casual ultimate » 2007 » December

well the christmas is long gone and new years is just around the corner. although lots of the usual chicago suspects will be in portland witnessing the wedding of dr. mercer there are two big events going down for nye in chicago so hopefully next week will be bloggarific with the recap of action from both coasts.

the first is a party being thrown at the real world logan square. our very own brown bear, along with other casual ultimate notables have concentrated domestic power in another location closer to the double deuce and they are throwing the new years jam this year. rose bowl themed. should be bananas.

also michelle, our lovely chicks and drinks planning princess, has coordinated a brilliant party just blocks from the casual / brizzle residence. heres the flier. 15 bones all you can drink. seriously. on new years. also the beer sponsor is fat tire which is amazing and there are tons of djs and its in the same spot as the sadie hawkins after party. holler! dress to impress. you can buy tickets in advance even at www.myspace.com/holyrollernyc.

I’ve gotta say. It’s really not that bad. There’s pretty much no one here. I’m wearing jeans. I’m listening to music. I’ve already masturbated twice. Ok, that last one’s not true. Still though, not bad.

I started listening to Pandora.com on a friend’s recommendation and I’m kinda digging it. It’s streaming music that is similar to Thievery Corporation right now. I just typed in Theivery Corporation, and it makes rocket go. Also not bad.

I’m dating this exquisite creature that the earthlings call “Tracy.” She is like a cross between seafoam icing and freedom. Not bad.

I guess the work that I’m supposed to be doing should be taking priority right now, but I can’t say that I’m too fired up to get it done. I’m happy to say that I’m not too opposed to getting it done either though. Man, peanut butter sounds good right now. Does that mean that I’m pregnant?

I heard some rumors about Ultimate next year. I’ll put them in order of confidence:

1) Everyone will wear helmets next year through Regionals. Nationals: same rules as always, no helmets.
2) All three captains of Revolver are gone for next season (2 retirees and 1 traveler). I sort of had it tucked in the back of my head to play with them this year, but now I’m not so sure. We’ll see.
3) Jam is way more talented than Revolver and has less character.
4) Wendy Chan has a several photo spread of a layout D she got on game point against Shazam in semis against a dude (Jon Ladd to be exact). It’s in the UPA Newsletter I think. Check it out.

Yeah, those last three may/may not be true, but the first one is certain. I suggest Gaia chinstraps by the way. Very comfortable, but order them now if you want them to get across the border by the Fall Series.

I’ve been thinking about the old body and about some of the “greats” of frisbee past lately. There are many that played at the top for however long or not even at the top for however long, and now their bodies are wrecked. It’s a little concerning. I don’t want to have all kinds of junky joints and handicaps as I raise my kids. When we’re playing in the Townhouse Backyard, I want to be able to run around and bend and jump and do all those sort of things with my kids. Basically, I NEVER want to lose in a game of 1-on-1 basketball against my child. The reason I play Ultimate today is to be in shape for when that day rolls around and my kid is up 9-8 in a game to 10 in the backyard. I will beat him. I will rise to that challenge. I will foul him flagrantly if he comes into the lane. This is my house. Ya betta know dat, son!

I think Ultimate is doing a fine job of preparing me mentally but perhaps not physically for that challenge. What if I get really hurt and ruin my whole “knee area” or my whole “face area” (those are medical terms)? Hell, my room-mate had surgery on his eye after playing one game of winter league. I’m not sure this is the best sport for people who want to not be broken old people.

And on that note, Merry Christmas to all of you in the US. If you are not in the US, rot. Cho, I’m looking at you…although I can’t see you because you are very small and at a great distance. If you are reading this, feel my cyber-gaze.

Oh, and Jews. Hope that festival went well. That’s a pretty cute little holiday you guys have. Awesome. Jews.

its that time of year when you are expected to cough up the dough to show your loved ones you.. well love them i guess. also its the time of year when the blog kind of degrades into open emails between ms. ultimate and myself. what can you do?

i finished my christmas shopping on michigan avenue monday evening (except for tbrizzle which well get to later…) and it was actually very festive and fun. i usually hate shopping here because my office is here and as soon as i get out of work i just want to flee as fast as possible from the parade of babystrollers, tourists, and aggressive 100 pound blonds that make up the shopping public. but monday night it was snowy, i had gotten a christmas bonus (woohoo!) and the lights were on so i bounced along and got into the christmas spirit by spending the evening surrounded in a cloud of bliss and consumerism.

