Hatred

I can finally and officially announce: the first phase in our gardening endeavor is over! The last 2 cubic yards of soil and 2 cubic yards of mulch were delivered yesterday. The thing is--we ordered only ONE cubic yard of mulch. And even that was a bit much. So we are stuck not only with more mulch than we can use, but more than we can even store. Since it was free anyway, we'll try to offer it to the neighbors. As long as I don't need to shovel it to them, it's fine!

Last Sunday Spain won Euro Cup and today on FIFA's rating list they rate first! They deserved the title. It was a pleasure to watch the young and energetic team playing inspired football. In the final they beat lame Germany 1-0, although they should have won with much bigger score with all the chances they had. In the quick video summary of the game there wasn't a single opportunity for the Germans. It was Spain who had all the chances and near misses. We'll celebrate this September in Barcelona.

I got a call from the national broadcaster for a job interview in two weeks. It is a management position, I will write more about it after the interview.

I have a colleague at work who is Taiwanese born American and soon-to-be Canadian, when his triple citizenship application is processed. Of all the countries he is a citizen of, he gets upset the most about Taiwan and its ongoing cold war with China. I made an innocent remark about the first Chinese female tennis player who reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon this year, and he went ballistic about Chinese oppression and how he wishes them all nuked and destroyed... My jaw dropped. I always find those ultra-nationalists funny. It's easy to be brave and bang your chest for Taiwan while awaiting Canadian citizenship some 7,500 miles away. It was such a strong sense ofdeja vu , that hate speech in my own office. It reminded me of the war I've been through, the madness that spread amongst the good people I once knew. It's really troubling how much hatred floats around the world, even in this lame country of the maple leaf.