IT'S A GREAT DAY FOR ULTIMATE!!!

Leafy greens

2011-11-30T14:45:00.002-05:00

Me: "Bryan! I didn't pack any greens in your lunch today!"

B: "It's okay, I ate green skittles."

Me: "Those aren't leafy greens."

B: "I could've arranged them in the shape of a leaf..."

Strippers pie

2011-11-08T00:31:00.006-05:00

(Through text)

K: "What are you making for dinner?"

B: "I made strippers pie."

K: "STRIPPERS PIE?!"

B: "Like shepherds pie but reveals more of the stuff you're not supposed to see"

K: "So less mashed potatoes?"

B: "More donuts"

K: "Wait what? Your shepherds pie has donuts?"

B: "maybe"

K: "I don't understand!!!!!!!!"

K: "Picture please"

K: "Omg are you serious. Its shepherds pie with a donut on top?"

B: "strippers pie"

K: "Haha ugh weirdo"

Thesis

2011-10-20T15:08:00.002-04:00

Me: "I need to print two copies of my thesis for the library. Do you want a copy?"

My advisor: "No"

Compliments

2011-10-07T11:13:00.004-04:00

While trying to fall asleep last night...

K: "You're my favorite Bryan."

B: "Prove it!"

K: "I'm in bed with you."

B: "Anyone can get in bed with you."

K: "WHHHHAAAAAT?! Are you calling me easy?!"

B: "No..."

K: "Yes you are! You totally just called me easy! You need to compliment me to negate your insult."

B: "Your eyes glisten like toilet water."

K: ...

B: "Not a dirty one, but a clean one."

K: ...

B: "With a really bright light over it."

K: "...That was the *worst* compliment ever. Try again."

B: "Your fingers are like rakes."

K: ...

B: "Brand new ones at the store."

K: ...

B: "That are freshly painted."

K: "You're really bad at this."

B: "Your hair is like..."

K: "STOP! STOP STOP! Goodnight. You're such a winner."

B: "Winner!"

Patience is a virtue

2011-09-27T19:45:00.004-04:00

Teaching my mom how to use the computer makes me want to bang my head against the wall. I just spent 25 minutes trying to teach my mom how to attach a file to an e-mail (in IE, so no easy drag-and-drop function. I installed Chrome for her but she doesn't use it.). It started out pretty promising because she said she already scanned the paper, which I taught her how to do a few months ago. But then she didn't know what she named it. And she couldn't find the file. And then she found it, renamed it and removed the jpg extension. And then she didn't know how to to click and drag. And then she couldn't find the desktop. ...

Me: "The desktop is the blue screen right when you start up the computer, that has like the recycle bin and my computer on it..."

Mom: "There's no blue screen! There is only My Documents."

Me: "But the file "My Documents" is on a blue screen, right?"

Mom: "No, there is only My Documents"

Me: ...

And then after a few more minutes she FINALLY got it!! By this time I was pacing and gesturing like a lunatic in the student center. I must've sounded like an idiot, "The DESK-TOP... is the BLUE... SCREEN right when you turn on the COM-PU-TER... It's just blank! With a few icons on it!" Anyway, I was super excited when she finally did it (I made her email me too), even though she had removed the jpg extension on the document.

And THEN she was like, "I need to do this so many more times!"

Me: "That's okay, you know how to do it now! I taught you how to fish!"

Mom: "Fish?"

Me: "Nevermind. You just did it, you can do it again now!"

Mom: "It's too complicated. I will just send them all to you and you can send them to Uncle, ok?"

Me: "MOOOOMMMMM if you can send them to me you can send them to Uncle!!!!"

Mom: "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah."

Me: *smack* *smack* *smack* *face-palm*

Mom: "I don't know how to do any of this. You also need to teach me how to upload pictures from my camera to the computer."

Me: "Another time, Mommy, another time, please."

I know I really should be more patient with my mom, especially because she's my only parent left, and my dad used to take care of all this stuff. But I really am proud of her; she's learned a lot in the last few months, learning how to pay bills herself, getting a credit card for the first time in her life, taking care of the rental house, finding new tenants, etc. Just sometimes, no, a lot of times... I need to be more patient. Sigh...

We're going to Regionals!

2011-09-18T19:36:00.005-04:00

Which means Bryan is coming back to Boston again! Haha, I think if we didn't make Regionals, he just wouldn't come back. :P

Scores: http://scores.usaultimate.org/scores/#mixed/tournament/9648

Our first game in our six-round pool play was against Odyssey. We were down the entire game (we let them get one break on us early on) and didn't end up tying it up until 10-10, and then came back to win 13-10. Our second game was against Rorschach which we won relatively easily with a final score of 13-5. The Slow White game was a lot of fun to watch, and we did pretty well and we probably could've made it more competitive if we tighten lines, but we didn't; final score 12-9 them. We played Detroit Lions last on Sat, and got burned deep one too many times, final score 13-10 them.

On Sunday, we played Apocalypse Meow first game, won 13-8. Then we won the last pool play game against Sucker Punch (which I just learned is a movie), coming back from 7-8 to win 10-8. That was a really fun game because everyone was super pumped up!!

Some highlights that we talked about afterwards:

Bill's 85-yard huck to Doris for the score
Pretty zone O
Jenny cutting and catching aggressively
Matty catching a D and then dropping it on purpose (no one really noticed, right? :P)
Wu's double-D in one point (point-block) and then D'ed someone in the endzone, but they were both caught and they scored. But they were still nice Ds... haha :)
Nolan's pretty flick huck to Wu in the endzone
Kes and NG got a couple nice layout Ds, sometimes making up a looot of ground to get there.
Dillon and Yang's awesome talk from the sidelines
Sluts made some pretty key cuts/dishes this weekend. It was really awesome to watch :)
Miriam open everywheerrree
I laid out twice both for scores (both catching with my left hand, my uninjured side).
While standing 5 yards from the endzone line, trapped on a sideline, pump up a huge high throw to someone in the endzone, and MattyB caught it above 3 people, one of them NG, to score the winning point against Apoc Meow.

Now a digression about line-calling:

I called lines for three games on Saturday. Calling lines is really hard! I've never done it before, let alone for games/tournaments that matter. I felt so mentally exhausted after every game, like I had just taken a final or something. Actually, I read an article a few days ago about "Decision Fatigue" which describes the phenomenon that making many decisions makes a person tired so that he/she are more likely to make the "default" or lazy decisions. They studied parole board's decisions depending on the time of day and found that prisoners were more likely to be given parole during the morning or the hour right after lunch, basically times when the parole board was more awake and had the mental energy to make difficult decisions. And towards the end of the day, they tended to make the default decision not to grant parole. "The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes for your brain, and eventually it looks for shortcuts, usually in either of two very different ways."

