Jeremy

[Jeremy]

I guess I have some new years resolutions/goals.


1. Maintain my distinction average at uni. This is like the laws of robotics, this one takes priority over all the others.

2. Play at least one game of senior footy this year.

3. Read 50 books.



1 and 3 I've had for a few years now. 2 is new, but I'm putting in some serious effort at least for the moment. Had our first training for the calender year today. 35 degree heat which is 95 F - not ideal for running around in the sun. Still it feels good to be back into it and I think I trained well overall. Bit clumsy at times but not too bad and the coach did say I trained really well at the end so that's a plus. I am using all my ninja skills to get noticed - standing at the front of cones and at the front of groups, trying to be on the side closest to him etc. Not that these things make a big difference, but every little bit counts. I really need to put on some muscle though. I'm just under 67kg at the moment, so if I could get that up to 75 that would be amazing. I'm starting to do a little weights and upper body stuff and also some sprint training on the beach, so we'll see. It's still like 3 or 4 months until the season starts though. I'm going to try and do a little goal kicking practice every day after work as well. My plan/fantasy of what's going to happen is I'll play a few games in the reverses at the start of the year as a small forward, maybe with a bit of midfield work, kick a lot of goals and get picked as specialist small forward for the seniors. We do have an amazing team this year, including our coach who was a small forward in the AFL, so it's really going to be a serious challenge for me. I definitely lost a big opportunity the last couple of years being injured so much. I think I've probably played less than 10 games total over the last two seasons. Anyway we'll see how we go

[boyle]

playing in the reverses? Does everyone run backwards in this special league?

[Jeremy]

Just so you know, I am famous for my running backwards ability.

[jay7]

Mr. Jeremy,

I was curious, if it would be at all possible to film, even if the video just has you kicking ass, one of your games? I've read for the last two years how you dominate, but, as I don't even know the game I can't visualize it happening.

[Jeremy]

Are you talking about touch football or football? They are completely different games. I dominate touch football, and I'll film our mixed game this week, although we are playing the team that is second on the ladder.

I dominate football a lot less, although last year I was best on ground 100% of my games (1). I'm too small to really be a good Aussie rules footballer, hence over the last three seasons that I've played I've missed games with concussion, broken ribs, and my ac joint 3 times.

Here are some youtube videos of the two sports (not of me).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdUK-Cc4Ajw[/youtube]

Football; one of my favourite players from a few years ago dominating He's playing in the same kind of role I hope to this year, although because the team he's playing for had a really good full forward, in this game he became the main target because the opposition were too worried about the bigger forward.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxLn7jRtplc[/youtube]

Touch football; I've played with and against many of the people in this video. I'm probably going to play this level next year, but this is kind of serious and they train weekly, while since I started playing touch again I've been just playing for fun, and training a little but only because I'm playing with my friends who have never played before.

[Jeremy]

Sorry was unable to film this week and will be at a footbag jam next week so it'll be a while before I get some footage. Destroyed it yesterday though. 4 tries, 4 set ups, won the game 10 v 5. They're second on the ladder too. It's amazing how quickly you notice your fitness improve too, or maybe they were just slow

I have been upping my exercise a lot though - running most days, doing some weights too.

[Jeremy]

So leave for Narooma today. More pumped than a porn star. The hardest part is trying to decide what books to take with me.

Busked on Saturday, made about $145 plus 2 potatoes. Beat Lotus at pool twice. Scores are now 37 vs 5 I think.

[Jeremy]

So Narooma was amazing as usual. Many highlights. I don't think I played footbag without having a beer first once though, but whatevs. Too much to write about. Definitely the funnest and most relaxed footbag event to attend in Australia. I don't know about best, I love competing and sport, so nationals is great too - but they are so different that you can't compare.


Anyway this post is mainly about touch footy. The team we were playing tonight has a record of 5 wins, 0 losses, 0 draws, 7 forfeits, which were their last 7 games. We had the late game so I arrived early and refereed 2 games by myself, which is super tough. I was also exhausted from Narooma. Has Murphey's Law dictates, of course they did pay this week and it was super tough. We ended up winning 7 vs 5 I think but I can't remember being this sore since footy season in 2008. I managed to score a full length of the field intercept touch down by sticking my hand out to cut off a pass (they would have scored if I didn't) and then getting the lucky rebound, but as I ran up the length of the field it became obvious that the oppositions best player was going to catch me (I have great speed over 20m, but most fit people beat me in a 100m race). So I pulled back and faced him off 1 on 1, and then made an epic sideways dive at the line so my feet were out of his way and managed to get the score. I guess my best score this year

That's it anyway, I think I have to work tomorrow in 8 hours time and I can't feel my legs at all.

[Jeremy]

So I'm getting interviewed for Sky Magazine - some kind of domestic US flight magazine. Not related to footbag at all, but cool none the less.

[Jeremy]

Some random stuff.

Apparently there are more videos of me on youtube busking. Couldn't find it, but the guy said it's there.

