What's your routine?

It sucks when things don't go your way, but that's how life works right? I spent hours talking to my closest friends last night about how we want our lives to be. Our conversation focused on a common theme present in movies like Office Space, Yes Man, and Fight Club. It's a theme about breaking free of an uneventful cycle that people make their lives. It seems a natural characteristic of human beings to create routines and stick to them, everything becomes easier the more you do it, so why not make life easier by always doing the same thing?

We talked for a long time about how to avoid the endless cycle of boredom that was developed when corporate America began capitalizing on the world to the extent that individuals became irrelevant. People locked into jobs working in tiny cubicles for the entirety of their brief existence in this world.

After two hours of sitting in a dark rubber surfaced playground at a local elementary school I was stuck on the idea that to some extent we all have to routinize our lives. For all of us we have an expectation to fulfill are parents dreams. Our parents sacrificed and worked hard to give us an opportunity to learn and grow at college, and unlike Alexander Supertramp the main character in Into the Wild, we have no compulsion to abandon our parents and their sacrifices. Thus we don't have the freedom to leave our education and our cars and our computers and ipods and cell phones behind and walk into the woods. We are bound by a responsibility to our parents to become somebody. To live in society.

So how do we appease our parents and still find enjoyment? Can we at least be content in this world? We have to accept routines. And our means for enjoyment can come from the ways that we break those routines when we can.

My final thought before the booze and weed flowing in my blood system lured me off to the simple minded place of Royal Donuts was this: so long as we continue to find enjoyment and pleasure from living our lives, repetition and routines are something to live by. For the most part we can live in this society of routines and avoid the pitfalls of Peter Gibbons, Tyler Durden, and Carl Allen. However, when I find that I am no longer satisfied with the routines that are my life, you can come looking for me in the woods. Maybe we will find some tragic ending to life like Mr. Supertramp that will make it all worthwhile.

500 Days of Summer (or at least 98)

The College Champion returns to Burlingame, or something like that. After a very victorious year of volatility and vagrancy, I came home to my family, old friends, and my hometown. I have always admired the concept of a small town from the lyrics of Springsteen and Mellancamp, but I never had much perspective on my hometown until I left for school (or rather until I came back). The Bay Area is the most beautiful place to live, grow up, and enjoy life. Sure national parks like Glacier and Olympia have stunning scenes and display the natural beauty of earth, but I could never live so far from the urban setting that I grew up in. Despite the awesomeness of UCSD, I am far more comfortable and at ease here in Burlingame. Quoting the band Of A Revolution, "There are few things pure in this world anymore, and home is one of the few."

Post-Sectionals Regionals '09

It had been over a month since the nationally ranked #19 Air Squids had lost a game as we entered the finals of the 2009 Southwest Regional Tournament. 13 straight wins in our section and region had won us a bid to nationals and a game against the #4 Colorado Mamabird. They changed that. After a demoralizing 15-2 loss we sat around thinking about how this season had come along and I started thinking about a decision I had made over seven months ago.

In September, I was a young kid on my way to a prestigious University. Full of pride and eager to start a new part of my life, I drove down from Northern California with my parents. A pressing issue on my mind was what sport I would play when I did get here. I had spent five years playing lacrosse, from 8th grade through high school, and it had become a major part of my life. A few years ago, I wouldn't have thought of considering anything else, but my senior year of high school changed things. I was introduced to the world of ultimate. With a former Black Tide player as my coach, I learned of the game, tournaments, and the college teams that played in relative obscurity year round. Towards the end of that year I was shown the documentary "I Bleed Black". It was made for Santa Barbara's frisbee team in 2001 when they made a national title run. I remembered one scene when Tide played UCSD at Pres Day. The Squids beat them by running their infamous zone defense. It left a nostalgic impression on me that would determine an amazingly large part of my future.

So as I drove down to school in late September, I had a conflict to resolve. Whether to stick with the sport that I had come to love (lacrosse), and the douchey players that are part of its culture, or branch out and join my close friend Owen (Threeve) playing for a club frisbee team known as the Air Squids that had been on my mind since watching the documentary. The lacrosse team made my decision far easier than I expected. When I went to the club fair on ridge walk looking for sports clubs, the lacrosse team was nowhere to be found. Threeve and I talked to some frisbee players, they told us about a pick-up game later that day. We went and had a blast. Lacrosse had stumbled and ultimate frisbee had been right there to take over. I started attending practice and continued to have a good time with the team.

Three weeks into school, the lacrosse team threw a surprise at me...they existed! A freshman in ERC who was going out for the team sent me a facebook message telling me in a very polite way to come and check out them out. The message went something like this:

"Hey dude, we are having a meeting for anyone who is interested in joining the lacrosse team this Thursday. I know you play because you had lacrosse in your facebook interests, so get off your ass and come to the meeting. It will be a fucking sweet time so get the fuck out here!"

