See title. :)
*Sorry Thomas, you doing this again made me want to do it. I know I'm completely copying you.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Life, Time, Money, and Soccer
About three weeks ago was my first outdoor soccer practice this season. It was on a Thursday and, according to our coach, Becky Stucki, we needed to be registered by Monday. At this point we only had 9 or 10 players, to field a decent team (considering injuries and schedules and such) you need around 15-17.
"Please," my coach said, "ask anyone you know who has any soccer experience to come play. If we don't have enough guys by Monday, we don't have a team."
So we did.
We asked everyone. And, come Monday, we had plenty of guys. As the last couple weeks have gone by, we've gotten more and more guys. We are now up to 20 players. Let me rephrase that: We are now up to WAY TOO MANY players. We have 5 wings, at least 4 forwards, at least 4 center midfielders (my position), at least 6 defenders…IT'S CRAZY.
Most of you will recall my horrible experience last spring season. Horrible. Terrible. Infuriating. Frustrating. Awful. Crappy. Demoralizing. If you don't know details, let me just say this. I didn't get much playing time. Actually, I got barely any playing time. And I played well, better than a lot of the players on my team.
We had a practice game today, in which I started and got a decent amount of playing time. At the end Becky sat us down and explained the situation. At one point she said,
"Now that we have this many players, I have the luxury of sitting you on the bench unless you show me you can play."
A previously dormant beast suddenly opened its eyes and growled softly inside of me.
"I did show her that I can play," I thought, "last season, during the off-season, right now...you have nothing to worry about Josh. Just play the game like you know how to."
The beast settled down, but stayed awake and sits apprehensively inside me now. If I don't get playing time, I don't know what I'm going to do. All I can do is play my best. But if there are suddenly several angry/venting posts on this blog -heaven forbid- please be prepared for emotion to jump out of the computer and latch on to your face, because it won't be nice.
In the meantime, I guess I'll just play soccer in my spare time to prepare for the season...oh wait...I DON'T HAVE SPARE TIME! I'm taking the ACT test (just for practice and experience) on April 12. I'm taking the AP Euro Exam on May 9 (oh my flippin' crap) I have books to read for english, biology assignments to do, precal to study, money to make, and percussion rehearsals to attend. My life is nuts. Plus, The Office is coming back on soon, so I'll have another obligation on Thursday nights. Did I mention that water-skiing is starting soon?
Oh yeah, I have a chronic illness to monitor. Sorry, I forgot about that one. (Wow, now it just sounds like I'm trying to get sympathy, sorry about that.)
Well, if life isn't hard, it's not worth livin'. Just remember that.
"Please," my coach said, "ask anyone you know who has any soccer experience to come play. If we don't have enough guys by Monday, we don't have a team."
So we did.
We asked everyone. And, come Monday, we had plenty of guys. As the last couple weeks have gone by, we've gotten more and more guys. We are now up to 20 players. Let me rephrase that: We are now up to WAY TOO MANY players. We have 5 wings, at least 4 forwards, at least 4 center midfielders (my position), at least 6 defenders…IT'S CRAZY.
Most of you will recall my horrible experience last spring season. Horrible. Terrible. Infuriating. Frustrating. Awful. Crappy. Demoralizing. If you don't know details, let me just say this. I didn't get much playing time. Actually, I got barely any playing time. And I played well, better than a lot of the players on my team.
We had a practice game today, in which I started and got a decent amount of playing time. At the end Becky sat us down and explained the situation. At one point she said,
"Now that we have this many players, I have the luxury of sitting you on the bench unless you show me you can play."
A previously dormant beast suddenly opened its eyes and growled softly inside of me.
"I did show her that I can play," I thought, "last season, during the off-season, right now...you have nothing to worry about Josh. Just play the game like you know how to."
The beast settled down, but stayed awake and sits apprehensively inside me now. If I don't get playing time, I don't know what I'm going to do. All I can do is play my best. But if there are suddenly several angry/venting posts on this blog -heaven forbid- please be prepared for emotion to jump out of the computer and latch on to your face, because it won't be nice.
In the meantime, I guess I'll just play soccer in my spare time to prepare for the season...oh wait...I DON'T HAVE SPARE TIME! I'm taking the ACT test (just for practice and experience) on April 12. I'm taking the AP Euro Exam on May 9 (oh my flippin' crap) I have books to read for english, biology assignments to do, precal to study, money to make, and percussion rehearsals to attend. My life is nuts. Plus, The Office is coming back on soon, so I'll have another obligation on Thursday nights. Did I mention that water-skiing is starting soon?
