basketball

I love playing basketball, it's a great sport. One of the key aspects of the sport that impresses me, and in my opinion, makes basketball aloof to all other sports is that basketball requires the majority of skill over athleticism. If one looks at a sport such as football, it is easy to recognize that in being athletic you are more valuable of a player than by being very good at catching or throwing. Every team is looking for the fastest player, the one who can outrun the others. Football seeks out the strongest players, those who can bulldoze through twenty people without a scratch. However, if one can catch every single pass thrown to them no matter what, but are only average speed, they will never even make it to college ball. In fact, they probably wouldn't play a ton in highschool football. While i'm talking about quickness let me point out that track too, seeks the fastest, the one that can jump the very highest, things most people are genetically inclined towards. Now there are other sports such as tennis. Tennis requires a whole lot of skill. In fact tennis is almost entirely skill based. Practice makes perfect with tennis (although some are naturals). However tennis doesn't (for me) exhibit the athletic workout i need daily. Tennis is too nitpicky, always having to stay very calm, composed, and in control. That's why tennis simply isn't for me, I don't have calm or composure, I get way too frustrated, and tennis seems like such a lonely sport. Always playing for one's self rather than lots of teamworking with others. However, some tennis fanatics will then bring the "oh there's always doubles!" argument to the table. Well guess what, you try to pass the tennis ball to your teammate and it's point over. That being clarified, soccer is next on the agenda. Soccer is a great sport and i love it with all my heart. I wish i could play soccer and basketball at the same time. At oak hall though, Soccer is during the Winter. The freezing, cold, and rainy outdoors is where all of the soccer games take place. If the weather is a little bit choppy, say goodbye to even your close friends. It's always nice that your parents and stuff stay, but they're there because they feel like they have to be. Soccer is an exceptional sport, just like basketball, combining athleticism, skill, aggressiveness, and perseverance, while still requiring of the players to, at that right moment, collapse their frustration on a brief moment of zen, to take that important shot. In soccer, a good shot does not come by easy. However, basketball and soccer share that same aspect, where time slows down right before that game changing shot. You can feel your heart pumping, you're muscles tense, yet your mind calm at the same time, for if you don't keep calm inside, that shot is done, and you'll have missed the opportunity. One must keep that zen state along with the aggressiveness and drive only for a brief moment, and then it is released. That has to be my favorite part of basketball and soccer.

Currently Our JV basketball team is doing very well. Robert, Apurv, Me, Dean, and Jared start (in the respective 1-5) positions. We haven't lost a game yet, and Jared even does pretty well down in post. We have a ton of home games left, including one December 8th (tuesday night) at 7, hope you all will be there. We had a couple of close calls, the last two games, where both teams had a pretty feisty little point guard. We handled them though, and always manage to send the other team home weary, and sad, even though they should've known that we are the better team, and they were going to lose to us anyways. Personally I haven't been playing so well on the team, but other people have been doing great; including all the other starters, Alex, Manny, Chase, Chad, and Richie (who even bailed us out of a loss this one game, after hitting 4 three point shots in a row).

This Past WEek

This past week has been crazy. Not crazy in a bad way, for most of it, but crazy in that school fun kinda way. The academics have been piling up, which was probably the only downside to this part of the school year. However, a lot of breaks and days off from school are coming soon, which, of course, i look forward to.

