Taupo Hat and science of dance floors.

Went to a hat tournament in Taupo this weekend, I'll give ya'll a mini-rundown. In case you did not know a hat tournament is where you sign up without a team and they make teams randomly out of the players.

We drove up in a one of two vans that had been organized by some Wellington players, it was really fun. You can drink in cars if you aren't driving here, and we did. We one of my new favorite drinking games, team choose your own adventure. The way it works is that one person (in this case me) reads a choose your own adventure. When you come to a decision you do a thumbs up thumbs down vote as to what to do. Majority rules and if you voted for the decision that did not get picked you take a drink. However if you voted for the majority decision and it ends up leading to an ending you drink 3. If it ends up leading to your death you finish your drink.

We stayed in a hostel where most of the people in the tourney were staying. My team wasn't that good and I ended up getting a little frustrated but still had a lot of fun playing. I got grips of D's but my team would just turn it over again. We went 0-6 which was kind of weak. We lost two games by 1 point. I think I got the most MVP votes on my team, so that was nice Ben and Henry were on other teams and they made it too the final and were actually picked as tournament MVPs, I think because they were the highest vote getters from the two finals teams so that was awesome. The three of us gained a good amount of cred. NZ ultimate is small and everyone knows everyone. We have been thinking about putting a team of our own together for the men's championship in April and this was a good first step to helping us recruit.

The highlight might have been the party. The theme was French. Ben, Henry, and I dressed up as three french kisses. Henry made stenciled shirts with the French flag then a pair of lips (get it). They below that we were each a 'type' of kiss. Henry, Ben, and myself were tasteful, recreational, and playful respectively. It was at a bar and everyone got two free drink tickets though I was able to score more later.

After we had been there for just a bit I decided I should kick start the party and get the dance floor started (cue Blake's laughter). I recuited about 8ish people, only 2 of which I really knew and we got that shit started. It was interesting to see to see the dynamics of it from there. We got that little flame going and with the right song it got a little larger. After a little while we were in a steady state of abotu 12 people all dancing in a circle. This was good, but not ideally sustainable or good for growth. It made it hard for new people to join and a single dancing circle much like a single cell is very vulnerable to annhilation if circumstances aren't as good. So Pjay and I did what any smart single cell life form does. We divided. We went into the middle and created two circles. With two smaller circles it was easier to join one and made it comfortable for people to start their own. Soon we had about 20 people and I knew I had created a self sustaining lifeform and no longer had to nurture it, we had reached as they say in nuclear physics, critical mass. Would people have started dancing on there own, yes, but I think I accelerated the process by between 30-75 minutes.

So I took a break and had a beer, my work was done. Not to say I wouldn't be back. I mostly just danced for the next 4ish hours. It was a really fun group and the bar got pretty crowded with us and others. All and all a great night. The tournament as a whole was really fun, not too expensive and we got to go to some amazing natural hot springs while we were there. I enjoyed it. Now I'm back in Welly working, resting, training, and thinking up plans for the weekend.

Joey

Just finished: Foundation and Empire
Currently Reading: Special Topics in Calamity Physics (a novel)
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