Phillies vs. New York Mets

This blog is a bit like Arrested Development - the little teaser the previous week (or post, in this case) has no bearing whatsoever to what actually comes up next.

So I went for my first ever Major League baseball game last week - what an experience!! Armed with a half-baked understanding of the game and its rules, I trooped off to Citizens Bank Park with 24 other exchange students from around the world for a taste of this integral slice of American culture. Apparently this would be an interesting match because the Phillies and the Mets had tied the night before, and would be jousting for first place in the Eastern standings this game.

The atmosphere on the subway was particularly festive - fans were decked out in red and white (and some blue) with huge 'P's emblazoned on their fronts; some sported all manner of flags, signs and caps.

Destination in sight:

The subway spilled out into the cool, breezy evening and snaked its way to the entrance. Along the way, there were what must have been scalpers or desperate fans hollering, "Extra tickets? Anybody got extra tickets?"

Why? Because:

I'm sure he's famous:
As a matter of fact, Rollins scored a couple of home runs that night...

The big screen that kept us entertained all night:

Nothing can quite convey the atmosphere and excitement of being part of such a huge crowd than actually being there:
At the time of this picture, the Mets had been booed on the pitch and the Phillies greeted with a rousing roar. The smell of fries (not chips - if you ask for chips, they actually give you potato chips) wafted across and made me hungry, vendors were hauling crates of cold beverages up and down the stands yelling, "BEER! Get your ice-cold beer!", the two Mets fans sitting next to me were popping salted nuts and the game was about to begin! I felt like I was in a movie.

A few broken bats and home runs later, the Phillies get an early lead 3 to 1:

As I realised that night, part of why baseball is so lucrative is that it's made itself into the perfect live spectator sport. Sure, the scoring system helps - with 9 innings and lots of breaks in between, it's a little more exciting than cricket yet not so involved that you can't get up and grab a hotdog, then come back and check the score. More importantly though, there's so much more to 'being at the game' than just focusing on the pitch and players. There's so much fanfare going on off the pitch or on the big screen that gets the spectators involved and having fun, and ultimately, well, attending.

For example, every now and then a trivia question or a mini-game would go up on screen. People would call out their answers, or rally their neighbours into a chant; then, once the answer pops up, a collective sigh emits from the 'losers' and the 'winners' celebrate with laughter and cheers. Or, the roving camera shows up on screen with the words 'Flex Cam' superimposed, and zooms in on various people in the stands, while the rest cheer at the fat guy bouncing his wobbly arms or boo at the fit, over-keen guy whose flexing fills the camera. All this, while the 'macho, macho maaaan!' refrain plays in the background. Then, an ad for XYZ Hotdogs gets played, after which, as the ad wraps up, an XYZ Hotdog mascot on a buggy drives onto the pitch (between innings obviously) and shoots foil-wrapped hotdogs into the stands. The crowd hoots and cheers and gets on its feet, while arms flail about amidst calls of "HERE! HERE!"

I tell you, that hotdog shooter is some contraption...it's a 45000 capacity stadium and it shot one right up and over the edge of the stadium!

Then, there are the traditions, the staple at baseball games, the potatoes of an Irishman's diet - like the 7th-inning stretch. During the half of the 7th inning, everyone gets up - some stretch, some sing racuously to 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame", and others like me, so clearly out-of-place, crack ourselves up, lift our hands in amusement and join in the chorus.

Then, there are things I thought only happened in movies:
He proposed! Most of the crowd were supportive, though some hecklers met the gesture with calls of "LOSER!". Luckily this one had a happy ending - the girl giggled, covered her face, wiped her eyes, gave a barely discernible nod and shy Mr. Phillies Fan kissed his bride-to-be. I think it's a little embarassing given how the concept has been done to death in movies and goodness, I mean, there are so many ways it could go wrong! Anyway, ended well so, good luck to them!

Now, admittedly, I haven't watched many sports live in the stadium, so I don't know if the spectator carnival happens in other sports the way it does in baseball. Sure doesn't in tennis. Maybe football? You tell me. But first...

Here's a game for you, can you guess the attendance?

A record, sell-out crowd of...

Unfortunately, after a 7 inning lead by the Phillies, the Mets staged a late comeback in the 8th, scoring 4 points, and finally, won the game at 6-3. Invigorated, the vastly outnumbered Mets fans led a chant of 'Let's Go Mets!' - interspersed with a forcible 'Boo!' by disgruntled Phillies fans.

"Let's go Mets!"
"Boo!"
"Let's go Mets!"
"Boo!"

Me? I was a happy camper, despite the outcome.

More stories and adventures to come!

Next week: An exclusive interview with the evangelical right's new heroine. Thanks McCain for helping me make up my mind.

Unigames in pictures

At the fringes of where I live, TTDI, lies an old bumi project, abandoned and left to rot. It had a huge banner saying "Project Reviving Soon" since 2004.

Unlike that contractor, this blog delivers*.

As promised in the previous post, I now have a semi-decent internet connection to upload photos from unigames. Photos belong to Lyndsey and Wealy, photographers extraordinaire, and Rob, you know, that guy.

Our accomodation - The Chevron Renaissance

A selection of the team's mohawks

Moho 2007

I didn't put photos of the parties up, so just imagine lots of dancing, faux-grinding, drinking and sweaty, half-naked boys. There's no party like a frisbee party!

*That's right, Kang. :)

Australian Uni Games

Hello hello! I am back from the Gold Coast just this evening, off a 30 hour coach/train journey from Surfers' Paradise to Sydney Central to Melbourne. The trip was made very bearable by good company, card games, lots of knitting and lots of sleep. In case you're curious, I have painstakingly produced about 30 x 15 cm of scarf, with the only minor mishap being that I accidentally added 4 stitches progressively starting from the 5th row. No matter, once the scarf gets long enough, no one will ever know. Shh.

So, the Gold Coast was divine. Once again, Melbourne Uni shacked us up at the kind of lodging befitting athletes from the 10th best university in the world (in Arts) - the Chevron Renaissance Towers. Needless to say, it was luxury. We were right in the heart of the main shopping/clubbing district, a short walk from the gorgeous beach and a short bus ride from our manicured playing fields. One night, as we drank beer and played cards on the balcony of the 27th floor and looked out on the lights of Surfers' Paradise spread out beneath us, I felt like I was in Vegas.

