Matariki stars

This weekend I played in an Ultimate tournament in a team originally called Meatloaf made up of Wellington women who failed to attend the women's practices and women from elsewhere who needed a team to join. At my suggestion the team was renamed Matariki.

Matariki is the Maori name of the star cluster also known as the Pleiades in Greek, Subaru in Japanese, or the Seven Sisters. "Matariki literally means the 'eyes of god' (mata ariki) or 'little eyes' (mata riki). Some say that when Ranginui, the sky father, and Papatūānuku, the earth mother were separated by their offspring, the god of the winds, Tāwhirimātea, became angry, tearing out his eyes and hurling them into the heavens. Others say Matariki is the mother surrounded by her six daughters, Tupu-ā-nuku, Tupu-ā-rangi, Waitī, Waitā, Waipuna-ā-rangi and Ururangi. One account explains that Matariki and her daughters appear to assist the sun, Te Rā, whose winter journey from the north has left him weakened." (Quote from Te Ara). I liked the parallel between a star cluster with seven visible stars and a team of twelve which would field seven players at any one time. Also, as Ultimate is a sport where wind plays a very important role naming the team after the wind god's eyes appealed.

On Saturday there was drizzle, frequent showers interspersed with drizzle, and then pouring rain which was gruelling. In the morning I sent my txt supporters "Wet. Wet. Wet. And lots of alien sporty women. Who have been fairly nice to me. Ok but I feel a bit lost." In the afternoon, which was wetter I sent "People friendly and much less intimidating now they are wet."

Today the weather was much nicer, just intermittent light drizzle and it was fun. We also started to gel as a team and we played the other two bottom ranked teams which was cheering.

I think our scores for the tournament were Saturday: 0-13, 1-13, 1-13, 2-13, Sunday: 4-13, 9-12 (the games stopped at 13 points or with scoring after a time limit). We came bottom of the women's pool. I didn't mind, we celebrated each point we scored with such enthusiasm that scoring at all felt like a win.

Thanks to everyone who organised it, talked me into going or provided childcare, practical assistance or moral support by txt or in person. Most of all thanks to all the other stars on the Matariki team.

Fretwork

D's work has gone into receivership. I was pretty unhappy with the way it was so in many ways I'm pleased. However, it does mean there is a huge amount of uncertainty in our lives. I seem to be focussing my sense of insecurity and formless worries into the Ultimate tournament. This is good in that I have more control over it than D's work and bad in that I'd like to be looking forward to the tournament. Yesterday my angst was physical: I had the start of a cold, a sore right foot and left knee. Today at least my body is fine.

Wig out

The wonders of the internet - I began with a plan to pay my entry fee for the 2007-8 NZU WaM Nationals and ended up researching merkins.

NZU = New Zealand Ultimate (frisbee)
WaM = Women's and Men's
merkin = pubic wig

The tournament is scarey. I am in a team thrown together from people who want to play but aren't on any other team. So far I am the oldest in the team by 10 years. I fear I will be the slowest by 10 zippinesses too.

Merkins are less scarey if more bizarre and this site is kinda interesting.

Oh me! Oh my!

I ran.

I went for a run.

I chose to go somewhere for the sole purpose of running.

I wasn't trying to get from A to B.

I wasn't in a hurry.

It was just for fun.

Me.

Really.

I'm expecting further signs of the apocalypse shortly.

---

I went to the Crofton Downs entrance to Otari/Wilton's Bush and jogged and walked along the river. It was pleasantly cool and shady and the bush was beautiful. I saw a kingfisher, several tuis and was pooed on by a wood pigeon.

Before I do it again I want to make some modifications to my clothing. I wore my green sports fabric t-shirt which says "RUN" on the front (when I bought it it was the only choice that fitted and was a pretty colour). I'm planning to add a "T" before and "DLE" after so I do not feel intimidated by my shirt and cannot be accused of false advertising. My shorts kept falling down so it'll be some new elastic for them. Also my bra kept falling off my shoulders, at frisbee I wear a bra that gives less support and a skins compression top which gives lots but part of my plan with running is to wear clothes that aren't my frisbee clothes.

---

Here are some who like to run. They run for fun in the hot, hot sun. Oh me! Oh my! Oh me! Oh my! What a lot of funny things go by.

Dr. Seuss

We are the champions

Last week my Ultimate Frisbee team Happy Creature played Jason V's Team and they beat us by nearly 20 points. This week when I found out we were playing them again I felt demoralised. But we had a fabulous game. Everyone put in an astonishing effort. Our captain, SK, seemed to have an extra couple of feet of reach to call on. The final score was Jason V's Team 11, Happy Creature 7. Reducing the margin to 4 points feels like a great victory and if that wasn't enough their team named me female MVP.

I may have a BMI close to 40, run like a penguin with a face a beetroot would be proud of but today I am a sports star. I am expecting to be asked for celebrity endorsements any moment.

Creature feature

Yesterday I bravely played Ultimate in the league a for the first time. I am on the Happy Creatures team.

10 reasons why I'm a happy Happy Creature

1. I played.
   
2. I caught the disc sometimes. Once, I believe, when the other team threw it which is extra good.
   
3. I threw the disc and someone else caught it at least once.
4. The person I was marking usually found it hard to make the throw they wanted.
5. I felt like I was in a sensible place quite a lot of the time and usually, when I wasn't, I knew what a sensible place would be (but wasn't fast enough to get there).
6. The other Happy Creatures were welcoming.
   
7. eloieli was a beam of positive support on the side lines.
   
8. I am the proud owner of a golden yellow t-shirt with a smiling Cthulu head/octopus on it.
9. H & K were given golden yellow t-shirts with smiling Cthulu heads/octopi on them.
10. Only my left shoulder is slightly sore today.

Ultimately very green

On Saturday I left my comfort zone outside the Northland Community Centre and went to Ultimate Frisbee practice. Really - me - a team sport, for fun. Let me know of any other signs of the apocalypse.

The people were lovely and I was much better at it than I expected. (My expectations were very, very, very low.) I plan to go to practice for the next few weeks and see how it goes.

There is scope for bringing H & K and letting them run wild with their cousins.

---

One of the things that I realised after Ultimate, is that if I'm learning a new skill I think I am capable of, I direct the person teaching me towards what I think will help me most. I'll tell them when to skip ahead and when to repeat. When I have no confidence that I can learn the skill I don't help the person teach me - I assume that not only do they know what they are teaching but also the best way to get it into my brain. This assumption makes it more likely that I find it hard to learn.

On Saturday was one of the first times I have had enough confidence in my ability to learn a physical skill. I told the person helping me:

"Brain full. Do not give me any more instructions, just repeat the instructions you've already given me."

It really helped.

---

Finally for those who have asked - my hair colour is Affinage, Colour Dynamics, Green Envy (and check out the Dutch goth site I have a completely logical reason to link to).