Countdown to 2007 quizzing

(Official) Countdown to the first quizmatch of 2007:
3 weeks, 3 days, 10 hours, 21 minutes

(Unofficial) Countdown to the first practice of 2007:
1 week


Hope you enjoyed this past Christmas season. And being commericial Christmas, once December 26 rolls around, Christmas is dead. Not the Christmas of Jesus. Jesus is still living, and I hope you can in a way celebrate Christmas every day.

Now while most people are ready for celebrating the beginning of the new year , I'm ready to celebrate the beginning of a new quizzing year. I feel it's going to be great. Not only in the competition, but also with friends. I got my three good friends, plus the best quiz coaches a quizzer could ever have. We have a rookie, making us a team of five (so far). She'll most likely be the sub, but by the time Mike is going to Florida, she should be ready to start. Christine's birthday during the quiz season means she can quiz for us again, although turning 21 in mid-January. She'll be able to complete the team bonus well. I think at the bare minimum, we'll have is two quiz outs. Spring City will be the rockingest this year.

If you don't know, the quizzing material is Luke 16-24, Acts 1-9. Sadly, I was only able to write questions for just Luke 16. Well, it's better than nothing. I started trying to memorize Acts 2. I got through the first 6 verses, but hit dead there. I'm going to continue working on that. I need to do more buzzer drills, too. On the brighter side, I've been working at the material for the first week, which is Luke 16-18:30. I can list the 6 and list the 4. Plus, I know a lot of answers for Luke 16. I also have read the material a few times and listen to it a few others. I feel confident with Luke 16. Now to move on to chapter 17 and the first 30 verses of chapter 18. Nevertheless, I'll be ready by January 21 to quiz out every match.

Practice will begin next week, the first week of the year. It's either Wednesday or Thursday. It'll be based on what's best for the majority of the team needs. Either day is fine, I'll make I can make it to either one. The sad news is I can't make it to the practice the following week since I'll be in Missouri for my senior experience. Very upsetting. Still, I will be practicing hard, harder since I am missing a team practice, what I need most. I will rock with the team score and with the individual score.

Quizzing question of the post:
What 6 were the people doing in the days of Lot?

Joy: The Fourth Week of Advent

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." -Luke 2:10

When we think of joy, we think of a synonym of happiness. Sometimes we may think of joy has an extreme, hyper happiness. The dictionary would probably agree with that. But think joy can be beyond that. You can be joyful without always being estatic.

True joy is contagiuos. Being joyful causes those around you to be joyful. The angels and the shepards in the Christmas story demonstrate this. The angels presented the the birth of Jesus with great joy. The angels were so joyful, the shepherds had to see for themselves what the commotion was for. After seeing the newborn Jesus, they to went out to everyone to tell the news, probably in the same joy. The Messiah who was promised to save the people was finally here!

In today's modern world, we see Christmas not as much as a joyful time, but a happy time. Tis the season to be jolly. Yet it isn't always true for everyone. We call them Grinches or Scrooges. I like to call them Charlie Browns. People are hard on them, but I'm not. They're probably like that because they aren't seeing the true joy or love from the real Christmas. That's the biggest way we can know the difference between the two. While commericial Christmas gives us temporary happiness, the things we get will eventually no longer make us happy, just in enough time for Valentine's Day. The joy will get from the true meaning of Christmas lasts all year round. Happiness is temporary, joy is forever. The Santa Claus we base commericial Christmas on is was temporary. Santa is based on St. Nicholas, who was born, sinned, then died. The true Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, who always was, and always will be. God was never born and we never die. Even when we was born, he wouldn't die, even when killed. He would resurrect and be living again. How joyful we can now be now knowing we can be reconciled with God through the offering of His Son!

When everyone remembers the true meaning of Christmas, we gain a sense of hope, peace, love and joy. It's been a wonderful advent season, and now I am prepared for Christmas more than ever. May Christmas be meaningful for all of you.

Merry Christmas everyone!
"Hark the Harold Angels sing, glory to the newborn king...."

Love: The Third week of advent

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."-1 Corinthians 13:13

It was hard narrowing all 700 verses with love in it down to one. I chose this one, from the most favorite chapter to be read at weddings, 1 Corinthians 13 (which is known as the love chapter). I like this because it mentions 2 of the 4 advent candles. I think perhaps they should replace one of the other 2 with faith, or faith a 5th week of advent. Faith does prepare us for Christmas just as much as the others.

Love prepares our hearts for Christmas. To truly understand Christmas, we must understand love. First, we know God is love (1 John 4:8). Therefore, we can conclude everything God has done for His people is out of love. We know God loved His Son Jesus. He said at His Son's Baptism and Transfiguration. John 3:16 is the most famous Bible verse. The beginning of it tells us why the Lord gave us His Son. "For Go so loved the world..." We learn from the Bible that the greatest show of love is to give up his life for friends (John 15:13). That's why Jesus died on the cross. God the Father loved God the Son, but he also loved His people. That's why the Father and the Son allowed the Son of God to be crucified. As Richard J. Foster said in his book The Celebration of Discipline, "Love, not anger brought Jesus to the cross." The Son of Man died for us out of love.

Comparing the Christmas story to advent themes, I see love in Mary, the mother of Jesus. Just like our parents love us, their children, Mary loved her child, Jesus. She probably cared for it, wanting to make it comfortable, and not in pain or discomfort. She probably wanted to hold it and not let go. As she held it, she could only guess of how this little boy would be the messiah. Oh, if she only knew. I'm reminded of the song "Mary, did you know?" The songs talks about the baby growing up, performing miracles, and becoming Lord over all. But it doesn't mention anything about Christ's death. Did Mary know how He would die on this cruel earth? Did Gabriel tell her something like:

"On the night of the Passover, your son will be betrayed by one of his closest follwers and friends. He will lead a crowd, who just earlier that week was cheering and praising the enterance of your son into the capital. Most of the crowd will be chief priests and the teachers of the law, who are just jealous of his popularity, and his knowledge of how they aren't pure and perfect. Really, they feel threatened by him. He will be put on trial in front of 3 men. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, arguably the worst execution method in all history. Furthermore, he will refuse any pain killers. The worst, you'll be there to witness every minute of the suffering of the child you will bear for the Lord."

Probably Gabriel told her nothing of that sort. If the angel did, Mary will have been an emotional basket case. She would have cried at the annunciation of Jesus's birth, the birth, when she lost him at the age of 12, when he decided to leave to begin his ministry at the age of 30. No mother wants to outlive her child, know how her child will die, nor wants her child to suffer through it. But although Mary would witness her son's violent death, if she only knew what was going to happen next: a victorious resurrection. Jesus knew everything that was going to happen, but still went through with it. Now that is love.

When we understand Christ's love, we reflect why we should love. Jesus told us in John 13:34&35, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." We must love because we can be identified as followers of Jesus because we love. We should love year round, but when Christmas comes, we must really love. How do we do this? During Christmas, we usually show love by giving. But I think we've missed this. We only give to our family and friends. But's God's love is to everyone, not just our family and friends. Sometimes by giving love to others, especially in public, we can rob others of the feeling of the love of Christmas. I realized this as we watched Charlie Brown Christmas yet another year. He wasn't feeling Christmast because of the commericialism of Christmas. The love commericial Christmas tells of is receiving love through the Christmas cards and presents one gets from family friends. If our family and friends love us, they will give us things. Reverse is true, too. We believe if we truly love our friends and family, we must get them presents. We're giving, just like Jesus commanded, but I think we're missing the point. We should be giving for more than just "love" (which isn't even true love, it's the fuzzy feeling love). So how do we separate ourselves as Christians from the worldly Christmas? We got to get out of the cycle of giving out of fuzzy love, and we can do this by getting back to the true love of Christmas. We got to get together, talk this over, and realize our friendship won't change whether or not we get gifts or not. If it means no one giving or getting gifts, so be it. We also must be giving gifts to others beyond family and friends. These means presents for the poor, authority, strangers, unpopular, unliked and the hated enemies. People we wouldn't give to normally. They're the ones who feel the lack of love during Christmas. It's not only important that we give to them, but we must give equally to them as everyone else. Then not only will we be giving the true love of Christmas, we will be reaping it back to ourselves. We will be living the life of love Christ set an example for us to live.

OFFICIAL Countdown to the first quizmatch of 2007:
33 days, 18 hours, 22 minutes

Peace: The Second Week of Advent

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." -Luke 2:13,14

I could take this post and spend the whole time raving about how our God is favoring peace, not war, then go into the whole non-violent resistant, pacifist thing. I could use the 274 times peace is mentioned in the Bible to verify, but I'm not going to. Maybe a short, tame one at the end, but I reall want to focus it on something else we can all agree on. Peace is much more than the opposite of war. I learned this as our Sunday School had classes on the topic of peace. It was a DVD series, with class discussion in it. The program had a definition of peace that cirriculated throughout the lessons-

"Peace is when everything is the best it can be." -PeaceDVD (www.peacedvd.com)

Of course, I couldn't say it right, and everytime I tried, I pretty much quoted a popular praise song. I would say, "Peace is when everything is as it should be." If you didin't recognize it, it comes from the praise song "Blessed be the Name." But it comes down being the same thing? If the world was as it should be, as God intened it, without sin, then everything would be at the best. That's peace. We see a peace in the garden of Eden. The garden is peaceful because everything was as God planned, nothing wrong or out of place. Adam and Eve walked with God. They were at peace with their maker. When Satan came in and Eve fell to his temptation, that peace was gone. When God promised them a messiah, not only was he providing a way to get out of the sin, but a promise of restoring the peace. Isn't that what Jesus did coming to earth? That's what the angels meant when they were talking to the shepherds in Luke 2:14. The hymn "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" rewords it when it says "Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconcile."

