Better Game, Same Result

Tuesday night was another Ultimate Frisbee Summer League game.  We lost.  But I felt better about it.

There are two teams that are undefeated in the league, and we were playing one of them.  You knew how the game was going to go, right?  Actually, we were up at half time 8-5.  That actually surprised me because I was noticing lots of turns and drops on our part.  Obviously, I wasn’t paying enough attention.

But the second half started out with them going on a five point run before we started to score again.  We were down 13-10 at one point, but we got three more in a row to tie it at 13’s before we lost.

And I felt like I played better.  Of course, it helped that I got to guard Chuck, someone I know I can keep up with.  He still got the disc (and I didn’t on offense), but he also never scored.  I would have really liked it if I hadn’t had a stomach ache for the second week in a row going into my game.  Oh well.  Hopefully, next week I’ll be feeling 100% when I show up.

Word Association for July 30th

Quick!  Let's do this week's word association.

1. Creaking :: Step
2. Sipping :: Drink
3. Honeymoon :: Happy
4. Clang :: Pots
5. Delight :: Smile
6. Blade :: Cut
7. Key :: Lock
8. Landing :: Strip
9. Insufficient :: Funds
10. Slam :: Door

Wonderful Day Saturday

Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day.

It started with the Irvine Lake edition of the Gladiator Rock n Run.  This was a new location for the run, but a location I’m quite familiar with this I do the Irvine Lake Mud run every year or so.  And it was very weird starting and even parking in a different location plus seeing the place I’m used to stopping completely empty.

I met up with a couple of groups of people from the website Meetup.  I’d actually run the race at a different location with one of them last year.  All told, there were six of us who ran together.  Not bad since I thought I’d be running by myself.

And that really added a lot to my day.  It’s always fun to run these races with someone.  Since I wasn’t trying to meet up with anyone afterwards (until much later), I was able to relax and have a great time.  I was thankful for that since there were huge backups for two of the obstacles.  The first was a slide and the second was the balance beam.  Both were worth the wait, but I’d bet they added at least an hour to our time.  After all, it usually doesn’t take me two hours to finish a 5K mud run.

Not that I would trade any of my time on the course.  I was having fun.

Once we all got cleaned up, we went out to a late lunch.  We went to a pizza place where I’d eaten a couple of years before after a run there.  The service was slow, but the food was good.

Now’s the part where I had some time to kill.  I was meeting my friend Brian for the play version of Disney’s Tarzan that night.  I’d actually thought I’d have hours to kill, so I brought a couple of books plus some other stuff to work on.  By the time we were done with lunch, it was 4:30.

I did make a stop at Downtown Disney.  I was looking for pins and ornaments (which I bought), but I just happened to see a 12 pack of Disneyland posters for sale as well.  I love those posters but have never bought any because of how expensive each one is.  The price on this was cheap enough that I couldn’t pass it up.  They are currently hanging in my hallway.  I need to get some frames, but I am so happy with them.  Honestly, I’m hoping they release some more 12 packs like this.

Brian was able to meet me for the play sooner than planned, so we had a nice chance to catch up before it started.  The play itself was put on by a local theater company, which means we didn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for the Broadway quality show.  The acting, sets, costumes…everything was top notch.  I wish the theater were closer so I could go see more of their shows.

I left home at 8:30 that morning and got home around midnight.  I didn’t get much of the stuff done I thought I would in the afternoon, which was a bit disappointing, but I wouldn’t have traded anything that happened that day for time to read.

Frustration

I was pretty frustrated last night by my performance at summer league.  It was a night that just proves how slow I really still am.  I was doing my best, but I couldn’t keep up with anyone at all.  Of course, I’d almost turned around and went home.  I wasn’t feeling super well when I left home or when I got there.  Fortunately, that turned right around and I was able to play.  We only had a couple of subs each for guys and gals, so I couldn’t hide out and just play a couple of points.

We went on a run early on, and were up 6-2 at one point.  But they came back to take half at 7-8.  We finished the game at 11-15, which was better than the previous time we played them when the score was 8-15, so that is something.

And we had two women subs which I think is some kind of record for us.

I’m at the point right now where I’m wondering what I’m really contributing to any team playing ultimate Frisbee.  It’s the point in time where I start thinking about just playing pickup for the foreseeable future.  Fortunately, I don’t have an autumn league, so I just have pickup for the next few months which I enjoy and do better at because we are more relaxed.  That leads me into a false sense of adequacy, so the round can start all over again.  And yes, it is fortunate because most of the time, I do enjoy ultimate.  It would just be nice if we would win more than one game all summer.

Word Association for July 22nd

Time for this week's word association.

1. Scroll :: Tablet
2. Mature :: Older
3. Breakfast?  :: Delicious
4. Wrist :: Guard
5. ___ is better ___ :: Obey is better than Sacrifice
6. Better half :: Wife
7. Note :: Musical
8. Worrying :: Pointless
9. Band :: High School
10. Insipid :: Horrible

Rain + Ultimate = My Weekend

Stop the presses – we got rain in Southern California in July.  And not just a little amount, but between Saturday and Sunday, we got over an inch.  I don’t follow weather too closely, but apparently, we had the remnants of a tropical storm hit us this weekend.  All I know, it was warm and the rain was much needed.

