busy-ness

feeling pretty good today

for a monday after a tournament, i feel great.  my legs are still moving, and I could probably even play today if you wanted me to.  i'm not utterly exhausted, and i didn't even have to sleep for 12 hours to achieve that state!

shanghai tournament 2008 was awesome.  lots of great food, mediocre beer, and awesome ultimate.  i got to play 7 1/2 games in one weekend, and my team finished 3-4 (ah well, so it goes).  i think another highlight was our hotel.  it was part of a 3D/2N flight and hotel package (that cost the same as the flight), so we got to stay at a high class, fancy schmancy, huge breakfast buffet, free drinks at checkin, hot tub and pool, mini spa kind of hotel for basically free.  the best frisbee accomadations EVER.

we didn't have enough practices since we got rained out 3 weeks in a row.  and we picked up some new people just in time for this tournament (who were all fantastic ringers btw). 
Game 1 v. Beijing Big Brother: we took the half 6-2, and proceeded to lose 9-8.  Go us!  personally, i felt SOOOO sluggish, like my body was moving at half speed, the grass was slippery and hard cuts were difficult without slipping.  there were a lot of funniest-home-video type moments.  someone goes to jump for a disc and instead wipes out on their butt. 
Game 2 v. Ringers of Fire: We were down at half 6-2, and then lost by 11-8.  Oh well, at least the 2nd half was relatively successful.  
Game 3 v. Korea 1: I think the final score was 10-6, although we traded points up til 6-6.  I think they just wanted it more, laid out more, and just had a bit more fiery spirit in them.  but that was a game with a LOT of calls, and a lot of standing around waiting for the calls to be sorted out.  sigh. that was when i commented to one of the girls that it always seems to be the guys making the calls (and then arguing about them).  i did notice that korea rarely used their girls.  great for us on defense, but not cool for their girls. 
Game 4 v. Shanghai 2: Finally we got to win.  11-2 I think.  Therefore, our point spread ended up positive.  hmmmm... my favorite part (personally) was the honey score Grant and I got in   He was on the right hand side of the field, probably 10 yards out of the endzone, and i was streaking up the left side, totally open.  he was being forced forehand, and did a beautiful backhand break throw straight into me in the endzone.  heck yeah man!!
Sunday
Game 5 v. Gaizabang, a Japanese team: they played trap cup the whole time, but it was a pretty hole-filled cup, so we broke it pretty easily.  then our man defense worked wonders on them.  i think the score was closer than the game felt.  maybe 11-8?  But the game never felt that close.  strange how that happens.  i had a double happiness point: i d'ed a girl on her throw, and then took the first pass off the turn in the endzone.  except i felt really bad, because it was a total foul that she didn't call.  i got all arm on that block.  oops.
Game 6 v. Philippines: Pula is an amazing team.  they're super fast, lay out for everything, have amazing verticals, and somehow come up with every iffy pass!  amazingly, it's a hugely local scene with very few expats.  even better, they're (nearly) always great spirits and fun to play against.  if i could be as quick as their girls, it would be amazing.  seriously.  about that double happiness: one of their girls blocked a pass to me, streaked to the endzone and scored.  i was seriously annoyed.  i also dropped 2 really easy passes, one that would have been a score, which also pissed me off.  definitely my worst game.  as a team, we lost 11-3.  oh well, they went on to be in the finals. 
Game 7 v. Singapore Freakshow: Consol semi-finals, at which point it's not terribly important, but fun to play anyways.  we won by a lot.  11-4?  overall, i think it was my best game.
Game 1/2: they held a women's exhibition game in between the semis and the finals which was a BLAST.  i haven't played women's since notre dame 2006, and it was a lot of fun.  anyone who wanted to play was split up into darks and whites, and then we just played (without keeping score) til they wanted to start the finals.  we called next point wins, so my team won.  actually i think we lost.  oh well.  what was really fun was that all the people who were watching the semis and the finals stuck around and just kept drinking beer and watching us play, so there was a lot of heckling and cheering going on.  and all the ladies played hard: layouts, hucks, deep strikes, etc.  i got an endzone d on a girl who's incredibly fast, which made me feel really proud.  although i had some AWFUL hucks.  oh well, can't do it all.  i'd love to play more women's ultimate.  you don't end up with guys poaching on you, so you can make legit deep cuts... you don't have guys only throwing to each other...etc.  ie, there was a girl from korea who was AWESOME on the white side for the women's game, but i had no idea how great she was, because she never really was used in the game!! 

