High Hopes

I had high hopes for the winter this year. Season's pass for the first time ever, and some pretty fun friends I just recently made at the beginning of December. Up until now, the friendships and season's pass have under-preformed. I envisioned having sleepovers at friends' places and going skiing the next day, and that has yet to happen. I've only really skied with each friend once or twice, and I was really hoping to make the most of my season's pass, but schedules and lack of snow have kicked me in the junk.

That is all starting to turn around, with the simple and glorious fact that I am house-sitting for the next month and a half. And snow is coming. I've had friends over all weekend and had a blast. Friday night was Talent Show night for the school I am student teaching at, and the funniest skit had to be a couple of 2nd graders prancing around the stage to the following song. I only know the song from YouTube, and from the kid in the YouTube video:



I could barely contain myself in the audience, but managed through the song without completely losing it.

Sarah and I met Natalie back at my house on Friday night for some fun Wii action. Natalie talked shit about real life bowling, so she'll have to be dealt with in due time.

Saturday night was the big poker blogger gathering, which was amazing like usual. Eight runners ponied up the $10 buy-in to the first tournament, well that technically isn't true, only seven people actually paid, because I was due a bloggerment buy-in from the Doc. I had almost forgotten! We DO need to get another challenge going--with the condition that we're both losers unless we make a profit... so we'll have to make humiliating bets on this, instead of just monetary.

Shrike (PL), Matt, Josh, Cayne, Michelle, Doc, Zeem and myself were the 8 runners. After taking Shrike's stack on a very brutal hand early in the tournament, I bled chips and got bounced in either 7th or 6th. The hand I took Shrike's stack was brutal. It was the 3rd hand of the night, and the dealer flopped me a K-hi flush. Shrike flopped a 9-hi flush and Zeem had the Q-hi flush. I am about 80% certain the flushes were because the deck wasn't shuffled enough (new deck). Shrike had an inside straight-flush draw, and Josh revealed to the table that the 8c (which would have given Shrike the straight-flush) was in the burn pile... which led me to believe a weird shuffle. I was tempted to give Shrike some of his chips back due to the oddness of the hand, then I realized Zeem was able to fold his Q-hi flush, and the cards were dealt around the table, so there had to be some randomness to our hands (I don't think everyone at the table had clubs in their starting hands, or someone would have said something... unless they masterfully were plotting against the Canadian!!!).

Zeem was freaking ridiculous on the night. The fifth orbit, when the blinds were at 150-300, he tossed out three white chips for his big blind (25 each), we told him he needed black chips, not white ones, and without hesitation he called us all racists and preached the Obama doctrine. It was amazing. The Wife has some more of Zeem's quotes from the night on her blog.

Speaking of The Wife, she was hot hot hot last night. She has very nice boobs, and that isn't just the half-bottle of wine I've drank tonight talking. We got into a massage war, and we both won. At one point in our massage session, I was on top, and apparently hitting a good spot on her upper back due to the primal groans coming from her. She said something along the lines of certain spots just making her lose control. I knew what she was talking about, because I was not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not not getting wood at the time. I had no control over it.

Back to the poker. After being bounced out of both tournaments and getting massages in, I headed back to the table for a cash game around 1:30am. Now, I'll preface the cash game hijinx by saying I really, really suck at cash games, especially with bloggers. With bloggers, I have not left a cash game table with more money than I sat down with. I think every single one of you fuckers is Gus Hansen, and trying to bluff me. That said, I turned $10 into $70 with a couple of no-brainer hands. Flopped boat vs. QQ and flopped top two pair vs. Aces in crazy pineapple. Poker is easy when you have easy decisions and your opponents don't.

Tonight I had Eddie's crew over for some hot tubbing, and I roped the lovely Mary Ann into giving me a massage in the hot tub. In theory, this would have a happy ending, but I've got to say, that girl has no idea what the hell she is doing when it comes to massaging. She pawed at my back for two minutes then stopped. Boo. New goal for the rest of house-sitting is to turn MA into a world-class masseuse. I think she has potential, but I may need a hoodie, a bike, and some Mike Tyson's Punch Out music.

Tomorrow night, I shall try to conjure up a plan for world domination. Zoinks!

Goldmyer Hot Springs

Eddie from my cohort, a guy who I've gone on a few hikes with over the summer, invited me to join him and a few friends on Sunday for a hike to Goldmyer Hot Springs. Originally, I declined, because I knew I would be playing tackle football on Thursday and playing ultimate all day Saturday. Then I found out we'd be breaking record highs for Sunday, November 30th in Seattle, so I opted in. 55 degrees on November 30th is crazy!

The forecast took a bit of a turn for the worse as the week progressed, but it was still above normal temperatures for the hike. It actually turned out that the weather would not have mattered, because the hike was all in old growth forest, and even though it was a clear and sunny day--we only rarely saw the sun. The four mile trail was really easy, no elevation gain at all. Out of Tom, Eddie, Mary Ann, Kristy and I, I was the slowest hiker. I haven't been the slowest hiker in a group for a looong time.



We got to the Hot Springs and at first, I was a bit disappointed. I didn't realize there was a $15 fee. I'm used to hot springs being free--but at least Mary Ann paid in advance. At first glance, the hot springs looked like two small pools, cascading down from a cave entrance. Upon closer inspection, the cave goes back a good 25ft, with waist-high 104 degree water (it feels just as hot as the hot tub at home). You can stand up in the cave, it is extra dark, and it doubles as a sauna. I couldn't stand the heat, so I got out of the kitchen and hopped in the river (~45 degrees?). I couldn't help but imagine myself there in the winter with fresh snow on the ground. It was well worth the $15. The NWWP, keepers of the hot springs, cap the hot spring usage to 20 people per day--which is great. We had some company, but there was plenty of space for everyone.

Highly recommended.

WoW! What a Glorious Sunday!

In another typical "MHG 180" I went from canceling my WoW account last Tuesday to picking up a copy of the expansion on Thursday and pretty much playing it non-stop Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I did get a study session in from 10am-4pm on Friday at school, which allowed me to justify my WoW addiction.

Saturday was Tyler's birthday. We started off with some doubles racquetball, and I got brained twice by flying racquetballs--good thing I have a thick skull. I "let" the birthday boy win all the games, then we headed to his house for some WoW and Smash Bros. People started to show up around 2:00pm, gathering at his place en route to the 3:45pm showing of the new Bond movie. I'll echo most of the reviews and say that this flick is somewhere in the middle of the Bond movies. Some of the camera work made me queasy--stick with one camera shot for more than half a second in the action scenes, please! Daniel Craig definitely pulls of the "off the grid" Bond very well. Timothy Dalton did a great job in the same type of Bond role, but I think the majority of Bond viewers like Bond for the gadgets and witty one-liners, something the Sean Connery and Roger Moore (and Pierce Brosnen?) Bond films perfected. Best part about the movie is the new Bond girl. She might be my favorite...