But I digress. We didn't come for a relaxing holiday after all, we came to play 12 games over 5 days in a pool with 7 of the top 11 UF teams, while staying hydrated and un-sunburnt and coming out and partying hard every night. And we came to claim a medal. We fought hard - as a team, our performance fluctuated a bit throughout the week and often, we gave away a few early points before remembering to score. Some games we should have trod over, we grinded out over universe point; some games we should have won, we lost.

Long story short, we missed out on the quarterfinals by 1 point and found ourselves relegated to the 9/10 playoff. Despite our misleading end ranking, we played with some amazing intensity and spirit and skill. I think it's fair then to allow ourselves a little hapless shrug and sum our result up in Freise's words - would've, could've, should've.

Individually, I played a shite tournament. My physical endurance was...not there and I struggled from day 1 to keep my legs moving. One could argue I've been struggling on and off since SUG. It was disappointing and frustrating for me, and perhaps even more frustrating for our coach and the team. I knew I had so much more to contribute, but physically I just couldn't deliver. I could come up with all the excuses in the world to explain my poor showing, but it won't change the fact that I couldn't, didn't step up to what I expected from myself. A teammate said, regardless of whether we won or lost, the most important thing is to take something out of every game. I'm taking something out of this tournament, I'm telling myself to make it a positive, constructive learning experience and come back next year ready to kill - or take myself off the team.

Long story short, I gotta fire up.

Off the field, I had a fantastic time. Each apartment took turns hosting a home-cooked team dinner for the first 4 days of the tournament, which was not only a great idea financially, but also an excellent showcase of some pretty amazing culinary skills we had on the team. I don't think I've ever been so well-fed at a tournament until now. Dinners then dissolved into rowdy games of caps, kangaroo court sittings (a particularly memorable case involved a charge of teamcest, which was accompanied by a hilarious dramatic reenactment of how it all began by the prosecutors), card games, general banter and serious team meetings. When it got sufficiently late, we hit the clubs and partied like it's hot. I piked all but one of the parties, including the infamous Friday party of drunkeness and debauchery where, apparently, everyone hooked up with everyone. Yes, so I'm a dirty piker, but when one is dating the king of dirty pikers, what can you say hey? :)

So that was my week and the end of my holidays. Reality insists on reminding me I have assignments due very soon and final exams in a month. My exam timetable is out - good news is, I will be done in 2 weeks; bad news is, holy shit I need to start studying. I'll put up AUG photos once I can get my grubby hands on them. Also, Alex returns this Wednesday after 6 weeks in Bangalore. I'm excited!

Updates and even photos to spice things up!

Here I am again, clinging desperately to the last two weeks of my holidays. Holidays are never quite as unfettered as I would like them to be - always this or that worry lurking in the background. This time, it's summer internship applications. Though I've barely begun with the process, I'm already going about it with an air of reluctance and defeat. Truly, if I'm to get anywhere in life, I really should change my outlook. But gawd, it's so bothersome. I much prefer a show, don't tell approach to job applications. I'll show you I can do the job and do it well, just don't make me persuade you beforehand to give me a chance.

Unfortunately, the real world doesn't work that way. :( But surely failing at the tell does not mean I'll fail at the show. I suppose one could argue that if my communication skills are at the level required by the job, I wouldn't have a problem; and if I did have a problem, I'm not good enough for the job. But is that so? Is that so?

Sigh.

Moving along, exams are over and results are out. I'm fairly happy with how I went, naturally, it can always be better, and I would have liked that 90+ I was hoping for in Accounting, so that I can finally say what I've been itching to say to Accounting - "WTFPWNED! Fuck yeah!". I can still say it with the result I got, but not with as much satisfaction. :P Business Finance was a minor disappointment, as expected, following a shoddy performance at the exam. Happily, I've just managed to maintain an overall H1 average. I'm getting complacent. To hell with all this scraping through business - I want to wtfpwn everything!

Except regionals. We didn't quite wtfpwn regionals like we should've. For the first time in 3, 4 years Melbourne Uni lost its gold streak at regionals, to Monash no less. It was a fair game, and there is not much more to say than in the end, they proved to be the better team. Nevertheless, with more training and some valuable female imports in Sem 2, I'm confident that we will fire out stronger in Gold Coast come September.


Melbourne Uni Regionals team

In other news, I attended a farewell dinner at Pugg Mahones for a friend who was going away for a month. It was a very good night, good food, live music and montage-worthy chatter round the table. When the performer dude played and sang Heart of Gold with a guitar and mounted harmonica, I thought my heart would weep with joy. He went on to play many good folksy/acousticky/country songs, which made me exceedingly happy.


Jimmy, who should be by now safely in Europe, and Bec, token American. (Despite the fact that the Americans almost outnumbered everyone else at the dinner :)

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my new-found love for Blizzard's sense of humour in WoW. I don't play the game and probably never will, but I've been introduced to many interesting and entertaining aspects of the game, including but not limited to raid group photos, video-recordings of raids, customised dance moves and the Southpark episode featuring WoW.



[EDIT: Upon recommendation, video link changed to something even more exciting. Such choreography and camera work...]

Finally, everyone say "Yay Alex!" for being so awesome.

April, begone.

Frisbee has taken over my life. Can you tell?

Sunday: Training
Monday: Nothing thankfully, since MUCUS lost the semis last week
Tuesday: Melbourne Uni Ultimate Frisbee Club AGM
Wednesday: Training
Thursday: Dinner with frisbee people
Friday: Honey pre-nationals party
Saturday: Chilly (Alex's team) pre-nationals dinner
Sunday: Nationals
Monday: Nationals
Tuesday: Nationals
Wednesday: Nationals

I think a lot of us have a similar schedule as well. Except I have two tests on Wed and Thurs, two assignments due in the far too near future and an unholy amount of FMAA work.

*drowns*

Another update? No wai.

