New Quizzing Year's Resolution

The year 2005 has come and gone. Now 2006 is upon us. If you don't remember about last year, and past holidays too, I'm not a real big fan of New Year's Eve and Day. I do stay up until midnight, but that is about it. The real excitement for me will come January 16, New Quizzing Year's Eve. I will be so syked for quizzing to begin! Usually when a New Year comes around, people make "resolutions" that will improve the person. Don't worry, I'm not going to rant about it. I actually think it's a good idea. Since I concentrate on quizzing new year more than January 1 New Year, I do something differently. Instead of making a New Year's Resolution, I make a New Quizzing Year Goal (I prefer the term Goal over Resolution). Here is my goal:

• Be on the Top 50 Quizzers List every week (especially on the final list)
• Be a perfect quizzer for at least the first three week
• Achieve at least 13 quizouts (or ever more)

Be on the Top 50 Quizzers List every week (especially on the final list)
This goal I have been trying since my second year of quizzing, since I've been making goals for quizzing. I wanted to do something like this my second year. I wanted to finish on the Top 50 Quizzers List. But I failed greatly (I finished 195th). I was extremely disappointed, but by then end of the year I came to reality that I wasn't a Moss and couldn't do that well my second year. So the third year I didn't try, and I was on the Top 50 Quizzers List for the first 5 weeks. So with my fourth year in quizzing, I just wanted to attempt to keep that 5 weeks, or do better with 6 weeks. I did for 7 inconsecutive weeks. If I didn't have the stupid double material week because of the stupid snow, I would have completed this goal. But at the end of the third week, I ended up 55th. I just missed it. Both times, I got on the Top 50 Quizzers List without trying. I don't mean to brag, but from this I thing everyone can learn that if you trying even the slighest to complete a goal, you are already trying to hard. Don't try and you'll achieve it almost right away.

This goal I want to complete the most. I just missed it last year, by one bad week. The way I see it, this goal will be a slight step up from last year since it only requires one more week from last year. It doesn't matter where I end up on the List, anywhere is good. Once I do this, I will finally be satisfied and not be so concentrated on this goal. I'm hoping this is the year will be the year. I just pray that this year will be no snow weeks to throw me off.

Be a perfect quizzer for the first three weeks
Ah, another goal I wasn't trying to achieve but did. In 2004 (my third year), I had two matches every week for my first two weeks. I quizzed out my first four matches. That every match my first two weeks. With that, after two weeks, I finished a perfect quizzer. Unfortuneatly, at my next quiz match, I could not quiz out, ending that. Ever since, I have been trying to beat that. Last year it ended on my FIRST MATCH of the FIRST WEEK of quizzing when I couldn't quiz out, but got 20 points. This year, I'll take another try at it. I am hoping the the first three weeks of matches will be my easier matches just so it is easier to complete this goal. If I can do this, this will also be three weeks on the Top 50 Quizzers List, and this alone may ride me a few more weeks on it as well.

Achieve at least 13 quizouts (or even more)
In 2004, my third years of quizzing, I was amazed at my 7 quizouts. When I saw this, I vowed to get more quizouts the next year. The next year, I got 12 quizouts, 5 more than the last year. Once again, I want to quiz more. Not five more, that would be 17 quizouts, something I don't think I can achieve now. I am just aiming for at least one more, 13 quiz outs this year. Achieving my last goal of a perfect quizzer for three weeks would help me greatly in this. If 2 of the 3 weeks have two matches and the other one of the 3 has three matches, and I become a perfect quizzer, I will then have 7 quizouts, and be halfway towards my goal.

Now that I have told everyone, I expect everyone to check up on me. Don't worry, I will make sure you are all aware of my progress. I will try my best as usual. I'm going to follow the quizzing's famous two-thirds rule. In quizzing, if you give two-thirds of an answer in thirty seconds (unless specified to give a full answer), then it is considered correct. If I complete two of the three goals above, then this quiz year would have been a success. For team goals, I really don't like making goals. While I have a partial control in our team's fate, I do not have total control of it. If something were to go wrong, I could be blamed, just as much as anyone else, for our downfall. That is why I try not to have huge expectations for our team. But I do hope. Since our team only has 5 members, 2 of which are beginners, it isn't looking too good for a high finish in the regular season. But if we can teach them stratergy for getting team bonus, then we will be set for the tournaments! I hope that we can get a second consecutive ACC Tournament win. For the first one we were underdogs and won by God's grace (literally). I pray that God will give us his favor to do that again. It would be awesome. And maybe, just maybe, if God is willing to stretch his favor, maybe we could win the Invitational in Ohio! I pray for God's blessing on my individual and team performance.

I wanted to write this tomorrow on New Year's Day, but I couldn't becuz all day I will be gone at the Eagles game. I am on the Eagles sideline at the 25 yard line, 35 rows back. Maybe you'll see me there

OFFICIAL Countdown to the first quizmatch of 2006:
22 days, 19 hours, 40 minutes

Santamas: A Fake Christmas

Yes, it is that time of year again. Time for my annual Christmas rant. So if you like Christmas now as it is, close your eyes, hit the backspace (on internet explorer, hitting backspace is the same was hitting the back button) and turn away from this entry). But if you are looking for a new perspective, try thinking about this.

Growing up as a child, Christmas for the most part becomes a "gimme" time. All we think about this time is getting presents. We make sure all our friends, family, relatives and Santa know what we want for Christmas. When Christmas comes, we can hardly wait to open our presents, even to the point we get up extra early to do so. We are happy when we get what we want, and dissapointed in what we don't get. After Christmas, it comes a competiton among friends who got the most presents, who got the costliest presents and who got what they really wanted (vs. getting stuff they didn't ask for).

When we get to be adolesents, we usually earn our own money. So now we can usually buy the small things we want. The only thing we usually have the gimmes for is the expensive stuff that we cannot afford, and most likely neither do our parents. Another part of being a adolescent is having friendships closer than when you were a kid. Friends mean a lot for you and you want to show that you love and care about them. Now the competion of getting has switched to giving. We want to take our money and buy our friends the best and most expensive gift we can afford. While unmentioned, it becomes a competition between gift exchangers. You want to give a gift that is bigger and costlier than your friends', and if you friends cost more and is bigger, you feel bad. Feeling is a big piece in this game of gift giving. You only feel good about gift giving if your friends really likes the gift. If they quickly disregard it, you feel bad and don't like it.

Where do we get both of these ideas? The media, of course. Those commericials may seem boring, but they get to us. They tell us we must have something, almost to the point we need it. "If you have this product, you'll be happy" is the basic message they try to give us. The same applies for giving. A JC Penny commericial says it itself, "Better gifts get better reactions." They show commericials of people getting gifts, and the receiver is happy. They basically tell us that if we buy good (and usually expensive) gifts, we can make someone happy, which will make YOU happy. It's like we can buy our feelings!!

Whichever way we look at Christmas, either the "gimee way" or the "give you way", both end up tacking back to us. We either want literal, materialistic possessions, OR we want a feeling of gratitude, thankfulness, pride, happiness, or friendship back in return of giving an item. And sometimes, when we give, we do expect the receiver to give something back. With that in mind, we only give to friends who will know is getting you something for Christmas. Isn't that horrible?! This can get so bad, even to the point that Christmas becomes a second Valentine's Day!!! We give gifts to the person we have a crush on, or our boyfriend/girlfriend and we make sure it is the best one we have given. It's like our love can be displayed through physical gifts!!
The worse I have seen this been displayed is through a HORRIBLE tradition Christopher Dock Mennonite High School has. Every year you can go and buy candy canes for your friends (esp. boyfriends and girlfriends). These candy canes come with a note, which you personalize for your friends. During first period, they are handed out IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. Can you already see what is wrong with this picture?! Yes, it is guanteed than everyone gets at least one candy cane, but there is no control over the amount of candy canes one can get. There is no limit. Myself, I get one candy cane every year, sponsered by the Senate (Senate gives candy canes to those who do not receive a candy cane from anyone else). I have been cursed the past 3 years by being seated next to a girl (not the same girl, always a different one) who get over a dozen! Can you see the wrong feelings that these unchristian customs give on a Christian holiday?! Instead of getting a feeling of love and joy (the third and fourth weeks of advent), we get a feeling of being disliked and unloved. It makes us depressed. This is wrong. I refuse to take part in this nonsense. When in Senate, I tried to get rid of it, but the others fought back hard and were victorius (even though teachers complimented me for the idea). I protested it this morning. I broke the candy cane, ripped up the tag, and threw it away. I want no part it this craziness.

Doesn't it open your eyes? Can't you all of a sudden see why the Grinch wanted to steal Christmas, why Charlie Brown gets depressed every Chrtistmas, and every time Ebenezer Scrooge says "Bah Humbug" every time he hears about Christmas?! They have never felt the love return to them on Christmas!!

You could say, "Giving gifts on Christmas is a Christian idea. The 3 Magi gave gifts to baby Jesus. And the real St. Nicholas, a catholic saint, gave toys to the children." Yes, both are facts. But when either of them gave, were they expecting something back? Were the magi expecting Jesus, or his parents, to get them something in return? No. And while St. Nicholas gave toys to children, he gave them to POOR AND ORPHAN CHILDREN. This chidren could not afford to give back to St. Nick, even if they wanted to. In both cases, even though it might have given them a good feeling, both the wise men and St. Nick gave because they knew it was the right thing to do.

We really need to bring Christ back into the picture of Christmas. You're probably thinking, "Oh no, not another Jesus is the Reason for the Season speech." I think you guys have all heard this speeches, but have never listened to them. Last Sunday I did a skit for church. I played a man in the middle a fork in the road. One split in the road led to Christmas Bethlehem, while the other one led to Christmas Hollyday. The other character in the play, another girl from the youth girl (who I have a likin' for) was looking for Christmas, but didn't know which one to go to. The minute the scripture was read that said Bethlehem, she assumed that Christmas was in Bethlehem and started to head there. But when I asked her what was in her satchel (she laughed every time the word satchel was said), she had only items for a commericial Christmas, "a passport to Christmas Hollyday." Every time we we are told, "Jesus is the reason for the season" we think, "yeah, yeah, Santa is not the reason for Christmas, Jesus is, whatever." We hear it, but we don't put it to practice. We want to have Jesus number 1 in Christmas, but we still want to hold fast to our secular Christmas. We want to get stuff, and give stuff in return, so we get that warm, fuzzy feeling.

