Merry Christmas!

Today, Bryan and I cleaned a chandelier.

Before:

Halfway through (the top row hasn't been cleaned):


After:

Yes, we took down each piece one by one (there were about 200 pieces altogether), dunked it in water, dried it, and put it back on. It was kinda satisfying. :)

I'm losing it

Esther: im really liking my classical radio on pandora

me: i'm really liking my lady gaga mix on pandora :D

hehe what's your classical mix

i should listen to more calming music

Esther: hahah

nice

i put yoyoma and yiruma

so mostly strings and piano

im also really liking my cookie from crumbs

haha

me: hehe

Esther: its 510 calories

hahaha

me: oh

it's an actual cookie

i thought hrm... "my cookie from crumbs" is a really neat band name :P

strange for a classical band but you know... maybe it's... progressive

Esther: hahaah OMG

It's my party and I'll pie if I want to

Apple crumb pie

With two different kinds of apples!

Pumpkin cheesecake

It cracked :(

Cheddar pear pie

It looks... interesting, like it has worms on top =P

(Key)lime pie

Jiggly.

---

Thanks Sluts!!
(we made the pies! together!)

Pie Thought Process

Thanks to everyone who voted for pies! (Except for jSun, who voted for everything twice and essentially disqualified himself.)

Anyway, the current votes (as of right now, Tues. 11/16, 1:00pm EST), in order of rank are:

1. key lime pie (12 votes)
1. apple crumb pie (12 votes)
3. chocolate silk pecan pie (10 votes)
3. pumpkin pie (10 votes)
3. pumpkin cheesecake pie (10 votes)
6. mocha walnut pie (9 votes)
6. chocolate bourbon pecan pie (9 votes)
8. cheddar pear pie (8 votes)
9. peanut butter pie (7 votes)
10. cranberry pie (6 votes)

Because key lime pie and apple crumb pie are the current winners, I am going to make those two. I've never made key lime pie before and I don't think I've had it before either (so I have no idea what it's supposed to look/taste like). But it sounds good (I like lime sorbet...) so that'll be an adventure. The recipe doesn't look too involved either.

As for apple crumb pie, I'm kinda sick of making and eating it (I think I made 4-5 apple pies in 2 weeks after our apple picking spree last month). But I promised Michelle that I'd make her an apple pie when she came over. And I am true to my word, so I will be making the boring apple crumble pie. "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one hundred percent!" I think I just referred to myself as an elephant. :(

There are a few pies that combine nuts and chocolate to varying degrees and kinds: chocolate silk pecan pie (10 votes), mocha walnut pie (9 votes), and chocolate bourbon pecan pie (9 votes). They all sound pretty amazing, and I conveniently have a groupon to Petsi Pies so I think I'm just going to buy one (the chocolate bourbon pecan pie). Hey! It's not a cop-out! This just allows for a larger variety of pies to be served at the pie party :) Plus, pecans are expensive.

For the last pie, I'm having trouble deciding between something pumpkin-y (the pumpkin cheesecake pie) and the cheddar pear pie. If I were to make something pumpkin-y I'd go with the pumpkin cheesecake pie since I've made pumpkin pie so many times already (but from a can, not from a real pumpkin). I personally don't really enjoy pumpkin pie... Bryan loves pumpkin pie so much that he could finish off a whole pumpkin pie in a day if he wanted to, so when I make pumpkin pies, he and the rest of Antrim eat all of it. So if I were to make the pumpkin cheesecake pie, I'd probably eat very little of it.

The cheddar pear pie sounds either disgusting or delicious, but I think it'll be an adventure either way, and I've been feeling adventurous, so I'm prooobbably going with the cheddar pear pie, even though it got a pretty low pie ranking. Don't hate, it's my party, I get to make whatever I want :D

So there you have it:

1. key lime pie
2. apple pie
3. chocolate bourbon pecan pie (from Petsi Pies)
4. cheddar pear pie

Oh, and I know I've been saying I'd email people about the pie party, but I'm lazy so if you wanna come, just come, no need to bring anything unless you wanna bring another pie!!

11/18, 9:00PM, Antrim. Email me if you need more instructions.

Sigh...

B was listening to me talk to my grandma in Taiwanese:

B: "What does 'uhm-men' mean?"

K: "It doesn't matter. Oh, it means, "it doesn't matter." or "no need.""

B: "What is it in Mandarin?"

K: "Bu2-bi4"

B: **snicker** **snicker**

K: "What?"

B: "BOOBIES!"

K: **head slap**

No sideburns for you

Monday night I gave Bryan a haircut because he getting more and more fur-ball-ish. I did it once in the summer and it actually turned out fine, but I wanted to do it more regularly to save money and I think it's kinda fun... like living art or something.

I used a "2" on the sides/back, and then used scissors to cut the rest of his hair. After I decided I was pretty much done, Bryan hands me the clippers and says, "use the comb as a guide to taper the sideburns." And I thought, "I don't need a comb, why do I need a comb?" not realizing that he had taken off the guide on the clippers. heh heh.

Wellll so I put the clippers up against his temple and the next thing I knew his sideburn was gone, and I was like, "OOPS." And Bryan was shocked for 2 seconds, and then put on his disapproving face for like 10 seconds while checking out the damage in the mirror. And the whole time I just couldn't stop laughing. He tried to get me to shave off his other sideburn so he looks even but I was laughing way too hard to be trusted with clippers so he had to do it himself.

Next month, I will do better. :D

[**EDIT**] Ok so I know it's not much of a post without pictures, but to be honest, I don't think it's that bad. Some people say guys looks weird without sideburns, but I feel like I didn't shave that much off and it doesn't actually look that weird. =P

Larry vs. Bryan!

Larry wins for sure. =P

Nice try buddy

B: "Wanna play in fall club on Thursday?"

K: "Ok" (I told him I'd play more frisbee with him and just spend more time with him in general)

B: "Ok! I'm excited, I have been going over a particular play in my head. Wanna hear it?!"

K: "Ok, shoot."

B: "Ok, I'm in the middle for ho-stack, and you're in the middle to handle."

K: "Ok, that's typical."

B: "And then you throw to me for an in-cut, and then I give it back to you, kind of like a big dish, and then you huck it to me as I run deep."

K: "... ... You know Smeri and I have been doing that for like the last 3 years, right? That's the play "Smeri to Karen to Smeri to Karen to Karen to Smeri to Smeri..."

B: "Oh..."

Regionals Recap

The weather of both Saturday and Sunday of Regionals at Devens was really windy with gusts of wind. Hatch had a first round against Middlebury. My muscles were really tired throughout the entire first game and I seemed really out of breath all the time. I was really worried because I skipped a week of track workouts and agility workouts and I don't know if that really affected me or not. Basically I didn't do any physical activity except for serious dance partying at our wedding. =P We worked on our man defense for the first half and zone/clam for the second half, came out 13-2 at the end.