I definitely felt mentally fatigued after line-calling. And I wonder if my line-calling got worse throughout the day because my mental energy level for putting together good/fair lines was depleting.

There are a lot of factors that I considered during lines calling. There's men/women, handlers/cutters, primary/secondary cutters, O/D, zone positions (although that didn't really come up on Saturday) and people who play well together, I call that the gel factor. And then there's the flow of the game: Are we down? Do we need to tighten lines? And then during the Slow White game I was told that I need to always put a tall person on (Matty/Entz/Nolan). And sometimes it makes sense to keep the same line on two points in a row because things have been working well for them.

And all these factors need to be taken into consideration the moment immediately after the previous point ends. Ideally the line is called within 5-10 seconds after the previous point ends. If I was too involved in a point, cheering from the sidelines, it took me more time to get a line together. And if I was thinking about the next line I was going to call (which is usually two lines, one O and one D because you don't know which one is needed yet), I felt myself not really paying attention to what was happening on the field. Or maybe I was taking all of this too seriously :/

One thing that I definitely struggled with (and I think a lot of other women who call lines too) is the "unfairness" of playing time. If we're down a lot, we're going to play our O line more and the D line won't be getting much playing time. Plus, during the Odyssey game, we played 4 women for a lot of the O points because our women were our strong point, and when our roster only has 8 women and 16 men, a lot of the men won't be getting much playing time. There were definitely some games when some people played only 0-3 points per game. I'm sorry :(

I think I started to get a hang of calling lines maybe after a game and a half. Many times it was, "Yay! We won the point! CRAP I need to call the next line NOW... um um um, crap." After a while it got easier, but it was still tiring and mentally exhausting. Anyway it was definitely an experience and I have a newfound appreciation for people who call lines (like Hatch Michelle and Jin!)

Hot or not

2011-09-14T16:47:00.004-04:00

K: "how would you rate yourself in attractiveness, scale from 1-10"

B: "20"

K: "and me?"

B: "one billion"

K: "and W?"

B: "1"

K: "and X?"

B: "1"

K: "and Y?"

B: "1"

K: "and Z?"

B: "1"

K: "and Arnold?" (Schwarzenegger)

B: "10 billion!
... but only when he was younger"

K: "oh ok"

...

In anticipation...

2011-09-13T19:46:00.007-04:00

I'm super pumped for Club Sectionals this weekend!! :D And Bryan is coming back on Thursday night! Now only if my shoulder will cooperate, everything will be fine.

I made a horrendous layout on Sunday during practice, hit my head pretty hard, scraped up both my elbows and both my knees, and sprained my right shoulder. I took an injury that point but played for the rest of practice and didn't feel my shoulder until a few hours after practice. By Sunday night I couldn't lift my arm beyond 45 degrees from my body in any direction.

I got my ice pack from Keith's (it had been living there since we moved out of Antrim because I don't have a fridge/freezer at Ashdown, I use my roommate's mini-fridge), cranked down the temperature (sorry for the frozen milk...), and am icing and resting a lot, per our in-house medic Jin's recommendations. I got a shoulder brace from Amazon that's supposed to hold things together and provide additional support. I saw someone at MIT Medical today but he was pretty unhelpful. Hopefully by Sat I'll have enough range of motion to throw mid-distance throws. If you have any other suggestions to make me healthy faster, let me know.

In other news, yay NU football! :)

Oh hey we're about to score :D

And the team sang the fight song with us afterwards!!

Dumping

2011-09-11T12:05:00.002-04:00

I'm so bad at dumping, especially to guys, especially to Wu. Three things I'm working on and going to remember to do:

1. Put it to space

2. If my dump is being face-guarded, put it to space, not over the dump.

3. If my dump is face-guarding me, fake one way and throw the other.

I guess with that, I need to pay attention to what the dump D is doing. Sadly, I confess that I don't know whether the dump D is face-guarding me or the dump.

But other than that, practice was a lot of fun this morning :)

New cleats!

2011-08-22T10:29:00.005-04:00

I haven't bought new cleats in 3 years. My current pair of cleats were given to me as a gift from Keiko on Hatch 3 years ago. If I remember correctly, they were first given to Doris because she forgot her cleats at Club Regionals, and Keiko was like, "I have a box full of cleats in my car!" And she really did have a box full of cleats in her car; she was literally driving around a cleat store that just carried size 7-8 women's cleats, it was pretty epic! Apparently she buys cleats and if they don't fit her, she just leaves them in a box in her car for other people.

Anyway, that's how I ended up with my pair of Keiko cleats. I love that pair of cleats; they lasted 3 years (through 2 seasons of college and 2 seasons of club), they never gave me any problems and they were amazing. It was only recently that I felt my feet sliding around a lot in my cleats and they're just starting to fall apart.

I bought three pairs of cleats on Zappos last night (Bryan, don't freak out if you see a $150-charge for Zappos on our Mint account, I promise I will return two pairs of cleats once I figure out which one fits the best, haha). They're supposed to ship to Ashdown, but I don't move in until Thursday and I hope they don't arrive before then and the front desk sends them back because I'm not there yet! I plan to break them in at Chesapeake, not the smartest move, but I really need new cleats.

These are the ones I ended up ordering:

Puma Esito Finale

Nike Tiempo Natural

Puma Powercat 3.10

I had an old pair of the Nike Tiempos; they were comfortable but the cleats were flat and wide, and I kept slipping a lot. It looks like they changed them into pegs, so hopefully they will be better. I secretly hope the Puma Powercat fits the best because they just look so awesome. :D I was also told that Pumas run small, so I got a half size larger for the Pumas. Anyway, we'll see.

What cleats do you wear/like?

Wuwu! (Day 2)

2011-08-21T20:47:00.005-04:00

We won in the finals (4/3 Div 1)! We beat Stonecutters in the quarters and Gothrilla in the semis, and then we played Swingers in the finals. There were impending t-storms, so we played until we first saw lightning. We were down 4-1, and then 6-3, and then somehow we went on a 5-0 run so that at 8-6, when lightning struck, and we immediately stopped the game and we had won! Lucky timing, haha.

http://scores.usaultimate.org/scores/#mixed/tournament/9728

There were some amazing Ds from Kes, Wu, and Yang. Pretty hucks from Shawn and Bill as always. Many point blocks by Matty (although there was a guy who managed to throw in between his legs, haha!) Injured Doris a lot by making her lay out; hehe jk, the "Doris is pretty" play worked *almost* every time, until she broke. X had a few nice grabs as well. Anna and Cindy were clutch with their continue cuts. Props to the ladies who powered through this weekend; played with 4 on Sat and 5 on Sun (and 3 during the finals). I surprised myself by laying out a few times; maybe NG is rubbing off on me, next step: some layout Ds! :) Bryan, you'll teach me, right? :)

It's always really fun giving it your all. Even though some people think it was "just summer league" I played really hard and had a great time. I'll miss playing with these people. Luckily they're all on Mixed Nuts so we can continue playing together for a few more months :)

Who has the team picture?!

