RETROSPECTIVE: Shanghai 2008

Picture by Chirona

On the bus back from Saturday party. I was passed the fuck out.

Also see: last year, and this.

RETROSPECTIVE: Char's going-away party at Haze

RETROSPECTIVE: Char Lam

Beijing Ultimate recently lost an important member of its community and it embarrasses me to be reporting on it only now. (Don't fret, no one's died.) Charmian Lam, former treasurer of Beijing Ultimate Committee and leader of Big Brother, has moved back to Hong Kong. Two weeks ago she held a goodbye party at Purple Haze.

The following are from China Nationals 2009 and China Nationals 2008, respectively.




We'll miss you, Char, and hope you visit us sometime soon. And we'll be seeing ya.

RETROSPECTIVE: Pink party 2008

Readers of yesterday's post may be asking themselves, What is a pink party? This is a pink party (from Reid and Julia's goodbye outing last winter):

RETROSPECTIVE: Just another Tuesday post-pickup

At our go-to restaurant on May 26, 2009.

Peek-a-boo

More leftovers from Shanghai:

Who's Alicia taking a picture of?



Oh...

WEEK IN REVIEW: The reason Beijing will win the Shanghai tourney party yet again

THE WELCOME BACK KEN DRY EDITION (he's pictured below as Tennessee Ave.)

A week and a day away from the Shanghai tournament...

As the party theme this year is "Construction," Beijing Big Brother will be going as Doozers, those lovable creatures from Fraggle Rock who must continually build cubic sugar (crack?) structures in order to survive. Here is your PICTURE OF THE WEEK, via Betsy's May 26 post:


YouTube clip (the original Yes We Can)

This is an appropriate follow-up to Beijing's award-winning (everyone knows Beijing should have won) costumes from last year's Shanghai tourney.






This was during a rough stretch in Sandy's love life.

Be sure to check this site Tuesday for the pre-Shanghai retrospective.

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Betsy, for the fourth straight week, 6/2/09:

frisbifarians,

betsy is all aglow this week. she is well rested from the long weekend and has eaten enough glutinous rice balls to last through the winter. if she never sees another zong zi again in her life, she will be sad, because they are tasty.

so she's got that going for her, which is nice. then there's the whole big brother world domination at shanghai in only 11 days thing. get pumped.

WEEKLY ITEM #1: The Weekly Schedule

Every Tuesday, Pick Up, 8-10pm, Deshengmen
come work on the skills from the last few practices: switches, break throws, hard marks, and the first step after your throw.

Sunday, Big Brother practice, Dulwich, 2-4pm, followed by pickup 4-6pm

Thursday, Fraggle Rock Viewing, Club Sandwich, 8-10pm
it's no secret that fraggle rock is all abuzz these days. everyone's talking about it, even the uncool kids like doc. he says things like, what’s a fraggle? regardless, everyone’s excited. jim got the masses joined together in a theme song sing-along at laurene's BCD. then they cried sweet, sweet tears of anticipatory joy. gobo would be proud.
_________

WEEKLY ITEM #2: MAILBAG
every week, betsy gets a lot of emails inviting her out on dates, complementing her on her leadership skills, asking her ultimate related questions, and wanting to know who she is. the mailbag is where she answers these questions. as always, these are real letters from real readers.

Letter #1:

hi betsy,
i haven’t been coming out much lately but i was wondering, are there any new studs in town i should keep my eye on? i appreciate any tips!

looking for fresh meat,
c-dice

hi c-dice:
first of all, you know our arrangement: after betsy’s had her pick you can slum off the leftovers. but the sad truth is, there isn’t much to work with these days. even our resident bachelors are shacking up… kevin, chris, doc, and tao, against all odds, are getting lucky. and there have been few replacements as of late. joe and jeff are still technically available, although they don’t like to be separated. how do you feel about indian?

betsy
xxxooo

Letter #2:

hi betsy,
this is gavin, from the dragons. why don’t you ever come out to play ultimate? i have never seen you there.

can’t wait to play with you!
gavin

hi gavin!
thanks for writing! betsy has been out, almost every week. she’s always wanted to meet you, but the truth is, she’s a little shy in person. you will have to make the first move.

heart-a-fluttering,
betsy
xxxooo

_________

now is the time in the weekly email when betsy gives her weekly shout outs and call outs. remember, you want to get shouted out, but you don't want to get called out.

a shout out to laurene. thanks for teaching us that some french people are actually pretty cool. you’ll be missed. betsy will come visit you in brazil.

a call out to kevin. catch your cares away? you get your head out of your butt. even doc knew that one and he’s more clueless than tao. shake shake, kevin, shake shake.

a shout out to jeff. jeff remains on semi-permanent shout out status. this week, betsy congratulates him for yet another bumbling adventure which eventually descended into complete drunken madness, culminating in repeated bouts of falling down. that was disc on saturday. also for that time when he drank a half bottle of whiskey.

a call out to aaron and tao. you have one more weekend before shanghai to set up the awards party. do not tempt betsy’s wrath. she’s been in a good mood lately.

a shout out to marjory. betsy appreciates how your minions sing your praises… “the trash heap has spoken! nyeah!". betsy will be taking lessons on thursday, and will soon have her congregation praising her thusly.

a call out to sandy, tao, alicia, doc, charlotte. you all are making betsy work hard for material this week. even harder than you need to work to get with tao’s mom. fortunately tao’s mom is still comedy gold.

a shout out the whole frisbee community. you make betsy proud. get pumped. shanghai is only 11 days away.

a call out to jehan. why haven’t you called? betsy doesn’t like to play games.