and i got everyone taken care of except tbrizzle. the thing i wanted to get him was sold out. but really.. what does one get for the dude with everything? how about a patagonia t-shirt? oh wait… okay how about something with basset hounds? well… or maybe bike related stuff? okay now youre just being mean.

ill figure it out. meanwhile ms. ultimate is finishing up ivy leaguing to come home and shop, eat and watch tv like the good old days. only a couple days to go! lemmings is already on red alert.

don’t ask me how i came across this video, but i wanted to share it because of the stage composition: full symphony, deep purple, what appears to be a pirate, a dashiki, three men in tight black clothes and one in, i think, a leotard. and of course more than enough man hair to go around. and then there’s the audience. i think next semester is going to be all about theme dressing. one day i’ll dress as a cowboy, the next day as ian gillan, then as my favorite scientist, maybe an astronaut on thursday. it could be fun. tomorrow i’m wearing my hooters sweater for good landscape ecology karma. giddy up!

last night i ate everything pictured here. i was about to take a bite of squirrel leg when i noticed there was still a little fur on the meat so i passed. apparently it wasn’t that great anyways. but you know what was surprisingly good? beaver stew. very tender. tbrizzle, i’ll get the recipe and we can make some over break. the moose kabobs were also delicious, I think it had something to do with the marinade. next year i want to bag a bear, maybe a wolverine. nothing primes you for a night of paper writing like the life force of a half dozen woodland creatures coursing through your veins.

remember several years ago, when i was a vegetarian choking down beans and rice? what was i thinking? god bless the forestry school and my fellow classmates who provide. the plan is to learn how to shoot a bow and a gun next semester, then maybe go hunting. so instead of sitting at a desk somewhere in an office building trading pollution, i can be out on the plains tracking the majestic buffalo. you can all come visit me in my blog cabin. i mean, log cabin.

well im back from the town family christmas and i have to say the weather up here is not as bad as the news made it sounds. i thought i would at least get a day or two off because of the ice armageddon that was going on but i suppose i missed the worst of it. certainly not the sunshine state but for chicago its not bad.

family holidays are great because of tv. man we watched a lot of 30 rock and it is so so good. for my money it doesnt get better than when tracy jordan sings ‘imagine christmas wishes shooting out of your eyes’ while dictating his biography. it was a tougher holiday than usual for me for some reason and since i am not open with my feelings and like to use humor and denial to avoid situations that are difficult in any way.. 30 rock really came through for me. as did the flight of the conchords. those dudes are funny too. like check out this french song.

so im just going to relate one scene from 30 rock, mostly for c(b)r because he makes fun of me for saying comfortable looking shoes are for lesbians. not comfortable shoes but comfortable looking shoes. well theres an episode where jack sets liz lemon up on a blind date and it turns out to be a woman. she storms into his office afterwards and says ‘im not gay!’ and he responds ‘those shoes are bi-curious at least.’ so im not alone.

also watching tv last night tbrizzle had an idea for a dating wesbite called ’settle.com’ for the mature dater who’s ready to give up. unfortunately settle.com is taken but were thinking about besticando.com or readytosettle.com. look for our youtube promo to be filmed over ms. ulty’s christmas break.

6:15 am: slider wakes me up for the second day in a row by repeatedly scratching/headbutting my bedroom door. though drowsy i barrel out of bed, visions of yesterdays rectal explosions fresh in my head, eager to avoid another such incident perpetrated indoors.

the dog seems in fine spirits today, leading me cheerily through the house with a spring in his step and a wag in his tail that i consider cheeky for early morning use. It occurs to me that he may just be waking me up to lead me to the treats bowl; having learned the day before that i will rush to his smallest need when his bowels are threatening. the possibility of this makes me feel like a patsy. am somewhat relieved when he goes past the food bowl to the back door, where i release him to the outdoors.

i follow along to see what i’ve been woken up for. i will keep things mature here and only say that his output in the slush and mud of my backyard as seen during a pre-dawn chicago sleet was admirable, and thoroughly justified my awakening. as he was outside for quite some time executing various maneuvers i went back inside and put on a pot of tea. i decided to make some hay out of this situation and unload the dishwasher, after several precautionary hand washings.

slider evenutally is able to return to the indoors, demand another bowl of water and settle back down to bed. i notice that he is able to fall asleep immediately. fantastic for him.

i return to my bed with a full mug of chamomile tea and my big picture book of fish, thinking that i’m going to need some transitional time to get back to sleep. in my drowsiness i misapprehend the true location of the chair next to my bed thus spilling the very recently full mug of tea all over the fish book and the bedclothes. lacking the energy to care, i wipe off the book and move my better pillows to the far side of the bed. the noise has upset the dog and woken him up and he is once more in my room and wants a treat for his trouble. defeated, i oblige.

moments later i hear him rustle himself back into his premium polarfleece bed upstairs. it is 6:45 am and i am wide awake.

