October 2007

10 years is a long time. So I have been married to my wife, Satomi for 10 years. I do not know what to say. Yesterday for our anniversary we had a small lunch and then went to look at a potential school for Eric, a couple of beers. Then back to our everyday life. I picked up Eric and she went grocery shopping. No big presents no promising for another 10 years, just back to our life's. One thing I do remember was 10 years ago I wanted alot of stuff, maybe cause at 25 I had nothing still. Seemed like we were always spending money on shit I wanted but did not need. Now I want less of everything, and more time. I also remember how I said I would make a certain amount of money by a certain age. I did that. How I did not know anything about computers 10 years ago compared to now, and how when I got out of the Marines 10 years ago...... I had no idea what I was gonna do or how. Over time I changed allot, I learned allot and I accomplished more than most people would have thought I was capable of, and I am still going for more. That is me, the outside has changed a bunch, but the inside is still basically the same.

We had practice and a BBQ. The practice was hard fought training with a warm up team jog for a couple hundred meters followed by some stretching. Then the work began, 10 X 100 sprints. I was surprised at the fact that I could keep with Joe and had a good battle with So which he ended up trouncing me most races but I stayed with him. Practice went on as it usually does but we were missing a bunch of our forwards and that made the forward workout tough. We did a team run and I couldn't get things to click like I had previously and kept going offsides and getting in the way. ERRR! Finally we played touch and it was as always irritating I am not sure what it is about touch but it is so hard to grasp all the work we just did and having it come down to touch. Set pieces and other things do not happen all you can do is stay on a line in defense and try to go mark your man and not get caught out. Practice finished with some more calls and then A BBQ! BBQs are always a good time cause all the family members come and drink, cook, eat, talk and drink some more together. The kids who are all roughly the same age play and it is a good time for all. Wifes and kids eat free and the team sucks up the cost. It is really one of the best times to be part of the team. We had two new guys come out to training. Dan and Matt, said that they have been looking for a good social rugby team to play on for 11 months, I am sure they will both be back to play for us. On the way back Jesse saved me. As Eric and I were going up the escalator at the station a older man dressed in kinda Japanese biker styled clothes with a tan and a shaved head except a little tuft of hair in the front. Did what I can only describe as a rude gesture towards Eric. I got upset of course but he was going down the escalator and we were going up. So I let it go. But as we were sitting down to wait for the train, the guy came back up the stairs and started yelling at me in Japanese and calling me crazy which of course started me yelling back. I stood up and the guy moved on down to the other end of the tracks. Just then Jesse came up the escalator. I called him over and told him what happened he laughed. But now on the way back the guy looked at me and looked at Jesse and decided we were both a little more trouble than he was bargaining for. He walked silently past and went down to the escalator and appeared on the other side a few minutes later.

I got on my bike and made my way to the station. Joffa, Dave and I all met up, and wiated for the train. While we waited for kicks Joffa and I called up team members who we were unsure about or KNEW for CERTIAN that were not comming, and harassed them. Finally we arived and started getting the field ready which was a task bordering on futility. The line painters were all getting clogged up because of all of the rain and we were having alot of trouble measuring the lines and getting things straight. Durring that time a team mate informed me that the leader of the leuge (who is also the oppositions manager) said "Agghhh its raining to hard lets just do rock paper scissors and call it a game." After hearing that in my mind the game was already won. Our forward pack was strong all game and Murray kept things constantly rolling along. Our back line was also strong even though the conditions were not perfect for passing the ball. When we were up by a good number of tries, with about 15 minutes left I got the call to go in. My tackles are still weak and from the moment I got on the field I could feel that it was a problem. The slippery conditions made it tough even with cleats to get my footing. I do not think my tackles are particularly bad it is just my anticipation of what the runner will do and abilty to react to it quickly is well pitiful. This week during my personal training time I will try to see if there is some exercises I can work on to help rectify this. I think it is just a matter of 3 things; 1. Not standing to flat on my feet 2. understanding how to read a backs moves as to where he will run