Next game was against Brute Squad, a really fun game. I think my adrenaline kicked in during this game so I was breathing better and my legs felt fine during this game. I remember throwing/cutting well during this game and just being really excited for the team. Hatch was just really pumped during this game, we had nothing to lose so we played all out, trying to set the tone for the next game against Storm. Final score 13-6 Brute.

Next game was against Storm. Both teams had a lot of drops and it was a really messy game in general. We went down 7-2 at half. I remember throwing a upwind backhand huck to Jenny in the endzone for one of the scores; that was pretty exciting. Storm poached off the sideline handlers a lot which messed up our downfield flow, and even though we practiced this situation last week during practice, it took us a while to remember how to play against it. They kept the disc moving quickly, used the break-side very well, and had really accurate I/O breaks. They had one cutter that kept moving (I think #11) and it was really tiring trying to cover her. Final score 13-4 Storm.

We had a bye where we watched Mixed Nuts play against (and beat) Sucker Punch. They looked pretty good except for some miscommunications between cutters and handlers and messy endzones.

Last game was against Chaos Theory, won 13-0.

On Sunday we had a first round "bye" because one of the college teams dropped out. So we started off playing Missconnduct. We traded for the first three points, dictated mostly by upwind/downwind. At 3-3, I got put on the line that scored the first upwind point! And I got my first layout D ever!! I was defending a downfield cutter and she was cutting in on the open side, about 5 yards away from the sideline. It's been one of my frisbee goals to get a layout D all season and I finally did it! I've been visualizing it happening for like over a year now and when it came down to it, I didn't even know I had laid out until I was on the ground and my girl didn't have the disc in her hands. Yesssss

So we scored the upwind break and then traded some more and then got another upwind break, so the score at halftime was 8-6. In the second half, we didn't let up and finally won the game 15-8. It was a really satisfying win and everyone on Hatch played really well :)

Our next game was the game-to-go for the 4th and last bid to Regionals. We played Storm who we lost to the previous day 13-4. There were a lot of drops and misthrows/turfs because everyone's nerves were all out of whack. Both teams played a messy game and there were plenty of turnovers for both teams so we definitely had our chances. Even though the final score was 15-4, I felt like the game was much closer.

There were a lot of silly and unfortunate drops in the endzones. In my mind I can remember three of them distinctly: 1) We had called a timeout literally a yard from our endzone line and we had Doris cutting in from the second from the back. She was wide open, like 5 yards in front of her girl, and the disc was put to her but she fumbled and dropped it. 2) I hucked to Suzanne in the endzone and she was milking it for more distance because there was NO ONE on her. I guess she got too excited because she fumbled and dropped it as well. 3) Maya was alone in the endzone, back corner and was going up for a huck that was easily well-within her reach. But then at the last second, a gust of wind took the disc and made it fly waaaay over her head and it flew out the back of the endzone. I know these are all silly, small things, and I'm not pinning blame on anyone, I know I have done my share of mistakes in this game and in my frisbee life in general, and I know the score ultimately doesn't matter that much, I don't think we could've won the game, but I believe the score could've been a lot closer. Oh well. =P

All in all, I think Hatch played really amazingly this weekend and everyone did something out of the ordinary that she could feel proud of. I had a great time this season and I've been enjoying seeing all the pictures that get posted on facebook and sentimental emails this week.

But for now, I'm really glad, scratch that... I am overwhelmingly ecstatic!!! that this club season is over. I feel physically, mentally, and emotionally burnt out. I have literally played frisbee for 3 years straight, overlapping seasons of college and club since the fall of 2007. And even though I loved every season and developed long-lasting friendships that will continue through my non-frisbee life, I'm really really glad to be done with frisbee for now. It just takes so much effort to be so invested in a team (two teams!) and personal development over such a long period of time without breaks. I'm ready for a real off-season, to sit on my butt a lot, get my weekends back, let my muscles recover and get fat. hehe.

Yess!! Weekends!! How I have forgotten what it's like to have weekends! It feels amazing to answer the question "What are you doing this weekend?" with "I don't know! Nothing?!" Ahhh how joyous and carefree :) Don't get me wrong, I loved playing in tournaments, and practices were alright (I mean, I like tournaments more and practices are definitely necessary) but it just feels so great to have free weekends now ;)

Ook, I think in the next several weeks, I'm going to have a series of posts on 1) how to be a better handler, and 2) write a few wedding recaps once I get the pro pics back. I think writing will help me find closure to this hectic year of frisbee and wedding craziness. Bye!! :)

Regionals!!

Tomorrow! Kinda nervous, but also really excited :)

Rainy sucky public transportation

Taking the #1 bus / green (E) line to lab everyday (a 45-minute to an hour ordeal, each way) sucks enough already, but it's 10x worse when it's raining. First, people take their sweet time adding money to their charlie card while a line of people wait outside in the rain behind them. Then on the bus, people don't know how to move to the back of the bus to make room for people in the front. It's like their afraid of getting stuck back there or something. People will let you back out! Just say "excuse me" really loudly and tap some shoulders if they can't hear you to get out of the way.

Then there are the people who leave their wet umbrellas on the seats of the bus, leaving a big soggy mess for the next person who wants to sit down. REALLY? Have some courtesy and put your umbrella on the ground or something. So there would be a crowded bus with like 3 empty seats that people can't sit in because there are giant puddles of water on them.

Then there are people who let their hyper screaming kids freaking stand on the seats. Kids with muddy rain boots, so now not only are the seats wet, they're muddy. UGH.

Cigarette smoke stinks so freakin' bad, but it's so much worse in the damp, stagnant air of the bus. So if you're sitting in front of someone who smokes, doesn't matter that they're not actually smoking on the bus, their breath smells like they've eaten 10 cigarettes for breakfast, and they're just breathing on your neck for the 20-minute bus ride while you're trying your best not to feel nauseous.

I hate the bus. I hate it even more during rush hour in the rain. qweiojasdfnlzp. UGH.

OMG I HIGH-FIVED SHAQ!!!!!

omg omg omg i know we're on our honeymoon and i'm supposed to be not facebooking or emailing or gchating, but i just have to say this... I HIGH-FIVED SHAQ!! Bryan and I were at Busker's, a bar in Newport, and Bryan saw Shaq getting out of a car and walking right past our window at the bar. And he's like, "OMG it's Shaq!" and I was like, "whaaat?" because I was eating and not paying attention, and Shaq's car was still there on the street and his driver was waiting for him with the car running, so I went outside to look for him and a minute later, Shaq comes back, and people driving by were giving him high-fives and cheering, and right before Shaq gets into the back of the car, I'm like, "CAN I GIVE YOU A HIGH-FIVE??" and he turns around, looks down, smiles, and puts out his hand and I slap it, but it was more like a slow-motion high-five slap because I couldn't believe that was really happening. And the whole time Bryan is sitting in the bar witnessing this. But yea... OMG I GAVE SHAQ A HIGH-FIVE!!! EEEeeeeeEEee!! So exciting!!!