I'm on a roll, I am. If I keep this up enough, I'm well on my way to missing all my assignment deadlines, flunking out of uni and living my life as a penniless drifter, preaching frisbee love to those who'd care to listen. Now wouldn't that be nice.

So, Ong and I met up in the city to see Miss Saigon over the weekend. Along the way, I [edit] bumped into a certain dashing, blue-eyed American on his way to the footy, which left me with a silly grin for the next 15 minutes. Then, Alex showed up with such a kiss in greeting that aforementioned American was promptly forgotten and all around us, the world dissolved away. How cliched. :) Nonetheless, it's a wonder indeed that I haven't overdosed on so intoxicating a drug.

("Shameless! Shameless!" I hear you cry. Ah well, I couldn't care less. :)

But I digress. We were on the subject of Miss Saigon. (I rarely ever have my head about me these days, you understand.) It was enjoyable enough, but I think we both agreed that it wasn't a particularly memorable musical. There were, however, some rather impressive stage effects and scene transitions, like a flashback and perspective and 'camera angle' changes. Very interesting to see.

Sunday training with Honey was one of the best training sessions I've had with the team. It was a step up, definitely, in terms of physical exertion, and pushed me a lot more, didn't allow me to be lazy and get away with it. Towards the end I started getting a strain up my left thigh, probably related to my knee inflammation late last year (which has since subsided but not wholly so). But, nothing like a good, hot shower to rejuvenate the limbs, just in time for Monday league tomorrow night.

I don't think I've talked about it much, strangely enough, but I play for MUCUS in the Monday league. Apparently it's a backcronym which stands for Melbourne University Co-educational Ultimate Society. Most creative. It comprises mostly MU alumni and is a fantastic team. Our cheers in the Circle of Love have a lot of snotty hackcoughing incorporated. Sets us apart, really. I have so much fun playing MUCUS, and we share so much laughter and camaraderie on and off the field, that my only regret is having to miss half the season while I was back in Malaysia.

Speaking of which, we've had a very good season, staying mostly, if not always, at the top of the ladder. For the first time in league history, we're tied with Tepid Romantic Explosion on all counts, even the multitude of tiebreakers, which means we'll have to resolve this problem with a simple discflip tomorrow night. Or maybe a drink-off, in the spirit of ultimate. Too bad Ong can't hold his drink. *runs away* Either way, I am looking forward to the semis tomorrow and the finals the week after Easter. More frisbee action!

Also, I am so gullible. (Re: xkcd's April Fool's prank) xkcd, sell itself out to a syndicate? Foolish, foolish me!

what's been happening

What a long two weeks it has been. Exams have gone fairly well - 3 papers down, 1 more to go. For the most part, I've been holed up in my apartment, emerging only to walk to the exam venue and get food supplies.

Between textbooks and tute questions, I've been religiously checking the World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC) score site, though updates were disappointingly shoddy and sporadic. Still, they did little to hamper that crazy adrenalin rush I get just thinking about the frisbee action going on at worlds, and the close tabs I've been keeping on the teams and players I know battling it out in Perth. Most of the Aus teams didn't fare too well, but I suspect the opportunity to play at WUCC is an end in itself. Chilly, Aus' No. 1 men's team, on the other hand, blazed their way through the competition to snag the bronze. What an experience it must've been! It's absolutely inspiring. I swear, I will not rest until I'm playing at WUCC 2010, wherever in the world that may be.

The gold medal went to Buzz Bullets of Japan. Heartening to know Asians aren't forever handicapped by our smaller built and physique next to our foreign counterparts. Or at least, we've found one more sport in which we aren't. =) I'm hoping one day Malaysia will make it to worlds. Though judging by the general scene in most other sports back home, I may be a tad optimistic. I'm not sure what it is we lack. Passion, perhaps.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to league after its hiatus for worlds. I can feel my limbs atrophying already from sitting/lying around all day. Weather in Melbourne is ridiculous as usual. With summer but 2 weeks away, naturally we had to have some *snow* and hail, followed by one of the hottest days just 2 days later. *dies*

When I'm not out on the streets trying to survive the elements, I'm watching TV, reading, thinking about frisbee and leading the most routine life possible. Snore.

Australian Uni Games

IT IS TIME. I present to you the long overdue post on all the memorable ulty action, parties and associated capers that took place in Adelaide from 24-29 September.

I've mentioned many times before, not to y'all perhaps, about how fortunate I am to have joined the Melb Uni team at this stage in its life cycle. But 6 months in competitive play and I've been to two top-level tournaments already and received a gold and a bronze medal respectively. By the looks of it, I'm well on my way to becoming the most decorated rookie in rookiedom. More significantly though, this year's team (with its fair number of American imports) has been unbelievable. I've had the opportunity to learn from and train with some of Victoria's (and Australia's) top players, be a part of a close-knit, fun and enthusiastic community and basically soak up everything there is to playing ultimate here and with these people.

Enough with the soppy stuff. You're probably more interested in knowing...

How we got there:

Some flew, some road-tripped. As you might remember, I fell in the latter group. I spent 8 hours in severely cramped conditions, because the car was smaller than we bargained for, there was a Southern-drawling, sleep-deprived oaf (i.e. Chuck) in the backseat with me and many, many log-sized sports bags/rucksacks filling in whatever available space there was left. The ride back after the finals on Friday was a lot more pleasant. We went in a different car, everyone was more awake and thrilled about the bronze medal and we played car games. Mostly a bastardised version of 6 Degrees (on crack). Chuck and Steve were really the ones who were any good at it; Suse and I were hopeless, but had fun setting seemingly insurmountable puzzles for the guys. Chuck, with his formidable store of movie trivia, managed to get from Maggie Gyllenhaal to Meryl Streep via Stand By Me, albeit after half an hour. Before we knew it we were back in Melbourne.

Where we stayed:

The Hilton. That's right, the Hilton. While Monash was piled away in some shady backpackers motel, we were livin' it up at the Hilton. I love Melb Uni Sport - it is so well funded. We made the most of it all right, ordering from the Pillow Menu and recuperating in the pool, spa and sauna.