Wuwu! (Day 1)

2011-08-20T20:21:00.001-04:00

We won all our games today! I'm also really proud of myself for training Craig how to dish (to me) properly.. heh heh heh. One by one they will all be converted :D

Also the only point I remember out of the whole day: Wu with the disc in the middle of the field about 5 yards out of our endzone. Then Doris makes a cut on the open side, she's WIDE open, 15 yards in front of her girl, and Wu is not even looking at her. So Doris yells, "WU! Are you serious?! I'm going to kill you!" Hahahaha and Wu *almost* turns it by throwing it into the mark, but luckily for him it was a foul, he got the disc back, and we scored. :P

New Backpack!

2011-08-16T18:23:00.006-04:00

HI MOM!

Look I bought a new backpack so I can fit everything I own into it and then I don't have to worry about losing stuff when I move at the end of the month. It's a little bit heavy though so I'm thinking of attaching some wheels on the bottom so I can just push it along.

LOVE,
KAREN

---

So I recently sent that picture with the above message to my mom. And she just sent me a blank email back. So I called her and this is the conversation that resulted:

Mom: (laughing) "Are you crazy?!"

Me: "What..."

Mom: "Why did you buy a backpack that big?"

Me: "It can fit a lot of stuff!"

Mom: "Are you crazy?! How are you going to get it down the stairs?"

Me: "I'll pack it at the bottom of the stairs!"

Mom: "How are you going to put it in the car?!"

Me: "I'll tie it to the top of the car. I have some rope."

Mom: "Are you crazy?! It's going to smash the car!"

Me: "It'll be okay. Cars are strong."

Mom: "I think you should return it and buy a more practical backpack."

Me: "But I like this one! And it can fit so much stuff!"

Mom: "It's going to crush you! How are you going to carry it!"

Me: "Well, I told you, I'm going to buy some wheels and attach it to the bottom and pull it around."

Mom: "People will just see a backpack moving by itself because they can't see you! And you're going to crash into something."

Me: "That's okay. It can fit a lot of stuff."

Mom: "You're crazy! I think you should return it and get a different one."

Me: "But this one can fit so much stuff!"

Mom: "It looks like its for giants! You will look tiny, like Mickey Mouse, very small. Like Tom and Jerry in the cartoons!"

Me: "It's fine, Mom. Don't worry!"

Mom: "I have to take Grandma to physical therapy. Bye!"

Me: "...Oh ok... bye!"

Riddle!

2011-08-12T10:07:00.000-04:00

A conversation took place between two friends, a philosopher and a mathematician, who had not seen each or heard from each other in years. The mathematician, who had an exceedingly good memory, asked the philosopher how many children he had. The philosopher replied that he had three. The mathematician then asked how old the children were. His friend, who knew how much most mathematicians enjoy puzzles, said that he would give him a number of clues to the children's ages.

The philosopher's first clue: "The product of the children's ages is 36." The mathematician immediately replied that this was insufficient information.

The philosopher's second clue: "All of the children's ages are integers; none are fractional ages, such as 1 and ¼ years old." Still, the mathematician could not deduce the correct answer.

The philosopher's third clue: "The sum of the three children's ages is identical to the address of the house where we played chess together often, years ago." The mathematician still required more information (but assume the mathematician remembered the street number).

The philosopher then gave his fourth clue: "The oldest child looks like me." At this point, the mathematician was able to determine the ages of the three children. Here is your problem: What are the ages of the three children?

Attitude

2011-08-09T08:14:00.001-04:00

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
~ Winston Churchill

Antrim Shenanigans

2011-07-31T17:02:00.001-04:00

Jetblue

2011-07-29T10:52:00.004-04:00

A few months ago, Bryan and I were booking plane tickets. When I put in "1 adult" the price per seat was $119, but then when I put in "2 adults" the price jumped to $329 PER seat. I tried switching back and forth a few times but whenever I put in "2 adults" the price always jumped to $329 per seat.

My solution was to purchase one ticket on my computer and another ticket Bryan's computer simultaneously. But of course it didn't work; my purchase went through for $119 and Bryan's Jetblue page said "ERROR" on it. We figured that there was just one seat left at the cheap price.

We decided to switch to Virgin Airlines altogether, because they had flight options that fit our travel plans, at $139 a flight instead of Jetblue's $119, but we had to cancel my Jetblue flight first. So Bryan calls Jetblue customer service and I overhear:

B: "I need to cancel my wife's plane ticket." ... pause ... "Well, it's just.. it's just... ALL wrong, everything is wrong, she just did it ALL wrong!"

Me: (mouthing) "Seriously?!?!"

B: (to customer service) "Ok great, thanks!" then hangs up.

Me: "What was that?!"

B: "What?! It worked!"

OMK Recap

2011-07-25T15:53:00.001-04:00

Mixed Nuts played in Ow-My-Knee (OMK) this past weekend in Albany (but actually Schenectady). The Northeast has been experiencing a heat wave this whole week and Saturday was projected to be hot hot hot, like high of 100 deg with lots of humidity (Look! Temperatures were near BOILING point!). We had a solid roster of 7 girls and 9 guys for the weekend and I was really looking forward to playing some awesome competitive ultimate :)

We decided to drive up on Sat morning because our first round of pool play started at 10:45am, so we only had to leave Boston at around 5:30am or so. But on Friday night I was really regretting my decision to leave Sat morning because it reached a high of 103 deg in Cambridge in the middle of the day on Friday, and the during nighttime, it was still an uncomfortably warm 81 degrees. During the day on Friday, Bryan and I found out that our AC unit was broken ("Hey, it's the same temperature in our room as it is in the hallway..."). The damn thing was never really working particularly well in the first place and it just crapped out on us altogether when we needed it the most. Anyway, I didn't sleep until 1:00am and the whole time I was tossing and turning and thinking, "Right now we could be sleeping in an air conditioned hotel room!!" Anyway, getting up on Sat morning at 4:45am was rough to say the least, but the car ride kept me entertained most of the way to OMK :)

The conditions on Saturday was really hot with occasional gusts of wind (some of them were cool breezes!) Most of the teams we played against played man defense and occasionally they (and we) would play some zone D. We had three rounds of pool play and a crossover game on Saturday. We were actually seeded last in our pool (a mix-up with the TD caused him to seed "Mixed Nuts," a NY-based team that no longer exists, instead of "Mixed Nuts (MA)," which is us.) Anyway, the seeding in pool play didn't really affect anything.