Remember, when the Israelites could come into God's presense, it was not peaceful. First, there were several preparations one had to go through to be able enter the Lord's presense, from cermonial washing to performing sacrifices to wearing the right thing. Even when they could go in, it was was enter, do your business, and exit. No tarrying. It was very hard. Perhaps the man entering the Holy of Holies were in great fear doing his job. God was seen as the boss, not a friend. One wrong move, and you were gone. But as this Christmas season comes, remember that the child born would eventually die on the cross, splitting the heavy curtain dividing God from His people. God was saying, "No more of this bossy business stuff. Let's be personal. Let's become friends. Let's talk." God gives us the oppurtunity to have that peaceful relationship with him again. How much more perfect will it become when we have it in the new Heaven and the new Earth!

The characters in the Christmas story that show peace have to be Mary. Mary had a big assignment. Based on we know of culture back in the time of the New Testament, Mary was probably between the ages of 12 to 17! I don't think any of the girls around my age I know would want the responsibility. On top of that, Mary was engaged, not married. Being pregnant and not married was a dangerous situation. Mary could be punished for that from just being disgraced to being stoned to death. Mary must have been freaked out. But God's messenger Gabriel put Mary at peace with that. That's another gift God gives us in this gift giving season: a peace of mind. Not a piece of His mind, a peace of mind. The Holy Spirit relaxes us when deep down inside we want to panic. Just as the children's song tells us, it is the peace that passes all understanding. It doesn't make sense to be peacefully calm, when we really want to be tense.

As I was writing my Christmas cards, I came across one that said "Peace on Earth." Christmas is the one time of the year we wish we could stop all military combat and have world peace. We think it's unlikely to happen, but it did happen. On December 25, 1914, in the midst of World War I, the German and British soldiers stopped fighting and took up what is now known as "The Christmas Truce" (Google it if you don't believe me). The troops ceased to fight and celebrated the birth of Christ. The men met in the middle of no-man's land. Banners was made, carols were sung, gifts were exchanged between countries, and a friendly game of soccer was played. Some scholars are doubters of this; they say the event demonstrates at this point of time the war was still not taken seriously. But I think it was. The men realized that both sides had Christians who celebrated the holiday. They were united for a while as God's children. The next day, the fighting resumed. Wouldn't that be great, to do it again? For one day, especially a day where it is promoted to have no fighting but a time of peace? Not just war, but any kind of fighting. No homocides, no bar fights, no bullying. And to continue that, why can't we have it for more than a day? Why can't stop fighting between neighbors and nations all year round? It would be our way of helping the Lord restore that peace that he intended.

Hope: 1st week of Advent

I noticed how in the pas I always just complain about how commericial Christmas has become and how the holiday is depressing for the less social. Well, I know how much you people don't like me complaining. I know I haven't said anything to change it. I thought of a way to do this, and the way I came up was to prepare the mind for a spiritual Christmas. Come to think of that, advent does that. Many of today's churches don't focus on advent. Only the more "traditional" churches do. Both my church and my school are focusing on the pre-birth scripture (Luke 1). That's cool, but I think Advent gives a better mindset to prepare us on the ultimate Christmas gift: Jesus Christ. Here are my thoughts on the advent theme of the week.

"David said about him: 'I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence." -Acts 2:25-28

This one of th 174 verses mentioning hope in it. One of the books of the Bible where hope is dominant is Job. The man who lost everything still had hope. I thought back of what could be the first instance of hope. I guess the earliest instance could be right after the fall. Adam and Eve must been pretty hopeful that the messiah God promised would come rescue them from the hard labor they now had to do in the sinful world. But you really don't see it in Genesis. Most of the time, they are more consentrated on starting a great nation. Enoch was the only one proclaiming about the Messiah. It wasn't until Israel went through a series of on conquerers and rescuers that they wanted a rescuer that could deliever them permantently: the Messiah.

During the opening years of A.D., there was a bit enflared feeling of the returning messiah. The radical Zealots wanted the Romans out. The flare of hope must have been strong. I would guess that just like now, their were expecting him to come out of the sky, or someone, who was a high leader or very spiritual, to get a diving calling while doing a spiritual ritual to lead his people in revolution. If this was so, how much more Mary must have been suprised with the news. The Messiah was now going to be a baby, growing to a small child, growing to a teenager, and finally becoming an adult. On top of that, he would come out of the humble home of a carpender. If word got around, people would lose hope. "Oh great, the one Messiah God sends is a nobody."

The passage above is actually Simon Peter quoting a Psalm. Peter explains that David in this Psalm was talking about the Messiah, Jesus. David says his body now lives in hope. Since Jesus died on the cross, how much hope he has given us for a happy ending! I think if I was living in Old Testament atonement, I would always be worried. Did I do the right amount of sacrifices to cover up my sins? Did I cover all my sins? I did it all correctly, right? No sense of being sure. But now, with Christ as the perfect sacrifice, we can be 100% that all who call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved from their sin. What hope we have in Christ that will have a better life.

Let's go back to the first arrival of Christ. Think about the mindset of the few who knew the baby Jesus would be the Messiah. There's Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the magi (which are not necesarily 3 in number). As they gazed upon the infant, they must've needed hope. It looked like any other infant, just in a low and humble surrounding. How could we be sure this is it? Maybe they wanted to say, "That's it?" Imagine the shepherds following the directions of the angels, or the magi, following the star. Maybe they were expecting a palace. But what they didn't get that. Not even the inns would have a room for the upcoming Messiah. Heck, maybe Joseph even tried that! "Don't you understand? My wife is giving birth to the Messiah! You're turning down the Savior of the World!" But I think God had placed His Son's birth in a lowly place so even the lowest would relate. I believe that if Jesus had been born in 21st century world, his would have been born in an alley, lying in a barrel or a shopping cart. Now even the homeless can relate to Jesus, and have hope in being rewarded in heaven. So whoever you are, high or low, rich or poor, popular or unpopular, you can put all your hopes in Jesus.

120 blessings

For those who don't know, I am in a Bible class called Faith Walk. Faith Walk is not your typical Bible class. Instead of a history or theology, it is more personal. It's almost like being graded for Youth group. It is very open. In this class, in our most recent entry for our journals, everyone had to write 120 blessings in his or her life. Everyone groaned. This sounded like a hard assignment. For me, it started out easy, but quickly began to become hard and harder as it progressed. But nonetheless, I did it. I have 120 blessings. With thanksgiving in sight, I thought this would be a good post to put up. I hope this can make you realize that we have much more blessings given by God. See if you can do the same.

120 Blessings

1. God feeds me every day
2. I have a place to live, a house, a roof over my head
3. I have clothes to werea
4. A loving yet disciplinary father
5. A mother who is a parent and a friend
6. Two cats now, five cats in my lifetime
7. A bed to sleep in
8. My very own laptop
9. My GameCube and Game Boy Advance
10. I'm not sharing a bedroom
11. For the most part, I have a bathroom to myself
12. A TV to watch (although it only has 2 channels, I am grateful)
13. A fireplace to keep us warm in the house during the winter
14. Salvation from sin through God's grace
15. Unconditionally loving God
16. A dog who has lived for 14 years
17. DSL internet connection
18. mp3 player
19. All my music CDs, especially ApologetiX
20. Having Nintendo since age 3
21. All my videogames
22. The Bible, God's Word
23. The friend I have in Jesus
24. The Holy Spirit living in me
25. A desk
26. Monty Python
27. Mountain Dew, especially Code Red
28. Karen Zona, a youth leader who has lasted 3 years
29. A new youth room
30. Jim & Pam Brady, my substitute grandparents
31. Team bonuses
32. Every quiz out I've gotten, especially the 15 this year, a personal record
33. My Ark Bible and Spring City quiz teams
34. Dennis & Jill Willman, who have always encouraged me in quizzing
35. The Moss family, for training in quizzing and friendly quizzing rivalry
36. Dave & Vicki Deitrick, for being concerned about my spiritual growth
37. The support of the church for their quiz team
38. Being on the Top 50 Quizzers List for 2 consecutive years
39. Winning the ACC Tournament in 2005
40. Going to Ohio for the Quizzing Invitational
41. Mike Schwager. Indubiately a blessing. I'll drink to that, and everyone else concurs
42. Angela & Caleb, who told me it's alright for me to be single
43. Rosa, who for a month let me feel what it's like to not be single
44. Christine, who has been my friend from beginning until, going with me wherever
45. All my secret sponsers in quizzing, from prayer to food
46. My custom shoes (they say "Quizzer")
47. 2 coats, 1 of them leather, to keep me warm outside in the winter
48. 6 ApologetiX concerts
49. Having 3 cars in our driveway
50. Driver's License
51. Orange pants
52. Paved driveway
53. Automatic garage door
54. Letters from Christine
55. Christopher Dock's Anabapitst perspective in their teaching
56. Being able to afford to go to Christopher Dock
57. The teachers at Christopher Dock
58. Straight A's my sophomore year
59. My table for lunch in the Longacre Commons
60. Sheila Dallas, opening her home for her summer missionary
61. Bill Elgin, who is concerned about my future
62. Bible Quizzing. Period.
63. Being in senate junior year.
64. Learning from my mistakes.
65. My blog
66. Backpack on wheels
67. Public Transportation to and from school
68. Teaching children and learning from children
69. Being able to afford college
70. Slate Hill quizzers, who treat me like a quizzing idol
71. Barbeque sauce
72. Hot sauce shots
73. 11 hour bus ride to Ohio
74. Christmas, Easter, and Summer break
75. Graduating high school in 7 months
76. Risk & Monopoly
77. The Philadelphia Eagles
78. Homestar Runner/Strong Bad E-mails
79. DVD player with surround sound
80. TI-83 Plus Calculator
81. Jesus dying on the cross and raising from the dead
82. Youth group and youth bible study
83. Fun quiz practices
84. Kool-Aid
85. Chocolate and Swedish Fish
86. Energy drinks
87. Buffets
88. Chinese restaurants
89. Forgiveness
90. A cell phone on a plan
91. Rosenberger Academic Center
92. No censorship of books or speeches at school
93. Going to the National Young Leaders Confrence
94. Friends I have made at the NYLC
95. Friends I made at CEF summer missionary training
96. Fred Hertzler, ACC Bible Quizzing cordinator
97. Good, nice quizmasters
98. God creating me
99. School chapels
100. Another option for C.O.s instead of war
101. The Spiritual gifts God has given me.
102. Frederick Mennonite Church
103. Spring City Fellowship
104. Ark Bible Chapel
105. Pastor Scott, the faithful pastor of Frederick church
106. Justin Yoast, comic relief and socializer on my behalf
107. Aaron Martin, socializes for me and is more comic relief
108. Erin, my sister
109. Living in a dead end with no traffic
110. Electronic Spanish/English Dictionary
111. Snow - closes the school
112. Snowthrower - means I don't have to shovel snow
113. Hammock Swing
114. Vacations to Connecticut
115. Italian Grandmother and Grandfather Pagano
116. Uncle Robert. May not be a father, but can be an uncle, the next closest thing
117. Being able to come into God's prescense whenever
118. Dell Tech Support
119. Woman's fear of bugs
120. Our assisstant principal......what's his name again? :-P