How we played:

We played a total of 10 matches over the week, and remained undefeated up till the 2nd last pool match against University of Queensland, losing 9-10 on universal point. We came back in the quarterfinal to defeat Adelaide Uni 10-7 (which, incidentally, was the team we beat at SUG for the gold). Macquarie Uni fought hard to take the semis from us 14-8, but we whooped Newcastle 15-5 in the bronze medal playoff. In a way, I suppose it felt good winning to take the bronze than losing to receive the silver. It was the best ever finish for Melb Uni and a Southern region team; our previous best was 8th place.


Adelaide Uni - time out


Hard to tell, but that's my grab for a score while huge solid mass of Ballarat guy dives for it. Scary.

Unfortunately, that was probably the highlight of my watery performance at AUG. I felt I played a lot better at SUG, in a sense that I felt more useful and had more of a presence on the field. Admittedly, considering that we had half a different team and obviously different circumstances, the dynamic would have been, and was, indeed, different. But I still think I could have played better. It's a little frustrating; I put a lot expectation on my performance on the field, but for lack of skill and experience, am frequently disappointed in myself. How I'd love to skip the growing pains and go straight to the part where I play brilliantly. =)

Why half the team was drunk/hungover on Thursday:

The ultimate frisbee party.


Johnny expending excess energy


Pat: Chuck heard that we might need women for AUG and was willing to step up.


Alica and Barrie - the token couple


Me and Pat. There was a bit of the 'Asian glow' there, as I was probably on my 4th drink then. Pat narrowly missed out winning Best Hair, but did win Most Doable Guy. The (drunk) Ballarat girls were all over him, literally and metaphorically, and were chanting "Paaat Crosbyyy Paaaat Crosbyyy" all night.

The rest of the team:


Back: Freise, Chris, Frankie, Chuck
Middle: Barrie, Johnny, Rich, Pat, Steve
Front: Nicole, me, Michelle, Alica, Suse, KP




Freise & Johnny - Green and Gold medallists (the ultimate ulty squad - 20 or so of the best players from any team)

What else we did:

(i) Kissed everyone





(ii) Moho Man



Moho is the name of the Melb Uni team. It's been the butt of many jokes, like, if you say it long enough, eventually it becomes: mo-ho, mo-ho, mo ho mo ho-mo, ho-mo, ho-mo...

(iii) Um...



(iv) Ummmm...



(v) Bask



(vi) Play frisket (frisbee-cricket)



(vii) Watch the final



What happened at the post-tournament party:

Lots and lots of fun, starting with a barbecue at Johnny's. In the midst of food, alcohol and general banter and silliness, I was named Rookie of the Year while Freise was named Import of the Year. Suse was so pleased at having won the bronze medal (it was her last tournament - she's submitting her thesis soon) she bought us all a huge box of bananas. For those of you who don't know the significance of this - cyclone struck Queensland, wiped out 90% banana crop, prices skyrocketed, banana gains cult status. We had a very good laugh about it and pigged on bananas, but wow, it must have cost her a bomb.

From thereon, we progressed to a nearby pub on Sydney Rd. I stayed out till 2am, and some of them carried it on till 6.30am. At the pub, Pat went on a mission to get me drunk and get everyone in on it as well. As a result, I ended up drinking...a fair bit. It failed, much to his chagrin. I felt a bit sick at the end, but was nowhere near the definition of drunk. The upside was, I didn't have to fork out a cent for drinks. People took turns buying me them. If I remember right, I had, in the approximate order - vodka punch, vodka punch, beer, beer, alcoholic smoothie, cowboy, cowboy, gin and tonic, tequila, jager, sambuca, raspberry vodka and vodka orange.

The first 5 were at Johnny's place. So believe it or not, all in all, I had 5 shots and 3 mixes at the pub, each bought by and taken with a different team member in the span of a coupla hours. I was amazed I was still standing. I somewhat expected a deadly hangover the next morning, but surprisingly, I woke up early, feeling more refreshed than I've felt in awhile. Admittedly, I spewed out most of the alcohol when I reached home, which was probably why I felt all right the next day.

When I'm going to end this post:

Very, very soon. Work a-calling. It's been back to the grind for 2+ weeks now, but not before going through the usual PTD (Post Tournament Depression). I think most of us did. The last leg of the car ride home was the most depressing of all. Having spent one glorious week in an ultimate frisbee bubble with the best kinds of people, the prospect of having to return to reality and uni and exams seemed too bleak to bear.

But, as Barrie said to me once, we get by in the end - we just live from one frisbee tournament to the next. He also said, it's not called Cultimate for nothing.

Cheers!

malaysia makes the news again!

It's been a little over a week now since I came back from Adelaide, and it's been full steam ahead with assignments and deadlines, hence the lack of a post-tournament update. I would like to reflect on the tournament eventually, preferably when I've got more pictures and time. In short though, AUG was fantastic. I'm still recovering from a bruised finger and developing shin splints, but people, for the BRONZE MEDAL at the national level, it was every bit worth it!

I've been a little out of touch with news back home since the Mahathir hoo-ha, but it seems every time I do check, there is never a dearth of similarly amusing stories to entertain me. Ah Malaysia! How I love thee.

Malaysia cracks down on "salad language"

All the other links in the article are worth clicking on too. Unsurprisingly, such a development opens up floodgates for the usual lost-in-translation digs. It's funny how so many well-worn English phrases become suspicious sexual innuendoes once translated into BM, as pointed out by the M'sian blogger linked in the article and the comments on his comments page.

Joystick - Kayu Gembira
Touch N' Go - Raba dan Pergi
Plug and Play Device - Peralatan Cucuk dan Main

*giggles*

But oh goodness, MyKad to Kadaku... And Rais' suggestion that 'Boulevard' be changed to 'Lebuh Perdana' is laughable. As if our road names weren't long enough already. As a commenter implied, they (well, the government) were the ones who came up with Cyberjaya (name of a suburb) in the first place.

Seeing 'bahasa rojak' translated as 'salad language' was interesting. I've never seen that version before. In fact, I've never seen any version before, so maybe that's why. My sister's speech is a prime example of bahasa rojak. Everytime I go back, I never fail to gawp at the progress she's made in fusing 3 different languages together in one sentence. This would then be followed by much teasing and laughing from her 2 other helpful and supportive siblings, and an admonition from my mom, "Don't speak like rojak!"...the irony of which, I've just realised.