Our first game was against Hucks and Kisses. They mostly played zone on us, which we were able to work through. Towards the beginning of the game, Dent had a great D that he caught, which we capitalized on to make the score 3-1. A few points later, a well-timed huck from Wu to Miriam and an easy backhand to Kes makes the score 5-1. During the next point, Randy puts up a huck to NG but it falls short, and hits his foot as he turns around to find the disc. We give him a hard time for trying to catch the disc with his foot :) During the next possession, Shuangy gets a point block, and throws to NG who's cutting in, who finds Claudia in the endzone to make the score 6-1. A few points later, Craig finds Michelle going up the line, who puts up a huck to Kes for the score, the first of many Michelle/Kes points of the weekend. For the rest of the game, we abused their zone defense and used both in and out cuts to make the final score 13-4.

Our second game was against Shostakovich and the Angry Buddhas. The story of the game was trying to stop their hammers to the breakside for the score. The final score was 9-13 and the majority of their points (7 of them!) resulted from hammers or I/O breaks. We started off on offense, and worked through the zone D to start the game, 1-0. The next three points were from hammers and I/O breaks, 1-3. The next point we turned it around and scored on their zone defense, although we only really used 5-7 yards next the sideline, way to jam it up the sideline, guys! Kes got a huge run-through D the next point, which tied the score at 3-3. We traded points for the rest of the half where Nuts scored on my huck to Matty, an around break from Bill to Dent, a point block from NG, Dillon's layout D, and Bill's full-field huck to Miriam, to make the halftime score 7-6.

In the second half, we started off trading points, but we we dropped two breaks and couldn't convert. There were a few interesting points: Bill threw a hammer to MattyB for a layout score. I remember thinking, "Just because they score every other point on hammers doesn't mean we need to as well!" and Randy had a few nice hucks to people in the endzone. Brian Wu contracted rabies during this game when he tried to throw a backhand huck and instead backhanded his mark in the face. He has a couple of nice teeth marks in his hand to show for it. At the end of the game though, we fell short and the final score was 13-9.

Our third game was against Bidness Time. We started off trading points in the beginning... they also played zone on us, which they quickly stopped once they saw how useless their zone D was. After 2-2, Bidness didn't score another point for the rest of the game. We saw Michelle put up a few nice hucks to Craig and Kes in the endzone. Our dump-swing looked really good during this game and we had a lot of nice breakside scores. The last point was scored with a typical Shuangy I/O to Dent at the front of the stack, who threw it to Claudia going breakside. Final score 13-2.

After a nap in the shade, lots of hydrating, and playing with the puppies at the tournament, we played a crossover game against Hudson Valley Club Ultimate. We lost the first two points pretty quickly while our awesome guy handlers were still waking up from their naps. Wu bobbled the disc and dropped it on the first point, and Bill uncharacteristically threw one straight into the ground during the second. But they eventually woke up and we got on the score board. We scored the first point with Bill's huck to Cindy, who found Anna in the endzone for the score. Wu put up a few good hucks to Footsteps and Dent for a few more points. There was a painfully epic point with 8 turnovers (I was counting), a timeout, and an injury, which we eventually scored. The next point was pretty funny: we put on a zone defense with Bill as the deep deep and Hudson Valley sent two girls to their endzone and put up a huck, which went straight through Bill's hands and one of the girls caught it for the score, 4-3 us. (We ended up giving spirit nuts to the girl who "skyed" Bill, haha.) After that though, they didn't score another point.

The first point of the second half, a guy faceplanted in front of Shuangy while trying to get the D, and she threw one to Bryan for the score. The last two points of the game, I got a point block in the cup, then Shuangy did the same, the guy handlers were pretty pissed that women kept getting point blocks on them that they would nudge/push us afterwards. :P Final score 13-3.

Sunday conditions were a lot cooler but not as much wind. Our win in the crossover game put us in the championship bracket with a first game against Darkwing, the team we lost to at Mixed Easterns 13-12. We traded the first few points, with Bill's huck finding Footsteps in the endzone a few times. (Bill credited it to cuddling together the night before. I believe his words were, "We should sleep in the same bed more often." haha) We had been down a break when Kes had a huge layout D that brought us even again. We took half 7-6. During the second half, we won a few breaks, and were up 12-9. On the last point of the game, Wu put up a huck to Kes, but it fell short, almost landing directly in the hands of a Darkwing defender, but not until NG sprinted down to grab it, then threw it to Kes for the score. Final score 13-9.

We played Rut in the quarterfinals. We traded points during the first half, and I think we took half 7-6 but I don't actually remember. Michelle found Kes in the endzone with her hucks a few times, Randy had a pretty huck to Anna, and someone tried to get a D on Bill, but just smacked the disc into his hands anyway. In the second half, we went down a few breaks and couldn't come back. Final score 13-9.

In the fifth place bracket, we played Detroit Lions, which was a really fun game since I knew most of the women on their team and it was a pretty good match-up in general. At one point we were up 9-5, but they started gaining on us when we were making silly drops on easy catches and throws. I remember a timely D from Footsteps, a few nice hucks from Bill, and Miriam was really open for me in the endzone for the last point. Final score 13-10.

Wu and I tried to bluff our way through the last game against Urine Trouble by getting them to forfeit. We didn't really want to play another game, but we didn't want to just forfeit either so we were hoping that they would forfeit first. So Wu and I walked up to them and asked excitedly, "Are you guys ready to play?!" and they were like "Yep!" (We were hoping to hear "We are tired and want to go home" haha) So Wu were like, "Oh...well... then..." We eventually decided to play a shortened game to 7 instead. They played vertical stack with 4 women for many of the points (their women were all so tall!), and the women Nuts were able to bracket and contain them pretty well. I had a lot of fun playing this game even though I was pretty exhausted. I remember getting a few Ds, which is always fun. Final score 7-2.

Then we got ice cream from the ice cream truck! And french fries from McDonald's! And played "Contact" in Wu's soccer mom car the whole ride home. My favorite question was Footsteps': "Do pigs eat out of you? In a biblical sense?" for a word beginning with "M" hahaha.

