Week 6: Weaverland

Quizzing started as normal. I arrived at 12:15 PM. I got my secret sponser gift, the biggest one yet. I had my usual lunch of Soup-at-Hand and an energy drink. This week's energy drink was MDX, Mountain Dew Energy Soda. Some of you may know it by its ad slogan which has the song "I Wear My Sungleasses at Night." Bruce does and was singing it all day and night. Mrs. Deitrick pointed out that it had some vegetable oil in it and I could sometimes swear you could taste it. When I was eating, some kid took my foam finger, ripped off the finger sticking up, and ran off with it. Needless to say, there is no more foam finger. But to some of you, that may be a blessing.

We had 4 practice matches. I was able to quiz out in all of them. Bekah's column on the score sheet is usually empty, so Mike raised the stakes to encouraged Bekah to try more. Mike told her if she could quiz out by question 10 anytime, he would buy her a jar of jam. (This comes from Bekah's "Jar of Jam" answer in a practice match). I never seen Bekah try so hard to quiz out. And when she didn't, she got so down about it. I thought it was a little crazy, but hey, if it works, it works!!

We arrived at Weaverland at 6 PM. I didn't recognize the place at first, but once we got in the building, I realized that I quizzed there before. Like I said last post, we had the first, middle and last match. So we jumped right into quizzing. Our first match was against Neffsville 1. We performed just I wanted us to. I was first to quiz out. Mike then followed. During review, Christine quizzed out! For the first time in her 7 year quizzing career, Christine finally quizzed out!! The awesomeness. Those 3 quiz outs led us to win against Neffsville 1 with the score 105-45.

We had to wait two matches until our middle match. The next match we went to watch was Petra 3 vs. Conestoga 3 since we had to quiz both teams later that night. It was a close match in the beginning, but then Petra 3 took off and won. We knew it would be a hard match upcoming. Then we went to go support our friends on Zion 2. Mike and I decided that the room was too quiet, so we raised the volume for cheering. They had a hard match, too. Mel didn't do too pretty.

Our middle match came up. It was our hardest match today, possibly second hardest all season. It was against 3rd place Petra 3. And they showed they deserved 3rd. They were fast at the buzzer. After 11 questions, I had 2 correct and 1 error. Not pretty. Three questions later and still nothing from me. So being the 15th question, and having only one error and really wanting the quiz out, I decided just to go for it (despite hating review). I buzzed in on "How many loaves...?" I figured to go with the obvious and answered "Five." I was correct. I got my second quiz out. Unfortuneately, my team lost 105 to 55. That 55 would hurt our average.

Between the middle and last match, we watched Good Shepherd 1 vs. Weaverland 2. They were the top two teams in our league. It was a low-scoring match, but a good one. Each team slowed down the other. There was an error out in it. In the end, the number 1 team came out #1. Good Shepherd won over Weaverland 2, 75 to 50. But I think both of them lost in the sense they were much under average score.

We were the last match of the night. It was against Conestoga 3. It was one of the lower teams, but they were a challenge. The first one to quiz out was on Conestoga 3. I quizzed out further into the match. We got team bonus, something our team hadn't gotten in a long time, and needed. The final score was 95-65, in our favor. While I was hoping to score in the triple digits again, 95 is close.

That night was awesome. I got 3 quiz outs, the best I could do, and it did so much for me. I got a total of 14 quiz outs, breaking my previous personal quiz out record of 12 quiz outs. It gave me a year total of 510 individual points, tying my personal all-time high score. With scoring 510, I have CLINCHED the Top 50 Quizzers List! No matter what I score in the next 3 matches, I end up on the Top 50 Quizzers List. But I plan to do better than that. Once again, so cool to see Christine quiz out for her first time, especially since this may be her last year. Mike wasn't so lucky. I calculated he needed 4 quiz outs to end up on the Top 50 Quizzers List the end of the season. He only got one. It may be possible to still do it, but a very small probability. People above him would need to do worse than him, plus he would need to quiz out both times next week.

Another awesome thing about this night was I got 4 opportunities to be on the quizzing video this year! The first time is when I, along with the rest of my team, cheered wildly for Zion 2. The second time is when the team did the wave. The third time is when I posed with my quizzing buddy, a lawn gnome. The fourth time I led a bunch of other quizzers across the balcony doing the horse galloping (without coconuts) from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. With all that, I hope that I can get somewhere on the 2006 quizzing movie!

