WEEK IN REVIEW: Ningbo look-back

A reminder that Ellen's margarita party at Ellen's friend's house is this Saturday. Really bat-drunk bad shit (bat-shit?) is going to happen.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK 1:



Tao eating lots of food at the same time -- sausage, egg and waffles, dipped in yogurt, I believe -- at free breakfast at Howard Johnson. Picture by Michael Chaitkin.

Here's what Kevin had to say about the above:

We all universally enjoyed the buffet, but none more than Tao. Fifteen minutes before closing time, he arrives at this luxurious buffet, with more choices than Crayola has colors. He only has time to get one plate of food, and when he returns, it is a mound, piled higher than it is wide, layers upon layers of ridiculous combinations. He blindly stabs his fork into the heaping mess, shoveling down whatever bounty it comes up with. At some point, Jeff suggests it might be easier to eat if he adds some kind of lubrication to the mix. Tao's eyes flash on his yogurt, and a brilliant idea is formed. Soon, Tao is plunging food into mixed berry yogurt by the forkful: dumpling/potato wedge/sausage; ham/spring roll/waffle; bacon/croissant/wonton. It may have been horrifying to our Chinese waitstaff and fellow patrons, but it was pure amusement to us. If Tao bothered to chew between servings, he hid it well.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK 2:



Beijingers in Ningbo

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Really quiet on the board this week, but here's Tao pimpin' Candice Lee's kickball game:

Hey everyone,

Candice Lee's annual kickball league is happening again soon, on APRIL 24. Those interested need to register with her by APRIL 8. Email cdice...@gmail.com. It'll be around 60-70 rmb for kickball and LOTS of beer. Lots.

I'm a captain this year and will be trying to draft as many Ultimate players as possible. Taking applications for co-captaincy as we speak.

It got no replies. Damn you Great Firewall!

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Ningbo Hat Tourney recap

Congratulations to Jim [update: dancing here], whose team went 5-0 during round-robin games, then beat Tao's team in semis, then Alec's team in finals. A brilliant run done with some brilliant captaining.

Fuller recap of tournament over at the newly re-launched China Ultimate blog.

Pictures of Beijingers (plus Nick Hatt, who may as well be a Beijinger) in action:








Not pictured but very much in our hearts and minds: Therese

WEEK IN REVIEW: Off to Ningbo

Apparently the weather's rainy and terrible in Ningbo. Oh well, Beijing will bring the sunlight.

Oh, and welcome back to Beijing, Jehan!

PICTURES OF THE WEEK:


From Michael Chaitkin's Seder on Saturday (photos by Steph Kwan)

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Betsy, 3/30:

plastic junkies,

this week’s sermon is about gluttony. specifically, betsy will be talking about eating in excess. for example, ellen provided unholy amounts of temptuous snacks for the attendees of big brother practice. among the offerings were baby girl’s twice baked sweet potatoes, sandy’s cabbage, and michelle’s carrot cake. everybody ate ravenously as they binged between points. it was pretty great. hooray for gluttony.

WEEKLY ITEM #1: The Weekly Schedule

This Wednesday, Pick Up, 7-9, BCIS
Every Sunday, Big Brother Practice, 12-2, ISB, followed by pickup from 2-4.

this week is the final Wednesday session at BCIS for the season. betsy would like to thank everyone for all the fantastic memories this year. however, given that its success was mostly due to the advertisement in the weekly schedule, she deserves most or all of the thanks. also thanks to alicia or something.

_________

WEEKLY ITEM #2: Upcoming Tournaments

April 3-4: Ningbo Hat
April 17-18: Tianjin Open
April 24-25: Singapore Women and Open
May 1-2: Jeju Gnarly Nines
May 15-16: China Nationals, Beijing
June 5-6: Shanghai
July 4-10: Worlds in Prague

_________

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 tao. you’ve brought great honor and glory to beijing through your victory at the esteemed shenzhen hat tournament. your plentiful past and current failures will be overlooked for one week. enjoy.

a call out to joe. you don’t need a shoulder to run suicides.

a shout out to baby girl. baby girl hosted the cougarpalooza 2010 after party at his home this weekend. he did not invite any of his friends. beijing ultimate owes you a debt of gratitude for taking that down on your own. also: rowr.

a call out to sandy. sandy would be running big brother practice this week, if she wasn’t fleeing the country or frolicking on the sandy beaches of maui and staring longingly into gareth’s piercing blue eyes.