Played touch today. It was a dead game - we're in 4th position no matter what. We didn't try very hard and lost. We also had the worst referee ever. Pretty frustrating.

Oh, yesterday one of the top referees told me that he'd watched me ref the week before and I was a "natural" and that I should "stick with it." I was like; "well.... I have been reffing for over 10 years..." Anyway it seems I might get to not ref the lowest divisions and also get put up a couple of levels, which would be good I guess. I really don't care. I only ref because they're so short of good refs to do it. If I go up 2 levels, which will make put me amongst the highest qualified refs in the competition, I will get paid $2 extra per game. That's something to get excited about.

Something I realised the other day, was just how retarded the accusation that Al Gore is just "in it for the money" so to speak really is. A good analogy is like this. I think the best way to win at poker is to fold every hand unless you have face cards or higher. I use this strategy in a game of poker and I win. I clearly make money, so you could say that I'm in it for the money, but you'd surely also have to say that my beliefs were justified.

Everybody of any standing in the world believes that market forces are very powerful and are a successful way of dealing with many complex problems, including climate change. Al Gore clearly believes this, and so he invests money things dealing with climate change - because that's using market forces - and they make money. That may be "being in it for the money," but it's also being "VINDICATED!" He holds an opinion, he spends his money supporting that opinion. It works out just how he says it will.

Climate change deniers really are just very stupid people. 27% of Australians now are unsure or deny that climate change (anthropogenic or not) is actually happening. Incredible. A friend of mine recently said that some people would contribute more to society if they were killed and turned in to fertilizer to grow plants. It's obviously something that we'd never do, but I think the spirit of his point is pretty accurate.

Oh yeah, and Al Gore advocates a carbon tax over an emissions trading scheme. I doubt deniers understand why this makes their point even more retarded.

Shaun White. Watched him on TV today. Incredible. A friend of Nathan Cope is racing in the women's skeleton tomorrow morning Australia time. Melissa "whore bags" Hoar. Everybody should support her.

Yeah, I'm a bit drunk.

[Jeremy]

Epic day.

Uni is back and going well. I feel well engaged with my subjects and enjoying them so far so that's good . Human Geography was full of rather tiresome metaphysics and left wing cultural relativists, which is a bit frustrating but luckily we get into real content soonish.



Anyway epicness. Firstly we had our touch footy semi final in mixed today. We've had some pretty intense training lately and it's paying off. We also had a solid warm up and despite missing our second best player (who indeed, when both him and I have played, we haven't lost a game), ended up winning 9 vs 7. I scored 5 tries and set up 4, so was happy with my effort. We also ran a set play for the first time, that absolutely destroyed the defence, so that was satisfying . We should have full strength teams next week too, but are playing too really good sides.


After that I reffed a game, and that was crazy.

It started with a player giving away a penalty for a forward pass right on their defensive line. I was the sideline ref so called it, but the player who received the pass ran the whole length of the field and "scored." I paid the penalty for the forward pass. Shortly afterwards the team that "scored" got stuck into me on the sideline, not complaining that it was a forward pass, but saying I should have blown the whistle about it before they'd run the length of the field, which is clearly rubbish, but also such a trivial thing to complain about. Anyway eventually after a few warnings one of the girls told me I was a shit ref, so I sent her to the sin bin, which is very satisfying. That shut them up. When the siren went, scores were level, so the game went to a drop off - which basically means that every 2 minutes they have 1 less player until eventually it's 3 on 3. First score wins. After I guess 3 minutes the team that hadn't had the player sin binned scored. Game over. Then the other team brought it to our attention that the winning team were playing an unregistered player. He was easy to spot, because I played mens this year with him. So we talked about it with the comp manager and confirmed that he was unregistered, then found that they'd put a fake name on the team sheet. Disqualification and the other team wins. Wow.

Anyway I don't know if anybody will be bothered reading all that, but I needed to get it off my chest

[Jeremy]

For people curious we lost the prelim final for touch and I badly injured my shoulder in the first 5 minutes, but played out the game. Went down 7 vs 5.


Anyway some footbag news, well kind of. Yesterday Lotus and I were busking and doing quite well when this guy comes up and says; "you're Jeremy O'Wheel right? I used play footbag." Amusingly, being put on the spot I responded by saying; "You know who I am, cool," which just goes to show that it's a good thing I'm not famous. Anyway guess who this guy was?


Brett Campbell!! He's travelling around Australia at the moment. We went to the pub and drunk some beer and played pool, and then today I took him for a bushwalk (hiking) up the local mountain. Fun times, cool guy - doesn't play any footbag anymore, didn't even bring his shoes on his trip here, but might get back into it again. Anyway fun times, and small world

[Jeremy]

played my first game of footy for the season today. broke a finger on my right hand in the first quarter. broke my left collar bone very badly in the third. stopped playing. it didn't really hurt but you could see that it was broken by looking at it. one part of the bone is pushed pas yhe other. xray is extreme. doctor says it might fix itself but will probably need surgery. i will be genuinely amazed if it fixes itself.