Quizzing Question of the Post:
What perched on the musterd tree's branches?

Whatever on quizzing

Quizzing practice on Wednesday was Bekahless. She used the excuse she had too much homework. Bah! I haven't used an excuse to skip out on quizzing since my first year. Since then, I haven't skipped practice, whether homework, sickness, or bad weather. Practice went faster than usual. We went through our 3 normal matches quicker than usual.(Hmmm, no Bekah....quick practice. Coincidence?) So then we went into 2 review matches. The practice showed who how much one read before practice. Those who read lots did well. Those who read it only once did poorly. Everyone did suprisingly well in review, especially Jai.

Well, I hardly tell you guys about standings, you here ya go. People are usually impatient with waiting for the standings to be posted, people like me. They were finally posted on Thursday. I checked them in the morning at school (yeah, like anyone at Dock follows CD's "Accecptable Use of Technology" statement) and I was suprised. I couldn't stop think and telling people "7th place!" That worked in two ways, both my individual score and my team score. Despite our average dropping from 95 points to 89 points, our placing only dropped from 5th to 7th. Not bad. The better 7th place was my individual score. Up to today, I have accumulated a total of 405 points. (this time last year, I only had 295 points. What an improvement!) These 405 points landed me in 7th place out some 300 quizzers. This is the highest I have ever been.

This Sunday we meet at Weaverland at 6:30 PM. I'll say it again, if you can come, COME! Fans are awesome, and we love you. Tomorrow we've got Bruce (he's like a regular now), my parents, and a couple from my church. That's a start, but we could really use you there too. There is 3 matches. We begin on the first round. We quiz against Neffsville 1 (27th). I saw a few of their matches last week. I'm not sure it this is an always, but I only saw three quizzers. One of them always quizzed out. I want to sit across from him. I, of course, aim to quiz out. Since they are in the 20s, I am hoping we score in the triple digits. We'll need it with the team we are playing next. Our next match is the middle round. It is against Petra 3 (3rd). We go from quizzing against a below-average team to an above-average team. Quite a jump. This is going to be the second hardest match. I know I said that about Blainsport, but since they dropped to 18th place, I revoaked that (they are now the 3rd hardest match we've quizzed against). I want to quiz out, but I'll take whatever I get. The last match is during the last round. We volley back from an above-average team to a below-average team again. The match is Spring City vs. Conestoga 3 (23rd). Once again, 100+ points may be needed to maintain or raise average.

This could be a really big day for me tomorrow. It all depends if I quiz out, and if I do, how many times I quiz out. To this date, I have 11 quiz outs. If I get:

1 Quiz Out (12 quiz outs total): Tie personal all-time quiz out record
2 Quiz Outs (13 quiz outs total): Break personal all-time quiz out record
3 Quiz Outs (14 quiz outs total): Tie personal all-time high score (510 points) and CLINCH a place on the Top 50 Quizzers List.

Yup, there is some excitement coming Sunday. I also figured out for Mike (he can thank me later) that for him to finish on the Top 50 Quizzers List, he must quiz out 4 of his last 5 matches (he won't be here week 8). So I hope to see him quiz out 2 of the matches tomorrow, if not all 3. Christine last week for her first time (in at least 6 years of quizzing) got 100 points. That reminds me of another quizzer. I won't be with Reading, but I would hope that Morgen can get in triple digits score for her first time. And Tim just got on the Top 50 List barely. Let's see if he can stay there.

I got a whole handful of quizzing jokes for ya.

