F - Field Hockey

Field Hockey: thing, sport

I never would've been involved in field hockey if I'd been a better trumpet player.

I first encountered field hockey while I was in Bangor, Wales in 1999. I was a bit confused reading the literature for University of North Wales, Bangor when it said that their Mens' Hockey team was some sort of champion, since, to Me, as a Minnesotan, Hockey means Ice Hockey. I almost considered bringing my skates with me.

One of the girls that lived in my corridor was a goalie for the Womens' team, and I went and watched a practice (and also went out with the team afterward). I didnt' understand anything about the sport, other than I thought that it was unfair to lefties that you could only hold the stick right handed.

At the beginning of my senior year of college there were a number of talented Freshman trumpet players. This meant that Jazz band actually held audtions, which meant that I, as a not-so great trumpet player, had some free time fall term. At the club fair I saw some people, including my friend Eddie, hitting around with field hockey stuff. Since Carleton's team was student-coached, co-ed, club, I figured I'd give it a shot to fill the time that Jazz Band was no longer taking up.

I wasn't all that good, but it was a lot of fun. We practiced 2-3 times per week, and, every Saturday, played against a club team from the Twin Cities that was a mixture of old and young American, British, Kenyan and Pakistani men and women. Because I wasn't all that athletic, they put me at defense, which I hated, but through a turn of events, I ended up at forward during a game at a tournament in Chicago and got an assist on a goal that gave us our first win in a few years, and then scored and assisted again in the next game. We had a winning record in the tournament for the first time ever. They let me play forward after that.

Field Hockey was also really fun for the social aspects of it. That's all I'll say here. At our team banquet, I ended up getting the "Rookie of the Year" award (though all of our awards were silly. Mine was a cherry made of construction paper, plus something else).

Fast forward a few years to my Maryland life. Field Hockey actually exists out here, and through a series of events, I became the Junior Varsity coach at my school, and I can honestly say it is my most favorite part of being here. Despite a long string of not very succesful seasons, I still get excited every time we take the field.

F - Friends (tv)

Friends: thing, javascript:void(0)tv show

Initially I didn't like the show "Friends". This was based on about 2 minutes that I had seen where Ross seemed annoying to me in the same way that Kramer was annoying on Seinfeld (which I hate). So I decided that I didn't like it. Then I saw the episode after the Superbowl the first season, and decided maybe it wasn't so terrible. Also I thought that Jennifer Aniston was pretty hot.

I'm glad I changed my mind, because it turned out to be a pretty fun show. Even if it went down-hill a bit after the London Wedding episode. Chandler got less funny with Monica, and Ross totally messed up when he didn't marry the really hot British Woman Named Emily. It was still a good show after all that though.

SEE ALSO: TV, warped perception of reality, accents, quotability

F - Football

Football: thing, sport

I'm not really a football fan. I'll root for the Vikings, provided that they are 1: Favre-less, and 2: winning, but beyond that I don't really care that much. The games are too long (especially the ending), I hate when they "take a knee", and the season is too short. Being only 16 games long, and only once a week means that when a team loses, the fans have to be grumpy for an entire week, and that the newspapers talk about the same crap for an entire week. Short seasons also mean that more is riding on each game, which means fans get even pissier when teams lose.

Throwing and catching a football, however, is pretty fun, though I'm not good at either. (despite a few miraculous and status-elevating catches in my middle-school gym/IM career).

SEE ALSO: intramurals, mud, boredom,

F - Fingers

Fingers: thing, body part

I was once told that I had "Neanderthal Figures," and it stung. They aren't that stubby, and the knuckles aren't that hairy, but I secretly wish that I had longer, more dextrous (or more sinister) fingers, and I'm jealous of people that have them. I feel like I'd be better at guitar, bass, trumpet, etc. with better fingers, though I make do with what I've got.

I enjoy playing finger-picked guitar (on nylon strings), I think I'm probably better at that than any other kind of guitar playing (which isn't saying much), but it's hard to play real classical pieces, or things I don't make up on my own. I like playing "Blackbird" at bluegrass speed (sorry, Beatles purists). My fingers aren't good for piano playing.

SEE ALSO: Glasses, mittens,

F - Fmaj7

Fmaj7: thing, guitar chord

F major 7 is probably my favorite overall chord. I like Major 7 chords in general, but F is the best for a variety of reasons. It spells a word (FACE). It's fun to play on the guitar (13321x). It sounds nice with Am7 (Which is also a nice chord).

F - Frisbee

Frisbee: thing

I wasn't very good at throwing frisbees when I was younger. The college I went to treated Ultimate Frisbee like religion, so of course I had to be rebellious and be part of the 15% of the student body that didn't play organized Ultimate. I'll play it now though, but not seriously.

I have two glow-in-the-dark frisbees and I like them. one of them used to have a shiny red bomb on it, but some kids temporarily lost it in a lake and the sand wore it down.


SEE ALSO: Razor, Disc Golf, Carleton

F - French Horn

French Horn: thing

I played trumpet for most of my Middle/High School years. In my senior year, I decided that I wanted to learn French Horn. I signed up for Concert Band and borrowed a Horn from the school.

French Horn is hard, what with the hand in the bell and the thumb key and the conical-bore mouthpiece. There's even a book about it called Devil to Play. There are almost as many French Horn jokes as there are Viola jokes. (ex. "Q: How do you make a ______ sound like a French Horn? A: stick your hand in the bell and play wrong notes.). I wasn't very good at it, but it was a lot of fun. The dumb substitute orchestra teacher (part of being a horn meant having to play in orchestra) openly ridiculed us once.

Halfway through the year, Torm asked if I could switch to Horn in Wind Ensemble. I thought about it for a little bit and then decided that I could bail on the trumpet section, because percentage-wise, the French Horn section was the coolest in band (Pound for Pound the trombones were coolest). French Horn morning sectionals usually involved breakfast. It also meant a much larger instrument cubby.

French horns sound really cool when played really loudly, or when they get to make the whooping noises.

I haven't played the horn since I graduated.