[Jeremy]

Check it out - some recent footage of me; Circle comp footage from Aus champs;

http://www.ausfootbag.org/images/storie ... _Final.wmv

Routines are also up at ausfootbag, but don't bother watching mine. Dan Boyles is great and dropless though

edit; video is about 170mb

[hacksterbator]

Brett Campbell!!

Haha, crazy! Brett is a legend but i don't think he has kicked since like 2006. At least that was the last time i saw him at a jam. So, how many canadian freestylers have passed through hobart now? pretty good numbers all things considered!

[Jeremy]

Yeah we've been very lucky with Canadians - four of the best have come through. Brett didn't play at all while here but it was cool to hang out with him anyway. I really need to post the photos to facebook. Will do after exams are finished.

Exams have been going great. Actually life is pretty awesome at the moment. I have a new girlfriend, who is amazing. She's a med student, so can look after all my injuries. The year after next she's going to Oxford to do a PhD, so she's very intelligent and self confident (I hate insecure girls). She started an atheist group at uni, which is how I met her. So yeah, I think this goes to show that even the iciest hearts (mine) can be thawed

I also got some great news about my collar bone - which has entirely aligned itself. It's still in 4 different pieces, but it is getting better. Probably another 4-6 weeks and I'll be allowed to play sport again

[boyle]

"she started an atheist group" = love at first sight for Mr O'Wheel.

[Jeremy]

Yeah totally.

So things have been pretty epic lately. Not footbag related but let me explain.


So went out drinking yesterday. There's a great pub that has a "stein around the clock" on Wednesdays. At 4pm a stein of beer (1 litre) costs $4. At 5 it costs $5 etc. So I had my 2 litres of beer, then ignored my doctors orders and went to touch footy. Was feeling frustrated about various things, and needed to do some exercise. Had a pretty good game, scored 5 tries and we won 8 vs 0. Also I threw up on the sideline twice, once in the first half and once in the second. Both were after big long runs over most of the length of the field to score. Was still drunk when I got home.

Just chilling watching TV and on facebook when suddenly news breaks about a possible political coup. Then there's a leadership challenge announced. Following this keeps me up most of the night. I may have got a couple of hours sleep but I was pretty wired. Got up at 4:30am and watched Australia's last soccer game, which was good, and we did ourselves proud I think, even if we didn't make it to the next round. When the soccer coverage finished at about 6.10am coverage of the political coup had started, so I transferred straight from soccer to the politics. By this stage it was already clear that our PM was going to lose his job. So now we have our first ever female prime minister, and she's already doing great job.

I'm really on board this change in leadership. Our new PM has a much better way of dealing with people, she's further to the left and I think it's a positive move forward, especially since we have one of the worst politicians ever as the leader of the opposition, and we really need to do whatever it takes to keep him out of government.

So I'm still up watching the coverage - it's 2:30pm now. Glad to have finished my exams and able to do this Some very hungover girls came over for a while and I cooked them food as well, but yeah, this is like Christmas for politics nerds.

Going out for a couple of drinks tonight too, I guess I should have some kind of power nap at some point. Still pretty pumped at the moment though

[Jeremy]

Brett Campbell in Hobart;






You can see my house in some of these on the far right. I don't know which it is, but since you can see the mountain from here it must be there somewhere

[Jeremy]

This is a short rant about my personal life, so you can skip to the bottom where I talk about footbag

Things with girl have turned in to a disaster. Actually they did a few weeks ago, which is probably the main reason I've been playing touch footy a lot recently. The situation is retarded, given we have so much in common and as far as I could tell, got on really well when we were together. All my friends who I've talked to about this have told me I should just not have anything to do with her - although they haven't met her, so they're just really talking about how I feel. My head says the same thing, but emotionally I feel the opposite. Anyway there is clearly nothing I can do. The upside is that I bought her some chocolates for her birthday, and then she told me that I shouldn't have got her anything and that it wasn't "necessary," just when I invited her over so I could give her her present, which was in response to a text message saying "what are you doing today," - which for some reason sounded to me like she wanted to hang out, but apparently not. Anyway so the upside is that I will eat the chocolates myself. I think there may be a communication issue, since I get birthday presents for most of my friends, and cook dinner for anybody who comes over, even when they're not my friends, but she obviously thinks those things are special for her or something, which is not to say I don't like doing them for her, but I think they have more significance for her than me. Anyway whatever. This post obviously makes no sense anyway, but it's nice to get things off my chest a bit.

I have been playing footbag lately, which has been fun, although exhausting. I've now played 4 times since breaking my collarbone, but the last two Saturdays. I still feel somewhat restricted in what I can do - it hurts on atomic sets and dlos in particular, but my game is not too shabby considering. The bone is healing, but has a long way to go. I have an xray in a few weeks to see how it's going. I keep talking about going to football training and just running laps, or doing some light training, so I might start doing that soon. Both seniors and reserves are on top of the ladder and football is the only sport I've played where I haven't won a premiership of some kind, so I'm becoming very keen to play.