Joke 1:
Q: Who would make bad busboys?
A: Pharisees, because they only clean the outside of the dishes (Luke 11:39)

Joke 2:
The Jewish mafia in those days had a hard time. After killing the prophets that disagree with them, they had no way of properly disposing the boides. So they just just threw them anywhere. It was gross, and making the people unclean. So the experts in the law decide to go into the tomb-making business. Their advertisement slogan: "You kill the prophets, we build their tombs." (Luke 11:48)

Joke 3:
Q: Where is there a Catholic in the gospel of Luke?
A: The woman in the crowd that yelled, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you!" (Luke 11:27)

Joke 4: Another time of quizzing in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 10:25-28)
(25.)On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (26.) "Another time for a quizmatch," Jesus said. "Question. How do intrepret the law to say how to inherit eternal life?" Simon the Zealot buzzed in. (27.) "Love the Lord your God with...all your heart....all your strength.....all your soul......and all your mind.......and...um....oh...." Simon's time ran out. "Sorry," Jesus replied. "I need more. That's a bonus for Simon. Bonus question. How do intrepret the law to say how to inherit eternal life?" The Expert in the law said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your strength, all your and and all your mind.....and......love your neighbor as yourself." (28.) "You have answered correctly. Two more, and you will quiz out. Simon, watch out. One more, and you will error out."

Double your pleasure, double your fun

Preparation for quizzing began Saturday night. Since we had to take double material in, we decided to have double practice. We read and had four practice matches Saturday night. It was around the new material. My performance was slow, including a near error out, but I was able to bring out quiz outs. On top of that, I felt like I forgot the cancelled week's material. After four matches, I needed a break from quizzing. I stayed overnight, along with Christine, Jai, and Mike. We first watched the old quizzing videos. Lol, I could sing along with the 2004 video and recite the 2004 Top 50 Quizzers List Introduction. We then stayed up to 1 AM playing card games. When we began playing bull, some of us got so many cards, we could predict the bull. "Don't even bother laying down kings." lol. Gotta love those guys. I listened to the material one more time before going to sleep.

After 6 1/2 hours of sleep, I got up at 7:30 AM. I read the snow week's material again. Mike got up a half hour later. We got ready to get for church. During the Sunday School hour, we met up with Bekah for some more practice. This practice was on the snow week's material. We did great. Our first practice match there was only one error, our second had zero, and our third had two. Each error the bonus was picked up, not a wrong bonus. A boost in confidence.

After the church service, we left immeadiately. In the van, we ate lunch. The van ride was funny. I told some of you guys this story. I had a Talking Stitch for my quizzing buddy (from the movie Lilo and Stitch). It has a microphone in it so when you say some choice phrases to it, it replies. However, Stitch is very sensitive. When talking to it, one must be loud and clear, pronouncing every syllable carefully. One of phrases Stitch recognizes is "I Love You" and Stitch will reply "I love you, too." Well, Bekah (our youngest quizzer, and it shows) spent about an hour telling this stuff animal "I Love You" but never got any reply. It must've not understood Bekah's "valley girl accent" or how Bekah talked, because it would not respond to it. A few time when Bekah said, "I love you" it replied "Whatever!" ("Whatever is what Stitch says when it can't register what was said, or when time has passed without anything being said to it.) Jai says, "That's a typical guy. A girl pours her heart to him, and all he says is 'Whatever'." After the hour, Bekah just gave up. So Bruce decided to try Stitch. He says "I Love You" and on the first try Stitch replies "I Love You Too." Well, of course, Bekah had to try for another half-hour.

We got there with 15 minutes to spare. After quick announcements and a cheesy joke, quizzing began. In the first half (snow week material), we had 3 matches. Our first match was against Akron 1. We were able to get team bonus. I was the only one to quiz out. We won 95 to 65. We had two matches between this match and our next match, so I watched future oppenents. Both of the matches were with Hope Comm. 4 in it. I hope they didn't think I was stalking them. The last match I saw was E-Town 2, our next opponent, get a smackdown. A #6 team was being beaten by #27 team. I knew that this double week made no assumption safe. Every team was to be taken as a hard team. But that didn't change for playing E-Town 2. In our match, they had 2 error outs, one of them from a quizzer who had errored out the last match (2 consecutive error outs). I got my first two bonuses of the year from him. I quizzed out that match as well. Our team won with a score 90-45

The match against E-Town 2 was the first of a consecutive match. Now we had to go against Good Shepherd 1, the no. 1 team in our league. Now I know that the placement meant nothing for the doubled up days, but it did have us nervous. Waiting for the judge to come back from his bathroom break, I got to talk to one of the quizzers from Good Shepherd 1 (naturally, being in seat 1). That helped gete rid of some tension. Then the quizzing began. I did quiz out, but late. We did good, but Good Shepherd just out quizzed us. We lost the match 90-65. Here's the irony: last year, when we quizzed against the number 1 quiz team, Maple Grove 1, we lost 90-65. Creepy! It was upsetting to lose, but they were a hard team. We put up a good fight. While not winning, we did prevent Good Shepherd 1 of getting to their average.