Isn't it odd how after Thanksgiving, a holiday dedicated to being thankful for what we have, is followed by Christmas, a holiday where people get greedy and want more? I almost believe it should be the opposite way around because I think we never really recover from the Christmas wants, and never show full appreciation of what we receive on Christmas.

P.S. In my four years of Thanksgiving Chapels, the Class of 2007 was the best! Class of 2008 was the worst. Good luck to next year, class of 2009.

Sex and candy

Ever hear the comparison that sex is like chocolate? Actually, there is quite a few. First of all, I have to say about that is there needs to be another comparison than to chocolate. Anything but chocolate. But anyway, that's not the point. Here's the lastest version I heard:

"Sex is like chocalte. You can compare the quality of sex like the brand of chocolate. Good quality sex is Godiva, and on the other end you have poor quality sex, the cheap chocolate that comes in the shape coins (aka "coin chocolate", duh). In our lives, we have many types of chocolates: coin chocolate, Nestle, Hershey, Lindt's, and Godiva. We know what's considered good chocolate, poor chocolate, and the best chocolate. Now imagine that there is a person that has only one type of chocolate, say the coin chocolate. If they've only have one brand of chocolate their whole life, they don't know that there is better or worse chocolate out there, and are content with what they have. Anyone else, who knows every brand of chocolate there is, will know better and will definitely rather have Godiva over coin chocolate. Now here comes the sex application. If a person has only had one sexual partner, they only know of one quality of sex, and even if it's the coin chocolate sex, they will be fine with it. They don't know that better is out there, and they are satisfied. If someone has mulitiple sex partners, they know that some are better than others. They strive to have the better ones. If they "have to settle" with someone who is poor at sexual activity, they will not satisfied, wondering if they could always have someone better."

Now when I first heard this, the first thought that came to mind was: "they need to find a better original comparision to sex." Sorry for being repetitive, but it's true. Then I thought that perhaps this could be even applied to just dating, without the extra activity. If we don't intend of of having a serious partner, and go around from person to person, you meet a whole range of people. Each one unique, possibly some similarites between different ones When the time comes to settle down, you think you could have somebody different, somebody better. If you're thinking someone is better, are you really happy? But if one dates the minimal amount of people possible, hopefully only one, you will not be questioning your choice, but instead be satisfied with the one you are with.

Continuing with our bad chocolate metaphors, let's set up a situation. Suppose both Godiva and coin chocolate were both having a sweepstakes of chocolate for life. You can only enter in one of them. Both contests are estimated to have 10 million people entering. Godiva will only have 1 winner, but the coin chocolate will have 1,000 winners! Which one would you enter? Depends on who you are. You have better chance winning the coin chocolate, but would you take a bigger risk to get better chocolate? Are you going to throw away someone who loves you in hope you can find someone hotter, richer or more social? When someone gets dumped, we say, "There are many more fish in the sea." That saying broadens every creature into the sea as a "fish". But there are so many types. There are many fish in the sea, but what are the odds of getting a swordfish? Are you willing to throw out a blue fish, the only catch of the day, to hope to get a swordfish?

I really do see chocolate (literal chocolate) as chocolate. Whether the chocolate be Hershey, Nestle, Godiva, Lindt's or the cheap coin stuff, it is chocolate. Chocolate is good, no matter what kind of chocolate you have. Any chocolate I have, I enjoy it very much. Whatever chocolate comes my way, I don't resist because it is not the best brand. To me, any chocolate is better than not having chocolate.

Service Day

Remember those good ol' days where I would post more often like every other day. Yeah, I miss those days, too. Kinda feel like I'm shut up.

Yesterday was Service Day, one of the few extra cirricular days I don't boycott. But sadly, others did. I can't complain too much, since I have skipped out on some school days on purpose, but in a way, this is different. With Service day, you grow spiritually. I really can't see that in Arts Day, All-school Social or banquet. It's like what an English teacher says about reading the Spark Notes instead of reading the actual book: "You're robbing yourself of a great experience." As a born again Christian, there is some kind of undescriptable joy inside, knowing you have done what the Lord Jesus has asked of you.

I went to Manna on Main Street......for the second year. Yup, both service days at Dock and I was both times at Manna on Main Street. Manna on Main Street is both a soup kitchen and a food pantry. It's not so much for the homeless (of course, they are invited) but other people too. It's for anyone in finanical trouble and don't have a lot of money, and with little money they have, they need to use to pay rent and/or utilities bills. They can come to Manna on Main St. to get the food they need.

In the beginning I made snack bags that were going as a gift for a fundraiser walk. Mrs. Adams (the teacher with us) wanted to make sure every bag was equally full with the same thing. So she went into this huge math problem to figure out how much (in number of pieces) each bag needs of each snack food. She told us "5 of every piece." When we finished the 300 bags with her math specifications (which were time consuming), we had only gotten through a third of the resources. We told her and she replied, "Do it again with 5 more pieces." We shook our heads and started throwing handfuls in. I think one bag I just put in a bag of crumbs.

In the meantime, another part of my group was making tacos. We were allowed to take part in that for lunch. After lunch, I did what I did best in a kitchen: wash dishes, dry dishes, put dishes away. I did that until the end of the day. I found out that most of the time the kitchen was an escape place to not do work and to use their cell (by the way, had bad reception, or so they told me). That also made things harder to work in the kitchen. Mrs. Adams made everyone socialize, but I didn't. I want to make it clear I didn't socialize because I didn't want to talk to them, but the fact I don't like to socialize people at all. I avoided talking to the classmates in my group. Truthfully, I sometimes want to avoid conversation at school as well. And I also didn't avoid it not to do work. I was working a plenty, and things were getting done. Dishes were getting cleaned, dried, and put away. I enjoy servicing on the Lord's behalf, but I prefer to do it behind the scenes.

For everyone who volunteers at Manna on Main St, they get to write there name on the walls of the building. I noticed some names I knew, from other people at Dock to a few old friends from elementary school. Heck, I found out that someone put down the number for Chiaro's Pizza! I signed my name right next to where I wrote it on October 15, 2004 - the last CD Service Day. Of course, Evan and Big Mike, being the preschoolers they are (despite being seniors) had to go wild and write everywhere stupid comments, with some things that could be described as "un-christian." Michelle tried to intervene, but unsuccessfully, she had to get Mrs. Adams to do something. Evan called her a few names and walked away disgusted. What disgusted me is what he said in response to her, "She is a party pooper. Don't be like her when you're a senior. Go wild 'have fun'". Yeah, I was peeved at that comment. That is the worst advice to give to underclassmen. Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, don't listen to that. It's bullshit. "Have fun" in an honorable and respecting way. Respect your teachers. Treat all your classmates equally and fairly. Obey the covenant. Respect the campus. Do your homework and projects thoughly. Don't spread rumors. Listen to the chapel speakers. Represent Christian values wherever you go and in whatever you do. Grow up and mature. This is will allow you to have a good last year experience with your friends, classmates, and teachers. If "having fun" means disrespecting students, teachers, property, or your body, then don't have fun.

I enjoyed service day because I got something out of it that can't be seen on earth, but only in heaven. I did a job that is time-consuming and not always wanting to be done by someone. It's one less thing they had to do. It's good to know that is possible for high schoolers to something that can build up the human, and not put them down. Maybe we should spend more time looking after other people's needs, instead of our social wants.


P.S. On the senate survey, I voted against candy canes and carnations!

I should be doing homework....

