FLIP + CHING

Fall 2021 Mixed Leagues

Posted on November 10, 2021 by Ching under Hobbies.

I had the privilege of playing in two really awesome mixed leagues this past session. I got to play in the Tuesday night mixed competitive league at Chicken N Pickle with my friend Jamie Lynch and also the Monday night 4.0+ mixed league at Nahola with my friend Ian Carr.

My new friend Tony Mathews was supposed to play in the Chicken N Pickle league with me but his work schedule shifted before the league began. The most disappointing part of this was that we were really looking forward to playing together. I even invested in a couple of team shirts.

Tony is the first partner I’ve ever invited to play with me who’s been completely engaged from the beginning. He picked our team name — Wonton Typhoon — and helped design the shirt graphic, and yet he didn’t even get to play. None of my other partners have ever cared what we called our team or cared what the shirts looked like. I basically just gave them a shirt to wear and that was that.

I came up with a draft design of our shirts based on the team name that he came up with and, much to my surprise, he was like, “Do I get to see the design?”

It was fine with me but unexpected because no one has ever cared before. After seeing the shirt graphic he wanted to add some Chinese to-go boxes with our names underneath them. Then he wanted the graphic on the back instead of the front. And he didn’t really want the to-go boxes as part of the graphic. So we took it out but left the one on the front left chest. He also wanted to use a specific font that was more like an Asian font instead of just a basic, regular font. There was a lot of back and forth and reworking of the design before he approved it.

This is the first draft of our team t-shirt design collaboration based on the feedback he provided.

This is the final result of our design collaboration.

Here’s a close up of the to-go box and name on the front. Mine says “Ching-a-Ling” and his says “Daniel-San” (his middle name).

But it didn’t end there. For the first version of the shirt, I forgot to confirm the size of the main image on the back so it ended up being too small. Tony wanted it as big as possible so then I asked Nicole to make another version with the design as big as she could possibly make it on the back.

So now I had two versions of this shirt which didn’t even work out because the shirts turned out to be too big. I ordered shirts based on the size he told me to get but the shirts run big so then I ordered a smaller shirt and got another made. While I’m waiting for the third shirt, I find out that his schedule has changed and he can’t even play. So now I had three extra men’s shirts that I couldn’t use.

As the league session is about to begin, I am now without a mixed partner but, as luck would have it, my friend Jamie agreed to play with me. Jamie is an amazing pickleball player and an excellent mixed doubles partner so this actually worked out great. I could not have gotten a better last minute mixed doubles partner.

The only downside is that Jamie has an aversion for matching outfits so I really didn’t know what to do with the shirts. I gave the correctly sized one to Tony and then I just had these other two shirts hanging around. I was still hopeful that one day I would get to play with someone who would not only fit in the shirts but also be willing to wear them.

I still wore my shirts every week that we played, even though my partner didn’t want to wear his. Anyway, I wasn’t too concerned about not having matching outfits because Jamie was an excellent mixed doubles partner in every sense which totally made up him not wanting to wear the shirts.

Jamie is so good that, for the first time in a long time, I was part of the #1 seed team going into league tournament night. We played two matches each week for six weeks and the league tournament was held on the seventh and final week. We only had two losses during the entire session — against Dropping L’s (Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance) and against Steve and Jen (Jen Tiano and Steve Vetter) — which was the best record of all the teams. The #2 seed team — Volley Llamas (Jen Reifschneider and Ian Carr) — had three losses. However, Jamie and I really only lost one match together that league session because the loss to Steve and Jen happened the week that Darren Snyder subbed for him.

Here are the team standings for our league leading up to tournament night.

#1 – Wonton Typhoon (my team)
#2 – Volley Llamas (Jen Reifschneider and Ian Carr)
#3 – Steve and Jen (Jen Tiano and Steve Vetter)
#4 – J & S (Jenny Cole and Scott Wolford)
#5 – Conmans (Kim Blackmon and Matt Conrad)
#5 – Dropping L’s (Tiffany and Donnie Lesperance)
#6 – K & M (Kim Knotts and Michael Harris)
#7 – Chudley Cannons (Rachel McMahon and Kyle Long)
#8 – Watch Out (Erica Lopez and Zach Nguyen)
#9 – Shake and Bake (Amy Poynter and Ryan Kellenbarger)
#10 – Pickle Busters (Dawn Hazelwood and Caesar Naftzger)

I felt like Jamie and I had a really good shot at winning the league tournament this session but he was out of town on league tournament night. I got Matthew Rochat to sub for him. He was an excellent sub and as an added bonus the two shirts I had lying around actually fit him.

