It’s been a month and a half since my last post, and that time has been full of traveling, work, frisbee, and friends. This weekend will be my first in Paris since…March, maybe? CVPR in San Francisco was a blur due to a deadline smack in the middle, but we managed to finish, the paper got accepted, and I got to see my brother and his family for Father’s Day.

The weekend after we returned from California, we went to Grenoble, where Fredo did his studies, and visited with his best friend. Grenoble is gorgeous, this small valley tucked underneath the towering Alps, and there is tons of hiking and skiing close by. La Bastille overlooks the city from the north, and makes for a nice hike with pretty views. As it happened, a fanfare festival took place the weekend we were there, and so we went up Saturday night and listened to brass bands play far above Grenoble.

Back in Paris, we had a picnic by the Seine, a summer tradition that I have yet to do enough of this year. It’s always funny how the tourists come by on the Bateaux Mouches and take your picture. Fredo brought out the LEDs for light painting and we had a great time creating surreal images. (Nice Notre Dame in the background, too.)

The next weekend we left for Prague, where I played Worlds with YAKA, the French women’s team. Prague is a beautiful city, maybe even more beautiful than Paris, and I’d really like to go back and explore more. More pics here.

As for the championship, we finished 22nd, which is where we were seeded. A disappointment – there were at least two games that we should have won – but an incredible experience. I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to Worlds, or even Nationals, but if this is it then it wasn’t a bad way to go out.

I had one very bad night/morning of traveling; we got back to the apartment really late, the cat was unhappy, I had to get up at 5 am to go to Oxford and give a talk, and it was my birthday… It all worked out fine, I got some sleep on the train, but I ended up feeling pretty sick for 2-3 days with a classic summer cold. No pictures of Oxford, they’re on the other camera, but it’s beautiful and seems like a really cool place to go to school.

Back in Paris for essentially just the 14th of July, we planned a big picnic for watching the fireworks, but unfortunately it rained, hard, all day. Instead we went to Guillaume’s and had a nice potluck dinner; pictures here.

On the 15th we left for Chamonix’s wedding in New York. It took place in a beautiful penthouse overlooking the Empire State building, and Chamonix made a gorgeous bride. We also took the time to visit with Claire and Deirdre, good friends from Seattle who are about to get married. They have the cutest dog in the world, hands down.

We were chugging away on the Internet often, in search of an apartment. And I think everyone should know this by now, but I got a postdoc at MIT, in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences department; I’ll be doing object recognition. It’s for a year with an option to extend. My start date is September 20th. The plan is to go to ECCV in the beginning of September and then basically leave immediately after for Boston. After visiting New York, Fredo and I went to Boston for some work (for him) and essentially a full week of looking for apartments. And we found one! In Back Bay, just across the bridge from MIT, so still walking distance to work. Though I will need new boots (Emily…)

So after that marvelous success, we headed to Wildwood for the 10th anniversary of the Yellow Subs. Fredo took massive amounts of pictures, a selection of which can be found here. We played the 3-1 division and went undefeated, winning the tournament for the 5th time in 10 years! It was amazing to see my friends and play beach ultimate, and I’m really looking forward to living close to Emily again.

Until the big move, there’s a mechoui, a visit from Meredith, a frantic attempt to see all the things in Paris I’ve missed, French class, and (of course) work. Not to mention ECCV, in Crete – computer vision researchers do really know how to pick their conference locations. That’s the update, see you when I get back state-side!

1. Help Myself (Nous ne faisons que passer) by Gaëtan Roussel. I discover French pop by paying attention when the girls sing along to something in the minibus.
2. California Gurl by Katy Perry (Ft Snoop Dogg). I have a crush on her, though I don’t think she’s very talented.
3. Tell ‘Em by Sleigh Bells. Albums I love so far this year: The National, Jónsi, Sleigh Bells. Pretty different, too. If you hated Crown on the Ground (ahem, Fredo), you’re sure to detest this one as well. If you loved it, go buy the album!
4. XXXO Remix (Dirty)(Produced by Rieces Pieces) by M.I.A. Ft Jay Z. New M.I.A. out soon; this is no Paper Planes, but it’s very pop (for better or worse).
5. Tightrope (Featuring Big Boi) by Janelle Monae. She is damn good, best new hip-hop artist I’ve heard in years. I need to listen to more.
6. Non non non (Écouter Barbara) by Camélia Jordana. This is the non-winner-but-better-singer from Nouvelle Star, which is France’s American Idol. So, their Jennifer Hudson. Who almost made this mix as Glee made me really like that Dreamgirls song.
7. Airplanes Ft. Hayley Williams of Paramore by B.o.B.. OK, I realize this song is horrible. But this is a pop mix, and it is certainly very popular right now.
8. Dancing On My Own by Robyn. Swedish pop star, lyrics are sad, chorus is terribly catchy.
9. Despicable (Freestyle) by Eminem. This song isn’t on the album (it’s an overdub of a Drake song apparently) but Eminem is at his best when freestyling. This is E circa 1999, way better than all his singy stuff recently.
10. Drunk Girls by LCD Soundsystem. And now into the indie pop section. I was going to put on All I Want but I couldn’t call it pop with a straight face.
11. Living In America by DOM. It’s upbeat, so it qualifies.
12. Wait and See. by Diamond Rings. I don’t know this band at all but they’re “getting some buzz in the blogosphere”, to use a tired phrase. I like the song and I like the period at the end of the song title.
13. Dieu m’a donné la foi by Ophélie Winter. She’s pretty famous here, and blond and beautiful according to the Internet.
14. Open Your Heart by Madonna. You know that episode of Glee with all the Madonna songs? The mashup with Borderline and Open Your Heart made me realize that Open Your Heart is a much better song.
15. Defying Gravity (Glee Cast Version) by Glee. Let’s be honest, we’re all a little worried that Glee is only going to last one more season max. And frankly, the writers seem lost; after all the drama of Season 1 Part 1, Season 1 Part 2 was a little boring. Also Will’s wife was basically the best character ever. But we’ll always have the songs to buy, in $0.99 quantities immediately after the episode ends…[side note: Ben Lerner introduced me to this song 3 years ago and I'm tagging him to ask what do you think of the Glee version, and of Glee in general?]

