Family

So in coming to UCI, I was pretty much a loner. I screwed up my dorming application process, and ended up just renting a room from a family and biking to campus during my first and second year at Irvine.

Since I was essentially a commuter, I really didn't make any lasting friendships since a majority of my classes had a large number of students in it, making it more difficult to make friends. All the people I met during class pretty much went their own ways after the quarter was over.

Sometime near the end of the first quarter, or the beginning of the second quarter of my first year, my high school friend Ciarra suggested that I check out the Ultimate club on campus. I had heard about Ultimate during high school, and played it once during one of my cross-country practices, and it definitely interested me.

The first practice I went to set a nice impression on me. The people seemed quite friendly (the first person I met and remembered was Allen), and they were playing a sport that I held interest in. I continued to come out to most of the practices, but the friends I made there were only friends to me in the context of the sport itself. I never hung out with them outside of practice, after-practice dinners, or tournaments, and I kept them separate from school. I was still a loner though, simply staying confined to my place by myself when I was not schooling or playing Ultimate.

My loner status began to change during the summer after my first year. It ended up I was taking the exact same summer classes as a silly guy by the name of Scott Roeder. I hung out with him, did homework with him, and threw in the park with him throughout the summer. I got to know him better, and I began to change my mentality towards the Club. When I first joined, I was just hoping for recreation and fun in playing the game of Ultimate. This eventually changed into wanting to step up my game and become more competitive. I believe the reason for this is because of the friendship I developed with Roeder. It was a friendship that wan't strictly in the context of Ultimate, spilling into the rest of my college life (which was pretty much boring ass). This, along with the fact he is also a good Ultimate player was the first crack in the stone for me.

The following year, I slowly began to open myself up and go to their parties. I started eating lunch or throwing on campus with them. During the winter we had a little Ultimate ski retreat at Tahoe, and we crashed at Allen's cabin over there. This is where the Irvine Mafia was essentially born, and I'm very glad I was apart of it. Ultimate had become my friend. Actually, this statement isn't so accurate, but I didn't realize this until the team banquet.

I'm sorry for being corny, but Ultimate, and all the awesome people that are apart of it, had become my family. It was at the team banquet that I realized if anyone on my team ever needed help, I would gladly offer myself. It was also at the team banquet that it struck me how much I would miss the graduating punks (Allen, Steve, Sam, Jerry, Khosh) and how sad I was that I hadn't opened up to them during my first year. I believe I have developed many life-long friendships with members of the Ultimate team, and hope to strengthen those bonds with those that are still around next year, and maintain those bonds with the punks who have left. I'm no longer a loner, suckers!!