If you want to keep the Christmas way of giving, give in a different way, give like Jesus. Jesus performed many miracle in his earthly life, mainly healings. Every time he did, he never wanted anything back, no gifts. Everyone in the Bible seems to have this idea as well. Remember Naaman and Elisha (especially you quizzers of 2005)? Naaman wanted to thank Elisha by giving him a gift, but Elisha refused because he knew God didn't want anything in return. And when Gehazi went back to get this gift, God punished him for doing so! When you give don't expect anything back, not even the approval of the receiver. Giving a gift shouldn't make you a closer, better friend, and not giving a gift should not make you a bad friend. If this is true, I would seriously doubt your friendship. The best way to make sure you do this is give to someone you really don't know. This way you really don't expect to get anything in return. You can do this through many charities. This is another good way because these children are in a greater need of things. Such charites are the Salvation army, Angel Tree, Toys for Tots (the one I chose), and many others. Just like THE REAL St. Nick, you would be giving to those who are less fortuneate the normal, and not get anything back. That is the way Jesus would do it, and by doing this, it would bring back the true meaning of Christmas back. Because on that day, by being born, gave the give of his perfect life, so later on he could be the sacrifice for the sins of the world

The 4th Matrix!!!!

This is just for your entertainment. We have to do this collage in Photography class. We must take a picture of ourselves and put it someone where we wouldn't normally be. This is my collage:

(Unofficial) Countdown until the first quizmatch of 2006:
1 month.

Wow, I can't believe it, only one month (exactly) until quizzing begins. It seems like just yesterday that the invitational finished......okay, who I am trying to fool. It seems like it is taking forever for quizzing to arrive! I can't wait. But it still seems just like the invitational recently happened. Why? The wonderful memories of quizzing 2005 are still fresh in my memory. I will now take this time to reminise. There are 5 statements that simply describe the highlights of my 2005 quizzing year with Spring City. Don't worry, I take time to explain them (with pictures!).

FRED USES MY QUESTIONS!!!!!
I BEAT JOSH MOSS!!!!!
I'M ON THE TOP 50 QUIZZERS LIST!!!!!
WE'RE THE ACC TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS!!!!!
CHRISTINE ROCKED OUR QUIZ TEAM!!!!!

Fred uses my questions! It was the fifth week of the quizzing seaon. We were at Hopewell Elverson. My match was the third match. With no good second match to go to, I waited in the empty room that my next match was in. Fred was the quizmaster there. I started to talk to him. He said he was dissapointed that my website was no longer there. I said that I, of course, ended the Ark quizzing website when Ark ended. He said [something like]: "That's a shame. I always went there to get your questions. I used them in practice." I was so honored. I always worry about my questions. I always think some are contestable. But they were really good enough that Fred would use my questions. I still did write questions, even without the website, so I sent them to Fred via e-mail attachement. So to this day I e-mail Fred questions, along with my teammates.

I beat Josh Moss! An odd task, but one I am proud of. This was personal. After the 2004 Ark incident (I rather not go into details), the true quizzers who decided to keep quizzing were scattered among 4 different teams. I had some hard feelings around most of the Ark quizzers. This feeling drove me to a strong want to show them all up. I wanted to do that by either beating them head on, or finishing with a higher score at the end of the year. My chance came at week 4 of quizzing. We played Zion, Josh's team. I had quizzed out before Josh we were on the same team, but this team we were on opposite teams. This made it totally different. I was determined to quiz out before him. When Zion arrived at LMH, they were goofing off, singing a llama song. The drive was even stronger. I confronted him before the match. "Hey Josh," I said. "Why don't we make this match a bit more exciting." "What do you have in mind?" he said. "I sit across from you. You get my bonuses, I get yours." "Sure," he said. "I'll be sitting in seat 3." The match was on. I sat in seat 3, Josh was on seat 3. The match commensed. Josh got two errors. I picked up one of the bonuses. I got another 2 answers on buzzes. I quizzed out on question 14. Josh was unable to get a single question. On top of that, we got team bonus and beat Zion 120-20. I was so glad. I completed part of my goal. I had defeat Josh head on, individual and team. When the year ended, I finished 23rd with 510 points. Josh finished 44th with 485 points. Once again, I was ahead of Josh. I had taken down Josh, just like I always wanted. I exceeded the one who I always saw as a great. I now felt great. And the hard feelings- gone. At the end of the year, I signed his quizbook, congratulating him for a good quizzing career. Quizzing lost another good quizzer.

I'm on the Top 50 Quizzers List! A hard goal I wanted to complete for a long time. I was dissappointed when I didn't complete this my second year. I was far from it. So for my third year, I did not aim for it. Suprisingly, I took off the beginning my third year and was on it for the first five weeks of quizzing. I finished in 78th, not far from the Top 50 Quizzers List, but I wasn't disappointed because I wasn't aiming for it. The next year, I aimed to be on the Top 50 Quizzers List for one more week, 6 weeks. I did, plus more. I finally reached that one more week on Week 7. I was on it every day except Week 2/3 combination (ugh), when I finished 55th. With only one week to go, I thought "I think I can make it." And I did. I quizzed out my last two matches. When I went to receive my award, I think (and my coaches could verify this) I was the most estatic quizzer ever when receiving the Top 50 Quizzer Award. I went up wildly cheering and hooting. I tried to hug Fred! I was happy of my achievement. It took long, hard work to get there.



We're the ACC Tournamet Champions! This is too long to explain. If the want the whole story go to my Blogspot Webpage with the article title "Tales of a 6th Place Nobody" (you can click the article title, it's a link to the article). I'll briefly describe it. Let's just say we didn't deserve it. We got it only by the grace of God. I'm not sure why he chose us, but I think I may have an idea why he personally chose me. I think maybe one of the reasons that he chose me was that I wasn't trying. I was happy with whatever I got. 6 regular matches was good enough for me. God choose us, by his miraculous power, to go on to the playoffs. I was grateful to get to the playoffs tried to achieve getting to the semifinals, just to get a small trophy. We won the quaterfinals and went to the semifinals. Before the semifinal matches began, I said to my teammates, "OK, we won a trophey, but if we win this match, we can win a BIG trophey! We could, but I was happy with a "small" trophey. However, we came through and won the semifinal. We were going to the finals. Before the finals began, I told my team, "All right, we won a big trophey, but if we win this match, we can win a BIGGER trophey!!" I was satisfied was our "big trophey," but God thought I deserved better and gave the win for Spring City. We were a sixth place team, and no one thought Spring City could make it up there, even the Spring City quizzers (especially me). But I believe the Lord thought that we deserved it and God gave it to us. This, to me, was the final sign that I was meant to be on the Spring City quiz team.

Christine rocked our team! With all due respect to her, Christine is like a quiet fart - silent but deadly. Christine only scored 30 points in the regular season, and about the same during both tournaments. But she always came in when we needed her the most. She gave us team bonus we were in need, and we suceeded. All thanks to Christine. She saved us twice during the ACC Tournament, once giving us team bonus and other time getting the bonus so we could win by those 10 points. Both times I wasn't expecting it, but she came through and delivered. It was awesome! I'm glad she chose to quiz once more for Spring City.



Man, that was a great year. There are many other memories, but these 4 were the most dominant. This had to be my favorite year of quizzing (so far, at least). With great memories of this, I hope the next 31 days passes by fast so we can begin making new quizzing memories.

Another Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving break began at Wednesday, November 23 at 11:50 AM. We had a half day of school on that Wednesday. Our van driver illegally treated us to McDonalds for lunch. The rest of the afternoon I did homework, and for a good reason. At 5:45 PM I had dinner of a roast beef hoagie. I finished it at 6 PM and thus began my annual 22-hour pre-thanksgiving fast. It would be 24 hours, but my parents make me eat dinner. I do this every year for two main reason. The first and foremost reason is so that when the big Thanksgiving meal comes, I understand how thankful I am that the Lord provides food for me. The second reason is so that I can eat more of the big meal. At night we had Thanksgiving Eve service. It was a combination of two congregations: Frederick and Perkiomenville (both Mennonite churches).

Every year we go to Connecticut (where both sides of my extended family live) for Thanksgiving weekend. It use to be Thursday to Monday, but since most of my father's side died, and there is no longer really a reason to hang around longer, it is now Thursday to Saturday. We left Thursday morning at 10:30 AM. I wanted to leave 9 AM so we get there in time to watch the whole 1 PM football game, but that was unsuccessful. This was the first time we went up in our new car, a 2002 Toyota Camry. I was worried I would be squished and uncomfortable (we use to go up in a minivan, and I would take up a whole row), but to my surprise I had enough room to be comfortable, although I had less room than before.

The car ride up is the same distance and time as the car ride back. One-way is three hours, so a round-trip wound be six hours. Yes, a total of six hours in the car (altough it was on two separte days). Usually one would do homework (like my sister did), but like I said, I made sure all my homework was done. So what did I do? Quizzing of course! I worked on my quizzing questions. I am running out of time (see end of post) and needed to get them done. In the duration of the car time, I got done 8 verses and 52 questions. So as of now, I have 18 of 55 verses in Luke 2 done. Slow progress, but progress nonetheless. I just hope I get it done in time.

We arrived at 2 PM because of a bit of holiday traffic. Immeadiately I ran to the game. I only missed the first quarter and half of the second, so it wasn't too bad. But Atlanta was already up 17-0 with 100+ yards rushing, so I thought I missed a lot. I was happy that I got to watch the rest of the game, plus the second game. My uncle arrived an hour later. I greeted him with, "Hey, it's my favorite uncle, Uncle Rob!" His reply, "Alright, what is it that you want for Christmas, tens and twenties?" [An allusion from A Charlie Brown Christmas, when Sally asks Santa for tens and twenties, reffering to cash]. Yeah, that's what it came down to, something for Christmas. Since for my birthday, my parents got my tickets for Spamalot, tickets to an Eagles game, and sent me to the NYLC, my birthday present money ran over to my Christmas money, so I am getting nothing for Christmas. It comes down to what Uncle Rob gets me.

Well dinner was suppose to be at 4 PM, but Mom made it 5 PM. When she went to turn off her tea, she accidently turned off the over. So the dinner had another hour to cook. For dinner we had potatoes, yams, spinach, green beans, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, and for the main dish....TURDUNCAN!!!...well, minus the duck part. My grandmother decided that a whole turkey was too much money and work, so she decided to make turkey breast and chicken legs. I broke my fast by eating a whole serving of everything, than after finishing that, having a second serving of everything again! Then desert came and I ate two slices of both pumpkin and apple pie. The night finished off by watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (why can I relate to that kid so many times?!), Survivor and the Apprentice.

