Tuesday November 16, 2010, Austin Texas.

I’m writing this from the sunny deck of Mr. Mark Zupan’s house. It’s coming into winter but I’m wearing a t-shirt and shorts. There is a slight nip in the breeze but the sun is in its full glory with not a cloud in the sky, a typical Texas day.

I arrived into Austin just after lunch yesterday and the weight of a big weekend was hanging over me, I was dead tired. It wasn’t long before I was settled in and starting to look forward to my next 7 months of living here. As a young fella of 18, when I first played a season here in the States, these sorts of decisions to move your life to another country come easy but now that I’m 33 there is an air of nervousness and I have to admit I’m a little scared. Scared of what I’m not sure of but at 33 all my friends are married, have jobs and are living the model life. Its something I envy about them and I guess feel sad that I haven’t reached that point. I mean is this what 33 year olds do, pack up their troubles in the ole kit bag and get outate dodge. Well for me I have convinced myself that this is what I need to do to make me happy. I know one day I’ll settle down with my dream girl and do the family thing but for now its time to be selfish and have some fun.

So why do I feel guilty for doing this???? Everyone I know is either working their asses off trying to make a living and here I am goofing off around the world. I’m sure this feeling will pass, as deep down I know if I don’t do this it will eat away at me and sabotage any attempt to settle in the future. I do want to settle, one day, but I have this urge and if its not satisfied then I will be chasing the feeling of fulfilment until it has.

Zupan’s house is amazing. No one I know in either NZ or Oz could afford anything like this yet in Austin it isn’t unaffordable. He paid a modest price for this place the moment I walked in the door I felt like I was home. For a start, it’s massive. 4 bedrooms, bar, pool table, huge deck, back yard, massive kitchen. It’s just awesome. It makes a huge change from the shitty little hovel I’ve just come from in Auckland. This is how I would like to live.

We can do a 10 mile circuit in our chairs right from his house, its close to 6^th st which is the party street in downtown Austin, it’s a good neighbourhood and yeah its cool.

The weekend just gone was full of adventure.

I flew into San Diego on the Thursday afternoon and had my first game Friday lunchtime. We were never going to set the world on fire having not played with each other in a long long time but we did well against the team from London, Ontario. We lost by one on the buzzer. The next game was a lot tougher and by this time the heat and jet lag proved too much for me and we got a whooping. That’s not to say we weren’t close at times, in fact we were within 1 point but they blew us apart in the last quarter. I won’t bore you with the next 3 games as we won them all and came 5^th to finish the tournament. Lots to work on but I know I have made a good decision to come to this team. We will be a top 4 contender come Nationals in April.

The biggest highlight of the weekend was meeting up with my mate whom I have known since we were 5 years old. He has known me longer than anyone. We haven’t kept in contact much but through facebook I orgsnised a surprise meeting via his pregnant wife, Shanti. She told him that on Saturday they were off to see some rugby. Little did he know it would be wheelchair rugby. The look on his face was priceless. We got him.

On the Sunday once we had finished playing we met up with Zupan’s high school friend, Murph. Zup has a group of mates whom he calls the retards or the idiots. These guys are everything you would expect from a group of lads labelled with such a name. I’ve met a few of em and Murph was a classic – hypo, ginger (with a smoking hot, younger wife), loud, big drinker and funny as a funny fulla. Needless to say we had a great time.  

We started the night off at the Lahaina Beach bar. A bar on the boardwalk at Pacific Beach. It was just a small bar but it had a massive deck. This deck was full of the typical San Diegoites – good looking, tanned, wearing not much, having a great time. Yup there was no better place to be. The waitress mucked our order up but she still managed to pull a $10 tip from us cause she was so hot. Anyway the main reason for going to this place was the sunset. One of the best I’ve seen. I had to pinch myself as I sat there taking in where I was and whom I was with. It was surreal and it was only 5 o’clock. 

After that we took a drive down the coast, edging ever closer to Mexico, to Murph’s mates place. Now I hope I can do this justice….Sean’s house was atop a massive hill overlooking San Diego. The house equally matched the stunning vista.  I thought I was visiting a mega celebrity. This house would’ve suited Vinnie Chase and the boys from Entourage nicely. Sean’s wife had meatballs and spaghetti ready for us when we got there and we had a great night of drinking beer and watching football and talking shit. For the 2^nd time that night I had to pinch myself. Was this real….well the hangover the next morning reminded me that yes this is real

I haven’t got much planned this week. A tournament in Houston this weekend coupled with a John Butler Trio concert on Saturday night and that’s about it. I fly home on Monday for 10 days then off to Japan.

Peace and love to you all.

CP