February 23, 2009
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Life Update 02/23/09 – Sectional Tournament!
Tennis center at NavyWhat an eventful weekend for me! This past weekend, I was helping out the USTA with running the Mid-Atlantic Sectional tournament at the Naval Academy in Annapolis (click on link for the official article of this tournament). There was a lot of work involved, but in the end it was a very rewarding experience and felt like a vacation.
The USTA staff running the tournament, plus me!While I technically didn’t get paid for helping out, I did get to stay at an amazing hotel for free for two nights, as well as some other benefits like free food and tennis gifts.
Woohoo, king size bed all to myself! For some reason I thought it was funny that there was a complimentary Doritos bag on the stand for me haha.Besides helping out with setting up the matches between teams (18 freakin’ teams were there, the most of any year!) and tallying up scores, I was also the tournament stringer. I made a decent amount of money from doing that
. Ever seen someone string a racket? Here’s a couple of pictures of me working on one:
Clamping a string to hold the tension
Weaving a cross string I think?It’s really not that hard, but it’s not easy either. There’s an art to it for sure. So far, I haven’t had any complains about my string jobs in terms of string performance and accuracy. I’m still trying to improve on my speed though. I can string a racket at a pretty decent pace (around 25-30 minutes if I’m not distracted), but I hope one day I can be as fast as professional stringers on the pro tour (they can do it in about 15-20 minutes!). I’ll get there eventually!
I’m also glad I got to meet up and see a lot of old friends at the tournament, including my old club team and former varsity coach at my old college (who’s now coaching the Navy team):
Yep, that’s the same coach I made a silly tribute video for back in November (entry and video clip here)Besides some minor car troubles, having absolutely no phone signal at the facility, and abysmal food choices in that area, it was a pretty smooth weekend. If only I can run a tournament every weekend for a living! That would be sweet.
What’s next to look forward to now? Well, I just realized over this weekend that my birthday is coming up this Sunday. I haven’t planned anything for it yet though, and I’m not sure if I will (partly because I’m feeling lazy haha). I can’t believe I’m turning 23 0_0. I’m getting old!
Comments (48)
Happy Bday mang.
I look SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO short.
happy early birthday :]
you should do something anyhow.
and congrats on the tennis tourny :]
omg u 23!!! thats soooo old..jk xP
happy bday uncle…hahah
@Agent_Eric -
Thanks. I’m guessing you meant “man” right? haha
@d2H5b -
Hey, you’re the one who decided to stand next to two of the tallest people in the group!
@indiechaos -
Well, I am working in the morning of my birthday haha. That’s something right?
@s_h_a_sha -
It is pretty old! You’ll be that age someday soon too!
1. 23 is not old!
2. What’s your favorite kind of cake?
and 3. Where did you learn to do that? (String-ing?)
wow, haven’t been able to go on xanga for a good while, and when i come back, your turning 23….lol. time flies. Happy early birthday! (my birthday is this wed.! but i’m turning 20 not 23 hehehehe)
Any birthday wishes?
that looks really cool, i wanna learn how to string a racket!
my birthday is coming up on the fourth. whooo 18! xp
i feel young and old all at once.
Happy early birthday love. xD
you’re only….what, twentythree once. spend it well! lmao.
@AubbySilver -
Haha well it’s older than I feel. My favorite kind of cake? Well to be honest, none really because I’m technically allergic to cake =P. Pies on the otherhand…yum!
I sort of taught myself how to string a couple years ago, sometime soon after I broke up with a long term girlfriend. I wanted another hobby to pick up to distract myself, so stringing seem to be a good thing to do. Back then it took me over 2 hours just to do one racket! I was such a noob haha
@Lesonja -
Well happy birthday to you too! Ah, so you’re not gonna be a teenager anymore haha. How come you haven’t been on Xanga lately?
@BomCamChuoi -
Oh yea for sure, but nothing money can really buy. I’m sure you could probably guess at a couple of my wishes.
@PiscesPhishie -
Ah finally becoming legal I see! haha…yea, turning 18 has a lot going for it. Turning 23 does not give me anything new that I didn’t have before =P
glad you had fun. & 23 is nothing
go to Griffin’s Grille. that’s where we went for lunch on the second day and they had the best dessert so we’re going back next week after our Navy match lol. definitely not an abysmal food choice.
That stringing looks tedious, but it looks like it was fun.
@asdfghjkieu -
Nothing compare to turning 17 right?
@ch10n9 -
Damn, I should have tried that place out while I had the chance! I ended up just driving back home and eating Chipotle
@Simbathe2nd -
Oh yea, it can be quite tedious. I usually do most of my deep thinking when I’m stringing though, so time can pass by rather quickly.