Smeri hasn't lost her touch

Look at this 10-day forecast:


Sunny up until Saturday, and then rain showers for the next 4 days. Hahaha sweet! I know our wedding isn't outdoors, but it's still nice to have a rain-less wedding. :) Congrats Smerbear! You haven't lost your touch :)

The Ridiculous

So I get a random email from my dad today saying that my brother Gordon might not be able to make it to my wedding because his supervisor is being difficult and denied his request for time off. "So, make sure you have a backup plan in case your brother can't make it." (!!!) So I called my brother and asked him what's up and he says, "don't worry, he said something that implied that I can go." ... ok ...

So turns out that two weeks ago when my brother switched units (he's in the army), his new supervisor approved his request for time off, signing a form that says he can take a few days off to come to Boston. Then yesterday, Gordon got called into his supervisor's office and the supervisor said, "I never signed this. This is not my signature." Whaaaat? So he signs off on the request and doesn't recognize his own signature?! I asked if he's old and senile because I could see a really old person not being able to recognize (or remember) his own signature. But apparently he's not that old, maybe forties.

Anyway, long story short, Gordon got put on probation for being insubordinate, then he tried going through someone else (another superior maybe?), then getting in trouble for going behind his original supervisor's back, then getting counseling for something or another, then got taken off probation, and somehow through all the mess his request got approved (again) so now he can come. Yay :D But really, was all that hassle needed?! Jeez.

Philly Fusion

We went 6-0 at Philly Fusion, coming out on top in the "regular pool." It was fun but not really challenging because most of our games were kinda lopsided. But it was fun to cut for a few points when the handlers had it under control for ho-stack. I even caught a few deep from Daphne and Jenny! Role reversal! Cutting is a lot of fun, especially when you're the third handler and your defense doesn't expect you to start cutting or go deep :)

Some of my family have arrived in Boston! It's so exciting to see my relatives and it makes everything more real. Like... Bryan and I are actually getting married this Saturday! People ask me if I'm nervous or stressed. I don't think so... I'm more excited than anything else :)

Random Things

• Driving to PA this weekend for Philly Fusion. *please no traffic please no traffic*
  
• Growing out fingernails is really hard. When I got my nails done for the engagement photos I asked for a french manicure and he said my nails were too short. So the last time I cut my nails was Monday or something and it's only been 4 days but they're already starting to bug me, esp when I type.
• Got my eyebrows done for the first time two days ago with Doris and Sluts. Went to Beauty Spa between Harvard and Porter and it was $15 and it looks super, at least that's what I've been told :) And now Doris has eyebrows too!
  
• Met with Hei La Moon yesterday morning and turns out there are two weddings on the same floor. The other wedding has 400 people... 400!!! The manager kept wanting to push us further and further in the back and I was like, "We're having a wedding too! You can't just push us away just because our wedding is smaller!" =P
• Our meeting with Hei La Moon was a mishmash of Canto, Mandarin and Engrish. I might have said one phrase in Taiwanese. It was pretty awesome. I'm pretty sure the manager just thinks we're crazy now.
  
• A cousin emailed me two days ago, 9 days before the wedding, to ask me if she could bring her boyfriend to the wedding, who her parents (from Taiwan) want to meet for the first time. I was about to say no but I called my mom to ask her for her opinion, but my mom was like, "but everyone wants to meet him!" Ughh.
• I'm learning how to work better with Bryan. I'm trying to let go and trust him more. It's not that he's not great at everything he does, it's just that I'm a control freak.
• I bought the best green grapes from Star Market on Wed. They're so big and juicy. Heehee
• Some of my family are arriving tomorrow (Saturday), a week before the wedding, to explore Boston and hang out. And I'm not even going to be here! I'll be at Philly Fusion. I can't wait to see everyone :) I don't remember the last time all of my family was in one place. :)
• I'm worried about my dad. I hope he has enough strength to fly here, to be in all the excitement and enjoy himself, and fly back to Cali.
• Tosci's randomly gives out free shots of hot chocolate during the day. And after 5pm, all the pastries are free! (Eugene's favorite kind of pastries... the free kind =P)
  
• The Arnold Room at the B&B where we're staying on our honeymoon got booked. Oh well.
  

Sectionals Day 2

Played Harvard for the "semis" and won 13-2. Played Brute in the finals and lost 13-2. We scored the first point on my huck to Jenny in the endzone. Then the rest of the game Brute scored a lot on the breakside and a few hucks to people in the endzone. Even though we had our chances (we had the disc on our endzone line a few times), we couldn't convert. Oh well, it was still a really fun game for us and the intensity was really good.

Mixed Nuts ended up placing 5th in the section, having some really close games with the 3rd and 4th place teams. Good job guys :)

In other news, I have my own theme song :) heehee you guys are the best!!!

Sectionals Day 1

Yesterday we played 5 college teams, we won 13-0 for all 5 games. We split the team into two teams per game so that each half-team would play for the first or second half. We ended pretty early, around 3pm, and a few of us stuck around to watch the Mixed Nuts game. They did really well yesterday as well, undefeated in their pool, which is a huge upset considering they were seeded 5th out of 6. Today they need to win a game in their first two games to secure a bid to regionals. Good luck guys!

Today Hatch has a first round against Harvard, and then a game against Brute Squad. I don't know how we've gotten by the last 2 years without ever playing Brute Squad (in sectionals or regionals), but today will be the first time that Hatch will play Brute. Exciting!

Also, it feels weird to be sitting at home at 10:30am on day 2 of sectionals. Our game against Harvard isn't until 1:15pm. The mixed nuts first game wasn't even until 11:30am. Who was using the fields this morning? Anyway, I'm not complaining, I got to sleep in (9.5 hours!), eat breakfast, do laundry, and write this entry. :) Scorereporter says something about taking a shuttle bus from a satellite parking lot 1/4 mi from the fields if you arrive after 9:00am since the real parking lot will be full. I'm guessing there were soccer games there this morning then.

I love this picture: Butterball and Cassie sitting-dancing:

dreamFAIL

I had a dream about Sectionals last night where we were playing on a clay court similar to that of the French Open. And the field was the same size as a tennis court's. I kept thinking, "This is so weird, how do you score in an endzone this tiny?!". It was literally like 10 yards deep. And then I couldn't huck... all my forehand hucks were blade-y. And we were playing 6s because we didn't have enough people. And Shuangy was on our team and kept getting confused between our new Hatch oranges and the color of the clay field. It was like combination tennis and our first club sectionals and Shuangy's colorblindness. OMG sectionalsdreamFAIL.