Oh yeah, I have a chronic illness to monitor. Sorry, I forgot about that one. (Wow, now it just sounds like I'm trying to get sympathy, sorry about that.)
Well, if life isn't hard, it's not worth livin'. Just remember that.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Random Thoughts
I'm going to take a page out of other blogs and share random, just-about-anything-that-pops-into-my-head thoughts.
March madness is so awesome. I pray every night for there to be a "December Madness" of college football. But it's foolish to think that that will ever happen. Why would they do something that everybody wants?
Diabetes sucks.
AP Euro sucks.
I try not to use the word "suck."
But not right now.
Band at Viewmont suc--stinks.
I really wish that I had my license.
I don't know how some of the kids that eat lunch with my group of friends ever ended up eating with us.
Of mice and men was a depressing, but well-written book and it really ticks me off when people just say they hate it because we had to read it for English.
I will continue this when I finish my homework.
March madness is so awesome. I pray every night for there to be a "December Madness" of college football. But it's foolish to think that that will ever happen. Why would they do something that everybody wants?
Diabetes sucks.
AP Euro sucks.
I try not to use the word "suck."
But not right now.
Band at Viewmont suc--stinks.
I really wish that I had my license.
I don't know how some of the kids that eat lunch with my group of friends ever ended up eating with us.
Of mice and men was a depressing, but well-written book and it really ticks me off when people just say they hate it because we had to read it for English.
I will continue this when I finish my homework.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Mourning
Well, right now pretty much sucks. We lost in the semi-finals, partially due to the poor officiating, which is partially due to me being stupid and arguing with a ref who I clearly shouldn't have argued with. Then we came home to watch the BYU vs. UNLV game, which we lost. I really feel like punching someone/something right now. My whole family is agitated and everyone is getting set off by the smallest things. To top it all off, I just grabbed a scalding hot pan (because my sister didn't tell me that it was scalding) and now my fingers are killing me. So, just to let you know, unless you are a hard-core UNLV fan, I really don't want to hear any taunting in your comments or when you see me in person, because UNLV beat Utah too.
I think I'll go tear up some Utah pictures and punch a whole in my wall.
Bye. Ouch. Bye
I think I'll go tear up some Utah pictures and punch a whole in my wall.
Bye. Ouch. Bye
Update
Well, we just played the quarter-final game, playing against a team who was not as good as the team we played Thursday. We had a bit of an off game, but we pulled it out. I didn't score this game, but made a couple nice plays, and I can redeem myself today at 2 when we play in the semi-final. If we win, the championship isn't for two weeks! Lame sauce! I'll be out of rhythm in two weeks! Oh well, what can ya do? Wish me luck this afternoon.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Region b-ball
I just got back from a teachers region basketball game. It was an awesome game and we pulled it out in the end. I scored two 3-pointers and a toe-one-the-line 2-pointer. When we were down 31-35, I hit a big three to pull within one. Although the adrenaline of a close soccer game can get really high, there is nothing quite like the intensity of a close basketball game. We played good defense and took pretty smart shots.
*Highlight of the night* Before the game, the ref asked one of the players on our team to say the prayer, however, he is not a member, so we weren't sure how he was going to handle it. He did really well, until the very end, it went like this:
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, thank you for letting us get to come play this fun game, basketball. Help us to have good sportsmanship. In the name of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, amen.
It was so awesome, we chuckled and turned to him, "that was totally pro," he said.
*Highlight of the night* Before the game, the ref asked one of the players on our team to say the prayer, however, he is not a member, so we weren't sure how he was going to handle it. He did really well, until the very end, it went like this:
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, thank you for letting us get to come play this fun game, basketball. Help us to have good sportsmanship. In the name of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, amen.
It was so awesome, we chuckled and turned to him, "that was totally pro," he said.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Quotably Quotable
These are a bunch of my favorite quotes, some I got from movies, some I got from my dad’s favorite inspirational quotes, and some are from songs. If you want to guess what they’re from, that’s fine, but I’m not numbering them or making it a contest. Enjoy! (Sorry if I don’t get some of them word for word.)
