casual ultimate » 2008 » August

I’ve been listening to Dre’s Chronic again at work this week, and it’s so good. Sidenote: got a part-time job doing data work. It’s actually really good. Flexible. Mindless. Listening to a lot of really good music and speakers. Feeding my manic obsession with Alt-Tab and Alt-Shift-Tab. Oh yeah, and making money while wearing sandals and occasionally being mistaken for the Geico Caveman.

The Wayside State, pictured at the Make-Out Room in SF, is getting treacherously close to getting our first album done, and Continuum (for those who remember the hip-hop project I was a part of in Chicago) is about to release our second album finally after 3 years of life happening to all of us. Fittingly, that album will be called Goosechase.

Hey, do me a favor and friend my band on Myspace (www.myspace.com/thewaysidestate). We don’t send out announcements, and we need to hit 1000 fans to get booked at a few clubs out here. Thanks in advance.

To get current, Tracy and I broke up a few months ago, I had arthroscopic surgery on my right knee for some cartilege damage, I’m planning to start school this winter to get a master’s in counseling psychology (big shout out to Curry G for some help with that), and I think I’m building up an army of some of the coolest ex-girlfriends in history. Pretty respectable pick-ups for any Poultry Team as well (T-Riles, Dr. Rah, and Canned Ass). Mine against yours, any day of the week.

Labor Day Champies are this weekend down in Santa Cruz, and the men’s division is totally obscene. It’s Nationals, and I’m bringing my bike and a fiddle I think because that’s how it is these days. I just realized that at the last two tournaments I played at the UCSC fields, my team was in the finals (Bruisers at Fools with Bjorn and Revolver at Cal States). Those fields are a little slice of heaven, and I haven’t checked but Subzero’s Andrew B might be playing too. What could be better than watching him break marks at those fields? Nothing.

I’ll be around next Thursday (9/4) if there’s any beach ulty to be played, and my bandmate Erin will be coming out to play the wedding with me, so you all can hit on her if you like. I’ll also be chilling Thursday and Monday during the days I believe, so let’s get coffee or go to a 12-step meeting or something.

well we’re less than two weeks away which i think means im supposed to give up sugar, alcohol, red meat and white flour and hope for best. i mean the dress fits fine and i think were mostly ready… but honestly ive spent a lot of time the last few weeks sitting on the couch watching the olympics and wondering which fake tanning option will make me looks the least round in the photos. heres a picture of me eating cake out of the pan in preparation for the main event.

i actually went to sephora to check out the mystic tan aerosol can thing they sell but quickly decided against it. i think you need to be a pro to apply that stuff. the last thing i need is to look like my skin is melting because of all the fakeness running off of me.

actually this weekend i spent drawing little maps of the cottage with where all the tables go and working out who sits where. sounds easy but.. it gets complicated quickly. especially with a different venue as the rain plan. i feel like all this planning has been going on for eternity. to be honest im almost as excited for it to all be over as i am for the party. its fun.. kind of. its also stressful… kind of. i know our engagement has been relatively short.. 6 months. i mean lots of people are engaged for a year or more and i have no idea how they do it. you must be on the verge of tears for the entire last month. i think the shorter the better. if i had it to do over we might go even shorter. with time against you the important things get taken care of the rest goes by the wayside. which is great. screw programs and bridesmaids with matching shoes. lifes too short and no one will remember them anyway.

It’s Thursday afternoon, and I am two days out of arthroscopic surgery on my right knee. You know what they say about arthroscopic surgery…so I won’t bother to repeat it.

I was in Colorado this past weekend for Colorado Cup in Boulder, CO. It was a pretty good time although I was not playing. Revolver took 14 healthy guys to the 100-degree heat and altitude of Pleasant View Soccer Complex this weekend and played great. I couldn’t believe how hard those guys were pushing despite the less-than-ideal conditions. We had 4 double-game-points out of 7 games. In all 4, we were coming from behind (10-12), and in all four we were pulling at 12-12. We won 3 of the 4 which is just amazing. Besides the one that we did lose was to Jam, and that’s no big deal since they’re just our rivals and since many of us have been cut by Jam. Nope, no big deal that I can see.