We roughly ended the first half at 5 PM. We got dinner out of the way so we could practice more. Bekah finally got Stitch to say, "I Love You" back at her, so she did it non-stop for awhile. I had to take Stitch away from her, so Mike or Christine would not fulfill any of their threats. After dinner, most of the quiz team went out to play tetherball. After a half-hour they came back in. We read over the week's material, and did rounds of questions. That practice that I felt was sticking actually did. I felt better about know the material. We then went to praise and worship. After worship there were a few announcements. There are a planed 91 teams going to the Invitational Tournament 91 TEAMS! They also made some rulings harder. "Spirit" alone is incomplete. Disciples are automatically assumed to be Jesus's, otherwords must be specified as John the Baptist's disciples or the Pharisees' disciples. My favorite: The Apostles and the Twelve are interchangeable, but disciples is only SOMETIMES interchangeable. I know it makes sense, but it is soooo hard.

Spring City's first match in the second half wasn't until round 4, so I watched a few matches. I wanted to watch matches of future opponents, but Mike wanted to watch Hopewell matches to find a certain girl, and Christine wanted to watch Hope Community matches to find a certain guy. So I pretty much watched my matches alone. I saw Neffsville 1 twice. They only have 3 quizzers, but one always seemed to quiz out. I want to sit across from him next week. I also watched Blainsport vs. Good Shepherd 1. Once again, Good Shepherd was unable to get their score in the triple digits. This will hurt their average, givin hope to our placing.

Our first match of the second half of the day was against Hopewell 2. They are team #22 in our league. I thought I hadn't seen this team before, but apparently I had. It the remained of Dennis Willman's Hopewell 4, just without Krystal and Jason/AJ. It Bryant and Mike. I wanted to sit across from Bryant in seat 1, but coach wanted me in seat 4, so I sat across from Mike in seat 4. Christine sat across Bryant in seat 1 (and she didn't want to). Easy, right? Not exactly. We struggled. I managed to quiz out. In the end, we lost to them 90-75. Not who I was expecting to lose to.

We had to wait for the last round to get our final match. It was against Goods 1. I quizzed out again, making that my fifth quiz out for the day. Bekah got a bonus, and I was so sure she'd have 20 points at the end of the day, but she missed it. We barely won with a score of 80-75. While the win was nice, it killed our average.

Quizzing Question of the Post:
From whose blood to whose blood will all this generation be responsible for?

Snow: Causes and Effects

Here's the story what happened last weekend. It began with a snowfall that started Saturday night. By the time it ended on Sunday morning, there was roughly a foot of snow. Early Sunday morning, and quizzing was not cancelled. So at 10:30 AM, I got a call from the Deitricks. They said that most churches had agreed to quiz and they were going to try it. At 10:31 AM, I began to shovel my dad's 4-wheel truck out of the snow. My parents never saw my shovel out snow so fast. By 11 AM by parents gave me a helping hand. At noon, we had finally finishd. After a quick shower and preparation, my dad drove me to practice at Spring City (who had no church). I arrived for 1:30 practice. Mike arrived shortly after with his mom. And she said, "But doesn't the quizzing website say quizzing is cancelled?" Sure enough, when we got ahold of Fred, it was. We were all annoyed. So, since we were already there we had practice. After a half-hour of practice, we called it quits.

My quiz coaches invited me to stay for dinner, so I did. Meanwhile, I helped shoveled out the van for the Deitricks. Yes, mores shoveling. Dinner was great (I never knew rice tasted so much better with butter). So then we went through more questions. We got most of them right on the first try. We were all dressed up with nowhere to go. When done, I went home.

For those who do not know how snow cancellations effect quizzing, it's nasty. The matches have to be made up so everyone has the equal number of matches. This is done in a doubled-up week. To start with, we have to study twice the material: the missed material and the scheduled material. The doubled-up week has doubled-up matches. The matches from last week are made up from the previous week in early afternoon, and then the matches scheduled for this week are during the evening regular time. It's a strain on the quzzers, but needs to be done.

