That's the only reason he posted it. Damn your vanity Henry, must everything secretly be about you?
I'm really behind on my PM's, e-mails and phone calls because of all the sickness/traveling. I'm trying to get my act together, so give me a few days to get everything in order.
There have been so many posts in here.
It was nice meeting you too, Dave and Holly.
Thanks for the New Years tidings Chrissy.
Fletcher: Thank you for taking care of me.
John: Thank you for taking care of me and making my medical decisions.
Reile: Thank you for figuring out my transportation schedule and driving through all those stop signs (...) to make sure I made the train on time.
Moxie wrote:I love that my blog is the place to talk shit.
Anyone else who feels the need should feel free to join in until further notice.
Notice given.
Well... this has been an interesting winter break. I went home and got very, very sick. At first I thought the throwing up was from drinking too much, then I thought it was food poisoning from eating bad chicken -
twice (thanks mom), but now that I found out that my father got sick just like I did, I think it was the flu
(+drinking). Whoops. Anyway, I got sick and threw up 5 times in one night, then got a really bad cold, got much better, went to NYJ, felt better every day, then Jan 1st I woke up really sick. I slept most of the day and by 6pm my muscles and head hurt so much that I was losing water from my eyes. I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to the people who left while I was sleeping, and I'm sorry I couldn't hug the people who were still there goodbye. It was a lousy way to end an awesome event, but I'm just glad I didn't feel sick during NYJ.
NYJ: I got 4 hours of sleep the night before, and when I woke up I jumped up and out of bed because I was so excited. It's unusual for me to wake up with a spring in my step even when there's something big to wake up for. I got to the Highland Park train station and FTB picked me up. Eric S., Will R., and Reid S..
We picked up Lauren (Tricia) in Chicago and went to the event site. After a little parking trouble, we found our way in and went to the footbag area. I love that venue. There's always something to do or watch if you don't feel like playing footbag.
I like to split things up in my post-event posts, but I don't have it in me to write something totally worth reading so I'm just going to list random stuff before I forget everything.
-I brought 6-8 cans of Pringles to share, RKT's (Rice Krispies Treats -my parents made them because I was sick)
-4 Square event was fun but I would have changed two things about it:
1. Line judges for each square in qualifying rounds.
2. People would have to
play for 2nd place instead of it automatically being given to the person with the next highest score when the first person got to 15 points.
-It seemed like there should have been a few pass backs for the Circle Comp., but the players didn't all know that it should/could happen.
-Girlie circle with Lauren (Tricia) and Holly. I was sad that Jessika's knee was messed up because it would have been great to kick with her too. There's always next year.
-Seeing my CIC friends. Boy did I miss them.
-I feel like at this tourny I spent more time with friends than people I hadn't met before. That's a good thing because at a few of the last tournaments I've been to people have said they felt like I was always busy with other people. It's true that I was spreading myself really thin because I wanted to spend time with everyone and meet every person at the event, so it felt good not doing that at this event.
-Dance party with John and Mike in the van.
-Left handed dodge bag, sort of.
-witnessing fishing: footbag and a shoe on a rope
-oodles of 2/4 square
-I got to sleep in the quiet CIC room- awesome, thanks guys.
-The Pick Me Up Cafe- banana nut french toast. Yummm.
-Bowling party two times! Pimp s
-I think I still owe John a beer or two.
-Sour twizzler bites
-pillow fight
-Shot gun dibs in Mike's car.
-Peaches
-Nice New Year's, hanging out with footbag players watching footbag movies, then watching the count down on a Spanish channel. Funny CIC memories on the computer.
-John's great timing for picture taking
-Zeke gave SC a 4-square court.
Awesome!
-Really impressive Rippin Run David vs. Jorden
-Witnessing John's impressive win in the stair race.
-Tom vs. John in the handstand contest
-Dat's new competition went really well, people seemed to really like watching and participating.
-I counted consecutive kicks for the novice competition and my guy won! In a three minute period the competitors were given as many tries as they wanted to do as many consecutive kicks as possible and the one with the longest string of them would win. Since there were only three people in the competition and they were easy to split into separate groups, Scott made them all first place in their category which I think was great. I was really happy counting for Cody who got 88 kicks because he and his father were there last year and they both remembered me and came over to say hi as soon as they arrived at the event. His father said it was great to see me again and they appreciated all of my help last year.