Friday morning and afternoon was pretty boring. I had a serving of all Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch (totally three servings for both Thursday and Friday). I went on to finish the Spinach, yams, and mashed potatoes. My family finished the pumpkin. Yeah, pretty much just sat around, read comics, watched TV. My grandparents have like 100 movie channels, so I went from watching one movie to the next.

Friday night was the Holcomb side (my father's side) of the reunion. We see them less than the Pagano side (my mother's side). They came from distant parts of the New England to meet us all together. I got an even rarer appearance of my second cousin, first removed two year old cousin Shiela (I just call her cousin for short). We hardly see her, so it appears like she grows up so fast. On top of that, she can't remember who anyone in my family is. I asked her to say my name, and she gave a blank stare of confusion. Her mother (my first cousin) showed her a picture of Yoda and she asked, "Who's that?!" Loudly Shiela shrieked, "YODA!!!!" Yes, my baby cousin knows Yoda better me or anyone else in my family. We had pizza for dinner. I had 3 pepperoni slices and two cans of Coke (and after eating all those leftovers, I feel like a fat pig). That was followed our traditional game of Trivial Pursuit. That's always fun. We had two games, and my team won both of them.

Saturday, we got up late, stopped by my grandparent's house to say goodbye, then left for home. On the way we stopped at Ruby Tuesdays for dinner. I had the ULTIMATE COLOSSAL BURGER!!! Mmmm, 3 lbs of beef...I ate the whole thing. I'm interested to see how much weight I've gained over the vacation.

After this post, I'm gonna go back to telling you about the NYLC. I still have so much I want to tell you about it!!

(Unofficial) Countdown to the first quizmatch of 2006:
1 month, 2 weeks, 1 day

NYLC Episode 1: The Talent show

My trip is over. I have returned from a foreign land...Washington, D.C. Actually, I've been back since Sunday afternoon. Between football and school, I haven't been able to tell you of many many adventures. There are so many as well. So for the next week, I will break it down into daily episodes (or as daily as I can get), so read previous entries if you miss one and keep comments on the right one.

On Thursday evening, we had a talent show. Scholars would sign up and show off a talent they had. Some were serious, some were funny. The funny ones consist of a dramatic reading about tuna fish and a comical song about traffic lights. There were singers & dancers. After seeing the girl dancers, many guys wanted to dance with them at the Dinner and Dance. There was also a Be-Bop, and that was cool. My favorite was the last. Dean Grenfeld, a fellow classmate from Christopher Dock, got together a bunch of guys for the show. They danced to the a remix of the Spice Girls. They decided to call themselves The Spice Boys. It was hillarious. I will never stop laughing. I have pictures of it. I posted them on my locker and now will give them to you. There is 10, so they'll take a while to load. WARNING: THESE PICTURES MAY HURT YOUR EYES!!!!

Blood drive on Halloween??!!

Today, October 31, our school had a blood drive. Ah the irony, on Halloween, a holiday of vampires and gore, the school's service committee decided to have a blood drive. lol. I thought it would have been funny if they blood takers would have dressed up in vampire costumes and said, "We have come to take your blood" in a thick Transylvania accent. lol. I didn't volunteer to give blood for two reasons. First, I may have reached the proper age of 17, but I weight 110 pounds, the lowest you can weigh to give blood. Didn't want to risk it. Second, nasty fear of needles. I had gotten rid of it after all those allergy shots, but then I met Deanna, and it all came back...

And now for something completely different....

One of the many bonuses of being in school senate is I got nominated to be part of the National Young Leaders Conference (NYLC for shot). The NYLC is a confrence when high schoolers get to go to Washington, D.C. for a week to observe Congress in action, get speakers from Congress, and participate in a Model Congress, a model Presidential Cabinet and a model Supreme Court case. Well, my nomination was sent in and accepted. I will be participating in the NYLC. As of tomorrow, November 1st, I will be leaving for Washington, D.C. and I will return Sunday, November 6. I'm sort of ready. I'm ready in the sense that I am packed. I am not ready in the sense that I do not know what are my Senators and Representatives' views, I'm not well informed on the issues and I'm clueless on what Congress is doing. On top of that, my teachers threw on a ton of homework. Seriously, my locker is empty cuz I took everything. So, in short, I will be kept busy. So I'm gonna be away from the computer in a while. Feel free to leave comments (like that's gonna happen) while I'm away, but I just won't reply instantly. Talk to ya l8r, like November 6.

(Unofficial) Countdown to quizzing 2006:
2 months, 2 weeks, 5 days

Rant on Social Quizzers

We're on the subject of quizzing, I feel a well needed overdue rant coming along, let's combine the two. Today I will rant about SOCIAL QUIZZERS.

Social Quizzers is a term I made up. A social quizzer is a quizzer who just goes to quizzing just for fun and to socialize with friends. Social quizzers are not serious quizzers; they slack off, and don't care how bad they do (and because of so they often do poorly). They treat quizzing as another youth group event, like duct taping someone to the wall or doing "Draw Your Swords" (seeing who can find the Bible verse the fastest). Social quizzers just go to quizzing to eat, drink, talk to friends, goof off, do nothing, find a boyfriend/girlfriend, etc.

If you can't tell, I do not like social quizzers. I do not support anyone becoming a social quizzer. They get in the way of serious quizzers and hold them back. This is why most serious quizzers are in support of stacked teams. Stacked teams THEORETICALLY (notice how I stress this, there are exceptions) are consisted of serious quizzers who do well, not social quizzers who are slow to study.

I have something to say to Social Quizzers. Take quizzing seriously, or don't quiz. There are many quizzers in quizzing who are extremely serious and competitive. They do not like to be losing or held back because they have a careless quizzer on their hands. Quizzing is competitive, not just another another game. If you want somewhere to socialize with others, eat & drink, be goofy & do nothing, or play games just for fun, join a youth group not a quiz team. Quizzing is not another youth group game or event. However, if you are looking for something to put your bible knowledge to t)he challenge, to prove how much you know of the Bible, and to get your talents realized, then quizzing is the thing for you.

Now, I don't want to give the wrong idea of serious quizzers. Serious quizzers are not always serious. They can have fun as well. But serious quizzers know that quizzing is not the place for that. I would advise all quizzers to remember Ecclesiastes 3. There is a time and season for everything. There is a time to be serious and a time to be funny. Quizzing is a time to be serious.

3 months until quizzing 2006!!!!

(Unofficial) Countdown to quizzing 2006:
3 months.

I officially miss quizzing. It's not like I ever did not miss it, I always miss it during the offseason. Now I really miss it a lot. It's been 7 months, 2 days since the last quiz match. I miss the adrenaline rush I feel when I begin a quiz match (or is that just the Mountain Dew?). I miss the feel of my sweaty hands tightening the grip around the buzzer. I miss the flow of mass amounts of information in my head within thirty seconds. I miss having a good challenge of my biblical knowledge with those who are as smart as me. I miss being around fellow quizzers, especially Spring City.

I miss those of Spring City, or at least what's left of Spring City quiz team. They're all over the place. We are getting a serious roster change. Brandon is at Penn State and Aubrey is at Liberty. Bah, using college as a reason not to quiz, pathetic. Christine chose to retire from quizzing last year. I asked Josh if he was returning during the Secret Sponser thing in April and he replied no. I heard Julie is not quizzing next year either. So you only have 2 original quizzers from Spring City. (Or maybe I should say 1 1/2 since Mike is the only quizzer from Spring City and I'm not and only have quizzed with them for one year. Well, only 2 quizzers left from 2005 Spring City.) Even though we lost, we have a valuable pick-up for next year. Tim and Becky Moss have chosen to quiz for Spring City. That is soooo awesome. Tim was on the Top 50 Quizzers List, just like Brandon, so you could see almost see Tim as an equal replacement. Becky is good because she is a second-year quizzer with some first year experience. She'd be the one to help contribute to team bonus. Becky, Tim, Mike, and I would be a tough starting lineup to beat. They are a good accquirement. Hehe, everytime I think of this, I get a funny picture in my head. I picture this like the a sports draft (like the football draft). Fred, the commissioner, stands up in front of a microphone and says into it, "Spring City chooses...TIM & BECKY MOSS!" This is followed by cheers and applause. Tim and Becky walk up on stage a get like a jersey or something like that with coach Dave with their name on it. LOL. That would be so great. On top of that, I've been talking to Tyler Willman and he says he wants to quiz for Spring City. That would a fifth quizzer. I'm not sure if Spring City Fellowship as anyone new of age or the Deitricks have anyone in mind.

While excited about the upcoming quiz year, I am also getting nervous. I am only on verse 5 of a 55-verse chapter of Luke. I am falling behind. Stupid school isn't helping my cause. I need to finish that chapter by the end of year 2005. I’ve started buzzing drills and memorizing passages. I haven’t began listening to the text on CD, and won’t begin that until December. Hey, this is what the off-season is all about, studying up and preparing for the next year. I think all quizzers should do this. Quizzers not studying during the off-season would be like Terrell Owens not going to training camp. It's so wrong. Tim, I still like that idea of having a practice before January.

Today is September 11, the fourth aniversary of the World Trade Center Terrorist attacks. I noticed a lot of speeches and sermons around today were focused on that, so I will, too. During that sorrowful day, many spiritual questions were running running through the mind of several, even those considered non-Christian. Questions were such as: "Why would God allow this?","Why would this be in God's plan/will?","Why do bad things happen to good people?","What did we do to suffer from this?" I will input my view on these questions.

"Why would this be in God's plan/will?"
In the Lord's prayer, we say, "Thy will be done." But when we say that, do we really know what we are getting into? We are offering to give up everything that we want for the Lord. We tend to think that God's Will has all good things. Of course, we have bible verses that backs this up. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down by the Father of Heavenly Lights who never turns like shifting shadows." [James 1:17] "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and future." [Jeremiah 29:11]. But I think we also need to remember bad things are in God's Will as well. It was God's Will for fire to rain down on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was God's Will for the world to be flooded out, killing all but one family and two of every animal. It was God's Will for there to be a drought in Israel for 3 1/2 years during King Ahab's reign, causing a famine. Bad things happen in God's Will, but just as God promises in Jeremiah 29:11, it will all be for the good in the future.