You think you are some kind of Jedi or something? Waving your hand around like that?
Desire is the pilot of the soul.
Shootin’ BB guns and sippin’ lemonade, this is the way friends are made.
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others and world remains and is immortal.
I’m Louie Lastic, naval family just moved here from Baylor, somebody said football, so I come runnin’. What’s goin’ on everybody?
You would think that this would bring me happiness, if at the end of every rainbow there was a treasure chest. Sometimes havin’ more is really less, take a look inside yourself, you’ll realize your really blessed.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.
What’s the good of all those push-ups if you can’t lift a bloody log?
It’s somethin’ unpredictable, but in the end it’s right, I hope you had the time of your life.
If every simple song I wrote to you would take your breath away, I’d write it all.
A man will never know all that he can do unless he undertakes more than he possible can.
Do you believe in miracles? YES!
Did you think the play sucked bigtime?
Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they never stopped to enjoy it.
You mean, you’ll put down your rock and I’ll put down my sword, and we’ll try to kill each other like civilized people?
You should know, everywhere I go, you’re always in my mind, in my heart, in my soul.
For we are always what our situations hand us, it’s either sadness or euphoria.
Love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart, like why are we here? and where do we go? and how come it's so hard?
You think you are some kind of Jedi or something? Waving your hand around like that?
Desire is the pilot of the soul.
Shootin’ BB guns and sippin’ lemonade, this is the way friends are made.
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others and world remains and is immortal.
I’m Louie Lastic, naval family just moved here from Baylor, somebody said football, so I come runnin’. What’s goin’ on everybody?
You would think that this would bring me happiness, if at the end of every rainbow there was a treasure chest. Sometimes havin’ more is really less, take a look inside yourself, you’ll realize your really blessed.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.
What’s the good of all those push-ups if you can’t lift a bloody log?
It’s somethin’ unpredictable, but in the end it’s right, I hope you had the time of your life.
If every simple song I wrote to you would take your breath away, I’d write it all.
A man will never know all that he can do unless he undertakes more than he possible can.
Do you believe in miracles? YES!
Did you think the play sucked bigtime?
Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they never stopped to enjoy it.
You mean, you’ll put down your rock and I’ll put down my sword, and we’ll try to kill each other like civilized people?
You should know, everywhere I go, you’re always in my mind, in my heart, in my soul.
For we are always what our situations hand us, it’s either sadness or euphoria.
Love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart, like why are we here? and where do we go? and how come it's so hard?
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Good News and Some Venting
Well, do you want the good news or venting first? Oh wait...well, I guess I'll save the good news for last.
So, about soccer...hmm, where do I start...I guess I will start by restating my biggest frustration, which I know most of you already know, which is: I know that my best soccer is high-school level soccer. Again, could mean 1/a combination of two things:
1) I didn't play my best at tryouts
2) I wasn't noticed
First you have to understand that I am not a flashy soccer player. Although I admire flashy, in-your-face players, I'm not one of them. My style of soccer is hang out in the middle, be aggresive on defense, irritate the other team, make solid passes, and create scoring opportunities for my team. As you can see, none of those aspects included dribbling or scoring. Whenever I get frustrated with my "lack of flashy-ness", I remember something that my uncle James told me one time when I was getting frustrated about not having scored in a long time. He said,
"You just play your position and be where you're supposed to be and the goals will come. Don't go looking for goals because if you do that, you may lose scoring opportunities by being selfish."
I have since realized that some of the best players in the world do very little besides being in the right spot at the right time and taking solid shots when they see an opening. This has proved successful as I have scored several goals over the last couple seasons. In a tryout setting, however, being the "sit in the middle and try to create opportunities" guy gets very little recognition. Looking back on tryouts, I don't remember one specific time that I flat-out lost the ball or made a horrible decision. That is one of the biggest reasons why I feel that I should be on the team.
One of the things that the coach told us before tryouts was,
"I'll be looking for players with quick-thinking and a brilliant first touch." (He's British so he uses words like "bloody brilliant", it's awsome) Now if I had to pick the one thing that I think I do best, it would be my quick thinking. On the field I am constantly thinking, "if this ball comes to me, what am I going to do with it?" This is one of the biggest reasons why I rarely dribble, because I usually know what I want to do with the ball. I have also always felt like my first touch is good, not great, but good. One of the things which will help you most with your first touch is juggling, and I'm doing all right in the juggling department, so my first touch isn't half-bad either. The coach also said that, "if you have those two qualities, we will keep you on the team." This is one of the other reasons that I feel that I should have made the team.
