Mr. Tom Gets Around

hoe+truffle+horn 

• 3 chocolate truffle cakes later, I’m in Sydney just counting the minutes

• till tomorrow afternoon, when i go to visit the kiwi’s(New Zealand)

3 jobs, three cakes to say farewell and move onto the next place of interest.

This last week in Sydney and katoomba has been mild but spicy at times. In Katoomba I managed to go on the Wenthworth Falls hike, yet again, with some dutchies , who as usual, I refused to speak dutch too, unless there was a moment, where a funny typical dutch word fit in.

My last day on the farm was filled with weeding with a new tool of the day, the dutch hoe, took a bit, but once I had it down, I was a weed master of sorts. Actually all of the day was weeding, due to the site inspection scheduled for Tuesday of next week by one of the Sydney chef’s.

My last day at the Mattress shop, I witnessed a man, from a few shops down, totally loose it as, he drove his pick-up up-to the back of the delivery truck where we were unloading. After an exchange with the truck driver which ended in an A plus some extra. The man, started his engine, roared the engine, and lad it all on the horn, for the coming minutes as we proceeded to unload the truck. Clearly there was a  mis-communication somewhere. I was trying to think, what had driven this man, to be so misguided, but no immediate answer’s came to mind. Something in his work vs. the necessity of working came out of balance and he might of thought, work was the most important thing at that moment. Who knows? What was wonderful was that everyone can have different views of every situation regardless of whether they were there or not.

 This is the book, which mr.tom is now reading, when he reads this book, time stands still and all the pretty pretty things in the world seem to just dissappear, even when pizza has been ordered.

KARAOKE WORLD with  TEAM FAF

From what I can remember, we ate at Wagamama’s, then took a brisk walk over to Karaoke world. Things started off quickly, with White Snake, and a bit of Bob Dylan. The when captain Anna and solo Kylie showed up , things went outta control. I was mostly working on my dance moves and trying to find the right singing voice as I tackled yet another attempt at Ice,Ice Baby. I think I nailed some of the lyrics this time. One of the highlights of the nite was when Gus Guy along with Jens and Wes, took the topless route in singing a bit of Britney Spears with Hit me One more Time. Then things go outright outragouse, with everybody dancing on the tables and then the disco ball somehow got knocked down(later I was called upon to place it back). It turned out the 3 hours we had booked weren’t enough, so Gus Guy got us an extra hour in another room. Moving the FAF bunch was more involved than it appeared. We did lose a couple of us, in transit, but keep the last hour strong with crowd favorites including Bob.

So, after a last hora with Miles on Friday nite and a bit of speedy tourist through downtown Sydney on Saturday, he finally boarded a plane and started on his journey back to The Netherlands via Bali.  We managed to upset and confuse some stall vendors at Paddy’s market. As a last memento, he bought a truckers cap and got “HAMMER TIME” embroidered on it. So any dutch ultimate players who read this, that’s my cousin, treat him with the same respect you’d treat me. Lucky for me, respect is something that’s always given in ultimate and not earned or bought as in some other sports.

So today, being in Katoomba and resisting the immediate temptation to run outside after yet again seeing the sun blasting the surrounding mountains. I was on a strict schedule of watching movies and eating as many leftovers outta the fridge as possible. Yes, I know a daunting task, but tough times call for tough measures. I did show some weakness half way through the second film by running out to see the Three Sister’s yet again. This time I was listening to some Philip Glass music from the movie Powaqqatsi,which made the experience that more dramatic and muffled all the typical tourist mumbo gumbo.

So the films, Three Dollars, Red, Million Dollar Baby, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Three Dollars was a recommendation from the librarian after watching The Castle, which by all means should be considered an australian classic. Anyway, Three Dollars is a tale of a family with dad , pulling the ropes and mom, trying to discover who and where she’ll fit in , in society. The plot jumps around a bit, flashing back to the kids in college and so forth. Also dad , keeps telling us of a woman he manages to meet every 9&1/2 years. who later gets involved to add a twist to the tale.