Today has been a great day. I haven't logged onto WoW at all, and I've spent the majority of the day outside. I woke up and made myself bacon and eggs, then helped my Dad replant four trees in our back yard. The tree roots will hold our yard from falling into the neighbor behind us, at least that is the plan. After that, I zoomed out to frisbee for a few hours, then hit the UW outdoor rock climbing wall for an hour. I was able to finish a few new routes on the wall, so now I've got a few under my belt I can start with, then move on to harder routes once I'm warmed up. I also learned that black t-shirts are not the best color to wear when rock climbing, since the white climbing chalk tends to show up well on the black cotton.

Ho boy

I had a good time last night for Halloween, but I'm paying for it today. I'm not very mobile, so I've spent the morning and early afternoon drinking orange juice and playing some good ol' online poker. I fired up a 180-person SNG and river-rafted for a few hours, laying enough beats to start some fun conversations in the chat box. One guy wouldn't call me MHG, he always referred to me as "ATC." When I started taking the beats instead of doling them out, I busted just short of the money in 20th.

Halloween was fun. I got invited to a party over in Kirkland with a few of the young ladies from my teaching program. They were the only ones I would know at the party, so I was hesitant about going, which is the same issue I faced going to Matt's Halloween party downtown. I did not want to stay in again this year, as I've been known to do in the past. The decision was a tough one, but I finally decided to hit the Kirkland party when I found out there would be beer pong, hot tubbing, and my tall, blond friend Jenny dressed up as a femmebot:



I've never been to a big Halloween party where the girls dress slutty before, and I can't really see myself going to many more in the future, so I went for it. It was a great party, and the girls did not disappoint. The three femmebots were all smoking hot and I distinctly remember a sexy bee with golden glitter on her flat stomach. There was also a hot devil in some sort of skin-tight red costume that either had holes in it, or used some sort of magic to reveal skin at various locations. The girls were ridiculously hot at the party, and the guys were hilarious. The host had a full batman suit, including wings that extended for a 12-ft wingspan. Scuba Steve, Ulysses S. Grant (in full Union regalia), Ghost Busters, and everybody's favorite: big fat guys dressed as girls.

Brad Gilbert's niece was at the party, and I was dressed as a tennis player, so she introduced herself. Brad Gilbert has coached Agassi and Andy Roddick over the years. I also ran into someone from UPS who graduated with a business degree the same year as I did--small world. Played a few rounds of beer pong, which I have not done since last summer. The domination picked up where it left off. There were two tables set up and an interesting rules question came up on the table next to us: if the ping pong ball gets stuck in the opposing girl's cleavage, is it an auto-win? I think so.

Summer Break - Week 1

My first week of break started out with a bang. Monday I met up with a few classmates and we headed up to Lake Wenatchee for a couple nights of camping out under the stars. There were so many stars at night we had to turn on a light to make out the constellations. The lake was amazing and the weather was beautiful. We cooked steaks, played board games and even got in some Asshole (a drinking game where my true colors shine).

From Lake Wenatchee, I ditched my camping gear with one of my very awesome classmates and continued on to Winthrop, WA, where I met up with my parents at Sun Mountain Lodge. It is as swanky as it sounds. The motorcycle ride from Lake Wenatchee to Winthrop was a lot of fun because I had eight hours to travel what amounted to a four-hour trek. I stopped in the bustling town of Entiat for a big breakfast. I stopped at Lake Chelan for an hour of reading in the shade by the lake, which turned out to be 30 minutes of reading transformed into a 30 minute nap.

The nap recharged my batteries and I rode in to Winthrop with two hours until check-in time, so I stopped at the ice cream parlor in the middle of town. My family usually eats there whenever we go to Sun Mountain, and we usually get a round of putt-putt golf in, and my Mom usually wins. Unfortunately, we didn't make the putt-putt round this year, but I at least got to have some ice cream before their arrival (picture below). Winthropians know how to do ice cream. I spent another 45 minutes there eating ice cream and reading. From Winthrop, I rode nine miles to Patterson Lake, just below Sun Mountain Lodge. It was still sunny and 85 degrees when I jumped in the lake, but when I left the lake an hour later (more reading), clouds appeared out of nowhere, which made for my first arrival at Sun Mountain not in the sun.

Sun Mountain consisted of fine dining, deer 10ft from our back door, gin & tonic drinking, reading, pinnochle with the parents, sun bathing, billiards, ping pong and... golf! Golf with my parents is amazingly fun, and even giving my Dad three extra strokes each hole this year, I still retain the title as best male golfer in my family. I actually beat my Mom this year too, but that was a fluke.

You may be asking what has got me all wound up in a book. To my knowledge I haven't mentioned any books on this blog for years. I stumbled upon Clifford Simak's "City" last Friday at the library and picked it up. It had me hooked all last week until I finished it this morning. It won the 1953 International Fantasy Award for Best Novel. It is about Man, Dogs, Robots, the past, present and future. It is a great book, and although I have not read much science fiction, after seeing some of the author's who praised this book (Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Gene Wolfe, Allen Steele), and actually recognizing a few of the names--I think I might check out Simak's "Way Station" next.

Friday morning I took off early from Sun Mountain and experienced quite possibly my most enjoyable motorcycle ride to date. It is hard to top a few of my rides around Tahoe in the first months of motorcycle ownership, but my ride on Saturday comes as close as possible. From Winthrop, I rode West across the North Cascades Highway, then up to Vancouver, B.C. for the World Ultimate and Guts Championships. I had been looking forward to riding the North Cascades on my motorcycle from before I bought it over a year ago. When I was in my teens, I dreamed of renting a fast sports car and driving the North Cascades Highway for a birthday. Doing it on a motorcycle did not creep into my mind back then, but now that I have done it, I can't imagine a more fun way to experience that road. The weather was perfect and I never got stuck behind any slow vehicles in the 100 miles from Winthrop to just outside Burlington. The North Cascades Highway itself is a beautiful 2 to 4 lane highway which is the north-most passage across the Cascades in Washington. The road is closed during the winter and the speed limit varies between 50-70mph, but the majority of the ride seemed to be on 35-45mph advised turns. 35-45mph advisory signs are aimed at semi-trucks, but on a Kawasaki Ninja 250, with a little leaning, I can take those turns at 60-70. The ride was everything I hoped it would be, in fact, I was not even listening to music as I made the ride. I've become accustomed to listening to my iPod on any ride longer than 20 minutes or so, but I wanted to take this ride in with all my senses, and I'm glad I went with the music of the road instead of the iPod for this section of highway.

Customs was slow. Why don't they have an HOV/Motorcycle lane at customs? I guess it might take just as long, with the additional passports to check, but I waited about an hour getting into Canada at noon on a Friday. I also thought the speed limit in Canada was extra slow prior to this trip, but I was averaging 70mph on Canada 1, heading West into Vancouver. The km/h meter on my bike is cut off by the mileage ticker, so I know I was going somewhere between 40km/h and 140km/h, but I'm not sure what 70mph translates to.