While we're on the topic of languages, I stumbled across a blog written entirely in Hokkien some time ago. It's hilarious if you know Hokkien, so, sorry for those who miss out. He recently posted lyrics to a Hokkien song I've been half-heartedly searching for, which made me happy. Hokkien songs bring up such vivid memories of my dad, Chinese New Year and grandiose Chinese hotel wedding dinners.

Happy mid-autumn festival! I want mooooncake...mmm double yolk...

away for a week

I'm leaving for Adelaide in 4 hours! As a teammate of mine said this morning at training, "I can't believe I'm going to play a WEEK of ultimate!!!" I couldn't agree more. An obsessive lot, we are.

Well, let's hope the weather will be kind to us, and that I will come back in one piece (half-dead from exhaustion no doubt) with a medal and great stories to tell!

Are you excited? I'm excited! Aaaah!

I can't sleep again. Know why?

I just bought a new pair of shoes. Clean, shiny, metallic blue-green Asics shoes. Have you seen anything as beautiful as this? The comfort and fit of sneakers combined with the traction of cleats. I've just bought this pair of shoes; I can die happy now.



OH MY GOD I CAN'T WAIT TO WEAR THEM!

I can barely sit still. I want to switch on the daylight, grab a disc and take them out for a test run RIGHT NOW.

Tomorrow, I will attempt to cook chickpea curry (with potatoes and eggplant, just because I have them sitting around sprouting shoots or getting soft). In fact, said chickpeas are soaking overnight now in a bowl. Overnight preparation, man. How professional is that?

It's going to be a bit of an experiment, this curry. One can only hope it comes out edible. If it doesn't, there is, thankfully, the Moroccan Soup Bar on Thursday.

18 days to AUG!

Southern Uni Games

WHOOOOOOO! What an AWESOME week!!

I am back from cold, wet and windy Ballarat, which can be succinctly described as a basin with a perpetual overhanging rain cloud. Everything is also unsurprisingly named with either 'miner' or 'eureka' as part of its name (it was an ex-gold-mining town, see) - Miners Retreat Motel, Minerdome, Eureka Lodge, Miner Eureka Park Bench...

However, we were lucky enough to receive rare sunny weather for all three days of SUG. There were 12 teams competing, but 6 real competitors/threats, according to the senior players. The experience was gold. It was three days of excellent company, great spirit, great matches and some of the most beautiful playing I'd ever seen in my 4 months of ultimate. Not long, I know, but even the old players who've been in and out of tournaments admit so.

On my part, it's been precious learning from the very best of players and being able to watch them in action. I caught a few goals, held up pretty well on defence (made a coupla great Ds and handblocks!!), found my calling as a deep (a position responsible for making cuts far downfield near/at endzone) threat, and basically, playing some of the best ultimate I've ever played.

Admittedly the draw was somewhat lopsided, with most of the threats in the other pool, but we fought hard nonetheless and aimed for 120/120 points from the total 8 matches we played across 3 days.

The week at a glance:

Monday

Gathered at Barrie's (president) place in the morning for some team bonding and strategising. Ate muffins and Teevee snacks, bagged the other teams, went through VFDA rules, laughed and did stupid things with the whiteboard and magnets. Went in two cars for the hour plus drive to the 'rat.

Checked in, went out for dinner and - here's the fun part - went back to the motel and played drinking games. Half of us chose not to drink, but it was good fun anyways. Made individual goals for the tournament, some serious, some not. My serious one was to maintain my focus throughout the game, cause usually by the 3rd point I forget to concentrate and...what am I playing again? My not serious one was fun to make but with my limited skills impossible to pull off. I wanted to catch a goal from behind and through my legs. I've seen Johnny (he is brilliant, just brilliant) do it a coupla times. He had just made his goal, which was to break a defender by faking to the side and passing the disc up right through the defender's legs. At this point, Chuck (our coach) chipped in and said if Johnny made that pass to me and I caught it behind and through, he'd buy everyone drinks. Chris Freise said he'd retire from ultimate cause he'd have seen it all. John and I high-fived and said we'd get up early tomorrow morning and practice that pass. (We didn't really =)

Tuesday

A highly successful day, with everyone going into the games with full batteries and no major pre-existing injuries. Defeated University of Tasmania 15-2, La Trobe Bundoora 15-1 and La Trobe Wodonga 15-6. Wodonga comprised a team of ultimate newbies wanting to party at unigames before they graduated from uni, but had a genuine enthusiasm for the game. We played all sorts of whack plays with them, like cup-o-saurus, stop-drop-roll, Raid, Braveheart and American football offence. My favourite was Raid, where at the call of "Raid!" everyone on the team save one drops to the ground on their backs with floundering limbs, like roaches sprayed with Raid, and the one person standing is supposed to receive a huck (long throw) at the endzone to score.

Whack plays are extremely fun, but only if played in the right context and in good spirit, where both teams would get a laugh out of it. Cup-o-saurus is a trademark Melbourne Uni defence which never works, where everyone on the team circles the offense player holding the disc, and one person, usually the shortest (i.e. me) goes deep-deep. The thrower managed to break the cup and I D-ed the disc, beating the remaining 6 offense players around me, which was absolutely unbelievable and inspired Freise's atrocious "There is a hway!! There is a hway!!" pun which everyone will groan at forever. (Hway as in Hui, but usually pronounced 'whey' by the Aussies)

Wednesday

Sore limbs, free physios and more great playing! Defeated arch-rivals Monash 15-5 and Deakin 15-1. At this point, we were determined to let Wodonga, the most inexperienced team score the most against us, and so far, we've held up with Wondonga leading the score count with 6 against. Blazed our way through the quarter-final against Swinburne a.k.a. Swinnie, beating them 15-2 followed by a warm-down game of Survivor Ultimate, where everyone gets on the pitch and gets eliminated one by one.

