A neat machinima, shot in Seccond Life by Pierce Portocarrero.
And here are Mark Wallace's comments on the piece.
Regina Spektor (who I blogged about briefly in July) is coming to the 9:30 Club next Tuesday! Let me know if you want to come along.
Beautiful blue ride to work this morning. Very cloudy, lots of ambient light, so the sky was a solid blue, tangible, not clear watery blue. Chilly out.
Something's bothering me, but I can't put my finger on what it is.
Regionals is only three days away! Another tournament! Rock on!
I felt good at practice last night, but I was crabby. My apologies to my teammates, especially in the scrimmage. Many thanks to whomever put a snake in my bag. Seriously - I love him!
One of my Clique teammates posted this video of our games from last Sunday. Nothing exceptional... lots of little tiny players running around on a big green field. But it's the first time I've seen myself play, and it's a relief to know I don't look silly out there. (If you take the time to watch, I'm wearing blue shorts and a pink and blue striped shirt.)
I'm going to go try out a lunchtime pickup game tomorrow. I rarely leave the office during the day, unless it's for a trip to FedEx, so I'm excited for this.
Unrelated to frisbee...
I bought socks this week for the first time in ages. I forgot how nice it is to have soft, new socks on your feet. I'm enjoying them much more than expected.
Well, young Frederick is off at school. He and my parents drove out to Eugene last week, and then my parents drove back. The last one to leave the nest. It's exciting - Fred's been looking forward to school for at least a year now - but I have this vague sense of concern surrounding the whole affair. He's off on his own now, a young man in the big world. Of course, he spent the entire summer driving himself around the country fighting forest fires... but going to college is different somehow. There's now turning back, no returning to being a kid. And I'm vaguely concerned about my parents - they must be sad, they must miss him. (Funny that I didn't have these thoughts when I went off to college. I was about 10 times less independent than Fred at that age.) I guess I didn't expect the empty nest to affect me too.
In other home-related news, I just booked another flight home to Duluth. My grandma just turned 80, so the whole family is celebrating over MEA weekend. I haven't been up to Baudette (where my mom grew up) for a long time, and I haven't seen my cousins up there in ages. I'm looking forward to: sitting around the kitchen table, squished on the bench between extended family members, drinking coffee, eating Grandma's cinnamon twists and listening to gossip and stories about growing up on the Farm; going for long walks down perfectly straight east-west and north-south roads, smelling the pastures and listening to gossip and stories about growing up on the Farm; helping out with big family meals, making hotdish and Jell-O salad for the masses, so no matter who shows up when, they won't go hungry, washing dishes and listening to gossip and stories about growing up on the Farm.
A gorgeous ride to work this morning. I don't get quite the same views as I did on the ride to Walter Reed, but biking during sunrise is hard to beat. The days are getting shorter and cooler. I'm sad that summer is ending, but I'm suddenly excited for fall. We have two tournaments coming up. Regionals is in two weeks, and then Pada Mosh is in November. We had Sectionals last weekend, and it was a great tournament for us. We went 3 and 1 on Saturday, winning (and losing) our games decisively. We went 1 and 1 on Sunday and had much better, closer, tighter games. We came in 3rd overall, which is awesome; we broke seed. Our roster is big enough that no one gets a ton of playing time, which is pretty frustrating. But I'm happy with how I played, and I'm happy with how our team played, and I'm happy to be a member of such a positive, enthusiastic, supportive team.
Look, I can catch!
(Many thanks to Kevin and Caryn for taking pictures this weekend!)
More good stuff on the horizon: Scott and I bought our Christmas and Thanksgiving tickets yesterday. I'm spending Turkeyday with his family, and he's coming to Duluth for a few days after Christmas! I get to spend a solid 10 days at home this winter. Yay Duluth!
(One of my favorite photos from northernimages.com.)
Other stuff I feel like reporting...
Liz and Scott and Grant and I saw This Film is Not Yet Rated on Monday. Pretty good; it makes me want to go see more independent films. Like Jesus Camp. Has anyone heard of this?
I was thinking of doing a track workout last night, since I haven't done one since sometime in July... but I practiced my violin instead. It felt wonderful, even though I still don't have a shoulder rest. Arrgh.
Yesterday was Talk Like a Pirate Day! ARRRGH!
The sign at the church by my house says "Go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is." Hear hear. But which limb?
MTV fianlly had gave a press conference about Virtual Laguna Beach! Yay!
I went to the dentist yesterday, and as I was getting up to go, she told me that I made her day because my teeth are so nice and healthy! That, in turn, made my day. I didn't get the traditional bag of treats. That's ok, because I don't need a toothbrush or floss right now. But I really wanted a sticker to flaunt!
I didn't vote today. I was planning on doing it on my way to work, but we left too early, and I didn't get a chance to go back up to Columbia Heights during the day. And I'll be at BRDM practice until after the polls close. So I didn't get an "I Voted" sticker like Aaron. I should be (and am) ashamed of myself.
I did, however, get a free red calculator from Safeway when I bought my Primo Taglio turkey from the deli. It even has a handy carabiner clip, so I can bring it climbing with me!
I got back from Minnesota last Thursday, but it feels like it was much longer ago. It was a lovely visit! Brief run-down:
My parents picked up Scott and I from the Minneapolis airport, and we proceded to the Science Museum for the Bodyworks exhibit, to lunch with my Uncle John, to the Walker Art Center for a Diane Arbus exhibit where Alissa joined us, to the Spoonriver Cafe for a gourmet al fresco dinner, and finally to the Guthrie for an inaugural performance of The Great Gatsby. Each piece was wonderful and made all the better by sharing it with people I love!
On Saturday morning, we drove up to Duluth, repacked, bought groceries and then drove over to the cabin. One of the best things about that place is the fact that you can be away for a year but return and feel settled in within 10 minutes. We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday there reading, eating, napping, and occasionally exerting ourselves. (Scott kindly helped Dad haul downed trees out of the woods and split them for firewood.)
We got back to Duluth on Monday afternoon. We spent Tuesday wandering around downtown and Canal Park. We stopped by the ballet, which was fun because I haven't been there in ages. In the afternoon, we swam and sunned at my favorite beach. We had gorgeous weather. Fred got home from Bemidji, where he had been fighting fires, and debriefed on what the work is like. Pretty interesting stuff, except the parts where you're sitting around waiting for something to start.
On Wednesday, we went up the north shore of Lake Superior to Gooseberry Falls and spent a few hours hiking around. We had lunch at Betty's Pies on the way back, and stopped at Marshall to show off my high school and say hi to my teachers. We got cleaned up so that my parents could take us to a wine-tasting and dinner. Delicious!
Fred drove us back down to Minneapolis on Thursday morning, and we were back at Delafield by 3 pm. I was homesick and felt like I had left MN too soon. I think part of me was mourning the end of summer too. But a good BRDM practice and then a nice communal dinner made me feel better.
