Ouch.

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Yeah, I'm hurting. Huge bruises on the inside of both knees, a sore shoulder and neck, a scratch on my arm, and possibly some mild after affects of blunt force head trauma. No, Tanya Harding didn't put a hit out on me, and no, I didn't get sacked like Chris Simms at TX/OU. I engaged in a much more brutal sport yesterday: Go-Karting.

To celebrate Ben's 27th birthday, a bunch of us met up at an awesome 3-story indoor go-kart track in Delft and decided to battle it out over 2 10-minute heats for ultimate mini-car superiority. The super-competitive side of Brian (you know, the one that can't take losing at Monopoly 'cause it all really comes down to which property you get, which is entirely a game of chance') is proud to report that I got the fastest lap time for heat 1 with a blistering 26.87 lap time. All that time with the PS2 playing Gran Turismo was good for something!

The self-deprecating side of Brian (the same one that really doesn't mind the pledge name 'Mango') will report that Brian might have a mild concussion (not normally nauseous at 12pm in the afternoon) and is limping from knee injuries sustained to both interior processes of the knee. I guess this is what happens when you win the first round: people like Nick Oliver wait for you to crash into people like Lesley at the end of the fastest turn of the course. Once you've crashed into Lesley and subsequently the side guard wall at full speed, people like Nick will come barreling through the fastest turn and t-bone your go kart in such a way that the final result involves your go-kart being completely lifted off the ground and landing back on top of Nick's go-kart.

So yeah, in sum....the second heat wasn't so great as the first. I didn't get the fastest lap, and I got pretty well banged up. But man, karting is fun!! As soon as I'm all healed up and safely out of risk for getting a second-impact concussion, I'm goin back for more!

I could go on ad infinitum bitching about how bad that wreck sucked, but let me go on to finish out what else has been going on:

Tuesday:
Watched Batman Begins. Awesome. It's good to see a movie that captures the coolness that is Batman instead of lumping a bunch of overpaid A-list actors into a smorgasbord of uninspired over-acting, special effects, and cheesy one-liners from Arnold Schwarzenegger (I'm thinking of "First Gotham, then.....THE WORLD!).

Monday:
Another great quiz night. After a 2-week hiatus (during which I might mention that team ESSP was unable to bring home a 1st place finish) I returned to answer several Simpsons questions, identify US NBA teams, and get a whopping 7 points on the music round. The most embarrasing title I was able to name: D'Angelo - Unititled (How Does It Feel), but that's OK because I pulled of a Bob Marley song and Metallica - One as well to redeem my musical masculinity.

Sunday:
Chilling at Scheveningen with Kate, Leika, and a bunch of overly tanned (and some topless) Dutch folks. Sure, topless sun bathers sounds good at first until you realize the types of people who are willing to expose themselves: the kind with absolutely nothing to offer. Yikes...sunburned nipples.

Saturday:
There's a club just off the Plein called the Party of Sinter Klaus, who apparently is the Spanish version of Santa Claus? I have no idea what's goin on with this, but since we were celbrating the birthday of Kate's Spanish friend, Oscar Casanova (how awesome is THAT for a last name?) it seemed like the right thing to do. Don't ask me what's cool about a club covered in cheesy elementary school Chrismas decorations...those crazy Europeans.

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Photos

Race Planet Indoor Karting - Delft
3 stories of racing excitement...and the fateful location of Brian's first experience with brain damage.

Chillin at the Billabong Beach Bar
Leave it to the Australian girl to pick out a place called Billabong (which apparently means small river in Aussie)!

Comments

[Vince]

dude
I'm so jealous of you. I googled that go kart place, it looks sick. Keep it real. Oh yeah, and bring back some good Dutch beer if customs allows.