Reg Day! and other random things

Feels weird to not be organizing stuff for sMITe. Haha. Today was the reg day game and BBQ. Yay go smite :)

How come there is no Shaq Versus this week? :( Last week's was awesome... Shaq Versus Justin Bieber. Except they didn't really compete. They kinda just put on a show together. The abc website is advertising a portion of it as "Shaq versus Justin Bieber in bowling!" I guess they also had "Shaq vs Justin Bieber in how long they can hold their breath under water!" Justin Bieber won both. Hehe

18 more days until the wedding! There's still a bunch of random small things that I want to do. (I'm trying to avoid saying "needs to get done" or "things that I have to do" because it makes it sound more urgent and important that it actually is.) On that note, is anyone going to Target in the near future?

Waiting to see when Lemony Fresh Cape Cod is this year. I finally got up the courage to gChat him and ask when it is and he said he'll figure it out sometimes this week. Lemony Fresh in Rhode Island is Oct 2, but that's before regionals so I don't think that's going to work out for us.

I need to revise my resume so I can go to the career fair next next Thursday. Hey that's two days before the wedding. =P

Went through a bunch of college pictures last night in attempts to find some pics for our fake slideshow, and found some HILARIOUS pics of John Joo, Charles (with a bowl cut!), and Jin (half of them with asian glow). Ah memories.

Track workout time! 50s! My fave distance. haha.

Best night ever!!!

Last night I...

• had sweet corn ice cream on cornbread with caramel with caramel popcorn
• discovered my friends' hidden talent of clothing design
• wore a bump-it
  
• left a trail of pink feathers wherever I went
• got 100% on my homework and some extra credit
• saw a new side of one of the members of smerenis
• made lots of new friends with people from different schools and countries
• had sooooo much fun with the best people in the world! thanks guys :)
  

Definitely don't need these

Guess who

**EDIT** Apparently I'm not really good at explaining this game. So Bryan/Eugene/Anna were ASKING the questions, they are not necessarily the person I'm answering the questions about. In fact, the answer is not any of the three. Also, all the questions/answers are all about the same person. You're supposed to use the Q&A to figure out who the ONE person is... I hope that makes more sense.

(Actual conversation from today... Bryan/Eugene/Anna were asking questions and I was answering them.)

Q1: If this person were an item at McDonald's, what would (s)he be?

A1: Egg McMuffin

Q2: If this person were a Cambridge establishment, what would (s)he be?

A2: Wendy's in Central Square

Q3: If this person were an item at Home Depot, what would (s)he be?

A3: 2x4

Q4: If this person were a way to die, what would (s)he be?

A4: Being crushed by a concrete slab

Q5: If this person were a mode of transportation, what would (s)he be?

A5: A mule

Q6: If this person were a dinosaur, what would (s)he be?

A6: Triceratops

Q7: If this person were a character from Super Mario Brothers, what would s(he) be?

A7: Luigi. Or a mushroom guy.

I'll give you a cookie if you can guess who it is.

---

More questions about this person:

Q8: If this person were a donut, what would s(he) be?

A8: Blueberry muffin cake donut

Q9: If this person were a terrain, what would s(he) be?

A9: City road with annoying potholes

The most "unique" wedding gift...

It's (supposed to be) us! In traditional Chinese wedding garb! =P Yea... they're from a few labmate friends who used to be in Boston but they moved back to Taiwan for post-docs/professorships. They aren't able to make the wedding because of the distance but they did send us a very... thoughtful... and unique gift... So what do you think? Should they make an appearance at our wedding? Hehe.

Note: They're about 8 inches tall...

Chesapeake Open

I think I went to Chesapeake Open with the wrong mentality. A few days leading up to the tournament, I was mentally preparing myself to play all out. My goals were to win every offensive point I was on, and play shutdown defense on every downfield cutter I was guarding. I wanted every decision to be a smart, calm, intentional decision and the execution of my throws and cuts to be flawless. I wanted my play to be integrated with the team so that we functioned as a unit and that we would be so in-tune with each other that we would just know where to throw, where to clear, and where to cut. I wanted to play so that when I looked back on the weekend, I'd have no regrets, and that there wasn't anything I did or didn't do that could've helped us play better as a team. I always have lofty goals for myself that I never achieve, but there was an element of my goals that was missing.

I felt like I focused too much on myself and my personal performance rather than helping the team get better as a whole. This was one of the few tournaments where I didn't look back and think "OMG why did I do that?!?!" for every other point. In general I'm pretty hard on myself in terms of personal performance for a tournament, but for Chesapeake, I have more positive sentiments than negative ones. That definitely doesn't mean that I think I played amazingly, just that I thought, in general, I played well. Anyway, I think one area of improvement for me is being a better teammate, giving better constructive criticism in more constructive ways.

We didn't have Jin for Chesapeake, so I felt like we had to step up as a team to motivate ourselves, to find our fire to play to our potential. In the past we rely on a coach to tell us what we're doing wrong, to make us do sprints when we have a turnover to remind us of our mistakes so that we would do better in the future (whether it's because we're avoiding sprints, or because we have something to be angry about and some people play better when they're angry). I don't know how other people felt about our tournament, but personally I didn't feel like I was on the same wavelength as the team in terms of intensity and fire. And I'm not sure why. Maybe I was focusing on myself rather than the team, maybe I was just distracted with other things, I don't know.

Anyway, I don't know what I'm getting at, but that all in all, Hatch did ok, and we have much to improve on. I don't have the line sheets with me and it's been a few days since the tournament, so I'll just write a few highlights that were memorable to me:

• I really enjoyed playing with the new cutters on Hatch. A few of them didn't go to Winston Cup so this was my first tournament playing with them. There was a big difference in my on-field chemistry with new cutters who I've never played in a tournament with, and the new cutters who I've played in one tournament with. And it was fun learning how to play with new people and developing connections :)
• There was one point in our last game of Saturday against Blue Route, where there was a turnover and I saw an opportunity for a fastbreak when Suzanne and I made eye contact and she just sprinted deep. I ran to the disc, picked it up and threw a backhand huck. As I ran after her, she caught the about 15 yards from the endzone, and I got the dish back from her on the open sideline. Most people were still clearing wide (good job guys) so there were only 2-3 people in the endzone after stall 5. I saw a Blue Route defender poaching in the open lane, watching me and not the stack, so I just put a flick huck to Suzanne for the score.
• Shortly after the double-huck-to-Suzanne point, Blue Route set a zone on us, which I normally love, but I couldn't for the life of me, stop sneezing violently during this point. Bernie was about to throw to me (I was a wing) and saw me sneezing away and almost dropped the disc because she almost let go of the disc as she faked at me. Somehow during the point I got the disc, and saw someone going deep, so I hucked it while I was still sneezing. I normally start moving right after I throw but in this case I decided it wouldn't be worth it, so I stood there sneezing for the next 20 seconds as the rest of my teammates scored. When I came off the field, my eyes were really watery and there was a lot of snot in my nose. So I blew my nose and there were definitely two dead ants, and some dirt, that came out with my snot. =P I think they might have crawled in when I was taking a nap on the ground during our bye the previous round, but that means that they've been in there for more than an hour and a half (warm-up, and this happened during the second half of the game). I know, I know, ewwwww. I was really grossed out too :(
• Jin's parents are so awesome and smiley. I now understand why Jin is always so happy and smiley all the time. :) They had so much food for us and took such good care of us all weekend. They even had beef noodle soup for us on Friday night and Saturday morning (which EP ate and then threw up on Saturday =P). They also took some of us out to Chinese food lunch on Sunday. :D This is definitely the most well-fed I've been at a tournament lately.
• Our zone offense looked pretty good all weekend. There was good movement of the disc among handlers/wings, and when the disc got through the cup, the poppers/deep cut in for easy passes upfield. It was really fun to watch :)