The warmness and kindness of his message motivated me to go out to a practice. Unfortunately that only gave them another strike. When I went to practice, there were 11 players, two of which were guys from my res hall who had never played the game before. After talking to the coaches, neither of which seemed to have much experience, lacrosse was out of the picture and I set my mind to frisbee. It has turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.

Aside from the fact that the frisbee team is going to Nationals while the lacrosse team finished their season three weeks ago with a five and five record. And aside from the fact that I traveled to NorCal twice, Texas, Santa Barbara, and Colorado, while the lacrosse team only went to Las Vegas. Ultimate was the right decision because of all the amazing people I have met. My best friends are frisbee players, and I consider every member of the A-team somebody I can rely on for whatever I may need from advice, to tutoring, to a good time. We'll see ya in Ohio.

Long Beach '09

So, in case you have't heard, the University of California San Diego Ultimate Frisbee team (also known as the Air Squids), won SoCal Sectionals this weekend. And in the words of The Lonely Island: "What what what what what - what."

Pride is an inadequate word for describing what I feel being part of this team. Day one of the tournament hosted by CSU Long Beach was a cake walk. Us first years played an awesome amount of points and as a team we out scored our opponents 44-15 over four games. To top it off, the Squid C-team managed to piss-off Black Tide (UCSB), by throwing shenanigans at them throughout their game. Tide's Captain was so upset that he came over to Pumba to complain about how our C-team was degrading the dilligent work that UCSB was doing to legitamize the sport of ultimate. Ahahaha...suck it TIDE!

Sunday was unusual in that we started the day with a semi-final game versus UCLA (Smaug). Most tournaments have at least one game before the semi-finals start on day two, so this was a bit strange, at least to us first years who had not played in a tourney like this before. UCLA came out fired up and put on a strong showing breaking us in the second point of the game for a 2-0 lead. They held that break and gained two more before half. After halftime they put a little run together to go up 10-5 on us. We managed to trade some points but they held their own to get to 12-7.

Then the Squids found some magic. We out scored them 6-2 in the next strech to bring us within two points of the win. With the score 14-13 UCLA, and the sidelines packed with both squad's B-teams plus a pack of cheerleading girls who had come down from LA, we pulled for what could be the last point of the game. The frisbee went up against a significant crosswind and then proceeded to blade back at a mild angle towards UCLA's handlers. One of their players followed it down, went to catch it, and dropped it right on their goalline. This was not an opportunity the Squids were going to let slide and we wasted no time in stuffing a score into their endzone. Score: 14-14. Double-game point. Squids pulling to UCLA for a spot in the Sectional finals versus UCSB.

Our most experienced players filled the line, and prepared to pull for what would be the last point of the game. UCLA caught the pull this time, but the Squid line covered well and immediately put pressure on the worn down Smaug line. After several swing throws among their handlers in the backfield they dropped a pass and we had a chance to end the game. Once again, we would not waste a prime opportunity and our older guys put it in for the game winning score. The sidelines erupted! Ice and Lite (A and B team) rushed the field screaming and jumping with eyes wide and jaws dropped. For all the yelling we were doing it was hard for all of us to believe what had just happened.

The most improbable comeback in the game of ultimate I have ever witnessed, and that was how we defeated UCLA.

Energy was flowing and we were pumped up to beat Black Tide who had surprised us with a victory at their home tournament three months earlier in the season. It was time for revenge, and we were not gonna wait for Santa Barbara to hand it to us. We started the game with a 7-2 run. We took half 8-4. Tide's team leaders were not at their finest and while we slacked towards the end of the game, they only turned the disc over more. Final score, UCSD 15 UCSB 11. We beat every team we played at the tournament and claimed the number 2 seed going into regionals in Colorado.

I have always had an enormous amount of respect for our older guys and the level of commitment and skill they bring every time they walk onto the field, but this weekend they managed to impress me even more. Forge, Bobble, Kattan, and Hutch ran the spread in an effortless manner every point. Dibs, Pumba and Yui were superstars in the back field threading throws through any defense. Biel had amazing catch, after amazing catch, after amazing catch. And Cork, Coppa, and Duffy led our D-line through every game with smart-decision making and precise throws. I can't wait to see what we will do when we get to regionals.

Stanford Invite '09

So, I am working on a six page essay that's due about 26 hours from now, and while I only have an introduction done I have decided to take a break and write my first blog. Oh well.

