This is the first World Cup in which I've been so heavily invested.

Four years ago the man I was dating cheated on me. Badly. That in itself wouldn't have devastated me, but my roommate (who I had trusted with my life at one point) knew and never told me. Kinda killed the World Cup fever.

Eight years ago I lived in Egypt and came to NY for the summer. I was so happy to be here that I wasn't heavily invested in anything that required me to be in one place for at least 90 minutes.

Twelve years ago, the day after graduating high school, I was exiled by my mother to spend an unspecified amount of time in Egypt. She had found out that I was dating and was desperate to protect me. It was one of the worst summers (time) of my life and the World Cup was not something that I had the energy to invest in.

Sixteen years ago I was too young to really appreciate the World Cup, and had lost interest after Egypt was out. I was spending the summer in Egypt and remember the streets being eerily quiet.

This year, I watched nearly every game. Took days off work. Rearranged my schedule. The month revolved around the World Cup.

I went to a bar today with a couple of friends to catch the game, an Irish pub. Every single bar in the city was crowded and we figured the Irish pub might be fairly empty. Totally mistaken. The bar was filled with both French fans and Italian fans, tensions running HIGH for two hours. I was getting aggravated and started yelling at the French fans at one point after one of them said something stupid. I couldn't believe how angry I got, how personal I was taking it all.

During the penalty kicks my heart didn't stop pounding. I was digging my fingernails into my palm, I couldn't breathe. And when Italy won, I jumped, screamed, and cried. I CRIED! I never thought it was possible! I always make fun of people like this; people who take games so seriously, where games can actually affect your mood. But yours truly had tears, real tears. And I will never forget this feeling, this feeling of pure euphoria, a natural high.

What I'm going to do for the next four years is beyond me...