All in all, a really fun tournament. I feel like I'm learning how to play with certain people a lot better and I'm learning how to play on the D line. I felt really dehydrated and exhausted the whole weekend. I slept for 10 hours last night and I still feel tired today, and I spent the last 2 hours writing this and gChatting. Productivity fail :(

Things that we can work on as a team (I feel like it's always the same list):
- Dump swing (dump's first look should always be for the swing, who should always be yelling for the disc)
- Not getting beat deep
- Backpedaling and maintaining our buffer on defense
- Timing of cuts and flow (sometimes there were 2 cuts at once, sometimes none), but I think we got better on this throughout the tournament
- What to do when being poached off of, esp third handler
- Popper/deep movement in zone O (having the deep come in wen the popper gets the disc)
- Handlers keeping the disc too long instead of looking to dump early

Things that we did well on:
- Switching on defense (I saw a few instances where we successfully helped each other out on D)
- Our endzone looked better than previous tournaments. I wouldn't say it's something that is perfect, but it did look better than it did at Mixed Easterns.
- Cutters looked to the dump early

http://scores.usaultimate.org/scores/#mixed/team/12092

Any favorite points/plays from the weekend? :)

Mixed Nuts

2011-07-22T10:08:00.005-04:00

Some thoughts on recent practices

- Humidity makes throwing backhands really difficult for me. The disc tends to stick to my hand and I release it way too late, causing all sorts of accuracy/speed problems. Wu suggested having a shorter backswing; I've been trying it with varying levels of success.

- It really helps me to hear "swing!" or "Karen!" when I'm getting the dump and getting ready to swing the disc. I basically make the decision on whether I'm going to swing the disc as I am catching the dump, and it helps to hear that someone is cutting for the swing before I can see him/her.

- It helps me to hear people talking on the field in general. It improves team cohesiveness, morale, and prevents me from tunnel-visioning. :)

- Recently I've been hearing Dillon more on the sideline when I'm on the field. It helps to hear instructions when I'm marking. Thanks Dillon!

- Speaking of Dillon, I think he should get an inverse mohawk (shave right down the middle of his head) to complement Craig's mohawk. "That way when one stands in front of the other, they look like they have a full head of hair!" -Bryan... Anyway, who's with me?! haha

- When cutting, it's really important to run at a person before changing speed/direction.

- Hydrate hydrate hydrate this weekend!!

Follow us while we play at OMK!
http://scores.usaultimate.org/scores/#mixed/tournament/9380

Pranking John

2011-07-04T01:32:00.010-04:00

Keith and I get back from Phoenix Landing on Friday night and he mentions something about pranking John by filling his room with cups of water (John was in Chicago for the weekend). Being the enabler and also a little bit tipsy, I said, "OK. WHERE ARE THE CUPS!?" So Keith brings out all the cups we have in the apartment, and we start placing and filling cups...

Keith starts at one end side of the room with teeny tiny paper Dixie cups ("I hope these cups don't disintegrate... they have to hold up for a few days."):

And I start on the other side with more durable Solo cups. I also got really ambitious and put lots of cups of water behind his bookshelf:

By the way, filling up cups of water at 3:00am while trying to sober up is not the best idea in the world. BUT IT'S STILL WORTH IT.

At this time, Keith has the sense of mind to remove anything valuable off the ground that might get wet, like... John's guitar. =P

At around 3:30am, we run out of cups, and go to bed, vowing to continue the next morning.

Next morning... after sleeping in and eating a hearty breakfast, I walk over to Walgreens in Inman Sq and clean them out: 6 packs (3 packs red, 3 packs clear) of 80 solo cups each for $5/pack. And continue working our way through John's room:

Pretty soon Keith finishes his side:

And then comes over to help me with mine:

At this point, Keith yells, "KAREN YOU LEFT THE LAMP ON!!!" ... crrraaaaaapppp. See that lamp in the top left corner of the previous picture? Yes, we had already placed about 20-ish rows of cups in front of it. So I carefully remove two cups in the middle of the sea of cups, gently step into the hole, turn off the lamp, and carefully step back. Ninja skills win!!

More filling:

See how much care we take into going around stuff like the chair? :)

I find a few more cups in the cupboard, and after about 30 min on Fri and a little more than an hr on Sat, we have our final masterpiece!

John gets back at like 12:30am on Sunday night, the EXACT SAME TIME as Keith and I get back from a wedding. So I follow John to videotape his reaction:

Then we all help him clean up (takes about 30 minutes between the three of us):

And Keith even mops John's floor:

And John still loves us!

But I am still going to watch my back for the next two months...

Happy 4th of July! :D

Day 30

2011-06-19T00:06:00.002-04:00

Day 30 – A picture of someone you miss

Happy Father's Day.

Good at ultimate

2011-06-09T10:00:00.004-04:00

K: "If you could repeat any year in the last five years, which one would it be?"

B: *thinks for 30 sec* "The first one."

K: "But we weren't even dating then!"

B: "But I could be so good at ultimate...!!"

K: "Fine..."

Scrimmage

2011-06-08T21:18:00.003-04:00

Nuts scrimmaged Zerg + pickups tonight (15-13 them). Some thoughts:

- Everyone seemed very dead, and lazy --> sidelines were quiet, not much talking on the field either.
- I still tunnel vision (bad, Karen, bad), sorry Doris =P
- When handlers are poached, come to the breakside to get the disc to 1) keep the disc in the middle of the field, and 2) open up the break lane. Right now we throw to the poached handler who is stuck on the sideline, and we have a hard time getting it off the line.
- We still get beat deep a lot.
- Some moments of great dump defense to get a high stall count throw.
- Marking needs to improve: marking with feet, sealing the around, listening to the sidelines for strike, inside, and around calls (of course having loud sidelines would help for that).

Chicago for the weekend!

Important announcement

2011-06-07T12:48:00.001-04:00

I have an important announcement to make: NG show is my new frisbee crush. Those calves DO work!!

Mixed Easterns

2011-06-06T11:23:00.008-04:00

I played in my first real mixed tournament this past weekend, Mixed Easterns! I know I've been to other mixed tourneys before, but this one was the first time lines were called! The team I played for was Mixed Nuts, and there are all sorts of creative/gross cheers when you throw the word "nuts" into the mix :)

We went 2-2 on Saturday, and the 2 that we lost were both on universe point.. heartbreaking :( I feel like our team just fell apart towards the end because we were so tired, at least I was really tired. I don't think I've ever been so tired after day 1 of a tournament, not even when I played college where sometimes I played like 90% of the points.

I also kept cramping. At first, my toes would cramp, and to stretch out my toes, I would walk on them, which in turn made my calf cramp. It was a vicious cycle. There was one point where Bryan's groin cramped, so he took an injury, and 5 minutes later (yes, same point), my calf cramped when I was handling in zone, so I had to take an injury too. Couple fail :(

All in all for Sat, I give ourselves a 5/10. I think we played pretty well for a bunch of people who sorta know how to play with each other, but we still have a long way to go in terms of actually learning how to play with each other. A few things come to mind regarding what we need to work on:

1. A standard dump. I think guys and girls set up for dumps very differently and at least for me, it's hard to tell where someone is going to get open for the dump. I remember several instances where I got faked out by the dump's cut and made him lay out for a dump (sorry, Bling). Personally I need to be better about recognizing when a guy is open on the dump, and be better about putting it to space.

