Damn I got a ticket.... or maybe not

This lovely event happened a few weeks ago....

Picture the scene.... we have an away match in Charleston over the Labor Day Weekend, the last 3 day weekend of the year so naturally quite a few of us are planning on staying as long as possible. I have 4 people that I am meeting after work on Friday and we are planning on loading all 5 of us into Dozer (my trucks name) and make the 5 hour drive on Friday night so we can have all day Saturday and most of Sunday to play in Charleston and then I get to use Monday as my recovery day. Brilliant! What I wasn't expecting was my boss holding me up at work so I didn't leave the office until 6:30 which coincidentally was the same time I was supposed to be picking up my buddies across town. Damn the white devil.

Let me take one second to explain that I HATE being late and I hate it even more when I am the reason that a plan is not working out and other people are affected by my tardiness. That's boo.

So as I am heading to the car I am calling Deuce to explain what's going on (all 4 of my teammates are there and waiting... ggrrrr) and I jump in the car and attempt to haul ass from work into Cary. Naturally, this being the begining of a holiday weekend the cops are out in force but I am so upset about being late that I don't consider this and naturally I get tagged by a cop who wastes no time in turing on the blue lights and chasing me down. Damn it! These guys are never quick with a ticket now I am going to be really late.

Here is where I mention that Cary is full of uptight yuppie assholes and I hate them all. They all drive big SUV's and have this "holier than thou and just get the hell out of my way" attitude. They are all tools.

So there I sit, cursing my own stupidity and trying to come up with a good reason for doing 75 in a 65 zone when it happened... one of the yuppies saved my ass. You guessed it.... one of those tools I just described must have figured the cop that got me was too far into the process to worry about other vehicles and no lie breezed by us at what sounded like 90mph. I look up into my rearview mirror and see the cop weigh his choices, he can either continue on with my little 10 over ticket or go catch this Hummer that just made his hat fly off. He gives me a glance, grins at me and gets back in his car and tears off after the H3. What just happened here?? I sit there another few seconds, process this crazy turn of events, thank the god of stupid yuppie people for sending one of them down 440 at that precise moment and proceed to meet my crew to start a fun weekend sans ticket. YES!!

PS: as I was driving towards me destination I passed the pulled Hummer and my cop friend and I waved and yelled thank you out of my window but I have no idea if he heard me or not.

Stingers match and the fallout

It has been an event filled last couple of days. The most exciting news is that my rugby team won their first ever Division 1 MARFU matrix match!! We traveled to Maryland and won a tight match (final 7-5) but more on that later.... one more win over the next three weeks (Philly, Nova, Furies) would send us to the first round of the playoffs (Sweet 16's) in October... scary and exciting


side note: based on the facts that 1) we won 2) the match between Nova and the Furies ended in a tie and 3) Philly had a bye week... technically, for this week, Raleigh is currently ranked #1 in MARFU. I like the sound of that.


So, Maryland.... in the weeks leading up to the Stingers match I have been having issues with my left hamstring. I pulled it a few weeks ago but have continued playing on it (both practices and matches) and while it was irritating I thought I had it under control. Then last Tuesday at practice I really tweaked it so I took it easy on Thursday night to rest up for the Stingers match. Saturday morning found us meeting at 6am to leave and as crazy as it sounds, sitting in a van for 5 hours before a match will not improve your mobility or flexibility. Boo. So we arrive at the park and start warm ups


side note: this location is not my favorite for many reasons.... the biggest being that the entire middle of the pitch is barren of grass, bone dry so we play in a cloud of dust and there are rocks everywhere. I hate tackling / being tackled on this pitch.


So during warm ups I am very aware of the tightness in my hammy and make sure that I try to work it out really well. Apparently I fail at this endeavor. About 20 minutes into the match I feel it go and it hurts like a bee-atch. At this point all hustle flys out the window and every time Ridout (my scrumhalf) dashes past me she tries to get me moving saying something like "come on, no walking Meegs" or "I need you at post, let's go!" but it is no use, I am officially hobbled. I am still in the match and still effective at set pieces (scrums & lineouts) but my rucking is non-existent. Fail! Throughout this struggle, my teammates have picked up some momentum, had improved flow and communication and managed a break away try... we are winning 7-0 (it should have been 14-0 but Jay's try got called back over some phantom call that I still can't pretend to understand) Anyway, we hit halftime and Coach asks if everyone is ok to continue. At this point I look at him and say I may have torn something but my leg has not gotten the message yet so I can probably go another 40 but it won't be pretty. Given the fact that we traveled with 17 players (it takes 15 to field a team) we don't have many sub options so I stay in. The 2nd half kicks off and the Stingers score in the first 5 minutes but miss the conversion kick (5 points instead of 7) so we are fighting hard the entire half since either team could win with one good series. I have a mild heart attack when we are called for a penalty less than 10 meters out but for some reason the MD player takes a quick tap instead of kicking for points (3 points like a field goal) and our defense holds w clear the ball and 3 minutes later the final whistle blows. Winners! My celebration is short lived as the message has finally reached my hammy and it is in severe pain. I ice it down during the B-side match (which is really our A-side playing in different positions) and proceed to call my brother. Bry gives me a few tests over the phone and tells me its not great and whatever I do, keep moving it.... right... I am getting into a car to drive home. Oops. The car ride is actually entertaining (20 questions + 7 people = scandalous) and we make it back around 11pm. I still need to clean out the van and return it to the rental car place before midnight so I don't actually get home and showered until 12:30am. Sunday is spent watching football (GO PACK GO!), icing my hammy, enjoying a crab leg dinner and stopping in at an impromptu birthday gathering for Bailey (another teammate... and this event + Bailey's drunkenness deserves its own post)