I hear a lot of people say "Xanga is dead. Get a MySpace." Well, comparing MySpace and Xanga is like comparing white chocalate to cheese curls. Sure both are good tasting, good for a snack, but they are so different. Same way for Xanga and MySpace. Both are an easy way to have your web page to be reached, but Xanga is more for blogging, reporting what's hapening in your life and telling how you feel. While MySpace can do this, it is usually not. It's to talk directly to friends. Actually, if we we werere looking at my school, the Preps are the only ones who use Xanga anymore; everyone else in school is on MySpace. But all my other friends, like CEF Summer missionaries and quizzers (past & present) I see what's happening on there. And maybe that's good I don't know what's going on with my classmates. For me, I choose neither, and use blogspot.

I'm coming live from Bedford, PA. Good ol' wireless connection. Yesterday it was from Lima, OH. This weekend I was on the college searches in Ohio. I went to Bluffton Universite, Rosedale Bible College, and Cedarville University. I'm not going to bore you with everything I did. It was pretty much the same. Every place I went on a tour, in which I saw, classrooms, cafeteria, stores, dorms, library, computer lab, gym, etc. I got to attend two classes. At Rosedale it was the Fall of Man, at Cedarville the class was the Deity of Christ. Nothing excited. Luckily, I saw no Dock graduates at Bluffton. However, I got to see 2 quizzers from ACC Bible Quizzing. The first one I recognized: Jess Lerch from Rockville. She didn't say hi, but neither did I. However, the second quizzer recognized me, but I didn't recognize her. She had remembered me from quizzing. But get this: she quizzed for Bart! Bart hasn't quizzed for such a long time! I think it was 2002. That was way before I became the quizzer extrodinaire, or even did well enough to be noticed for my talent. The ironic part was when she guessed what team I was on, she said Spring City! While I'm not 100% sure the last year Bart quizzed, I know it was way before I went over to Spring City. Rosedale said quizzing is a big thing there, so that was a turn on.

School's well under way, and it already sucks. They say senior year is easier than your junior year...they still have yet to prove that to me. I've had tons of homework, like the homework I should be doing now. Two 3-page research papers, a one-page journal, reading Shakespeare's Macbeth and quite a few long statistics problems. Then on top of that, you got the stupid social clique system, and the gossiping and all that crap of Dock. I heard that there was a lot of "drama" at the Eurotrip with the choir. Lesson: don't go on long trips with clique-y people. And the stupid slutty "rebel" juniors keep taking my lunch table in Longacre. You know, the one I sit at every day since the first quarter of my freshman year. Now I got to get there for lunch earlier to reclaim my table. The worse part is this feeling of being a wanted when used. The only reason people want me is for a good answer. In this past week alone, I had to write notes for Justin as well as show him how to look up things in an encylcopedia, find an article for Micah's assessment, and translate Shakespearean English for Lionel and DJ. Other than that, no other contact from my class. If I'm only wanted as a resource, why want to be wanted?

My youth leader at my church wanted to start a bible study for the youth. She assigned me to do it. That's another thing on my plate. Plus, the only two attending are the youth leader's two kids. Not even my sister. Speaking of which, the youth of Frederick are changing, and it kinds of reflects the change of adults attending, too. The youth that have been there since elementary, those who had parents as youth at the church, if you allow me to say "the shoofly Mennonite youth", they are leaving. One is at Perkiomenville, one at Indian Valley, two at Franconia, and my sister I'm gonna take a guess and say once she can drive, she'll be going to Blooming Glen. In their place, a new youth. The youth from the development. The youth who care more about social status and "school happenings." The youth who have no idea how to look up things in a Bible. Right now, it's not the church, but only the youth group, and possibly the Bible study. I know that it's good for them, but sometimes I feel like it's bad for me. Yes, they are teens, but spiritually, they are still little children. If my faith in the church and Christian community is anything like a business cycle, I'm in a recession heading for a depression. Where do I go? What do I do? Who can I turn to?

Screw you, world, I got Jesus.

The first 9 weeks

School at Christopher Dock Mennonite High begins on Tuesday, August 29, in 3 days. I am going into 12th grade, the senior year, the final grade in grade school. I am not the least bit excited. Yes, I know it's my senior year, and everyone in my class will be excited about that the first year. But's it's still another year, another 2 semisters, another 4 quarters, another 36 weeks, another 180 days. So I still have to put up with the crap I hate at school: another commericial Christmas, another show-off couple Valentine's Day, another skipping of Arts Day and all-school social and another overrated Banquet. Plus, I got to take harder classes this year. So to me, it's still another school year. Ask me again during 4th quarter if I'm excited, then we'll see. So Monday is my last day of the summer break (and I plan to enjoy every minute of it, not thinking about school at all), then I go back to school. Waking up at 6 AM, getting the bus at 6:50, starting classes at 7:50, ending classes 2:45 PM, getting home at 3:30 PM. Between 7:50 and 2:45, I go through the 8-period cycle (except on block days, ugh) that goes something like this:

1. Statistics I - Mr. Mast
2. Basic Music - Mrs. Rittenhouse
3. Chapel/Activity (Advisor: Mr. Yoder)
4. Rec Games - Mr. Moyer
5. Family Living - Mrs. Musselman
6. Lunch (Longacre Commons, NOT the cafeteria)
7. Kingdom Living - Mr. Hertzler
8. Senior English - Mrs. McTavish
9. Economics - Mr. Jeff Hackman

Speaking of Senior English, I hope everybody has read their summer required reading and have done (or at least in the process of their book report). For mine....well....Rome wasn't built in a day. The paper is suppose to be 550-600 words, and broken into three parts. The first part is to be a short summary, the second part a scene from the book that was my favorite, and the third part is discovering the message the author was trying to communicate to the reader. The first time I did it, I started at the beginning part, the "short" summary. Well, halfway through writing the summary I checked it out how many words I had and it was 550! I never was able to summarize shortly. So I am trying again, starting with the second part. It was 400 words. That means the other two parts I have to do between 150-200 words. I think that seems more logical. Once again, I aim to finish it by tomorrow, so I don't have to focus on school work for that last day of summer vacation on Monday.

CEF Summer 2006

Well, 3 comments came a little late, but as I promised. This year I worked as a CEF missionary for my second year. I had 13 5-Day Clubs and 1 Good News Camp. I roughly taught over 200 children. This was much more than I had last year. I had clubs in the city and in rural areas, even one in an apartment community. They were in Pottstown, Phoenixville, Spring City, Royersford, Barto, Bechtelsville, Boyertown, Exeter and even Conshehocken. This year was different in so many ways, and some (possibly most) are not good. I think I could've (and should've) seen this coming, during the first week of training when I felt like the "neglected missionary" at training camp. I had 3 lessons done and ready, and yet neither Bill or Sheila had the time to do this.

During the training camp, we learned a bit about Urban City ministries. Montgomery County was one of the counties that needed Urban ministry. We were told if we reach the children in the city, we reach the world. As I was listening to this, and as Bill asked Montgomery County to stand up, I realized I was one of the few missionaries stepping into this territory. What the presentation failed to, is make me realize how different the kids are. The kids are different, no doubt about it. They had no respect for the teachers. Rules were constantly broken. They didn't seem to care whether you were teaching. They were constantly moving around, having off topic conversations with their neighbors, shouting out answers, watching other things, etc. They were pick and chose what they wanted to participate in. This became harder when the number of kids reached the 20s, and an age difference from 4-16. Then it didn't help when my "helpers", Deavona and Shatona, decided to join in on that. Deavona and Shatona were promoting the bad behavior that I was trying to discipline. It made it harder to correct those kids when my own teachers couldn't do it. I felt like there should have been rules competition should between the kids and the helpers. They also wouldn't participate in what should have, like singing the songs, but participated in what they are not suppose to, like saying the memory verse, or playing the games. I kindly asked them stop giving the kids answers, but they said, "We're just giving hints." A hint is saying it begins with a letter, or telling other things he did, not whispering the answer. And they refused to sing, always with a different excuse. I think part of it had to do with the fact we had teenagers at some of the club. Even though they probably won't admit it, I think since they saw peers at the club, they had a standard of "being cool" to keep, and if they were participating in any of the "childish" 5-Day Club stuff, they wouldn't reach that standard. Once again, this could have been foretold in training camp, when the twins only two evaulations done, and one of them was the wordless book. I swear, the discipline class that was taught during training, none of those girls paid attention because the things I remember Naomi taught, those girls would do what she said not to, and wouldn't do her good suggestions. Chante was good, but only when the other girls weren't around. Once again, I would argue it's the peer pressure factor. Poorly behaved kids + immature helpers = unhappy Graham.

