And somebody spoke and I went into a dream....

I love gymnastics dads.

I stopped by the Big 10 Women's Gymnastics Championships on Saturday to cheer on my alma mater, the Minnesota Gophers, as well as my current team, Michigan (obviously) and I had almost forgotten how much of a rush I get from the whole atmosphere. I somehow ended up in seats next to the entire Michigan men's gymnastics team, so I got to hear them gossip about the women's team, and talk about gymnastics. I was just a few rows away from the Minnesota cheering section, and the Michigan moms and dads were situated a section away from me.

Cute things that gymnastics dads do (and remind me of my dad):

• "I liked it when she did the thing with the flips..."
  
• Jump up excitedly at every dismount, vault, or after every floor routine, and wildly wave their arms, with or without a tee-shirt representing the school, in their hands.
  
• Sing the fight song after every rotation.
  
• Get that look of the utmost pride in their eyes... The one that's only between dads and daughters. Any boys out there probably don't know what I'm talking about, but they will if they have little girls someday.
  

It was a great meet. Michigan came out on top. I got to see a girl from Penn State score a perfect 10 on vault. The tumbling was awesome. Michigan State has some flashy leotards.

Gymnastics = Completely awesomeness. It made me want to go back to the gym and start tumbling.


Saturday night, the girls, Krishna, Andy and I got fancied up and went to Royal Oak to eat fancy food. It was fabulous, except super yuppie. I was glad to head back to Ann Arbor and get the heck away from all those Hummers and expensive fake hair dye jobs. Then, Andy and I got dressed up in a different way... for a Fashion Faux Pas party. I wore: red fishnets, black legwarmers, my Sibley athletic shorts, Adidas Gazelles, ATHF "Mooninites > You" shirt, and underwear on my head. There were mostly second years at the party, so I had to go around meeting people, but it was still fab. I met a dental student named Jodie who was crazy, but I really liked her anyway.


Instead of gymnastics, I went to play frisbee on Sunday. That was fabulous, until the guy on the field next to us broke his femur. Luckily, Dr. Steve ran to the rescue, along with some guy who was just starting his ortho residency. Steve's really funny because there was the call of "Is there a doctor on the field?" and he gets embarrassed and runs over yelling back, "Sort of... I'm a 4th year." Also, despite the fact that the hospital is basically across the street from our fields, it still took an ambulence a long time to arrive. The EMTs sat on the field for a long time with this kid, and eventually a fireman arrived. I'm not exactly sure why... Maybe because the ambulence was a good 80 yards from where the kid went down, so they had to carry him steadily all the way over there.

We decided to keep playing on our field, despite our loss of one player who had to play doctor. We ended up winning our game, which also happened to be the longest game in all of ultimate history. I sat out one short point at the beginning of the game, and, by the end of the game, had lost all of my energy reserves. So, I ended up sitting out the last couple of points in order to mow on a granola bar and not fall over.

We opted for a hard cap at 15 because the rest of the teams had cleared out at least 30-45 minutes before us. Also, it was chilly and rainy. It was a good game, though, and we only won 15-14. I got to guard this girl for most of the game, who was really fun because we were around the same age and had a similar attitude about the game. I felt a little bit bad though because I was faster than her... and I have tricks about girls that I'm faster than. I let them get open so they get thrown to, then get in front of them for the D. It's a little mean, but it's life, right? Also, I scored a bunch. That was fun.

We have a fun team. We've decided to call ourselves MOTH - Minions of the Helicopter, since we're fairly close to the helipad for the hospital and get to watch helicoptors take off and land while we're playing. It's me, Steve, Andy, and Matt J, then this girl named Jules who is awesome, and a bunch of the Ignition guys, as well as some young kids who play high school.


Yes, my weekend was spent surrounded by athletics -- running, watching gymnastics, playing frisbee -- and eating good food (Cottage Inn, some fancy Italian place in Royal Oak, Zanzibar, and the great chocolate-M&M/chocolate chip cookies I made on Friday). Unfortunately, I didn't get as much work done as I was hoping. Now, I'm currently at the hospital trying to get these last few charts off of our shelf to make room for the new ones I ordered.

Also, one last time: MY PARENTS ARE COMING TO VISIT THIS WEEKEND. All of my friends want to meet them to see the greatness that made me.