I got a bit lost in Vancouver, trying to find University of British Columbia solely on my memory of a googlemap I scouted out the night before. I crossed a couple of bridges and was stuck in traffic on the second bridge when a guy on a scooter zipped past me and barely missed smacking into the stopped truck in front of me. Guy turns around and says, "Nice day for a ride!" The guy turns out to be an 80-year old dude with a white mustache and decked out in full leathers--riding on a scooter with flame decals. We rode together for a while along the coast, chatting at stop lights, until I finally asked him where the hell UBC is! He said he was actually heading there too, but just taking the scenic route, he'd be glad to show me the way. Sweet!

Then another image popped into my head. The old guy in Family Guy who is on Chris's paper route. "Hey there, muscley-arm! Why the long face? Do you like popsicles? There's a freezer full of them in my basement! Why don't you run down and grab a few?"

It freaked me out. But, true to his word, he showed me the way, which involved crossing another bridge. I made it to UBC just in time to see my friends play against Japan in the semi-finals of the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships. Those Japan guys are speedy, but they just could not match the skill and intensity of the USA team. Not to mention the height difference--that didn't help Japan one bit. I got a couple sweet shots of Sam catching the game-winning score at the end of this post. We went out to an all you can eat sushi place after their game and we ate so much sushi they eventually booted us out, taking a loss I'm quite sure of.

I was tired, full of food, and no place to sleep. Room at the Sockeye house was full, but I knew a handful of other people in town for the tournament, but had no way of getting in touch with them. I made sure I got a room number for Will before I left the fields. He was staying in the UBC dorms, so I made my way to The Rits and found the place with some help. I walked around the building a few times with no way of entering until I spied some people coming down the stairwell and I rushed to the entry, getting there just before the door closed behind them. I made my way up to 209, knocked--no answer. Balls. Walked around some more, scouting out the dorm, looking for a lobby or a place I could catch some Z's... when I ran across a magical dojo in the middle of the dormitory.

It was crazy. There were sliding paper-pane doors, just like the ones you see in Japan, or at least in movies about Japan. The "please remove shoes" sign was posted outside, so I slipped off my motorcycle shoes, slid the screen to the side and walked into the dimly lit, matted room. The low table occupied the middle of the room, but nobody else was in the room and although the mats were hard, I slid the screen closed behind me and used my towel as a pillow.

I woke up the next morning with the sun and walked over to the ultimate field. The clock outside a coffee shop said 6:45am, and the first round wasn't until 9am. The guys final game wasn't until 4pm, but I lasted the entire day at the field to see them lose to Canada 15-17. It was an amazing day of ultimate, and although I considered leaving earlier in the day for Seattle, I enjoyed the gratuitous amounts of ultimate watching.

It would have been a perfect weekend if not for one thing...

the ride back to Seattle last night was horrible. Wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt and a motorcycle jacket without the rain liner, I rode the 150+ miles from Vancouver to Seattle in a rain storm, half of it in the dark. I didn't think I would make it, especially after taking a wrong turn at the US border and heading East for 15 unnecessary minutes. I stopped in Bellingham drenched to the core, hands frozen. I sat in a booth at Denny's, knowing that if I took any of my clothes off, putting them back on would be 10x worse. I ordered a cup of hot chocolate, a bowl of vegetable-beef soup, in attempt to warm up my core before another 80 miles on the highway. I felt great leaving Bellingham, it wasn't raining and I was warm. Before I made it to the freeway, the skies closed at it poured--just POURED. I gritted my teeth, breathed through my nose to keep as much warm air in my mouth, and tried to think warm thoughts as I froze my way home.

I crawled up the back steps in Seattle, teeth chattering and skin blue. I stripped down and rolled into the hot tub. It stung at first, and then I realized I still had goosebumps. I was in 100 degree water and had goose bumps... that's not right. After soaking for a good 45 minutes I felt like slush and zonked as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Week 2 Outline:

Bachelor Party Tuesday night at Lake Tapps.
Camping Possibly?
Lake Cavanaugh party on Saturday.

I don't think it will beat week 1, but I'm going to have fun trying :)

Photos from week 1 (chronological order):

Driving Range

Today marks day one of my three week summer break. Like most people, I enjoy a good break. A prolonged break from school or just a bathroom break in the middle of a long day at work--both are welcome opportunities to spice life up a bit. Breaks give me time to investigate what it is I am actually doing and how that is different from what I want to be doing. With this break, I've already realized that I am taking school less seriously than I originally intended, and I would like to be more serious about school in the Fall. This break is the calm before the storm. Fall Quarter is going to be tough, Winter Quarter is going to be tougher, and Spring Quarter I student teach for two months.

In addition to reflection and attempts at temperance, breaks give me time to have fun, and I fully intend to have fun for the next three weeks. I've already got a few camping trips planned, I'm heading to Lake Tapps tomorrow, and I hope to ride the ninja up to Canada to possibly meet up with Schaubs for some much overdue B.C. poker. Today started the break out great with a bit of Warcraft, a successful trip to the library, and a splash of Team Fortress 2 sniping. But the highlight of the day was going to the driving range with my folks.

My mom taught me how to play golf when I was a wee one, maybe 9 years old. We would go to the little par 3 courses around Seattle and I would tee up the ol' 5 wood for Greenlake's behemoth 115yd 5th hole. I remember being giddy for my 12th birthday, because according to mom, 18-hole courses had a minimum age requirement of 12 to play. For my 12th birthday we played the Jackson 18-hole course in North Seattle. It wasn't until I was old enough to drive that she let me know there really was no such thing as a minimum age requirement--she just didn't want to walk 18 holes all the time! Oh to be young and gullible.

That story pretty much sums up my golfing history. Whenever the family gets together to play, we play for fun and try to prank each other every chance we get. Favorite pranks include shifting the golf carts into reverse for the high-pitched squeal in the middle of someone's back swing, and replacing dad's golf ball with an exploding golf ball that has a thin cover with just flour inside, or a snake ball on the green that has a weight inside it and goes anywhere but straight.

Our golfing went from once a week in the summer to once a year when I hit college. The only place we've played for the past ten years has been Bear Creek golf course over in Winthrop, WA. It is a spacious 9-hole course conveniently located near Sun Mountain Lodge, which is where the parents would go to get away for a few days each summer. The course is cheap compared to normal greens fees, cheap enough for us to get golf carts for the round--which is, of course, the most important part!

We're heading to Sun Mountain on Wednesday, so last night I suggested we hit the driving range to warm up for our high-stakes golf match at Bear Creek later in the week. Mom's been doing physical therapy for her shoulder for the past few months, and dad has a foot problem that has forced him to cancel our summer hike this year--so I was a bit doubtful about our chances at getting a round in at Bear Creek this year. Those doubts were put to rest today at the range--we had an absolute blast!

It was a blustery day today, with 15-20mph winds whipping across the range. Fortunately for us, the wind did not affect our shots, as we had trouble getting the balls up in the air. I secretly brought along my camera to take pictures and video of dad golfing, because he has a hilarious swing that just had to be captured on film:



I got my sports skills from my mom, as you can clearly see with her smooth swing. Dad improved remarkably as the video progressed--he went from missing the ball, to hooking the ball, to not being able to get the ball out of the ball rack, to slicing the ball and then he fished with a straight and true right down the fairway rocket.