So, I finally bite the bullet and go to the doctor on Monday. The verdict is that I have high grade 2 strain (just shy of a rupture) of the semitendinosus muscle (the middle one in the back of my leg) I was told to ice several times a day and stretch like a champ. I start PT tomorrow and will get some massage treatment, ultrasound treatment and possibly stimulus treatment as well. The doc recommends 2-3 weeks out and then reassessment (which Bryan agreed with but I still say is boo) but that would effectively kill my season so I am hoping to skip that pesky step and be ready to run in time to practice and play in the Nova and Furies matches. Why? simply because I don't have many more matches in my tank and I wanna make sure I go out playing not because of a stupid muscle pull. Either way I am finishing out this season (whether it be on the bench or playing) as strong as I can.

Pumpkinfest Weekend

So last weekend I traveled to Philly with the team to participate in the Pumpkinfest tournament and it very well could have been my last time attending this event as a player. Sadness.

In case you don't know, Pumpkinfest is one of the bestest tournaments known to man. It is women's teams only, has competitive, social and college brackets and the social is always amazing with most teams dressing up in "theme" costumes. Can we say entertainment.

Anyway, this is the second year that the Venom has entered the competitive division and we landed in a bracket with Nova and Beantown. I look forward to Nova matches because I always have fun playing them.... what I mean is that we always play hard against each other and it hardly ever gets dirty and scrappy on the pitch which means that most of the time everyone leaves the pitch with smiles on their faces. Awesome. Beantown on the other hand is an unknown. I had managed to play for 12 years without ever having to face Beantown and was hoping to keep it that way, I have a healthy fear of them. Here is how everything played out....

Friday: The flight out to Philly was not exciting. On the plane with me were Kam, Speedy and our coaches Mike and Marc. There were a few shenanigans had while waiting for the rental car. We (and by "we" I mean Coach Mike waited in line while the rest of us stood around and entertained each other with jokes and tom foolery) stood there in the Thrifty line for over an hour. Seriously. During which time we laughed so hard at something Kam said that other people came over to find out what was so funny. I heart being with the fun group in the room and I still chuckle when I think of Coach Mike trying to sleep on his belly. So, after finally collecting the car we head off to the sketchiest hotel in America.... the Red Roof Inn. Once we finally found it (no trip to Philly is complete without getting lost) it was late so everyone was ready to go straight to bed. As it turns out we didn't have any power and the people at the front said they had blown a breaker ... yada yada yada.... your room is half off. Score! I'll stay almost anywhere for half off. When we awoke the next morning we were told that we are all checking out and we are moving down the road to the Comfort Inn. uummm.... ok.

Saturday: The hurricane is a comin' but we are still going to try to play. Matches started on time were a total of 40 mins (2 halves of 20's) and our first match didn't have to kick off until noon. We played Nova who had already played Beantown so we should have had the advantage of fresh legs.... sadly this did not aid us much. Nova is a strong side and we just weren't firing on all cylinders. As the match progressed we started playing together better but we never caught up and lost the match. That's when we heard that the parks department was shutting us down (stupid hurricane) and we all had to be cleared out by 1pm... um, that's in 15 minutes. We would be told later what time we play on Sunday to finish up the round robin's and set the final matches. None of us were feeling very good about the way we had just played so in an effort to shake off the bad mood several of us decided a few beers would be appropriate. note: Philly has the strangest alcohol laws ever... you can't buy beer in the grocery store or at gas stations, you have to find a beer store or you can buy a six pack from a bar to go... no kidding So, after stocking up on spirit we head back to our new hotel for the afternoon to wait out the storm. What did we do to entertain yourself for 3 hours while waiting for dinner you ask? well here are a few of the notable items

1 - scare all the nice people in the lobby when you walk in like teamsters who are covered in dirt

2 - scare the poor housekeeping lady who sees all 17 of you (still covered in dirt) pile into 3 rooms

3 - go into the hall to beg and plead for extra towels from the aforementioned housekeeper and high 5 her/cheer loudly when she finally cracks and gives you the towels

4 - tackle Kam onto the bed and try to find out if she is ticklish (ps: she's not... boo... but Bailey totally is)

