Dead Week
I did have a bright moment this week: It snowed yesterday! I woke up to a world that was all white--except for the roads. It wasn't enough snow to cause major travel concerns (the buses were still running) but it was enough to make everything look pretty. And it was enough to make me daydream all day. And then it snowed for another two hours in the afternoon. I'm talking real snow too, not tiny pathetic little snowflakes. It actually snowed HUGE cottonballs. I could barely sit still and finish my reading in the library because they were such giant snowflakes. Alas, I do not have any pictures because I am still not in the habit of carrying my camera. (Note taken. It will be in my backpack tonight.)
And if you are planning on going to any Christmas parties anytime soon, may I reccommend not going to the one sponsored by your campus Fencing club. Don't get me wrong, I think fencing people are nice and I love the sport. But do not rely on them to plan or host or partake in anything that could potentially be a "fun Christmas party." In case you were wondering, last night was the WWU Fencing Christmas party. It was supposed to be a white elephant/mega snacks/movie night/party. We had 10 people out of a club of 30 show up, which made the white elephant exchange pretty boring (especially because I was the only person to steal). As far as snacks go: someone brought a bag of popcorn and I brought a 12-pack of soda. Not much snacking happened. And since the movie ("By the Sword" was the intended show for the night, I think) was forgotten at home by the movie delegate, we tried to play sardines in the Communications Building. Sardines can be fun, but not in a building full of locked classrooms. After an hour-and-a-half of painful fun we called it quits and all went home. Oh well. I'll make up for lost CrazyFun at the DIRT Christmas party.
This week's quote on my planner: "Some people talk simply because they think sound is more manageable than silence." ~Margaret Halsey
My tangent: "Look for the silent places around you and enjoy them." ~Ike
Happy Thanksgiving!
In honor of nationwide gluttony, I offer you something to consume when you are done consuming tasty morsels of goodness. You could call it 'eye candy,' I just call it 'I finally updated my photos.'
I have a few pictures from OFUDG and I added a few of my favorite pictures to the 'random' folder. Just follow the link on the left to get there.
Enjoy,
Ike
Oregon Fall Ultimate Disc Games
Oh man, OFUDG was great. The fact that it hurts to sit here and type this should attest to the greatness of this weekend. So let's see if I can sum up such intense awesomeness in three paragraphs (one for each day I was gone):
To begin, it's a 7-hour drive to Eugene, not the 5 hours I claimed in the last post. But we stopped at a teammate's parents' house in Olympia and they fed us. They fed us a lot: a 2'x2' pan of lasagna, ceasar salad, garlic and foccacia bread, 2 cases of TK (rootbeer and variety), and amazing brownies to top it all off. It made sleeping on the floor that night almost bareable. So, I got 6 hours of sleep and then ran around in the fog from 8am until 5 pm on Saurday. Eugene must be a sister city to Brigadoon or something, because this fog and mist did not let up ALL weekend. Seriously. Day and night only meant medium grey or dark grey.
We didn't play our best on Saturday. I blame the fog and the fact that we were on a turf football field. If you've ever tried running on turf with soccer cleats, then you know the amount of strain it puts on your ankles and knees. Not to mention the fact that diving catches hurt a bit more because you don't slide. So we barely lost the first three games of the day (to BYU, Gonzaga, and Oregon State) but finally clicked in our offense against Chico (the one team we expected to lose to). After a large mexican dinner, we all went and watched the Showcase Game between Oregon and Oregon Alumni. It was fun to watch, but I was so tired and cold that I quickly lost interest. But then came the fun part.
The big event of OFUDG is the party. Every team showed up to this huge, 5-story house where they had a live funk band on one floor and a dance floor in the basement and too many kegs to count. There were seriously 300 people in this house. I decided to enjoy myself that night by dancing to the band rather than wait in huge lines for cheap, gross beer. Plus, I was going to be sleeping (only 6 hours again) on a floor that night and playing ultimate at 9 the next morning. Speaking of which, we turned our game on Sunday. We beat PLU (qualifying round), and then we beat Orgeon in the semifinals (the rocking team that played in Showcase), and then we lost to Whitman in the quarterfinals. But we were the first DIRT team to make the quarterfinals in something like four years! That alone was worth getting home at 11 last night.
So, great weekend, great ultimate, now I'm all frisbeed out. All I have to do now is take a Mass Media test tomorrow and I'll be set to come home to L-Town on Wednesday. I can already taste Thanksgiving dinner. I hope tryptophan (sp?) is good for relieving back pains...actually, entire-body-pains. I hurt.
My sign-off quote needs a little background info: OFUDG is also a themed tournament, meaning that teams can dress up if they want to. DIRT did business casual; bascially we all wore white button-ups, ties, slacks, and some even had suit jackets or vests. (I had a sweet brown corduroy vest.) Hands down, we were the best looking team.
PLU Player (jokingly): "You look more like a businessman than an ultimate player."
Me (seriously): "This is business."
[We then proceeded to show them how DIRT does Ultimate.]
Ike
Sunny and Cold
I'm a firm believer that weather patterns should not be mixed. For instance, it is sunny and cold today. My inner child says "Oooh sunshine! Wear Chaco's! Play hackey sack!" while my outer child says "It's cold. Put some baggy clothes on. Go snowboarding or sit inside and read." At least from here I have a good view of the Canadian Cascades covered with fresh snow. (That makes me feel all sunny on the inside.)
Yesterday, however, I did not feel sunny inside because I spent the entire day sitting inside. Yesterday was "I should be studious" day. Basically it involved two 3-hour periods of intense isolation in the library broken up by a two hour period of lunch and reading. It definitely wasn't fun but I think it's good to have one of those days every so often. It reminds me that I'm still in college and should focus on getting out of college.