THE GOOD: I have to give credit where credit is due. We were all swinging pretty well today. Mom corrected her "trying to swing too hard" complex about halfway through the bucket and finished with some nice strokes. Dad was hitting the ball in the air more than 50% of the time, which is unheard of for him. I was crushing the ball and actually hitting my driver in the air, straight, which hasn't happened since I was 13. I also sunk a 40ft putt uphill and into the wind to win our putting challenge--and mom gets credit for calling it from the moment it left my putter.

THE BAD: Well, dad didn't hit all the balls he aimed at, but that is to be expected. He is 6'5", after all. Unfortunately, I too missed a few with powerful whiffs that undoubtedly altered the course of our universe and may or may not have created tsunamis in Japan tomorrow morning.

THE UGLY: The ugly is my dad's category, he is the king of ugly when it comes to golf. He had some absolute prizes today, but the single swing that had me laughing the longest was when he took a big swing at the ball and just BARELY nicked the ball. So softly in fact, that it wound up in the ball holder just to the right of the driving range mat. I can honestly say I have never seen that before. I have trickled the ball off the front of the mat, I have ricocheted the ball off of the screen behind the ball holder--hell, I have even hit the roof of the covered driving range before, but I have never hit the ball so gently, on such a strong swing, to get the ball to rest peacefully back in the ball holder with the rest of its round, white friends. Kudos to dad for doing the impossible. Kudos.

Summer Lovin'

The teaching cohort I am in is pretty ridiculous. It isn't news to anyone, but there are a lot of very attractive women in the teaching profession--mostly from Kindergarten through 3rd grade. I'm not used to hanging out with hot women. I've been very lucky in my relationships to always be the ugly one, but a few of the girls in this program are drop-dead, head-turning gorgeous--and I've been lucky enough to hang out with them both inside and outside of class for the past few weeks. They've all got boyfriends or husbands, which isn't a shocker. I'm not after a relationship, living at home and all, so friendship suits me just fine.

Saturday was spent playing tennis with Marc and going over to Caroline's house on Lake Washington for a little cohort get-together. We had pizza and sat on her dock in-between swims in the lake until sunset. I rode the motorcycle home and spent about five minutes there until Susie called me up and I jetted down to Capital Hill. She said she would dress up sexy if I would help her put together her furniture, not turning that down!

Sunday I jumped in Lake Washington again, this time with Susie down at Madrona Park. Susie was keeping her sexy going by wearing a bikini under her motorcycle gear--so hot.

On Monday, Caroline and her dog, Gretta, and I hiked Mt. Si, which is just north of North Bend, WA. The hike was a grunt at 4 miles and 3k elevation gain. Gretta helped pull us up the mountain, and we passed about a dozen people on the way up. The view from just below Haystack Rock is amazing. We could see the Seattle skyscrapers, Bellevue skyscrapers, Mt. Rainier, the Olympics, the Cascades... and I didn't bring a damn camera. The view of Seattle was amazing, downtown looked like a spec in the distance--I thought it had to be Bellevue until Caroline pointed out the even smaller spec to the right: the skyscrapers of Bellevue. After descending Mt. Si, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant for enchilladas and margaritas--perfect.

I've gone to the pool with Chelsey and Jenny a few times already this summer. Today was the most fun we've had at the pool, because we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves. We started out laying out in the sun on lounge chairs. Me in my swim trunks, Chelsey in her string bikini and Jenny in her tight bikini. Chelsey is a brunette model and loves to snowboard. Jenny is a tall blond swimmer. And I was pretty much in heaven.

To make matters more fun, the three of us shot some water basketball hoops, had a back-floating competition (I highly recommend this), and a diving board competition--biggest splash, smallest splash and style rounds. Then we each had our own pizza, taking advantage of Domino's $5.55 each for 3 medium pizzas. Lounging at the pool with two beautiful women in bikinis, and we're all scarfing down pizzas--perfect.

There is something extremely satisfying and self-esteem boosting about sitting out in a lounge chair, minding your own business, and having two knockouts walk into the pool, scoot lounge chairs close to you and strip down to their bikinis. I know every other guy in the pool is wondering what the hell is so special about my skinny ass.

This weekend? Riding the motorcycle down to Seaside, OR with Susie, and playing two days of beach ultimate--this is going to be awesome.

Potlatch 2008

I'm feeling very neglectful of this blog only posting once a week. Fun things are happening, such as the first 3-day Potlatch in four years, motorcycle riding, trips to the pool, and yes... even a bit of WoW. Potlatch threw my body for a loop. Waking up early, drinking, running, diving onto my ribs and knees for frisbees for three straight days was a shock.

The team I played with was an odd mix. Half old timers and half PLU college players. Playing with the female college players was a blast, but a few of the male PLU players were a bit too intense for me. You're playing ultimate frisbee, not football, chill the fuck out! The weekend was amazing though, our team had a weed-whacker blender on our sideline. We blended margaritas all weekend long, and by the end of our second game I was three sheets to the wind.

We created a kick ass game for our opponents to play after our game of ultimate. It was a relay race, so their team divided into three teams of five people each. First part of the relay race is hurdles, where one runner from each team has to jump over four hurdles, comprised of my teammates, then run back to the start. Next is a frisbee throw to a teammate in a hula hoop on the other side of the field. The receiver has to stay inside the hula hoop and catch the pass. Next part is a beer shotput, where a teammate shotputs a beer to their partner who is wielding a spear. The spear wielder stabs the beer and drinks it--first team done with their beer wins.

The highlight of the weekend had to be the last game on Sunday, when the spear-wielding lady got hit in the leg with the shot-putted beer. She collapsed to the ground, more out of laughter than any injury, but she hobbled over to the beer, missed it on her first few stabs. She really concentrated on her next stab--so much so that when the spear pierced the beer can, the beer sprayed directly into her eyes and she was on her ass again from the force of the beer spray and her embarrassment.

About halfway through the first day of the tourney, we decided to start decorating a huge spear with whatever we received from other teams throughout the tourney. Beer cans, bottles of liquor, American flags, streamers, clothes, hats, hula hoops... you name it. At the end of the tourney we gave the huge spear to Scotty for getting the team together.

Here are a few photos I took from the weekend~

I've Accomplished The Impossible

I've done it. I've accomplished something I never thought was possible. I've forgotten how to ride a bicycle. Hell, there is even a common saying about how people can't forget how to ride bicycles.

I hopped on my Dad's bicycle and attempted to ride over to Dahl field for some wind sprints in the grass, in preparation for Potlatch this weekend, and I almost... almost bit it on the first turn. I've been so used to leaning into turns on my motorcycle, that I tried to do the same on the bicycle and felt the bike wobble underneath me. It doesn't help that my Dad is 6'5" and I didn't adjust his seat, I could barely reach the pedals.

