Tag Archives: World Cup

Relearning Spanish and Getting Ready for World Cup 2026

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Middle of the week in early summer. It’s hot outside but at least the air conditioning is working again.

One of my summer projects is relearning Spanish. I took some classes in high school. To aide in this I watch some Spanish language tv every day, usually in the afternoons and evenings. I’m pleasantly surprised at how much is starting to comeback after watching Spanish language tv for less than two weeks. I have found watching evening news and even Spanish language commercials are helping my Spanish the most. I almost never hear a sentence without being able to pick out at least one or two Spanish words I remember.

World Cup tournament starts in two days. I plan on watching as many games as possible, at least the knock out stage games. I’m thinking of seeing if the Spanish language cable channels I can pick up here in Oklahoma cover games played by Mexico, Spain, Argentina, etc. Would be cool to see how much of the Spanish I can pick up from watching soccer. That and this is probably Lionel Messi’s last World Cup tourney for Argentina. I imagine for soccer fans that will be like watching Michael Jordan play in his last playoff series was for basketball fans here in the US.

Speaking of World Cup soccer, I got a cool message from a reader saying he was watching the construction of a fan forum pavilion tied in with the World Cup in his city. Small world isn’t it?

The World Cup, Reduced Joint Pains, Model Railroad Games on Computer, and Fantasy League Baseball

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Middle of the week in early summer here in Oklahoma. It’s supposed to rain on and off for the rest of the week. Going to be a change from the blazing heat we’ve already had. My joints do better in the warm and humid summers of Oklahoma than the cold and dry winters of Nebraska.

The World Cup starts on June 11th. I see that Fox is covering quite a few of the knockout round matches. I plan on watching at least a small part of all of them. The US plays Paraguay, I think, on June 12th out in Los Angeles. The international cultural enthusiast in me is wondering when China or Australia will host the tournaments. I hope I live to see that. I still remember how both countries went all out when they hosted the Summer Olympics back in the 2000s.

Feeling very stable mentally. My aches and pains are not nearly as intense as they were last fall or winter. In March the aches in my entire left arm were bad enough the doctors thought it was a dislocated shoulder even though I haven’t fallen the whole time I have been here. The X-rays confirmed it was just bad swelling. Heck I could have told them that and saved a half hour on the X-ray table. I do not appreciate how some medical professionals refuse to listen to patients. I enjoy it even less when a doctor or nurse treats me like I’m a 4-year-old child.

I no longer drink several cups of coffee per day. Most days I usually drink only one cup per day, usually in the early afternoon. Most of what I drink anymore is water or coffee or the occasional orange juice with breakfast.

I haven’t watched much tv since the Thunder lost to the Spurs in Game 7. Lots of people here in OKC are disappointed they didn’t make the Finals. Wait ’till next year, as the old Brooklyn Dodgers used to say when your great grandparents were growing up. Yes, kids, the Dodgers used to be in Brooklyn until about the late 50s.

Thankfully my air conditioner is fixed. At least I had a good fan and easy access to ice water. Now I’m really ready for summer.

Been playing a lot of old Railroad Tycoon II lately. Recently played a tough, but fun scenario of building a railway from Cape Town, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt back in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I think the Africa map is now my favorite map to play.

The America maps in the 1800s are really fun if you like playing against several computer opponents who are trying to pull hostile takeovers and take your customers and tank your stock prices.

The maps and dates are quite accurate to time and place. For example, you’re not going to find cotton farms in Canada, automobile plants in 1890, or diesel engines until the 1940s or steam engines after 1960.

I’m thinking about playing a map of building a high-speed electric route connecting all the major cities in China in the early 21st century. Heck, there are even maps that allow one to play Antarctica in the 2050s. Kind of disappointed that there isn’t a map that allows me to rebuild the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia. That would be lots of fun.

Even though I’m not a huge fan of Atlas Shrugged, I’m thinking about trying to retrace the fictional Taggert Transcontal lines from information within the book. Read the book back in 2007, so I might have to get a Chatbot summary of the route from the book rather than slog through that long beast again. Took me a whole winter to read that book even when I was in my twenties. Took me an entire summer to read War and Peace when I was in college.