"Why do bad things happen to good people?"
Thinking about this question, you could also flip this question around for another hard to ponder question. "Why do good things happen to bad people?" Think about it. Bin Laden and Al Qaeda claims responsibility for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as terrorist attacks in Madrid and London, but still have been caught. Sadaam Hussein is responsible for mass genocide, but still hasn't had a trial and been brought to justice.

The human theory says that good things should happen to good people, and bad things should happen to bad people. The Hindus actually have a name for this: Karma. But all humans believe this: Christians, hindus, whatever. What comes around, goes around. But we use the term "good" so loosely. "There is no one righteous, not one." [Romans 3:10] In Romans 3:10, righteous has the same meaning as perfect or good. Jesus says: "Why do you call me good? No one is good - except God alone." [Mark 10:18] There is no one perfect, there is no such thing as a "good person". Therefore, according to the human theory: we all deserve bad things to happen to us because we ourselves are not good, we are bad. Whether it is Bin Laden, Sadaam Hussein, George Bush, John Kerry, Billy Graham, Pope Benedict XVI, your pastor, your school teachers, Graham Holcomb, or even yourself, we are all bad and deserve bad things to happen to us. We deserve it. But God loves us so much, he had compassion and mercy on us, despite how bad we are. So he provided a good plan for us.

Let's go back to Mark 10:18. Jesus said that there is no one good, but God. We all know that Jesus is God, so Jesus is good. Therefore, according to the human theory, only good things should've happen to Jesus when he was human. Good things did happen when Jesus was on earth, but bad things happened as well. Jesus experienced the same pain we did. He was even betrayed, beaten, executed by cruicified (the worst execution method in human history), mocked and abandoned (emotional pain). Even Jesus, the only good person in human history had bad things happen to him. Maybe because he was in the prescense of bad people. So it all comes down to another question:

1. 
   "What did we do to suffer from this?"

In eighth grade, my bible teacher gave the response to this question and I agree with it. There are four main reasons why we suffer:

1. Because of our sins [John 5:14]
2. Because of our parents'/ancestors' sins [Exodus 20:5,6; Jeremiah 32:18]
3. Because we are human
4. So the works of God may be displayed [John 9:3]

Since we are all bad sinners, we suffer. There are bible verse to back this up. But remember the fourth reason. Once again, Jeremiah 29:11 reminds that the Lord will give a good future and not hurt us. Therefore the bad things that plague us in life will turn to good and we might become closer to God through it, get rid of doubt, or may be a good witness to the goodness of our loving God. Whatever the cause we must remember Jesus can identify with it. He will help us through it and reward us for enduring it.

(Wow, these posts keep getting longer......)

Summer good, school bad

Today was my last day of summer vactation. As always I enjoyed my last day to the fullest. This is how I spent the day-

8:45 AM: Woke up
8:45 AM - 9:00 AM: Eat breakfast of a third a box of sugar-loaded cerea
l9:00 AM - 10:00 AM: Shower/Get changed
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: Play GameCube (Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004)
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM: Watch "The Price Is Right"12:00 PM - 12:30 PM: Walk dog/Eat lunch of a box of Mac N Cheese.
12:30 PM - 1:00 PM: Watch "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?!"
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM: Play GameCube (NBA Street 2)
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM: Sit in hammock swing, reflect on how great summer was and how much I hate returning to school.
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM: Write bible quizzing questions.
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM: Play GameCube (Mario Party 5/Donkey Konga 1)
5:30 PM - 5:45 PM: Eat Dinner of pork, noodles and green beans
5:45 PM - 6:30 PM: Play GameCube (Donkey Konga 2)
6:30 PM - 7:00 PM: Surf internet/check email
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM: Watch "Jeopardy!"
7:30 PM - 8:00 PM: Blog on Xanga
8:00 PM - ?:?? PM: Watch football/surf internet/instant meesenger/Xanga
When tired: Got to bed

It's ironic that I made a schedule that last day I am no longer controlled by a schedule. But I did to live this vacation day to the fullest. I made sure I at least did everything I did in my free time this summer once. I also made sure I played every Nintendo GameCube game I own at least once (a custom I started the summer before fifth grade) and I did. I stuffed myself silly since when school starts, I stop eating breakfast.

My reflections on the hammock swing went something like this-

"It was another great summer. It went great. I worked a lot, yet still got some gree time. I enjoyed doing 5-Day Clubs. I especially enjoyed the two weeks of training at LBC and East Swamp. I got to meet so many great people, who were interest in spreading the gospel. I loved sharing bible stories and the way to Christ. Witnessing children come to Christ is awesome and wouldn't trade it for the world.

The second week of August was VBS Camp with Faulkner Swamp and Peace in Zion UCC churches at Mensch Mill. It was typical camp: stressul. Yet I loved doing it again. Teaching got me more into it. I got to see how the Lord worked through me to bring kids to Christ. We also got a good laugh now and then.

Only one family trip, and I'm glad for that. Family trips to CT are getting boring for me. Nothing to do but watch cable TV. Everyone is either too old or too young. It did force me to read me book, though. Beside that trip, no other trips. However, Aunt Sue, Cousin Matt and Matt's roommate Andy did come to us once, but it was so short, I didn't notice. We have to go back up labor day.

Only July 5, I turned 17. My birthday came and went. Didn't notice, not me, not my peers, not relatives, and hardly my family. That's they way I like it and they way it should be. (Head's up: I'll rant about that one of these days.) With the birthday money, I bought Donkey Konga 1 & 2 with 2 bongos. Mike Williams got me hooked on it and I play it often.
I find it a blessing that I only a few people from school in three days of my summer vacation. I hate seeing classmates outside of school. It's almost as bad as seeing teachers out of school.
After two weeks of free time, summer has come to a close. I will miss its freedom of laziness, mindless TV, bible quizzing, and endless GameCube.

I dread returning to school. No, it's not the boring classes, long assignments or hard tests. I understand it must be done and have gotten use to it. It's the people there, but it's not the teachers. The teachers are insightful, and are just doing their job (which seems to us as being mean). I actually like most of my teachers. I hate going to school because of the students, my peers, my classmates. They make school life hard and depressing for me. I hate everything social at school. I hate the close cliques that are formed. They make certain people better than others, and close off the lowest from the rest of the school. The lowest feel left out, and I hate that. I hate having to meet up with the popular kids' expectations and standards of being accepted and cool. Most of these standards and expectations are fueled by Hollywood. And if you go against them, forget being accepted, and expect to be on the bottom of the clique system. I hate noisy, disruptive, obnoxious students in my classes that make it impossible to learn. If they don't want to lean and have to "suffer" then they make you suffer and unable to learn. I hate it when classmates are immature. You're in high school, grow up. I also hate show-off couples. They make it look like they're better than you because you're single. They make being single bad and it puts you down. It pressures you get a boyfriend/girlfriend and date. That sucks.

I pray that the freshmen class is better this year. Despite having a few cute chicks last year, they were annoying, loud, talkative and sometimes rude. I also pray teachers will have better patience to put up with students. I am sick and tired of getting punished for the stupid things my peers do. It is unfair.

Other than that, I am fine with school. I understand I need it to become smarter and get a good paying job in a career that I like. I have gotten use to homework, projects, quizzes, tests, teachers and classes. It's a part of life. I will never get use to my classmates, cliques, show-off couples, and the soap opera of high school. Materialistically, I am prepared for tomorrow. I got all new school stuff. I have finished the book report due for school (I actually finished in the beginning of August) and it is 110 words over the maximum requirement. I pray the Lord will prepare me for what I cannot get use to at school: the social part.

This year, I will keep promoting my anti-cliquism book. I will also base everything I do in school senate on it. I will not let my classmates get the best of me. I will try my best not to give in to their standards and not be controlled as who I am and I should act and live. I will not let their commercial holidays get me down, either. I will once again aim for straight A's. However, I will be fine if I get straight A's the first semister and my grades drop third quarter because of quizzing."

Only 360 days left to survive......

I think this is my longest post ever.....

Mike's Party

On Saturday, I went to Mike's B-Day party. That was awesome. I was the first to arrive, the first to leave. Brandon and Bruce were there, along with a bunch of Mike's other friends who I don't know. Most of the time, Mike was asking, "So, what do you guys wanna do?" LOL. That's why I don't host parties; I'd be asking that question more. It was still fun though. We did volleyball for 5 seconds, until the net that Mike and I horribly put up collasped. So we play dodgeball and football. I realized I am a better quaterback than wide receiver. We won the game in sudden death overtime! They went swimming, but I didn't. We started to play Monopoly, but that failed miserably. Food was great, too. Hardly ate anything, but good food! It was great seeing those guys again.

P.S. Mike, I already lost the phone no. So, send it back my way (with the name)

(Unofficial) Countdown to quizzing 2006:
5 months, 1 day

Chick magnet 4ever

To this day, I have been alive 17 years, 1 month, 3 days. Since the day I was born on July 5, 1988 (at 5:30 PM), I have grown, my life slightly shaped by events that happened to me as I grew up. I've grown up and in some places I have changed and been different. Then again, some things never change...

This is me at age 3


This is me at age 15:


This is me at age 17:


Some things just come naturally....it's almost like instinct. I sometimes swear it's the Chick Magnet shirt.

July 26, 2005....there will never be another July 26, 2005 ever again.

Yesterday was fun.

Like I said, yesterday was Aunt and Uncle Day. So happy Aunt and Uncle Day to Uncle Cliff, Bill, Jeff & Rob, as well as Aunt Deb, Sue and Joanne. On top of that, it was my dad's birthday, he turned forty-four.

The Day started out with working with my mom to pay off another phone card. Then I had 5-Day Club, always fun. When I got home, I played some Donkey Konga (I'm addicted, man!) and then read more of my book report book. If anyone knows how to ruin a summer vacation, it's a teacher. Homework over summer = blah. To my english teacher, I stick out my tongue in your general direction.

