Memory Lane

I'm sitting now in Yoko's apartment in Russian Hill in San Francisco. She graciously lent it to me for the night while she is away. I found our college yearbook in her bookshelf and just flipped through the whole thing. It felt as if I'd never seen it before (but surely in any of the visits I've paid to Yoko in the 6 years since graduating, I've at least glanced at it, right?). I still laugh at Lauren Rankin's commencement speech. Seeing so many familiar faces, it felt like attending a reunion of sorts. My picture isn't in the portrait section of any of the college yearbooks - I don't think I ever cared enough to get my photo taken on picture days. It didn't seem like a big deal. However, I did make it in to some ultimate photos - who submitted the one of me and Amy Fair in spring break swimwear?! I had no idea. Flipping through is like a trip down memory lane - people I haven't thought about since college, but recognize instantly when I see their photo.

Yoko and I spent the last day and a half together. I got my haircut at her favorite place - her cutter/stylist convinced me to go longer than I wanted - and I don't think I'm happy with it. I'm willing to give it more time, but think I might go get another chop soon. We enjoyed lunch by the ferry terminal and then went to the Marina District to camp out while I got some work done and she napped (having flown in from Japan, she was really jet lagged). We met up with her friend Diane for dinner at a Mexican place around the corner, then returned home for an early night. This morning I did more research, grabbed lunch with Yoko, hung out at a cafe (The Grove, apparently where Friendster was started), book browsed, grocery shopped, and then returned home. I made the salad while Yoko prepared the pasta bolognese for dinner.

Quick and Easy Salad
(serves 2 - adjust servings as necessary and to taste)

mixed greens
fresh grapefruit slices (1/2)
avocado slices (1/2)
roma tomato chunks (1)
1 clove chopped garlic
1 t Dijon mustard
2 T balsamic vinegar
6 T oil
salt and pepper

Mix garlic, mustard and vinegar thoroughly. Add oil and shake. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss with greens. Add grapefruit, avocado and tomatoes. Done.

And continuing in reverse order, last week, after the Trouts left, Gretchen and I hung out at her house getting some work done and decided to sign up for a tournament (CAL States) for the upcoming weekend. We went to Tuesday night pickup to get some ultimate in, where I nearly regretted signing up. Just doing the lap around the field was making me winded. Thursday, KC encouraged us to go on a run around the 'hood - again, a near death situation. My compartment syndrome still comes back on hard surfaces - not made any easier by the feeling of burning lungs battling the up hill course.

I undid any benefit of the short run by eating way too much at my favorite Chinese restaurant in Berkeley (Great China Restaurant, 2115 Kittredge, 510-843-7996). We met my uncle (San Bo = 3rd uncle) and my cousin (Jim) there. We had entirely too much excellent food, including Peking Duck, double skin dish (only available here!), sauteed crab-egg with sweet man-tou, fresh sweet chives with chicken, pork and tofu dish, and a lamb dish. My uncle even ordered a dessert (sticky rice) on top of the standard orange slices and fortune cookies you normally get.

A few minutes after returning home, GMul and Jo showed up at the door, having flown in from Seattle. We caught up a bit that night, made breakfast together, went into town for lunch (Indian buffet), and then fired up the grill for dinner. In between eating, I managed to get some work done, including buying my return ticket to Seattle (June 11).

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early. We had ended the night in a heated debate and didn't get as much sleep as planned. We picked up Rob before driving down to Santa Cruz (Jo and GMul had left earlier - they play on an elite women's team. Grr, Rob and I were picking up with a last minute throw together team in the coed division). We warmed up on the most beautiful ultimate fields I've seen in over a year. The grass was green and plush - slightly wet from dew and fog - just the perfect kind for laying out. Just as I was reveling in the moment - of being able to run around again and enjoy the outdoors, my vision started to go. I stupidly decided to finish the point before going to rest. Of course, it ended up being the longest point of the game with a time out called in the middle. By the end of it, I was nearly blind in both eyes. I grabbed Grr's car keys and luckily passed GMul on the way - she helped me get to the parking lot since I was so disoriented I had no idea where it was.

Blindess, sensitivity to light and smell (there were some orange peels lying around from the morning that seemed to suffocate my nose and throat), nausea, temperature fluctuations, and finally throbbing headache. Grr showed up, prepared some garbage bags for me and luckily didn't have to witness me retching breakfast into the bag. As soon as I did, as is typical, the throbbing pain started to subside into just a plain headache. Grr came back with some magic medicine from a teammate whose wife also suffers from migraines. Even though it was too late, I took it anyway - letting it dissolve on my tongue. It had a refreshing minty taste. We decided it best to drive to the hotel and let me sleep in darkness and peace instead of in the parking lot. However, the bumpiness of the ride made me throw up twice more - mostly just dry heaving as there wasn't anything left in my stomach.

Fortunately Best Western had our room available and let us check in early. I alternated between being extremely cold and too warm, but was well on the way to recovery. The complete darkness, with curtains shut, was just what I needed. The close sound of traffic, with what sounded like trucks driving right past our window, I could have lived without. I spent a lot of time thinking about past migraine experiences. The first one I can remember clearly is in first grade. I remember sensing it coming on and dreading going to the nurse. I was using scissors to cut some paper and wanted to just ignore it. Another time I remember recovering and trying to join my mom in some exercises the next morning - I immediately threw up. Ever since then I try not to do anything active in the first 24 hours. The most embarrassing for my family is probably on one of our regular trips to NYC to see my gramma - I had gotten one on the way. We got to our restaurant and I barfed all over the table! The worst in my mind was sophomore year in college after eating a huge breakfast of scrambled eggs - a dish I don't even like - and it's definitely worse going the other way. There were lots of times I avoided throwing up, once I figured out how to manage them better - like junior year in college just before an ultimate tournament, and the most recent time while working at Microsoft. Luckily in both cases I was able to lay down in darkness and quiet until it subsided (thanks to Rick for having a couch and not being in that afternoon). [Note: for others who suffer from migraines, Oliver Sacks book, Migraine, is a great read. The medicine I took is maxalt.)

But back to Saturday...Apparently, when Gretchen drove back to the game, she played one point and then rolled her ankle! She said it swelled up as big as an apple - she was out for the rest of the tourney. So much for the team picking up 2 women! I spent the rest of the day sleeping and woke up at 7 the next morning -- totaling about 19 hours of sleep. Another freak occurrence was Chad getting hit in the face while marking the disc. It looked a lot worse than he felt apparently.

The next morning I felt better, milked the continental breakfast and then headed to the fields. We watched Riot play a bit - crushing their opponents something like 15-2 or 15-4. We then went down to the lower fields to watch our team destroy Wagon - which was a complete surprise given the 0-4 record from the previous day. Playing nearly savage really seemed to pump the team up - or maybe it was just the desire to not be bagelled.

ok, this is taking too long. Summary: interesting sideline conversations with Buckman and John, seeing my old teammate and captain Brynne playing with Mischief (last year's coed national champions), and then getting the run around trying to find crutches for GMul after she tore her ACL right before finals (HUGE bummer).

my new do