US Champs is this week, and I’m ultra-stoked, now.

The first time I went to ChillAxe, I was greeted by kindness and love and joy and realized the place Rob and Dina built was, probably, the very best thing axe throwing had to offer. Smash cut to this year (specifically, maybe a week ago?), and for some reason I just wasn’t feeling as many butterflies as I was that first time. Maybe the thrill of the unknown was simply missing, or maybe I’m older, now.

Wiser.

Well, dear reader, it turns out it wasn’t any of that junk. No, I think a series of challenges and unexpected nonsense was simply masking my ability to feel the excitement. Because now, this minute, a mere two days away from leaving for Pittsburgh, I am basically shaking with that ding dang excitement.

Goals and re-alignments

If you’ve been around me for the months leading up to this week, you very well may expect me to have a table and Axe Badger stuff to sell.

Well, that didn’t happen.

Because of afore-mentioned “challenges,” I kinda fell behind in my planning and scheming. Okay, not my scheming. I’m scheming all the time – but deffo the planning. So, instead, I’ll just be there clicking away pictures and getting interviews and having big, deep thoughts that don’t amount to a hill of threes.

What my lack of mercantile wit does allow, however, is a re-alignment of personal goals for US Champs, which is fun.

Now, if you know me, you now that winning isn’t really a concern of mine. For one thing, I’m not very good at this sport (at least not in a way that make me a competitor), and for another thing, I’m a goofy little creature. So I hope you keep all of that in mind when you read what I’m hoping to accomplish:

Goal 1: A really good playlist for the trip out

I’m traveling with a full Meduseld crew, including Otter, Big Bad Kitty Cat, and Joypocalypse. Seeing as that’s the case, I wanna make sure I can do my part to make the trip exciting and fun and full of great listening. That means I’ll need to craft a playlist that is about 3.5 hours long. Maybe more like 4, assuming we’ll have moments in the car where we aren’t moving closer to our destination. I’m doing this without having a very good idea of what my fellow travelers like, so we’ll see how it goes.

Pro tip: nothing gets people pumped up for an axe throwing weekend like Final Countdown on repeat.

Goal 2: Actually do things

I have gone to exactly 1 afterparty when I’m at a tourney weekend. I’m fixing to change that. I don’t know how it’ll go, but I’m hopeful that between deep breathing, the ability to hide and maybe an extra whiskey, I’ll manage to go to all the great stuff happening at and around the US Championships.

For me, that means heading out to TAG to see that new space, maybe fiddle-faddling with all you great humans a bit more…you know, be social.

Even as I’m writing that, I realize it’s unrealistic. Deffo going to TAG, who knows about anything more than that.

Goal 3: Have fun doing doubles for the first time ever

Joypocalypse and I are partners for the doubles tourney. We both have the very honorable goal of laughing a lot. I think it’s a realistic one. Not that we’re absolute clown shoes when we’ve practiced, but for our first time out, not taking it seriously seems like a good idea. If you’re in the doubles tourney, come laugh with us a while.

Goal 4: Not get so caught up in blog content that I forget to just soak in the rare beauty of a goofy thing

During the Urban Open, I made myself sad by realizing I was treating my time like I was working. And man, that wasn’t supergood. So while I’m hoping to talk to a lot of people and do interviews and take pictures and all that stuff, I’m also gonna try to stay aware of, like, having fun. Just watching the thing(s). Smiling. All that crazy stuff.

And that’s about it, really. A pretty doable bunch of things, if I play my cards right. So long as I don’t pee my pants at the Championship, it should all be smooth sailing, yeah?