Anyway, the altitude disc was kind of cool. I was trying to see what the difference was, and I think that it’s similar to playing indoors. A lot of throws that normally wouldn’t work, do work. Also, all of your throws tend to tail off to the I/O side instead of the O/I side. If you don’t know what that means, you are too casual, even for this blog, or you are old and are still talking about putting more “heiser” on your “sidearm”. The pulls tended to hurry up at the end of their flight instead of slowing down, and it was very difficult to make a big O/I pull that didn’t fall off at the end to the I/O side or just blade into the ground. The folks that figured that one out on the weekend were able to put their pulls on the back line with a lot of air under them very easily. Pretty exciting to watch.

I’d say that the surprise of the tourney in the Elite division was Truckstop. After our double-game-point loss to Jam, we were thinking we would take out our frustrations on Truckstop, and not only did we not do that, we got humiliated by them something like 6-13. It was sort of an ugly game at times with 40 mile-per-hour gusts and sawdust from the local construction sites occasionally blinding players, but still, these guys punished us and did the same to several of the other teams this weekend. I think they finished 4-3 like everyone else in the tournament except Voodoo and Bravo, but in my opinion, they deserved to be in the final against Bravo and proved that with a 1 point loss to the home team.

God, I hate reporting about Ultimate.

So I spent Thursday in Denver, and I had a really good time. It was scorching hot and dry, and I walked up to a coffee shop, met some folks, one of whom was named Benjie and reminded me a LOT of Becky. It was spooky to listen to her talk. Anyway, she and her mom gave me a ride over to this swanky neighborhood called the Highlands where I had a good burger (which is nice coming from San Francisco where there is no such thing) and read for a little while.

Friday was Boulder time, and I took the fiddle out to Pearl St., bought a Scottish Highlands Fiddle book and learned some new songs. I sort of chickened out on playing in the street, but I did play in a parking lot and for a bunch of Zeitgeist girls and children on Saturday during the showcase game. There’s something magical about playing. It took me from a sort of “standing on the sideline” mentality to a “participating” mentality. It was nice. The day finished with me meeting my two best-looking teammates, Eric and Nick, in Boulder and then getting dinner randomly with some familiar faces: Sally, Candice, and Ness at Mountain Sun Brewery. Awesome beers. Awesome times.

One comment about Denver and Boulder: people are really fit there. Also, I was gawking at some of the women this weekend. It was 100 degrees and they were beautiful and wearing really pretty summer dresses and skirts and shorts and legs and legs and legs. My god, I didn’t realize what living in San Francisco can do to a guy (other than make him feel confident in his homosexuality). I didn’t realize how long it had been since I had seen a woman’s legs, but with the fog bombarding the city and the highs in the 50’s and occasionally the 60’s, all I ever see is the occasional biker girl cankle out here. Makes a brother want to move to Colorado.

Also, I have a type. I met three women (non-frizzer women that is), and they were all between the ages of 31 and 34, all beautiful and athletic, and all in relationships.

Dear 20-somethings,

I feel old talking to you. Please leave your home phone number and the date that you turn 31, and I will be in touch then. It would be helpful if you were already married or at least in a relationship at that time.

Best Regards,
Chuckles McChazzerston

I am on the cusp of something really good in my life. It’s exciting. I can feel a shift happening toward more happiness, more openness, more serenity. I suspect some of that may be the narcotics I am currently taking, but some of it is not. Sometimes an alphabetical gratitude list can be a useful tool. I am grateful for Asking questions, Baked goods, Candice, DVD’s, Emergen-C, Fiddle, Great Lakes, Highlands, Inside-out backhands, Jokes with Jess (I love you, Jess.), Kindred spirits, Learning, Meagles, Narcotics, Outdoors, People, Quiet, Riffing, Swear words, Total Recall, Ultimate, Vacations, West Coast, Xtehn (I love ya, buddy.), Yaz (a band, and now a drug), Zahlen (respect). Holler back.