Had a team dinner at Johnny's huge house (his family lives in Ballarat) in the middle of nowhere Ballarat. He had a pool table, a spacious kitchen and one of those long dinner tables, which fit all 14 of us nicely. Discovered Jagermeister, and had two shots, one in the form of a Jager-bomb (a glass of Red Bull with a shot glass of Jager dropped into it and drunk up as quickly as possible) and the other straight. Chuck was the undisputed champion of the Jager-bomb; before the starter's mouth had completed the 'o' of "Go!" he had dropped the shot, gulped it and thumped down an empty glass.


Chuck, 2 years ago. Most pix are still on other people's cameras.

Thursday

The tension was tangible as we prepared to battle Flinders in the semis, who beat us in the finals at SUG 2005 to win the gold medal. The more points we scored, the more frustrated they got, and the worse they played. We fed vicariously on the cracks and in-fighting that were beginning to surface in their team, and fuelled our own team morale to an all-time high. Flinders did not handle the pressure well, and finally crumbled to give us a 15-4 win.

The finals was against Adelaide Uni, which was a fantastic, focused, good-spirited team deserving of all kinds of respect. The game was close, as exhaustion began to take its toll and blunt our edge. We took the lead but Adelaide pulled back impressively, scoring the last point at time cap to end the game 14-8 to us. They were the only team to have prevented us from scoring a maximum of 15 before the time cap and the only team to have scored more than La Trobe Wodonga, ruining that record as well.

Cheers, hugs and camaraderie all round as Melbourne celebrated our gold medal and regained our title as SUG champs. The tournament virgins (i.e. me, Jess, Chris and Dave) had Vegemite 'Vs' painted on our cheeks and a pixfest ensued. Every girl on the team received at least one MVP point during the tournament, and 4 members made the inaugural SUG Merit Squad for excellence in playing. We packed up, prepared to head off to the medal ceremony and then back to Melbourne, while I tried to convince Johnny that I'd left my pool table at his house. Until I get better photos from the rest of the team, here's a snapshot of the people that made this week what it was:


Frank Simmons, 6'8".


Left to right: Frank, Liz, Johnny, Jo, Alica, Chuck and Dave.

Friday

The Three Rs - Rest, Recovery and Results. Did much better than expected, however, the results were not indicative of effort invested. I got H1s in Intro Micro and Managing People and Organisations, a H2A in Quantitative Methods 1 and a H2B in Accounting Reports and Analysis. When I logged on and saw my results, I giggled for about 5 minutes. It was the kind of giggle that happens when you've successfully hoodwinked everyone and got away scot-free.

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to another great semester, armed with a better understanding of what to expect and a better feel for the system. With effort and resolve, hopefully I'll get that string of H1s, although it doesn't matter so much anymore as long as I've got ultimate, FMAA, badminton and a host of other activities to complete the uni experience. Also, I've decided to treat myself next sem by dropping a commerce subject and taking up a philosophy subject instead. I'm really excited about it since we don't get that much flexibility in Commerce (compared to Arts anyway) and Chuck, who is doing a PhD in the Phil Dept was able to tell me where the good stuff was.

That's it for now; this post is starting to buckle under the sheer weight of words and I'm sure you are too. I have 11 weeks to get more in shape for the Australian Uni Games in Sept, 2 weeks left to spend in languorous relaxation and one heck of a week to remember for a long time.

commonwealth games

Right at my doorstep! Andy (friend from uni) woke me up with a call this morning telling me the men's 40km marathon would soon be passing corner Grattan and Lygon St. In about 15 minutes we joined the throng of supporters lining both sides of the street and waited for the runners. Today's weather can only be described as sublime, and the sky, oh-so-blue. *happy sigh*

After about another 15 minutes the applause began and soon the leading police car drove into view. We joined in much cheering and clapping as the leading pack (a Tanzanian, South African and two Kenyans) ran past, and the crowd erupted when shortly after, the three yellow and green clad runners followed past. They looped back on the other side of the road, so we actually got to see the runners twice. A runner (country unknown) who knew he was out of medal contention started high-fiving the crowd as he ran past, but he was on the other side of the road, so no high-fiving for me. =) It was very fun, and he looked like he was having tons of fun! The crowd was quite enamoured by him I think. Understandably the leading pack were very focused, and too busy winning to respond much to the crowd.

I got back in time to watch the finish for the women's and men's at Melbourne Cricket Ground on TV. The reception was amazing! I'd go through years of blood and toil and gruelling training if only to have that kind of experience once in my life. The men's winner (the Tanzanian runner - I forgot his name) was beaming no end as he ran to the finish line, the entire stadium cheering for him. What an experience! It gives me goosebumps just watching it.

The women's winner was Aussie Karen McCann. The stadium went wild, she was crying, I was teary-eyed and gawd there's just nothing like the joy of winning in sports. It gets to everyone.

Now I'm really looking forward to the badminton semis and finals next weekend, hopefully we'll manage that 1-2 finish in the mens. That'd be awesome to watch. Unfortunately badminton isn't big in Aus so it doesn't get much broadcast time, and if it does, it'll prolly be the Aussie teams. It's at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre just down along Southbank so if anyone is interested in forking out a small sum of money to watch badminton tell me! Tickets for the finals are $25-$65 I think, and the semis $15 (?).

Also, how great are those Visa - Proud Supporter ads on TV? I love them! They're the ones that go "I can't do it aloooooo-ooo-oone...". I'm really impressed by the way they managed to capture the enthusiasm and support of the crowd and the unbridled joy of the atheletes so so well. Those ads give me chills everytime I watch them, and believe me, I've seen them many times.

Oh the Commonwealth Games!

Sports Day update

Weather: 32 degrees or something very hot

Overall house results:
1st - Leven
Last - Stirling, as usual

Personal aths results:
1st - CH triple jump - broke the school record by a good 15cm
1st - Div 1 high jump - also broke the school record by 9cm and achieved a personal best
3rd - CH 100m - as good as I could go, tough competition this year
3rd - CH long jump - totally screwed up this event, unfortunately, falling ~0.5 metres short of what I usually jump
3rd - 8 X 80m - good effort considering it was a team event
3rd - 4 X 100m - ditto for this
5th - Crossball - novelty race that I was pulled into last minute which no one's really good at

In short, a total haul of 2 blue ribbons, 4 green ribbons and two school records in what will probably be the last formal sports day ever. I'm pretty pleased with how I went, and the disappointment in long jump was compensated for in breaking two school records. Hehe, hopefully my name will last on the records for at least some years. I'm mildly sunburnt about the cheeks, slightly dehydrated since the second half of Sports Day, feeling a tad limp after a nap from 5pm to 7pm, missing dinner in the process, and generally, feeling highly doubtful about being able to walk tomorrow.