Luckily, the ride was short and relatively flat. Once there, I got in a few wind sprints, then noticed an organized ultimate team wrapping up practice. I walked over and was about to introduce myself when I noticed one of the guys from Susie's condo party two weeks back. We chatted and it turned out they were just moving to a nicer spot on the field, and invited me to join. We played some "mini" (basically just a smaller field with the same rules as ultimate), and I shamelessly hand-blocked the guy I was guarding five times in about 20 minutes. I really should have backed off a bit, but he kept getting open, so I reasoned that my length and adeptness at hand blocks evened out his speed and getting open ability. That, or it made me play lazy D because I knew I could get the hand block.

On my way home, I had a situation that I'll probably tell my grand kids one day.

There were two softball games and a little league baseball game going on at the fields this evening--and we played our ultimate on the 4th field. As I was biking across the outfield, I noticed one softball game's outfielders were playing pretty deep. I check out the batter and he seemed to be a pretty big dude. I run through a few scenarios in my head--on the off chance he hits it at me, I'll either stop or speed up.

He hits it deep. Over the left fielder's head. Directly at me. I begin pedaling faster, then realize it will hit my back tire and possibly knock me over, since I've forgotten how to ride the damn thing. I decide to slow down and turn towards the ball, lessening my chance to be hit. Good idea in theory, but the ball bounces twice and pegs me in the knee. The left fielder looks back at the umpire and points at me--what?! I just saved a home run, don't bitch at me, lady! I sped away.

I've lessened my WoW playing since the summer school schedule has started, sorry Wawfuls, my bear pet won't be able to save you from death any longer.

I had a pretty kick ass 26th birthday weekend last weekend. Spent the night up at my parent's cabin Friday and Saturday nights, it was 90 degrees and I got to swim in two rivers and a lake. Took the motorcycle for the ride up to the cabin and explored a few very fun roads, had some great friends come up to share the weekend with, and ended the weekend on a grueling 2 mile hike that turned into an 8.5 mile hike thanks to yours truly. I thought the really amazing waterfall was at the end of the hike, but it was really just one mile in. At least I bore the biggest burden, not bringing any water and wearing sandals the whole way. Ow.

In My Free Time...

Week and a half of no posting, I'll get to it in my free time.

"I'll get to that in my free time" has become a running joke between my boss and I over the past few weeks. The saying means there is no way in hell we'll get to whatever you want us to do. Nobody at the office has had free time over the past two months, but I will in three weeks... gave my three-week notice this week, WOOO!!! Boss left on a 2 1/2 week vacation on Thursday, so it will be smooth sailing into my summer classes at UWB.

What's that? How was my Friday night? Spent dry heaving at 3am outside Jessica's little sister's house, how was your Friday night?

Must have had a good night up until that point. Yup. If I remember correctly (big if!), we walked over to Pies & Pints around 9pm or 10pm with the intention of playing some pool. Next thing I know, it is 3am and I am trying to go to sleep in the grass outside her sister's house. We did switch bars at one point, and I think today's headache may have to do with the fact that we switched from pints to pitchers at the new bar.

The day after a good spew is always very reflective for me. Why did I drink that much? I honestly didn't mean to, and I don't remember acting belligerent, but as soon as Jessica and I got back to her sister's house and sat down, my intoxication spiked. I excused myself to the couch on the front porch and was literally a second from ralphing into the bushes below when Jessica came outside to send me off. I tried to hold it together, but the only thing I could think of was the warm liquid steadily collecting in my mouth: the tell-tale sign that I am about to puke my guts out. I don't even remember saying goodnight, but I darted off around the corner and went to town on her sister's (eventually cozy) grassy yard.

The sight, smell and even thought of alcohol made me sick today. The fact that I was hosting a BBQ and was offered a beer two dozen times didn't help. We spent some time watching a Ninja Warrior marathon (it is as cool as it sounds), but a commercial popped up and it had two cartoon characters puking. I felt the bile start to creep up my throat and had to change the channel back to Family Feud. I was having a rough "morning," but when Jeremy stumbled in at about 1:30pm looking and acting 10x more hungover than me, I started to feel better.

I'm looking forward to Jessica's recap over at her slowly deteriorating blog, I hope her morning wasn't as bad as mine... but if it was, I hope she blogs about it! I recall winning all the pool games, and now she has to be beer bitch the next three times we meet up... at least I think that is how the bet went?! She moved from Juneau to T-town this weekend, so those meet ups will occur frequently! Although again, it may be a week before I touch any alcohol.

Free time at 2am on a Sunday morning. This shit is whack.

Spring in Seattle

Home--pretty much sums it up.

I'm not sure why I hadn't really felt it since moving back to Seattle last August. The last eight months I've mostly spent my time re-acclimating myself to my home town. Everything is different through older eyes. Everything seems smaller than it once was, which is depressing in a way.

Riding the 1200 miles up from Tahoe on my motorcycle, behind Dad in the Explorer, I had lots of time to think about my future. I knew living with my parents was going to be bittersweet. I love my parents, and love living with them, but I'm also ashamed to say I'm 25 years old and living with my parents. Somewhere in the middle of Oregon, I remember tackling the pros and cons of living with my parents, and I had this great vision of walking down to a local pub with my parents for dinner. We would buy a pitcher or two of beer, play some pool, and have a fun and relaxing evening together.

Last night, we did just that. The three of us played a game of shuffleboard (shuffle-puck?) and on the first throw of the evening, with no warm-up, my Mom rolled the puck down the sandy counter and it stopped perfectly along the back edge of the counter for a 4-pointer. We didn't roll another 4 all night (although I think I did manage to knock her 4 off the board). Dad and I got a game of pool in after dinner, and he was confident that I would sink the 8-ball out of turn. This is usually a good bet to make, but somehow I managed to sink it AFTER hitting all of the solids in--there's a first time for everything!

Today was another one of those perfect Spring days in Seattle, where everyone and their mothers go outside to catch some rays. Greenlake was popping again this Saturday, and I got in a good three hours of ultimate. John from my teaching program was out at the field with his pregnant wife and her sister who is a beast at ultimate. The four of us headed to Baskin Robbins after ultimate, and I got a triple-scoop Chocolate Mouse Royale. Dear God it was good. I hadn't had Baskin Robbins for years, and I was ecstatic to find my favorite flavor still intact. I actually feel like I am throwing my money away if I buy any other flavor of ice cream at Baskin Robbins, because Chocolate Mouse Royale is THAT good. Dark, rich chocolate, filled with little shavings of hard dark chocolate--come on! How am I not gonna eat that?

Speaking of pregnant wives, when I got back to my cell phone after ultimate, I received a picture message of Marc's baby, Claire. I love that name, and he is the first of my friends to have a kid, so he got to snatch the name before any of us... bitch. Congrats, Marc and Sarah :)

I got a few games of Magic in with Tyler, then the two of us headed to Marshall to hoop it up. Tyler hasn't shot a basketball in six months, but he still won the first game of 21. He retired on top while I hopped into a game of 2v2. My teammate was the other guy playing 21 with us, and seemed to be pretty decent... until we started playing 2v2, doh. We started off ice cold and he threw up a number of air balls. I think the other team scored 5 points before we sunk our first bucket. We were down 5-10 and 6-11, then I caught fire. I remember thinking "alright, time to get hot." 8-11. 10-11. 12-11. It feels so good to play bball when your shot is falling, and it was raining 3's at Marshall this afternoon. We finished them off when I faked a 3 and drove baseline to lefty in a rare layup (I don't make layups... ever).