I wish there was a prize for best dressed team because we looked so legit in our matching outfits! Besides our dope team uniforms, we actually played really well together despite it being our first time ever playing together in a competitive setting. Maybe the matching outfits helped?

We didn’t win but Wonton Typhoon did pretty well.

Being the #1 seed, our team had a first round bye. We on our first match comfortably against Watch Out who defeated Chudley Cannons. Our next match was against Steve and Jen. They are one of the toughest teams in the league because Steve is probably hands down the best male player in the group but we Jamie and I can usually beat them. Even though Jamie isn’t the best male player, I think he understands how to play mixed better than any of the other guys in our league with the exception of Donnie. I really needed Jamie that night.

Matthew is a great player but mixed doubles is not his forte. I had to keep encouraging him to poach and also complimenting him on good poaches all night long so that he would continue to do it because he doesn’t like to poach and feels bad whenever he does. And, to win at mixed, it’s all about the poaching and put-aways. My super awesome setups are often wasted when I play with a partner who can’t capitalize on them.

That loss put us in the consolation bracket where we had to face off against Volley Llamas who had an amazing win against Conmans so they were still riding high from that. Jen and Ian are also a super tough team because they’ve been playing together a lot and have actually won some tournaments together but they’re also beatable when I am playing with Jamie. Perhaps he is really that good but I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he knows what balls to give me and what balls to take. Not having as much experience playing with Matthew definitely put us at a disadvantage. We ended up losing that match which ended our tournament run.

Here’s a link to the tournament livestream. We didn’t get all of the matches because we could only stream one court but we did get five hours of tournament footage.

Not making the finals when you are the #1 seed is disappointing but I was very happy with how we played overall. I think Matthew and I gelled pretty well as a team. We had good communication and, although he could have been more aggressive with the poaching, I was satisfied with how much he took vs. how much he let me play. I told him not to feel bad about our losses because these teams have been playing together for a very long time. We actually performed quite well for not practicing and not having played together at all. If we had a little bit of practice together, I have no doubt that we could beat all of those teams without even breaking a sweat. I’m not one to exaggerate so you know I truly believe this. With a little bit of time investment, I think we could be a serious contender in the mixed competitive leagues.

The other mixed league I got to play in this session was the Monday night 4.0+ mixed league at Nahola. I signed up for that league not knowing that I needed a partner. Thankfully, I ran into Ian during Friday night open play two days before the start of league and he happened to be available. It was great playing with Ian because he is an excellent mixed partner but the downside of this is that he got be really familiar with my game (more specifically my weaknesses) which he then could turn around and use against me on the Tuesday night league when he is playing with his normal partner, Jen.

That league was also full of talented pickleball players. There were seven teams, listed below in no particular order.

Kayla Keuter and Gary Miller
Kim Knotts and Daniel Nguyen
Greta Siemens and Bryant Hart
Colby Fugit and Ben Meyer
Heather Griffin and Chris Wilson
Melissa and Brent Youngers
and then me and Ian Carr

The league at Nahola is fun but, since there are only two courts there, you only play one game to 11 instead of playing full matches. You do get to play several games in one night though but, if you lose the game, you don’t get a crack at them again until the following week. It is also only one game to 11 on tournament night so you don’t really have time to make adjustments. If you can’t adjust mid-game, you’re pretty much hosed. That’s typically me because I play like a cruise ship — slow and steady and unable to make a quick 180. It takes me several points and sometimes an entire game to course-correct.

Tournament night on Monday was a bit disappointing because two of the seven teams were missing. Melissa/Brent and Colby/Ben weren’t there. We basically just did a round robin followed by a single elimination bracket. It was kind of anti-climactic. I would have much rather skipped the round robin and did a best 2 out of 3 games to 11 single elimination (or double elimination, if time allowed). I couldn’t really get in the mood for it because it didn’t feel like a real tournament. It felt like just another day playing rec ball. Anyway, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

The next round of Monday night mixed league at Nahola is for 4.5+ so I’m not sure if I can get in it but we did start another session at Chicken N Pickle. Jamie is playing in men’s competitive on Wednesday night this session which left me without a partner for Tuesday night mixed. However, Colby reached out to me a few days ago about taking her spot and playing with Dustin. She will probably return next session when she’s feeling better.

