frisbee and such

It's been a shamefully long time between posts.  Unfortunately, I've fallen into the mental habit of trying to make each post quite lengthy and comprehensive, and the past month hasn't allowed for much in terms of free time.  I'm hoping to be better about keeping posts short and sweet, with perhaps longer ones thrown in when the opportunity presents itself (i.e. procrastination gets worse than normal).  With that in mind...

Basically, the past few months have been extremely busy, in a way that has rather significantly surpassed the enjoyable (and self-required) level of having several different things to do.  It's been hellaciously busy.  The next few weeks before my arrival back home (Dec 4, tentatively) don't offer much prospect of a break, unfortunately...but at least next week is the end of the semester, so no more teaching.  I love doing it, but I can't say that I'll be upset to see the end of this semester.  More on that later, I hope.

Frisbee: University Games was a great time, though our team finish (9th) doesn't really do justice for our overall performance.  I managed to get myself on to the Green and Gold team (essentially, an All-Star team for the tourney) for the 2nd year running, which was a pretty satisfying result.  It might have been because we were such a tough team, as the photo clearly demonstrates. Grrr.  :)  We had Mixed Nationals in Sydney the week after that (Oct 5-7), and I played with a very good and very fun team of fellow Victorians named Station 59.  (We were sponsored by a pub of the same name, which itself was named after - wait for it - a fire station, hence the red/yellow color scheme.  Each time we scored, the receiver had to stop, drop, and roll.  Safety first, boys and girls).  We finished 4th, which was a tad disappointing since we were solid contenders for the title, but it was a great tournament overall.

The biggest news within the Ultimate community over here, at least from the past week, has been the announcement of the Australian national team squads.  From these squads, the final teams for the World Championships in Vancouver next August will be selected.  Good news is that I made it, along with the 3 other Chilly boys that were trying out.  Final team selections will be made in late Jan/early Feb, which means that my December in the US will involve lots of fitness training.  The selection camp will be held in Canberra (ugh - NOBODY likes Canberra, which I suppose makes it a reasonable spot for the national capital) at the Australian Institute for Sport, which is roughly the Australian equivalent of the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.  Our training sessions are being part-sponsored by AIS, which is a pretty big coup for Ultimate.  Competition for spots is going to be very fierce, and I know that I'm not the only one that is galvanized with nervous excitement.

So much for a short post.  Thesis calls...need to get a chapter to my supervisor by next week, and unfortunately "I've been busy writing overdue blog posts" won't carry much weight if I don't get it to him.

Comments

[Carrie]

So are you going to be able to squeeze in teh World Series? Not falling at the best time for you, huh?