Then I went up for a Reading Phillies game. My grandparents were suppose to come, they cancelled because of my grandfather's back (most likely just being their normal party-pooping selves). My uncle jumped on this as his excuse not to come as well. So we had 3 extra tickets. We gave 2 of the tickets to a couple who are family friends. We got rid of the last ticket. My parents gave both my sister and I the chance to invite a friend, but none of us had one. It disappointed my money-tight mom. I blame it mostly on Erin. She has 4 times more friends than me.
The game was fun, despite the Phillies losing. It was the same night as baseball bingo, which made it tons of fun. Each move would represent a number. For example, if 1 baseman struck out: B12, if he walked: I27, if he got a single: N33, etc. They have this for every batter for things such as strikeouts, walks, single, double, triple, homerun and base steal. They also had fielder's choice and hit by pitch. Well, I started out doing good. It was fun playing, but it felt awkward because at sometimes you had to cheer for the other team. One time, I needed a strikeout to win. I'm yelling (surrounded by fans), "STRIKE HIM OUT!" By the 8th inning, I was short 2 in 5 different places. Then some old guy left with his family and left 3 bingo cards. Of course, I took them. On two cards he was short by 1 twice! Last inning with two outs. Still short one twice and 2 five times. Then all of a sudden, for the last out, fielder's choice! They say, "On your Bingo scorecard, O67" BINGO!! (for all who don't know, random fact: Bingo is my dog's name) As we were going down to claim my prize, some guy was complaining "O67 is not fielder's choice" and I'm thinking: "SHUT UP! I'M CLAIMING A PRIZE, WHETHER IT'S RIGHT OR NOT!" Luckily, the complaint didn't reach the prize table. I won a hat. I was hoping for something bigger like team autographed ball or free tickets. Anyways, being me, I found the thrill of competition good.

I think I'll go to Reading Phillies games more often.

I'm having some technical issues....

Okay, I'm doing this at school, which is very illegal (defined as "misuse of computer") so I gotta make this quick (don't ever say I've never done anything wrong)

Last Thursday morning, I pressed the on button my computer and it booted up and worked fine. In the afternoon, I pressed the on the button and nothing happened. It would not boot up. So the next day I called tech support. I spent the first hour listening to "hold music", which was a 5-minute song being repeated every time it ended. Of course, it drove me insane. Then I finally got to an expert. I got some Indian women (since Dell makes its computers in sweat shops in India. I could hardly understand her and had her repeat alomst every other sentance. We went into an hour of troubleshooting. The first part of it was the annoying obvious stuff ("Is the computer battery dead? Is it plugged in? Did you press the on button?") Then I had to take it apart. An hour later, the diagnosis was I needed a new motherboard. So the Dell technician will someday come over my house and fix my computer.

So that's why you haven't heard from me for a while. I have no internet, e-mail, IM or Xanga. It'll be some time before I get another motherboard, so you may continue to not hear from me. I running out of options as well. School ends in 4 days, so I can't use these computers (and it's also illegal). My parents' computer needs new software and a new modem, so I can't use that either. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to convince my sister to use her computer, but then again, she uses it a lot and is very possessive. So just remember I am not ignoring you.

The Quizzing Luncheon

The Quizzing Luncheon was great. Julie and Christine weren’t there, so it was just the guys (including Bruce). Aubrey met us there, so the six of us all sat comfortably in the van. I think that was the first time. On the way up, they all talked about Star Wars Episode 3. I still need to see it, so they ruined the whole plot. Brandon was trying to be nice and drop the subject so it wouldn’t ruin it for me, but that is all Josh seemed to talk about. Then we got talking about yellow Amish buggies and the bling-bling Amish.

When we got there, we had to wait a bit to meet with Aubrey. Michael tried his "Aubrey call" a few times. He got 5-10 minutes after we did. Then we went in. It took a while for the cashier to scan all the gift cards. The Deitricks got about 8 separate receipts. Then "the hounds" were let loose in the buffet. I got potatoes done every way know to man, plus a lot of chicken. Aubrey took two drinks. Michael took a lot of bread. For desert, I had coconut cream pie, Aubrey had about 3 bowls of pudding, Michael had 3 bowls of chocolate ice cream with every chocolate topping known to man on it (he was aiming for 5), Dave had one bowl of vanilla ice cream, which quickly melted in the hot dish and Josh had a lot of coffee. Well, of course, to be Spring City we have to do some kind of wild, crazy and weird act. So Aubrey and Michael decided each of them was going to chug half a bottle of Tabasco sauce. Each one’s face turned to red. You could see the pain run through them. Aubrey kept complaining his lips hurt from the burning, so he put his lips in Dave’s ice cream. Michael kept eating bread to cool his mouth. Bruce tried to play a joke by putting Tabasco in Mike’s roll, but he quickly caught on. It was funny just watching the facial expressions. Then both of them had to go to the bathroom. Now, if you know anything about Tabasco sauce, it burns when it leaves the body. So Michael and Aubrey were in the bathroom for a while. They were impressed about the toilet seat covers. Typical. The waitress wasn’t exactly too happy about cleaning up after us, so the Deitricks left a hefty tip. Then we left. We brought Josh home. Then I went back to the Deitricks where my parents picked me up. Brandon, Bruce, Aubrey and Michael went back to the Tedors to play Mario Party 5. Michael was suppose to play baseball, but he got sick from the Tabasco sauce. That’s pretty much what went down.

I've been keeping myself busy

I've been keeping myself busy, dating back to Thursday....

Thursday was my big senate speech. When I even started to get up, I was already getting cheers. I warned everyone at the beginning of my speech: "Be prepared for a speech like none you ever heard." Then I began. I'll have to post the speech one day. I got laughs and cheers throughout the whole speech, especially after quoting Napolean Dynamite twice. During the speech, I looked down at the other candidates. Nate Weaver and Andrew Derstine's jaw was dropped. That scene was worth running alone. At the end, I got the loudest applause and cheer than any other canidate. According to Aaron, I got a standing ovation. Afterward, it seemed like amost everyone told me they voted for me (from all cliques). Not to get over confident, but judging by the amount of people who told me they voted for me and the loud cheering at the election, I declare myself the unofficially winner.

Friday night was the ApologetiX concert. It is my fourth. It was awesome. You'll never guess who I saw...BECKY MOSS! Of course, I had to bother her about where she was in offseason quizzing. I never expected to see her there. Apparently, no one expected to see me there either. I saw alotta people from my Dock classes, especially Spanish class. I thought it would be good to make public appearances if I were to be senator. I got my sixth CD, Grace Period.

Yesterday, I went to the Country Auction, but I didn't do much but eat, watch auctioning and walk around aimlessly. The real "excitement" came at night. My family was invited (by Hollywood) to a television preview (you may now ooh and aww). We saw 2 TV shows. The first was called "Soulmates". It was a cheesy romantic drama. It had to do with being reincarnated and still having the same soul mate. Horrible storyline. If this ever does it make it to TV, don't watch it! Next was a sitcom called "City." It was an old show they were trying to bring back. It had potential, but I didn't like it. I didn't win the drawing for the rent-a-car, either.

Today, after church, will be the quizzing reunion, before Brandon and Aubrey head off to college. I haven't seen any of them since abount a month from today. We're going to Old Country Buffet. For that reason, I have not eaten since dinner last night. Between all of us, we'll eat so much we'll put Old Country Buffet out of business. I'll tell more later

The haunting of Spring City quiz team

Today was depressing, but the bus ride made it all better (isn't it funny how certain people can make your day better?!). Ahh, school is generally depressing. But maybe I'm just depressed. But is it just a coincidence I'm depressed the most between April-December?! Nope. Some people get homesick. I am quizzingsick. I miss quizzing. No matter how depressing my day is, quizzing brightens it up. My happy place is a quiz match. That may confuse some quizzers. They see how stress and over anxious I get. But sometimes I like that feel. I can feel the adrenaline rush run through my body by sitting up there and holding a buzzer. And when a "fun match" comes along (like in practice), I really enjoy the fun of quizzing. In short, I really miss quizzing, both the actual quizzing and the quizzers. I miss all quizzers, but the ones I miss the most are my teammates. Sometimes, I can still hear their voices crying out....

Aubrey
"Silly McFly, hoverboards don't work on water...."

Brandon
"....you've got no power!"
"Want some paaannncakes?!"

Josh
"Skinny bones Jones...Skinny bones Jones...leave them hem-hocks alone....."

Michael
"I'll drink to that!"
"I concure!"
"Indubably!"
"Go on up you baldhead! Go on up you baldhead!"
"29 kids go into the water... 22 come out.... the ice cream man goes on break... you know the rest..."

The fun of duct tape

Last Sunday my youth group had their a "Duct Tape Sunday." We had a competition on who could make the best thing out of duct tape. My team consisting of Aaron Derstine, Derek Zona, and yours truly, Graham Holcomb, quizzer extrodinaire. We made the duct tape elephant as seen as above. It was awesome, so awesome it won the award as best!

Now, quizzing has a history of using duct tape as well. I used duct tape on my 2004 name plack. I remember Jaron had a duct tape suit of armor one year. That was cool. So next year, don't be surprised if you see that elephant as my quizzing buddy

Quizzing a sport?

Today was boring. I started out watching cheerleading competions (I think you all know why ), then I watched a poker competition. And it got my thinking, ": how can someone say quizzing is not a sport, and yet chess, cheerleading, and poker is." Then I continued to thing, "Is quizzing really a sport? So in mock of the "cheerleading article scandal", I will defend quizzing as a sport (with as little attack on the other sports as possible).

Quizzing is many things. It's a time to learn God's word, an act of worship towards God, a time to socialize with other Christians, and a time to use our God-given gifts. I think it has a sport as well. The dictionary defines it as: "Physical activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively." Now the only physical thing you do in quizzing is press a button. But it's not just that. The second defintion calls a sport: "An active pastime." Perhaps quizzing is that. Quizzing is a strong intellectual sport. It's not a game of chance. It's not like no skill is required. Quizzing takes tons of painstaking, time-consuming studying and practicing. There is as much stragedy in quizzing as in making plays in football, if not more. Quizzing is just as competitive as any sport as well. I have seen and expereinced the great competition in quizzing. It has led quizzers from great joy and laguhter to overcome by tears and sadness (and vice versa). People will do anything to win, some even will cheat (sadly). If this is not competition, I don't know what is. Quizzing also can be considered as a sport because of the great dedication to it. Many quizzers go into matches with great seriousness. Quizzing is too a sport.

Now the more negative side of looking at why quizzing is a sport. Quizzing must be a sport if there are other activities that are also considered sports. Such are chess, poker and cheerleading. Quizzing takes just as much thinking and stratergy as chess. In poker, all you do is bluff, bet and hope the right cards come along. Cheerleading is like being a "profesional fan". All they do is cheer for the team, and occasionally put on a little show. If these are sports, than so is bible quizzing!