Red, by far the most anticipated by me, to finish , The Three Colors trilogy, that began a couple weeks ago with the watching of Blue and later White. Director Krzysztof Kieslowski really pulls out all the stops on this last piece. The story of a woman who by chance hits a dog and gets involved with a retired judge. This dream like life she leads, seems to carry the film, as characters in her life , including her mother and boyfriend overseas aren’t shown to us, but simply audio inputs. I’m pretty sure White will remain my favorite of the three with Blue closely behind.

Million Dollar Baby, Clint brings us a boxing story, thankfully, that has nothing to do with Rocky in anyway. Characters are actually brought to life through dialogue. The white-trash girl who wants to become the champ. I didn’t think it would work, but the movie had me in my seat and the occasional smile, giggle and tear, give it something rare. Not many films seem albe to capture an array of emotions on scene without getting to cheesy or unreal. Magnolia, might have similar parts but is a much crazed view of human life.

O Brother,Where Art Thou, was my third time watching it, but it remains a classic. The Koen Brothers are truely masters of the screen. The soundtrack keeps your attention as the three main characters, bonded together to start with are zipped around in the sounthern part of the States to get back to stop the wedding.

Australian Mixed Ultimate Championships, October 5-7 2007 

Team FAF takes the bronze home.  A.k.a 3^rd place. 

 After not being selected for the Tasmanian team for mixed, he he (they finished 15th), I put out the call to the BAREFOOT guys, saying I’d be keen to play on any team that would take me. Jens came back with the quickest reply, telling me of a FAF team, made up of solid seasoned veterans. Something about all being over the age of 30 had something to do with it. Except maybe for Gus Guy, who at 28 was the junior on the team? This I pondered in my head and thought, whoa, that’s interesting, being old but young at the same time.  Well a few weeks back, we had our first official training at Centennial Park, which ended, as some of you may have read, with me eating 5 Pat & Stick Ice Cream Sandwiches. Any way, I meet most of the team and got some craziness started. So this past weekend, Mixed Nationals was on. Fully run by the Hills Ultimate Club at the Macquarie University. Hard fields which I will get too, but yeah, 3 days of mixed, ladies and gentlemen battling it out to see who would take home the crown. 

Day 1

After a morning train ride outta Katoomba, Charlie picked me up and had us at the field’s way before game time. Something not exactly FAF behaviour, but always better to get the vibe of a tourney before hand then halfway into your second game.  As the FAFer’s gathered on field #2, there was a general chit-chat patty wack kinda atmosphere, with most of the team knowing each other quiet well, old friends of the ultimate scene so to say. None the less, I didn’t feel like the odd dutchy out, at any time for the next 3 days.There must be something about wearing a highly fluorescent orange trucker cap that just gives people with the disc, a itchy trigger finger? Maybe it was my 5L tub of mixed nuts that brought everyone’s respect? I really felt a connection with everyone, being once again, the pick-up. Our first game was against a green shirt wearing team. With some rusty mistakes we managed to take the game with a score of 15-5. A sweet start to the tourney, of course looking ahead at the draw, we would play Pie Wagon, last year’s winners at the end of the day. An early lunch proved plentiful, except for the rock hard avocado’s which were better for playing Rock, Paper, Scissors with than actually spreading on your sandwich roll.  That afternoon, we had the double headed ending with our toughest match. Game #2 was played against another unknown opponent with a very low seeding, so we had time to practice out zone, and offensive line calls. Something we knew would be of most importance against the mighty Pie Wagon from Newcastle.