Things that we can work on in the next few weeks:

• Starting better. We worked on this at practice a few weeks ago, but I think we still need work. In all of our games, we were down at least 1-4 before we started getting our heads in the game.
• Dumps. Our dump cutting is getting better but can use some more work. Handlers mirroring each other when the disc is trapped, looking for the swing after every dump. Using the dump/swing as an offensive move rather than just a reset of the disc.
• People holding onto the disc for too long. Handlers and cutters should be looking to dump it after stall 4/5. We should play a game where stall is at 6 or something.
• Straight up force. Still need more talking from the downfield D to help the mark. A lot of times we're just not taking anything away.
• Endzone. We would have a lot of good flow upfield and then endzone was ehhhh not so good.
  

Chesapeake Open

Hatch is going to Maryland this weekend to play in Chesapeake Open! We're the last team in the "elite division." There are 10 teams in the elite division and 5 teams in the regular division. Dunno how that works but, COOL! :)

AND we're getting new jerseys!!

AND we're staying at Jin's parents' house.

YAY!! EXCITING!! :D

My goals this weekend:
1) every decision is a good decision: throw to people who are 100% open in or away, dump swing at stall 4, stay out of the way for cutter ho-stack, good communication among handlers
2) defense: backpedal, stay low, stay to the open side, don't get broken on the mark
3) be a good teammate: active sideline, keep morale up, be better about talking to individuals

My what big calves you have...

Bryan was looking through the pictures that Sluts took this past weekend and saw this one:


B: "OMG! Kaaaareeeeen... Are my calves really that big??"

K: "Yeah..."

B: "They look so big! I had no idea how ridiculous I look..."

K: "They look fine. They make you fast."

B: "They're so big! I'm sad."

K: "The camera adds 10 lbs? To each calf?"

Tell Bryan not to be self-conscious about his calves. :P

Wedding stuff

The most fun parts of wedding planning (so far):

• Taking pictures for save-the-dates
  
• Making invitations
• Writing addresses on the invitations
  
• Wedding discs
  

The most stressful parts of wedding planning:

• Guest list
• Collecting/waiting for RSVPs
  
• Seating chart for the reception
• Feeling comfortable in my wedding dress
• Getting the wedding day schedule together
• Anything in Chinese
  

People/vendors that make wedding planning easier/fun:

• The people at Pyara (Dru who coordinates appointments, Johnnie and Nora who do make-up)
• Shang our photographer: fast, reliable, full of helpful information/suggestions
  
• Liver who drives me everywhere and never fails to provide opinions/suggestions
  
• Nicole at MIT-CAC who takes care of MIT chapel reservations, parking, rehearsal BBQ reservations
• Beckybear who seems to be the number one fan of our wedding :)
• Esther the bestest gchat buddy maid of honor ever, who remembers the details but also helps me remember the big picture of the wedding.
  

BUDA Tournament

This weekend Wuwu played in the BUDA summer club league tournament in Devens, MA. On Saturday we won our pool, beating out Demons (15-13), Live Poultry (15-6), and Flowchart (15-10) in the first three rounds. Then we played on our first crossover game against Grassburner and won 15-12.

On Sunday, we played on a second crossover game against BBN and won on universe point (15-14)! We even presented them with a spirit pickle, garlic, and tums (we didn't have any spirit award slushie tickets to hand out today).

In the quarters of the elimination bracket we beat out GoThrilla (15-6) to advance to the semis. There we lost 10-15 to Capture the Dream. Today's conditions were pretty crappy: a light drizzle to an all-out rain on and off throughout the day. Some wind in the Capture the Dream game plus their zone defense forced a lot of turns from us in the first half of the game (4-8). The second half was a lot closer but our first half deficit was too great and we couldn't pull it through at the end.

And some pictures courtesy of Sluts:

Bandit, the adorable 2.5-month old puppy that Footsteps and his gf brought on Sunday!!

Wuwu 2010!

I got kneed in the back on Sunday when I unsuccessfully tried to D a huck so I feel like I have a bruise on my lower spinal area, but I can't see it. And for some reason my chest also hurts, and I have no idea why. My groin and hamstrings are sore but that's normal after tournaments.

Chesapeake Open this weekend! :P

Package!

Today I got a GIANT box (500-ml Nalgene for size reference):


I knew what was inside, so I was really surprised at the size of the box Amazon decided to use. I opened the top:


Stuffing! I guess that's not a surprise. And then several layers of stuffing later:


A drying rack! Because Bryan and I own like 30 dry-fit articles of clothing between the two of us =P I guess it's mostly my stuff with my underwear and sports bras, but his jerseys take up a lot of room!

Tournaments!

Between now and 9/25, I have four tournaments and a double practice:

1. 8/21-22: BUDA tournament in Devens (I know it's not a "real" tournament, but since I'm captaining the team I figured I should show up, even if I'm going to walk up and down the sidelines in a bathing suit to work on my tan ;) )
   
2. 8/28-29: Chesapeake Open in Poolsville, MD - flying out Fri evening, returning Sun evening.
3. 9/4: double practice, then bachelorette party! There is definitely going to be a nap between the double practice and the b-party =P
4. 9/11-12: Sectionals (Lancaster, MA)
5. 9/18-19: Philly Fusion (Manheim, PA) - Since the fields are two hours from the airport, we're planning on driving (7 hours one way). Road trip!
6. 9/25: Wedding while everyone else has a double practice =P

I was talking to a friend about this a few weeks ago and he said, "I can't believe you're still playing with the wedding so close!" In my mind, I was thinking, "How could I not? I would get fat and go insane if I didn't." And then he said, "Most people would be like, 'can't get injured.'" Oh crap, he went there. I've played ultimate for 5 years now and have never had anything where some ice, stretching, strengthening exercises, and down-time couldn't take care of (knock on wood) and it just never occurred to me that this could be a possibility. I mean, there are lots of times when I definitely feel tired and old, but nothing that requires an ambulance. Eh, just thinking about it gives me the creeps.

Practice today

I feel like I played particularly horribly today. I don't know what it was, maybe I was distracted by wedding stuff, maybe I just feel like I am kinda burnt out. Maybe it was because I played like I was better than I actually am. I don't even know if that makes sense.

