games

Packing Snow

_C1_7430I talk about how I want winter to end, and wouldn’t you know it, the next day we get a perfect, beautiful snowfall with temperatures just below freezing and no wind: beautiful conditions for sledding and snowball-making. We’ve got about 3 or 4 inches on the ground now, including this fractal-looking slush that settled on a pond in southeast Fayetteville.

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_C1_7423I walked around Huntsville Road for a while before heading to Wilson Park, which has popped up on this blog once or twice. I figured a few people might try the park’s hills for sledding. I underestimated that one.

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_C1_7616People are very patient with my floating around with a camera. Laughs sounded out from every direction, and the energy was infectious. One guy even let me try a toboggan for the first time in years. (I’m 24 and sound so old.) It’s obviously below freezing, but the air felt oddly warm, comfortable enough to be outside for hours. If we’re stuck with winter, this is how it should be.

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_C1_7645I hope winter’s bringing you some fun.

Thanks for looking,

Dan

The One Rule

_C1_6593Skateboarding, foosball, bowling, Ultimate — this was a weekend of games.

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_C1_6591For 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.

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_C1_6714By 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.

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_C1_6759Sunday was way too windy for Ultimate, but life has its windy days, too, am I right?

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_C1_6856Thanks for spending a moment here,

Dan

Cold Light

_C1_5524The 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.

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_C1_5616The 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.

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_C1_5634A full Moon, a comet and Jupiter are above us tonight. I wish I could do them justice with the equipment I have.

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_C1_5654This 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:

_C1_5655It’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

Ultimate

_C1_8439If 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.

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_C1_8567I 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.

Thanks for looking!

Dan