Here was the problem. The schedule for the cancelled week was all at one place, and was designed for that. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get in one buiding the following week, only two. So Fred had to do some major schedule revamping. The number of matches is the same, but the opponenets changed. This came to a surprise to us. More about the schedule later.
So on practice Wednesday, we had to change it a bit. Our practice matches were different. The first 13 questions were from the new material. The 3 "review" questions were the questions from the missed material. Mike and I only read the material twice by practice. For me, I quizzed out all four practice matches. For Mike, it showed-

Question: What 5 should you not take for the journey?
Michael: No money, no staff, no extra tunic, no bread........no duffelbag?

Question: What have nests?
Michael: Ummm....owls?

Question: What should you shake off...?
Michael: Shake your feet off!

Beside that, it went pretty well, but we could use more practice. With double weeks worth of material and matches, you just need a double amount of practice. So that's what Spring City is doing. We are going have an additional quiz practice on Saturday night. Then I am staying overnight. The next morning, we will practice during Sunday school hour. We should be prepared by then. So this is why you may not hear from me.

Now to the schedule. They got it down to two places: Hinkletown and E-Town. Spring City will be at E-Town all day. We were suppose to be at Hinkletown, but the schedule revamping ended us up at a farther away location. It begins at 2 PM. We have new opponents as well. For the 2 PM round, we quiz against Akron 1 (#21), then we play back-to-back matches of E-Town 2 (#6) and Good Shepherd 1 (#1!) Yes, we went from playing the no. 2 team to the no. 1 team. Nevermind, I want to to playing the no. 2. On top of that, those Top 10 teams we have to play consecutively. And I miss the fact that we no longer play the no. 27 team. That would have (theoretically) been easy points. Then at 4 PM, we get a 2 1/2 hour break for dinner. At 6:30 PM, we switch material and have two more matches. The first match is round 4 against Hopewell 2 (#22). Our last match just happens to be the last match of the day (It's gonna be later getting back home. Luckily, no school Monday). It's against Goods 1 (#11). I once again, like usual, ask you to come if you can and support the team. I know it's a distance, but that is why we need you, the distance already cuts down the number of fans. But it is an all day event. Come when you can, leave when you have to. We'd appreciate it.

Quizzing Question of the Post:
Who are the 5 that Jesus let in with him?

Quizzing Joke:
Q:Why should the ACC bring the quizmasters, coaches, scorekeepers and timekeepers to Ohio
A: Because Jesus said to take no staff for the journey

Week 3: Neffsville

This week quizzing was the same day as the Super Bowl. As all matches Super Bowl Sunday, it began at 2 PM. Because of that, we needed practice during church hour. After doing a Wawa run for lunch, I went to the Deitricks. They took me to the church to practice at the Sunday School hour. At the Sunday school practice, I quizzed out twice, and errored out once. I felt mostly ready, but I needed to practice more.

At 12:30, we left for Neffsville. I ate on the ride up, while answering questions thrown at me. I realized how much I had no idea where the questions were coming from. So I tried to read more on the way up. When we got there, I found all my rooms, so I decided where to sit. I wanted seat 3 every match. We went back to worship. I saw Reading come in. Christine asked me, "That guy on Reading..." she pointed to someone. "Who is he?" I replied, "SHE would be Becky Moss." lol. Funny. By now, the energy drink kicked in. I was shaking all over the place. Jai kept telling me to hold still, but I couldn't. Cuz it was QUIZZING!! After worship, we had 2 back-to-back matches.

The first match was the Match of the Year. SPRING CITY VS. READING 2. For every match of the year, I have a goal to complete in it. It's like a mini-goal, or a goal inside the big goal. For this match, I wanted to be the first to quiz out, on my team and on Reading's team. I wanted to sit across from Becky, but I didn't get the chance. So I got the next best thing, I sat across the second person I wanted to, Morgen. The first two questions I buzzed in and got correct. I was sure I would quiz out on question 3, but Becky got in before me. That's the second time quizzing out on all buzzes on question 3 got away from me. If they didn't I would have done that 3 times by now. I did quiz out by question 5. It's a good thing that I didn't quiz across Becky. She got two errors. Right now, I have not gotten a single bonus to this date. Every point, every quiz out, I earned on my own. Morgen got nothing on me. I quizzed out, along with Mike, and Jai. We won 105 to 35. I completed my goal by quizzing out before everyone, including a Moss. It was a successful match.

