Match Four: Equally Strong

It's only the tournament's second day.

And the fourth match of World Cup 2018.

But a big battle already took place in Russia.

Portugal vs Spain

Group B

Two men that stole my attention that night. Pic's from here.

While others are debating over who will win this match, I'm arguing with myself over who should lose instead. Yea, it's the battle of personal emotion to me. Because it's between Portugal, the nation whose main hero is my all-time loathed guy, and Spain, the team whose captain played really dirty against Liverpool's dearest treasure in this year's crucial Champions League final.

However.

I'm trying to be professional here. All emotions aside, I think it was a game well done. Especially on Portugal's end. Or should I say, Cristiano Ronaldo's end? Because darn, it's quiet obvious that the team is still putting all the responsibilities on his shoulder only. It's good that he was on fire that night. Can you imagine if he wasn't? If Portugal's constant god of un-luck came around to shower his misfortune over the team? Not only will Portugal lose to Diego Costa's dominance, but the blame will be on Ronaldo. It's a pretty risky situation for the guy, actually. He wins, he wins it all, he loses, he loses it all. Nothing in between.

And I guess it's pretty unfair. Portugal needs to learn to survive without the icon. It's his fourth World Cup, for God's sakes, and if they're lucky enough, he'll still be around for Qatar but I think that's all. No more for 2026. Portugal has to find a way.

Now about Spain. Well, I don't have much to say for them. I think they're not in their best shape. Because to only get a tie with 10 men against one Cristiano Ronaldo? They could've done better. But they can't be blamed. They just had a shocking coach replacement only two days before the kick-off, so... it's quiet clear that the adaptation played a major role to the team's performance. Plus, at the end of the day, it's statistic speaking. 3-3 only meant that both teams are on the same level.

Also, I didn't quiet mind for Ronaldo taking the highlight and praises after the match. Because he was that good -and I'm tired of hating him, duh, 2010, 2014, I should grow up. As a matter of fact, it's quiet nice to see Sergio Ramos being pissed. My hatred towards him is still fresh that even though eight years ago I was one of his supporters, this year I desire to see him in grief -and if God allows, it'll be by Mo Salah.

Well it's proven.

My hatred for Ronaldo,

And for Sergio Ramos now,

Is equally strong

World Cup 2018: The Prologue

Let me start the hype.

But before I rambled too much about details of each match like the last World Cup -big matches are lining up the first four days of this tournament already!, I'll first explain some introduction to the World Cup 2018. No, it's not for your information.

You guys must've already known all about what I'm going to spill in about 2 minutes from now. I'm actually doing this so the future me will still have clear vision about what was going on in Russia this year, that it eventually turned to be one of the best World Cup he'd be seeing so far.

Well.

To begin with, I think, the Russia World Cup 2018 is probably going to be one of the quirkiest one I'd witness. I'm talking about the participants.

The Absence of Big Teams

Believe it or not, there are literally not only one or two, but MANY big names that failed to qualify for Russia. The most shocking of all, of course, would be 4-time champions Italy, and other European giant Netherlands. I mean, wow, it was unbelievable especially for Italy. I remembered when I woke up that morning, to hear that Gli Azzuri didn't make it to Russia. Kinda heartbroken too, because it was supposed to be the last ever for the iconic Gianluigi Buffon and several other notable veterans.

Just when I thought that Russia would be less fun without those two, I discovered that the US didn't make it either to its rival-nation. This is somewhat a waste, remembering that they were so remarkable in Brazil 4 years ago -I won't ever forget how Tim Howard made me feel like I had a football-orgasm every time he played. But the bigger waste came from Africa, where Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, South Africa, and 2014 rising star Algeria, all trembled and failed to fly to Russia. In exchange of these big teams, many unusual names filled the spots.

Interesting Newcomers

When you don't see some names, it's because there are new ones coming in, right? It's really refreshing to see teams you don't usually see in at least the last two World Cup finals like Poland, Sweden, Peru, Senegal, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia -and I can't say I'm not excited for those four Islamic nations! Learning from 2014, where lots of underdogs shockingly sky-rocketed themselves throughout the cup, I'm really looking forward to see these teams playing! Especially Egypt, since the world is really waiting to see the magic of Mo Salah.

Though those teams aren't always qualify for World Cup, they had tasted the euphoria of the world's biggest sporting event before. Unlike these two, whom are totally new in World Cup: Panama, and Iceland. It's quiet surprising to see Panama appear in the groups of Russia 2018. They are usually only known as one of the best in beauty pageant competitions but now, they're about to show the beauty in football! And Iceland, well, Iceland. It's their first time in World Cup, yes, but one wouldn't doubt it after their fantastic performance and shocking Quarter Final finish in Euro 2016. Of all the contestants -though my support is with England, it's actually Iceland that I'm psyched to see the most!

