Well, I'm not even angry about France just losing the cup to Italy on penalty kicks.

It was a good game and both teams played their best, with France clearly dominating the second half of the match, until...

ZIDANE? What the hell? The national hero, who helped France with the 1998 World Cup and came out of retirement just to play this cup, and managed to carry the team all the way back to the finals? That guy ?

Unprovoked foul of the most vicious kind (heading the chest of another player!), a few minutes from the end of the overtime, when his leadership as a captain was the most needed! And he gets sent back to retirement on a RED CARD then!

From that point on we didn't deserve to win. I could only imagine what it did to the team at large. What a shame for Zidane to end it this way. He was just as much responsible for our defeat today as he was for getting us all the way there. He could have made history, and he did make history alright, just with a twist ending.

So, on that note, congratulations to Italy for the cup and a very good match. I'm a bit Italian myself after all. :)

EDIT: I found a video on YouTube showing Zidane head-butting the Italian player.

YAY!! France just beat Portugal, and we're moving on to the finals on Sunday!

Quite frankly, nobody would have believed we would get that far in the tournament just a couple weeks ago, so that's quite the accomplishment! :-D

WOOHOOO!!!!

France beat BRAZIL !!!

We're going to semifinals, baby !!!

PARTY TIME!

YAAAAY!!! France won 3-1 against Spain!!! Woohooo!!


We're going to quarter finals against Brazil! :-D :-D

We're back, baby!

Oh wow, I guess the French national soccer team didn't suck as much as I thought they would!

We qualified for the second round, yay!

And a new user pic to celebrate... :)

I have some bad news.

I just got a call from my immigration attorney. The request for extension of my H1B visa past its maximum of 6 years has been denied. I have to leave the US within the next 10 days. I already have a plane ticket to France booked for this coming Saturday (EDIT: April 8 is this Saturday - party on Friday night?).

For those of you who didn't know, I have been living in California as a "temporary worker" for the past 6 years or so. My company filed for a green card for me, but we were hoping I could stay over here and get my visa extended until it would come through (which takes years). My current status expired yesterday, on March 31, but I have a 10-day grace period to get out without getting deported.

It seems our hopes were misplaced. As a result, I am now in the process of packing my stuff and trying to figure out the best way to have it shipped to Europe. Next week is going to be really quite busy for me. :-/

I will also be selling quite a lot of my stuff. More updates on this over the next few days.

It was fun while it lasted! :(

( Disclaimer )

While Bastille day, our French national holiday, was just yesterday back home, I can't believe I haven't posted here about the celebration that will happen here in Los Angeles this coming Sunday.

Here are the details, it's nothing very big but it has a bunch of vendors, plenty of cheap food and booze, and is in a nice setting. Just come hang out with the friendly local French community! Admission is free, I'll probably hang out there sometime in the afternoon after I extract myself out of bed.

Los Angeles Bastille Day
Free All-Day International Festival on July 17th
food • wine • entertainment
12pm - 8pm

The mission of this celebration is to reinforce the undying ties between the French and American people and to promote French heritage and culture. Supported by the French Consulate in Los Angeles, Bastille Day LA is a great yearly 'rendez-vous' for all Angelenos and visitors!


Located in the gardens of the Page Museum, i.e. where the La Brea tar pits are. Right next to LACMA.