Hooray.

GSV Championship Carnival

We won we won we won we won!!! I'm so excited. I'm tempted to say for the first time ever, but I'm not really sure. But in a long while I think, we haven't won Athletics. And today, we did it! Beat 7 other schools to emerge as overall champions by just a hair's breadth.

Today was also the proudest, happiest, most fantastic day I've ever had in a long, long while. I was in 6 events, with the last one being triple jump. I have never done triple jump in my entire life but for want of a representative in that event, they put me in. Under reasoning that I was a long jumper and it's all jumping anyway. I didn't really expect to go very far with triple, having only learnt the proper steps to it this very morning.

But joy oh joy! I discovered I COULD do it, and well too. And proceeded to beat everyone else flat with a distance of 9.65m. It was really hyped up cause the field events were running late and triple was the last event on the list. Everyone else was packing up and bracing themselves for the announcement of the final tally. Even the team captains from each school were assembling on the track with respective school banners. (Ours said 'GO PLC!' and was kinda embarassing, but yeah.) So there was a lot of attention on us remaining athletes. It was really cool to have so many people cheering and watching you. And when the announcement came that the final event (meaning the triple jump) would be the determining factor in who wins the championship, it just added more drama to the whole thing.

I could hardly contain my excitment and joy every time I got my jump measured, three in total, cause it increased sorta exponentially. 8.23m, 8.97m and finally, my gloriest moment, 9.65m. I was so, so happy, oh my god. The PE staff were thrilled to bits as well and laughing gleefully.

Finally, they announced the standings, starting from 8th place. When this blared over the microphone, "In second place, St. Catherine's", we just screamed our lungs out and hugged and jumped and clapped and cheered, our unbridled joy erupting and reverberating off the stands, knowing that, there was only one school left for 1st place. And it was us.

What made it the most momentous occasion was that we were celebrating as a team, a huge team at that, and that happiness was simply magnified tens of times over among us. Victory tastes so much sweeter shared. The championship carnival marked the end of a fantastic athletics season, through which I've made so many new friends, and you just gotta admit, this was one heck of a finale.

the story goes on

My much treasured athletics involvement has been saved from a premature end. An end that was caused by the seemingly uneccessary construction of the CHS sports complex (I wonder how it's been progressing) and the consequent no-sports-day decision. Either way, I've been running and jumping my heart out more than ever on the track since I came, simply because there's been lots more opportunity to. But the parallels are there, and so they came to me as I was lounging about the Olympic Park stadium waiting for my next event in the GSV (GirlSport Victoria) Preliminary Track and Field Carnival.

I remember the blazing hot days in Stadium Kelana Jaya, where the plastic seats in the stands got so hot you couldn't sit on them without burning your bottom and you'd come home shades darker at the end of the day. There'd be those Indian guys on motorcycles selling ice-creams, cold drinks and stuff just outside the compound, and athletes, both guys and girls, stretching and warming up all over the place inside. Which reminds me, it was back in Form 2 then, my first MSSD competition. Word was getting round that some girl and some guy were french kissing on one of the less populated stairways, and I remember thinking, w-hoa. It was really alien, almost mysterious then, such blatant show of affection in a public place, but I was young and naive...I barely even knew what french kissing meant! *shakes head solemnly* (I wouldn't bat an eyelid now of course, heh heh, but we're going off topic. =)

Just yesterday, I was at Olympic Park Stadium, dressed in four layers of clothes and sporting a pair of gloves. Condensation was having a field time in front of my face everytime I opened my mouth. That cold. These days, I wonder what it's like to sweat, wonder how the sun feels on your body, wonder how it's like to not have stiff, icy fingers all the time. (But the sun came out later in the day, and from certain angles, you could actually feel some warmth. There was a huge screen on one corner giving the latest results and listing upcoming events. The stadium also came equipped with cameras mounted on the sides of the finishing line. Needless to say, I was impressed.

The people were obviously very different this time round. 8 girls' schools competed in the prelim carnival (equivalent of MSSD peringkat zon)...lets see. Lauriston, Sacre Coeur, Camberwell, Genezzano, St. Catherine's, Ruyton, Kilvington and PLC. I think that's it. Whole place swarming with girls, girls and more girls. Boring sial. (Until now, I will defend to death that single-sex schools serve no better purpose to entire humanity 'cept maybe encouraging homosexuality. Co-ed all the way!!) ANYway, it sounded so strange and unfamiliar to me after years of athleticspeak involving vocabulary like Taman Sea, Assunta, DJ, DU, Sri Aman, Juliana Johan, Elizabeth Tee et cetera.

I feel like I'm living in a slideshow. Two slides, poles apart, one of KJ and the people in it, one of Olympic Park and its people in it. And there I am, standing there in the one thing that hasn't changed. My faithful Ascics spikes I got so long ago. (Though it's now missing a stud and the left sole is on the verge of coming off, much to my heartbreak. But they're nothing a little superglue won't mend, both the heart and the sole =)

Thus the day meandered, with me trying to stay on top and ready for my five events, and other times, watching the slides switch back and forth in my mind. Everywhere I turn, everything I see, a similar scene reenacts itself in my memory, mirrored here on foreign soil. I'm glad it didn't have to end so soon. I'm glad I'm still running. And I'm glad the story goes on.