My second match was against Petra 4. We had played them before, last year. They were our opener, and we tied. The team was different this year. I quizzed out. Michael did as well. One of those questions was to name the 12 disciples. He did it, and finished just in time. In the end, our team won 80 to 55.

After that match, our last match didn't happen until the end. So we had 4 rounds between. We watched 2 of Reading 2's matches. There wasn't a lot of improvement between them. I also one of the Petra 7 matches. They got destroyed. We all thought this would be an easy match. Time would tell....

Our last match finally came. It was against Petra 7. One of the quizzers I noticed from last year's Petra 4. I sat in seat 4. The match did not go as smoothly as we wanted it to good. I was slow. Christine wasn't getting in. Michael got 2 errors, one of them being "Name the 12 disciples" again (He forgot Matthew). We began to get our act back together after a well needed time out. I quizzed out. This was followed by Jai quizzing out for her second time. Pretty good for her first year. The scorekeeper called team bonus for Petra 7, but she made a mistake and quickly took it back. But Petra 7 was still one away from team bonus. After question 14, the score was 75 to 60 in Petra 7's favor. On the last question, Mike got in and answered correctly. Out of nowhere, we pulled off a win, with the score 80-75. We should have never gotten that, but we did.

As soon as the match was done and hands were shaken, I left immeadiately for home. I did make it home in time for the opening coin toss. And I picked the right team to win. The Steelers won 21 to 10. Now that football is over, we can now fully concentrate on quizzing.

Tuesday night standings were posted. I was amazed. My average of 32.86 points raised me up to 13th place (tied with 9 others). The only people higher are the 12 perfect quizzers. This is extremely good. This is the highest I ever been on the top 50 Quizzers List. Despite a bad match, Mike stayed on the Top 50 Quizzers List. He is currently 38th with 4 other quizzers. Jai really moved up. She now has 2 quizouts, 120 points and is in 103rd! Not bad for the first year. What surprised me even more was our team's standings. We didn't move. We are still tied for 4th place with another team. But the team we are tied with has changed. Instead of Conestoga 1, we are tied with Petra 3. Our team now has an average of 95. We'll see if we can get it back up to 100. Maybe practice tonight will reflect that.

Quizzing Question of the Post:
What kind of jar did the sinful woman bring?

Quizzing Joke: Mistranslanted Bible text - Quizzing In the Gospel
Luke 7:40-43
40. Jesus answered the Pharisee, "Simon, let's have a quizmatch." "Okay, teacher," Simon said.
41. Jesus gave him this quizzing material: "Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42.Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both."
"Question number 1," Jesus began to ask, "Which of them will love..."
"Oh, I think I know!" Simon the Zealot said as he jumped up. "The man who owed 50 denarii"
"Sorry, that's incorrect," Jesus said. "The bonus is for Simon the Pharisee. Bonus Question. "Which of them will love the moneylender more?"
43. Simon answered, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."
"You are correct," said Jesus. "Ten points for you."

"Least of these" vs. "Enemies"

I really like the material for this week, not because of its difficulty, but what Jesus is teaching. My favorite part is Luke 6:32-36.

Luke 6:32-36-
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

When we do missions and service, we base it off Matthew 25. We do it for "the least of these." But Luke opens our eyes to something. While doing this stuff for the "least of those", we really don't know them. We have nothing against them, so we do it. But Luke throws in a different idea. What if we do these things for those who are our enemies? Can we forget their iniquities against us, not hold a grudge, not seek any kind of revenge, and be nice to them? For example, if someone crashed into your car, and both cars were damaged, would you pay for his/her car to be fixed as well as yours?