Secret Sponser shing ding thing

Back on Sunday, we had a secret sponser shing ding thing. It was great to see everyone again. It was during a fellowship meal, so we had lunch as well. I got caught up on events with Christine. Of course, the first thing Michael wanted to know was my situation with girls..... He asked Christine about what she wanted to tell him, but then forgot. I was correct in my assumption on my secret sponser. It was Mrs. Schwager. She wasn't there (just like my past two secret sponsers), but did call me all the way from Florida. As a final secret sponser gift, I got a puzzle and Swedish Fish. Then the church showed their apprieciation with a $15 gift card to Master's Merchantile and a gift card for Old Contry Buffet. Then we got a blessing. Let me tell you, we had to sit on the floor for an half hour. It gets to your butt. Thus, officially ended quizzing. It was a great year.

Thank you, Spring City, for a great year. In future entries, I'll have more flashbacks from 2005.
Quizzing Joke:Q: How many quizzers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?A: Only one, but you'll need 4 if you want team bonus

At LBC.......again

Friday I school off (last time for another 7 weeks). So I had a college visit. I know it's kinda early, but why not? I visited Lancaster Bible College AKA LBC. I had already been there for 4 days before about 3 weeks ago, so it hardly felt like I left . We listened to the college president talk, then attended chapel. Then I went to a bible class. It was great! I actually went to bible class that everyone wanted to be there and participated (unlike some mennonite high school I know....)! Then we went on a tour of the campus, followed by lunch. Then they did Q&A, which they avoided most of the negative answers. That concluded everything.

Just of the fun it, we got a student handbook. It was set up like Dock sets up theirs....except....more strict. There was a bunch of stupid rules! You can't have TVs in your dorm room. You can't watch DVDs on DVD players or your computer You can't go to the movie theatre during fall-spring classes. You have to dress up for chapel and classes. You have to go to every chapel, plus go to a local church on Sunday. You can only watch approved videos on campus. No shaggy hair. If you leave campus, you must get permission. The worst: unless you live with you parents, you cannot live off campus! I thought Dock was bad too! The classes and cirruculm is good, but the rules and tight. It's like getting a second pair of parents....except their extremely conversatist!

I'm glad that they will allow to go to other churches. Now I can still quiz when at college! So if any quiz team is near LBC, please tell and convince me to come. Or there is another choice. I could be able to start a quiz team at LBC. But I would also have to get quizzers below the age 20. Most unlikely. Yet I still have a few colleges to look at.

The honor of the display case

At my school (for those who don't know, that is, Christopher Dock Mennonite High School), there is a display case in the commons. Teacher Mr....make that, DR. Bishop...displays the unique talents/collections/hobbies of the student body in that display case. So early in the year I mentioned my bible quizzing. Around 7 months later, Dr. Bishop finally asked for my bible quizzing stuff. Now it is displayed in the Commons

I hope this will not only be a good show-off tool, but also a good recruiting tool. We need more quizzers for the Spring City team, with only two definiates and two maybes. I wish Dock had a quiz team, it would be awesome!! Hmmm, who would I want on the Dock quiz team? I would want-

Graham Holcomb
Aaron Derstine
Adriel Santiago
Emily Graber
Ben Bergey
Jake Snyder (possibly...)

Ah, wishful thinking. No one would do it. Besides Dock sports, plays, and choir, they don't have many extra cirricular stuff. But having quizzing shown off at Dock is cool. It makes me want to get a display case for my room. If I ever become rich and famous, I'll build a quizzing museum.That reminds me- I'm getting my Top 50 Quizzer Award with the Top 50 Quizzers List plaqued! It'll look awesome!

Biblical firsts

1 Kings 3:16-28- first show like Jerry Springer (A Wise Ruling)
1 Kings 8:14-66- first state of the Union speech (Solomon's Prayer of Dedication)
1 Kings 11:1-13- first biblical pimp (Solomon's Wives)
1 Kings 18:16-45- first godly barbeque (Elijah on Mount Carmel)
2 Kings 2:19-22- first discovery of chlorine (Healing of the water)
2 Kings 4:38-41- First poison control and first discovery that marijuana is fatal (Death in the pot)

Final Reflections on Quizzing 2005

In general, quizzing went great this year. I think this is my best year so far. No, seriously it is. Now I don't say that every year, like I say, "This year is my year" every year. But this year was a great year.

I completed my goal for the year....well, based on the two thirds rule. 5 things I wanted to complete: score 380 points or more, get 8 or more quiz outs, be a perfect quizzer for 3 weeks, be on the Top Fifty Quizzers List for 6 weeks and have a final finish in 77th or higher. I scored 510 points, 130 points higher than my goal. I got 12 quiz outs, 4 more quiz outs than planned. I was on the Top 50 Quizzeres List for every week but one of the seven weeks. That means 6 weeks on the Top 50 Quizzers List. Finally, I finished 34th, much higher than 77th. The only thing I didn't complete was being a perfect quizzer for 3 weeks. Heck, I wasn't perfect for even one week. I achieved 4/5. Therefore, I completed my goal, making this year a successful quizzing year.

Like I said, I scored 510 points in 19 matches, giving an average of 26.8. I'll break that down to a match-by-match stat. I had 12 quiz out matches, giving me 420 points. In 3 matches, I scored 20 points each match, giving me another 60 points. In another 3 matches, I scored 10 points each match giving 30 points. Only one match I scored zero points. 420+60+90=510 points. Here's another impressive stat. Of the 9 bonuses I got, I only missed 2. The most important thing that happened this year was finishing 34th on the Top 50 Quizzers List. This was my first year doing so. I gladly accepted my award. That was much wanted.

I was never expecting to win the ACC tournament. That was amazing. I went in their thinking, "Let's do our thing and do our best in our five matches." We never should have won. By luck we won most of our matches. Neffsville 1 should have never won against Reading One. We kept getting all the easy teams in the playoffs. Like Coach Dave said, we only won because we had God's favor. The whole tournament was a miracle. The biggest miracle- Michael studied up for this in Florida!

The Invitational wasn't as amazing as the ACC tournament, but was pretty good. We didn't make it to the final match, but we did get pretty far. It is the farthest I ever got in the invitational. Plus, the invitational was one of the few quiz meets I had fun when not quizzing. It was funny watching Michael's failures of picking up a girl. :-)

This year, the Lord appeared to me many times. I felt the Lord strongest when I remembered I was quizzing for Him. He gave me all I needed to complete my goal. He showed me many times I was his chosen quizzer, along with my team. He knew I wanted that win and quiz out against Josh Moss and Zion, and he gave it to me. The second, as I said, was winning the ACC tournament. The third was at Week 6. I was playing a River Corner. I had 2 errors, all on Situation (my favorite question). I slowed down and didn't want to buzz in. It came down to 3 review questions and I review is my least favorite question. My team needed team bonus, so they were putting on the pressure. I still didn't want to buzz in. But the Lord conforted me. He told me it was safe to buzz in. So I buzzed in. I quizzed out on the last 3 questions, all on buzzes. My heart rushed. It was the best feeling I ever had. Jesus quizzed with me every match.

We were able to come together and work as a team. We also got along as a team. I haven't seen that in a long time. We encouraged each other to do our best and get team bonus. There were some times where we would battle for individual score. This was a great team. I will never forget the Spring City boyz. Brandon and Aubrey will be missed dearly next year. I had great coaches this year too. Dave and Vicki really knew how to encourage the team. Christine will also be dearly missed next year. It was fun walking and talking with her. I'll admit, sometimes it was stressful. But other times, it was good to know we were there for each other. With every time I have quizzed with Christine, I think this was her best year with 40 points, once saving us in the ACC tournament and twice getting team bonus.

Kings and Judges 2005 was eventful and exciting. Now we can only look on to 2006....

It hasn't ended, it has just begun....

As you might have noticed, I didn't post about the invitational until Tuesday, despite being home since Sunday. Why? It was Transition day! What is transition day? I'll tell ya. Transition Day is the Monday after the invitational. As of 11:59 PM on Sunday, quizzing 2005 on Kings and Judges ceased to exist. As on midnight of Tuesday, quizzing 2006 on Luke began. Between then I took a break on quizzing. Yes, believe it or not, I do take a break on quizzing. If I don't take a day to transist (that is a verb, right?), I'll mix the two materials. That is nasty. On top of that, it gives me a break to rest my mind from the meltdown studying for the invitational. I think I'm the only one who does celebrate Transition Day, on top starting studying early on Tuesday for Luke 2006.

Then for Tuesday, I began. First, I read through Luke 1-15. I did this so I don't run into writing bad questions. I found out that most chapters are around 50 verses. Yikes! It will be hard to memorize a chapter. Then I reread Luke 1, just in case I don't reask questions. It looks hard. 70 verses, half of that the Zechariah's prophesizing and Mary's prayer. A lot of it has pronouns that are undefined. Then I started writing questions. I wrote questions for the first two verses already. I hope they will omit the geneology in Luke 3.

As for the blog, I will most likely continue talking about quizzing 2005 (Kings and Judges) for a while. I don't have enough 2006 material yet. When I get enough, that's when I'll start blogging on 2006 stuff. For Transition day, I'll I ask two quizzing question: one old question from Kings & Judges 2005 and one new question from Luke.

OLD Quizzing Question:
What did the bands of Aram stop invading?

NEW Quizzing Question:
To draw up what have many undertaken?

2005 Invitational at LBC

Friday, March 18 to Sunday, March 20 was the Invitational. It was held at Lancaster Bible College in PA (we all know it should have been held in Ohio). It is was fun and eventful. I am surprised our host family/coaches survived. I will go day by day.

FRIDAY:
The quizzers slowly arrived one at a time. Aubrey was the last because he had to work late (and forget to tell us). Josh brought a "friend". It was a paper bag named "Skinny bone Jones". It had its own theme song. Josh sung it over and over and over. Christine got sick of it and finally tore it up and threw it out. Mike showed his disproval of it by eating it up. I went down with some quizzers to the church to pick up the van and secret sponser gifts. I got my secret sponser gift of chocalate-peanut butter eggs and a six-pack of Mountain Dew. I visited the ACC Tournament trophy which I called "precious". Everybody in the church congratulated us for winning. We returned and went into three practice round. It was practical practice. Then we watched the movie The Master of Disguise. We had good laughs. Michael, Josh and Aubrey played Risk. Christine spectated. Brandon and I watched and studied and watched. Brandon couldn't stay up. We went to bed at the end of the game late at night at 2 AM (technically Saturday morning).

