Sunday, June 30, 2013

Things are going well. My back didn't hurt after about 9 hours of frisbee this weekend, so I'm very very happy. This sport brings me such joy.


Thursday, June 20, 2013

I have been saving up for many months and finally reached my goal to purchase a grand spankin' new digital piano! It's a Yamaha Arius YDP-181. It came in today and I love it! I'm starting lessons in two weeks and I couldn't be more excited. I've always wanted to learn piano. I took class piano and a year of secondary lessons at FSU, but when I started at ASU they didn't let me take secondary lessons (instead they were going to make me take class piano again. How rude!). So I wasn't able to keep up with it.

I work at a store where I can get basically any music I want for an extremely discounted price. I see tons of piano music all day and it kills me that I can't play it! I may not have the skill yet, but at least I have the instrument!

Here's to a new, fun interest. Piano!


Sunday, June 09, 2013

There are now two mixed ultimate teams in Phoenix. One of them is the one I just tried out for, and the one I played for last year: Del Sol. The other is a newly formed team, who has at the core a group of friends who want to play together (and don't want to play with Del Sol).  This team is called Rubix. It's an exclusive team which does not hold open tryouts, but instead asks individuals to play with them, individuals that they think are good players and fun people. Paul and I were not invited on this team at all, presumably because we aren't hard enough partiers and because we already have a pretty strong loyalty to Del Sol (and maybe because of one or both of our personalities. Who knows.).

I have a lot of things to say about this team, but I am only going to say a few of them.  There's no question that an open tryout will create a better team--you are drawing players from a bigger pool, and you will very likely see players there that you have never met before.  The talent level amongst the whole valley is inevitably higher than the talent level amongst your friends. I may be surprised, but I think I have a pretty good idea on which team is going to score more points this season.
It is their intentional choice to not have open tryouts, and I think they know already that it is going to hurt them when it comes to winning games. Different teams have different goals, and I respect the choice to prioritize social goals before competitive goals.

However, an possibly unintentional consequence of having such an exclusive team is alienation.  This team is made up of a tight-knit group of friends, the "cool kids," if you will.  But the team makeup has not alienated me, or Paul, or any of the others that they aren't interested in--they have alienated themselves. They formed this team not because they wanted to play with each other, but because they DIDN'T want to play with certain people on Del Sol.

Many of the players on Rubix used to be my friends. Not good friends, but people we'd go to the occasional hockey game with, or hang out with at a girl's night. But now that they have their exclusive club team, I find myself not wanting to invite them places--not because I dislike them, but because they have made it very clear that I am not a cool kid and I don't belong. Paul and I are going to Disneyland for July 4th, and we would like to invite another couple to go with us. A year ago, we would have invited many of the couples involved in Rubix. But now? It just doesn't feel right; we're not part of the group.

It makes me sad that this team has lost me friends. I genuinely enjoy the company of almost all of these people, and it's unfortunate that the exclusiveness of the team has alienated the players. I wonder if they envisioned this happening. It's possible they they even wanted this to happen. I don't know, but in any case it makes me sad.

Friday, June 07, 2013

Back update:

After resting for 4 weeks, I participated in all three Del Sol tryouts, taking it easy on the middle one. My back hurt a little after the third one, but no intense pain as before. So, good news! I don't have to give up frisbee, and it's looking like I will be able to play on my team this year. YAY!!!!!! I was so overjoyed when I woke up the day after the first practice and my back didn't hurt. It's simply wonderful.

It's still probably true that I am not going to be able to just haphazardly play as much as I want. I'm going to have to watch how much stress I am putting on my back. My days of side leagues are over, my days of pickup are over, and I wouldn't doubt it if I said that my days of spring and fall league are over as well. It's sad, but I'd rather take it easy and be able to play for years to come than to continue the path I was on and have this be my last year.

(My kitty just decided to sit on my shoulder like a parrot. He's 16 pounds of love.)

So! Crisis averted. For now.