Thanksgiving

We're just about to sit down for dinner with Madeline's family and Grandparents so I'll just quickly outline the events over the past 3 days. Madeline, Emilie and I flew down on Wednesday evening from Oakland Airport into San Diego. Madeline doubted we'd ever make our flight at times, but we cruised it, making time for a beer and burrito before we flew. We tried to help Madeline with her Berkeley essay, but still more to do before the Dec 1st deadline. Nice flight, drinks and peanuts a bonus.

Met by Greg and Kathleen at San Diego airport, where we tucked straight into a packed lunch before striding onto Big Bear; three hours, 11:30pm arrival. The drive up to big bear is very long, very steep and very tiring. Met by the gathered family, good to see everyone again. Time to catch up before settling down for the night.
Thursday = Thanksgiving. Found out from Wikipedia on Tuesday that it's basically the European Harvest festival but Americanized, (like the spelling mom? :-).

Got up nice and early, (woken by Chris and Jamal) then the boys went fishing, leaving the women of the family to prep the feast. Fishing was amazing, obviously we didn’t catch anything but it was so picturesque, warm and sunny.

Gone Fishin'
On the drive back from fishing, as we were deciding how much we could lie about the quantity/size of our fictional catch, we caught the women strolling around the lake, so we parked up and joined them.

Big Bear Lake
Back to the cabin for bumper pool, Super Nintendo (so cool! I remember playing SNES with Neil Sullivan when I was 10), Pride and Prejudice and relaxing. Thanksgiving food was brought out to the table; we gave thanks, and got stuck in.

After some pumpkin pie, we all headed down to a local school for the annual football game. The whole family got involved, including Madeline's 80 year old grandma who featured in one of the key plays leading to our victory! On the drive back, we spotted the sky turning orange, pulled into the side of the road and had an impromptu photo competition.

Sunset over the lake
As the evening set in, the competitiveness continued with a game of Pictionary; quite possibly the most frantic/disorganized/chaotic game I’ve ever witnessed.
This morning was a little more relaxed as a jigsaw took shape. I played with Chris and Jamal, we had some turkey soup and cleaned the cabin.

Chris

Greg Sweeping the Roof
The ride home was cramped but lifted by a visit to El Pollo Loco, (Mexican food). I played a little basketball, then Madeline and I went to see Edith and Don before bringing them back for dinner, and here we are! Mum, I’ll look into the Student loan, I hope everyone is well. Paddy/Tickle, we’re so excited!

Midterms, Caffine and "Rugby"

It's been a while, so I'll quickly recap on some of the goings on in our “exciting” lives!

Two weekends ago, (3rd-5th Nov) I was deep into midterm stress, and Madeline was preparing for the GRE. The GRE is the exam I took earlier in the year, in London as part of my application process, and with Madeline applying to Berkeley and SFSU, she has to take it as well. We spent almost the whole weekend on a Starbucks 'bar' crawl, studying, drinking coffee/chai tea and soaking up the Star-B's lifestyle. It turned out to be an awesome weekend, both productive and relaxing. We love sitting at a table in the window, and watching the busy city rush by, particularly in the early evening. It’s one of the real highlights of city living, which never fails to fill me with delight. It’s like we’re in Central Perk, but in San Francisco...and without the big park...or Gunther...

The following Tuesday I had to give a presentation on Computational Complexity, Madeline did the GRE on Wednesday and I had my big Biology midterm on Thursday. Solid week.

We started last weekend with a fairly hardcore drinking session on Friday night. Madeline and I headed out to play pool, try some different bars and just unwind after what had been a busy week for us both. We made friends with an English bar manager at our local, found a band playing in a bar/launderette, and kicked some ass in doubles pool with a random couple.
Saturday morning was one of the lowest points in my life. I think it must have been a bad pint, because I felt as close to death as I ever have. Sleep saved me from some of the pain, but when we finally woke up, I found I was an hour late for the trial match I was meant to be playing in for Berkeley on Treasure Island. A quick bagel and milk breakfast saw me arrive 'ready' to play in the third half. Apparently I scored Berkeley's 100th ever try, but other than that I left despondent with Rugby, deciding to hang up my boots for a little while - they played me on the wing which was the final straw. It's a completely different game to what I enjoy, and what I'm used to. It's slow, physical and unintelligent rugby. Pretty much all the backs moves aim directly towards the break down which we've just come from, to speed up the awkward period in between rucking, (badly) or malling, before ultimately rucking. The American guys who are new(ish) to the game are all like Army Alex in the freshers trial match. Loud, aggressive and mildly inappropriate. Their American Football background is reflected in their inability to remain calm when contact training is mentioned in training, and the whole squad is taking it more seriously than an NFL team in the build up to a Super Bowl. This is pre-season, (it starts in January/February sometime) and on Monday they met for a video analysis of the pitiful display of rugby we'd tragically been a part of on Saturday. As a coach, I'd be trying to forget it ever happened, not freeze framing every slow phase and terrible running line/support/lack of it.
A final note on rugby before I bring this rant to a close and feel a little better, is that there seems to be a bit of a discipline problem. Not a Charles getting sent off in the Flood-lit cup kind of problem, more a, "I really can't cope with all this physicality without getting a little bit hurt and lashing out" problem. The controlled discipline of rugby and how to cause pain without being sent off are foreign concepts here.
There are some great guys, some very talented individuals, and some great intentions, but I'm not enjoying it enough to make it a worthwhile commitment. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's not GCRFC, and that will forever lead to disappointment with rugby in the future.

This week is the final week before a well-earned thanksgiving break. We're both exhausted and eager to relax with Madeline's family for a few days. We fly down on Wednesday, take a day in the family cabin up in Big Bear, and fly back up over the weekend sometime. Lovely!