-Ianek might visit SC which would be a treat.
-Mike Hansen drove everyone everywhere the whole time. Thank you so much Mike. I think the most we had in there at once was 12 people. No wait, I think the 10 people plus all of our luggage was a bigger load. Either way, lots of fun.
David in truck, lots of singing.
-Dat still owes me $5 from that below average Chinese food.
-Getting hit on by 15-17 years old boys in the hall way. That's right, she's still got it.
-BUBBLE TEA. Twice, because the first time didn't count as "fantastic" for me. Strawberry is where it's at. YUMMM. Haha, then there was a bubble fight outside between three troublesome guys.
-Meeting Rory was great because I hadn't gotten a good taste of his sense of humor before.
-I feel like I could have played better, but I had just taken a week and a half to two week break due to travel etc. and I had just been really sick. But I hadn't been playing much recently anyway so I guess I might not have played better. Either way, I was glad that Tom got to see some of my best kicks of the weekend; as soon as he stepped into the circle I started to play really well.
-It's kind of funny how this event was a giant cesspool of illnesses and injuries. Nick, Dat, Reile, Mathieu and I were all sick either right before, during, or immediately after the event while still in Chicago. It's important to name all those (besides myself) that can be blamed if you get sick from this event.
-Bijan missed the actual event but was able to show up just after it ended and people were in the post-event shred room. (Thank you Steve Goldberg for funding it both nights.) I hadn't seen Bijan for years, how exciting.
-The first day of the event someone started a conversation with me:
Them: Hey Emily, you basically know everyone in footbag, right?
Me: Yes (not true, but fun to say
)
Them: Do you know _____?
Me: Yeah, I called him this morning to welcome him to Chicago.
I felt really cool. No, seriously. :red:
-Tim couldn't get out of work for reasons beyond his control, so he came and hung out in the shred room one night.
-Chris Dean introduced himself to me and I responded by telling him that we once shared a bed. Kind of an unusual way to reintroduce yourself to another footbag player. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it was at the last Chilly Philly and I was going to sleep on the floor but I think in the middle of the night I woke up miserable from floor sleeping and told him to move over. :red: If that's the right memory and the right footbag player, thanks for sharing, Chris.
-James Risden did not show up.
-On the 3rd day in the shred room I tried to warm up. I couldn't do it, so I waited and tried just hopping in a circle and warming up with small stuff. Couldn't do it, my body said no.
-It was great seeing West Coast people playing and competing. It was the merging of two worlds for me since NYJ was my home event which was very separated from my California life. Neato. It's funny that to see some of my friends (that I live in the same state with) we all had to go to Illinois.
-Multipurpose poker chips.
-Hanging with the WV crew was as fun as always. I hope you enjoy that sleeping bag, Brad. It has served me well over the last two years.
-I would love to be near the CIC again. I miss them SO much. Once a year doesn't seem like enough time to spend with people I care about so much. If I weren't an in-state resident and didn't love my life here so much I would move back. But I'm glad I'm not unhappy here.
Dear CIC and people who contributed to NYJ 2006,
Thank you very much for putting on such a great event. It's great that you had so many prizes and didn't charge to enter the events. It's impressive that this event went from a Jam to a Tournament so quickly and you were flexible enough to make it happen close to the last minute. The attendees expressed interest in it so you did what made people happy instead of just sticking to what had originally been planned. The hours of work and planning showed and made it so fun to attend this event.
Everything felt basically care free from the time I arrived in Chicago until I left. Thanks for and running a smooth event.
Love,
Emily
P.S. I know I'm forgetting to mention things and people, but seriously, after the event I was in no state to be expected to remember anything or anyone. I feel much better than I did the night of the 1st, but I'm still not completely well.
1/5/06
Kicked with Fletch, Max, and Jeremy in the Aptos Resort's garage. I was frustrated and not enjoying kicking for most of the session.
1/7/06
Today Ken comes to SC to play some footbag, hang out and crash at my bachelor pad, then we're going to San Jose to hang with Dat tomorrow. How fun!
"I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
Emily Kulczyk
what a heinous combo!