a shout out to matt. he’s going to have his tournament cherry broken in ningbo. everyone wish him luck and ensure he gets so drunk at the saturday party that he ends up grinding on the dance floor with jim’s light saber.

a call out to weather. make up your mind already. are you going to be sandy, snowy, rainy, or sunny? and none of this “oh, i’m just the weather, i occur due to temperature and moisture differences between one place and another and it’s really hard to predict me accurately” crap. betsy is sick of it. although, on an unrelated note…

a shout out to this past sunday’s weather. you were awesome. thanks!

a call out to shen. shen? hello?

a shout out to alicia. even from shanghai, she’s organizing more beijing-ultimate related festivities than twenty tao’s mashed together in a giant tao-mashing machine, harnessing the sum potential of their ambition and motivation, to create a megatao, one which still wouldn’t get up before noon on frisbeeless days.

_________

WEEKLY ITEM #3: Lunch time Poll

Which of these is the worst idea yet for beijing’s star wars themed costumes at ningbo?

jim – intergalactic jedi pimps

kevin – tailored pink suits for everyone

ace – human light sabers

jeff – a flock of gangster jar jar binks

chicken – screw you guys, i bought the costumes for kunming.

tao – one gelatinous, felching, jabba the hut. (Bonus question: Who
would you rather do: Jabba the Hut right after a shower, or a service
droid?)

alicia – princess leia’s, all chained to jabba the hut of course.

_________

and finally, your moment of zen…

http://www.tutztutz.com/2010/02/the-worst-star-wars-costumes/

catch you on the field,
betsy
xxxooo

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Beijing wins another Ultimate tourney (party)

More news from the 2nd annual Kunming Hat Tourney later, but it was a great weekend of Ultimate and sunshine. And this is what we did for the party (thanks to Jim and Chaitkin for these costumes):

At Speakeasy on Saturday night.

RETROSPECTIVE: In this new year of ours...

Photo by Kevin Reitz

WEEK IN REVIEW: Ellen's foosball tourney, and Jim

This just in: Boehner and Ellen are really good at foosball, and teamed together, they're unbeatable. The team was 3.5-point favorites in the finals against Michael Chaitkin and Jim, and covered, winning 10-6. The house won 5 kuai over a night of betting (14 total games, though not all saw action), with big-winner Jim leaving with 20 kuai (6 for 6 on bets) and big loser Michael leaving as a sad, decrepit shell of himself, down 15 big ones.

Afterwards we drank and played asshole, a game in which I won six straight times and seven out of eight, including once from the asshole position. (Don't ask if you don't know.) And then things got -- how shall we say? -- a bit out of control. This is all we'll say for now:

An oven broke. Jim did some other stuff.

Consider that a preview of a video to come...

PICTURES OF THE WEEK:



GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Jeff, you sick, sick man. I had to write this (11/21):

Jeff Orcutt, you play a risky game. When having sex with horses next time, you'll want to

pitch, not catch. Otherwise you place yourself in mortal danger of a perforated colon, which is no laughing matter, as Kenneth Pinyan, otherwise known as Mr. Hands, could tell you... from his grave.

I must also, despite the sensitive disposition of our fair readers, bring to attention the despicable game you have been playing these last four years with the lives of innocent, sentient beings. The other day, during one of my several leisurely Internet browsing sessions, I uncovered a disturbing Seattle Times article documenting your unscrupulous lifestyle and laying bare your degenerate constitution. I quote: "But because investigators found chickens, goats and sheep on the property, they are looking into whether animal cruelty — which is a crime — was committed by having sex with these smaller, weaker animals."

Jeff, you pervert! Horses are one thing, but small, furry, defenseless animals? I... I'm aghast. I'm absolutely shocked beyond words. How sick. How vile! How... how dastardly! You should be ashamed. What your dark, monstrous conscience will tolerate in the basement of your private dwelling is not for us to judge, but to betray your friends and acquaintances by bringing this defilement upon us in the world of virtue and light is unforgivable. How Joe has co-habitated with you all this time is beyond guessing, though we should probably take pity at the horrors -- gross and unfathomable! -- he has repressed in the name of survival!

It will take us years to erase the vestiges of your profanity from our collective consciousness. I beseech you do us the favor of removing yourself from our chaste community at once. Your libido has harmed its last living soul.