Game two was against the second rated Brisbane team. With a Kaimana buddy of mine, on the team, Matt from Townsend, the game was going to be a good waker-upper for the FAFer’s. The opposition proved worthy, with some experience, a English chap, who happened to be quiet sensitive to contact, and some other tricky characters(great costumes at the party) who we had to keep our eyes on. FAF prevailed with a 15-?, victory and was again ready for lunch.  We moved to the next pitch to take on the mighty Pie Wagon from Newcastle, where we’re all pumped to play a bit harder ultimate. We had some late additions to the team, some who had worked a half day or just said, “ciao” to the boss after the morning meeting. So our squad was at full strength or as far as we knew full energy all systems go. The first couple of points immediately indicated the type of game it would be. Defence, would make or break either squad. With both teams having solid O, we saw a weakness, maybe if we played 4 women, we could control the amount of damage the men could do against us. This proved partly right, as we allowed our women to make hucks to our other women and score. But the game proved close, and was as good as even at the half. Trading points till 14 even, the game progressed to the universal point. But on the last point the tides were in our favour and FAF had its first big win, and the tourney had its first big upset, as we were seeded 7th and Pie Wagon 1st. At the Pizza dinner arranged by the organization, we chatted up the next days possibilities. Team spirit was high as it usually is with a 3-0 for a day of ultimate. 

Day 2

 After a relaxed/lazy nite out with Gus Guy and Adam in Manly with our host Drucie, speaking of Rugby Worlds and the realities of Cougar woman being around and the traits I should be aware of when going out into the nightly world of clubs/bars/and disco houses. Apparently leopard print is something a Cougar woman would wear before she pounces on her prey, someone of my age, so I was told. Our first game at the FAF time of 1030, against the 1^st rate team from Canberra, with Tom Watson and another taller Tom Wilcox, who is great to battle it out against when he’s having his day, that is. Rumour had it that they threw a game the day before just to be able to be in our pool and beat us then, but things turned for the worse on them as we took advantage early and pulled away with the win.Something FAFer’s do is sing a bit during the daytime, when the blow-up mic is out it can help plenty in team circle’s, providing everyone followed the simple rule of speaking only when you had the mic. At lunch time, we practiced a few Karaoke favourites ranging from Bob Dylan to numerous others. Lisa had printed out some old skool lyrics of Bob and Charlie took the lead smashing Dylan, in singing with the right pitch, some classic Dylan. The team got involved as well, as the humus was spread on thick. Humour was being snapped up as we all enjoyed a bag of Crisps, called The Works, with ingredients and flavours too long and detailed to remember.        

Eventually the lunch time tea party died down and we thought of the Spider Pig game, or aka The Dowle show, as most of us called it.  Spider Pig was a mix of Faculty players with some woman they pulled outta the Sydney ultimate scene. They were as we were unbeaten, so a bit of tournament respect was on the line. After a nappy 3 points we were down 3-0.A peppy timeout proved positive as we snapped back and took the next 3points. We tried 2 zone em in a bit, with modest luck. As the game progressed The Pigs took a small lead and managed to keep it till the end (15-11), with great respect to our women who played a very hard fought game against the Spider-Pigs women.Somehow the draw has us lucky and unlucky as we again had to play the #1seeded Pie Wagon. Yippie, indeed, more of a oh, yeah Cool-Aid Yippie, but yeah, it would be a tough fought game again none the less. The wind had picked up a bit. I was dropping about 50% of my warm-up discs, getting my head mentally focused seemed more of a challenge than my body. The first two points proved long and set the pace for the rest of the game. Our women were once again called into action. 4 women, was the call on most O points. Our D, was showing its’ teeth, but having trouble converting the points, so Pie Wagon managed to take the half and keep the game a trading on. I thought we took a small lead but they managed to get an upwinder and tie it up again. So once again it came down to another Universal Point. Exciting I thought, especially if your on the pitch. Something about knowing that the game will be decided in the next couple of moments, has people on edge and sharper than usual. We traded D’s, once, then Nikki re –injured her ACL and took a sub. This stalled the game ending flow a bit but Pie Wagon did manage yet another game ending catch but it was ground stripped and called down. At that point FAF reset and but a bit of flow up the field in an up winder that finished in my hands to make it a 15-14. Yeah, FAF!!! Semi-finals here we come. 