The last reason is the people who made the team. There are a lot of players who I think deserve to be on the team, but there are a few who I don't view as being better than me at all. For example, there is one freshmen who made it who might be 2 inches taller than my little sister Elizabeth. He couldn't weigh more than 90 pounds either. The biggest difference between high-school and club soccer is the physicality. SOOO many more fouls get let go in high school soccer than in club. It's not all bad either, but when your 2'1", and you weigh 24.3 pounds, your gonna get run over by some senior from alta. Why did he make it then, you may ask. Because his brother is one of the senior captains, that's why. Now I'm sorry, I know that my view of myself as a player is different than the next guy's but there is no way that a kid that's probably 4'8" is a better high-school soccer player than me. No way, no how.
There is a lot more I could say, but I'll spare you because this post is already extremely long. Like I said before though, the only thing I can do this year is work harder so I can make the team next year. Everyone says that boys soccer is the hardest sport to make at Viewmont both because of the talent and because of the amount of people that try-out.
As for the good news, I scored an 88% on the AP Euro test today!!! WOOHOO! That's the best I've gotten all year in an extremely difficult class. So ya, I'm pretty amazing.
That's all I've got to say.
So, about soccer...hmm, where do I start...I guess I will start by restating my biggest frustration, which I know most of you already know, which is: I know that my best soccer is high-school level soccer. Again, could mean 1/a combination of two things:
1) I didn't play my best at tryouts
2) I wasn't noticed
First you have to understand that I am not a flashy soccer player. Although I admire flashy, in-your-face players, I'm not one of them. My style of soccer is hang out in the middle, be aggresive on defense, irritate the other team, make solid passes, and create scoring opportunities for my team. As you can see, none of those aspects included dribbling or scoring. Whenever I get frustrated with my "lack of flashy-ness", I remember something that my uncle James told me one time when I was getting frustrated about not having scored in a long time. He said,
"You just play your position and be where you're supposed to be and the goals will come. Don't go looking for goals because if you do that, you may lose scoring opportunities by being selfish."
I have since realized that some of the best players in the world do very little besides being in the right spot at the right time and taking solid shots when they see an opening. This has proved successful as I have scored several goals over the last couple seasons. In a tryout setting, however, being the "sit in the middle and try to create opportunities" guy gets very little recognition. Looking back on tryouts, I don't remember one specific time that I flat-out lost the ball or made a horrible decision. That is one of the biggest reasons why I feel that I should be on the team.
One of the things that the coach told us before tryouts was,
"I'll be looking for players with quick-thinking and a brilliant first touch." (He's British so he uses words like "bloody brilliant", it's awsome) Now if I had to pick the one thing that I think I do best, it would be my quick thinking. On the field I am constantly thinking, "if this ball comes to me, what am I going to do with it?" This is one of the biggest reasons why I rarely dribble, because I usually know what I want to do with the ball. I have also always felt like my first touch is good, not great, but good. One of the things which will help you most with your first touch is juggling, and I'm doing all right in the juggling department, so my first touch isn't half-bad either. The coach also said that, "if you have those two qualities, we will keep you on the team." This is one of the other reasons that I feel that I should have made the team.
The last reason is the people who made the team. There are a lot of players who I think deserve to be on the team, but there are a few who I don't view as being better than me at all. For example, there is one freshmen who made it who might be 2 inches taller than my little sister Elizabeth. He couldn't weigh more than 90 pounds either. The biggest difference between high-school and club soccer is the physicality. SOOO many more fouls get let go in high school soccer than in club. It's not all bad either, but when your 2'1", and you weigh 24.3 pounds, your gonna get run over by some senior from alta. Why did he make it then, you may ask. Because his brother is one of the senior captains, that's why. Now I'm sorry, I know that my view of myself as a player is different than the next guy's but there is no way that a kid that's probably 4'8" is a better high-school soccer player than me. No way, no how.
There is a lot more I could say, but I'll spare you because this post is already extremely long. Like I said before though, the only thing I can do this year is work harder so I can make the team next year. Everyone says that boys soccer is the hardest sport to make at Viewmont both because of the talent and because of the amount of people that try-out.