[To Chun Yiao, though you don't read this, happy birthday! ^^ ]

Sports DaY! =P

Here's a summary of my day and all that matters: 0=)

circa 9.15 am -
Initially I didn't have my name in long jump championship division, though I really wanted to. Didn't pursue the matter with the house captains as I thought, oh well, I already have four events. In the end, decided to go watch and support the Stirling girl that was supposed to be doing that event. Arrive at long jump area. What th-? No orange shirt in sight. A check with official, nope, no one for Stirling. Under my breath, f-. I'll take her place I say. Official took my name down cancelled hers, and there and then, off with the tracksuit and runners, on the spikes. It was such a hasty, impromptu decision but one that I will never regret. Cause 3 jumps later, I got the gold! =) And to make victory sweeter, I broke my own personal record with a 4.11m. No one else got a four. Woohoo! Thinking back on it, I realize how lucky I am to have got there just in the nick of time.

circa 10.10 am -
200m championship division up soon. Getting slightly nervous. Didn't do fantastically in this during my aths trials, and got pretty disappointing timings. 39 first run! My god. I'd never have lived it down. In fact, I didn't. Next day, I was on the field again for a second run. Managed to shave off 4 seconds, so not too bad. But not the best. That was trials. So back to the field, look around, no idea who all my competitors are, don't know what to expect. Makes it all the more exciting. My first year here will be like a recon mission, next year, I'll be BAck. Better. That's when I learnt two new words. Rachelle Harvey. Looks like potential threat. Quite pro also, spikes and what not lah. Gunshot, and 32 seconds later, both of us crossed the finish line, with her slightly in the lead. Blast. I need more stamina to mantain my speed. From now on, strict training regime for next year's athletics starts. But don't get me wrong. I've nothing against her. She's pretty cool. In sports, for me, the best man wins and I take that VERY seriously.

circa 11.30 am -
I've never participated in this before, 100m hurdles. *blush blush, was always intimidated by the hurdles. But aths trials and today proved it to be all in the mind. Came 3rd, with literally a fraction of a centimetre from the 2nd. I had some trouble coordinating my feet. For best results, left leg up first, followed by right, but a coupla times things got outta sync. Oh well. I'm pretty pleased with myself. No gripes there for a first-timer. =) Since I've got a taste of this, I'll make it my event and train for it. THat's one more to the list. =) Never had a chance in CHS, first, cause there was no hurdles event, two, max we were only allowed to participate in 3 individual events and 2 relays whereas here, we get one extra indiv.

circa 12.45 pm -
At last! My best event, the 100m sprint. All my hopes are cashed in here. Rachelle Harvey features again. Now, I'm more prepared. I know my competition, I know what to expect. (By the way, the grass on their field looks expensive man...so springy and lush and green, the former, unfortunately, not conducive for running.) But it wasn't so bad as they trimmed the grass before, but you could still depress it about 2 centimetres at least. No matter. My spikes will make up for it. =) Half expected to hear the usual 'ke garisan', but was snapped back into reality with the PE guy trainer shouting 'On your marks...', 'Get set...' crouched, I lifted my head, focusing on the only strip of green that matters. Since my eyes were fixed ahead, my ears waited. Heart thumping with the usual flow of adrenaline rushing to meet me...and then the gun fires and we're off! Led all the way, pumping, to the finish line. I think it was an upset victory because people knew R. Harvey, and were expecting her to win. Couldn't help but punch the air and give a whoop and cheer of absolute delight. Don't underestimate the newcomer, yearhh!!!!

circa 1 something -
Languishing on a bench staring into blank space, trying to rest every bit of me before my final event. Suddenly, house vice captain walks past and, "HUIYING!Canyoupleasejoincrossballwe'reshortofone!" Snaps into right state of mind and rushes to the scene, tracksuit and bag and all. This novelty game was held at the tennis court, involves 8 people (I think, from each house). Aim of game is to pass the ball as quickly as possible in a zig zag manner, then rotate until everyone has a turn at starting the ball, then final person runs a lap round the tennis court and brings the ball back to cheers on completion. I wanted to win this. At this point of time, I was vying (however unrealistically) for the senior individual championship award and was trying to collect as many points as possible. I wasn't signed up for cross ball, but in view of my plans, it came as a pretty convenient arrangement. Only, the bad thing about relays is, you just gotta depend on everyone else in the team. So yeah, we came back second last or something like that. So much for that. But it didn't matter, the whole thing wasn't tiring at all. It's more a test of teamwork anyway.

circa 2.15 pm -
Final event, 4 X 100m, my second relay. Teams again. Two of the team weren't even present today, so we had to get two subs. Which were not bad actually. All could run reasonably well. Pleased to have got my usual position, the fourth baton, but in a spirit of compromise, I agreed to receive it in my right then change to my left hand. 1st runner initially had no hope of winning at all. Got slightly ticked off, actually, more towards disappointment. How would you feel if one of your teamates didn't believe you could win? Hurgh. Nevertheless, after a lot of "We will win this." and "We can do this." things improved marginally. Really, all I want is for everyone to do their best and if their best is not good enough, well. You just gotta accept it. After all, the best man wins. If you don't win, you're not the best. You're not the best, you don't win. Simple. In the end, we were all wonderfully surprised when we came in second. Rosslyn led and once again I was looking at Rachelle's back. For our lag, and with me just about as fast as Rachelle, I couldn't do much but narrow up the distance. But whoa yea. Winning is good.

I'd say this was a pretty successful sports day for me. I've bigger plans for next year now that I'm a little more informed. They don't give out medals here, instead it's coloured ribbons you get to pin on your shirt. They're handed out immediately after the race. I felt really proud being able to parade around with two blue ribbons (1st for long jump and 100m), two red ribbons (2nd for 200m and 4X100m), and a green ribbon (3rd for hurdles) on my shirt. Not that I actually did parade around showing them off, because most of the time I was wearing a tracksuit cause I didn't want my body to cool down. It was pretty gripping having to be on the alert all the time cause I had events every hour or so, but I'm glad that my athletics days are not quite over yet, as would be the case if I had stayed in CHS. (But by no means that is to be taken as being able to participate in athletics is a motivation to come here.)

I still can't decide whether I like it here. Whether I'm happy here. To a certain extent I suppose. But not enough to make me count the days till I'll be back, which to date, lies at 5 more days 5 more days 5 MORE DAYS! I've survived =) three months here in this god forsaken land! Hahahah. Going home will be sweet. It's about time I get good Asian food. I need it. I need my guitar. I need my family. And I need my friends. I miss you Feebs, PK, ex0, HeY...and everyone...

Just think: FIVE MORE DAYS!