2012

So Christmas and New Year have passed, and now it's time to do it all over again. Whoop whoop!

The New Year's weekend was good here; went to a dirty bear club on Friday night for some drinking and dancing. I do declare some pretty hot customers round these parts.

Saturday was spent trying to get rid of the hangover, and to get ready for the fireworks at the beach. The weather was a bit rubbish, raining all night, but it was still amazing. I think fireworks are always generally the same wherever you see them, so it's all about the background and the atmosphere in the crowd. Both were fantastic; everyone was squeezed onto the beach and people were dancing and swimming and frolicking in the sea all the way up to midnight. Everyone wears white, and some crazy people make offerings to some sort of sea goddess or summat. Lots of different kinds of people too; a mix of the favela kids, rich locals, and wide eyed foreigners, all brought together in a mutual hatred of DJ David Guetta. Or maybe that was just me.

So now it's like, totally the future!!

An exciting year ahead: Ireland to Greece their way up the slippery pole of victory in the European Championships in Polkraine. That is if Europe still exists in June, and the Mayans haven't turned up in their spaceships to blast the shit out of everyone.

We also finally get to stop hearing about the London Olympics, thank fuck. Carnival, teaching English, lots of music, films, TV, and technological gadgetry.

And most importantly, I am playing football tonight for the first time over here. Someone from Hugo's work plays every Wednesday night in a dodgy area in the north of the city. I am nervous, for many reasons. Firstly, I'll have to get a bus on my own for the first time. I've been procrastinating, mainly due to mental things like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_174

Secondly, playing with people you don't know for the first time is kind of like your first day at school. I just hope this time I don't cry when I get there and refuse to play with the other boys. For about 6 weeks.

Lastly, they're all going to be fucking Brasilians.

I foresee having to bring out my secret weapon: the Chris Waddle overstep.

They shall fear me.