@Roadlesstaken - nah not really. turning 17 is nothing compared to turning 21
@asdfghjkieu -
Yep, 18 and 21 are the best birthdays. Every other one is meh
so that’s where you were during the weekend! at least that was better than what i did, which was.. stay at my dorm and study for the psych midterm lol
happy early birthday!
@kc_sarah -
I wish I could run a tournament every weekend instead of work. I love doing it! Thanks for wishing me an early happy birthday.
haha I’ve never tried stringing rackets :]
@Roadlesstaken -
I think he meant mango! I think that’s gonna be your pet name! Hello Mango!
zomg! this blog was posted on the 23rd, you’re turning 23, and omg i am the 22nd commenter! (if you reply to me, then you’re 23!)
you should watch Jim Carrey’s psycho movie, 23. on your birthday. hehehe
@karmaprincesa -
Haha it would be fitting I would be the 23rd comment. I totally did not noticed I updated on the 23rd 0_0. It’s a sign!! I should watch that movie on my birthday; haven’t seen it yet but heard it wasn’t that good.
@Dylan_Disast3r -
You should learn one day. It will save you TONS of money since you won’t have to rely on others to string your racket for you. It adds up!
@BomCamChuoi -
…no, just no haha
@Roadlesstaken -
Oh Mango, Mango! Wherefore art thou Mango?
@BomCamChuoi -
STOP IT! If that nickname somehow catches on I’m gonna crush you!!
@Roadlesstaken -
Haha I knew it! You do have a crush on me!
@BomCamChuoi -
Oh you’re so going down, Charlie Brown style! (Before you ask no, I don’t know what that exactly mean haha)
@Roadlesstaken -
The comment in parentheses doesn’t make sense.
looks like you had lots of fun :]
@Roadlesstaken -
lol. you can pretend it has something new to give you. xp i’m sure if you think hard enough that you’ll think of something that you couldn’t do before until now. xp
Mine is coming in 100 days! Better start counting down!
Happy Early Birthday. I’m glad you were born. =)
yea you’re old XP lol i’m still young ^_^
@BomCamChuoi -
your face don’t make sense! Oh!
@B1ANCACACA -
I did, and I wanna do it again soon!
@Pearls_of_Trust -
You know, that has to be one of the best things anyone has told me *sniff sniff* Thanks!
@InlUvWiTuRsMiLe -
Hmm I don’t know about that….
@Roadlesstaken -
lol U’RE OLDER THAN ME BY LIKE 2 YEARS. that’s OLLDDDDD
@InlUvWiTuRsMiLe -
Psh 2 year difference is close enough. We’re practically the same age.
@Roadlesstaken -
no…we’re not lol XP sorry haha
@InlUvWiTuRsMiLe -
Ohh fine.
i didn’t think they allowed picture taking on campus at the Naval Academy…(had a friend graduate from there)…they are pretty strict about that stuff, hope no one catches this pic and deems it a security risk lol
@BranmacFeabhail -
Haha well those pictures were taken at the public sporting facility right outside the main base, so I guess that’s why the pictures weren’t a big deal. I’m sure I’ll be alright; I don’t think I took pictures of anything top secret, I think.
oh ok lol
Oh wow, I went to high school with two of those guys in the pic — Kevin and Marvin. Sorry, I just stumbled on to your page and couldn’t help reading your posts. I use to play tennis too.
@RiceDish -
Haha seriously? What a small world! I’m pretty good friends with both of them. We actually all just went out to eat today. When was the last time you talked with either one of those guys?
Hey, feel free to keep on reading. I don’t mind
@Roadlesstaken - I haven’t spoken to Marvin in ages but I write on Kevin’s Facebook Wall every now & then. I don’t live around MD or VA anymore so I don’t get to see a lot of my old friends. I hung out with Kevin in Ocean City last August when I visited my family.
@RiceDish -
Oh cool! Where do you live now? Kevin and Marvin don’t update their Xangas much, they occasionally put in to comment on my page here and there (Kevin commented on my most recent post btw).
@Roadlesstaken - I live in Illinois (an hour away from St. Louis). But I’ll be moving back to Okinawa, Japan in May and I’m really excited because that’s home to me. All of my friends no longer update their Xangas since MySpace and Facebook became all the rage. But I like to write so I created this new account to create a new slate. Do you go to UMBC with them?
@RiceDish -
yea, a lot of my friends left Xanga as well, but I stuck with it and I’ve found a second wind with this community. I actually just graduated last May from UMBC, but I may end up going to grad school at UMBC, depending on my job situation. Aw man, Japan is way up there on my list of places I wanna see. One day I’ll go visit.