hobbies

So I would say right now I have four major hobbies in my life. I thought I might just throw in an update on how they have treated me here and where they are at.

Ultimate: I've been playing ultimate out here and I have mixed opinions. I am playing with a club that is going to going to nationals in Christchurch in December. I like a lot of the people on my team, I just don't like my team. The play is a much lower quality than I am used to and I am struggling to adapt and not get frustrated. I can deal with players that aren't good, that is fine; but the problem is they think they are good, so they try to play outside their limits and it doesn't work. If they learned to work harder adn be more conservative it would be a lot more fun, but that just isn't the culture out here. I am forced to run idiotic drill planned by well intentioned but skillless leadership who talk and talk and talk. I really don't like going to practice. The truth is Ben and I would probobly quit (we've had an offer to play with a club from Auckland) except that we would feel too bad and don't want to burn any bridges with people that off the field we like very much and as bad as they are now, they would be awful without us.

I am also playing 'competetive' (I'll let the term slide) league on thursdays. This is a lot more fun, no drills, no talking and Henry and I have taken it upon ourselves to organize post game drinks at a place called 'the office' that has 10 dollar pitchers. That I enjoy.

Mountain biking:

I have been doing more lately and it has been great. Wellington is surrounded by hills and Pjay and I have been trying to go after we get off of work because it stays light until 830pm these days. There is one single track called the 'rollercoaster' which has a downhill only section which is sick. There are some jumps people have built which are pretty scary for someone at my skill level, especially because I am riding a bike with a rigid fork (no shocks). There are more trails than we will ever get a chance to ride but I am looking forward to hitting more of them.

Running: Running has found a renued place in my life now that I am trying to train for a marathon. As I've said before Welly is the best city I have ever been in for running. Every run is a new adventure and I find some new place to discover every time. Unfortunately I've been off the habit for two weeks because my knees were hurting after the Taupa hat tournament I wrote about. I think I will start again on Sunday.

Writing: This is a new one and the one I am most excited about right now. About a month or so ago I was telling Henry a story about a guy I used to work with Darrell and my regret of never having helped him. Henry thought it was a great story and commented that it would make a great short story. I figured, why not, so I wrote it, and Henry edited it for me. Oh, and it was fun. I really enjoyed it. So I started writing another, this one was longer. By this time I had decided that I was getting a lot of enjoyment out of this and started to hash a plan. So right now I am writing an anthology of short stories about my life. Writers get made fun of for writing memoirs I know, these aren't meant to be for anything other than my enjoyment and to try to get better. I think I will write 8-12 depending on length. After that I have some thoughts, but I'll hold onto them for now. In any event it has been a big focus for me lately and has taken up a lot of my time, though I don't regret it. I have written three stories so far and have just started a fourth. I don't think I am particularly talented, but maybe some people I know will at least enjoy them. We'll see.

Joey