Birthday Week

Since my last entry, there has been kind of a major event...my BIRTHDAY people! Yes, I'm the big 1/4...thats 1/4 of a century!! So I treated my self to a nice shopping adventure on Oxford Street in London, and then I bought some Haagen Daz and watched about 5 episodes of Sex and the City!! It was great! All formal birthday celebrations, however, were postponed until after our game on Saturday...


Which brings you to the game against the Nottingham Wildcats. We lost, AGAIN, but I must say we played better than I think we have in the last 4 games. So that's the positive, but its still a loss which, for lack of a better word, sucks!! I played alright, despite having 3 fouls in the first 5 minutes of the game!! It was one of those games that there were so many whistles from the refs, that one wondered if they got paid commission for fouls. In the end we ended up losing by 10 because we had to foul to stop the clock at the end, but the score was much closer than it looked.


In England it is customary for the home team to provide sandwiches and other food for after the game for a nice little social between both teams. To be honest, last season I thought it was a joke when the girls told me where we were going after we were finshed showering. I think its an American thing to not want anything to do with the opposing team before or after the game. Its easier to go against the enemy/opposing team when you simply hate them because they have a different color jersey than you. Again, I think this is where I have grown as a person. I've learned to take care of business on the court, but understand its okay to speak with the other team afterwards and even find out their individual stories. I'm okay, you're okay...

Last year, I was also a little thrown off by the cuisine choices for these post-game shin-digs. Typical sandwiches include tuna and sweetcorn (quite nice!!), cucumber and cheese (unusual but nice!), tomato and cheese, just plain shredded cheese, egg mayonaise (egg salad- yum), ham and cheese ( i like that one!!) tomato and something that is brown and pickled (the brown stuff throws me off), or any of the above with the additon of something called salad cream. You better believe that my team knows when its my turn to make sandwhiches there will be peanut butter and jelly (apparently, REALLY american), because every now and again I need a little piece of home!!

The postgame birthday celebrations were a lot of fun despite the loss. We had cake-with candles thank you very much!! and bubbly after the game...I think i heard the Happy Birthday song in English, French, Spanish and Portugese. We then went out for some drinks at our favorite pub in Richmond called the Orange Tree. After a few drinks, a lot of laughs, and the usual amount of picture taking, I realized I was tired, I believe to be a product of my new age and we called it a night by about 12.

Well, as many of you know one of my first real jobs at the tender age of 18 was at a paint company back in Seattle. Yes, I was an office assistant and spoke freely of epoxies, 7" rollers, and polyurethane satin finish powder coatings. Well, as Oprah would say, I have come full circle and am now a basketball player/interior painter in England!! No, here is the story, one of my teammates (Stacey) mum's has her own company and needs a hand every now and again. And since I have a flexible schedule I gladly offered my time!! I dont mind at all since we dont have training until 8pm so it gives me something to do to earn some extra pounds (plus she's a sweetheart!!).

In addition to interior design:) I have also began doing Bikram Yoga. Now, for all you athletes out there who turn your nose up at yoga and assume its for people who are not athletes, go and sit through a 90 minute Bikram Yoga class and you will be served a nice big slice of HUMBLE PIE!! Its a serious workout let me tell you. This particular kind of yoga is in 100 degree humid heat. My sister Jessica (miss you Jess!) used to attend classes religiously and got me to join her one morning. I had no idea what I was getting into, but had a much deeper respect for her as well as all of the other students in the class. Anyway, I signed up here in England for an unlimited monthly pass for a non impact workout to keep fit...

In other news, my team is scheduled to play the University of North Carolina Tarheels on May 23rd. Yeah, um read that again... Thats not a typo. The University of North Carolina Tarheels...not Northwest Carolina Tech A&M or whatever, but the real deal TARHEELS!! I guess the current #3 team in NCAA are off on an international tour and are stopping in London and want to get a game in. Our season is actually finished in mid April, but my flight home is not until May 14th (going traveling again). Well, I believe I am going to change my flight so I can get in this GAME!!

Here we go again...

I'm back in England playing basketball for another season. That is such a simple statement but the road to making that a complete truthful sentence was quite a long and bumpy one full of u-turns and detours. Nonetheless, I'm back!!

I arrived back in London on December 31st, (New Years Eve and also my moms birthday) after a 10 hour flight. It wasnt all that bad, I just didnt sleep which is unusual because after backpacking for 7 weeks last summer in Europe I was convinced I had narcoleptic tendencies.

Well I got here and was greeted by one of my teammates Ruth and my coach Terry who immediately asked me if I had lost weight. I didnt think I had, but that question was like a late Christmas present after I felt like I had stuffed my face all holiday season!!

I took a quick power nap and after a steady flow of Red Bull was ready to bring in the New Year in Greenwich mean time!! We went into the city and ended up battling the crowds to get down to the banks of the River Thames to watch the fireworks go off above the London Eye, think glorified ferris wheel, and Parliment Building. Well it was a little too cloudy to see the actual fireworks but it was a nice setting. Okay, horray New Year!! But I was knackered (english for tired), so we embarked on the journey back home which on a normal day would have taken about 15 minutes. New Years however, was a whole new ballgame. With all the police barracades it actually ended up taking a solid 2.5 hours- no joke!! I guess the most shocking thing about that night was not the volume of people but the volume of rubbish (garbage). If you have ever been to London you might have noticed that finding a garbage can is pretty close to impossible. The ones you do find are usually clear a skeleton of a can so you can see everything that is inside. Well, I was told that this was because of the bombs planted throughtout the city by the IRA (Irish Republican Army) in the 70's 80's and 90's. As a result most garbage cans were removed which makes for a messy New Years Eve!!

Well, that week we had training where I was introduced to my teammates. The majority of them are from last year but a few are new. My team is probably the most diverse team in the entire league. We have 4 English girls, 2 Brazilian, 1 French, 1 Spanish, 1 Italian, 1 Scottish girl and me, the sole American. Communication on the court can be hard, but off the court it usually provides hours of comical entertainment with mispronunciations and word usage issues...

The first week back we played Manchester, the team my mate Megan plays for, although she didnt play because of an injury. We won- it was really close. I played pretty well for my first game back, but still got to shake the game rust...

That 2nd week I kind of went homeless and I stayed with 4 different people in the course of a week. There were some ususual circumstances, but I now have a place I can stay in (dont worry mom!) until I move into a new flat with Lucy and Patricia (Brazilians) on the 24th of January. The club has tried a variety of diffent housing ideas for me, but sometimes things don't exactly pan out for whatever reason. Bottom line, I have realized that being able to unpack is one of the most under rated things I've just taken for granted in the past.



I'm going to just fast forward to the last 3 games in which we are 0-3. Mind you we played the #3 team in the league 2x and the #2 team 1x but regardless, we still lost. This is a rough little patch for our team, but I think this is where I have evolved as a basketball player and more importantly as a person. When I was in college after we lost (which seeemed to happen a lot more than we won) I was absolutely pissed after a game for about 3 days. I always felt personally responsible and that by me denying myself fun or happiness that it somehow made the situation better. Um, not anymore. Oh I'm pissed , but after a quality shower and something to eat after the game I'm over it. Dont get me wrong, losing sucks and it still bothers me, but I think I've learned to compartmentalize that feeling and use it for basketball motivation only. After all, my life is pretty good!!