I Can Has Bicycle

I bought a bike. A gorgeous K2 Trailhead. I love her. She is freedom. She is a faster commute to work. And every time I see that gas prices have risen again it makes me exceptionally happy to not be driving.

Hollywood takes over Austin

Aside from the fact that the power in my apartment was out (and still is...) thanks to Wednesday night's huge storm, Thursday evening started out fairly normally. Until I actually get Nasty's and find several friends and other familiar faces milling outside between a tent of rather technical-looking lighting equipment and a large truck. There is a very different breed of people wandering around, wearing headsets or carrying walkie-talkies and looking at the group of us that is gathering like we might be vermin. Apparently someone is filming something. And they've removed the underwear which has resided on the ceiling for longer than I've been in Austin. (I do not envy the person who was assigned that job.) And Stiffler's mom is inside. From what I can see as people come in and out of the front door it's very bright inside and probably really hot from the lighting. Nasty's under strong lighting...well, it's a sight I have no interest in seeing.

The movie people don't like us, but that's too bad. The waiting regulars are griping, in that completely ineffectual way that Norm or Sam may have done on Cheers. Mike summed it up nicely, "This is a rugby bar. At 9:30 on a Thursday night. Get out of our bar." The crowd continues to grow, and to gripe. Another former rugger drives up, slowing down upon seeing the ruggers milling outside, causing pompous git walks up and asks derisively "Can I help you?" Finally someone comes outside, lets us know that this is the last shot and if we're quiet (and thus don't f*ck up the sound recording) they'll go away. Eventually, they do, though not before a sighting of the "talent." For the record, Heather Graham is a very normal-looking person in person. And Jennifer Coolidge (aka Stiffler's Mom) is a rather statuesque woman and looks exactly in person in the movies.

reasons to play

There are a myriad of reasons I play rugby. But I swear, this is definitely one of them.

Atlanta was fantastic. We lost our first game 32-24. Two tries in the last five minutes - if we'd been playing full 40 minute halves the Valks just might have won. The score in the second match was 24-0, a win for the Valks. Playing was a heck of a lot of fun and Atlanta put on a great social for us as well. Kangaroo court was excellent, per always, with some truly imaginative punishments. I truly adore travelling with my teammates. It was such a great weekend that I fell asleep nearly as soon as I sat down in my seat on the airplane and Atlanta and didn't wake up until we landed in Houston. Didn't even manage to turn off my cell phone in flight. Oops...

Spring 2008 has been a really great season for me and I'm very much looking forward to the fall. If I work hard enough this summer I may even earn my starting position back. Now that we have some down time though, I'm even more looking forward to the prospect of getting a free weekend, though between all the weddings and 7s tournaments and the men's semifinals being here in Austin I don't know when.

itchy

Seriously, there is something wrong with me. Has to be. Just looking at these pictures, from what looks to be a pretty incredible product, makes my eyes itch and I think about to sneeze. Look at number eight...I think there's another Corgi hiding in there. Despite my incredible allergic reaction to just the photographic evidence of buckets of dander using the Furminator looks like the most satisfying thing, to take a shedding pet and remove So. Much. Fur. Like picking a scab. Or trying to get the dandruff out of my show steer's tailhead when I was a kid (bet you didn't know cows could get dandruff...), trying to get out the big flakes without breaking them. Yes, kinda gross - but seriously, I think we had the cleanest show cattle ever, what with my father constantly riding us to be in the barn spraying down our steers, which probably contributed to their dry skin issues. Not to mention the depletion of the aquifer around my hometown.

Sing Sing Sing

There are many, many things to love about Austin. One my personal favorites, though, is the Alamo Drafthouse. First run movies along with a ton of super cool special events, a full menu of food and beer to be had by the pint or even the bucket. This is where I saw Snakes on a Plane. The only way to see that cheerfully, fantastically cheesy-horrible movie was at the Drafthouse, on opening weekend, in a theatre packed with enthusiastic watchers ready to yell along with Samuel L. Jackson about the "motherf*ing snakes on this motherf*ing plane!" For the Simpsons movie they sold a home brew named Duff Beer and plates on pink frosted donuts. When I saw The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe there we got to leave the theatre through a wardrobe by way of an enchanted forest with a light post and all. For a special showing of Some Like It Hot the male servers dressed in drag. A myriad of creative ideas that make it so much more than the mega-theatres.


