The One Rule

Skateboarding, foosball, bowling, Ultimate — this was a weekend of games.

For some reason, the phrase “Life’s a game” popped up in my mind while looking through this crop of photos. Do you think life’s a game? Some people put a lot of thought into the question, tackling it from a cynical or philosophical perspective. I don’t know the answer, but I do know there’s no redo button in those games (video games excluded) or in life. Whatever you do, good or bad, is a permanent part of the history that leads into every second. There’s no taking back a moment — it’s the one rule.

This fact might sound scary, but what are you going to do? Only what you can. Just don’t forget the rule, I guess. And give yourself something to celebrate every now and then.

By the way, bowling alleys make great birthday spots. A dozen of us went there to celebrate my co-worker’s Big Double-3. I’m pretty bad at bowling, but the company made up for the scores.

Sunday was way too windy for Ultimate, but life has its windy days, too, am I right?

Thanks for spending a moment here,

Dan

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Cold Light

The Sun returned to us today, but with a price: highs in the 20s, wind chills in the single digits and a smattering of snow, even when the Sun was shining. The sunlight and cold aren’t opposites; the northern air is so cold that those clouds we’ve had for the last month can finally drop out of the sky. I played sub-freezing Ultimate with some other knuckleheads, including a few first-timers.

The evening drew on and temperatures fell; looks like it’s about 16 degrees as I type this. Still, a cloudless sky is a valuable opportunity.

A full Moon, a comet and Jupiter are above us tonight. I wish I could do them justice with the equipment I have.

(The Moon through trees)

This is Orion — my first shot of a constellation. Comet Lovejoy, C/2014 Q2, is now visible from Earth near Orion’s bottom right. The Moon is bright enough to give the glare in this image and drown out the comet, but it should be dimming enough in the next week or two to see the comet with the naked eye. I’ll have to try again; this is the best I could get tonight:

It’s that fuzzy green thing near the middle, trailing a faint wisp, the merest suggestion of a tail. Like an eclipse, these celestial crossings, even seen through a noisy long exposure, remind me there are inconceivably huge and grand things happening beyond our little world. Remember that, will you?

Thanks for passing by,

Dan

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Ultimate

If you’ve never played ultimate Frisbee, let me introduce you: It’s sort of like soccer or football with a Frisbee, and it’s the only way I know of that I can run around for at least two hours.

Teams try to pass the disc down the field into an end zone but can’t move while holding it. If you haven’t played ultimate but enjoy exercise, you should consider it. I’ve started here with the Fayetteville Disc Association’s summer league, which means I’m one of at least a hundred people (and a bunch of dogs) who get together Tuesday nights in brightly colored team shirts. My team includes Wax, Goody (above), Coffee, Aric and several others. We wear green. It’s fun. I have room for improvement.

I will say it’s odd to be older than the mostly university crowd, but it’s awesome to be there. I hope I got a couple decent shots out of it for you tonight, too.