The Year of 19 BYAH!s

If you're a quizzer in Pennsylvania, there's nothing out of the norm with this past Sunday. But in Ohio, this was a special Sunday. All 3 Ohio quizzing conferences opened their quizzing seasons today. Now for you keeping track at home, we got 17 days, 19 hours and 50 minutes until the ACC kicks off their quizzing season. Hearing that Ohio has started quizzing makes me realize how soon my team and I will be quizzing.

This is my last year quizzing. I am 20 years old, the maximum age for quizzing. The only way I could quiz any older was if I started the year as 20 and turned 21 during the quiz year. But after doing the math, I caculated that those who have birthdays during the quizzing season have no advantage of those who do not. Both of them cannot quiz more than 8 years. Quizzing 2009 will be my 8th year. My, how time has flown.

I will start this year the same I start making any goal: Every year I make a goal. The goal is some accomplishment that is to pushed me to do better. At the start, they were accomplishments I couldn't get. In 2003, the first time I made a goal, I said I was going to be on the Top 50 Quizzers List. Only being in 8th grade, I didn't know my strengths and limitations for a 2nd year quizzer. So I was of course disappointed when I finished in 195th with only 120 points. 2004 I got smart about it and set a simple goal: quiz out before Josh Mosh in a real match and quiz out before Jake Moss in one of our practice Ark 1 vs. Ark 2 matches. (This was the year Ark Bible had 2 teams, and Jake and Josh Moss were the best quizzers for Ark Bible Chapel.) I completed that goal...a bunch of times. lol. So my next goal for the next year was to just do better than the previous year. Since in 2004 I finished 78th place was 370 points, 7 quizouts, 2 weeks as a perfect quizzer, and 5 weeks on the top 50 quizzers list. This one I succeeded beyond the minimum. While I couldn't be perfect for even the first week, I was on the top 50 quizzers for 6 weeks, got 12 quiz outs, scored 510 points and finished in 34th. According to quizzing's 2/3 rule, that's a complete goal. The next year's goal was only 3 parts: Be on the top 50 quizzers list every week (especially the last week), be a perfect quizzer for at least 3 weeks and quiz out at least 13 times. One again, I completed this goal on the 2/3 rule, and once again, it was because I couldn't be perfect for even a week. 2007's goal was simple again. Just be one of the top 5. I believed that was a good goal, considering I was only 7 away from the previous year. Of course I was disappointed when not only I couldn't make the top 5, I couldn't even make the 12th place mark I reached the previous year. I got 16th. So I went back to the 3-part goal. For 2008, I revised the top 5 quizzer goal from the previous, revived the perfect quizzer goal from the few years back, then added a new one: score 600 points. Now every year I complete a goal, I finish better than the goal. Every time I fail a goal, I do worse than the previous year. But this last year was different because I did not complete the goal, but did do better. I did score the 600 points, but missed the perfection goal (by one question on one quiz match! blah!) and the top 5 goal (by 3 places). In review, of the past 6 goals I am split evenly because I completed half of them and failed half of them. All completed goals pushed made to better than the previous year.

Now that we know what I've done, I can brainstorm and plan accordingly to what my next year goal should be. As Mrs. Deitrick reminded me, my priority should be to please the Lord in my quizzing, and I agree. As I learned last year, my quizzing can be a memorial offering to God (Acts 10:4). I don't want to make the same mistake Cain did; I want to give the best I can, my quizzing firstfruits. But what is the best I can give? Like I said, I have been improving as a quizzer every year, in the long term picture. So this next year, I should want to improve. Gee, there's very little room to improve from 600 points, 16 quizouts, and 8th place. I can only get (assuming a 19-match schedule) 65 more points, 3 quizouts more than last year, and I can only advance 7 more places. Well, then I guess then that's what I have to do. My goal is to be a perfect quizzer. It fits perfectly. If I'm going to advance, I might as well go all the way. I was only 2 quiz outs and 7 places away last year. It's been a goal I have been striving to get since my fourth year of quizzing...kinda (being perfect for at least 3 weeks was the aim). I also have been aiming for the past 2 years to be one of the top 5 quizzers, and being a perfect quizzer means I'll be the no. 1 quizzer, which means the top 5. Besides, to be a perfect quizzer, I'll need a career high points and a career high quizouts. So being a perfect quizzer I'll hit many record highs, too.