First off I'm going to start with recanting the sophomore trip. The bus ride down started pretty good, and having friends along with you definitely shortens down an almost 10 hour drive. Most of the time i spent sleeping, but the rest stops were pretty fun. Me and Patrick sprinted across 6 lanes of traffic, hopped a short barbwire fence, and took pictures with a scarecrow. It was epic. We all crammed in the back of the bus next to the bathroom, and it wasn't really all that bad, and i have the patience and attention span of a toddler. When we finally arrived at the sea camp after the long bus ride, it was pitch black, and kind of looked like a camp straight out of Friday the 13th. I could've sworn Jason was going to pop out of one of those creepy trailers and kill us all. We arrived at the Sea Camp around 6 30 or 7 O'clock. AT the time, however, i thought it was atleast 10 or 11 since it was pitch black. Without being next to one of the few lights you couldn't see five feet infront of you. After the creepy feeling passed we put up our belongings in our rooms, and met back down by the picnic tables. The entire camp was dirty, shelly, and salty. That was one of my large complaints, i enjoy staying clean and not having salt constantly splashed in my face as i walk. I also do not enjoy my feet, sandals, and paraphernalia being covered in shelly-dirt from only a slight breeze, as the soil was so loose. However, we met down and we were introduced to our "camp councilors" guide people. Ours were Brent and April, who were some pretty cool people, and I wouldn't have minded chilling with them at all, except for all of the educational aspects of the trip. However, the first thing we did was pretty interesting, we all had to say our name, and then a sea organism that began with the first letter of our name. I was Andreas Anemone, Patrick was Puddlefish, Manny was Manatee, April was Angel Fish, Brent was Barricuda, Robert was Ramora and to be honest that's all i can remember. We had a pretty fun group in all, I'm pretty cool with Robert and Manny from the basketball team, and then me and Patrick are just pretty cool in general, then there was Holly, Mariah, Marci, J-lu, Scotty, Angie and a couple more people that i can't remember, we had a pretty fun group. We went to an "Algae Party" next, and that was alright, except for it was awfully boring until we got to actually picking into the Algae. however, i did learn something through the boringness, so i guess every cloud has a silver lining. I even know a fun song and dance involving the parts of the algae. Another activity was the snorkling on the boats. It was pretty fun, except it was absolutely freezing. I mean, the coral reefs and all the fish were pretty cool, and I even outswam a fish trying to catch it, and I would definitely go back and do it again, but not in the winter. In my opinion snorkeling is best suited to summertime. Robert was my snorkel buddy, and we scoured every inch of the sea, we were also the first two, and the two bravest i might add, to attempt the shark pond. In addition to that we were rewarded by being some of the only people that saw sharks that day, even though it was a pretty crazy experience with the sharks circling under us. I'm confident enough to admit that we both swam away after four of them were circling underneath us. Another downside of the trip, however, was the food on the first day. Those eggs looked like dookie. They were all perfectly the exact same size and shape, and reminded me of tire rubber. Most of the breakfasts i decided to just eat the cereal, since i wouldn't trust digesting tires, that would be a pretty rough next few hours. Well that sums up most of the Sea Camp, i'll probably write a little more next week. Peace

I got my phone back

In other news I lost my phone on Halloween and then some old dude named Steve called my mom on it and said he found it today. I’m super ridiculously amazingly happy since I don’t have 600 dollars to replace an iphone. The lesson behind this is even though golf doesn’t give you exercise, looks boring, and probably doesn’t get you girls, golf is there for a purpose. If giant dog-sized squirrels chase you across a golf course on Halloween and your iphone falls out of your pocket, a man playing an exceedingly boring sport may call you and return you your phone, thanks Steve. If i find a lost item that is of extensive value, i too will do my best to return it to the owner, as a tribute to this occurrence.

I’ve been havin a lot of crazy weekends with my dawg Alex Mertins. I can’t even describe all of the stuff we’ve been doing. To be honest the only way to fully understand what’s going down when we hang out you gotta be there yourself. The point I’m trying to make with this isn’t mainly about all of the good times we’ve been having. The point is at first I thought he was weird, the way he dressed, the music he listened to wasn’t the same way I dress or the same music I used to enjoy. I heard all of the dumb rumors the immature kids were spreading about him. Even worse, I considered myself to be above childish stereotypes such as these, I thought I was completely free of the filter that society puts on our thoughts, our eyes, and our ears. Although, to think ones self is free of this is to be equally ignorant. The point is I listened to the rumors and disliked Alex for no reason; I hadn’t even talked to him once. For that time that I ignorantly disliked Alex and listened to the consensus of the tools of our school, I myself subconsciously joined their “tool circle” and it took a little while for me to break free and talk to one of my current best friends. In fact in meeting Alex I realized that I had a general stereotype of people that dressed in flannels and listened to hardcore rock, I considered them all emo, weird, and non-sociable (this is the best way to describe my stereotype). In meeting Alex I realized that I too enjoyed hardcore rock, and found that he listens to the other music I do as well as his own, I was out of pants and Alex even gave me the most fye pair of red skinny jeans, which I wear from time to time as well, because the match my shoes pretty perfectly. The point is that in meeting Alex I have abolished many stereotypes against good people. The way you dress does not define you and that’s the end of it. I realized this while shouting with both of my parents (who I haven’t seen get along once or agree on anything since fourth grade until that day) that having earrings does not make one a crack addict drug abuser. It does not make someone the scum of society and was simply something I decided to do after school especially since a couple of pretty girls were telling me they’d look cool. This life lesson has encouraged me to be open to all kinds of people, and judge those not by their cover, but by their inner purity and character. Now Alex and I go out almost every weekend, and even most weekdays and we have fun. I realized how stupid I was being at the beginning of the year.