Cloudy Patches, with a bit of Sunshine peaking through

This past week-end has been a mixture of sadness and happiness.

Last Friday, I attended the funeral of Douglas Brash, who was the father of my friend Jason. Mr. Brash passed away at the age of 54 from pancreatic cancer, which I learned has the highest fatality rate of the different kinds of cancers. It was an emotionally draining day as I don't think that I have ever seen Jason so sad.

I had to change my mood on Saturday because I was co-hosting a baby shower for Lisa, my old roomate. Lisa and Stephan are expecting a baby boy in December, so Amy and I threw a baby shower for her. This was an atmosphere of real joy because we were getting Lisa and Steph ready to receive a new life into the world.

I guess it is a part of the circle of life: death, birth, and of course life. Life is definitely something that should be cherished. As I am growing older, I think that I'm growing wiser, and beginning to cherish the little things. I do have to stop procrastinating though, and living in the now, because you never know what is going to happen next.

Disappointed...yes and no

So seVen failed to qualify for UPA North-east Regionals this past weekend in Albany, NY at the Upstate NY Sectionals. We played four games and had a 2-2 record. We beat LLUA and Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue (aka SCAM from SUNY Albany + some girls) in the first two games, and then lost to Vitamin I (they have definitely improved over the past few years) and Bombing Madd Fatties.

I am definitely disappointed that we failed to qualify, but at the same time I am a little bit relieved. I think that this semester is going to be very tough at school, and without any ultimate to organize and play, I will be able to concentrate on my studies to finish up my degree. Although I am only taking three courses, they all seem to be a lot more work than my previous courses. And on top of everything, I am also working at Alcatel three days a week, and TAing a course on Posture, Movement and Injury Prevention, so that keeps me quite busy.

As well, I will be able to attend my friend Allan's wedding to his fiance Betty in New York City. I have known Allan since I attended Shad Valley Calgary in 1994. Geofford has never been to NYC before, so it should be fun exploring the city with him.

Back to school

I have started school again. I am in my final semester of my Master's. Although I am only taking three courses, the work load is going to be super heavy. Ah well, hopefully I can handle it between working at Alcatel and playing ultimate. I am trying to keep ultimate to a minimum so that I can focus on school, but it is always hard because I love playing.

seVen went to Chez Memphre in Sherbrooke this past weekend and we placed 4th out of 24 teams. It was pretty exciting, although we lost the bronze medal game 7-6 after taking the half 6-1. oh well...we did beat 80's all-stars on Saturday, and we beat John McEnroe and friends on Sunday after losing to them on Saturday, so that was pretty good. The party on Saturday night was also quite fun.

Relaxing...

It was so nice break to get up to Cawaja beach this past week. Geofford and I left on Saturday morning (not as early as we hoped...darn bike rack) to go up to the "cottage" (aka Geofford's parent's house) for a break. Our drive up was somewhat eventful for a couple reasons: a) I haven't driven a standard transmission in a while and b) we weren't expecting to see a parade in Kinmount.

The rest of the weekend/week was less eventful, although I had a fun time: swimming in the water, lounging on the beach, enjoying great food and great wine, biking to Penataguishine (did I spell that right?), sleeping, lounging on the beach, biking to Elmvale and looking at the big houses on the way home, lounging on the beach, enjoying great food and great wine, and of course just hanging out with Geoff's parents.

We were hoping to stay for a week, but due to school commitments, I had to be back on today. :( Can't wait to go back, hopefully next year we can make it during the summer...

Delinquent

Wow, I have been super delinquent in posting. We could blame it on the beautiful hot weather and that I was outside enjoying it as opposed to updating my blog, but that would only be partially true. I have been spending a lot of time on a computer, just not my own. Since I have accepted the position at Alcatel, I have been working way too hard. Working at the Boys and Girls Club, Alcatel, and still going to Ultimate practices/games, has been quite taxing on my body.

I am tired now. Very tired. I think it all started with the Brian Smith Golf Tournament. I put in a lot of hours helping out with that. After that, the insanity started when Geoff and I were organizing the Mixed Up Ultimate Tournament. As the tournament name indicates, the tournament was all mixed up. I have decided that I will not agree to help out with the tournament next year unless Geoff decides to get more volunteers. We had 4 at the most at one time (+ Geofford and myself) and that is just not enough to run a 32-team tournament. Thanks to Batch, Scase, Derek, Mehmet, CK, Stef, Rachel, Drew, Don Quon, HybridPro/Daredevil discs, seVen, BigFish, and anyone else that I may have forgotten for all of the help that they provided. I think that I would have gotten much less sleep had you all not been around to help.

After the tournament, we still had to deal with Nationals. Although seVen had a 5-4 W-L record, which put us 13th overall, but I wasn't ecstatic with our performance on Thursday going 0-3. I take a lot of the blame for that because it wasn't that the team wasn't playing really well, but some of the decisions by the leadership weren't executed properly, which really frustrated me. Oh well, this is only our second year as seVen and the Mixed Teams in Canada are getting stronger, so we just have to keep working. We are now gearing up for Fall, we are playing in the UPA Fall Series, so that should be a lot of fun.

Damian and I at Nationals (watching the finals)

This is my last official day at the Boys and Girls Club, so it is a little sad, but I have learned so much during my intership and have had a great experience. I have a few last things to tie up, but I am almost ready to start school again for my last semester.

I am very much looking forward to going to visit Geoff's parents at Georgian Bay, and cannot wait to relax on the beach. Hopefully I will get the majority of my work done, so I don't have too much to do while I am there.

We'll see....until next time...hopefully much sooner....

Oh, and finally I am doing a photoblog thing on my msn spaces account: http://spaces.msn.com/members/jsysmile/