What I Did this April

I started by going to Rimini Beach, Italy for the 1999 Paganello Beach Ultimate Tournament. This was without a doubt one of the best tournaments I've been to in ten years of playing ultimate. There were teams from as far as San Francisco and New Zealand, playing on the scenic Adriatic coast in wonderfully sunny but mercifully cool weather over four days. (Check out the website, just to hear the jingles they played to signal the start and end of games). The hosts organized food at the fields, special arrangements with hotels, and buses for the far away party sites.

There were three parties by the way. The closing party featured two land sharks (if you don't know what that is, consider yorself blessed). The opening night had a band that was something like Gwar, running around with costumes of body armor. Fireworks also featured prominently that night, as did a man with a flamethrower attached to his back. That was impressive, let me tell you. The flames rose a good five yards in the air, and you could feel the heat from forty feet away.

Did I mention that we drove there? It took some time, but Switzerland was gorgeous. The Alps are amazing, and the small villages of red brick that pepper the green walls beneath the purple and white caps are a joy to see from across the numerous lakes adjoining the highway.

When we returned, the Dutch outdoor competition started. There are regularly scheduled competition days every other week, in three divisions. I play with Force Elektro, and we are currently at the top of the Second Division, looking for promotion to the First Division next year.

Koningennedag (Queen's Day) rocked my world this past weekend. The whole country was one big chill fest of beer, junk foods, and crazy orange hats in celebration of the Queen's birthday. Boats swarmed the canals, people swarmed the streets and trains, and the sounds of bands filled the air on every other corner.

In keeping with tradition, anyone can sell just about anything on Koningennedag, and they did. People spread out tables of junk for sale, or lay it out on the sidewalks. Some sell home made waffles or sandwiches, others offer tequila shots. Others set up makeshift midway games, or offer to take Polaroid pictures of you with a cardboard cutout of Queen Beatrix. I saw one man walking around with a bright yellow sign, "Joints for Sale".

The greatest part is, April 30 is not even Queen Beatrix's birthday: it is her mother's. But Beatrix reckoned January was not suitable for such festivities, and she kept the date the same. Now that is accommodating.

In between all this madness, I have been enthralled with Spring. Even on the train, where I normally read the entire trip, I find myself staring at the amazing flower fields between Delft and Amsterdam. The strips of bright purple, red, and yellow do not even look real from a distance. Not until the train closes in on them, and the seemingly flat plane of color segregates into rows of flower beds, and the individual flowers that constitute them, is the illusion dispelled. Barely then, even.

So maybe I should have taken the time to share these things with you over the course of the last month instead of sitting on my hands. But, hey, I was enjoying the moment. And it's tough to rant when you're having such a good time.

Something will piss me off soon, I promise.

Last Updated:3 May 1999
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