2. A standard endzone. Oh man, our endzone was messy. There was no stack and so much clogging, so many double cuts. I think we had one nice dump swing, score on the break side. But otherwise, our endzone was always breaking down.

3. Flow. I think people cut each other off a lot and there was a lot of inefficient cutting. I think having girls on one side for ho-stack, guys on the other, helps to some extent, but there was still issues with flow.

I felt like we played a lot better as a team on Sunday. We one our first two games, and lost the third, which made us tied for 19th or something (out of 36).

Some things I need to personally work on:

1. Dump cuts when the disc is in the middle of the field. I did it a few times this weekend but I had to really think about them before cutting, it's not the most natural dump cut for me.

2. Scanning the field, no tunnel-vision, not throwing to poaches.

3. Execution on throwing. There were a few times I tried throwing softer/putting more touch on my flicks, which backfired. I should just throw normally and expect people to catch them.

4. Backpedaling and dictating, I need some backpedaling drills or something, there was one point where I tripped up on myself and fell backward, that was kinda embarrassing.

Anyway, some memorable points this weekend:

Shawn's layout point-block from behind the thrower. I have no idea how that happened, but it was amazing.
Shuangy has some mad ups on Sat, jumping for dumps that were too high. Sluts said there were people on the sideline from the other team saying, "Shorty's got ups!!" hehe :)
Sluts' layout grab in the endzone for the score on Sat.
Dillon and Craig's couple point! Craig to Dillon to Craig for the score! awww
Kes layout grab D in the Ballo game on Sun.
Bryan boxes out a guy a head taller than him and then layout catches a score. The next point, Doris does the same thing. :)
Bill Bling's amazing hammers in zone O
Doris skys two people (a girl and a guy), I guess that's pretty standard for Doris :)
I toed the line for the first time! And for a score!
I think Dent and Randy, our pickups for the weekend, were both awesome.
This morning when Bryan and I woke up, he turns to me (groaning and going "ow ow ow" the whole time) and goes, "Do you think this is going to be us all the time when we get old?" and I said, "Bryan, we are already old." SiGH...
There are obviously many more spectacular points but I can't remember them. Can you??? :)

Spring hat tournament!

2011-05-25T12:05:00.002-04:00

These are the only pics I have :)

It was a beautiful Sunday, we were wearing my fave color, there were tiny chairs, I got to play frisbee with Bryan, Daphne, and Matty, we won our all our games, AND we went to Kimball Farms for dinner and arcade games afterwards. What a perfect day :)

Day 29

2011-05-19T10:13:00.004-04:00

Day 29 – A picture that can always make you smile.

LOVE Smeri's expression!! hehe

Also in order from least to most attitude (from left to right).

Day 28

2011-05-12T08:31:00.003-04:00

Day 28 – A picture of something you’re afraid of.

Bryan dying from high cholesterol and diabetes.

And Sluts, I'm afraid of Sluts:

Day 27

2011-05-11T09:34:00.003-04:00

Day 27 – A picture of yourself and a family member.

Me + my fave LITTLE brother, First Lieutenant Gordon Shu.

Day 26

2011-05-10T08:16:00.000-04:00

Day 26 – A picture of something that means a lot to you.

Friends

Day 25

2011-05-09T08:10:00.001-04:00

Day 25 – A picture of your day or favorite day

My favorite day in recent memory was when we went to San Diego to visit Sluts and she took us on a mini adventure to Torrey Pines. Charles was trying to get on a ledge to appear taller as I was taking the picture and slipped off. Hahaha!

Day 24

2011-05-08T08:50:00.001-04:00

Day 24 – A picture of something you wish you could change.

I'm not saying this is necessarily something I would change, but I just wonder what my life would be like if I didn't go to grad school. Actually, who am I kidding, if I could do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have gone to grad school.

Day 23

2011-05-07T07:44:00.000-04:00

Day 23 – A picture of your favorite book.

I don't have an all-time favorite book. But I just finished "Ender's Shadow" which I liked a lot. (I've been reading it on a Kindle so I didn't know the cover of the book looked like that until now... it's really ugly.) I was going to post a picture of my Kindle but that's kind of silly.

A book that made a big impact on my life recently is "Half The Sky." It's very eye-opening and inspirational.

Day 22

2011-05-06T09:36:00.000-04:00

Day 22 – A picture of something you wish you were better at.

I wish I was better at 1) prioritizing what I need to do, and 2) not stressing out, and 3) not thinking about things that are bothering me as I fall asleep.

Day 21

2011-05-05T09:31:00.000-04:00

Day 21 – A picture of something you wish you could forget.

...your face!...

What a silly question. I don't think I would forget anything. Unless I already forgot it, and in that case, I don't remember what it is...

Day 20

2011-05-04T09:25:00.000-04:00

Day 20 – A picture of somewhere you’d love to travel.

Greece! I've wanted to go ever since I watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants...

Day 19

2011-05-03T08:38:00.001-04:00

Day 19 – A picture of you when you were little.

Baby Karen

Kid Karen

Day 18

2011-05-02T09:22:00.003-04:00

Day 18 – A picture of your biggest insecurity.

Hehe cat.

Day 17

2011-05-01T06:49:00.000-04:00

Day 17 – A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.

Cofffeeeee <3 I love you so much.

Day 16

2011-04-30T07:45:00.000-04:00

Day 16 – A picture of someone who inspires you.

Two people: my mom and my grandma (mom's mom). They're both such strong, caring, independent, loving women. Also, I love that my grandma's shirt says "Welcome to America." :)

Day 15

2011-04-29T08:40:00.001-04:00

Day 15 – A picture of something you want to do before you die.

I had to think about this one a lot, but I *think* I want to have a kid, eventually. I change my mind a lot depending on my mood and how annoying I think kids are that particular day.

This is Audrey, Bryan's niece when she came to Boston.

Day 14

2011-04-28T08:33:00.000-04:00

Day 14 – A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

Patrick! I mean, ... Bryan!

Day 13

2011-04-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

Day 13 – A picture of your favorite band or artist.

Glee! Ok so they're not really an artist/band, but I just like watching them perform.

Day 12

2011-04-26T09:54:00.000-04:00

Day 12 – A picture of something you love.

Puppies!!! I couldn't just pick one picture :)

Day 11

2011-04-25T09:53:00.003-04:00

Day 11 – A picture of something you hate.

Giant bugs in the Amazon.

This picture was taken in summer 2006 when I went with New Tribes Mission to the Amazon to build a school. One morning I went to the bathroom (an out-house type of building) to find this guy crawling on the wall. The funny thing was a friend went to the bathroom before me and never even saw it (it's really dark in the bathroom -- no electricity/lights and it was dawn). She freaked out when I pointed it out to her. =P

I took the picture while a boy held it between a stick and a leaf. The thorax of the bug is probably a lot smaller, it just looks creepy because the stick looks like it could be the thorax.