Just a small update: work (as always) and travel and practice and dinners with friends are how I’ve been filling my days. I went to Su Wu’s wedding in North Carolina and saw bunches of friends, with a brief stop in Pittsburgh to visit Jessers, and last weekend went to the south of France with Fredo. He took lots of lovely photos, as always, which you can look at below:

Pittsburgh

North Carolina

Nice

More to come, eventually, and lots of trips await: Malta this weekend, London (tournament) next, then probably Dijon, then Amsterdam, then to the States for CVPR and my (too-big!) nieces, then Prague, then Chamonix’s wedding…and hopefully by July, it will be sunny and warm in Paris.

1. Go do by Jónsi
2. Rocket by Goldfrapp
3. I Am Not A Robot (Passion Pit Remix) by Marina and the Diamonds
4. Crave You by Flight Facilities
5. It’s Fun To Smoke Dust (Queen vs. Pastor Gary Greenwald vs. Midfield General) by Lobsterdust
6. Window Seat by Erykah Badu
7. Generator ^ Second Floor by Freelance Whales
8. All to All by Broken Social Scene
9. Something Good Can Work (Ted & Francis Remix) by Two Door Cinema Club
10. Pieces of You by Wolf Gang
11. Fixed by Stars
12. Afraid of Everyone by The National
13. Last Call by Elliott Smith
14. Boy Lilikoi by Jónsi
15. I Am Not A Robot by Marina and the Diamonds

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For more pictures, go here

La rue Broca n’est pas une rue comme les autres. Si vous prenez un plan de Paris, vous verrez – ou vous croirez voir – que la rue Pascal et la rue Broca coupent à angle droit le boulevard de Port-Royal. Si, confiants dans cette indication, vous prenez votre voiture et enfilez ledit boulevard en espérant tourner dans l’une ou l’autre de ces rues, vous pourrez cent fois de suite faire la navette entre l’Observatoire et les Gobelins vous ne les trouverez pas.

Cette rue est courbe, étroite, tortueuse et encaissée. De par l’anomalie spatiale que je viens de signaler, bien qu’à chacune de ses extrémités elle débouche sur Paris, elle n’est pas tout à fait Paris. Peu éloignée, mais sur un autre plan, souterraine en plein air, elle constitue, à elle seule, comme un petit village. Pour les gens qui l’habitent, cela crée un climat tout à fait spécial.

– Pierre Gripari, La socière de la rue Mouffetard

I was going to write this in French but I’m too tired. Two and half weeks to ECCV and it’s really nothing but work from here on out. So many disconnected thoughts…really looking forward to the latter part of March, all of April, and the long Parisian summer. Spring has begun arriving here, florists tempting me with tulip bulbs that Annemarie rightly points out are not likely to survive another cold freeze; and indeed, we ran together in bright sunshine on Saturday, and Sunday a bitter wind blew through the city and threatened to rip my flower boxes clear off the railing.

I bought peach blossoms from the very nice woman downstairs (that is, downstairs at work), who informed me that they come from Italy. Bought a vase-like device to put them in at Carrefour and brought them home. Put water in the vase and was in the midst of cutting the stems when Bird knocked it over, the better to lap up fresh water. Needless to say, he has performed this trick multiple times since, even though I no longer bother putting water in the vase. Sigh. They are pretty though, aren’t they? And he’s a handsome creature despite his evilness.

New mix for you, what I’ve been listening to lately, mainly lots of new music. Hot Chip just recently put out a great album, and I’ve been loving Mumford and Sons. Sort of cheesy lyrics but so honestly sung. The Yeasayer song is also quite addictive. Charlotte Gainsbourg is super famous here, and her album was well-received in the US. The first song is a duet with Beck. She’s the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, who duet on “Je t’aime…moi non plus”, which I had to include for completeness. Joanna Newsom is not an artist I’ve loved in the past, mainly because her voice is so weird, but I like this song quite a bit. The Elliott Smith song was in Up in the Air, a reminder of how much I love him.

