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.