Mediocres Ready to Blow

It's the World Cup. Each team strives to be the best, and it's not a guarantee that big teams can proceed easily to later stages. Belgium with Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku, as well as Costa Rica with Bryan Ruiz and Keylor Navas, bringing their confidence from Brazil 2014 Quarter Final finish, will definitely bring awesome fights to Germany and the rest of those big teams. Not to mention Colombia and James Rodriguez who reached the same stage 4 years ago.

Then we'll have Switzerland and Xerdan Shaqiri, along with Nigeria and John Obi Mikel which reached the second round in Brazil, and then Poland, Croatia, Australia, South Korea, and host Russia, of course, ALL, I'm sure, ALL OF THEM, will unleash their crazy selves!

Well, well... only by writing this already makes me uber excited for all the 64 matches of the cup. Some had finished, and it successfully forced me to start writing again for the sake of enshrining the euphoria of Russia World Cup 2018 in this blog! Although I'm sure, I'm pretty sure, this time I won't be as active as I was 4 years ago.

Zabivaka says hi to us all! Pic's from here.

But enough about the prologue.

Let's get it really started!

Поехали! Here We Go!

Russia.

I bet that name is the most mentioned nation throughout this half year. And last year. And all the years back to the day when Russia received the honor, to be yet the next host of the world's biggest, most-celebrated sporting event.

Yea, the

World Cup 2018.

Pic's from here.

Damn. It's been 4 years already!? I remembered World Cup 2014 when I was all so vocal about football, acting like I know the sport more than anybody else haha. I re-read all those post as I needed to find some reference to start this one though, and got to say, it seems like I really enjoyed Brazil 2014. I'm surprised by how I could make such analysis match to match, from the very group stages all the way to the finals. And I must say, I envied my 4-year-ago self for having the euphoria and all the time to do that!

Honestly, if I can be frank, and of course I can be frank because this is my blog: I really didn't feel the euphoria of this one. Well I claimed the same shit on the last World Cup, but when I tracked back to 4 years ago, my very first post about the tournament, and my claim about oh this World Cup, I didn't feel it yet was posted right before the opening ceremony.

Look at this post now.

Kick-off were kicked off. Russia had opened the tournament with a big win 5-0 against newcomer Saudi Arabia -which most people joked they lost because they skipped celebrating Eid night and play the game instead. Several other games were played, and here I am with the very first post.

But I don't blame myself.

I was busy from all the works, I was still recovering from the emotional roller-coaster caused by the Champions League final, and I knew eventually I'd be on the track and follow all the things happening in Russia, even without me trying hard to do it.

Plus, I knew who to support. Unlike the clueless 10-year-old me, the imbecile 14-year-old me, and  the not-yet-mature-but-acting-like-a-mature 18-year-old me, the 26-year-old me is quiet firm about whose side I'll be cheering upon, thanks to the awesome 22-year-old me. It saved my time from all the warming-up, pointless deliberation posts leading up to the kick-off, so I got to write straight on the D-day instead--which is, this post.

So yea, I said it.

No warming up rambles,

No pointless deliberation talks,

I'm here to say I'm ready for

Yet another awesome World Cup!

Poyekhali, Rossiya!

Best I Ever Waste

If you track back to the past few years in this blog, you can make one conclusion when it comes to talking about Ramadan.

That it felt so quick that it left so soon, faster and faster every year.

Well I know it's just my subconscious mind talking, because time is constant. But I guess I should give in to the fact that it will always happen every year, because, I don't know, maybe I've matured enough that I now understand the true meaning of Ramadan, and that makes me enjoy every single second of that month? I don't know. What I know is that as years go by, it gets easier for me to go through the holy month, it gets clearer for me why we have to do fasting, and it the inside of me urges myself to do all the prayers that I tried so hard to deny doing as a kid.

That sounds like a good spiritual progress to me right?

Yea, right.

Internally, I may sound ready to face Ramadan every day. Externally, I feel like it's me against the world.

Because my works are crazy.

So crazy I didn't even have time to breathe. And everything seemed to pile up exactly this month. Lots of deliverables and deadlines, three shooting days and countless editings, countless proof-readings, countless meetings, I swear I gave a lot of time for these works. I only managed to do two tarawih's. I only got to break the fast with my family on the weekend. I did only two iftar reunions, one of which was even with my coworkers so I don't think I should count it...