anyways, gotta work, i love frisbee. 

cynicism abounds right now

i just spent about 10 minutes surfing the web page of a musical group (i use this term loosely), so that I could write a short blurb in our service sheet.  this particular group will be performing at our church this month.  i'm not sure they necessarily have connections through anyone in the congregation, but simply asked, asked, and kept asking until the pastor said, sure you can come perform at our 6:00 service. 

i have a hard time taking seriously their website, mostly because it strikes me as a lot of cheese.  i could be entirely wrong.  i'm probably being very judgmental, and these people are very genuine, Christ followers, and very cool.  actually, i'm sure that they are genuine christ-followers.  i just think they're a little out of touch for a few reasons

1) the poster on the door of our church looks like something out of the early 90's.  nothing says wholesome family entertainment like stepping back in time, right?
2)every page on their website is very positive - to the point of being overly positive which begins to beg for some wine to go with the cheese.  (whoops i delved into sarcasm) 
3)the music is all categorized by which "family value" it addresses - abstinence, father-daughter relationships, marriage, homosexuality, family, homemaking, divorce, etc etc.  2 songs are categorized as Jesus/salvation.  the rest are about the family. 
3)they tour to promote family values in christian churches.  their commissioning church sent them as "missionaries to the family."  i'm not sure what that means, and shouldn't the local church be addressing that?  maybe that's a problem with the local church...
4)but as they promote family values, all 4 of their kids have been raised on the road, in this ministry, forever on the stage, in the spotlight as the poster children for family values.  that has to be a rough life for the kids (2 of whom are my age).  i feel like that would put an inordinate amount of pressure on a teen to be perfect as they're performing regularly, and they can't slip.  i also wonder if those kids were in public schools or were homeschooled.  if they were homeschooled, at what point do they get a chance to interact with people outside of their family bubble, ministry bubble, christian bubble?

perhaps my cynicism is well-founded, perhaps i'm being judgmental of others trying to follow God.  sorry if i erred on the latter!!!

frisbee - God's sport

this is my favorite blog to read these days:

http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com

this is my favorite post of recent days:

http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2008/05/205-frisbee-gods-favorite-sport.html

are we perpetually 13?

i'm pretty sure that deep down, everyone wants to remain around the age of 13 - old enough to feel grown up and independent, and young enough to get away with stupid antics.

on a semi-regular basis, i go out for beer on wednesday nights with a bunch of assorted people.  this particular pub/bar is half-outdoors, and each table is given a complimentary bowl of peanuts, still in their shells.  this seems innocuous enough, until you sit down a bunch of investment bankers, insurance folks, teachers, rights workers, and other professionals.  at which point, the shells are aimed towards beer glasses, heads, shirts, etc.  and in the past month i have witnessed handfuls of shells be dropped down shorts, left in backpacks, etc.  last night took the cake. 

the teacher began by antagonizing everyone at the table with the harmless shells.  at some point, a banker decided to load his napkin with sour cream and throw it at the teacher.  the favor was then returned.  then the human rights worker leaned under the table and wiped sour cream on the thigh of the teacher.  the teacher found some chili to wipe in this person's face. 

we always see food fights in the tv shows that depict middle schoolers throwing hot dogs and ketchup at each other, but i believe that we were too scared of the teachers still when we were 13.  was anyone REALLY involved in a food fight in middle school or high school?  of course not.  we waited until college when we were "adults" to being throwing grapes down people's shirts, tater tots, peas, etc across the table and cafeteria (ahem, berg).  and then we wait even longer, until we're so-called professionals to REALLY take it to the next level.

i'm not sure why they haven't kicked us out yet!