But here’s the thing – I had plans this weekend.  Ultimate Frisbee plans.  And I didn’t let a little rain stop them.

Saturday was the final home game for the LA Aviators, the local professional ultimate Frisbee team.  It was the third game I made this season, and I’m thrilled to say we won!  (Okay, so I wasn’t on the field, but you know what I mean.)  It was a pretty decisive win, too, with a 5 point lead at the end.  Considering the other two games I attended we lost, it was nice to be there for a win.

I went with my friend Luke, whose girlfriend wound up helping film the game.  And it was raining for part of the first half.  That didn’t stop the players and didn’t seem to stop the crowds much.  My pants were still damp when I got home, but it wasn’t that bad.

The rain let up overnight, but they were predicting we’d have more rain on Sunday – right about time for my ultimate Frisbee pickup game to start.  We’d already had low numbers the last couple of weeks, and I was afraid that would bleed over into this week as well.  It didn’t.  We actually had full teams with a sub each for a while.

We’d been playing about an hour and a half when the rain started.  And we aren’t talking about a little rain, but rain coming down hard.  One person left at that point, and a couple others left about 20 minutes later to go do some work, but the rest of us kept playing.

It was absolutely wonderful!  We were all out there having fun, and the rain didn’t seem to be affecting our throws and catches too much.  Yes, it messed a few things up, but for the most part, we were able to connect with the disc.  And it was so much fun!!!!  We were all drenched by the time we left, but it was well worth it.  Plus, with how warm it was out and how warm the rain was, it felt glorious.  I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

It’s been cloudy today, but no rain – at least so far.  Low chance of rain today overall, so it probably won’t happen, but if it did, I’d take it.

Much Better Game

It’s amazing how much difference a new night can make.  I showed up last night to find that ultimate players were the only people on the field.  Yeah!  The sprinklers didn’t come on.  The lights stayed on (although we ended early).  It was a great night for ultimate.

Unfortunately, we didn’t win.  The final score was 11-15.  We were only behind by one at half, but we got impatient and antsy during the second half.  Still, it was a great game with great spirit on both sides.  I mentioned it was fun, right?

Personally, I was at 50% for the night.  I got the disc twice.  Once I was too quick and threw it away.  The other time I hold on to it and waited for the second person to get opened and threw it to them successfully.  I don’t remember getting scored on either, which was a nice change from last week.

Rough Night

I had high hopes for my ultimate Frisbee game Friday night.  We were coming off a win from our last game, but that was two weeks ago, and the team we were playing had the exact same record as us, 1-4.  However, it was not to be.

We had low numbers of women, and the other team had high numbers of women, so they made our women play almost savage.  And we had issues with the softball game going on.  They made us move our field, so it was on a much shorter field.  We played well for a while, and we even ahead in the first half, but then we just stopped trying and fell behind.

I got scored on a couple of times by the guy I was trying to guard.  He’d run very deep, then back under, then back deep again.  I knew it was coming, but I’d still get scored on.  And boy, I could not get my energy and speed up.  You know that speed I was talking about last time?  Gone.

We didn’t have issues with the lights or the sprinklers this time, but boy those softball players were jerks.  We all celebrated when a fight broke out in their game.  That’s exactly the kind of people they were.  Not that it speaks super well of us.

Word Association for July 8th

Time for this week's word association.

1. Forgive and :: Forget
2. Midnight :: Ride of Paul Revere
3. Overcast :: Cloudy
4. Church :: Worship
5. Banner :: Headline
6. Hybrid :: Vehicle
7. Immoral :: Sin
8. Sugar :: Delicious
9. 1800 :: 1900
10. Futuristic :: Car

Car in there twice.  Interesting.

My First Business Trip

I know, I know, I didn’t update at all last week.  That’s because I was out of state for part of it and recovering for the rest.

Last Sunday, I flew to Atlanta, Georgia, on business.  I was visiting several clinics to help with inventory, and I didn’t come back until Wednesday.  I was working most of that time, too, since I was visiting 5 clinics there.  But it was great to meet the center managers I work with on a regular basis face to face.  Plus I got to meet some other people who have just been names to be before.  Oh, we talk on the phone or e-mail, but this is the first time we’ve met face to face.

Tuesday night, I was able to meet up with some Trixie friends for dinner.  Marnie, Susan, and Deanna were a delight to hang out with for an evening.  But I knew they would be – Trixie friends are the bestest!

And I was able to snag a couple of hours out at Stone Mountain, outside of Atlanta.  It was beautiful out there, and I wish I’d had more time to fully explore it.  The carving in the side of the mountain was especially impressive, and it makes me really want to go visit Mount Rushmore.

I got home late Wednesday night, but I only had to go to the office on Thursday since we were off on the 3^rd for the holiday.  Not a bad work week, especially since it was something different.