STRANGE SMALL WORLD

Today was a day of beginnings and ends.

Today I went rowing for the first time.  If I'm honest, I probably wouldn't have gone if JV didn't have a car to bring us to Manila. Commuting from QC to Manila at 4am is no joke. Also, Karen and I made a deal that I 'd go rowing with her if she (and some other residents) would go with me to try Ultimate. I usually sleep late so it was a struggle for me to sleep by 9pm just so I could wake up at 4am and feel vaguely human the rest of the day.

Jasper, Karen, JV and I reached Manila Bay by 5am. Jasper showed us a few of the basics before we warmed up. I was hit with a feeling of deja vu while we stretched. It felt like the first few times I joined TODA for training: I didn't know anyone; I only knew a few fundamentals about the game. I gripped the paddle, tried out a few moves, and basically felt like the proverbial fish out of water, graceless and flopping about.

We stepped into the boat. Karen sat on my left side, Jasper and JV a few rows in front. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, the Manila bay stench wasnt as a bad as I feared. Rommel, the (team captain? coach? someone important?), started telling us what we were supposed to do. We paddled until we reached the other side and I thought, "Hey, this isn't so bad."

Thirty minutes later, I was struggling to keep my lifting arm up in the air to stab the paddle into the water. Out of thirty fast strokes, I think I only did twenty with the right form and speed. Rommel said to focus our eyes on the pacers and not on the paddle. I was cheating by alternating gazes between my paddle and the pacer in front. I watched another team rowing in (perfectly paced) unison; a beautiful thing to witness indeed. I, however, was not helping achieve that for the team. Every wrong stroke resulted in my paddle dragging in the water, or a splash to the girl in front, or to the steerer at the back.

Growing pains, I thought. Nothing great is achieved without growing pains. Even in Ultimate, I was useless in the field until I built up my meager skills. The difference between Ultimate and rowing though, is that in Ultimate, you need to establish eye/nonverbal/verbal contact with your teammates to execute different parts of the play; in rowing, you do the same repetetive movements, trusting your teammates will do the same. While not necessarily bad, it was just a very noticeable difference.

By 7am, we were back on land, packing up the paddles and our stuff to hurry back to cars and whatever work is waiting for us. I couldn't help thinking, if this was TODA, there would be talking, and laughter, and hanging out. Maybe I'm biased, wait,  I probably AM biased, when I say these things. I have learned to love Ultimate, its speed and pace, its spirit and general camaraderie.

I am sure I'll give rowing another try sometime in the near future, if only to encourage Karen to get out of her sedentary lifestyle. But right now, while reading of all TODA's plans for leagues, training and trips, just learning another sport makes me miss everything about Ultimate. It feels a little bit like I'm cheating on it, like I am supposed to be in a field and not in a boat.
*****
What can I say about Michael Jackson today that hasn't already been said?

You were an icon of my childhood and of my generation.
No one was expecting you to become weird, but no one also expected you to die.
You made good music in the 70s up to the early 90s.
I sang snippets of your songs all throughout my duty last night.

You and your music will be missed.