In my fantasy baseball league, my team is starting to win again. We were in dead last out of 12 teams in my yahoo league until a week ago. But the batters finally started hitting for the first real time all season. Going to have to play almost perfect to make the playoffs after Labor Day. In real life baseball, the Rockies are in last place for like the fourth or fifth year in a row. I think being a Rockies fan is kind of like the kids who fall in love with the ugly little stray dog in the neighborhood. You just love it no matter how awful it looks.

Furniture, Futbol, and Feeling Fine For the Future

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Picked up some new furniture this weekend.  My mother and father let me have one of their couches and office chairs and I have a heavy duty recliner being delivered to my apartment this afternoon from a local furniture store.  I feel like I have an actual home again.  For the last few weeks I didn’t have much in the way of furniture besides a couple dining room chairs and my bed.  It was extremely odd eating my lunches and dinners sitting on my bed.  I had moved my computer desk to my bedroom so I could do my work from my bed.  I’m glad I got a couch and office chair as it makes my apartment feel more like a permanent residence.  And now that I can write from an office chair or couch, I feel like I’m doing more professional work on my blog and even my computer gaming.

Watched the World Cup finals over the weekend.  I kind of wanted Croatia to win as they were big underdogs.  But I wasn’t going to say much as I have readers from both Croatia and France.  But I think that Killian Mbassa (spelling?) from France is going to be as big a star as David Beckham and Cristian Ronaldo by the time he’s through. And he’s only nineteen.  When I was that age I was a geeky farm kid starting college.  But, living in USA,   I am probably a “Johnny Come Lately” when it comes to understanding soccer and appreciating how tough a game it really is.  When I was in college, my attitude was that I respected the soccer players for being in great physical shape.  But I thought it was “a lot of running for so little scoring.”  USA didn’t even have a professional soccer league until I think the 1990s.  So yes, we are behind most of the world in that regard.  I started following mainly because I have a niece and a nephew who love playing soccer.  When my parents were medical missionaries in Panama, most of the kids down there were kicking around soccer balls in the same way kids in USA play basketball all day.  But I did enjoy this year’s World Cup almost as much as I do the Olympics.  And I’m happy to see that USA will be one of the host countries, along with Mexico and Canada, in 2026.  But World Cup served as my sports fix at least until college football and baseball’s push for the playoffs start in September.  Hard to believe that September is only six weeks away.  Where has the time gone?

I have new furniture and we’re now almost halfway through summer.  And overall I’m feeling alright.  I don’t even feel depressed or paranoid very much anymore.  I feel quite hopeful about my life and society as a whole for the first time in months.  I enjoy this feeling.  I wish I could bottle some of it and save it for the “rainy days” that will eventually come back.  But for now, I’ll ride the happy streak I’m on for all it’s worth.  They don’t come along every day.

Taking Care of Physical Health With Mental Illness

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Had a couple doctor appointments the last several days.  I’ve decided I need more help getting back on top of my physical health.  So I now have a regular general practice doctor at a clinic only a few blocks from my home.  For the last few years I had been going to doctors only for emergencies.  But now that I’m not as young as I once was, I imagine I’ll have to make regular appointments more often.  I just don’t bounce back physically as fast now as I did even five years ago.  One of the changes we made was to the blood pressure medication.  As blood pressure issues run in my family, I always knew it was only a matter of time before I started having problems.  I get that new regiment started today and check back in two weeks to see exactly where I stand.

Mentally I feel stable even though some times all I want to do is sleep.  And when I don’t want to sleep, I usually want to stay home.  Since I’ve been home the last few days, I’ve been watching some of the World Cup games.  I readily admit to knowing little about soccer, but I can see how much of the world can like it.  And I constantly have to remind myself that in soccer, there are no television timeouts like in baseball or basketball.  More than once I have been in the restroom or getting something to eat in my kitchen only to miss a goal.  One of our family friends is an immigrant from Mexico and they are doing quite well in the early going.  I was happy to hear that the USA, Canada, and Mexico will be hosting the World Cup in 2026.  I would love to get back in good enough health to attend one of those games or at least one of the festivals in a host city.  Hopefully a city near me, like Kansas City or Denver gets to host a game or two.  I got to see a World Series baseball game in person in 2007.  That was one of the highlights of my mid 20s.  I’m so glad one of my college buddies was able to score a couple tickets.

Other than watching the World Cup tournament and getting back on top of my health, I really haven’t been up to much else.  But with Independence Day coming in a little over a week, I’m sure I’ll be seeing (and hearing) fireworks any day now.