5 - try to figure out the best way to have 7 people sleep comfortably in a room for 4 (this plan may or may not have involved a 3 person spoon session... I'm just sayin)

6 - start putting your costumes together for tonight's social which you should have done before ever leaving Raleigh

7 - shock everyone you see when you emerge for dinner because you are clean and looking good (think pretty woman but instead of being tall, thin and wearing a red dress she's short, stout and in jeans and an AE shirt)

We all met for team dinner and invaded the local Chili's which meant that it would take an inordinate amount of time to check out due to the fact that we all needed separate tickets but our 1 waitress (for 20 people = poor planning) put us all on one bill. Lame. Now its time to go back to the hotel and get ready for the social which started 2 hours ago, oops. At this point I am tired, have a full belly and am of the opinion that playing Beantown at 8:45am while hung over (or possibly still drunk) would be a bad thing so I decide to stay in (or you could listen to my teammates who said I was old and boring... either way I got to sleep so there) Since I didn't go to the social I can't really add any fun stories about the shenanigans I know must have happened, but what I do know is that when everyone got back to the hotel there was a hallway picnic consisting of all the dinner leftovers they could find and someone in a Batman suit (you know who you are) bounding in and out of rooms singing the TV theme song... you know it Duh-nah-nah-nah-nah BATMAN!! Finally everyone went to bed for a couple hours rest before Sunday's matches.

Sunday: we kicked off against Beantown at 8:45am and actually played together really well. It was a big improvement over the previous match and although we didn't win we were feeling confident about our play. Since our record was 0-2 we were given one more match as a consolation and word comes down that we are playing Philly. My shoulders and neck immediately spasm in anticipation of hitting their front row... but wait... someone else has an 0-2 record and its not Philly so we end up playing Chicago who we have never seen before but we hear that they are a scrappy side who will keep coming and we heard right. They were scrappy and we had to "clean up" rucks and mauls to keep them from playing on the ground or swimming through to try and get our scrumhalf. We played together even better this match than the previous two and it paid off. After 40 mins when the final whistle blew the scorecard read 12-0 and we were victorious. We may have started the tournament rough and scattered but we worked out some kinks, got our new players in to figure out timing and style of play and by the end of the weekend we were looking much better. YAY

Things I learned =

1. being "Sunday sore" on a Monday while at work = boo

2. I am pretty good at pulling down the maul (which is now legal) but bad at not getting out of the way of the people falling on me = crushed Meegs

3. when you don't show up for a Philly social every single person who you know from the Philly team will give you shit for it when they see you on Sunday

4. Navy has a huge team and NONE OF THEM has a sense of humor

5. I heart the Pumpkinfest tournament

Be As You Are

BE AS YOU ARE ... This is a phrase that I found and am striving to use as my life "theme" I originally heard this line in a song written by Kenny Chesney and I quickly fell in heart with the message of that song... so much so that I have a bracelet and a tattoo that serve as daily reminders of this idea.

The Man... Kenny Chesney. His new album "Lucky Old Sun" drops on 10-14-08

A lot of people look at me and assume that "Be As You Are" is about accepting yourself for who you are and not caring what anyone else says and I agree with that thought and believe people do need to be more accepting of themselves in order to be happier in their day to day lives, but for me Be As You Are is about something completely different. Its about the Islands and living an island life. Its about finding a place in the world where the clock really and truly doesn't matter and there is no stress in life. Its the idea that one day my life will be un-complicated enough to actually live this mantra that keeps me going. All I want in life is "a towel on a chair in the sand by the sea" along with a hammock between two palm trees, a few good books, my ipod and naturally a bottomless drink. I am so focused on this dream that I have formulated a 5 year plan and by the end of my time frame if I stay on track I will have enough saved up to sell the house, tell the boss to stick it and move to the Virgin Islands. Why there? well aside from it being a US territory (therefore no Visa, passport or citizenship issues to deal with) it is also one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I have seen (although I will admit that is all through pictures) People have told me that I will become bored with this slow existence or that living in the islands won't work because I won't get along with the locals (I mean really.... I don't know that many people I can't get along with) but I say bring it on. I am going to one day live my dream and have my own spot on the beach where I wake up to the sound of the tide coming in and the wind shaking coconuts out of the trees. I'll have friends come to visit for weeks at a time and we'll retell stories about our rugby playing days and the shenanigans we got into off the pitch. I'll have the family down for the holiday season and watch my nieces & nephews play in the waves. When I am on my own I'll be able to relax and swing in the hammock until after sunset. Its going to be a glorious time.

Up and Running

Taking a cue from Mandy and Winnie (the Chao) I have seen how entertaining one of these blogs can be, so I have decided to create one and see what kind of fun I can bring into your lives. I can't promise daily posts but I will promise to share as many fun stories about my adventures and travels in life and rugby as possible along with some random other issues that always seem to pop up and inspire conversation.


Until next time.....