• I threw an I/O flick break to Kquan who was actually curving her cut to the open side in ho-stack, so I overthrew her on the break side. I should've known that that's the more realistic cut, but for a split second, I thought she was so much more open on the break side so I threw it anyway.
• I cut for a swing of a swing. It was thrower to Jackie as the dump, to Claudia as the swing, and for some reason I decided it was a good idea to make another swing cut from the front of the stack. Except it just turned out to be a really horizontal cut. The throw was really far from me and I really had to reach to grab it, but I caught it for the score. And I heard Doris say that that was a really horizontal cut, which I knew, and I knew I shouldn't have cut for that, it should've come from the back of the stack, but I made a split decision that turned out to be dumb.
• I threw a huck to Doris who was going deep but I should've seen the deep defender because they were bracketing. Sometimes I have trouble seeing the field. I need to scan more.
• I was on the sideline but the D wasn't trapping, but for some reason, I just saw Doris open for the flick towards the center of the field. And I didn't fake, which was largely the trouble because I threw straight to JJ, her defender, because I couldn't see beyond my mark (Deanna). If I had faked backhand to move my mark, I would've seen that Doris wasn't even cutting there. For some dumb reason, I just assumed Doris would cut there because in my mind, that was the logical cut to make.
  

I think those were most of my big mistakes during scrimmage today.

Performance-Enhancing Poo

Just Doo It

Sometimes intentional and other times triggered by nerves, the Performance-Enhancing Poo is standard both for competitive athletes and for people with high-pressure presentations looming on the horizon. With empty bowels, you can run faster and jump higher. Similarly, the absence of stool in your colon will make your presentation crisper and diminish fears of an unscheduled pit stop or a loud gaseous emission. Although these poos may not have the grandeur of some, their timing is critically important.

(Aug-17 entry of "What's Your Poo Telling You?" 2010 Daily Calendar)

An alkie's heaven

Bryan and I took advantage of tax-free weekend yesterday and went to Kappy's to buy our wedding alcohol. We filled 3 shopping carts (that didn't include the wine yet).

Giant bottles of champagne. One for me, one for Bryan =P

We bought:

• 18 bottles of red wine
• 18 bottles of white wine
• 2 handles of vodka
• 1 handle of captain morgan
• 1 handle of bacardi
• 1 handle of gin
• 1 handle of whiskey
• 1 case of mike's hard lemonade (regular and lime flavored)
  
• 1 case of smirnoff ice (party pack!)
  
• 2 cases of woodchuck's hard cider (so excited about this one :) )
  
• 3 cases of Sam Adam's
• 2 cases of Corona
• 11 magnums of champagne
  

Which comes to a grand total of:

$774.25

Now all the alcohol is sitting in a corner of our room:


And as I said earlier, this party is going to be off the chain! :) Thanks Liver and Charles for all your help :)

Main Street Massage

Daphne and I went to Main Street Massage in Watertown yesterday (we had gotten the livingsocial deal a few months ago). The massage felt so amazing after a tournament. And my masseuse told me at the end, "I'm not gonna lie, you're really tight everywhere, especially your glutes." =P Then she told me to do a bunch of things that I know I should do but don't do enough of: foam roll, stretch, and drink more water. =P

Winston Cup (Charlotte, NC)

Even though I have a lot of stuff to do today, I don't feel closure about a tournament unless I process it through writing about it =P So here's the short version of Winston Cup this weekend:

Game 1 (vs. Alloy) Final Score: 15-1

• Started off with man D to get our legs going
• Made it a goal to come out hard, which we did!
• Our offense looked good most of the time, but when there was a turn, there were MANY turns. Conclusion: don't turn it in the first place!
• Zone worked well during the second half, cup stayed together and were pretty effective.
  
• I tried getting a dish from Jenny but collided with two defenders and hit my head pretty hard on the ground. I wish I weighed more so I can stand my ground better. Took a few points off, but played the rest of the day with a minor headache.
• The scored their one point when it was 14-0. Almost a bagel.
  

Game 2: (vs. Sweet T) Final Score: 10-14

• First half was sucky for us, we won the first point, but went down 1-4 quickly.
• Other team was pretty entertaining to watch. After my girl went deep for a laser-y huck, the handler yelled, "Why don't you cut faster!!!" and my girl yelled back at her, "Why don't you throw better, bitch!" I just started laughing.
  
• I also got shoved over from behind by my mark as I was trying to throw a break throw. I think this was more common this weekend than in other tournaments I've played in.
• They played mostly poachy D on our ho-stack, which resulted in many turnovers and we went down 4-8 at the half.
• We played some clam which was a lot of fun. I played "4" which I've never done before so it was fun learning how to play a new position, and working with "2" to cover the third handler effectively.
  
• Second half we traded points and lost 10-14 overall. Why can't we start our games well?!?!
  

Game 3: (vs. Ozone) Final Score: 7-15

• One of the more fun games of the weekend. I thought I played hard and had a few good looks, fun to play defense on a challenging team.
  
• Don't remember much from this game except it was really hot.
• Oh ya, Doris made a lot of weird noises this game. I hucked to her and she threw it to Suzanne, then I got the dump back from Suzanne. Doris was wide open for the flick I/O so I threw it to her but right before I threw it she started making weird noises, like she was confused or something. Weirdo, just ignore her.
  

Game 4: (vs. Blue Route) Final Score: 7-15

• We played against Nurit and Ali's team from Philly!
• Same story, we went down hard 1-4 in the beginning and never really got into the game. We had a lot of great offense flow but always got stuck near the endzone line and couldn't punch it in. I have a feeling we'll be working on endzone a lot next weekend. Score at half: 2-8.
  
• I played third handler in ho-stack this game mostly and seemed to get caught behind the disc a lot. Nurit covered me for one of the points and poached off of me, faceguarding me and staying close to the handler at the same time, even though I was 15-20 yards away behind the thrower. I never really had that happen to me before but in retrospect, I should've just moved towards the sideline and tried cutting as a sideline cutter, more on that later.

Saturday evening festivities:

• Went to sonic for cherry limeade and cheese fries mmmmm
• Went back to hotel and jumped in the pool
• Tried playing ninja in the pool. BAD IDEA. My calf cramped horribly as I lunged at Jin's hand. And then I couldn't stand in the water and felt myself drowning, so I hobbled to the edge where Michelle tried to stretch my calf but she was sitting next to the pool and I was in the pool and my groin almost cramped too as I tried lifting my cramping calf out of the water. I think that was the most painful calf cramp I've ever had in my life. I might have almost started crying. No more pool ninja, at least not after 4 games.
• Tried going to Olive Garden but there was an hour wait, so went to Ruby Tuesday's instead. Salad bar!

Game 5: (vs. CPF) Final Score: 15-3

• Went up 6-0 pretty quickly. Then traded for a while until 9-3, then pulled away to make it 15-3.