It’s Christmas time in Townville. We are all gathered in Pompano Beach, FL to annualize our love for each other. How do I love thee? Let me count the years that I have come to this same place in the month of December.

This year, we tried something new: not playing tennis. Here’s some pictures of the tennis we didn’t play.

(footage not found)

I’d just like to make positive mentions or “Pos Mens” of two gifts in particular. Mama Town has a tradition of giving Jess and I a particular gift every year. For Jess, it’s an angel. For me, it’s a nutcracker. However, this year, she took it to the next level and created a nutcracker of me at Nationals in all my Brass Monkey gear. For Jess, she created this bike-riding angel. I think the symbolism is quite powerful. I have powerful jaws that can be controlled from my lower back in real-life, and Jess is a messenger from God in real-life. That’s why it makes sense.

Here are the pictures:

this email discussion happened today and i thought it was appropriate to share. anyone have any others???

ms. ultimate : I thought you prodejiners would appreciate this: apparently my school has its own font. It’s called Yale Design. weird.

miss casual : our office has its own font too. we just call it ‘lucien’. i think instead of christmas presents we should design fonts for each other.

i would like mine to be called ‘jesstown classic’

tbrizzle : cbr and i talked last year about designing family crests for each of our friends—like quartered shields with relevant symbology on each quadrant. i think the russells would be fun:

enormous dog, Ohio State, big sweatshirts, and People Magazine, divided on invected saltire.

volkmans:

brussel sprouts, ham sandwiches, disc golf, and a toyota echo, emblazoned on a cross fitchy.

towns:
great hair, frisbee, tennis, and saturns, on an azure plain with dovetailed fess.

by the way, in the course of my research into medieval heraldic terminology, i came across this image, which clearly must have been the crest of the early Brown family. I can just picture the early Charlemagne Brown, lovable loser that he was, constantly being let down by his friends and family, suffering through the crusades with a wry “good grief!” and getting a rock in his stocking at Whitsuntide.

c(b)r : not sure where Whitsuntide is but Charlemage Brown is awesome.

ultimates’ - recycling symbol, star of David, crucifix and a beagle.

miss casual : b-r’s - a hyphen, a pickup truck, a basset hound and laptop

sheesh long time no post. i tried to verbally assault the blogging staff at casual ultimate for not keeping up their end of the bargain but what can you do? its the holidays. so all verbal harrassment aside heres a pic of our cu dinner over thanksgiving weekend. if you read the blog last year you might remember a similar dinner but this year the role of bjorn was played by our dear friend jason who recently moved into the double deuce. the cu staff bumped into him during our holiday shopping outting the day after thanksgiving in wicker park. sometime between american apparel and a drink at the new bar on division (becky you were right.. not too bad) we found our fifth for dinner.

wednesday night was great. very vintage casual ultimate happy hour style. early dinner at piece with heards of people, some of the newleyweds (the hales’s and the bayers) plus the usual suspects including out of towners (heyo becky and pat were in town!) and then we rolled to lemmings. ah lemmings. ms. ultimate was already there when we finally made it up damen. and not a minute too soon. somehow cbr managed to tell tbr that no one had gone to lemmings and they ended up at cleos for a bit before coming by but it was a good night nonetheless. one thing changed since ms. ulty left town, though: the dress code at lemmings. now our viking and other, undisclosed c.u. staff members didn’t mind this ladies backless shirt (jesus woman, at least wear jeans that fit!), but ms. ulty was shocked enough to ask the bouncer when the neighborhood started going downhill. bjorn and ulty then adopted a ‘if you can’t beat em, join em’ mentality, seen here. slept late on t-giving and then ms. ulty moved into the brizzle / casual residence in time for a screening of elf. smiling is our favorite!

the rest of the weekend passed by quickly in a whirl of shopping, tv, and driving to dinner right down the block. we motherfrickin love this country.

anyways it was sad to be without bjorn but he made it home last night in time to watch some football in bucktown and discuss the phenomenon of flirty girls gym : a place for skanks to work out. this place is an actual gym with more pole dancing classes and pillow fights. probably what cbr thinks women do at the gym anyway.

p.s. couldn’t we have named this post the bjorn identity?