With no convincing, I was dragged along to the University Swimming Pool, with a rowdy but small crowd of Charlie and me, and our Booty semi-finalist opponents Brett and Pottsy. We manage to get up to a bit of trouble with a receptionist redhead, but only after I had asked about where exactly the local BBQ’s were. The pool was peepee warm, giving us all a feeling of relaxation and refuel for the dinner and party coming up. We did manage to invite the gorgeous redhead to the party but somehow knew she wouldn’t make it out with 2 other parties in her line-up.  The dinner was tasty as Brett and I tried to out snake each other with weird stories and actions of sorts. At one point he double-dog dared me to chat up a lady stealing vegetarian lasagne, which I did but somehow forgot that at nationals I’d done the same thing with the same lady. Funny, yeah, but somehow things could only get better. The water was flowing like the Mino’s of Capistrano and all makes and models were dancing it up on the dance floor. That is until the Rugby world cup started, which drew some attention, since Australia was taking on England. The party sort of drew to a close when the game ended in a 12-10 England win.  

 Day 3                

 Our semi-final was against Bootius Maximus from Brisbane. A pound for pound worthy opponent and they had a large squad of about 18 if I recall correctly.  But machine FAF wasn’t going to just give the game away. We had fought hard twice against Pie Wagon and this meant we had the right to be playing for a finals spot. Both teams seemed fired up; as both O lines seemed to take the game into there own hands. Trading points most of the way we knew a certain key of the game was to minimize the amount of disc time Brett and Pottsy had. This proved a tough assignment even for our veteran D-line. But FAF managed to step it up and get within two for the half (8-6). We discussed some of the key elements we had to focus on in order to take the next half in our favour and got back on the pitch in a fury of FAFness. We played hard and battled the large Booty squad, but somehow didn’t manage to get the needed break against them. The highly spirited game ended in a 15-13 win for Booty.  Later that day, when they won the final 15-14 over Spider-Pig, I didn’t feel that bad, I just thought to myself, we lost to the champs. Booty played a solid final with Brett and Pottsy manoeuvring the rest of the squad into positions and forcing the Spider Pig O into a half strength production.               

FAF on the other hand, played the 3^rd/4^thgame just before the final against the Station 59. By far the least catchy jerseys of the tournament, it seemed everyone was the #59, something about being sponsored by a fuel station, who knows? Either way, FAF decided we’d play to win, otherwise it just wasn’t ours style to just give up and role over. So with a full team effort we took on the Victorians, who had a well rounded team. In fact they were the first team all tourney who called a 4 women line against us. Either our men scared them or they thought they could out match our solid women? Indeed, their women proved strong, with a few connecting hucks and throws managing to score them a few points. FAF responded with a few D’s and scored a few flow points of our own. We took the half with a 3 point lead 8-5. FAF was rockin’ and a smashing the Victorians, but somehow they managed to keep it close, sneaking in a point here and there. Determined as we were and seeing excellent playing from everyone on the team we pressed on. The ladies were on fire, cutting and hucking to one another as if they were all raised on the same pitch from birth. Oh, and all the couples were excelling in finding each other on the pitch too. Something about knowing one another for that long, adds homing beacon’s to everyone’s throws. Gives me hope that there is a woman out there where I can throw my beacon throws too. In the end, be took the game 15-14, having let the Victorians back into the game before finishing it in FAF style. So we took the Bronze but it was an imaginary one, as the organization didn’t have a real prize for us. Something that just might be lacking in the ulti scene at the moment. 

Afterwards,team photos(check out our teeth)and the only non-drinker (that’s me) arranged the Esky with booze for the booze hounds and we heckled the Final, me included. Between my calls of “Booty” and “Huck or Your Nothing” I did manage to break the Pat & Stick ice cream sandwich record which stood at 5 from a couple weeks back too a mighty 6. All consumed within the time frame of the final I might add.                

 As I look back at the weekend, it was filled with laughter, moments of greatness and joy, extreme shenanigans and great spirited ultimate. So is ultimate really the key to world peace, well, I’m not 100%, but I’m betting people would feel a lot better about the weekends if they knew what they were getting themselves into. 

So bedankt FAF, for letting me play.

ps. oh, yeah , the fields were hard as rock in some places, something I found out in the final game against Station 59, leaving a nice ruby bruise on my butt, after a kick-your-legs-out diving D.(send me an email and i’ll send you da photos.)