_________

WEEKLY RUMOR THAT MUST BE TRUE: betsy witnessed a perverse display of man-on-man-beast action after laurene’s bcd. while joe looked on with jealousy, jim was seen taking luxurious body shots off jeff: salt in the belly button, lime squeezed onto the nipples, mouth-to-mouthing the tequila. hsing-hui while practicing for a future in gay porn, captured the whole thing, put it to music, and will be distributing it at all the local dvd cellars. the reception will be outstanding. look for a sneak preview at this week’s fraggle rock showing. hsing-hui has already leaked information about her next installment… doc the peep and brian the martyr starring in “middle-aged lovin”.
_________

and finally, your moment of zen:

…will be shown this thursday at club sandwich, from 8-10pm.

catch you on the field,
betsy
xxxooo

The honorable mention goes to Jehan, for the effort...

Betsy,

I don't play games.

I play *game*.

(Yes, I really wrote that)

China Nationals: success!

The recap is up over on the China Ultimate blog. For now, though, Beijing can take a lesson from Jim and Char and relax.


Pictures by Mike Shyu

RETROSPECTIVE: The first year of China Nationals

This begins a three-week look back at the China Nationals tournament, leading up to the third annual China Natties on May 16-17, hosted for the second straight year by Beijing. REGISTER NOW.



From Char, China Nationals 2007 in Tianjin.

Kicking off Betsy Appreciation Week

Here is the definition of a transient community: coming like the warm season, all joy and bravado; leaving on the humped back of a solitary traveler, all sadness, candor; some are never heard from again; others return, bearing newfound appreciation for what they left behind; others still barrack themselves with their memories in a land far away with only a blog and a bottle...

But one person alone in Beijing seems unbound by the mortal coil. She is our better half -- our comprehending eyes, our sense of humor. Without her we would be uprooted and scattered by the winds, maybe to the Siberian desert. We would become unmoored as a rudderless boat in the empty seas.

That person, of course, is Betsy. If you've ever played Frisbee in Beijing it's likely you've met her. And if you're a guy, then she's definitely met you. Hip, modern and sophisticated, among the most well-read people in the world, fashion-savvy, forward-thinking, cute and devilishly funny, she is everyman's dream girl, his aspirations and hopes for a prosperous tomorrow. As such, we thought we'd kick off this blog -- devoted to Beijing Ultimate and the community around it -- with a five-day celebration of the one person this community cannot function without.

We told Betsy about this and she was only too excited to get her voice on the record. Here's part one of two of an interview conducted last month:

First off, Betsy, thanks for taking time to sit down with us. How would you describe yourself in relation to the Beijing Ultimate community? To what extent does it define you as a person?
i think that i define beijing ultimate more than it defines me.

How did you get involved?
pending lawsuits make it impossible for me to answer this question at this time.

We know your knowledge of Ultimate is nonpareil, but have you actually played Frisbee?
you remember the team that beat you in summer league? that was my team. i scored the winning goal. i spiked it next to your head. you have a selective memory.

You've been around a while now, so I was wondering if you could tell us briefly how the Beijing Ultimate scene has changed from your arrival to now.
when i started playing utlimate here, there was one chinese player. his name was duncan. he was our token chinese player for about 3 years. then he got a girlfriend and we never saw him again. now there are lots of token chinese players, so that if one of them gets married, we have lots of other players to take his or her place.

chinese players, be sure to let your friends know that playing frisbee makes you more attractive as a mate.

How would you characterize the community?
inescapable. once you are a part of the beijing ultimate community, you can never escape it. just ask matt flynn. seriously, ask him. his email is imaflynn@gmail.com. he'd love to hear from you.

What is the best part of playing Ultimate in Beijing?
how fast the community is growing.

What is the worst part?
the people

What tournament do you hold the most fond memories of?
i think the best memory is: winning the 2004 singapore tournament, winning the friday night registration party, having the best costumes, coming in seeded 7th and going undefeated, guaranteeing to pat mccarthy before the tournament we would win the tournament no matter where the seeded us, all of these things led us to belief that this victory would be the first of many. and then streaking naked on the fields so that a number of our players could never go to singapore again so that we have never had the chance to defend our title.

The most memorable party?
quinn's thanksgiving day party, the one with the food fight.

Your favorite Beijing couple of all time?
david joiner and michelle

Your favorite Beijing player of all time?
me

Who are the best dancers in Beijing, male and female?
me and jim.

Are Jim and Joe half-brothers?
they are a 6th grade science fair experiment gone horribly horribly wrong.

Why does Sandy not like you? [Not you personally, you understand]
sandy is just jealous of you.

Why is Char so nice?
it's a cover. believe me, you don't want to see her when she gets mad. just ask jim.

Can Ken Su be my uncle?
there is a 38% statistical certainty that ken su already is your uncle.

How can I donate to the Free Happy Rat fund, for his impending arrest and house durance?
i can tell you how, but why would you want to.

Should foreigners in China know Chinese, or is that not necessary?
you mean chinese food? all you need to know is gong bao ji ding.

What's up with Doc?
he's old.

Is it true there's a guy named Boner in the Frisbee community? That's funny, isn't it?
only funny in an ironic way. i know this based on personal experience.

Now, it's no secret you get around. Some people say it's because you have low self-esteem, others attribute your reckless behavior to a dark, traumatic childhood, while even others say you're just a girl who likes to have fun. But I think it's something else. I think you have a special someone you're too shy to approach, so you act out in hopes of attracting his attention and proving to him -- and yourself -- that you're desirable. Who are you saving yourself for, Betsy?
i don't believe in saving myself. that's a patriarchial concept created by males who wanted to have a virgin on their wedding night.

Thank you for your time.