Why?

It's 12:30am on a Tuesday morning, and I'm sitting in my room icing my shins and trying to focus on a problem set. As you can tell it's not working. It's moments like this that I wonder why I do this to my body. I love playing ultimate, but sometimes it seems a bit crazy. This weekend was tough. We had another tournament in Baton Rouge- Mardi Gras. At first it looked like it would be an awesome opportunity for Miss Red to play together, but as the time drew nearer half of the players dropped and we were left scrambling for numbers and cars. Saturday was a rough day- cold and windy. Although everyone, and especially the rookies, played well I had to sit out most of the day because I'd finally been beaten by the cold that I'd been fighting off all week. Add to that a random leg injury during the second game and I was sidelined for the rest of the day. A good night's rest made Sunday a much better game for me, but we lost two more players to injuries and were once again savage. Fortunately, we still have a winning record for the season...something that makes me very happy.

We had an IM game today which was a ton of fun, but is also the reason I am sitting on the floor with a bag of ice. Don't get me wrong, I love playing with Miss Red, but coed will always have a special place in my heart. I've started thinking about what I'll do after college, and I'm leaning more towards playing with the coed team than trying to make the Texas women's team. We'll see what happens...

Relationships

Now that Valentine's Day is officially over I feel like I can validly comment on relationships. First of all, I have to say that I am not a huge fan of the exaggerated commercialization of the day. While I will admit that this might be a slight amount of bitterness on my part, I think the world would be a much better place if people were a tad bit nicer on normal days and down played Valentine's Day by just a bit.

And now about relationships. For several years I was involved with a guy who I thought I loved, and the thought of being single seemed like such a horrible idea. At some point I realized that being together was actually the horrible idea, and suddenly being single was a wonderful idea. I'll be honest- I've had a lot of fun and enjoyed my senior year of college much more that I thought I would. However, at the same point I've come to several unexpected realizations. Guys who used to be just friends are suddenly wanting to be more and it's really wierding me out. I never realized how much of a difference being "off-limits" made. And ya know what...I won't lie...its done worlds for my self-confidence. At the same time I know that it'll put a small kink in some of my friendships because I have absolutely no interest in dating some of them and I can't go back to the "ignorance is bliss" state of yesterday.

Meetings

One of my pet peeves is meetings that drag on for much longer than needed. I am a huge fan of directness. Say what needs to be said, and do what needs to be done. If you are in charge of running a meeting it is your responsibility to make sure that you have at least an informal agenda beforehand, and that you keep things moving once the meeting starts. While it is perfectly acceptable, and even necessary at times, to allow brainstorming and unplanned for discussions, they need to have some relevance. Remember, other people have most likely made plans for after the meeting.

Vegas baby!

I got back from Vegas about twelve hours ago, and am still in the process of recovering. No, I did not gamble. I was there for an ultimate tournament, and what a tournament! The first two days the weather was about as perfect as possible. We came out strong in our first games and were playing some of the best ultimate I've ever see Miss Red play. Good ultimate is so much fun to play. We went 3-0 our first day, the first time we've ever done that as a team. It was incredible and I am so excited about the rest of this semester. The second day also began well. We went 2-1 on Saturday, losing to UCLA-B by four points. Even that loss, though hard, was bearable. We were playing with nine girls. They had almost twenty, and we still managed to win the second half. That in itself was impressive. Our last game was pretty easy, and we won 13-1. Unfortunately, that was also a difficult game for me. I made quite a few bad decisions, and threw away numerous disks. Thankfully, I am just one person and the rest of the team played flawlessly. Sunday was tough because it was windy, and ultimate in the wind is just not as much fun as ultimate in beautiful weather. We lost our first and third games, and won the second one pretty much because we won the toss. There were no upwind points scored that game. I would really like to play the first team again...I think they would be an awesome and totally fun team to play in more normal weather conditions. The third game of the day, and the last of the tournament, was another heart-breaker. They won on an upwind point in hard cap, with my girl scoring the point on an upwind huck. I really should have had the D, but could not find the energy to challenge. Definitely motivation to continue conditioning.

Evenings were also a ton of fun. It was just the girls at the hotel so we got dressed up Friday and Saturday night and roamed around the strip looking pretty darn good! :) I know. I'm not really the girl who tends to get dressed up or put on makeup but occasionally it can be lots of fun. Besides, I really like doing the unexpected. We somehow managed to everyone to put on party clothes and look cute. I think some of them felt it was pointless because all we did was wonder around for a few hours, but the getting ready part was (in my opinion) the best part.

We got back to Houston at 7am this morning, just in time for me to write my paper and do my problem set before class. I haven't been very productive at all today, which probably means I should stop typing and start working.

100 Days!

It's actually less than 100 days at this point, and it's still a little bit hard to believe. 100 days until I graduate from college. It's exciting and scary at the same time. I've really enjoyed college with all its ups and downs. It's been a good four years and it doesn't seem possible that time is winding down as quickly as it is. This semester is going to be just packed with fun and randomness. It is very tempting to look back and spend lots of time dwelling on what has happened in the past, but in doing so I feel like I would be missing out on too much of the present. I intend to make every moment count. That doesn't mean that I'll be running around as busy as can be doing a million different things. Part of that is spending lots of quality time sitting on the couch watching Scrubs and talking to my roommate; or curled up in a chair in Rm 106 reading for my econ class. People are the most important assets in which to invest. True friends will be there for you no matter what.