Southern Hospitality, Fact or Fiction?

OK so I was rocking out semi embarrassingly to 'Wagon Wheel' and a car full of girls pulled up next to me... It was too late so I embraced the awkwardness and turned the music up and waved to the car. They motioned for me to lower the volume and asked where I was headed. I told them I had just eaten dinner and was headed to get a drink. The girl riding shot gun shouted for me to follow them. I showed up to a local watering home a few minutes later and everyone piled out of the car. I sat in the car for a moment debating whether or not to make up an excuse for why I had to go but decided I'm never going to make new friends unless I step out of my comfort zone. I took a deep breath and got out of the car.

They waved for me to come over, so I walked over and introduced myself. Olivia, Anna, Clara and one person whose name I can no longer remember... my apologies person 'X'. Regardless as we went into the bar Anna turned and asked me so what do you do? Pretty standard question but it took me an unreasonable amount of time to answer, I ended up stumbling over myself until finally I just said, "I work for a tech company that creates video wall solutions." I then proceeded to ask her what she did. She replied, "Oh, I'm a student. We are actually all Juniors at Emory." As I looked around I realized that I had stumbled into a fairly popular college bar. That had a live show going on in the back.

After a couple rounds of drinks and an exchange of pleasantries I decided it was time to go home so I bid the group adieu. The conversation was pleasant and sincere and they extended an offer to come back the following week to see one of their friends playing as an opening act for the band. I told them that I would be heading back to the West coast for the weekend but it would be nice to see them when I got back into town. I realized I said this almost out of habit but it was taken as a sincere gesture. I exchanged phone numbers with one of the girls and she told me to let them know when I get back into town. I realized that that friendly behavior that is exchanged in Seattle but never followed through on really doesn't exist in Atlanta. When people say they want to hang out sometime they mean it. It's kind of cool.

auf Wiedersehen

The Big Easy

NOLA.

Exciting weekend y'all! Made my way down to New Orleans to party with the saints. This weekend marked the first tournament I would play with any of the local Ultimate players. We made the 6.5 hour drive (8.5 for some of us who decided to take a MegaBus) to Louisiana on Friday. Going into the weekend I knew only two people, everyone else I had only exchanged emails with. But I figured frisbee people in the south are probably like frisbee people everywhere else so I wasn't too worried.

And so it begins. Friday night 11:45PM getting on the bus with my new friends Byron.

Exchanged some pleasantries with Byron and Michelle until we all pass out. I woke up at 4AM we are half way there slightly tilted toward NO!

I fell in and out of sleep for the rest of the ride until 7:30 AM when the PA system turned on and the driver welcomed us to New Orleans. After slowly shuffling off the bus into the already humid and hot air we managed to find our teammates that had so kindly offered to pick us up and take us to the fields. Prior to getting to the fields we made a pit stop at Cafe Du Monde to get some beignets. Oh my lord (if you come to NOLA I highly recommend getting some they are sublime). Driving through the heart of New Orleans reminded me of driving down The Strip in Vegas. When we finally made it to the fields most of the team was already there, we did a quick introduction mostly going over names. As the day progressed I began the process of meeting the team. Most of the team came from Atlanta centered around one mutual friend named Bam Bam. I met a couple from North Carolina that knew a couple I know from Seattle that moved out here a year ago. Even though we ended up going 2-1 for the day the best part came soon after the end of our last game. The sun was shining and the tournament had hired a local jazz band to play music during the post tournament feast of traditional jambalaya. Adding to the trifecta I decided to go out and lizard the afternoon away. After waking up and eating some cajun food the team decided it was time to head back to our host's house and shower to get ready for the night.

As a team we set off into the night, our first stop was "Dat Dog" a gourmet hot dog establishment. The menu was incredible holstering thousands of combinations of meat and toppings. I ended up choosing an alligator sausage with avocado, onion, and crawfish etouffee. After a brief stint at the tournament party we made our way to Bourbon Street the seedy underbelly of the Big Easy. After buying several hand grenades and sharknados and sharing them amongst our team we made our way to a nightclub overrun with finance bros and sorority hoes. A couple rounds of shots and a few beers later the DJ turned up the jams and our whole team ended up staking out a plot on the dance floor and cut a rug till 5 AM. I'd like to take a moment to shout out to the team, older or younger everyone brought it and I'm very appreciative that everyone was so open and welcoming to a stranger they met less than 10 hours earlier.

Our first round at 9 AM came faster than anyone was ready for. Literally, we didn't wake up until 9 AM. We piled 7 into a car and rushed off to the fields so we could field one line until reinforcements arrived. We struggled through the game the biggest hurdle being out own hangover but managed to pull out the win 8-6. After the game we came together as a team and had a tough decision to make. Do we continue on and try and win the next game or do we forfeit and go and get breakfast... After flip flopping for 15 minutes we decided we had come this far to play why not try and win it all. We rolled through the semis and ended up tied 5-5 in the finals trying to take the half. Fueled by the alcohol still coursing through our veins we managed to pull away scoring the next 5 points in a row ending the game at 11-5. Look at use beaming with pride you would never know that this team had managed to win both the tournament and the party.

I miss you Piehole! But don't worry I've managed to make some friends in a distant land.

Allan

Meeting the Locals.

Pub Run.