As for the good news, I scored an 88% on the AP Euro test today!!! WOOHOO! That's the best I've gotten all year in an extremely difficult class. So ya, I'm pretty amazing.
That's all I've got to say.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
FIV story, Kate's style
The Francis Family had just finished packing to go on their vacation to the Uinta Mountains. Sam was bringing a silly bookcase, Jenny a nasty microwave, Jake a happy Corvette, and Luke a gruesome basketball. Dad pulled together the family to go over the agenda for the vacation.
"Ok guys, here's the plan," he said. "it's going to take us about 16 hours to get to the glamorous campsite. When we get there, Sam and Jake will set up the portly tent while mom, Jenny, and I start getting a moldy dinner ready."
"What are we having?" asked Jake.
"Popcorn and fishsticks." replied dad. "We'll eat dinner and then spend some time telling hilarious stories or running around the field. Friday morning mom and Luke are on breakfast duty, while Jenny and I get the canoes ready to go canoeing just before lunch. After lunch we can spend the rest of the time leaping, canoeing or whatever we want to do."
"Can we walk?" asked Jenny.
"No it'll be too cold for walking," said dad, "but we can do some slouching if you want. Then we’ll have chocolate pudding, made by mom and I. In the evening we can play night games or have a camp fire and make s’mores or whatever we want to do. Saturday morning Sam and Jake will make breakfast—
“Bean, cheese, and jalapeno burritos and grilled cheese sandwiches baby!” said Jake and Sam in unison, high-fiving each other.
“Then we’ll break camp, and go see The Princess Bride if we feel like it.”
“Sweet!” said all the kids together.
When they were just 1 mile down the road, the station wagon started stretching and died.
“Snap!” said dad, “We’re out of gas!”
Dad headed down the road to the nearest gas station while mom and the kids played several games of “I’m thinking of a person.” After 2008 hours, dad returned and the family was off again.
Upon arriving on the campsite, they found that it wasn’t much of a campsite, in fact it took Jake and Sam 19780 hours to pick up all the rocks. Other than the fishsticks getting a little burned, the rest of the evening went well and the family fell asleep hoping that there would be few miscues for the rest of the trip.
Sam awoke slowly in the middle of the night to a skinny sound in the campsite. Scared to death he laid back down, hoping the noise would go away. It didn’t however, and started getting louder. This time his dad woke up. He opened the tent window and saw a Liger, pawing at the shovel they had brought along. Politely searching through the kitchen bag, dad found a spoon and a delicious pot.
“Ok Sam, on the count of three, I want you to whistle as loud as you can. Ready? One…two…THREE!”
Dad swore the pot repeatedly and Sam let out an ear-splitting whistle, waking the rest of the family. Luckily the deceased Liger got scared and lumbered off. After the rest of the family had received an explanation and comfort, they all fell back asleep.
The next morning after just a few pancakes had been made Luke accidentally knocked the bowl with all the batter in it to the ground, spilling it all out. There was enough pancakes for each person to have one and everyone got a little piece of leftover fishsticks from the night before.
After having a lot of fun canoeing before lunch, Jenny and Sam asked if they could go out again.
“Sure, but be careful.” said dad.
After being out on the lake for a while, Jenny and Sam started getting more confidence, going faster and making sharper turns. After a while the inevitable happened; on a certain sharp turn, Jenny and Sam went over the edge flipping the canoe over.
Quitely they were wearing life jackets and were able to swim the decapitated canoe to shore and get it turned over. As they were turning it over, however, Jenny lost her grip and dropped the canoe on her Democratic foot, putting a major ding in the canoe. Worried about what dad would say, but otherwise unconcerned with the canoe, Sam suggested that they head back to camp and return for the canoe later.
They shivered all the way to camp and returned to the sight of an extinguished fire. They explained what had happened, and changed into some dry clothes while dad started a fire. It took a while to get a fire going, due to the large amount of water that had been used to put it out, but eventually Jenny and Sam were warm and dry, ready for dinner.
Soon the chocolate pudding was ready, which happened to be the first meal that hadn’t been burned or otherwise harmed. They did realize, however, that they had forgotten the caviar that were going to have with the chocolate pudding. After an exhausting day, they spent the evening sleeping in their sleeping bags, telling stories, and sharing memories.