Game 6: (vs. Scandal) Final Score: 2-15

• Damn this team is tall and fast.
• I got broken a lot this game, it was really sad. It wasn't even like, "oops, they threw an around throw to a swing cut" it was "CRAP she just stepped around me and hucked a 50-yard pass for the score."
• Daphne got a run-through D which looked clean from my angle (they were cutting straight at me) but her girl called a foul and went back to the thrower.
• We tried straight-up to one side but our downfield D wasn't fast enough or talking enough for it to be effective. They also had a lot of cross-field hucks that we couldn't do anything about.
  
• I had a few chances to put up hucks but they fell short. Warming up my hucks at the beginning of the day makes a huge difference in my hucks throughout the day.

Game 7: (vs. Sweet T) Final score: 11-12 (gah!)

• We rolled over and let them walk all over us for the first 6 points: 0-6 (Why do we always do this?!?!) Again they played mostly poachy defense on our ho-stack and we just had problems with throwing and catching.
  
• Michelle stopped calling lines and just had people who wanted to play get on the line, and we started to turn the game around. We scored the last point but our deficient in the beginning was too large so we still lost 11-12. At least we ended on a high note. But like Marie said earlier that weekend, I hate losing more than I like winning. =P
• Second to last point EP was covering a dump who was going up the line and as the disc was thrown EP jumped and flailed her arms and squealed, which 1) probably startled the thrower and the disc was wobbly to begin with and 2) maybe blocked the vision of the dump going up the line so she couldn't see the disc. Most interesting (and cute) defensive tactic ever...
  

Thoughts on personal improvement:

• Warm up long throws, makes a big difference in my hucks throughout the day
• Be better about recognizing poaches, scan the field better
• In a ho-stack, if I'm the third handler and there are already two handlers back for a cutter with the disc, I should go cut for a few passes until I'm needed as a handler. (maybe?)
  
• I still need work on D, getting low and backpedaling.
  
• Still need to work on marking and sealing the around
• I want to get a layout D! I'm trying to get Bryan to teach me but he says he's not good at it. Lies!
  

Thoughts on team improvement:

• Work on starting better. I think the scores would've been a lot closer or we would've won a few of them if we just started better. Simulate game situations at the beginning of practice, before we've had time to do lots of drills, maybe assign teams in advance, have a real warmup, and then play a game to 9 or 11 or something against each other, focus on valuing the disc especially in the first few points of the game. Then switch up the teams and do it again, its like playing a new team.
• Endzone needs to get a lot better. We had our chances in the Scandal, Ozone, and BlueRoute games, but we couldn't score. And everytime we turned the disc, the other team would score.
  
• Our bracketing against ho-stack got a lot better this weekend, but we can still use some work on it. Work on positioning to begin with, communicating about passing people off. It's a man-defense with occasional switching, not a poachy defense where no one is really on anyone.
• Our marks got broken a lot in zone D. Practicing marking, staying together as a cup, having the tail end of the cup practice talking to the mark, shifting as a unit.
• We can still play clam when the offense is set up in a ho-stack. Maybe simulate that a few times so we can practice it. Or practice transitioning from clam to zone.
  

I'm re-reading my post and it sounds a lot more negative than it actually was. I think we did well overall, it was our first tournament as a team :) I feel like I connected with some of the newer players and learned how to play with them better; I'm just nitpicky about things we can improve on.

Oh! Exciting news! I wore my Heatgear all weekend and now I'm paler than Doris! (We used to be the same darkness). Not that I'm having a competition with Doris or anything, she was just kind of a good benchmark for me. :P

Hunting

Me: "If I died, would you still wear your wedding ring?"

Bryan: "Yeah why not."

Me: "What if you wanted to go hunting?"

Bryan: "I can still hunt with a wedding ring..."

Me: **stares**

Bryan: "What! It shows that I'm not afraid of commitment!"

Engagement photos!

Yesterday Bryan and I had our engagement photoshoot with our awesome photographer Shang Chen! We started out in the South End, then moved to a park in Brookline close to Shang's house. Earlier in the year I assembled a picasa album with fave engagement and wedding shots from various photographers. Apparently a lot of the pics I chose had similar architectural elements as that of the South End (iron railing, cobblestone streets, colorful doorways, etc). So we started



And then we went to Shang's house in Brookline to change and to get a few pictures nearby (her neighborhood is so pretty!). This picture was in response to Shang saying "do something that embodies an arch" (or something to that effect). I, the uncreative one, just simulated the arch. And then I looked on Shang's screen later and was like, "What are YOU doing, Bryan?!" And he says, "I was trying to fill the arch!!"


Then I had told her that we wanted to play in a field, so we went to a park near her house to run around and play on the playground.



It was a LOT of fun and I can't believe she sent us some sneak peak pictures already! It's been less than 24 hours since the photoshoot!!! I can't wait to see the rest of them :D

It's pretty interesting to note the differences between girls' and guys' reaction to the pics.

Girls' reaction: "awwwwwwwww sooo cuuuuuuute/adorable"

Guys' reaction: "coolcool" - Keith, and "nice" - Weiyang. haha i love it.

Well since you asked...

B Wu: "Would you eat Bryan if you were stranded on a desert island and you were starving and he were dead already?"

Me: "Uhhh... will I have fire and some salt?"

B Wu: "... sure"

Me: "Yeah, sure!"

Bryan: "WHAAAATTT?!?! I wouldn't eat you!!"

Me: "Aww... that's so sweet! I'd start with your calves."

Oops

Last night I was up late writing a couple e-mails including one to Wuwu reminding them about our summer league game today, and one to Hatch about our playbook. I had a few windows open but I normally do that because I like to multi-task (or rather, I can't stay focused on one task at a time). Anyway, about 30 seconds after I sent the Hatch playbook, Bryan who is sitting across from me looks up and says, "Was Wuwu supposed to get a Hatch playbook?" ARGH. =P

Weird!

Background: Bryan has an obsession with Arnold Schwarzenegger (that may be an understatement). He has a cardboard cutout of Arnold. And Arnold is on every spot of his top 5 celebrities to sleep with. "Pillow talk!" is his answer when everyone is like, "ARNOLD IS A GUY!"

More background: Bryan and I recently booked our honeymoon for Newport, RI. We're staying at a B&B called Ivy Lodge. My friend pointed something out to me, which I promptly told Bryan on GChat...

Me: "BRYAN!!! http://www.ivylodge.com/turret/ READ THE LAST SENTENCE"

B: "hahaha daaaaaaaaaamn. too funny. haha"

Me: "and it's still available for $299/night!!! upppgraaaade!!! you can have pillow talk with arnold's phantom ghost"

B: "haha weird. he's not even dead!"

Me: "It's like his past spirit that resides in newport."

Wedding discs are here!

I waited for them ALL DAY (yesterday) and then they FINALLY came but I wasn't even home to receive them. But they're here!


Thanks to Eugene for drawing the 2340987 iterations of the design and to everyone who provided feedback!