Finally, Sia…well, if you’ve got that tight feeling in your chest, like you just have to cry but can’t, listen to this song and I guarantee release. Beautiful backing track to both the series finale of Six Feet Under and the best of Post Secret (which I came upon via so I saw this thing, shameless plug for a blog I contribute to). Enjoy!

1. Your Hands (Together) – The New Pornographers
2. I Feel Better – Hot Chip
3. White Blank Page – Mumford & Sons
4. Heaven Can Wait – Charlotte Gainsbourg
5. Madder Red – Yeasayer
6. Airplanes – Local Natives
7. Odessa – Caribou
8. Little Lion Man – Mumford & Sons
9. In the End – Charlotte Gainsbourg
10. Waves – Holly Miranda
11. Breathe Me – Sia
12. Angel In the Snow – Elliott Smith
13. Here Comes the Sun Again – M. Ward
14. Good Intentions Paving Company – Joanna Newsom
15. Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus – Serge Gainsbourg

Mon programme est vraiment plein. Je bosse, je vais à les entraînements physiques de Yaka, j´appelle aux Etats-Unis, je dors, mon chat me mord car je ne suis jamais chez moi. Après la date limite, c´est encore pire; presque tous les week-ends sont chargés. En avril, je vais aller à Paganello avec Yaka le premier week-end; ma mère vient le deuxième et on va aller au sud; il y a un stage avec Yaka à Paris le troisième; et au fin, on va jouer la coupe féminine. Le mois du mai commence avec un tournoi à Bruges, et puis je vais voyager aux Etats-Unis pour le mariage de mon amie Su*Wu (et pour le frisbee sur la plage à la Caroline du Nord). J´aimerais que je puisse aller dans toute la France les week-ends suivants, mais on verra.

Et il y a beaucoup choses à faire. Il ne reste pas beaucoup de temps avec Annemarie, donc on va déjeuner ensemble à un bon resto toutes les semaines. On peut-être prendrait un cours de cuisine ou un cours d’œnologie. Je voudrais faire du ski; j´aimerais rendre une visite à mes cousins à Lyon et à Dijon. Oui, ma vie est dure.

Anyway, the castle was redone by Napoleon III about 150 years ago, and it’s lovely, though a bit Disney-fied for my taste. I’m looking forward to seeing more châteaus this spring and summer. Suggestions welcome. Otherwise it’s work, frisbee, sleep for me until the ECCV deadline March 17.

Some pictures:

Parked illegally in front of castle

Castle entrance

By the frozen lake in town

Elisabeth

Witold and Elisabeth

Not in any global sense, of course. I am not old enough to be President of the United States. I am not as old as my mother was when she had me (although she’d had her first child by now). I still get carded on occasion, which I consider quite a compliment.

But this may be my last season of elite women’s ultimate.

I’ve been extremely lucky in that I’ve never had a serious injury in 12 years of high level play. This in spite of the fact that I am less mindful of my body’s condition than others – I’m very bad about stretching, I hate warmups, and I hate running in general so each winter I allow myself to get thoroughly out of shape. Over the past three years, what with going through a hard breakup, writing my dissertation, and moving to France, I’ve found myself in the worst shape of my life. (I think the low point was February 2009.)

And now, at 30, getting in shape and retaining it has become so much harder. I am quite measurably slower, in both endurance speed and quickness. Luckily our team has already begun the process of training for Prague, with nothing but track workouts twice a week (i.e., no frisbee) for the first two months of the year. This is already helping, of course. And I’m pretty excited to actually be in shape for Yaka – they’ve never seen me play anywhere near as well as I can. My play makes a difference, too, with this team, more so than with Viva, because the team is smaller and my role is bigger. I am on the field all the time; it’s like college all over again, except I don’t have to captain. It’s really exciting and fun.

But it’s beginning to feel like the end. Like the competitive drive within me has died a little, or been replaced by my career. Like the other things I get from frisbee – camaraderie, an athletic outlet, the reward of hard work – I can find in other venues, like book club, soccer, dinners with friends, my lab. Frisbee is a kind of obsession, and I don’t think I really noticed that when I myself was fully obsessed. Track workouts are harder and harder. Practices take up a good chunk of time. Tournaments pepper the summer and fall weekends, making it difficult to embark on any long term project, or even to spend a lot of time with people who don’t play frisbee. Travelling is expensive and leaves less room for pleasure trips.

I love the sport still. And I know this is the time of year when everyone over a certain age, even Brett, starts talking about retirement. Talk to me mid-season, or at Prague, and you may well hear a different story.

But my playing years are numbered. Hard to envision a time when ultimate won’t be central to my existence. Hard, but no longer unimaginable.