SATURDAY:
We were awoken at 6:30 AM. We had gotten 4.5 hours of sleep. Some of us ate breakfast. We left at 7 AM. On the ride up, some of us slept, some studied, some listened to music. I, of course, studied. We arrived around 8:15 AM. At 8:30, we listened to announcements and etc. I began to watch matches after that.

The first match I watched was Zion (ACC) vs. Grace Community (NW Ohio). I kept the score. Grace Community really got beaten Zion. They had about 2 quiz outs. I thought it was mean that they already won but still wanted team bonus. They got it. Zion won and advance to the double-elimination tournament. Later on, they would lose the first two matches in the double-elimination tournament and end up in the Lazurus bracket. The next match I watched was Paradise 5 (ACC) vs. West Clinton 3 (NW Ohio). I watched it because there was this girl on the team I liked :-). My team found out that I liked her, due to, let's say "a leaky faucet". So we all wildly cheered for Paradise 5. My girl quizzed out. Paradise 5 won and advanced to the double-elimination bracket. After the match, Michael wanted to take a picture of her for me. He went to her and asked, "Can I take your picuture?" She said something like, "My team?" He says, "No, just you" and pulls her away from her team. She started turning bright red. Michael did take the picture.

We had our first match at 9:40 PM. It was against NW Ohio team Lockport 2. Both Lockport teams in NW Ohio finished in the top 5, so we knew we were in for a tough match. I told my teammates and coaches that it actually could be better if we lost. If we won, it would take us 7 matches to win in a row to get to the final position in the Winners Bracket. If we lost, it would take us only 6 matches to win in a row to get to the final position in the Winners Bracket. They still wanted to win. The match was set up funky for the Pennsylvania quizzers, but not for Ohio. For starters, we got funky buzzers. They were half the size of normal buzzers and had weird buttons. Then was the staff. There was only 4 staff, not 5. Therefore, the quizmaster was not exactly in the center. On top of that, the quizmaster was sitting down! Sometimes I forgot which won was the quizmaster. Anywayz, we lost. I quizzed out, but Brandon didn't. Team was devastated, I wasn't. I knew we still had two more matches. Like I said above, it means less double elimination matches too.

I went down to Good Shepherd Chapel and saw how the tournament was going along and to find out who we were playing. We were playing Petra 5. I went to our match against them. I quizzed out once again. We won. We were heading to the double-elimination tournament.

Next match was against Grace Community. This was the team I watched play against Zion. During the match, the scorekeeper said, "There was some talking on Lockport's side. Should I foul them?" The quizmaster replied, "That's your decision." LOL. They debated and then just gave a warning. I quizzed out again. We won, but not as much as Zion did. We advanced in the Winners bracket, while Grace Community headed to the Second Chance Bracket. Grace Community would lose their consecutive match in the Second Chance Bracket, so they ended up in the Lazarus bracket as well. Now that we won in the double-eliminiation bracket, that meant there was no way to end up in the Lazarus bracket. It was win the double-elimination bracket or bust.

Next match was against Hope Community. Not one of the Hope Community from the ACC, a Hope Community from Wayne County, Ohio. They had not lost a match yet. I only scored 20 points. We lost that match. That meant we headed over to the Second Chance Bracket.

I went over to Good Shepherd Chapel to find out where we ended up and who we had to play. We were going to play Petra 4. Then we went to lunch. It consisted of sandwiches, chips and salads. I only had salad. By now I was on my second of six Mountain Dew. After lunch, my team and I went back to Good Shepherd Chapel. I continued to copy down the brackets. I learned a lesson there: never leave Michael bored and never let Michael prove himself. Since I was asking a girl out (even though I hadn't yet), I guess Michael had to prove himself. So Michael started approaching random girls and using pickup lines. One was memorable. He went up to one girl. I think it was Tina from Paradise 5 (I hoped this didn't ruin my chances). He did all these weird things to get her attention like offer a piece of gum or asking for the time. And she completely ignored Michael! The rest of the time had a good laugh.

At 1:40 PM, I went to watch Zion play Hopewell 3. Deanna wanted my stuffed monkey (a secret sponser gift from a few weeks ago) for good luck. It seemed to do the trick. Zion won. They moved on to the next match in the Lazarus bracket. I later on found out that the played Petra 5, the team we beat, and lost. Deanna blamed it on me because I took back the monkey because I wanted to good luck.

At 2 PM, I went to watch the girl I liked with the rest of team. They played Reading 1. During the match, a Reading 1 quizzer gave the answer "the King of Israel....who was Ahab" and the quizzer said it was correct! Of course, Lauren contested that the material never mentioned Ahab was a king. The rebuddal was that Ahab was a king. The quizmaster talked with the judges, including Bethany (daughter of my quiz coach). They ruled that their original decision was correct! I couldn't believe it. Paradise 5 would lose. After the match, the quizmaster went up to Lauren and admitted that nowhere it mentions Ahab as king. But because he was able to gather all Israel, they decided that made him king. I still think it was wrong. I later on got on Bethany's case for that. I wanted to impress Lauren, so I put my two cents in. I told her that it was a good contest. She said something like, "Um, yeah, thanks."

I went to my next match, the one against Petra 4. I quizzed out. We won. We advance in the bracket and knocked Petra 4 out of the tournament.

I went back to the big brackets in the Good Shepherd Chapel to find our opponent. I found out that we were playing River Cornerer 2. They were the team who we beat our last week of the regular season. I also found out if we won we would play Christian Fellowship. I quickly copied some of the bracket. With five minutes left until my match, I headed over to Sebestian Hall for my match. I head to slow down. There was a war going on between my pants and gravity. Gravity was winning. It was because of my crappy velcro belt and the numerous filled pockets. My sister met me as I entered Sebastian Hall. Apparrently everyone was there and they wanted to start my match early. I was giving my mother and coaches heart failure. I quickly got in my seat. Once again, I quizzed out. We won again. We advanced in the bracket.

I headed back to Good Shepherd Chapel for my next match and more bracket info. Deanna from Zion met me at Good Shepherd Chapel. They said they lost to Petra 5 in the Lazarus bracket and were out of the tournament. With nothing better to do, she decided to follow me around for a while. I went to play Christian Fellowship. I remember getting knocked out of the Winners Bracket last year due to them. 3/4 of the fans were rooting for Christian Fellowship, the other 1/4 for Spring City. We once again had funky buzzers. It didn't bother me that Christian Fellowship got all the congratulation cheers. What bothered me is we got the pity cheer. I know they were trying to be fair and nice, but it was very annoying. They would cheer something like, "Awww, nice try, nice try." After question 4, it was 40-0. I had this feeling we'd lose, but I didn't want to lose scoreless. But on question 5, Brandon got one right. I got one right right too. I also blew a Situation question. I answered "Solomon to Hiram" when I should have answered "Hiram to Solomon." I said I had a dyslexic moment. My instinct was right, we lost. At least it wasn't a shutout. We were out of the tournament.

Next match I watched was River Corner 1 vs. Reading 1. Reading 1 lost. They also got knocked out of the tournament. It seemed like there we didn't know anybody left to cheer for.

The next match I watched was for the championship of the Lazarus bracket. It was between Paradise 2 and Petra 5 (we beat the the second placement round). In my opinion, it was a blow out. I've seen bigger blow outs, but the two scores were very far apart. The final score was 120 to 45. Paradise 2 won. They were the champions of the Lazarus bracket. Petra 5 came in second place. I knew that Hinkletown, who won last year's Lazarus bracket, was claiming that they would defend their championship. I found out that they did make it to the lazarus tournament (wonder if they did that on purpose). They won their first, but lost their second. Such a shame. But don't take it too hard. I still think their is more honor fifth place of the double-elimination bracket than first in the Lazarus bracket. Anywayz, a bracket winner is a bracket winner. Congratulations to Paradise 2.

We had a break between last match and 6 PM. That's when we had dinner. There was chicken, ham with pineapple, mashe potatoes, corn, leftovers from lunch and cookies. I ate only side dishes. I finished my second Mountain Dew and started on my third. I went to Good Shepherd Chapel to update my handheld bracket. After that I mostly followed Christine around. She was looking for some guy. I got Michael to talk to the girl I like for me. He gave me terrible information.

At 6:40 PM, I watched the fun match. It was all-star quizzers (from both PA and OH), All-star coaches from PA and OH (including our coach, who later on said he was picked because he brought his team to the ACC Tournament finals), and the quizzing conference cordinators. Dennis Stauffer, Hope Community (Wayne County) quizzer who was the No. 1 quizzer in Wayne County quizzed out first and fast. He almost put Lisa Weaver, our No. 1 quizzer, to shame. It was fun watching Coach Dave. We used all his coaching tactics on the bench. We used hand motions and said, "Next question is yours." He got two right. On question 15, he buzzed in just to quiz out. We all knew the answer, but he didn't. Another coach quizzed out though. Our Fred Hertzler got 10 points. In the end, the quizzers won with 80 points, the coaches came in second with 55 and in last came the cordinators with 20 points.

I watched the last two matches. The first of the two wat Maple Grove 1 (#1 ACC team) vs. Hope Community (#1 Wayne County team). Hope Community won. Maple Grove 1 suffered from their first lost. They moved to the Second Chance bracket. Their next match would be on Sunday. Next match was the last match of the day. It Longnecker (Wayne County) vs. Christian Fellowship (West Liberty). Longnecker won. With this loss, Christian Fellowship was out of the tournament. That means they would finish fourth in the double-elimination bracket. Last year, they finished third in the double-elimation They dropped back a spot. Once again, they didn't make it to the final double-elimination match. Always a bride's maid, never the bride. One year they will make it as Invitational Champions. The day would end with 3 teams left: Maple Grove 1 (#1 ACC team), Hope Community (#1 Wayne County team) and Longnecker (#2 Wayne County team).

We headed back to the Deitricks. When we got back, we watched the movie Dodgeball. Then we played a long game of Monopoly Looney Tunes. It was me, Aubrey, Christine, Josh, Brandon and Michael. I went bankrupt fourth, making me third place. Aubrey won with $5,000+. The game ended 3:45 AM at night (technically Sunday morning). Then we went to bed.