This session at Chicken N Pickle is only five weeks long. Last night was our first night and Dustin and I, playing as Designated Dinkers, are off to a great start. We beat Ian and Jen (Volley Llamas) in 2 straight games and we also beat Steve and Jen in 2 straight games. It was a great league night overall.

I still have several things I need to work on but I have killer defense and, when my third shot drops are on, they’re good for some free points. We did get some free points on my serve too, which is unusual because there is absolutely nothing special about my serve. I think the other teams were probably having an off night. Off night or not, it’s good to get those matches out of the way and come out unscathed. I think I’m finally getting the hang of this pickleball thing!

Until next time. GNG.

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Wild Lights at the Zoo

Posted on November 8, 2021 by Ching under Date Ideas, Things to Do.

Over the last couple of years, Brian and I have opted out of the whole handing out candy on Halloween night. When we first moved into our neighborhood, we were so excited. We would have buckets of candy to give away only to have a handful of trick or treaters. It never failed that we would find year old candy in our pantry from the previous Halloween that we would just throw away because, even though we fully intended to consume the candy in the coming weeks or months, we would inevitably just forget all about them only to find them months or sometimes years later. It just seemed so wasteful.

Our neighborhood just doesn’t get enough trick or treaters because it’s not as cool as College Hill where they have several streets of homes with super elaborate Halloween decorations. So we decided over the last few years to just turn off all our lights and opt out of the whole thing. Typically, we would hide in our basement and watch movies all night.

This year I decided we should do something different. I purchased tickets for us to see Wild Lights at the Sedgwick County Zoo. Some of my friends had gone and posted really cool pictures on Facebook and so I thought it would be fun for Brian and I to check out. I figured Halloween night would be perfect because then maybe it wouldn’t be quite as busy as a normal evening.

Here are some of our favorite pictures from that outing.

We tried to take pictures of everything so it’ll feel like you were there with us too. I hope you all get a chance to check out this exhibit, though. It is pretty neat.

Until next time. GNG.

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Low Key Birthday Weekend

Posted on November 4, 2021 by Ching under Confessions, Life, Movies.

I’ve been feeling a bit down lately and so I haven’t really been my usual jubilant self. This translated into a pretty low key birthday — unlike previous years when I’m celebrating my birthday every single day of the month for three months straight until the end of the year. It’s just weird. Maybe this is what a mid-life crisis feels like? Anyway, I’m trying to be as normal as possible despite not feeling completely like myself. It might be time for therapy again. I haven’t done anything because it’s not really negatively impacting my health and those around me but I do feel strange so perhaps I should do something about it?

But I digress, in an effort to be normal, we decided to have people over last weekend. As you know, my birthday usually falls on Halloween weekend so, whenever we have a get together around the time of my birthday, costumes are usually encouraged. I love costumes but I’m not one to go all out either so I try to keep things as simple as possible while still trying to be clever. One year I was little too clever with my “domestic goddess” costume idea I kept having to explain to people what I was dressed as all evening.

This year, no one understood what I was — yet again — so I ended up renting 13 Going On 30 for $4 just so people would see “the dress.” I was supposed to be Jenna Rink (Jennifer Garner) and Brian was supposed to be Mattie (Mark Ruffalo), which is a super easy costume for him since it’s just jeans and a button-down shirt. Brian has outgrown the whole costume thing and doesn’t really like dressing up for Halloween anymore. Not sure he ever really enjoyed it, though he seemed to a long, long time ago. Maybe we are just old and not fun anymore?

Speaking of the movie, I rented it so I actually sat there and watched some of it. It came out almost 20 years ago (2004) so I didn’t remember much of it except for the iconic scenes. I really enjoyed watching it again and it even made me cry in parts. And, no, it’s not because I’m depressed. Movies have always made me cry — even the ones that are supposed to be funny. I’m not exactly sure why.

Here’s a preview of the movie for those of you who have never seen it.

So yeah, it’s a romcom (aka romantic comedy) and not a drama but I still cried. But There’s Something About Mary made me cry too; as did Shrek and a bunch of other movies. I think I’ve yet to watch a movie that didn’t make me cry or move me in some way. Even stupid movies make me cry. Maybe in those situations it’s because I’ve lost two hours of my life I will never get back. I don’t know. I’ll pay better attention next time and try to figure out exactly what is going on and why my face is suddenly wet with teardrops.

At the risk of ruining the movie for you, it’s a happy ending. She comes to her senses, rewrites her future, and marries her best friend. I actually really like this movie. It had enough funny parts to keep me entertained. It’s cute and, even though I’d seen it before, it still made me cry. Happy endings always make me cry.