Life is good.

Seattle is still different in my mind than the daily view I take in, but days like this connect the past to the present. I remember the sunny spring days down in Tacoma (close enough), where ultimate frisbee out on Todd Field played out from about 3pm to 8pm. The players would come and go, and the girls bathing in the sun would do the same. In Seattle, I remember plenty of sunny afternoons in Springs long ago, playing basketball and baseball games until dark.

Spring might just be taking over as my favorite season. I've always said Summer, but with Spring you've got these rare, amazing days that are my favorite. You've also got the anticipation of Summer. With Summer, you've usually always got nice days, but you look forward to a wet Fall, Winter and Spring.

Today is almost over, and I'd rate it 5/5 on spirit, 5/5 on body, and 2/5 on mind. Time to go read!

Jessica, Secrets, Death and Poker Poker!

Can't believe tomorrow is Friday. This week flew by. Jessica, an old friend and recent blogger, came into town from Alaska for the week, and prefaced her trip with, "I have a secret to tell you." Well shit. That could be damn near just about anything now, couldn't it? I took a few stabs at the secret. Was she pregnant? Engaged?... Single? Someone gave her Facebook a congratulatory "6 months!" comment, so I was pretty confident with my pregnancy call. We had made plenty of long-distance drink bets, but she's capable of pulling off a bluff like that.

Well, the secret was definitely not quite what I expected, and I'll leave it at that. We had a great time and talked for hours on Friday night at the little German pub Tessa has blogged about a few times. Jessica was staying at her sister's house, which ended up being literally two blocks from the church I play basketball at on Tuesdays and Thursdays--in a part of town I'd never been before two weeks ago. Her sister's house also is only five blocks from the German pub, with LITERS of beer. We each got a liter stein, drank, and talked while we watched the incredibly age-diverse crowd stroll in.

After our liters, we each grabbed a Guinness and hopped in the hot tub. We never really hung out much at UPS, but we played IM sports together all the time, and had fallen out of contact for a good three years. Facebook rocks, (go die in a garbage bin, Astin) and we never would have found each other if not for that glorious internet monstrosity. I took her back to her sister's, but we made plans for breakfast the next morning.

We headed up to Sunflower for a scrumptious breakfast, so scrumptious, we had to put off our basketball plans for a few hours. I wasn't really sure what to do on a lightly raining Spring Seattle Saturday, then the Henry Art Gallery popped into my head. She is an Art major, and it was a really cool experience to go to an art gallery with someone who knows her stuff. We'd be looking at paintings and photographs, and she would point out all sorts of things about the images I would have never seen.

We actually got to the art gallery before it opened, and had 15 minutes to kill. When my Dad and I shot photos of the cherry blossoms a few weeks back, he really wanted to show me the amazing reading room in the UW library, but it was Sunday and the library was closed. I took Jessica to the library and we were both wide-eyed at the room. HUGE room, maybe 300 feet long with dozens of long tables stretched from side to side like canoe seats. The ceiling is another 60-100ft high, and light comes into the room through very brilliant stained glass windows lining the East wall. It is really a sight to behold, especially with the hundred or so students scattered throughout the room, studying away. Jessica and I roamed around the room with huge smiles. I don't think I could get any work done in the room, I'd just stare up at the ceiling, or at the windows, all day long.

Jessica's trip got a big hiccup when her Uncle passed away early this week, so we didn't get a chance to get that game of basketball in, but there is always this summer when she is in town... right Jessica?

Classes are going--sure makes the day go by fast having no free time! Tuesday night was actually kind of funny. Natalie (carpool buddy) and I drove out to a School board meeting in Lynnwood, which is a requirement for my Weds. class. I offered to drive, because I don't drive in our regular carpool (I'm a bum!). I arrive at her house and as we're walking from her house to my car, her boyfriend shows up. Oh hey! she says. Introduces me, and I move to shake hands, but he just stares at her. Hands her some food, then gets back in his car and drives away.

"Ohhh man... that wasn't good timing," she says.

Um... what?

"We haven't talked for two weeks."

Um... what? gulp. We laugh about it, but the boyfriend doesn't return any phone calls or texts. I startle when I drop her off at night and a car starts up across the street from me and blasts its lights at me. I hope she doesn't get beaten.

The next night, I'm walking out from work and get a call on my cell from an unknown number.

"Hey, this is Chris."

"Hey Chris... this is Natalie."

Um...

"What's Up?"

"I... don't think I'm going to make it for the carpool tonight. I cut my finger with a paring knife just now, and I think I need to get it stitched up."

I hear: "I've got two black eyes and my boyfriend has your license plate number."

Luckily, she shows up to class 30 minutes late, with a huge bandage on one of her fingers.

Besides death-by-Natalie's-boyfriend, I almost died thinking it was a good idea to check the alignment on my motorcycle by going no hands along 65th on my way to work Wednesday morning. The bike started having a seizure on me, with the front tire wobbling side-to-side like crazy. I grabbed the handlebars real quick and somehow didn't fly off the bike. Lesson learned! On the way to class tonight, some idiot driver in front of me decided to merge into a lane with another car in it. The cars actually touched before both cars veered to the opposite sides and slammed on the brakes. Not far from death there on a motorcycle.

I'm giving serious consideration to abandoning the motorcycle come late August/September... but we'll see. I've got the beginning riding out of the way, and if I ever marry into money, I can get the next step up--a bike that doesn't wobble as much when I ride with no hands!

Finally, Thursday night rolls around. Class gets out at 8pm and I get to REST.

The Good Doctor had a post about the sinful small-stakes Omaha Eight-or-Better game we all love, and I've been craving some since Monday. I sat down and had fun...

1) J45T no hearts. Limped family pot. Flop is AJ3 all hearts.
I call a bet hoping for a deuce. Turn 2. Woot! Blank river and the flush takes the high, I take the low, and a sucker mucks his flopped set.

2) Unraised pot. Make a pair of Aces on the river with a paired board and flush, folds around.

3) Raise pre w/ J2A7, win the pot on the JTT flop.

4) HUGE pot, QQ34 raise UTG, capped 4 ways. 8KQ rainbow flop, 3-bet 4 ways. J turn. Deuce River and I scoooop.

5) very next hand: J5A9 in BB. Flop 9K5 w/2 diamonds to my A-hi diamond flush. SB raises, I re-raise, folds to him and he calls. Turn 5, boat up. Check Raise Call. River case 5. He checks, I raise, he Re-raises (mwah ha ha), I re-raise, he calls and mucks his QQ w/flushdraw (behind the whole way I think?)

6) Try and steal with A57T on a Q46JA board, end up taking 3/4 the pot

And I got the fuck out of Dodge, up 3 buy-ins at limit O-8! There's a first time for everything!

I forsee ultimate frisbee and a whole lot of reading in my future!