Day 10

2011-04-24T09:29:00.000-04:00

Day 10 – A picture of the person you do the craziest things with.

Doris - I bit her once. Accidentally!

And Smeri - She makes rainbows.

My mouth is open in both pictures... =P

Day 09

2011-04-23T09:26:00.000-04:00

Day 09 - A picture of someone who's gotten you through the most.

My dad

Day 08

2011-04-22T00:02:00.002-04:00

Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh

I volunteered to get duct-taped to the wall during my first year in grad school.

COLLEGE SECTIONALS (CONFERENCE) THIS WEEKEND @ MIT!! GOOD LUCK SMITE!!!

[Edit] ... yes, and Michelle. I will be there to heckle you all this weekend :) I'm all for equal opportunity heckling.

Day 07

2011-04-21T09:19:00.002-04:00

Day 07 – A picture of your most treasured item.

Photo by Shang Chen

Wedding rings.

[Edit] OMG do you people not understand the concept of an engagement ring?! Left: Bryan's wedding ring. Middle: My engagement ring. Right: My wedding ring. Bryan gave me the engagement right when he proposed. The wedding rings were exchanged at the wedding ceremony. You're welcome!

Day 06

2011-04-20T10:13:00.003-04:00

Day 06 – A picture of a person you’d love to trade places with for a day.

I wanna see what it's like to be tall. and HUGE. and famous!! haha

Day 05

2011-04-19T09:16:00.000-04:00

Day 05 – A picture of …your favorite memory.

Making college nationals in 2008 :)

Day 04

2011-04-18T11:28:00.001-04:00

Day 04 – A picture of your night.

Sleepy

Day 03

2011-04-17T11:09:00.000-04:00

Day 03 – A picture of the cast from your favorite show.

Modern Family!!

Day 02

2011-04-16T10:54:00.004-04:00

Day 02 – A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.

Oh by the way, did I ever mention that Esther and I were in a cult together? It's how we became the closest the longest.... hahaha juuuuust kidding. E and I went to a rooftop bar in NYC in November last year and it was freezing so we got spiked cider and cocoa and wore the establishment's creepy red robes all night.

My life in 30 days

2011-04-15T18:00:00.007-04:00

I normally don't do these kinds of things, but this one sounds super cheesy so I say go for it! And... no judging. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

Day 01 – A picture of yourself with fifteen facts.
Day 02 – A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest.
Day 03 – A picture of the cast from your favorite show.
Day 04 – A picture of your night.
Day 05 – A picture of …your favorite memory.
Day 06 – A picture of a person you’d love to trade places with for a day.
Day 07 – A picture of your most treasured item.
Day 08 – A picture that makes you laugh.
Day 09 – A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.
Day 10 – A picture of the person you do the craziest things with.
Day 11 – A picture of something you hate.
Day 12 – A picture of something you love.
Day 13 – A picture of your favorite band or artist.
Day 14 – A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.
Day 15 – A picture of something you want to do before you die.
Day 16 – A picture of someone who inspires you.
Day 17 – A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.
Day 18 – A picture of your biggest insecurity.
Day 19 – A picture of you when you were little.
Day 20 – A picture of somewhere you’d love to travel.
Day 21 – A picture of something you wish you could forget.
Day 22 – A picture of something you wish you were better at.
Day 23 – A picture of your favorite book.
Day 24 – A picture of something you wish you could change.
Day 25 – A picture of your day or favorite day
Day 26 – A picture of something that means a lot to you.
Day 27 – A picture of yourself and a family member.
Day 28 – A picture of something you’re afraid of.
Day 29 – A picture that can always make you smile.
Day 30 – A picture of someone you miss

So today is Day 1. Here goes, 1 pic of me and 15 facts about myself.

1. I really only started eating cheese in grad school. Mostly because of Doris and Smeri.

2. I'm one of those married women who never ever wants to plan another wedding ever again. It was fun at the time but now I look back and I can't believe I actually did all that.

3. I started drinking coffee like a year ago. Now I drink ~ 2 cups of coffee a day. Usually once at 2pm and once at 4pm.

4. My rock climbing month at Metrorock was awesome.

5. I work better when everyone around me is working.

6. I'm really competitive when it comes to sports. I like winning. A lot.

7. I am more likely to get up earlier when I sleep on the side of the bed that's not next to the wall.

8. Life after graduate school sounds scary and exciting at the same time to me.

9. I love reading. A recent favorite book is Ender's Game.

10. I also like Speaker of the Dead and Xenocide a lot, even though they are very different than Ender's Game.

11. I think about my family a lot, but it doesn't always translate into calling them.

12. I've never been camping. That's going to change this summer!

13. I love broth-y soup.

14. I bake when I'm stressed.

15. I LOVE BANANAGRAMS!

[Edit]: I thought of this fact after the 15, but it's really important so I'm going to add it anyway: I LOVE LIME GREEN. It's such a happy, inspirational, catchy color!!!

Antrim's Floors are Slanty

2011-04-13T16:30:00.005-04:00

I set up a little work station in the corner of the kitchen, but as I was working, I felt really uncomfortable, like my body is tilting towards the center of the kitchen. I mean, I always knew that the kitchen floors were slanted, but man, they are REALLY slanted.

I took a video:

Exciting, huh? haha

Boogers

2011-04-12T08:53:00.000-04:00

My boogers are grey after every time I go climbing. I think it's from breathing in all the chalk and dust.

Spring Hat

2011-04-11T11:08:00.005-04:00

Daphne and Bryan signed up for a spring hat team together (I decided to opt out to attempt to get more work done this spring, so far as you can see, it's not going well =P) but Daphne was out of town this weekend so I decided to impersonate Daphne on Sunday and take her place. First of all, their team is "safety orange" (amazing!!). Second, their name is "Huck Wing Duck" in the spirit of the superheroes theme (so cute!). Third, they have so many baller people on it. In fact, they had so many people on it that I ended up being given away to the opposing team, who had 7 people when the game started. :(

I had so much fun!! I forgot what it's like to play frisbee and run around and cut and fake. I cut the whole game which was sooo much fun. Haha! I kept stumbling around and tripping on myself though, like my legs weren't connected to my body. I think I'm just really out of practice =P

A few points into the game, Bryan was going for a "D" and collided with his guy and in the process, rolled his ankle and then the guy fell on top of him, which made the ankle roll a lot worse. He wasn't a little guy either. =P It was scary to see Bryan grimacing in pain so much, but I helped him off the field, and he elevated and took ibuprofen. Later he took off his cleats and someone on the sideline said, "wow your ankle is really swollen!" And I thought, "It is??" And then the guy compared the ankles and replied, "Oh wait, you just have really fat ankles." Hahaha. Anyway, sad day, plus it's still swollen today, but hopefully he'll get better soon so he can run around again.