I sometimes wonder if happy endings make me cry because I don’t understand how it’s always the most mundane things that supposedly bring people happiness. The ending showed them moving into a pink house in the suburbs and it looked like she might have turned out to be a school teacher or maybe a housewife and not a big time magazine editor with a fancy New York apartment. Maybe I cried because even though she had everything she’d ever wanted in her alternate life, she ended up hating herself and wasn’t happy? Once she realized what she had become, she decided she didn’t like herself very much, and I guess I didn’t understand it. I mean, it’s entirely possible to have everything you want and not hate yourself. Why couldn’t she be a big time magazine editor with a fancy New York apartment AND still marry her best friend? I guess that wouldn’t make for a very dramatic movie but it makes me sad that you can’t have both.

Anyway, I forgot that the whole alternate future thing happens while she’s in the closet at her birthday party so I thought it was perfect that I watched the movie on my actual birthday. Maybe it’ll start an annual tradition of watching it every year on my birthday just to remind myself of what happiness looks like because I tend to forget sometimes. Until next time, GNG.

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Birthday Lunch with Mom and Dad

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Ching under Family, Food and Drink.

Had a nice birthday lunch with mom and dad on Saturday at P.F. Chang’s. It was just going to be only me and Brian at first because we had to go to the store for a few things before the get together at our house but mom and dad happened to be available. We owed mom a birthday lunch and we owed dad a lot for helping Brian with the electrical work in the basement storage room.

Mom got me a present and the birthday card had a hair clip.

The shirt she got me is absolutely perfect but it will probably turn into a tank top.

Here are some pictures of our food.

We started with the starter sampler which had perfect portions of everything for the four of us. We got four of each of our favorite appetizers — egg rolls, crab wontons, pan-fried pork dumplings — and a handful of edamame.

The crab wontons are still my favorite.

Mom enjoyed her coconut mojito.

Brian decided to try the orange chicken instead of getting his usual Chang’s spicy chicken. It was okay but both agreed we still like the Chang’s spicy chicken better.

Mongolian beef and eggplant. It’s our most favorite dish that’s not even on the menu. I mean it is but the Mongolian beef doesn’t usually come with eggplant. I ask them to add substitute it for the green onions.

We shared a great wall of chocolate and vanilla ice cream for dessert. It was perfect because it’s hard to eat an entire slice of that chocolate cake by yourself. Even with the four of us helping (well, maybe mostly me), we couldn’t finish the cake.

The four of us had a lovely lunch.

The best part is always the fortune cookies at the end. Our server gave each of us a fortune cookie instead of just putting all four of them in a pile in the middle so in a sense she picked our fortunes for us.

Dad got a typical cryptic one. I wonder what truth he will discover.

Mom’s is actually fitting because I have no doubt that she will master pickleball (her new hobby in the coming years).

Brian is convinced he got the wrong fortune cookie and this was meant to be for me. He would never describe himself as an optimist and, frankly, neither would I. LOL.

Lastly, my fortune cookie tells me that others will seek my talents in the coming months. I’m a woman of many talents so I’m not sure which specific talent this is referring to. I hope that, in addition to seeking my talents, the people seeking my talents are willing to pay me for my services as well. It would be nice to be able to do something with my talents like make a little money on the side, if not actually make a living. One can dream. Until next time. GNG.

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2021 Tallgrass Film Festival

Posted on October 27, 2021 by Ching under Events.

I was super excited for Tallgrass Film Festival this year because in person events were back. Last year it was all virtual and I couldn’t figure out how to watch the movies online. This year, they had both in person and virtual and I was determined to take advantage of both channels. This is also the first year that I got a second Tallpass. Usually, work only gives me one pass so I have to purchase a separate pass/ticket for Brian (or get one through my sister who was working for Tallgrass Film Association on the side). Jenni didn’t work for them this year so she actually had to buy her own Tallpass as well. Knowing this, I asked my work for a second Tallpass for Brian if there were any extras or if someone at work who was offered a Tallpassed happened to not want theirs. I guess fortune favors the bold because my work gave me two Tallpasses. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

In the past, I’ve usually gone to one or two movies at most and maybe one of the film gala parties on the weekend. It’s not really making the most of my Tallpass but since I’ve only ever had one, I’ve never been that gung-ho about going. This year, since Brian and I both had Tallpasses, I wanted to make the most of our experience. We tried to hit as many movies and parties as our schedules would allow which, considering our schedules, still wasn’t very much but we actually got great use of our Tallpasses this year.

