Tryouts!

I'm trying out for different mixed teams in the Bay Area.. man, there are SO MANY TEAMS! And a lot of the mixed teams' names are sexual (or maybe everything on Urban Dictionary is sexual). It weirds me out!

One fun and interesting thing is that I'm trying out as a cutter instead of a handler. Ever since I hurt my shoulder in October last year (strained my supraspinatus tendon on the most awkward layout ever), I'm very hesitant to throw backhands, and I'm still uncomfortable throwing backhand hucks. The only way I can confidently get backhands off is if I throw really low (which is good, I guess) because it forces me to put a lot of spin on the disc and have a short follow-through after I release, but it really limits my range of backhands.

I did PT for my shoulder for a couple months and it helped a lot so my shoulder didn't limit any normal activities. But it still gets sore when I throw a lot of backhands or do pushups.

Anyway, I tried out as a cutter this past weekend and it was way fun and took a lot of the pressure off my throwing, so I think I played a lot better. It also helped that Doris and Bryan were at tryouts too, reminding me that I play my best when I'm having fun with people I love. :)

Karen Ng, PhD

I decided a couple weeks ago that I wanted to attend my graduation ceremony because I thought my mom and grandma would enjoy it. So this morning I received an email from MIT telling me that I only have a few more days to reserve my cap and gown before I was charged a $25 late fee. So I went onto the MIT commencement website, which says that I can either reserve my gown in person at The Coop, or I can call in. Obviously I can't reserve my gown in person so I clicked on the website for The Coop (which is linked directly from the MIT Commencement website), and clicked on "Contact Us," which had a phone number for the The Coop.

I called the phone number and spoke to a delightfully friendly person named Adam. I told him my situation, and he said that he can just take my info via phone and will submit my rental request for me. So we went through the process: I gave him my name and all my contact info (including my email, karenng@alum.MIT.edu), gave him my height, weight, and credit card number. Then he told me I'm all set and that I can pick up the gown any time before graduation.

Then I said, "Just to confirm, I can pick it up in the Kendall Coop, right? Not the MIT Student Center Coop?"

And then Adam paused.

And said, "Oh. This is actually the Harvard Coop. I guess I forgot to ask you the most important question, which school you're graduating from. And you even said your email was alum.MIT.edu, but we have a lot of Harvard students with MIT email addresses."

Me: "...Oh." I'm such an idiot.

Adam: "Welllll... Let me ask my supervisor and see what the correct protocol is for transferring this order to MIT."

Me (so embarrassed): "No no no, it's okay, just cancel the order, and I'll call the MIT Coop. I'm really sorry..."

I hung up the phone, and turned to my boss, who was sitting next to me (we work in a conference room, with 3 other people, who weren't there yet) and told him, "I just ordered my graduation gown from the wrong school."

I don't deserve to graduate. :(

Frisbee friends can be found anywhere :)

So for the last month, I've been doing an externship in LA that requires me to travel to Fresno, CA during the week. As the "ultimate junkie" that I am (as Michelle calls me), I googled "Fresno ultimate" and came across a group that gets together every Tues night at 7:30pm for some pickup in a city park.

The first day I show up, I pull in the parking lot and see like 150 guys playing football. There was a full-tackle game going on in one field, and two flag football games going on in two other fields. "Where's the ultimate?" I'm thinking.

Finally, some people show up and we don't have enough to play a full game so we play 3-on-3 goaltimate, which was the first time I played goaltimate in my life! Everyone was super friendly and welcoming, asking me where I'm from, and where I played, etc.

Incidentally, I realized that my story is kind of complicated... "Well you see, I grew up in LA, went to school in Boston, then moved to SF, but I'm living in LA for the month for an internship, which has me traveling to Fresno for the week. But I live in LA on the weekends. And my husband is in SF. Um, yeah... yay frisbee!"

Anyway, I've been going for a couple weeks now, and even though the crowd is constantly changing and we play 3-on-3 goaltimate, or 4-on-4 short-field, or 2-on-2 hot box (that was a tiring one) depending on our numbers, I learned that you can always find a friendly group of people up for playing ultimate, wherever you go.

Leafy greens

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

(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"

B:

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

B: "strippers pie"

K: "Haha ugh weirdo"

Thesis

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

My advisor: "No"

Compliments

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!"