Then the camp, oh the camp!I think the icing of the cake was the camp. When Tuesday came, I noticed I had a bit less control over the girls. At that point I realized that by Friday, that last day, I would lose total control of those girls, if not sooner. Sure enough, I was right. By Thursday afternoon, I had lost them. I always had to searching for those girls when I needed them. Half of them would be in the couch room, and the other half in the nursery with the twins. Oh, and that's another thing! What were those girls doing up there? Babysitting THEIR OWN siblings, nephews and nieces! They could have done that at home! There was no reason for them to be there. And they would only come down to eat the church's food at lunch and snack. And, of, course, once again the kids at the camp saw this as a great way to escape from the stuff they didn't want to do, in my group as well as the others. I'll say it again, there was no reason for them to be there, and their presence only cause problems. As much as we planned, there was no order for the kids. Kids did as they pleased. The best example is this: we told them not to run in the church, but they still did. We tell them to run around in recreation, and all they want to do is sit in the shade. I surely do think it is a question of respect. I asked some of the kids on the clean team at camp who they liked better: Miss Nadia who was the leader Monday to Thursday, or Miss Chante who was only on Friday. They chose Miss Chante. With the complaints Nadia had about the kids, Chante never had a problem. Chante straightened out the kids, and made them listen to her. Trust me, that is a hard thing to do. None of the others could do that. Meghan constantly lost her voice yelling at the kids. Jenn said she had to walk around the church 3 times to cool off from the kids. A few times I walked in the couch room, laid down on a coach for half an hour, yelling into a pillow. My kids were so horrible, by Friday, Aaron, the mature girl, didn't want to be in my group. Constantly she'd be in tears. I told her it was OK for her to sit separate from the group. When one of the church helpers noticed that, she asked me, "Is Aaron being punished?" I replied, "I'd be punishing her if I made her sit with those girls longer than a minute." Now, I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I do believe I am a good Christian, and I've met some big jerks in my life, but this time was the time I was the tempted the hardest to either hit one of my girls, or yell a cuss word at them, something I haven't done since before I was saved. The temptation was so strong because I did have to yell at the girls to get them to listen to me. If I didn't yell, they'd ignore me. Once I kindly told them not to leave the the room, yet they still did every time. They would constantly lie to me, too. Yelling was the only way. And every time I did, I had conflicting emotions. I felt bad when I had to yell at them, re-arrange their seating, or have to subtract points, but I knew I had to do it to be fair to those behaving and it was the only way to keep control. Control. Something we seem to lost as the week progressed....or perhaps we never had. It seemed to take a great drop when Bill left. Would things been different with Bill? Hard to tell. I did have a lot of campers asking me where Bill was. I don't know if "He's gone to Pittsburg" made them feel like they didn't have to behave. But it could've been the cause alone. No one had control, especially the helpers. Nadia said she could never get her kids to sit down and do devotions. When I tried to have devotions, on average, I had 5 kids from all other teams come into my room. Then I would lose the girls' attentions. That, I almost want to also blame on the helpers, but I feel like they were trying, and most of the problems were the kids. It's like our Woofi missionary, Mrs. Geiss, said. Every child told us they were saved, but few were acting like it. That's why on my last devotional time, I stressed on how as born again Christians, we need to live a different life, obedient and submissive. I told you that sometimes I thought I had the younger kids. You mistook what I was saying, thinking what I said was literal, and kept reassuring I had the oldest group. I was saying that in a figurative sense. I had the oldest group, but they acted like the kids I had in preschool 5-Day Clubs. Actually, I sometimes thought that the clean team was acting better than my girls. I asked for the oldest group, thinking I would have well behaved kids who I could have intellectual spiritual conversation. Both presumtions were wrong. I did not like doing this camp, just as much as the Pottstown 5-Day Clubs. I was suprised when the kids asked if we would be back, most of the helpers said, "I hope so." If they would asked me that, I would have said, "Don't count on it."

Yes, there was much testing of me. I hope, in God's eyes, that I have perservered. I had many temptations this summer. Thoughts, words, and actions that wouldn't exactly please God. I don't think I can do that again, even for one more week. That would have tipped me over.

But there were some great moments I had. In one of my Pottstown Clubs, I had the same kids I did in the Royersford Club. Yet they were still excited to hear the stories. One of my favorites is when we were playing the mystery word game. After 1 minute of one of these playing around they go DENRUT. They were like, "DENRUT! It's DENRUT! Is DENRUT a word?" If any of you have caught on, DENRUT backward is TURNED, the real mystery word. Chante and I were trying to surpress our laughter. It's been a while, and I was running out of time, so I dropped a small by humming the theme song, "Turned around." Someone actually caught on, and turned the letters around. Another group of kids was the kids at the 5-Day Club in 3rd Street of Pottstown. These kids were great. We had one troublemaker, but his sister was embarrassed by it, so she'd take care of it. But this one girl stuck out to me. Never really heard from her. She pretty much only sung the songs. Outside that, we got two review questions from her: "Who loves you the most?" (God) and "Who died for you?" (Jesus). Two weeks later, I see the same kids at the camp. They were so excited to be there, and see me again. Now this little girl, who was completely silent, smiled every time she saw me. She would come up to me, say perky and quick, "Hi!" and walk away. Every time our paths crossed, she would do that. And she was in the youngest group, and I was leader of the oldest group. It's amazing how some kids are so happy to see the missionaries. In the Conshohocken club, all the kids clinged to Deborah, not really me...except one. She was a 12-year old girl, who almost appreciated me a bit too much. It always seemed that she was always next to me. And she would always compliment me. "You're a good teacher," "You're my favorite teacher," and stuff like that. She always wanted a hug before I left. One of them was from behind, totally unexpected and a suprise. Another girl was the one I had at my last 5-Day Club. She really liked Chante, even more than me, but she would never forget me. To my suprise, the following Sunday, she was at my church. As I walked into the sanctuary a little, in the middle of praise and worship, she yelled out, "Hi Mr. Graham!" and as she left for children's church, she yelled "Bye Mr. Graham!" Isn't wasn't just the girls I remember, there was a very close boy. He was in Phoenixville, and he was 5 years old, but he always felt like he had to act 14. He listened to rap, talked ghetto, and claimed he had a girlfriend (who was 14 years old). He got saved early that week. He was the only kid for 3 of the days, but his growth was important, so we kept working with h I'm glad the Holy Spirit has allowed me to impact these kids so much. Unfortuneately, most of this was overshadowed by the majority of the bad kids.

Being a CEF Summer missionary was a bit rough this year, but I got through, and was able to enjoy some parts of it. I plan to go it again next summer. I can have the same amount of clubs, but can only work during July. And probably no Urban city areas. But as long as there are children who need the gospel, I pray the Lord will lead me to lead them back to Him.

HERE'S YOUR CHANCE TO SAY WHAT YOU HATE ABOUT ME!

Ok, I haven't been able to update this as much as I would like to. On top of that, I don't get many comments from you guys, making this feel a bit wasteful of my time. So I here is a game to get you to post more comments. I've seen this on a few Xangas, so now I'll try it.

HERE'S YOUR CHANCE TO SAY WHAT YOU HATE ABOUT ME!

anybody can play this game.. whether I talk to you or not, no matter how well I know you or you know me, whether we are friends, aquaintaces, or enemies, you can tell me anything, and everything that you hate about me, and I won't say anything to you (or at least try not to). And if you don't hate anything (which I doubt) tell me that, I guess. HAVE A BLAST, I want everyone that comes to my blog to do it.

If I see at least 3 comments, I'll promise a better, thorough entry within the week. Promise

25 Things: My blog's Grand RE-opening

Well, working hard in the Pottstown Library, I went into my Xanga website. I took a crash course on some JavaScript programming. One hour later, I found out how to redirect a website. Now if you go to my Xanga, you'll end up here! That's saves me a hassel. So now I should see more comments. :) So, to celebrate, this blog went under a Extreme Makeover: Website Edition. It's almost like it is a new blog. Got that new blog smell. So we'll start with a new blog entry. I've seen this go around the blogs, quite a few people did this. It's called 25 Things I Want to Do Before I Die.

And yes, of course the first half have to do with quizzing. Then the rest are beyound quizzing, just to prove that maybe there is something to me beside quizzing. And without further ado...

25 Things I Want to Do Before I Died

1. Finish as 1 of the Top 5 quizzers for the upcoming 2007 quizzing season
2. Be a perfect quizzer in 1 of the last 3 years of my quizzer career.
3. Quiz for the "all-star quizzers" in the fun match
4. Win the ACC Season Championship
5. Win the Invitational (double-elimination bracket, of course)
6. Become a quiz coach at the age of 21
7. Coach a team to win the ACC Season Championship
8. Coach a team to win the ACC Tournament
9. Coach a team to win the Invitational (both the single and double elimination bracket)
10. Coach a perfect quizzer
11. As a coach, quiz for the "All-star coaches" in the fun match
12. Be a quizmaster, a quizmaster who knows the quizzers
13. As a quizmaster, quiz for the "All-Star Staff" in the fun match
14. Graduate from Dock, and never return for anything, and never donate a penny
15. Get a doctrate in Biblical Studies (masters at a Christian school, doctrate at Ivy league?)
16. Become a powerful voice in religion/theology/Christianity
17. Write and publish my very own book
18. Get a DeLorean
19. Go watch the X Games
20. Visit Great Britain, where I will:
    a. Go visit Stonehenge and a Medieval Castle
    b. Walk across Abbey Road
    c. Drive on the opposite side of the road
    d. Go around waving like the Queen
    e. Watch Monty Python in its home country
    f. Find at least 5 other guys by the name of "Graham"
21. Visit Israel, where I will:
    a. Not get killed by a suicide bomber
    b. Wail at the Western/Wailing Wall
    c. Attempt to get into the Dome of the Rock
    d. See both guessed tombs of Christ's temporary burial, and decide myself which is correct
    e. Stand in Meggido AKA Armagedden Valley
    f. Bathe in the Jordan River and float in the Dead Sea
22. Meet someone who is always estastic to see me and visit me
23. Only if it is the Lord's Will, have a girlfriend who will become a wife (ONLY if the Lord allows, and if not, I will be satisfied in Him choosing for me to be single).
24. If #23 is true, have children. The first son I will name after myself. They will all become little "quizzer extrodinaires."
25. In my will, plan, fund, and build the building of the "Graham Holcomb Bible Quizzing Museum and Hall of Fame" where I will be buried.