We missed the Wednesday night festivities (FREE showing of Shrek at Naftzger Park and VIP reception before the screening) because I always have Aqua Zumba (at VASA Georgetown/Harry location) followed by late night pickleball (at Riverside Tennis Center). I didn’t know about it until that day so it was too late for me to change my plans. Brian and I did manage to coordinate our schedules so that we could attend the gala party at Botanica on Thursday night, though.

He ended his gaming early and picked me up at Riverside (so I wouldn’t have to drive all the way back home to drive all the way back downtown — Botanica is like five minutes from Riverside Tennis Center) and then we both went to Botanica in his car. After the party, we swung back by RTC to pick up my car and then drove home separately. The plan was efficient and worked out great.

Here are some fun pics from Thursday night.

DJ Carbon was there. I also ran into my friend Teresa Veazey from #LeadershipWichita and some friends from pickleball. We didn’t stay at the party late because it was a weeknight and, although Brian was off the next day, I was not. We did plan to attend the VIP breakfast at the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University but decided to change our minds last minute. Instead, we used the time to check out the Tallgrass Film Festival VIP Lounge.

I’d never gone in there before and clearly I’ve been missing out. They have snacks and drinks in there pretty much all day long, there’s a photo booth, and lots of swag. They even feed you lunch (which we didn’t stay for because I had to go back to work) and host a happy hour from 3-5 pm in the afternoon. I’m not sure if the schedule changes daily but that’s what they had posted that morning when we stopped by. I’m thinking in the future, if we do this again, I’m totally taking time off work to get the full experience.

There was an awesome party on 1st Street by the Orpheum on Friday night. Brian didn’t want to go because he was streaming but I stopped by on my way home from pickleball. The food and drinks were plentiful, there was a DJ spinning music (not Carbon), and they even had fire dancers on the street. It was really neat. I really wish Brian would have gone with me because Jenni decided to skip the party, and it’s definitely not as fun going to these things by yourself.

On Saturday we carved out some time to attend TFF events in the afternoon. We went to Groover Labs for the EPA Reception (free food – LOL). Lunch was pretty good! Then it was off to Orpheum to watch Poser.

Went home to take care of Saki and then went back out to catch another movie. We were going to see Shaft but decided to watch one of the indie films instead so we went to watch Adventures in Success at Mama Films next to the VIP Lounge. The movie was weird and disjointed. I’m pretty open minded but I really didn’t like this one. The silver lining is, since we cut through the VIP Lounge, we got to take some fun photo booth pics.

The reception on Saturday night was at the WAVE, an outdoor concert venue downtown. We ran into Will, who I know both through Brian (they used to work together at Viega) and also pickleball. We sat and visited a while and mused at the fact that the awards ceremony is much cooler when it is held at the Orpheum. Hopefully they’ll go back to that next year.

I was not a huge fan of the WAVE party because there was no free event food (besides popcorn and candy) and the drinks were limited. I know some people go to these parties to rub elbows with other pretentious hipsters but I mostly go for the free food and booze. LOL.

Brian and I weren’t fans of the boxed wine they were serving so Brian and I took off early (Brian wanted to drink his own, better wine at home). Jenni was thrilled that we gave her our extra drink tickets.

We ended up staying up all night watching Dune — because Brian had been anxiously awaiting its release. Of course, he couldn’t get over how they were pronouncing the word “Harkonnen” so I had to listen to him complain about it. Come to find out, this version actually pronounces it right (consistent with the author’s pronunciation) and it’s the 1984 David Lynch movie that got it wrong. Brian still can’t accept it.

I still have my Aqua Zumba classes that I’m teaching in the morning so we’re just squeezing in activities in between obligations. I actually overbooked on Sunday because we schedule a pickleball cookout so we couldn’t watch any movies. The ironic thing is we had Cargill burgers at the pickleball cookout and Cargill burgers again at the Tallgrass Film Festival closing party at Old Cowtown Museum. I’m pretty sure they’re the same burgers because Cargill is an event sponsor and probably donated the meat.

Here are some of the pics we took at Cowtown…

You couldn’t go inside most of the buildings (except for the Empire House Theater, where the party was held, and the outhouses) but it was kind of fun having run of the place. We didn’t have to fight a ton of people for pics.

I actually had to take a picture of this sign outside the restroom. I was worried it was an actual “exhibit” and we weren’t supposed to use it. Thankfully, it’s an actual restroom with running water and plumbing that works. I think the sign is just to limit the number of people inside for COVID reasons.