Just after everyone had fallen asleep, a loudly Republican light flashed through the tent followed by loud, roaring thunder. This woke everyone up and no one could fall asleep until the storm had passed. Eventually it died down to a hard-hearted sprinkle with some smelly wind, but everyone was able to fall asleep again.
When they woke up they found the tent lopsided and sagging on one end. One of the tent poles had been snapped in the violent wind.
“Crumb!” said Sam, “I don’t know about you guys, but I say we get out of here before something else goes wrong on this vacation.”
“Ya,” said Jake, “at least we still have The Princess Bride to look forward to.”
Quickly they broke camp, ate a quick breakfast, and got on the road. There was a flashy wreck on the freeway, which prolonged the ride from 16 hours to 24 hours. Just when they were approaching the exit so they could go see the movie, mom said,
“It seems like we forgot something, did everyone pack their bags?”
“Yes,” everyone replied.
Everyone sat in silence for a moment thinking and then,
“The canoe!” said Sam, “Jenny and I left it on the bank and we never went and picked it up!”
“Dash it all!” said dad, “Well, why don’t I go drop you all off at the movie theater and I’ll get Mr. Thompson (their neighbor) to go with me to get the canoe.”
After the movie everyone stated their opinion.
“I thought it was damp!” said Jake.
“I thought it was muscled!” said Sam.
“I thought it was vomitous!” said Jenny.
“I thought it was gorgeous!” said mom.
“I thought it was rough!” said Luke.
As they walked outside the movie theater, they realized that Dad had the car. And so, they waited for several hours until he came and picked them up.
And that is the story of the Francis family vacation.
"Ok guys, here's the plan," he said. "it's going to take us about 16 hours to get to the glamorous campsite. When we get there, Sam and Jake will set up the portly tent while mom, Jenny, and I start getting a moldy dinner ready."
"What are we having?" asked Jake.
"Popcorn and fishsticks." replied dad. "We'll eat dinner and then spend some time telling hilarious stories or running around the field. Friday morning mom and Luke are on breakfast duty, while Jenny and I get the canoes ready to go canoeing just before lunch. After lunch we can spend the rest of the time leaping, canoeing or whatever we want to do."
"Can we walk?" asked Jenny.
"No it'll be too cold for walking," said dad, "but we can do some slouching if you want. Then we’ll have chocolate pudding, made by mom and I. In the evening we can play night games or have a camp fire and make s’mores or whatever we want to do. Saturday morning Sam and Jake will make breakfast—
“Bean, cheese, and jalapeno burritos and grilled cheese sandwiches baby!” said Jake and Sam in unison, high-fiving each other.
“Then we’ll break camp, and go see The Princess Bride if we feel like it.”
“Sweet!” said all the kids together.
When they were just 1 mile down the road, the station wagon started stretching and died.
“Snap!” said dad, “We’re out of gas!”
Dad headed down the road to the nearest gas station while mom and the kids played several games of “I’m thinking of a person.” After 2008 hours, dad returned and the family was off again.
Upon arriving on the campsite, they found that it wasn’t much of a campsite, in fact it took Jake and Sam 19780 hours to pick up all the rocks. Other than the fishsticks getting a little burned, the rest of the evening went well and the family fell asleep hoping that there would be few miscues for the rest of the trip.
Sam awoke slowly in the middle of the night to a skinny sound in the campsite. Scared to death he laid back down, hoping the noise would go away. It didn’t however, and started getting louder. This time his dad woke up. He opened the tent window and saw a Liger, pawing at the shovel they had brought along. Politely searching through the kitchen bag, dad found a spoon and a delicious pot.
“Ok Sam, on the count of three, I want you to whistle as loud as you can. Ready? One…two…THREE!”
Dad swore the pot repeatedly and Sam let out an ear-splitting whistle, waking the rest of the family. Luckily the deceased Liger got scared and lumbered off. After the rest of the family had received an explanation and comfort, they all fell back asleep.
The next morning after just a few pancakes had been made Luke accidentally knocked the bowl with all the batter in it to the ground, spilling it all out. There was enough pancakes for each person to have one and everyone got a little piece of leftover fishsticks from the night before.
After having a lot of fun canoeing before lunch, Jenny and Sam asked if they could go out again.
“Sure, but be careful.” said dad.
