Hi all! I'm still around. In Yellowknife for my annual freeze-yourself visit to my parents'. This Christmas is a little different, since my aunt moved up here last June and my Oma (maternal grandmother) came to visit from Ontario for the holidays. She's turning 91 in a couple days! So there's been more going-out-and-doing-stuff than there usually is, which, coupled with my ever-growing random errand to-do list, means I've hardly gotten any reading or tv-watching done, which is what I always imagine going "home" for two weeks will allow me to do.
Still have a few more days to get some more done. Just finished checking out how long a Canadian can stay in the U.S. for without any kind of work visa - it's looking a little depressing, I mean, technically I can stay for six months, leave, and come back for another six months, but it doesn't look like a sustainable strategy for life. Le sigh. But no shit. Anyway.
Let's think about happier stuff!!! I don't have many pictures with/of my friends, so I'm excited every time one comes along. This is (clockwise from left) me, E.O., Poppe, Jimmy Tam, and Tol in December after the last shift of skating at Union Square. Posie was there too but was taking the picture (thanks Posie!). [I know all these people through ultimate, except for Jimmy Tam, who I met at a Couchsurfing meeting.] I was psyched to get out on skates even if I was a little rusty.
Quick digression in order perhaps? Through ultimate I've met a loooot of people, and a lot of people I like a lot. As always happens when you move to a new place, at first you hang out with some people, then you hang out with others, but I think eventually you settle down somewhat and figure out who you're most comfortable with. I have also involuntarily stopped seeing some people I used to hang out with in August because they're no longer playing ultimate in the league(s) with me, and when you don't see someone twice a week at the usual hangout (the fields, pickup games, the bar I used to go to twice a week after rec league games) and they don't actually live near you in the city, all of a sudden it gets really hard to see them.
For the past few months I've mostly been hanging out with E.O., who was on my first summer ultimate team. He's my best friend in the city, above and beyond. Apart from being everything a good friend should be and a very competent human being, he always knows what's going on in the city, and always wants to check it out. With him I've checked out Fleet Week, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (with his dad), Flugtag, the reindeer at the Cal Academy, Journey to the End of the Night, saw my first falling meteor, and done Thanksgiving in the South Bay with his friends, as well as been his date and/or wife to other dinners and parties. Basically, he's the best. Talked him into playing beach league now, so I get to hear him whine about how cold it is twice a week now, plus whenever else we hang out.
In the summer I played league games Tuesdays and Thursdays and we all went to the bar afterwards. In fall league, though, the weather got suuuuper nice and we started playing Sundays during the day, so no one really wanted to go to the bar afterwards. There was a lot of foot-dragging and stuff when it came time to get off the fields, and we just ended up sitting around on the grass or throwing discs like dinosaurs. I liked it. But some of my friends from summer league didn't want to play on Sundays, so I basically stopped seeing them, sadface. The thing about ultimate is that once you show up (everyone always shows up late), it's really hard to tear yourself away. You play, then you play some more, then people hang out, then you're like "hey, why don't we go get dinner?" -- This is why I tried to stick to the rule of not having work on evenings and weekends, because it totally sucks to be like "that would be cool, but I have to go home and be alone and work."
Anyway here's some of my fall league team after our last game, played on turf in pouring rain (which stopped by the end):
This team is where I met Posie (third girl from the left), who actually lives a block away from me, so we are now the kind of friends who can actually just drop in on each other at 10pm on a weeknight if we want. She's pretty awesome -- speaks French and Spanish and has a shitty road bike and a shitty car that leaks when it rains. So I'm glad she lives near me.
Then fall somehow fell into winter and now technically I'm playing beach league on Sundays, which is even worse in terms of not spending the whole day playing ultimate/hanging out with ulty peeps. Games start at 1pm, and there's music, and you're hanging out on the sand, and then people start playing pick-up after the games, and someone hands you a beer, and all your friends are there, and the only way to drag yourself away is for your friends to be like "let's go bike to dinner!", and that's what you do, and you spent the whole day out. ....That sounds pretty awesome. It is, actually. But then your entire Sunday just disappeared. Mysteriously enough...
I'm also playing organized pick-up on turf on Wednesday nights. People are pretty good there. It's nice to bike to a different part of the city too.
Oh did I mention I finally bought a new bike? "New" is a stretch I guess - it's not even in working order yet. But here it is -
Needs some brakes, for one thing. We'll take care of that soon enough.
Other than my ever-changing ultimate schedule, I try to get to Planet Granite with Marc and Jordan (who I know through Tol, who was on my summer ultimate team) or Jimmy Tam, or Mission Cliffs, if I'm with Phil (E.O.'s roommate), to climb a couple times a week. Things keep happening though, like: I rolled my ankle pretty bad and was off it for about six weeks from Sept-October (I also think I had a pulled groin from August till December but largely ignored it until it was magically healed after the first day of beach ultimate?), so I didn't climb much in there either, then sometimes schedules clash (and it's hard for me to get to the gym if I don't have a ride), and there's just ALWAYS COOL STUFF TO DO IN THE CITY that E.O. or someone else invites me to, or I'll be tired or whatever and Phil will be like "why don't we just drink tea and watch a movie?" and then I'll do that instead.
But yeah, I guess if I avoid any further sports injuries, don't have work in the evenings, and don't get invited to cooler stuff, I'll be able to climb twice or three times a week. Yeah.... that'd be nice. I started bouldering just before I left for Christmas, and I want to try to go Saturday mornings now. I got new cute purple Evolvs for Christmas! My old second-hand high-tops were losing the rubber on their toes. So, sweet.
So yeah. My life = work, ultimate, climbing, events in the city, hanging out with friends in general. Plus wanting to read, eat, keep my place and clothes clean, and sleep... how do people have time to watch tv and movies? I basically don't unless it's with someone else around. Admittedly, I waste a lot of time on the Internet reading, so I'm going to try to actually schedule time to do that now to make it more efficient.
I'm ambitious on paper with the number of things I want to do, but it sure takes discipline to stick with it. How do people manage?
Anyway, I guess I can't complain. There's just so much to do in the city! I'm lucky enough that the weather lets me play outside all year and that I know such awesome people. Example: I was at home in Yellowknife for a quiet New Year's Eve with my family, but before going to bed, I got to virtually clink glasses with Tol, Marc, and Jordan in SF via gchat call. That was sweet of them. :)
Over this vacation I've also heard from Marco, Haruka (!!), José Luis, Jonathan, Janzen, and Jason. So nice to know what's up with faraway friends.
So, happy 2013 all! If all goes well I'll be hired shortly by a tech company and sponsored to live forever and ever in this great city we call San Francisco. Wish me luck.
xo
L.
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