First Day of Spring

What an absolutely gorgeous day. Up here in the Pacific Northwest, we're known around the world for our rainy weather. We like that image.

Does it rain in Seattle? Yup. All the time. You wouldn't want to live here, hit the road, buddy. That's what we tell Californians.

Now sure, it does rain here a lot during the rainy season, but then we get weird days like today. All week it had rained off and on, and the temperature couldn't have gotten above 55 degrees. For some reason, today was 70 degrees and I do believe I got a bit sunburned at ultimate. I optimistically checked the weather just now for tomorrow, and it is back to 55 and a few showers. Next weekend?

High of 44 degrees and chance of snow...

In poker news, the bankroll is reaching critical levels, and I may be joining Mrs. Chako in her bankroll management method.

Classes are going well. John from the teaching program was at ultimate today, and we eventually got to chatting about the program. So far, there has just been reading, writing and discussion. Nothing too time-consuming or crazy. The professors have been testing the students a bit in class, trying to let us know what we're getting into. Some of the students are getting a bit squeamish, but I think John and I are pretty similar when it comes to our personal goals for teaching. It is really the only thing I can think of that fulfills all of my wants in a job. Having a cushy job, or a job that makes a ton of money isn't high on my list, and those could easily be two of the biggest factors for people not wanting to teach.

John also invited me to play in a basketball game Thursday night after class. He plays with a bunch of guys (and a few good women ballers) Tuesday-Thursday nights, at a gym that he's got keys to. The game is a little on the late side for work nights, 9pm-11pm, but any other time wouldn't fit into either of our schedules. It is pretty much the exact scenario I was looking for. I was thinking about getting some friends together for a summer basketball league team, but my friends are scattered all over Seattle--trying to coordinate everyone for a league team would suck. Pickup basketball is perfect.

Thursday night was a lot of fun. It was my first time playing a pickup game since last summer in Tahoe. I didn't make it in time for the first game of the night, but I got into the second game and my (relatively stacked) team held court for the rest of the night. The only woman in the gym was on my team, and she had played college ball, and had a sweet jumper. She must have hit 6-7 3-pointers during the course of our 4 games.

Friday night I went out with friends to another Magic tournament. This time we headed up to Edmonds, and I got my ass handed to me once again. I didn't win a single game all night long. It was doubly frustrating, because I had some decent cards, but just got outplayed. Think I'll take a break from these tournaments--they were fun, but I could find much more enjoyable ways to get spanked for $15.

MAGIC

*written Friday afternoon while still at work*

I'm not quite sure how to introduce this, so I'm just going to say it: my friends and I are going to pay money to play in a Magic: The Gathering tournament tonight at a card shoppe. Even with braces, glasses, pimples and a bowl haircut, I thought Magic tournaments were too dorky for me as a kid... but we're going to do it tonight. I am going to get my ass handed to me by nine year olds. Luckily for me, my little contingent is planning on hitting a happy hour beforehand, so my protective "socially responsible" guard will be down well ahead of time. I can't wait to curse out some kids and knock over some tables if I lose. On the off-chance I win, it'll be fun to gloat and mock my mentally and physically dominated opponents.

For the record, Jeremy started the "Let's go to a tournament!" idea, and for that I hate him. For life. Not really, but... we'll see. We've been keeping an ongoing email dialog, and receiving those emails has turned out to be a shining moment in my work day:

---

Chris: With all of us going, I don't have too much of a preference, if Tyler thinks Edmonds would be more our pace, I'm fine with that. I'm going to bring a nalgene full of cran-vodka to spice up my draft, I don't know about youz guyz.

J: let me get one of those! I can see it now: late in the 3rd round drunken Chris elbows his opened top nalgene spilling delicious beverage all over some magic fiends collection. Magic fiend's friends encircle Chris. Chris and friends make daring escape ... or die trying.

we're playing for pushups as well.

C: lol! Let's do it! public humiliation push ups are the best---and no deoderant allowed Fri. night.

T: Agreed! 5 per loss, and 3 to give out to whomever for each win? We need to get some team jerseys... Orlando Magic anyone? :p

C: I bet we could get some of the "locals" in on the pushups, if so, we've got to form an alliance. I call president. If you can hook a brother up with a Jameer Nelson jersey, I'm in. Tyler, can you do me a huge favor and walk over to REI and buy me four nalgenes? (Seriously, I'll pay you back tomorrow)

---

This is going to be fun.

My friends and I started playing Magic: The Gathering waaay back in middle school. I remember being hesitant to follow in Marc and Jeremy's footsteps then, because of the dorkiness factor. I eventually relented, because going to school, playing ultimate frisbee after school, then walking down to Marc's house for hours of Magic is what our little group of friends began doing every day. We kept it up through the first few years of high school, but eventually moved on to greener pastures.

My Magic cards sat and gathered dust for the next ten years... *cue Desperate Housewives narrator* but time has an interesting way of revealing who we really are.

Upon my triumphant return to Seattle last Fall, Jeremy, Marc, Tyler and I decided to dust off the old cards and get a game of Magic in. It was a blast. Instead of Mountain Dew, we drank beer, but pretty much everything else was the same good ol' times we had back in middle school. We talked plenty of shit, smited people to 1 life, then let them hang around before one of our egotistical asses attempted to kill off everyone in one spectacular display of wizardy (boom). This usually ends up getting countered, and that guy dies first.

Jeremy made the very bad decision to start collecting new Magic cards again, and he's boughten two, if not three BOXES of cards since we started playing again. Tyler has thought up masterful deck ideas and boughten specific cards to kick all of our asses. I've pretty much just taken my beating like a man. I do my pushups for losing, then hop up and get my ass whooped again and again. Jeremy has even gone to a few draft tourneys by himself already. What a donk. Draft tournies sound like a lot of fun though, because everyone starts out equal (much like a poker tournament). You get to pluck one card from the pack and then everyone passes their cards to the left, and you pluck one from that package and pass the pack along until all the cards are gone. You do this two or three times, then you start play with the cards you've drafted. There is some luck involved, but I'd argue my lack of skill will make itself known before a single card is played.

Until tonight!~

*Post-Tournament Update*
Well, there weren't any children or ladies present last night (big shocker on the latter). Jeremy had said that kids and women kicked his ass last week, so I came prepared to be humiliated--luckily I was only humiliated by my peers. I went 0-5 on the night, and apparently my drafting skills need a bit of tweaking. You end up drafting 45 cards, but only use 22-24 of those cards in your deck (16-18 mana). Almost all of the cards I drafted I could use, which made it difficult to whittle my deck down to 22 cards (I ended up playing a 49-card deck which is unheard of, and I went 0-5, so there is a reason doing so is unheard of).

BPP Week 15: Flowers

Dad and I went over to University of Washington at noon, to catch the amazing two-week window of cherry blossoms blooming.

1982 Back Rubs

I set out to splurge on Friday night, and I accomplished my goal. The acceptance into the UW-Bothell program is both a beginning and an end. I'm in, and the tests I've taken, and the classes I've attended since last September have all paid off. From my initial epiphany in Tahoe one night last summer, to a few days ago when I got my acceptance letter, I always thought there might be some big, unforeseen road block in my way to becoming a teacher. That still might be the case, but from this point forward, the train is on the tracks, and I just need to give the train some momentum and it will start chugging along.