"I think setting a goal, getting a visual image of what it is you want. You've got to see what it is you want to achieve before you can pursue it." -Chuck Norris

So I take pride in my quizzing accomplishments...

Some of you are really unaware of how much pride I have when I accomplish a goal in quizzing. I mean beyond the bragging and trash talk. When I do go, I show it off.




Yes, my shoes tell everyone what my favorite activity is: Quizzing. And since my favorite activity is quizzing, it tells you what I am: Quizzer. It is also my two favorite colors: orange and black. Now they will go with most of my clothing, especially the orange and black suit. But it doesn't stop there. The 12 isn't the size (they are size 10.5). It represents the place I finish on the Top 50 Quizzers List.

Speaking of the Top 50 Quizzers List, I never did believe those quizzers on the Top 50 Quizzers List get enough recongition. Winning teams get trophies, but winning individuals get an envelope. Yeah, it has a money amount, but that is quickly spent. They should get a certificate, a medal, or something like what I did....

Yes, I got a plaque. It has the Top 50 Quizzers List, and the envelope (Without the money!), and a small plate that says "ACC Bible Quizzing, 2006 Top 5o Quizzers List, Graham Holcomb, 12th place" And here is a picture of me receieving the plaque...from me...made by me. Okay, maybe it is not as official as I would like it to be, but it is a good way to perserve the memory. And it was worth all $67.

In sadder news today, Penelope: The Duct Tape Trojan Elephant is no more. Penelope was in bad condition. Her legs could no longer support her body, her neck could no longer support the head, and her facial features were falling off. It was torture for her to live like this any longer. Penelope was laid in a garbage can casket, buried in the dump.

Rest in peace.


Peace Out,
Graham


P.S. Does anyone know how to set up a website to re-direct itself to another site? I wanna try to do that, so when anyone goes on my Xanga, they will be re-directed to here. So if you do, send me further instructions on how to do so. ThanX!

another year, another month, another week, another day

Today, while driving in the car, I had a lot of time to think. I thought about how much people fret over birthdays. The big comotion. The trouble and chaos their family and friends go through to give them celebrations and presents. The idea of superior treatment and attention. The image to Stacy Shilling screaming at the top of her lungs, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" is still haunting me. In my eyes, I have to ask, "What's the big deal?"

Seriously folks, this isn't the dark ages. I could see why they celebrate birthdays back then; living to being 5 was considering a miracle. But in today's modern age, we have up-to-date medicines and life-saving technology. While there is a percent that will still not make it, it is a small fraction of a percent, and a majority still will. And I bet even most of those cases are not because of health and disease. The point is that the average human can make it up 76 to 78 years, therefore can expect 76 to78 birthdays. Living another year isn't as big as a miracle as it was 600 years ago.

Even if you were to treat it that way, as a miracle of a new year, then why shouldn't we have birthdays every day? Every new day is a gift from God, allowing us to live. The next day could be our last, and He's not gonna wait for us to complete the year. We should be thankful for every day of our life, not just a certain day of the year.

So a birthday comes one a year. But like I said, you'll have about 76 to 78 birthdays. So why make a comotion for one? And while we may enjoy them in our child and teen years, think about after that. Think about how our parents' generation considers birthday. They avoid it! It's another sign of getting older. So what's all the comotion about being happy about the same day we'll dread in the future!

Think about it this way. Answer the question: "When does the New Year begin?" Most people in the world we'll tell you January 1. But the Chinese will tell you it is early April. The Jews will say the New Year is in September. See, it's all according to your view. I heard of an ophanage that when it picks up its children, it doesn't knew its day of birth. So what they do is they choose one day to celebrate everyone being born. And I think they have the right idea.

You were born, so what?! Everyone else on the earth was also born. while it may seem unique to you, there are othere who also share the same exact day to be born. I know I just met my "twin" a few days ago! When we were children, we liked the parties because we got presents. Even in our youth, things haven't changed. Every year, we want the biggest present: one day of being the center of the world. I think having birthdays like that snap us away from reality, giving us a false reality, making harder to go back. And it puts our friends under a stress that a true friend really wouldn't put you in. Your friends get you these small, cheap trinkets for your birthday because they feel this obligation of getting you something.

Birthdays get more recognition than the person.

Change over from vacation to first week of training

Vacation, for the most part, was fun. Between my sister and I, every ride was ridden. It was kinda funny that my sister would do roller coasters, but not straight drop, and I would do straight drop, but not roller coasters. Did you guys hear about tropical storm Alberto. Yeah, we experienced it. Universal was a once in a lifetime experience, so we weren't gonna let the tropical storm ruin (even though for the most part it did). We went around the park in ponchos: 2 red and 2 yellow. My sister described it the best: ketchup and mustard.

However, on the last day, the weather was great with the exception a few raindrops here and there. That was the day we went to the Holy Land Experience. It was very informative and accurate. It had an accurate reproduction of the tabernacle, the temple, the Dead Sea Caverns, the empty tomb, a small-scale version of Jerusalem in 66 AD and a museum with the history of Biblical writings. Throughout the day, there were presenations and shows. The man who played Jesus played the role well. He interacted with the audience, especially the children, like Jesus was preaching to us.

Then started our drive back. On the way, we visited two possible College choices. The first was Liberty University. It was very big, and quite new in most aspects. However, I felt the college was a bit to Baptist for me, in the sense politics is treated as strong as religion. The next day we went to Eastern Mennonite University. After seeing the campus of Liberty, it was a little poor in quality, comparing the two. I did get to talk to a Bible profressor, who was excited to know I was looking for Biblical studies. But some factors pointed against it. Only 3% of the (roughly) 1,000 student campus was in the same major as me. Also that for the last incoming class, the percent of students from Dock was about 20 - 25%. Another turn-off for me. Right now, these two colleges are at the bottom of my list. If I had to pick from the two, I'd say......(oooh, this is tough)....EMU (by a small margin).

Now I'm home, but only for 12 hours. Tomorrow at 7:30 AM, I leave for the Sylvan Christian Camp near State College, PA for the first week of CEF training. I've done this before, so I'm hoping it will go along faster, and I won't fall behind.

Oh yeah, when I was in Orlando, I got a flippin' sweet new ride. Admit it, you're jealous. :)

Hello. Farewell.

First of all, I like to thank all those who took the time to leave comments conerning my junior senate speech. I will say it again, if you want to leave your opinion, leave your name and a way to contact you. So far, I have given a proper, mature reply to everyone who has done so. Anonymous names will not get any attention, since they are too embarrassed to leave their name with their feelings.

June 9, at 11:20 AM, I finished my American Lit final, finishing yet another year at Christopher Dock. It felt like I wouldn't never come, but it did, and it felt good. Just 180 more days, then....nevermore.

And at noon the same day, I left home with my family in a rented 2006 Camry (yes, it is very nice) towards Orlando, Florida. Right now, coming to you live from the Holiday Inn in Kingston, Georgia, it's Graham on his Xanga! This is hotel number two. The last hotel was the Sleep Inn. Both have come with supplied internet access, allowing me to get on Xanga. So you might here from me on your Xanga this week.

Yes, this is the last you'll hear from me in a while, perhaps. I am going to Universe until Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, I'll be going to the Holy Land Experience, which is near Orlando. Then we'll be heading back home, with some college visits on the way. On Thursday is Liberty College in Lynchburg, VA (I'll see if I can find Aubrey), and on Friday is Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA. We should be getting back late night on Friday. Then it is empty out this week suitcase, fill the next one for next week vacation, then Saturday Morning I head to Sylvan Christian camp near State College, PA for the first seven days of CEF Summer Missionary training. Then after that, I head off the second week of training in Bucks county. Frankly, I don't think I'll be home at all for the rest of June. Try again in July!

You know the drill. Leave comments.

The evil B-word (and it's not bitch)

Okay, I'm sick of it! Just sick of it! You upper classmen...you've been acting as mature as the under classmen. I have come with a divine revelation.....THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN BANQUET!

It's been going on since early February. It started with among the show-off couples. Then it infected through the popular kids. When Arts Day finished, and the Preppy/Smart and Artistic clique kids had nothing to do, they then became occupied - oh, excuse me, better word - OBSESSED with banquet, as well! Before you know it, the whole social sphere of our school is Banquet. Banquet banquet banquet! It's like there is nothing else. Who's going with who, how you are arriving, what you're are wearing, what after party you're going to. This is all the talk I hear about. Can you guys ever look beyond it?

Let me tell you something, your craze over banquet is destructive! It is destroying the fellowship among Christians. Once again, you have ruined this school once again. As a Mennonite school, we have the oppurtunity to be a witness to the dark world of secularism by being set apart as different for the Lord. But no! We must conform just like all the other schools. Even though banquet is still the dumb-down Mennonite version of the prom, you guys, with your after dance and party, make us just like the rest. Romans 12:2- "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will"

All of you put way too much effort into this banquet. You all want it to be perfect, and spend all your time worrying about if everything will go right. Why? You want to look good among your peers. You want to stand out. Heck, this is a big social gathering, you got to be at your best looking, or who knows what will happen? Once again, Banquet has caused you to error in the eyes of your Lord! Read Luke 12:22-28-

"22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? 27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!