But yesterday's homework bonanza did serve a short term purpose: I'm leaving Friday for Eugene, Oregon this weekend for the OFUDG tournament. I can't remember what the acronym stands for, but I do know that it was changed this year from it's original title OFUK. I'll have some vivid details for you all when I get back, but here's a basic breakdown of what I'll be doing: sit in van for 5 hours, sleep on floor, play frisbee all day, sleep on floor, play frisbee all morning, sit in van for 5 hours, sleep in own bed. (At least that story has a happy ending.) Perhaps this time I'll have photographic proof of my adventures.
I haven't rambled about politics for quite awhile, so if you do not like politics or do not like my ramblings, please stop here.
George W. Bush is a pathetic man. Right now he is over in Asia doing diplomatic visits and whatnot and yet he has the audacity to make political attacks against his detractors at home. He is a guest in these countries and supposed to be improving relations and brokering new deals--and what does he do? He makes a couple of long distance cheap shots with his squeaky little voice. Way to hit a new low, GeeDub.
"Whatever, it's Fairhaven."
Ike
Would it even be Ultimate if it wasn't cold, windy, and rainy?
So this weekend was the Burlington Sundodger Invite--the first Ultimate tournament of the year. Notice the name: Sundodger. That's because the sun doesn't shine in Burlington. Ever. Ullr's second cousin Ellr lives there.
So DIRT split into three teams--X, Y and Z--because we're the biggest, baddest team around. I was on DIRT X and we commenced killing other teams as soon as we stepped onto the field at 8 am. (Yes, there is a throw called a 'blade' and it is just as lethal as the fictional character.) Games were to 11 points and here's how we did on Saturday:
DIRT X 11, UPS 2
DIRT X 8, PLU 7 (game cut short due to schedule snaffu)
Dirt X 11, Montana State 8
DIRT X 11, Gonzaga 6
The game versus PLU was shaping up to be a great finish; they're a strong team that was consistently diving for discs (called a 'lay-out') and played tight defense. I thoroughly enjoyed the game against Montana State for a couple of reasons. First, my family was there so I got to show off a bit--it was during this game that I scored my only goal of the day. Second, their team name is the Rum Runners, and for a good reason. They all took a swig before the game. (Captain Morgan didn't do much help for them. But they were happy because losing meant they could go get drunk.)
Sunday was the Quarterfinals and DIRT X was up against Univ. of British Columbia, who just happened to have a nationally ranked player on their team. But we came out strong and lead them to half 8-6. (Games were now to 15 points.) But they turned their game on and we turned our game off. Final score: UBC 15, DIRT X 11.
All in all, a great weekend with lots of frisbee, lots of mud, lots of carbohydrates, lots of coldness in my toes, and lots of sore muscles today. Thankfully, we only had a short practice today and get to rest the remainder of the week. But only because we have another tourny in Eugene, Oregon this upcoming weekend.
"People of Oregon! J-Money hates you!"
Isaac
Seven Feet Under
Who opens with 7 feet of snow!?!? That's right, Mt Baker opens with 7 feet of snow. What other resort would be blessed enough to open with 7 feet of snow? Certainly not Stevens--though I do love my home mountain. And who else but me would HAVE to go to class today while my roommate is up skiing in 7 feet of snow?!?! AAAAAAaaarrrrrrrgghghghgh gg!
And not only that, but I won't get to touch snow until at least Thanksgiving because I have frisbee tournaments every weekend until then! (What a coincidence: 7 feet of snow and no time to enjoy it.) So if you are going to be in WA around Thanksgiving, give me a call because I WILL BE GOING SNOWBOARDING.
Back to the normal me: I just got accepted to Huxley College of the Environment today! That means that I am officially an Environmental Journalism Major and can officially wreck havoc on the sad excuse for a student newsaper called The Western Front. And speaking of the environment, I joined another club last week: Restoring Eden. It is the only Christian Environmenal club on campus. And since we are technically a religious club that means that we get absolutely no funding. So yesterday we stood out on Venders Row hocking caramel apples that we spent 3 hours making the night before. Surprisingly, we broke even and make and equal amount of profit. Hopefully today we can mae even more moolah--though I won't be there to add my great salesman skills (blatant sarcasm).
And of all the things I could be doing this evening, I will doing the one that is statistically least likely and most unprobable--meaning you will never guess. Yes, it involves another fundraiser. Yes, it involves the frisbee team. Yes, it involves doing security again. And yes, it involves the Def Leppard concert in Everett. That's right: I get to do crowd control for a bunch of drunk/high middle-aged men. (At least that means there won't be any crowd surfing...) I'll let you know how it turns out.
But for now I should focus on the Stats test I have on Thursday and refraining from punching walls (who opens with 7 feet of powder?). So I shall you leave with a qoute from a Restoring Eden poster:
"God's original plan was to hang out in a garden with some naked vegetarians."
Ike
Classified information
This may be dangerous, but I don't think enough people read this blog to warrant a threat. My family has finally dropped AOL and joined MSN. So if you want to e-mail me, I have the same name, it's just ( _____ ) @msn.com
Not much going on in other news. It's raining non-stop now up here. Red Square is pretty much flooded all the time. The windows on the bus are always fogged.
I did get a free haircut yesterday though. Travis, my roommate, cus his own hair and offered to do mine as well. I figured if it turned out absolutely horrible that I could just wear the hat that I'm knitting until it grows out. But thankfully, it turned out great! The only downside was that I had to clean up all the hair I left on the bathroom floor.
Oh, and it finally snowed up in the mountains. My Snow Sickness Disorder has progressed to the point where I get daydreams about powder turns and I get a tingly feeling in my fingers. I need snow, otherwise I might become another college kid on a longboard (God forbid).
..and like some kind of fungus, we're growing everyday...
Ike