Housewarming and Birthday Party

Therese got older this weekend and we are finally feeling settled in the new pad. We decided to throw a big party Saturday night and invite everyone over to help trash the place. Ayi is out of town for a few weeks too, and the place was a mess, which meant WE needed to clean OURSELVES. The horror!

All week long, Therese reminded me that i need to help her clean the place for the party. Everyday, in fact. However, since i'm a great boyfriend, i decided to go one step further. She got to spend the afternoon at the spa while joe and i went all apeshit on the many layers of accumulated dirt and filth. Actually, the decision to clean was truly excellent when you consider to following:

1. Joe and i like each other and have a long history of exchanging good deeds.
2. Everyone else spent the day at Argueball 2010. We don't like argueball. (Although apparently, this year boasted 30% less arguing. Still...)
3. I don't mind cleaning AND it was an easy but appreciated birthday present.
4. Our house was pretty filthy.

So we did all that and prepped for the party. I whipped up an awesome batch of guacamole for the early arrivals... behold the new pad:

We had no beer available, but plenty of cocktails. We offered black and white russians, fine scotch, rum and tequila, strong and delicious mojitos, sangria, wine, and various flavors of daiquiri: strawberry, mango, strawberry-mango, and strawberry-papaya.

People got drunk and Tao/Baby Girl ridiculousness ensued. Two highlights:

The Elbow Drop.

Tao decided it would be a great idea if, while Baby Girl was resting in the middle of the floor, he climbed up on our couch and dropped an Atomic Elbow (?) on BG. BG, always eager to please, held still for Tao. Tao lept off, slipped immediately on the slick wooden floor, and missed his target completely. He's lucky he didn't hurt himself, or we would have had to kick his

The Wrestling.

The Atomic Elbow failure wasn't enough to sate Tao's desire to wrestle. He later confronted Baby Girl and wrestled him. This may look like harmless fun to the casual observer...

... but all i could see was fifty-five gallons of turtle tank water spilling into every corner of our awesome new apartment, and the endless hours of work required to clean it up. Bad Tao. No fighting Baby Girl near the turtle tank. You get a time out.

Tao does not like time-outs.

• Matt and I are doppelgängers, but only when i wear his hat.

~Kev

Tianjin Open Recap

Greetings world, it's been a little while since i've rapped at ya.  I've been ridiculously busy with moving, working, frisbeeing, etc.  I finally feel like the insanity has passed a bit, and i have a ton to catch up on, blog-wise.  It's actually overwhelming, and i don't even know where to start.  Frisbee seems like a good place.

Big Brother played it's first team tournament of the year at the Tianjin Open last weekend.  We sent a pretty small team and had many key players missing.  With Jim, Chatikin, Gareth, and Joe unable to play, it left tao and i as the main handlers.  However, we made up for that with our four unstoppable women: Sandy, Alicia, Shan, and Tina.

Day one was shaky, and saw us losing our first game to a very young and athletic Tianjin Speed.  I think we went in assuming an easy victory and underestimated them.   Really, it's awesome to see all these new, local players picking up the game and playing at a high level.  We played pretty sloppy and they capitalized on our slow start.  Although we tied it after half, they got a critical break and pulled out the upset, 11-9.

On Day two, we lost Jesse, a key handler, and picked up Baby Girl and Jehan.  Those fresh legs may have made the difference for us.  Our first game against Tianjin Five Star was a good warm-up for our semi-finals game against the #1 seed and our China nemesis, Shanghai.

They came out in fine form and jumped up 3-1, before we went on a demoralizing 5 to 1 burst, taking half 6-4.  We were pumped.  It's been a long time since Beijing beat Shangai at a competitive tournament.  Tao switched to cutting, working Alec Hutson hard in the process.  Jehan,  Caleb, and Baby Girl took turns covering Nads, a big, strong player.  Our women dominated on all parts the field.  And yours truly provided the core of the handler offense.  We ended up winning that game 11-9 in one of the most heated and intense games i've playing in Asia.

In the finals, we played Tianjin Speed again, the same team we lost to one Day 1.  This time we were a bit more prepared, but when they took half 6-5, we were definitely worried.  In the second half, i had four deep throws to tao, three for scores.  Our women were getting open at will, and while their guys were ferocious, our zone D was disrupting their game.  We got the critical break points we needed and won 11-9.  That was Big Brother's first major tournament win since Singapore, 2004.  And it felt good.

Oh, Big Brother (meaning Gareth, Baby Girl, and Matt) also won the party.  We got trophies for each!

Tao has a write-up and a few pictures here and here.

Needless to say, i'm really excited for this season.

~Kev

Beer Fris

I've received less than dozens upon hundreds* of e-mails asking for more information about Beer Fris, how it is played, where it can be played, and who are the awesomest players around.

Thanks for taking an interest, faithful readers. Here's a quick tutorial, featuring Michael "The Chait" Chaitkin and Myself, who happen to be two of Beijing's awesomest players. I think you'll find playing Beer Fris is easy, and can be played anywhere beer and frisbees are found.

Supplies

• One Frisbee
• Plenty of Beer
• Four players
• Two plastic bottles- full 16 oz Gatorades work well, as do water bottles.
• One cup

Setup and Gameplay

• Place the two bottle 8-10 meters apart.
• Fill a cup of beer with a few ounces and place it off to the side, an equal distance from each team.
• Teams take turns trying to knock the other teams bottle down with the disc. Knocking it over is one point.
• Once a player knocks the defenses bottle over, his teammate runs and picks up the frisbee and throws it back to the original thrower. He then tries to mack the disc into their own bottle, knocking it over. If they succeed, they get an extra two points.
• WHILE the offensive teammate is running to the disc, a person from the other team runs to the beer, drinks it, and then tries to defend the mack throw from the center of the playing field.
• Repeat until one team reaches 11 points. Switch sides at 6 points.

Photos by Omar Pandoli

[Above] Teams: Geoff Ng and Red-Head Kev VS. The Chait and Me.

[Below Left] The Chait and Me, waiting for opponents to throw.

[Below Right] The Chait just hit, i'm throwing back for the two-pointer... no defense in sight.

[Below] I've just hit, The Chait is throwing back, and Redhead Kev is about to layout for the D. I believe he gets it.

Final Score of this game: 13-6. The Chait and i hit a three-pointer at 10-6. This began our reign of dominance over the weekend, which saw us defeating Tao three times, and ending undefeated with a record of 4-0.

History

Um, I guess Jono and Sam Berry are the original inventors of Beer Fris. They brought it to China in 2008 when they lived in Kunming until mid 2009. They dominated the game and were unbeatable at 2009 Kunming Hat Tournament, where i first learned to play.

[Photo by Tao] Kevin being celebrated for his efforts and accomplishments in the Beer Fris Community.

~Kev

*Actual e-mails received: zero. But everyone was thinking it.