Yes, there is no mention about Banquet, but it does mention what you are wearing, which seems to be like a big factor in banquet. Still not convinced? I'm pretty sure if there was banquet/prom in the time of Jesus he would have said something like this:

"And do not worry about your social life. Who your friends are or who is going out with who, it is not worth worrying about. Just look at the fish in the sea. They neither hold nor go to parties. They do not undergo a dating process. Neither do they have a prom or a banquet. Yet the Lord gives them the socializing they need. The fish swim in schools, and every year they manage to reproduce and have kids. So if God has given this all to fish, whose lives are only a fraction of what you humans live, will he not also give it to you?"

After that is when the scripture you know will continue, Luke 12:29 & 30- "29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink (or on banquet); do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things"

We are called to be God's children, not pagans. If we take time on worrying about frivilous things, we lose faith that God will provide, and that is a sin. And there is so much more wrong about banquet than that. Like I said, it destroys fellowship among Christians. It lowers those who are not going to banquet by leaving them out and excluding them. Further, those couples, the ones who have the first among the planners, will lower those at banquet without a date. How can you all this, when the Lord looks at all his children equally?!

Personally, I will not be going to banquet. First of all, to make it clear, it has nothing to do with or without having a date! Even if I had a girlfriend, I would not go! A relationship should be personally between a couple, not a show-off tool to your peers! I would not want my friends, my classmates or anyone else in the school to feel lowly beecause they not going to banquet. Do to others have you would want done to you! Remember that part of the verse I bolded above? It says, "And how much more valuable are you than birds!" In a song about this, the ApologetiX sing, "I am worth more than I think" which means the same thing as that verse. Who cares what the human thinks about you? God loves you. And that means you are a great worth, greater than any worldly possession!

As for me, that Saturday night I will be going to a Reading Phillies ball game, with a friend or two. Whoever it is, it will be someone who like me for who I am, with or without girlfriend. And all my friends will are like that. But before that, that Saturday afternoon, I will cry for my generation. I will cry unto the Lord for mercy for the transgressions of our generation. I am embarrassed for the wrong of our generations. I beg you all not to do any wrongs after the banquet. Remember that the Lord calls you to be pure and holy. Hear my words, and heed my warning. Last verse of the post:

"29As the crowds increased, Jesus said, "This is a wicked generation. It asks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. 32The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here." Luke 11:29-32

Ode to Spring City quizzers

Ever see one of those posts when peeps put down descriptions of their friends, and you have to guess who they are talking about? Let's put a twist to it. Tomorrow is my great secret sponser reveal. If it is anything like last year, the quizzer will have to sit in front of everyone and get showered with blessings. So I've combined them. The below paragraphs are each descriptions of quizzers. See if you can guess which quizzer I'm talking about.

I have so many memories of you, and not one is how you performed in quizzing. You may believe that because you didn't score a lot you weren't contributing to the team. Bull. You had a big job in carrying the spirit and morale of the team. When we were tense, you loosened things up. When you weren't there, the team was down and did poorly. We always needed you to cheer us up. And remember, there were many other rookies who scored the same as you, and some even less. Heck, I know some second year quizzers who have only scored 20 points! But you were always a good friend, and that's worth more than a million points. You were always fun to be around, and that may even just have been to bug you. You have no idea how much fun it is to watch you eat! :-) And it was weird how you always had some kind of fetish attraction to all my quizzing buddies...but nothing you ever did was suprising to me by the end of the year. In the beginning you were so quiet, and we thought we'd had to get it out of you. That was no problem by the end of the year. Because of your craziness, we discovered that there were new words in the text! I think half of the excitement and craziness this year was caused by you. Congrats, that definitely makes you a quizzer. (Bekah Gibson)

With the way you performed, I sometimes forgot you were a rookie! You scored over a 150 points, plus quizzed out 2 times in the regular season, and once in the Ohio Tournament! I still can't believe it. Sometimes you did have me worried when you started randomly bleeding, or needed to take tons of medication to get rid of a small headache or other sickness, but you always pulled through. I think that you could have possibly done better if you weren't so attached to your cell, or some older guy, and would've taken that time to practice. But you always contributed to team bonus, which was a big help. But your cowboy pictures were no help to me. Sorry. I really hope you can quiz again next year. If you did that well for your first year, I can't wait to see how you would do next year! I just have a bit of advice for you. First, make sure you don't get a few slight mistake, like saying "tax payers" instead of "tax collectors" or saying "sheep" instead of "pigs" (although you made those mistakes, it is still much less than some other quizzer on our team). Oh yeah, and change those ringtones. I was getting pretty sick of Kelly Clarkson and that other guy. Remember MiB II!! (Jai Bodor)

Good friends, good times. Even thinking about you makes me laugh. I don't know how many times I have done something just because you said "All the cool people are doing it." I can withstand any peer pressure...except you. This year you suprisingly made up even more stupid answers. And I can't remember the amount of times you answered "Temple Obligations" even though we told you so many times over that it was is in last year's material, not this year (cuz he's still preoccupied...in quizzing 2005). I'd have to say my most favorite memory of you this year was when you were taking so long in the E-Town bathroom, so Bruce and I decided to go in and pretend we were using it as well, and pretend to talk poorly about you, like you weren't there. I was just washing my hands, but Bruce went all-out flushing toliets, turning on water faucets and activating the hand drier. It was funny. You deserved it, no one spends over 20 minutes in the bathroom. Because of you, my new favorite activities is hot sauce shots and playing Risk. And you play the most convicing homo I've ever seen. LONG LIVE THE FLAMING AMISH! I knew you would do better this year, but not as well as to make in the Top 60. You were definitely a threat to my personal score and gave some fun in-team competition. That really helped me put me into place, and told me how much more to study. Hey, maybe next year we'll see you in the Top 50! Anyway, you performed your best, and you had fun doing away. And I think one day, you'll get a girl because you are a very likeable person. Indubitably. And everyone else concurs. (Mike Schwager)

You've been with me every step of my quizzing journey. You were on my team every year, even when we changed church teams. We been together through thick and thin, good times and bad times. This year was another year to add to the memories. In previous years, you scored no more than 40 points in a year. I told you that because this year we lost Brandon and Aubrey, you'd have to step up to be Spring City's 3rd best quizzer. You stepped up to the challenge and took it. Your performanced was outstanding. You scored over 150 points, probably more than your the points of every year combined. And you got your first quiz out, too. I have never felt so proud of you. I know the end of the year was a bit hard for you, but it was great to see you be happily socializing with them. I sometimes saw a side of you I didn't know of. And thouse walks around the parking lot were fun, even though sometimes it seemed I didn't want to do it. You gave us team bonus when we were in need of it, and when you gave it, we suceeded to win. Thanx for the help. The team really was glad you was there, and we really appreciated you. (" height="523" width="499">Christine Dragan)



Thank you guys for another great year. Every year is unique, and this year was an especially unique year. The memories are several, and I will never forget you individually and as a team. For being a wide spread of personalities, we somehow were able to get along. We worked and cooperated as a team inside and outside of matches. You guys were great.

Back from my venture

Well, I'm back from everything I said.

Spamalot was the bomb! It was incredibly hilariously. In some places it was funnier than the original movie. The first act was better than the second act. The second part was just like King Arthur said, "Imagine, in a thousand years, this will all be....still controversal." It's true. Sir Lancelot was gay, and at one time was called a fairy. In the end, he marries Prince Herbert. Sir Robin tells Arthur he couldn't survive to broadway because he has no Jews. In the end, we learn Patsy is a Jew, but that's something he didn't want to tell a heavily armed Christian. It was still funny. They did a good way of creating things to distract the audience they could do special effects like cutting off body parts. I see why it won the Tony for best oscar.

Social Issues trip sucked. I paid between 1 and 2 thousand dollars to go to the NYLC and it was worth every penny. A year at Dock costs around $10,500 and the Social Issues trip was uninformative and boring. I got less out of this. I realized some of my teachers lack understanding of directions and can be confused just as much as students. I would have liked to serve more and heard less from that guy. Heartburn killed me over the trip. And on top of that, I was there with classmates who I didn't want there. At least I have done all my homework and my papers for the trip. All I need to finish is the journal.

Gone another weekend

Ever since the beginning of the year, it seems like I can't stay put in one place for the weekend. Even excluding quizzing, March and April were pretty busy. This week is not an exception. On Saturday, I will be going to NYC to see the broadway hit SPAMALOT! Saturday will be exciting, but Sunday, Monday and Tuesday will not be. That will be the field trip for Social Issues class. We will have to leave at 5:40 AM Sunday morning to head down to Washington, D.C. in time to make church service. For the rest of the trip, I will be seeing the sights, working in soup kitchens, and experience the issues of social life in our nation's capital. Not the fun you'd think it would be, especially since this will be the second time there in 7 months. I have to do 5 assignments during the trip, each about a page long and a 3-page journal. Yuk. It figures to leave it to Dock to take the fun out of field trips.

Hey, quizzing friends! Miss you all greatly. Nothing important is happening the afternoon and evening of Saturday, May 13. Since quizzing has ended, I have been bored and lonley out of my crazy mind! So if you want to do anything me, no matter how fun, crazy, or stupid it is, just leave suggestions and I'll consider it.

Graham vs. Moss family

In the "Graham vs. Moss quizzers" series*:

Graham vs. Josh Moss
Graham wins series 1-0

Graham vs. Jake Moss
Graham leads(/wins?) series 1-0

Graham vs. Becky Moss
Graham leads series 1-0

* A series is defined as when Graham's team and the team of a Moss are faced together in a match. The winner of the series is the one who quizzes out first. In all cases, the winner is the only one who quizzed out, the loser unable to quiz out.

