Seriously, it gives me a bad headache to see Rafael Nadal lose his Wimbledon final. Alright, I half expected it--Djokovic has ascended to the top and he reigns over everybody else, even a hardcore Rafa fan like me has to agree with that. It just happens that I've always rather disliked him, the way some tennis fans can't stand Nadal. It's a personal thing. It'd give me less grief if it was Federer or del Potro or even Murray who beat Rafa to win a Grand Slam. That would make me go: "Hey! That guy got his chance." I mean, if Fed Ex comes soaring above the tennis court again, or Delpo recovers to strike like he did at 2009 US Open, or Murray wins his first major, wouldn't you think it's a nice surprise?
Now that Djoker is winning almost everything--I know, it's kind of a disrespectful thing to say--I'll stop watching tennis for a while. Until Rafa makes a miracle comeback or Delpo the giant takes over the US Open, well, one can always hope.
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Edition #7 of Language > Place blog carnival, hosted by Julia Davies, is up at her blog practice makes perfect. Wonderful layout and line-up of writers. Thanks Julia for all the thought and effort! My post 'Retreat' is included in this edition. You'll find out what the retreat was about if you check out the blog carnival page.
My last post, 'To The Trees', is a part of the fifth anniversary edition of The Festival of the Trees hosted by Dave Bonta. The short short--or prose poem, I think--was born out of a 5.30am walk I took in the park in my last neighborhood. I sat down to write about it on another gloomy Saturday night, and I didn't have a story. A Facebook friend--who's gotta be one of the biggest music lovers in my town--posted this version of the NIN song, 'Hurt'.
What happens when all that's left of a story is an empire of dirt? What do you do with it? That was how I dreamed up 'To The Trees'.
My flash story 'Focus' is published in MiCrow. Check out the e-book. I was a little uncertain about this piece when I'd just written it, but now I think it's pretty good.
The July edition of Negative Suck is out here!
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I don't have a lot of personal news to share except what you guys have already read about on my Facebook. Caught up in feeling sick over a wisdom tooth (now gone), a project grant proposal, and being disoriented as always.
I guess the truth is I've been withering a bit because of all the anti-biotics, disrupted sleep and working in front of the computer screen. I need to go to the countryside, or the beach, and I'm dying to eat some sashimi. Hmm...
Well, I used to feel precisely this way each time Rafa beat Federer. Anyone but Rafa, I would say. I guess we're now at the threshold of the next great rivalry in the game. The cycle continues.
ReplyDeleteBTW, loved "To the Trees". It didn't lose its magic even after you revealed how it came about.
Oh yeah, I thought so too. That Rafa is now in Federer's shoe. The funny thing is, I seem to have disliked Djoker from day one, long before he was a threat to Rafa or Fed Ex - he seemed kind of rude, though his attitude has definitely improved as he matures as a player.
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