This last weekend I attended the coolest tournament of my frisbee career to date. The 2009 Stanford Invite was bad ass. Contrary to popular belief, the Stanford Invite is not held at Stanford University (it's a new thing as of this year). It is now held in a small town north of Modesto known as Ripon (if you say it with a French accent you will meet some very confused locals). I had the distinct pleasure of driving to the tournament with three veteran squids who showed me a good time. Hutch provided some sweet music for the drive, Pumba brought the booze and stolen snacks, and Meowth brought a keen sight that spotted every call box on the way up (for those of you who know the Squid drinking game, my real name is Chris and my frisbee Name is Bitusa, adding new importance to the frequency of call boxes on freeways).

We spent a good twenty minutes exploring the almond fields of Ripon (almond capital of the World) before we decided to get to the game fields on Saturday morning. All sixteen of us Squids who decided to attend cleated up and got ready for a good day's work. We performed a clinic for PacLu, and then geared up for a game with Washington. To our great regret, we let Washington sneak off with a win. We certainly could have won that game which would have put us at least in the 3rd/4th game on Sunday. It proved even more disappointing when we watched UW spank Colorado the next day going up 7-0 early and finishing them off 13-6.

At any rate, we finished strong after that showing the Canadians how we do it down here in America. At some point a veteran Squid asked how many of them were professional hockey players, and while only a few were, they confirmed our belief that the rest were in fact Mounties. After half, we replaced our typical Air Squids on four cheer, with a big U.S.A., and then finished off the poor guys who had been taking the brunt of the observer's traveling calls.

Our last opponent DIRT, of Western Washington was supposed to be our most difficult opponent. But they showed little enthusiasm and failed to show the speed that makes them a quality team until the second half, by which time it was far too late. At some point in the first half our coaches decided to run a box with three of us fish as the marks. Didj and Threeve were the side marks and I took the middle. They caught the pull five to ten yards in front of the goal line, but that was as far as they got. Us marks pushed them all the way back into their goal and then Didj capped off our efforts with a strong D. We quickly capitalized on our strong defense by getting a quick point.

After we finished them off, we warmed down and sat down in a circle for a post-game chat. With my parents just a hundred yards off, Dollar passed around a pack of Bud-Light and we proceeded to down a round as a team. My parents could probably care less, but I thought it was amusing.

I had dinner with my parents and then rejoined the team at fresh choice where they were finishing off a large meal. We returned to the hotel and called it an early night as we were getting up at 6:15 the next morning (5:15 with the time change). When we got to the fields (via a more efficient manner than the previous morning) we arrived to frost and fog. It was a moment that brought me back to my pre-San Diego life growing up in Nor-Cal where frosted fields are a common occasion on winter mornings. We warmed up early and then took down a Santa Cruz team that was eager for a win after an extremely difficult first day. We refused to give up the lead like we had against UW and the older guys showed us how a team is supposed to finish a game.

During our second round break we made our way to the sidelines of our next game where we watched our next opponent, UC Davis, take on Lewis & Clark (a school that I was considering attending less than a year ago). We entertained ourselves by cheering on Pumba's younger brother, a whopping child that we nicknamed Jumbo-Jet because his number was 747. We also got enjoyment out of a Davis player who had a whopping ASS, probably too large to fit in a Jumb0-Jet. He was a good sport though. While we were mocking him he came over and did squats for us, and even proceeded to scratch the monster.

When the game was over, we did a strong warm-up while Davis rested. It proved to be a good choice as we did a good job of beating a Davis team that is working to become a Nationals contender as well. Bobble and Forge put on a bidding clinic. After Forge made a nice play to pull one in, he did his best to make a short end-zone play as exciting as possible throwing a quick-low bullet for Bobble to bid on. Bobble pulled it in too and we all had a good laugh, while our racing hearts slowed down.

For our last match up we took on Oregon, the second ranked team in the country. We stayed even with them for the first few points, but our veterans showed their fatigue and let UofO get a few breaks. For as many breaks as we gave up in the first half (which ended 8-4) we made a valiant comeback. We had returner heavy lines that brought the game all the way back to 14-13. But the last point we seemed to have nothing left and Oregon did a brilliant job of finishing us off for the score.

This tournament was an important stepping stone in my ultimate future. I got to watch some awesome teams play frisbee (like Carleton vs. Florida in the finals), and I was inspired by the effort and skill that our veterans showed all weekend long. I now know what top level ultimate is like (and it is significantly different from the clips shown in "I Bleed Black", which was my previos idea of how college ultimate was played).

To top it off I had a good ride back as between Pumba, Meowth, Didj, and I we polished off a handle of tequilla, forgot to buy gas, did doughnuts in an abandoned gas station, and listened to some more sweet music courtesy of Hutch, who unfortunately fell ill on the journey. Thanks to all those who made this tournament so sweet, and now I can't wait for TEXAS!!!!!!