SUNDAY:
I got half the amount of sleep than the previous night. We left the Deitricks at 7:50 AM. Most people slept, some listened to music. Michael studied, just in case Maple Grove 1 needed a substitute :-). We were almost late, but we arrived just in time. Hope Community (#1 Wayne County team) was already in the finals. The first match would decide who would play them. It was Longnecker (#2 Wayne County team) vs. Maple Grove 1 (#1 ACC team). It started out a close match, but then Longnecker took off and won. The final match came down to the two top teams in the Wayne County. It was the first time in history that two Wayne County teams ended up in the finals. It would also be the first time a Wayne County team would win the invitational. Dennis Stauffer quizzed out on question 4. Hope Community took a giant lead and held it. By question 12, you know Hope Community had won. They did win 140-35. This is the double-elimination tournament finished:

1st place- Hope Community (#1 Wayne County)
2nd place- Longnecker (#2 Wayne County)
3rd place- Maple Grove 1 (#1 ACC)
4th place- Christian Fellowship

Next was praise and worship singing. Then we had the message. It was listening for God's call. Then it was time to leave. Quizzing had officially come to an end :-( . Michael once again tried to my girl for me. She said something like not be able to date or use the phone until she's 17. (Micahel was a meanie and called her amish.) Then they pressured me into talking to her and I fell into peer pressure. I went up to her and talked to her. I congratulated her for doing so well in the season and finishing a top 50 quizzer. I said it was a disappointment that she wasn't a perfect quizzer. She thanked me. Then I asked if she was quizzing again next year and she said yes. I said I'd hoped to see her next year. End conversation. By the end, my legs felt numb and like I was going to collapse. Talk about being nervous. Of course, Michael had to prove his was as man as I was, so he got some random girl's information. Then I did a lot of signing. First, I signed Josh Moss's quiz book. Then I signed Morgen's paper mini-me. I felt like a celebrity. Next I took pictures of everybody for me and Christine. Then we finally left. I got back to the Deitricks and picked up at half past noon.

REFLECTIONS:
I thought we did pretty good. In my four years of invitational, this is the farthest my team ever brought me in the invitational. I also think this was one of the few times I enjoyed quizzing outside of the actual quizzing. It was fun watching Michael try to talk to random girls. Luckily we stopped him before he tried this line: "I heard your dependant on drinking water to live. What a coincidence! So am I!" And he did this all because he couldn't follow around Jojo because she wasn't there. Next time, we've got to make sure Jojo is there. I hope the Deitricks survived after hosting us. With staying up late to play board games, watching movies with weird humor, and eating non-stop, sometimes I bet they were ready to break down. Year refections coming up in later posts. For my last quesetion of the post (for a while), I will use the last quizzing question of the season, which was used in the final match.

(LAST) QUIZZING QUESTION OF THE POST:
What were the ravens ordered to do?

Tales of a 6th place nobody

I needed a ride to Spring City, so I arrived at the Deitricks at 8:20 AM. I wasn't the only one. It was me, Michael, Aubrey & Christine. Michael had arrived from Florida at 7 AM. He also got a haircut (no, not the beautiful hair!) Julie had left for the airport. Her flight should have left at 10 AM. Josh was in New York. He'll be back on Thursday. We arrived at Spring City around 8:55 AM. We were a little late because we had to turn around and get Michael's cell phone. We 2 1/2 practice matches. We stayed for half the service. The sermon was partially of 2 Kings 2. Almost every quizzer had their quizbook open, reading along. We left for LBC at 11 AM.

We arrived at half past noon. Coach Dave gave questions to those who wanted them. Brandon was pacing while reading. At 1 PM, I watched Maple Grove 2 vs. Hopewell 4. Hopewell 4 won with 2 quiz outs, 1 error out, and one pathetic answer (Since when did Samson have an army?). We were up next.

Our first match was against Neffsville 1. We got team bouns and 2 quiz outs. We won with a socre that was something like 125-40. We were 1-0 and Neffsvile 1 fell to 0-1.

Next match was against Reading 1. It was a close match. We started losing points because of errors. Reading One got 4 errors. In the end, we lost 65-60. Ugh! It was only by 5 points. Anybody could have gotten in on our team for the win. If Reading One would have buzzed in and errored, they would have lost 5 points so we could at least tied and gone into extra questions. Nonethess, whether you lost by 5 or 55, a loss is a loss. This is why I am glad the regular season does not go by win-loss. Now we were 1-1.

Next match was E-Town 1. I had watched some of their previous matches and scouted out the competition with Christine. We they had been 1-2. We won. They fell back to 1-3 and we advanced to 2-1.

Next match was against Paradise 2. They did well in the regular season, but not as well during the tournament. That was still true for our game. We won again. Our new record was 3-1.

We had two empty sets before our last match. Our team went to watch Reading One vs. Petra 2. Both teams were 3-0. Someone had to lose. We were rooting for Reading One, hoping to get in second place. Reading One lost, mostly due to errors. After that, I went to practice. We really needed to win against Petra 2. It was necessiary. Right now, standings were as followed- Petra 2: 4-0; Reading 1: 3-1; Spring City: 3-1; Neffsvile 1: 0-4. E-Town 1: 1-4. Paradise 2: 2-3. Two way ties win by head-on-head winner. 3 way ties goes by errors. We needed to win if we wanted a chance to stay in. Even if Reading One lost along with us, we would come in third due to the head-on-head lost. On top of that, we needed Neffsville 1 to beat Reading One. Even if both of us one, there would be a three-way tie. It would go by errors and we already had 19 errors. That would have never worked. We needed to win, along with Neffsville 1.

Then the last and most important match came. Whatever we did, Petra 2 seemed to match it. I quizzed on questions 2, 3 & 4, three in a row. Brandon errored out. After question number 14, we were down by 10. Someone on Petra 2 errored. The bonus went to Christine. She got it right! She saved the match! We went into extra questions. In extra questions it came down to the wire again. We got team bonus on question 18. We won. Our final record was 4-1. Now it all came down to Neffsvile 1 vs. Reading One.

We waited ever so patiently for the results. The match went on during ours. Then the tally came. I was the first to see. I yelled...."NEFFSVILLE WON!!" The boyz (including me) went wild. We screamed, we yelled, we jumped up and down, we yelled, "WE'RE NUMBER ONE!!" We did finish first place with a record of 4-1. Petra 2 finished second also with 4-1. The two of us were going to the playoffs. Third place was Reading One with 3-2. Fourth place was 2-3 Paradise 2. Fifth place was given to E-Town 1 with 1-4 record. Last was 1-4 Neffsville 1. They were my biggest heroes. We hunted them down to thank and hug them. Although, some people say Neffsvile 1 didn't beat Reading One, Reading One beat itself. They lost points to errors.

Then we had dinner in the cafeteria. It was hoagie, but all I had was a pickle and Mountain Dew. When Reading One came in, you can tell the lost devastated them. I also found out Reading 2 just lost entering the tournament. Maple Grove 1 was devastated by the tournament. They finished 1-4.

After dinner, was the quizzing video and the announcemnt of the Top 50 Quizzers List. The quizzing video was OK. I think they did better in the past. I was in it though, so that made things better. Then came the announcement of the Top 50 Quizzers List. Quizmaster Jamie Detweiler announced it. I liked it better last year when they announced it on the movie. Oh well. I finished 34th place with 510 points. I was exhuberant (sp?) when I got up. I finished ahead of Kairsie and Josh, both from Zion. I finished below Tim Moss from Reading 2, Krystal Willman from Hopewell 4 and Brandon Tedor from our team. There was one perfect quizzer. Her name was Lisa Weaver from Akron 2. Congratulations for maintaing quizzing out every match!

Our first playoff match began. We played Rivercorner 1. They barely got into the playoffs. They were 3-2. We played them before. This was the team I quizzed out before in the last 3 questions with two errors. They finished the season in 19th place. We got 5 errors, but did get team bonus. We started out well, but then River Corner 1 caught up. We won. We would advance.

We got done early. Our second playoff match would be against Petra 1 or Conestoga 3. The easier team would be Conestoga 3. We prayed to play them. Our prayer was granted. We played Conestoga 3. Once again, a lot of errors. We won though. We advanced. We now realized we have a trophy, no matter what. I was satisfied at this point. But it wouldn't stop there.

Again, we looked at the possible outcomes. Either Hope Comm 1 or Slate Hill 1. We did not want to play Hope Comm 1 we lost by 50 against them. Luckily, we didn't have to. Our match was against Slate Hill 1. I reminded my team we already won a trophy, but we could still win a bigger trophy. The match started. We got team bonus. We took a lead. We got team bonus. We won. We were going on to the final match of the tournament!

First, Hope Community 4 and Slate Hill 1 got tropies for 3rd place. Then the final match started. It was Spring City vs. Goods 1. Not an easy team. In the regular season, they finished first in their league, third of all quiz teams. The lost in the semifinals to Petra 2, who they beat revengefully in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. Supposedly, in the regular season, they beat a team 195-0, with 5 quiz outs and team bonus. Now it came down to us and them. The match started. Brandon quizzed out. A timeout was called after question 6. We were winning 65-0. Let's not get cocky now, they still could have team bonus. The match continued. I quizzed out just like Brandon. Mike and Aubrey buzzed in to get us team bonus. After question 13, I knew we won. I tried hard to surpress my happiness, but I couldn't. In the end, we won 120-50. When the match was over, there was much jumping up and down, cheering, yelling, hugging, etc. We received our trophy. I held it a lot and didn't want to let go. We were also allowed to take back the the big brackets and our Group D poster.

Reflection on the ACC tournament: I am so happy. The happiest day of my left is when I accepted Jesus as Christ and my savior. The second happiest day would have been Sunday. I was #34 quizzer and #1 ACC Tournament team. I was proud of myself and my team. I would like to take this time to thank some people. First and most important is our God, El Shaddai. He has given us his blessing and allowed us to win. We are his chosen team. There are tons of times we should have never won, but we did. He gave us all our wins. He gave Neffsville 1 a win so we would enter the playoffs. And he also gave us all the "easier" teams during the playoffs. Thank you Lord. Second I want to thank is Christine. She saved us from the losing the tournament. She tied up the final match which we needed to win. Third is a bunch of people. It's Neffsville 1! Without them, we would have never made it either. They weren't going to make it anyway, but they still won. The adreneline rush is still with me. I have so many pictures I will never forget. I will keep asking myself, "How did we do this again?" It is beyond belief. One of my great accomplishments is complete. As Queen would say, "We are the champions, my friend...."

Quizzing Question of the post:
What could be proper kind of?

Countdown to Invitational:
4 days, 4 hours, 4 minutes