, i care about one thing above all others:

the mighty ducks of anaheim.

i stayed up until 5am italian time last night to catch the game at another intern’s house, where she gets a satellite feed from the nearby naval base. and oh god, was it worth it. despite the hours of nailbiting anxiety from 10am on – game 5 hadn’t been broadcast and so i feared a similar disappointment – i was rewarded at 2am with my long-lost and deeply loved ducks pre-game show. never have before have i weeped so openly at the sight of a mullet. barry melrose, despite your uneducated picks, how i love you so.

and in case anyone who dares to call himself my friend did NOT catch the game, let me fill you in: the ducks won 5-2. they scored three goals in the first period alone, though they are a team who rarely scores in the first period at all. highlights:

*rooch’s near hat trick.
*the captain earning the new nickname paul “the badass” kariya from ben and me. first the man took a hit from arguably the toughest defenseman in the nhl today that left him breathless and concussion-looking on the ice. then he came back into the game minutes later to score a goal on the man who is arguably the best goaltender in the nhl today, martin “where the hell is the puck” brodeur, in what was definitely a “quack you, devils” move. he is my new god.
*that idiot reporter asking emilio estevez to rate coach mike babcock’s performance.
*not seeing that stupid monkey kid in the crowd. if joe, brian, ben, my brother and i couldn’t get tickets to any of the finals games, i’d rather not see our seats go to any o.c. poseur fans. much better that they went to the real fans i saw on the screen. like michael eisner. and david hasslehoff.

so, yes, i will be up all night again tomorrow night, despite the ungodly necessity of my presence at the consulate the following morning at 8am. no fear – i will do whatever it takes.

side note: i just got a great deal on the mighty ducks box set and saw d3 for the first time tonight. is anyone else horribly offended to hear joshua jackson spew forth the line, “you’ve never heard of the anaheim mighty ducks? they named a professional sports team after us.” dear god. beelzebub (aka michael eisner), have you no shame? i’ve never wanted to wring that kid’s neck so badly in my entire life. not even when he had greasy hair on that horrible creek show, or when he was the only kid whose voice hadn’t yet changed in d2 (even though he was at least 15 by that time.)

oh yeah, so i bet some of you guys are wondering about italy. um, yeah. it’s italian. i’m actually enjoying myself a lot so far. and i start work tomorrow (that really means today by the time you’re reading this – for future reference, it’s just that i have to write these blogs at home and then download them from a disk at work.) so that looks to be really good. and so far i’m just really liking italy. i feel so comfortable here. i guess that’s fair after having lived here already for a combined total of six months. but it’s a real change of pace from my usual oh-my-god-i’m-so-stressed-and-crying-why-did-i-ever-leave first few days here. so i’m pleased as punch over that. in short, the food’s good, the people are good, my italian’s good, my place is good, and the only time i’ve cried since i left my folks’ house was when i visited the military base yesterday and found out i could get a whopper, jr. – and pay in american dollars. you’ve never seen my eyes tear up so fast.

more italy soon, i promise. i know this isn’t much but it’s all i’ve got for now. flying v…

posted by from shannon at 4:57 AM