However, the absolute best idea ever had by the folks the Alamo is most certainly The Sing-Along. From the website: "From musical movies to cinematic music videos, the Alamo's series of Sing-Along Extravaganzas takes the best parts of going to a concert and the best of going to a movie theater, mixes it all together, and leaves you with something completely new." I can't claim to know the history of The Sing-Along, but I do know that they have been held with a very wide range of musical preferences. Moulin Rouge, The Little Mermaid, 80s Rock, I think this summer is the third Michael Jackson extravaganza. The "Love Bites" Sing-Along has become an annual Singles Awareness Day event.


I love them. Mona convinced me to go my first one a month ago (Justin Timberlake Sing-Along) and after the second (Just Can't Get Enough - The New Wave Sing-Along) I now am officially hooked. Both times I sang myself hoarse and danced my butt off in my enthusiasm, along with a theatre full of other enthusiasts. I just can't sit still when I hear Spin Me Round, even if I'm just at work, much less in such an exuberant atmosphere. No room for being self conscious here, which may just be the best thing about the entire experience.

West LAUs

(photo credit to Ashley Mefford)

This past weekend was fantastic. Getting to play with such talented, cool people was a lot of fun. Wow, I'm impressed by my TRU teammates and playing with them was fantastic. My playing was far from spectacular, but I kept up and didn't do anything too stupid. I'm happy with my performance. Everything around me made sense, I remembered to look up and see what the offense was doing. I'm learning more with every match and playing feels good. My shoulder may disagree with me and I jacked up my left ring finger, but it's worth it. So worth it. (You never realize how much you use something like a minor finger until it hurts to type. Or open a peanut butter jar or swing a kettlebell.)



TRU beat Missouri in the first match of the day, 27-22. ERRFU defeated HOA in the second. Then both of the afternoon matches ended in a draw. TRU v ERRFU tied 0-0. It was a good match, with a powerful defensive showing from both teams. There's a great write up at Your Scrumhalf Connection, with pictures, also by Shalay.

hustle and bustle

Our society is broken. Our way of life, with its constant movement and hurry and meaningless chasing after money and status, is unhealthy. There is nothing new about my feelings towards it, yet this amazing article deeply saddens me. A world class musician anonymously playing in a metro station in DC and most people don't even take notice, much less stop to listen. I'm not suprised, but it does make me wonder if I would have noticed. If on my morning commute something so beautiful as this music would have made me look up from my internal monolouge and at least wonder or smile.

Why don't we ever stop moving to just experience the incredible things around us?

just a thought

I love Austin, but it probably should not require one to four different kinds of drugs (Zyrtec, Mucinex, phenylephrine, and ibuprofen) for one's sinuses to be clear enough to feel alive in the mornings. And my eyes still itch.

I hate that my allergies get in the way of everything. I'm a morning person. In college I used to bound out of bed before 5:30 in the morning and happily study until going to my first class of the day. Not being able to breathe puts a bit of a damper on a tough rugby practice. Focusing at work through a haze of sinus pressure makes the day seem awfully long. Thank God oak season is nearly over. Frakking tree sex...

you can't make this stuff up

From today's sermon as part of a series on relationships...

"...and then she turned out to be a psycho hose beast..." -Ted Beasley, teaching pastor

Yes, my pastor quoted Wayne's World. On Sunday morning.

workout of the day

42 High knees with jump rope
7 Turkish Get Ups
7 Kettlebell snatches/side
7 In/Outs

I was four in and outs short of five full rounds.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my favorites. Instead of eating on my lunch hour I go and work out. Thirty minutes of an all-out-no-holds-barred-how-hard-can-you-push-yourself kettlebell class at a nearby Crossfit gym. No matter how I feel when I walk in, once I leave the rest of the day goes much better. I'm usually shaking, my hands far from steady, even my legs not sure of what they're doing after pushing so hard. But my mind is clearer and I'm more alert. Today I can even breathe better, but that might be the 2nd Zyrtec in four hours that I took right before leaving work. On a bad day I'll come back to work feeling ten times better than when I left. Granted I'm smelly and gross and drenched with sweat. But I let myself cool down a bit, change clothes and get back to work, grabbing lunch when I can during incubations. And life, it is good.