Sincerely,
Beijing Ultimate Community

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Two turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, banana bread, pumpkin soup, apple pie, pumpkin pie...

...14 friends, Scategories, hot tub, swimming pool, foosball, and the drinking games Ride the Bus and Circle of Death... recipe for a good Thanksgiving.







Thanks go out to Gareth for making the bulk of the meal, Michael for helping in both kitchens and Ellen, once again, for hosting.

POSTSCRIPT: Doc!

WEEK IN REVIEW: We are not philistines after all

Backdated 10/21

To prove that Beijing Ultimate people are cultured after all, a group of us, thanks to Ellen, went to see Midori perform at Beijing Concert Hall on Friday, i.e. today. Here's a review in the Beijinger's blog that includes Kevin, Hsing-Hui, Michael Chaitkin and yours truly. (If you haven't figured out this is backdated yet -- maybe the words at the top didn't give it away -- you will when you see the tbj post is dated Monday, 10/19).

PICTURES OF THE WEEK:


She signed my program! (Photos by Kevin and Michael, respectively)

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Bill Aidan, setting up a weekend Ultimate Frisbee clinic for Tianjiners and locals, 10/11:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Beijing Ultimate Community,

Tonight, after a rousing practice, the team returned west for a convivial dinner party. Dishes were ordered in triplets and beers were bought by the dozen (mathematically sound). Although merriment certainly abounded, it did not prevent us from having an important meeting regarding this coming Saturday's Ultimate Clinic (SUC). Here's the plan:

*Saturday - 10/17 - 10am until late*
10am - Gather, warm up, practice stations
12:30pm - Lunch
1:30pm - Practice stations
3:00pm - Games
5:00pm - Leave, dinner, party

Many of the logistics have have yet to be determined; we hope to play at the ISB fields, but Jeff will found out more about that tomorrow. Depending on the location of the fields, we will determine the location of lunch, dinner, and the party. Look out for details from Jeff in the future.

A survey of the table revealed that Bill, Gareth, Jeff, Jim, Ken, Mike, Sandy, Alicia, Tao, Joe, and Baby Girl will be there (11) and Ellen and Kevin may come too (2). Our hope is that all of the Beijing Ultimate Community will come (Big Brother, Bang, Air Kazak, Hang Time, and anybody else who is playing out there; tell your friends) in addition to Tianjin. If we do get all of these folks to come out, we could be looking at between 100 and 150 people. It will not be a small event.

We hope to separate this vast number of attendees into multiple general groups and (probably) one advanced group. The general groups will rotate through the following practice stations:

- Throwing
- Marking
- Cut-to Drill
- Dump Drill
- Elimination Huck Drill
- Horizontal Stack Flow Drill

...while some volunteers have expressed interest in running particular stations, we will wait to assign stations until Saturday. If you find one of these subjects particularly exciting, think about how to portray your knowledge of this skill to a large audience with varying ultimate abilities, varying language abilities, and short attention spans. Even if you do not end up volunteering at a particular station, you can still discuss the topic with whomever will.

The advanced group will focus on the follwing topics:

- Handler offensive and defensive tutorial
- Cutter offensive and defensive tutorial
- Zone - volunteers play different zones against the attendees and talk about strategies. Perhaps we can do this after lunch.

..and finally, after all of this practicing, we will play games for a couple of hours. We will keep people in their original groups and play two or three simultaneous games in accordance with the skill levels of the groups. There was talk of trying to get a women's game together too; do we want to do that? Any ladies want to spearhead this and discuss the world of women's ultimate?

After a long day of ultimate, we will have a giant dinner (details TBA) and glorious party to top off the event. Many attendees from Tianjin will probably want/need to spend the night in Beijing so, if you have a couch/space at your house, please consider hosting our guests.

So, in the mean time, things to consider:

- Logistics: field location (hopefully ISB for free), lunch location, dinner location, party location
- Practice station fundamentals and teaching techniques. Other ideas for stations?
- How to overcome language barriers?
- Party: where? bar? house party? what do drink? beer? liquor? Tibetan barley wine? what to eat? chuar? fang bian mian? bing? what to do? boat races? scavenger hunt? music? apparel? use your imagination.
- Can our guests from Tianjin crash at your place?
- Tell your friends to come.

...OK Beijing, that's all I've got for you. Stay classy.

Billllllllllllllll