How do I go about this goal? For starters, first and foremost, pray. I have been praying for it. Before I petition the Lord for it, I thank God for everything He has done for me in the past, showing I have not forgotten Him in my quizzing. Then my petition is simple, "What's it going to take to get me to be perfect?" And I feel like his reply is, "If you put My Word in both your head and heart, and give it all you got, your best, you will reap what you sow." I don't mean it to sound like I'm bargaining with God, but more of showing God that I'm fully devoted to learning His Word and worshipping Him through my quizzing, so I can sow what I want to reap. I want to give God my best, I feel like anything short of perfection would not my best. I want to be perfect just like my Savior is perfect :)


So what I am going to do to show my devotion to learning God's Word? At the beginning of Spring City's first practice, Coach Dave asked us if we are just going to add reading God's Word to our life, or if we were going to have God's Word encompass our whole life. My answer is: "All the above." I will do both. Not only will I add time to practice and study quizzing in my life, but quizzing will encompass everything in my life. Let me break that down for you. First, let me tell you how I am adding quizzing time to my life. Efffective when I return to school, I will give quizzing the same attention as my classes by making it the eqivilent of a class. On Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, I will spend at least 1 full hour quizzing and on Tuesday and Thursdays an hour and a half. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, I will read the material at least once a day. For Fridays and Saturdays, I will read the material at least twice a day. This means by the time I get to the place of the quizmeet, I will have read the material a minimum of 10 times. Furthermore, I will make sure I have the situations and numbers done by Monday. Consider this a mini-resolutionis part of the quizzing goal.

Now to have it encompass all my life. The obvious answer is to apply what I'm learning from in the material in my life. It's the best way to display the Word is in my heart. What else can I do? Keep the Word close to me, even in the most literal way. I will be carry my quizbook around with me at all times, no matter where I go. I have the Audio Bible on my mp3 player (and soon my phone) and will listen to it when I can listen to it. If I can't listen to it, I will be reading my quizbook. For those times I am just reading, I am going to do what I call the 5-5-5 deal. I read every verse 5 times over, then I read every paragraph 5 times over, then I read the whole chapter 5 times over. Go onto next chapter and repeat process. The repitition from reading over and over again should get me to subconsciencously memorize the material.



Finally, to show God I am dedicated, extra dedicated, to Him and learning His Word, I am taking up the Nazarite vow. The Nazarite vow was a special vow to show separation to the Lord. Pretty much, it was to show special dedication to the Lord. I want to show that special dedication to learning God's Word, so I will take up the Nazarite vow. Effective next quiz practice (tomorrow), not a single hair on my body is to be cut, I am not to eat or drink anythin made of grapes (I've decided either natural or artificial, considering that the Israelites never had confronted "artificial grape flavor") nor drink any fermented drink (I don't do that anyway) and I can't go near anything dead. At the end of my Nazarite vow, I'm suppose to present an offering for the Lord. My offfering I plan to give is the perfect season, for it is not mine, but it is the Lord's.

So have you figured out my title to this post? It's from last year. Quizzing gets me excited. I get excited every time I quiz out. I get so excited, I just have to yell or scream, to get out the energy out of me...which may have been put in me because of energy drinks :). So every time I quiz out, I yell out the Dean Scream as made famous by Dave Chapelle, "BYAH!" I quizzed out 16 times last season, so 16 times I went "BYAH!" A quizzing season has 17-19 quizmatches a year. I've never quizzed where there's been more than 19 quizmatches. So to have that perfect quizzing season, to quiz out every match, I will have quizzed out 19 times. Let's start counting ;)

I hope everyone can join me in supporting me this time in dedicating myself to the study of God's Word. I will definitely keep everyone updated on my blogs. Actually, from here on out until the end of the quizzing year, my blogs will have nothing but quizzing. Since we still have time until the first match, for now I will update you on schedules, Spring City's practices, quizzing in Ohio, and just strategy and scouting in general. Here's to perfection!