These next 16 months are going to be rough, and I will need to be cheaper than Uncle Scrooge in order to survive. Going out and spending a lot of money doesn't make the most sense, but I had good company last night, and decided one last hurrah! was in order...

Princess Leia and I went out to Anthony's on Shilshole for a late dinner, and ended up running up a $115 dinner bill. Not even close to the most expensive meal ever eaten at Anthony's, but end bill was more than double the most expensive meal I've ever paid for. We had an amazing (and relatively cheap, for the location) $30 bottle of white wine to go with our borderline orgasmic crab cakes. Those two were the highlights of the meal. The entrees weren't nearly as memorable as the crab cakes and wine. I had my heart set on the Ahi, but Anthony's was all sold out.

We came back to the house, looking forward to the hot tub. I had talked with my parents earlier in the day, and I hinted at the possibility of opening a bottle of my birth-year wine. I asked Mom if Dad would kill me if I opened a bottle of 1982 wine. She responded by quoting my father as saying, "I expect 1982 back rubs in return!"

I agreed, but on the condition that those back rubs don't accrue interest.

I picked out a bottle of Bordeaux, from 1982, and I was extremely excited to pop open the cork and taste the best wine I've ever tasted. Unfortunately, the wine was terrible. Princess was almost certain the wine had gone bad, most likely by getting oxygenated. The cork split in two, hot dog style, after pulling it out from the neck of the bottle, and it didn't look in great shape. The wine was potent, but in an old paint-can way, not in the "pitcher of amazing beer" potency. We let the bottle of wine breathe unintentionally, by getting distracted by the call of the hot tub.

I am in such a weird spot lady-wise. Last night was exactly what I wanted, and the friendship with Princess Leia seems like a typical friends with benefits relationship--one that I've never experienced before, and never really had a desire to be a part of. I'm not really sure I want to continue the benefits side of the friendship, because I have a feeling it will lead to oddness in the future. I've told her I'm not looking for a relationship, and I'm fairly certain she isn't looking for a relationship (at least not with me), which makes the friendship odd. I think we'd be perfectly fine just being friends, but since neither of us is seeing anyone--and we are physically attracted to each other--it only makes sense to enjoy ourselves.

Seattle Seasons

This image was my favorite from tonight's batch. Everyday growing up, the sun's blinding light would illuminate our kitchen. When I was much younger, we used to eat at the kitchen table every night. In the winter, the sunset had come and gone long before we sat down to eat. The sun wasn't a problem, but with a dark, reflective window in front of me, I could never resist making faces at myself. For some reason, Mom didn't find this funny.

Certain times of the year, it was nearly impossible to eat dinner at the kitchen table--the entire kitchen was brighter than the sun. We'd escape and take our meals into the living room and eat in front of the TV. Dad would usually get nominated to close the kitchen door as the sun descended, blinding the unfortunate fool eating their meal on the couch (usually me).

On the longest day of the year--Summer Solstice, June 21st, my sister's birthday, my original due date, every few years Father's Day--the setting sun wouldn't disrupt our dinner. Not by a long shot. The sun didn't set until 9:30pm or later. On the day before my ninth birthday, a few days after Summer Solstice, I remember finding it impossible to get to sleep. I was giddy with anticipation for the fun, chocolate cake, presents, friends, mini golf and arcade games the next day. It was hard enough to fall asleep with all those thoughts running through my head, but the sun still shining brightly behind my closed curtains made it nearly impossible.

Despite popular opinion, Seattle does have its seasons. They just aren't measured by drought or snowfall. The seasons in Seattle are measured by sunlight...

...at least on the days we get to see it through the clouds.

Unfortunate Revelation

I'm still reeling from that last post. I woke up this morning wondering why the hell I blogged about what was happening during my entire Friday. I felt like Randy Newman in the episode of Family Guy.

This clip isn't from the show (again with the copyright!), but it is at least the audio of the scene I'm talking about:



Probably not going to do the half-day post again anytime soon.

This weekend has been absolutely perfect weather-wise. 55-60 degrees and sunny in February--I'm still shocked. I've gotten motorcycle rides in both days this weekend, including a sunset-catching ride over to Alki with Princess Leia last night. I tossed the disc a bit yesterday, and after talking with the princess before our ride, it turns out that I missed about four hours of pickup ultimate with her and friends--damn! I was jonesing for some ultimate, but luckily for me I checked out the pickup locations today and found a game down at Montlake that was starting right as I found the website.

I hopped on the motorcycle and rode down to Montlake, and ended up playing in a very relaxing, wide skill-range, and very friendly game of ultimate for nearly three hours. It was exactly what I needed. We cheered before every pull, usually just something silly like a quote from a movie line. We did one from Juno: "We're not mature enough for this!" and quite a few cheers with respect to the sunny February day. I've got Slog in the Bog coming up in two weeks with the Tacoma team, so getting out and running around until I was exhausted was perfect. I also got my first layout of the season, which was a freaking sweet left-handed full-extendo grab near the endzone. I'm still picking leaves and twigs out of my underwear. CK knows what I mean!

Also, after we finished playing and all of us were walking back to our vehicles, two of the "attractive young women" ultimate group saw my motorcycle and demanded rides next week. The ninja is finally paying dividends!

Sadly, this weekend wasn't all hot tubs, girls and motorcycles, like last weekend. On to the unfortunate revelation part of this post...

I think I may be allergic to cats.

This might not be a big deal to a lot of people, but I have grown up with cats, and they are by far my favorite animal. I remember using Sally as a pillow when I was younger. I don't think being allergic to cats will stop me from having them around, as long as the allergy doesn't get incredibly sensitive. I hadn't noticed the allergy until this weekend, when Watson insensately kept climbing up on my chair and swashing his tail around my face. I couldn't stop sneezing. I've only had short-haired cats for the past three years, and the four years before that I was in college, with no pets around. Watson isn't quite a fluff ball, but he's got plenty of hair. The past few weeks, when I thought I was sick, are probably due to all of the cat fur I have been too lazy to clean up around the house. I'm going to give all the furniture a good clean tonight, so hopefully the constant sneezing and runny nose will go away.

Seattle Sunset

In the top picture, I was trying to capture the surreal lighting of the sunset, but instead wound up with a neat spider-web tangle of tree branches.

The second picture isn't great, but it is the only picture I took which shows the contrast between the dark clouds and the long-forgotten, but still amazingly bright, sun. When all you have to compare clouds with are other gray clouds, I forget how gloomy it is up here in Seattle. But then the sun shines and opens mine eyes to the shocking truth.

Don't

... go getting all cocky on me now, Bremertron! This might be the only time in history it is raining everywhere BUT Bremertron. Usually, it'll be 70 degrees and sunny in Seattle, and just pouring across the Sound.

But not tonight! Enjoy it while you can, Bremertonians, you've earned it!