I'm not trying to complain here because I love my jobs. It's my choice and I actually enjoy what I'm doing so if I'm blaming my jobs, it'll feel like I'm a two-faced heartless bytch trying to manipulate the situation and make it seem like I'm the vulnerable victim--so no, I'm not blaming my jobs.

I just want to express my... well how do I put this up? My grief?

My grief of how things didn't work out the way it's supposed to be ideally working. The grief of... why, just when I feel like I'm spiritually ready to face Ramadan with complete willingness, when I feel like I don't want to miss out more prayers in a day, when I feel like I'm in my BEST self... I couldn't do it, and WASTED the momentum instead?

If you track back to the past few years in this blog, you can make one other conclusion when it comes to talking about Ramadan.

That when it left so soon, it broke my heart.

This year it breaks even worse, because I know I wasted something that could easily be the best. Call me a saint, call me a pious or what not. But I've never felt so broken to be left by yet another Ramadan.

May Allah give me blessing this Eid.

And let me and my family say hi to Ramadan again.

Next time I'll try harder

The Toy Story: South Korea

Remember how I began my Toy Story journey last year?

Yea the story of how I started to buy the real-size toys from Toy Story which I couldn't seem to be doing when I was younger. Well actually it technically began in 2015 when I got Mr Potato Head from Japan. But last year I hit the jackpot of the three main stars in just a single trip to Hong Kong and then I realized that this ritual couldn't just stop there.

And so today, I'd like to tell you the continuation of the story.

It was when I traveled to South Korea. I mean, it's Korea. I never expected myself to bump into any toys, let alone Toy Story toys, LET FVCKING ALONE real-size Toy Story toys. There's no Disneyland in Korea, not even Disney Store. So my trip was really all about nature, culture, and those travelers' actual goals. Not Vicky Amin's goals.

So it took me by surprise, and by delight, to spot a very charming, unassuming toy store nestled in the craze of food places and clothes shops of Jeju's busy city center. I stepped inside with not much expectation, only to be mindblown by the existence of one doll sitting by the corner of the shop.

Bullseye the Horse.

My hand was snatching the doll on its own command. It wasn't made of real quality leather like the one in the films. It wasn't coming with the box, nor any stand, so what it could do was just sitting around loosely or dangling helplessly. But it WAS THE REAL SIZE.

I didn't care much about anything else because it was the real size. I already have Woody, Buzz, and Jessie at home so bringing Bullseye would complete my Toy Story 2 collection. I only had just one concern, though: where was it made? Because if it was just a random toy produced in Korea, just a random doll made for girls to pick out of other unbranded bears and Sallies, I might not gonna go for it.

But then the tag was there. The tag that showed this toy's quality. The tag which confirmed that this Bullseye deserve a spot in my room with rest of the roundup. The tag that says "TOKYO DISNEY RESORT".

And that was it. Without further ado, I brought the doll to the cashier and saved Bullseye from its uncertain future.

But my Toy Story in Korea didn't end there.

Just when I was about to make the purchase, I see one other toy that caught my attention. Not one of those main toys, but important enough to make me think of buying him as well. It's

Wheezy.

It was a literal doll, not a plastic-made squeezy toy like he's supposed to be. But again, he was of the real size. And any real-size Toy Story toys would really matter to me. And on top of that, it's Wheezy.

He didn't have a nice back story in the film. He was abandoned all the way up the shelf, hidden behind the books, showered in dusts. He was about to be sold at the yard sale, but Woody saved him. So I thought, this was my call. I had to save him.

Plus, when I checked the tag, apparently he was also coming from Tokyo Disney Resort. He must have been in the same place as the Bullseye doll I was about to buy, MY Bullseye. They've been through the same journey, been through the same disappointment from not being chosen by the kids who entered the store, been through the same hardship. It'd be a sin if I separate them today, and so, with not much more consideration, I brought along this Wheezy doll.

Now you may think I'm crazy, to having such nonsense thoughts only to buy toys. Well I must say I am. I'm really sensitive about this kind of thing. Nonsense things.

As for these toys, the idea of them traveling from Tokyo to end up in a random toy store in Jeju, only to be brought to Busan and Seoul and eventually to its final home in Indonesia, it amazes me already. These toys have the stories of their own, which I would never know exactly how it went, and that alone gave me more reasons to bring them with me.

Sadly I have no proper photos of them boat. These are when we were on the
ferry to Busan, on the exact day I bought them :D

This Toy Story game is evolving to not only about me.
It also talks a lot about them