I'm proud to say I survived the St. Patricks Day. Ended up running ten miles and drinking ten pints of Guinness plus five Irish carbombs (excuse the lack of political correctness). It was actually a really good way to learn a little about the city. Matt and I took MARTA (subway) from his house in Decatur to the heart of downtown. The morning started off as would be expected Matt and I ended up going a stop too far and had to wait for another trolley to come by to take us back. Once we finally made it to the graveyard we were welcomed with cups of Irish coffee (yum). While I stood watching people slowly congregate, I wondered if it was in poor taste to be drinking in a graveyard... When I jokingly stated my concern to a friend of Matt's he laughed and told me we were in the confederate section of the plot. As the time to leave and start our run to the first pub nears I learn a little about the history of this run. It was started 7 years ago by a Ultimate player attending Emory's medical school named Josh Ziperstein. Because of this the group was primarily made up of either Ultimate players or Emory med school students.  As we got set to begin I readied myself for a serious run, but less than a minute later we had made it to our first stop. Nothing is funnier than seeing the expression on a sole patron's face at a bar at 10am as 80 people march in dressed in green and begin drinking pints of Guinness. 

As the run continued I met more and more people and realized that I had a lot in common with this small community. Either connections to Zip who had coached me for a brief stint in Seattle to realizing I had played in college against others. This is a picture from our 5th stop where my new boss (mysterious floating hand on the left side of the picture) decided we should celebrate being half way done with a carbomb. Wahooo! As the run continued I met more and more people and realized that I had a lot in common with this small community either connections to Zip who had coached me for a brief stint in Seattle to realizing I had played in college against others. This is a picture from our 5th stop where my new boss (mysterious floating hand on the left side of the picture) decided we should celebrate being half way done with another carbomb. Wahooo! Around bar number 7 the run gets really hazy. I want to apologize to Sean and Natalie, both of whom I apparently called but don’t remember talking to.

Woke up at four AM Sunday morning with a wicked hangover, never doing that again (until next year). Made a lot of new friends, don't remember names but I know I had a blast!

Sunday Night Lights.

I made my debut in the Atlanta ultimate scene, playing in the Sunday night league. I was placed on Matt and Miranda’s team neither of whom showed up to the game. But luckily I had met a lot of the players the afternoon before during the run (apparently). As I drove up to the fields a very Seattle like rain began drizzling down on us. Before the game started our team circled up and I got a quick rundown of names. The captain asked me what I liked to do? A tough question I just told him I liked to have fun. He smiled and said I think we are going to get along just fine. We ended up winning the game 15-12 first victory of the season for the team!

My first thoughts about the Atlanta scene are that it is much smaller than its Seattle counter part. The community also seems less segregated than in Seattle where you see teams that form high school like cliques and don’t socialize outside of their own cohort. In Atlanta it seemed as if it didn’t matter if you played only league or for the top tier club team, everyone was out having fun and being supportive of his or her teammates. After the game some people from my team stuck around the fields and talked to me about why I had moved to the South. After telling our journeys with Ultimate and eating I realized that it was well past my bedtime and my first day of work was tomorrow. We exchanged numbers and said our farewells until the next time.

On the job.

Started work this week. Spent the first few days shadowing Matt learning the ropes and dusting off the cobwebs from accounting 240 and 245. My first few days were spent as expected, filling out paperwork and learning peoples names and their role at the company. On Thursday I actually got to sit down with a few of the other employees and have an all day meeting with one of the founders going over the company and the products that they are putting to market. It was incredible. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but also a lot of great resources and opportunities. It's nice having Matt guide me through his old job and I feel confident that I will be ready to take on full responsibility of the role very soon.

Hope this finds everyone well,

Allan 

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Preface.

Welcome. This blog serves to tell the story of my time in Atlanta. Explore the differences in ideology and methodology that teams outside of the PNW hold. But most importantly I wanted to share my journey with Ultimate and the "why" that drives me to continue to play.

Taking off...

A beautiful Seattle morning. The sun rising on one side of the terminal, casting rays of light on the snow covered mountains on the opposite side. Staring off into the distance, a message appeared on my phone that simply read 'I'll miss you'. I've never felt so unraveled before in my life. I didn't want to go. There was so much in the NW I didn't want to say goodbye to. So many people I wish I could spend the coming months with, even just one more day with. As I laid there bathing in the sunshine I realized that this isn't the point in my life when I'm saying goodbye to the Northwest, it's more like I'm getting up to stretch my legs. I have every intention of returning.

The first leg of the trip went by with only one incident in which the child behind me got motion sickness and it reminded me that all I had eaten that day was some lemon, ginger, and turmeric juice (not sitting well anymore). I closed my eyes and just tried to go back to sleep. About 30 minutes later we were on the ground in Dallas, still not feeling well i wandered around the airport looking for anything that might calm my stomach. McDonald's, No. Burger King, No. I finally came to the conclusion that a beer would help (sorry mom). Voila, problem solved. I spent the second leg of the trip talking to a lovely couple traveling back to Atlanta after visiting family in Port Angeles.

Finally Touched Down!

Finishing Off the Week.

Thursday and Friday I spent familiarizing myself with Atlanta. And what better way that to run a nice 7 mile loop from the Knowles residence to the Emory University campus. It was such a gorgeous campus everything basking in the sun. To my surprise it's actually been fairly cold here since I've landed 32 in the mornings warming up to the low 50's (buuurrrrrr). Friday I went and ran a loop from the house out to Miranda's work. In honor of Pi Day I decided to do a little baking. I ended up making three pies. The first was a Shepard's pie for Matt and Miranda to have and share with the Carlton ultimate players they are hosting this weekend. The second was a sweet potato Shepard's pie for the same purpose but I wanted sweet potato instead. And last was a Pumpkin Pie. Happy Pie Day Everyone!

Miranda is going to be coaching the Jr. Worlds tryouts this weekend so Matt and I will be partaking in a St. Patrick's Day Pub Run. I'm not sure how far we are running but all in all each participant is supposed to drink 10 pints (ugh, again sorry mom). But Sunday I will play my first game of frisbee in the A, and Monday I start work. Wahoo!

Hope everyone is doing well,

Allan