After being out on the lake for a while, Jenny and Sam started getting more confidence, going faster and making sharper turns. After a while the inevitable happened; on a certain sharp turn, Jenny and Sam went over the edge flipping the canoe over.
Quitely they were wearing life jackets and were able to swim the decapitated canoe to shore and get it turned over. As they were turning it over, however, Jenny lost her grip and dropped the canoe on her Democratic foot, putting a major ding in the canoe. Worried about what dad would say, but otherwise unconcerned with the canoe, Sam suggested that they head back to camp and return for the canoe later.
They shivered all the way to camp and returned to the sight of an extinguished fire. They explained what had happened, and changed into some dry clothes while dad started a fire. It took a while to get a fire going, due to the large amount of water that had been used to put it out, but eventually Jenny and Sam were warm and dry, ready for dinner.
Soon the chocolate pudding was ready, which happened to be the first meal that hadn’t been burned or otherwise harmed. They did realize, however, that they had forgotten the caviar that were going to have with the chocolate pudding. After an exhausting day, they spent the evening sleeping in their sleeping bags, telling stories, and sharing memories.
Just after everyone had fallen asleep, a loudly Republican light flashed through the tent followed by loud, roaring thunder. This woke everyone up and no one could fall asleep until the storm had passed. Eventually it died down to a hard-hearted sprinkle with some smelly wind, but everyone was able to fall asleep again.
When they woke up they found the tent lopsided and sagging on one end. One of the tent poles had been snapped in the violent wind.
“Crumb!” said Sam, “I don’t know about you guys, but I say we get out of here before something else goes wrong on this vacation.”
“Ya,” said Jake, “at least we still have The Princess Bride to look forward to.”
Quickly they broke camp, ate a quick breakfast, and got on the road. There was a flashy wreck on the freeway, which prolonged the ride from 16 hours to 24 hours. Just when they were approaching the exit so they could go see the movie, mom said,
“It seems like we forgot something, did everyone pack their bags?”
“Yes,” everyone replied.
Everyone sat in silence for a moment thinking and then,
“The canoe!” said Sam, “Jenny and I left it on the bank and we never went and picked it up!”
“Dash it all!” said dad, “Well, why don’t I go drop you all off at the movie theater and I’ll get Mr. Thompson (their neighbor) to go with me to get the canoe.”
After the movie everyone stated their opinion.
“I thought it was damp!” said Jake.
“I thought it was muscled!” said Sam.
“I thought it was vomitous!” said Jenny.
“I thought it was gorgeous!” said mom.
“I thought it was rough!” said Luke.
As they walked outside the movie theater, they realized that Dad had the car. And so, they waited for several hours until he came and picked them up.
And that is the story of the Francis family vacation.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Update and FIV info
Ok, so I didn't make the team. This was going to be a venting post about all the things that I'm frustrated about, but instead I'll tell you my biggest frustration which is: I know that my best is good enough for the high school team. This means one or a combination of two things:
Either 1) I didn't play my best
or 2) I wasn't noticed out of the 75 or so players that tried out.
Luckily I'm still going to have a place to play this spring and, while I'm still pretty upset, I've decided that the only thing that I can do is work harder this year than I did last year so that I can make the team next year (you know, besides swearing at the coaches and those who did make the team who [in my opinion] didn't deserve it :-))
Anyway, I'll probably have a post about it in the future when I'm not as fired-up about it, but for now I'll just take my anger out by becoming a better player.
So without further ado, from Kate I need:
22 adjectives
5 "thing" nouns
6 food items
1 movie
3 frustration phrases (like "dang!" or "rats!")
8 verbs
4 adverbs
Note to Kate: When is it again that we find out how our stories did?
Either 1) I didn't play my best
or 2) I wasn't noticed out of the 75 or so players that tried out.
Luckily I'm still going to have a place to play this spring and, while I'm still pretty upset, I've decided that the only thing that I can do is work harder this year than I did last year so that I can make the team next year (you know, besides swearing at the coaches and those who did make the team who [in my opinion] didn't deserve it :-))
Anyway, I'll probably have a post about it in the future when I'm not as fired-up about it, but for now I'll just take my anger out by becoming a better player.
So without further ado, from Kate I need:
22 adjectives
5 "thing" nouns
6 food items
1 movie
3 frustration phrases (like "dang!" or "rats!")
8 verbs
4 adverbs
Note to Kate: When is it again that we find out how our stories did?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)