I'm supposed to be the panda on the left who is wearing a panda hoodie (which I actually have in real life). And I'm holding a stuffed animal moose. Bryan is the panda on the right wearing a mountie hat and eating a burger. And we're holding a disc that has two wedding rings on it.

Underarmour Heat Gear!

Under Armour at Wrentham was having a sale this past weekend so I bought a white longsleeve Heat Gear! It was originally $35 and I got it for $20. They also had black but I figured the white will be cooler even though it'll be harder to keep clean.

Under Armour Heat Gear

I had Hatch practice on Saturday from 12-3pm and on Sunday from 1-4pm (we like to practice during the hottest hours of the day to make us more hardcore), so I figured I had a pretty good comparison between Saturday (no heat gear) and Sunday (heat gear!). But I found out later that Saturday (high of 93 deg, no clouds) was much warmer than Sunday (high of 91 deg, fluffy clouds to block the sun once in a while). Saturday was also at Magazine Beach (right on the river, maybe there was a breeze), and Sunday was in Lexington (more inland?) so maybe location had an effect on my experiment too.

I was kinda worried about trying it on such a freakin' hot day... what if it didn't work and I couldn't stand it, and then I wouldn't be able to get it off and got stuck in it and the whole team laughed at me? Anyway, I was desperate so I put it on in the morning and I didn't feel like it really did anything while I was walking around the apartment.

Four hours later, this is what I decided:

1. The Heat Gear fabric does wick away sweat so it doesn't collect on your skin.
2. Because it picks up sweat, your jersey doesn't get sweaty so you feel lighter and not as bogged down by a sweaty jersey.
   
3. It works the best when there is some sort of breeze. I think I felt cooler wearing the Heat Gear than I would've felt if I weren't.
4. Heat Gear is difficult to put on and surprisingly easy to take off afterwards, even if it's drenched in sweat.
5. Overall, I'd wear it for the next two months because I am dedicated to my goal, but I don't think I would wear it afterwards. We'll see. I also want to try it on a day that's not 91 degrees, maybe 80-85 instead.
   

Guess who's who

Bryan and I went to the mall and got our blood pressure taken. Guess who's who.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

The best massage chair in the world...

...currently resides in my parents' living room:


It engulfs you and smooshes you and kneads you and then spits you back out all new and refreshed. The leather is so soft and amazing-feeling. It massages everything: your hands, forearms, upper arms, upper back, lower back, butt, hamstrings, IT bands, calves, and feet. It even massages your neck and head. When you first get in it, it calibrates to your body and so your massage is optimized for YOU! Aaaand it heats up! And you are all welcome to come to my parents' house (Torrance, CA) and try it for yourself. :)

4 years ago

Four years ago I lived on a river boat somewhere on the Amazon River in Brazil. And I was there during the World Cup 2006! Here's the tribal children on our boat watching the Brazil (3) vs. Ghana (0) in the quarterfinals. Someone brought out an old TV and fiddled with it and we got a really fuzzy signal for the game.



Also, I'm really embarrassed to say this, but I didn't know that the World Cup was every 4 years until last week (I thought it was every year and that during these nonexistent games I was just busy with other things). And then I remembered my time during Brazil and then it made so much more sense. Don't make too much fun of me :(

I went spray tanning!

On Wednesday I went to Perfect Tan near BU and Becky came along as moral support :) Earlier in the day the person who confirmed my appointment told me that I should shower and exfoliate, and lightly moisturize before my appointment. So I rushed back to MIT from lab, stopping at CVS on the way to buy a poofy scrubby thing and some lotion, and showered in Dupont Gym at MIT.

Perfect Tan offers two kinds of UV-less tanning: mystic tan and custom air-brush spray tanning. The mystic tan is a chamber that you stand in and the machine sprays you with the pigment. It's all the same color and how dark you are depends on how long you stand in the chamber. The custom air-brush spray tan is applied by a person and there are three levels of pignment: light, medium, and dark. She applies two coats and you can choose the same pigment, or two different ones (like one medium and one light).

I opted for the custom air-brush because I've heard bad things about the chamber (like that it makes your hands, knees, and elbows SUPER dark and sometimes orange). I also figured because an actual person is applying the custom air-brush, she could help me fill in the non-tanned parts better so that I wouldn't have tan lines. So I paid $80 for 3 sessions (or $40 per session): one as a trial to make sure it works, one for the engagement photo session, and one for the wedding.

So this is my "before" picture:


My tan lines aren't actually that bad right now even though I've had a 3-hour practice every Saturday and a tournament last weekend. My tan coach has been doing a good job. :) I've been wearing sleeves when it's not super hot and applying massive quantities of sun screen (and actually remembering to apply every hour or so!) Sluts also suggested pouring cold water on the sleeves to make them cooler in hot weather.

They gave me a paper thong and a paper strapless bra (it's kind of like hospital gown material). And we thought the paper strapless bra was hilarious (it's one size fits all!):



And here's Becky trying it on...


And dancing...!


I don't have any actual pictures of the tanning chamber it because the owner scolded me for trying to take a picture of her salon. But I got into a chamber something not unlike this one except the one I was in had vents in the back and the sides that sucked in air so the pigment doesn't get everywhere in the room:


I removed all my clothing and just wore the thong because I didn't want bra strap tan lines. (Btw, that was the first time I wore a thong, sorry, TMI. =P) The lady came in and put Vaseline on my palms and my fingernails so they don't get darker. I thought I would feel really awkward standing mostly naked in front of her but she was really good about not making me feel even more awkward than I already was.

I chose two coats of "light" just to see what the results would be, and she said that later in the summer I can chose a darker shade depending on how dark I will be at that point. So I turned around in circles, turned my arms and legs in different angles so that she could spray everything evenly. Btw, the tanning stuff didn't smell bad at all, it had hints of maple syrup like the moisturizing self-tanner that I wrote about in a previous post. Anyway, then she wiped off the Vaseline with baby wipes and turned on a regular ol' floor fan and I stood in front of it to dry: 2 minutes on the front and 2 minutes on the back. All done!

This is my "after" picture:


And a side-by-side comparison picture:


The "before" and "after" pictures were taken about 30 minutes apart so the lighting did change a little but probably not by much. I feel like the spray tanning didn't really get rid of tan lines but rather it just made me a shade darker everywhere, so thus maybe the tan lines aren't as noticeable? However, some people have been telling me that the tan lines look *more* noticeable because everything is darker and there is more contrast. Anyway, I could definitely tell that the parts of me which rarely saw daylight, like my mid-section and my feet, were definitely darker. The spray tanning makes you feel a little bit sticky but it wasn't that bad.

I had to wait 6-8 hours before I could shower so I ended up showering about 5 hours later around midnight and a little bit of the bronzer/color came out in the water.

Today is Saturday (3 days later) so here's the progression:



I think in the future I'm going to get the spray tan a day or two (probably just the day before) the actual event. So what do you think, did the spray tanning make my tan lines look less or more obvious? Do you think the results were worth the time and money?