Happy New Year!

So last month I played a rugby game in which I got knocked out. Not a rare occurrence you might comment, but it did mean I missed a week of work because as a result (or entirely coincidentally) I caught the flu. A terrible flu that caused fevers and a runny nose that resembled Vitcoria falls. I also had a splitting headache, but I don't know whether to attribute that to the concussion or the flu.

I don't remember the day before the game, the day itself, or the following two or three days. I don't really remember how I got home, or how I even managed to open the door. It's pretty frightening to think of how many hours I will never be able to recall.

On the plus side, for Christmas I got a remote control helicopter, which is an absolute pig to fly. If I ever get good with it, it'll be something of an achievement. Even getting everything set-up is a challenge; as is setting the trim and all that. When flying with freedom in three dimensions, your brain starts to struggle (at least mine does) so I absolutely find myself cycling through each axis, rather than focussing on everything at once (is it flying straight? Is the height okay? Is it veering left or right? Is it flying straight? Is the height okay? Is it veering left or right? Is it flying straight...). It's probably not how professionals think, but damn it's hard!

I also used some money I received to buy a NAS! Finally, all my photographs are once again secure (my previous internal RAID sprung a leak). It took literally days to get the information off the broken internal disks, as they kept dropping the link between the motherboard and themselves.

Oh, and my computer breaking on Christmas Eve didn't help. I HATE COMPUTERS. It broke the day before Christmas. Can you believe it? Well, regardless if you can or can't, I certainly can. I had to get a new motherboard, reformat the boot drive, pray it didn't need a complete overhaul (money is always an issue) and click the go button. Of course even the new motherboard was a pain in the ass, having a fried capacitor and bloody jumpers (of course I lost the jumpers as soon as I saw them) meant I had to bodge the whole thing. I've since replaced it, thank god, BUT I STILL LOST A FRIGGIN' JUMPER. Again. Twice. What in the world possessed ASUS or whoever it is, to include jumpers on their boards. It's pathetic. Last time I checked we had left 1999 far in the past. Grow up, ASUS.

Anyway, after the incredible stress of not being able to phone Mum and Dad over Christmas, it was a pretty uneventful break. I had a lot of spare time so I modelled something in MODO (equivalent to 3dsmax I guess?) and all that's left to do is skin it. I practiced with the helicopter (it's terrifying indoors) and ate a lot of chocolate. I've lost 5 kg's so my training regimen starts again from today.

I took some photographs as well, which you might be able to see above or below. Apart from that, nothing else of note happened that I can recall.

I hope your Christmas wasn't as bummed out as mine.

Bye!

Lion Rugby

So this is the third time I've written on this post, I hope they stick this time.

This game was against the second placed team (the team behind us) so it was quite important.  A win would secure the league.

These are all entirely out of order, so you have to imagine them being replaced.

I'm a bit muddy so I guess this is later in the game?  I don't really know but it looks like a slow jog kind of day.

The height/weight discrepency here is immense, so this little fella' didn't stand a chance.

I think this is the second time I went past him in the first half.

That angry face.

I don't know why I'm sticking my arm out here, but I'm definitely going to be tackled.

This might be the first try of the game?  Let's just pretend it is.

This might be the second one, who really knows at this point.

This is the second half, and the only break I made of that period.  I probably made a hundred metres this game, including both scores.

This is the one tackle the little winger managed on me - I took the ball at head head with no momentum.  He could have probably intercepted the ball, it came so slowly.

This is a picture in the buildup to one of the tries.  I really don't remember which one.

This is the precursor to the tackle above.

This one looks pretty far out, but I don't know where it is or what the leadup was.

It's like a slideshow!

This is a cool side-on shot of the guy I hand off.  Once again I look pretty angry for some reason.

Whenever I put my head down to run my hair immediately goes up to look more intimidating... or something.  Maybe it's like those dynamic fins on modern sports cars.

This ball was completely awful, but luckily I'd positioned outside their last defender so had a clean run to the line (with one defender to beat, if you can call that clean).

The leadup to one of the tries.

This might be a duplicate...

This one looks pretty cool.

Look how far away from the try-line I am, yet I appear to be falling to put it down.

The ministry of funny walks.

The ministry of funny hair.

I really like this picture, it looks like a proper try!

I think prior to this picture, I actually had some fingers in his mouth.  Ewwwwww.

And I include this picture because you can see the factory in the background, it's a serious company making a serious number of goods!

I've got some climbing pictures for the next post, so check back next week or so.

Not What I Promised

These two photo's aren't the ones I promised, but tough cookies, because they're the ones you're getting (at least for now).

I played my first game for a new rugby team.  They pay for my travel and give me free bananas, so it's a good deal for all involved.  (I don't like bananas, but don't tell them that.)

There are two incredibly frustrating things about this team though.  Firstly, they like to kick.  They like to kick a lot.  I was told beforehand that their kickers would regularly gain sixty metres, that the standard of kicking was superb.  The standard of place-kicking is sublime, there's no doubting that.  This is one of the few teams I've played in where scoring on the wing doesn't preclude the extra points.

Kicking from hand however; that's a different matter.  It's okay.  It's not spectacular.  In fact, of the four tries scored against us, two came from poor kicks gifting the opposition lots of space.  Space they decided to use by running the ball.  They scored because they didn't kick.  There is a lesson here somewhere.

I am not a great kicker - certainly not the 60m kind.  However none of these players are the 60m kind either (certainly not from what I saw yesterday) so I am equal to the back three in that regard (at least in my humble).  They've pigeon-holed me as some kind of ape who can only run. The truth is, I'm an ape who realises that kicking gains you thirty metres, loses you the ball and subsequently puts your team under pressure.  A truly exceptional kick will alleviate pressure, but the word 'exceptional,' is indicative of how often those kicks happen.

The second frustrating point is that the team is already set.  I'm the fourth player in a backline of three, one of whom is the captain.  The odds of me breaking into this team seem slim.  Combine the inherent cronyism evident in any established team with my lack of Japanese rugby culture (kicking = good, running+tackling = bad) means it's going to be bloody hard to get a first team position.

This, however, won't stop me from trying.  Even if I only get twenty-five minutes in this team (like at the weekend) it might be in front of someone important in another team, who just happen to lack a winger or full-back.

Just to make my point, if J.P. Pieterson were Japanese, he would have kicked it and this try wouldn't have happened:

Obviously J.P.  Pieterson is a massive dickhead, who was hitting players and giving crap all game (sledging goes so far, this cock takes into criminal territory, I'm surprised he wasn't arrested after the match) but his running gained at least 150m in this game, and those are metres with possession.  They're invaluable.

The third thing, now that I think about it, is defence.  Pieterson smashed a couple of England players, Ashton did the same for us.  The score in the game I played in was nine tries to four.  Defence really isn't a priority in Japanese games.  They didn't score down my wing when I was on, which would otherwise be a massive boon for any winger, but I don't think they care enough to even notice a statistic like that.  At one point I'd tracked back to the opposite wingers line in order to help out.  They chipped it over me and scored anyway, but I was in foreign territory for sure.

In all, a bad day.  The realisation that playing for this team is inevitably going to involve keeping the bench warmed up is a bummer.  Then again, maybe it will spur me on to play harder.  Or maybe I'll just give up.  It'll be an interesting test of character for sure.

And at last, the pictures.  Only two I'm afraid.