Bouldering today!

[EDIT]: Keiko, who is on "Huck Wing Duck" told me the first thing she thought when she saw Daphne's and Bryan's name on the team list, but not mine, was that I was pregnant. REALLY?!! Then one of the guys on the sideline said, "I don't think you should be playing if you're pregnant." AHHHH! Keiko, you need to stop spreading rumors =P hehe

Decisions decisions

2011-04-06T17:44:00.001-04:00

Cornell or bell crack?
Husband or frisbee?
Relaxing fun weekend or tiring fun weekend?
Beach house or yang's house?

My Metrorock month

2011-04-05T12:23:00.010-04:00

Last night was my last time at Metrorock. JJoo, Bryan, and I had gotten Metrorock Groupons for a one-month membership (also includes belay class if you want it and rentals) and it just expired yesterday. We went probably 4-6 times a week every week in the last month. SO MUCH FUN.

One thing that I loved about climbing was that I can see improvement in myself, even in just one week, in strength, technique and endurance. I started at 5.7s exactly 30 days ago and now I can climb 5.9s clean, and a few 5.10s. I'm less tired after each time we go to Metrorock than previous times. I feel more comfortable and flexible on the wall. And tonight I'm going to see if I can do a pull-up! =P (I've never been able to do one in my life.)

Another thing I love about climbing is that it takes a lot of focus and concentration. This climbing month came at a much needed time in my life. I've been struggling a lot with research, my dad's death in January, and just personal issues in general, and I just needed something to take my mind off of all of it. When I'm on the wall, I can't think about anything else except climbing and making it to the top. And it felt great to leave the gym exhausted and sleep soundly at night because I was so tired.

One of my favorite climbs is called "Bring your Jetpack!" The starting handhold starts about 8 feet off the ground and there is a stepping hold about 3 feet off the ground that you are supposed to use to hoist yourself up to the start. All the guys and some of the taller girls can stand next to the stepping hold and just step up to grab the starting hold. The only way I can get to the starting hold is if I take a running start from about 10 yards away and jump on the step and convert my forward momentum to upwards momentum and then grab the starting hold tightly so I don't swing off.

The first time I tried this climb, I couldn't convert, so it looked like (and felt like) I was running into the wall head first 10 times in a row and then bouncing off. One time I "bounced" off so hard I stumbled backwards and landed on my butt. After the first three times I looked around sheepishly and this girl belaying next to me said, "Don't worry, I did the same thing." Haha! But finally, I was able to grab the starting hold, and make my way up. The entire climb is fun because you do need your "jetpack" for parts of it. The handholds are easy to hold onto, but they're far apart and you need to reach for them and run up the wall during some parts and do some splits during other parts. After I found out about the "Bring your Jetpack" climb, I think I climbed it every day for a week because it was so awesome :)

I think climbing is much more a personal, mental exercise, like tennis. When I played tennis competitively, I felt like a crazy person sometimes. I talked to myself, cursed at myself, and psyched myself up. It's kinda like that for climbing, both fun and a little disturbing at the same time. I think I still like team sports more, like frisbee :)

I'm not going to continue my membership at Metrorock because 1) it's expensive ($215 for a 3-month student membership, but I do have my own gear :) ) and 2) it's far (without someone driving me on a regular basis, I would probably end up never going because I'm lazy and taking the T is too much of a hassle for me). Buuut I plan on getting into bouldering at MIT (it's free! and on the way home!) so if anyone wants to come with me, let me know! And maybe when I have a real job and a car I'll look into getting involved at a climbing gym, but that's too far in the future for me to think about right now.

So, to Metrorock, to Bryan, to JJoo, and to all the friends I climbed with, thanks for making this past month more bearable, more fun, and just plain awesome. :)

Hi :)

2011-03-28T12:49:00.001-04:00

Anyone still following this?

The other day (on March 25):

K: "Bry! It's our 6-month anniversary! Write me a poem!"

B: "Ok... Roses are red. Violets are... brown." ::pauses to think a little:: "Who pooped in my garden?"

K: ... "HAHAHAha..ha.." ...

B: "Ok! Your turn!"

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T18:38:00.008-05:00

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

2010-12-02T14:17:00.002-05:00

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

2010-11-18T00:21:00.004-05:00

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

2010-11-16T12:43:00.007-05:00

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...

2010-11-14T01:24:00.004-05:00

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

2010-11-03T11:07:00.004-04:00

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!

2010-10-22T00:18:00.001-04:00

Larry wins for sure. =P

Nice try buddy

2010-10-19T13:19:00.003-04:00

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

2010-10-11T16:53:00.003-04:00

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!!

2010-10-08T09:43:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow! Kinda nervous, but also really excited :)

Rainy sucky public transportation

2010-10-06T10:02:00.004-04:00

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!!!!!

2010-09-29T21:14:00.001-04:00

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

2010-09-22T09:54:00.002-04:00

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

2010-09-21T23:11:00.002-04:00

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

2010-09-20T08:10:00.001-04:00

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

2010-09-17T10:52:00.003-04:00

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

2010-09-13T20:01:00.002-04:00

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

2010-09-12T10:28:00.003-04:00

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

2010-09-10T12:43:00.003-04:00

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

2010-09-07T16:57:00.004-04:00

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!!!

2010-09-05T09:14:00.004-04:00

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

2010-09-03T12:21:00.002-04:00

Guess who

2010-09-02T13:01:00.009-04:00

**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...

2010-09-02T11:17:00.004-04:00

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

2010-09-01T22:19:00.000-04:00

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

2010-08-27T09:00:00.002-04:00

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...

2010-08-26T15:16:00.002-04:00

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

2010-08-24T13:27:00.007-04:00

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

2010-08-22T22:08:00.002-04:00

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!

2010-08-20T11:18:00.002-04:00

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!

2010-08-19T08:38:00.001-04:00

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

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 ;) )
8/28-29: Chesapeake Open in Poolsville, MD - flying out Fri evening, returning Sun evening.
9/4: double practice, then bachelorette party! There is definitely going to be a nap between the double practice and the b-party =P
9/11-12: Sectionals (Lancaster, MA)
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!
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

2010-08-18T21:46:00.003-04:00

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

2010-08-17T09:08:00.001-04:00

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

2010-08-16T10:02:00.007-04:00

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

2010-08-10T10:07:00.003-04:00

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)

2010-08-09T11:12:00.005-04:00

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

2010-08-05T00:21:00.002-04:00

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!

2010-08-04T16:23:00.003-04:00

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...

2010-08-03T09:58:00.004-04:00

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."