3 down, 1 Tim to go. Next year, just wait. He's going down, too. Then the only thing left to do is build a time machine, go back in time, and take down Debbie, too. :)

Report Card on 2006 Quizzing

Two days ago was my second Wednesday without practice. On Sunday will be my second Sunday without official quizmatchces. I am sooo booorrreeeddd. This is when the post quizzing depression begins to set in. You can only run so much on past memories. So to help relive those past memories, I'm gonna keep them alive by rating how we did during the quiz year. I will evaluate both my individual and the team's performance, then give it a grade.

Individual Performance

8 Week Season
Every year I have shown improvement. This year was no exception. This so far was my best year. The only really "bad" thing was not being perfect quizzer for a while or my "incident" (still not calling it by the real name!). In 18 matches, I had quizzed out 15 times. In the 3 matches I didn't quiz, I got 20 points. There were no matches where I scored 0 points or 10 points; either 35 or 20 points. All together, I scored 585 points. This is 75 points higher than the 510 scored last year, making this my recorded high score. I also performed this great feat: I quizzed out on question 3, all on buzzes. It was my first match of the year, too. There were 3 other incidents where I was close to doing it again, but I couldn't get in on question 3. I also was able to quiz out against 2 Mosses this year: Becky and Jake. I also like doing that. 3rd Moss I quizzed out before. You're next Tim...

Every year I set a goal to aim for personally. Sometimes the goal is broken down into parts. Last year's goal was 5 parts. This year's goal was 3 parts. They were:

• Be on the Top 50 Quizzers List every week
• Be a perfect quizzer for at least the first 3 weeks
• Beat my personal quizout record of 12 quizouts

I was able to stay on the Top 50 Quizzers List every week this year. The lowest ever was after week 1 at 34th place, ironically the place I finished in 2005. Every week I got higher. The highest was after week 6 when I reached 5th place with 5 other quizzers! After some turbulance at Hopewell Elverson, I dropped slightly. I finished with an average 32.5 point average, and placing in 12th place. I was unable to be a perfect quizzer for 3 weeks. Heck, I couldn't be a perfect quizzer for 1 week! Stupid "downfall." To break my quiz out record, I would need to get at least 13 quizouts. I quizzed out 15 times! I broke my record. Of the three parts of the goal, I completed the first and third, only the second I was unable. So according to the two-thirds rule, I completed my goal for the year.

I also was able to do something else. I was less worriful of how I would perform. It allowed me to relax more, both before and during matches. I was able to socialize more often in free time. I was able to eat and drink, something I couldn't do before. I conquered my fear of doing and poorly, and through that was able to performed better.

Grade on Season: A

ACC Tournament
We had six matches during the Tournament. I quizzed out 5 of the 6 matches. The only match I did not quiz out was against Byerland, one of the hardest teams. I was only able to score ten points, the lowest all year. But my quiz outs were good quiz outs. My answers were clear and precise. I errored little. I also tried to help encourage my team as best I could. At least one of my right questions was a buzz in, making it possible for our team to get team bonus. I tried my hardest to carry the team single handedly.

Grade on ACC Tournament: A

Invitational at Central Christian in Kidron, OH
I was able to quiz out every match. On that last match, I couldn't quiz out until question 13, a little later than I hoped. But they were a tough team. The correct questions were mostly buzz in with a few bonuses here and there. I did cause errors, but not too many to hinder us. I think I did good, and would have liked to see how I would have done if I had a few more matches.

Grade on Invitational: A

2006 INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANC GRADE: A

Team Performance

8 Week Season
We had a team of 5 quizzers. 2 of the 5 were rookies. 1 of them had quizzed for 7 years, but every year had scored no more than 40 points. I think coach Dave used the best phrase to describe how the team looked before the year start: "building year." They were no Brandon or Aubrey. To expect what we saw the previous year (6th place season, ACC Tournament Champs) would be expecting a lot. Just as the phrase "building year" suggests, we had to start over with our team and build up a good quiz team. We taught them the rules of quizzing and helped them study as we went along. We just hoped for the best. I told Christine and Mike that they had to both step up their game. Their role was now important because they had to lead the team. I had to take a slight step up to reach Brandon's level of performance, but Mike had to take a big step up to match my last year's performance, and Christine a HUGE step up. I set my mind to just accept whatever I got, which I had already planted in my mind to be very little.

So can you imagine how much of a surprise the first half of our season was. After our first 4 matches in 2 weeks, 3 of them we got team bonus and both Mike & I quizzed out. We won those 3 matches, scoring over 100 points: two matches 120 and one match 13o, the most we scored in any match, both season and tournaments. Our point average shot up to 100 point per match. That average moved Spring City up to 4th place, the highest I had ever been on a team. The next week stunned me even more. The next week continued to amaze me. We won the next 3 matches. The best one was our first. We won against Reading 2 105 to 25. We had 3 quizouts in one match: me, Mike and Jai! Jai continued to perform well as she quizzed out her second match ever in the same day! Pretty good for a rookie. Despite winning all 3 that week, our average dropped to 95 points per match. Still we remained in 4th place. We continued to win the next two matches. Halfway through the matches, we had an average of 94.4 with a win-loss record of 8-1. Magnificient for a "building team" to only have lost 1 of 9 matches.

Then we began to decline. It may have been the year getting harder as it progressed. It may have been being comfortable with previous wins, creating a feeling of invincibility. Maybe it was the lessen in practice (mainly self-practice). Maybe emotions effect quizzing. Whatever it was, our performance was as high as the first half of the year. We only got team bonus once. Only one time did we score over 100 points. In that match, it was three quiz outs: me, Mike and Christine (her first quizout!). Our average dropped and dropped. In the second half of the year, our win-loss record was 3-6. Not up to our first-half standards.

The year finished with a total of 18 matches. In those matches, we scored a total of 1520 points, finishing with an average of 84.4 points. Our final record was 11-7. We finished in 8th place in League A, 16th place of all quiz teams. Christine got the first quiz out of her career, and Jai got two quizouts in her rookie year. Sometimes we forgot that Jai was a rookie. Bekah did a good job for a rookie her age and picked up 2 bonuses, 20 points. Mike finished within the Top 60 Quizzers, and that was the first time the Top 60 were honored. For a building team, we built well and fast.

Team Grade on Season: B+

ACC Tournament
We started off with two losses. I still believe we shouldn't have lost to those two teams. They were the easiest teams we had all day. One of the teams only had three people as well! After two losses, we knew that we needed to win our next matches. We did, winning our next two. The next was against Byerland, and they blew us away. We won our last match of the day, making us 3-3. There were a lot of facotrs that could have changed our standing. Twice Goods 2 should have been fouled for talking during judge's decisions. Then we would've never gone into overtime and won the match. If we won, and everything else would've been the same, there would've been a three-way tie with Spring City, Goods 2, and Byerland for first place in our group with a 4-2 record.

But let's not consider the possible fouls, and look at it from controlling our own destiny. We still could have won. First we were down a quizzer who we really needed, but wasn't there because she believed she "wasn't a part of the team." Bull. She was a good encouragement, raised team spirits, and was there when we needed her. Team morale was down during the ACC tournament. And to get team bonus, everyone the team needs to get a correct buzz in. 2 of our 5 quizzers were not there for week 8 material, and when questions got to them, they were clueless, and there were a lot of week 8 questions. We only had 22 errors, and Mike caused half of them. He errored out twice. Jai was too caught up in her cell phone and Brad (ugh) to concentrate on quizzing. Too many questions heard and studied during practice and previous matches were still not known, learned or understood, and ended up being marked wrong. That should never happen. If we would have practiced a bit more, and learned from our mistakes, and possibly slowed down our buzzing, the playoffs would've been in reach. This is what led me to deter the grade on our team's performance for this tournament.

Team Grade on ACC Tournamnet: B-

Invitational at Central Christian in Kidron, OH
Compared to the local tournament, we did better. But it still wasn't up to par to what we performed in the season. But in a sense, the progression of the tournament was just like the season. We started out great, but every match after, the performance detered. Our first match we won 155-0. We scored in the triple digits, allowing zero points for the other team. We got 3 quiz outs, and Christine was one away from getting a fourth quiz out. That was the most we scored all year, plus the biggest point margin ever, too. Our next match was good, but not as good. I quizzed out and we got team bouns. That was the last time we got team bonus in Ohio. Just like the season, in the first half, team bonus was regular. The second half, we came close to team bonus, but no cigar. We won our next match, but only because after I quizzed out and Petra 2's best quizzer quizzed out, the match slowed down, Petra 2 errored too many times and lost points. We didn't pick up too many of those bonuses, but them losing points helped us. That was our last win. We lost against Neffsville by 5 points (something anyone could have gotten in on) despite Jai and I quizzing out. Then we lost again to a hard team, New Hope. Number 1 in their league, they were fast. They got team bonus quickly and we needed the same to win. Excuse for repeating myself, but no team bonus, no win. We were out. There were slight mistakes that could have been corrected, but most from last week were. Bekah was a great encouragement. Mike errored less and never errored out. The studying paid off and we did the best we could. Not as good as the season, but better than the PA tournament.

Team Grade on Invitational: B

2006 TEAM PERFORMANCE GRADE: B

Good job Spring City for another good year! Not only did we do what we could, but we had fun doing it. I hope we can do this again next year, and maybe perform even better!