One day in March, our school has Random Acts of Kindness Day. On this day, students can pay for Senate to hand out to someone a not of compliments, encouragement and exhortation. A very good idea, but once again, destroyed by the student body. I GUARENTEE that most people will only give these notes to friends (and of course show-off couples will do what they do best and give one to their boyfriend/girlfriend). This proves Jesus's point. We say we do good stuff, but we only do it to those we know well and are our friends. Jesus states that unsaved and even bad people do that. It doesn't make us any different from them. So how do we? The world tells us to love our friends, and hate our enemies. If we show love towards our enemies, that will separate us from everyone else, and by our love towards those who hate us, the world will notice the followers of Christ.

Quizzing Question of the post:
Where had a great number of people come from to hear Jesus and be cured of the sicknesses?

Not once, but twice

The second quizzing week went better than the first quizzing week. When I have a good quizzing day, I'll usually will tell you what happened on Quizzing Sunday.

I arrived sometime between 12 and 12:15. By the time I got there, everyone went out to get lunch. I had my lunch of a drinkable soup and a Full Throtle Energy Drink (It gave a good buzz). We had to wait a long time for Mike and Bruce to get back from their lunch, so practice started later. Jai was the first one to get back from lunch. She delieved Becka her lunch, so Bekah had to eat that first. But first she had to steal my foam finger and hit people with. She would eventually break my foam finger.

Practice was fun as always. But still we went through it fast. One match we even got through with only two errors and only one missed bonus (As surprising as it sounds, Spring City is capable of only having two errors). It went fast. The best match was when Bruce was the quizmaster. He made sure he stopped on the dot, and did not go lightly for errors or fouls! But the best part was when Michael was reading. When it came time for the demon to say "Ha!" Mike said, "Ahhh." Like Coach Dave said, it sounded like the demon went to the doctors to get his throat checked. Of course, we burst out laughing and poked fun at Mike. Never a dull moment, never. Despite starting late, we finished early. It gave us more free time, and we had a 4th practice match later.

Free time was fun again. Since it was cold and wet outside, our activity was left to be inside. It was soccer, but a basketball was used. I decided "No way." I listened to the the text on my mp3 player and watched. It was Christine and Bekah vs. Bruce and Mike. It was funny. The ceiling got hit a few times. It was kinda funny watching Bekah and Christine get pummeled over and over again with the basketball. Christine kicked it pretty hard and it left a print on the wall.

After our 4th match and dinner, we headed off to the quizmeet at Zion. We got questions on the way up, and everyone got the questions down. Even when we got there, we went to a solitary place (lol) to practice with more questions, and were on top of every question. We couldn't get any more ready than we were. And it showed.

We had two quizmatches. The first one was against Paradise 1, the second against Zion 1. The performances in the matches were almost identical. Both times we scored points in the triple digits. The first match we scored 120 points, the second match we scored 130 points. Both matches we got team bonus. Both matches Mike and I quizzed out. On the second match, Christine almost quizzed out, too. This greatly helped our scores. Our team score average rose to 100 points per match. My individual score went up to 31 points per match. Our team rocked this week. I can't wait to see where I, as well as the team, placed on the standings. Now I'm really syked for next week.

Quizzing Question of the Post:
Who are the 12 disciples that Jesus appointed apostles?

I don't know why I am on here. I really don't want to talk about it. My feelings and emotions are all blurbed into one mess. It's like a giant yarn knot ball. You can't untie it, the only way the undo it is to cut it up. Then you have a bunch of little pieces of yarn that aren't of any use. I've composed "the pieces" right here, the pieces of thoughts on my feelings running my head. This "poem" (I use that term loosely) may not make any sense, or you may catch on easily. Like I said, I don't want to talk to anyone about it, nor do I want anyone to be making a deal about it or getting on my case about it. Please let it be

No, it can't be, it wasn't suppose to beIt's such a small difference, but a difference nonetheless
Why me? Why why why why me?!?!
It should have never ever happened
Dumb, stupid, moronic, egregious
Hyprocritcal: I said I wouldn't, but I did
Too fast, too little, too late
Inexcuseable, unacceptable, egregious
It almost seems impossible
My image, my repuation - destroyed, dismantled
I can't ever take it back
Does this make me any less?
Can I bounce back?What happens if I can't?
Should I just give up, or try again?
Eloi, eloi, lama sabbachnatha
How can one go from so good to so bad?
I wouldn't accept it from anyone else, and neither from me
Am I hurting the team?
It was the difference between the best and the worst
Am I possibly overexaggerating?
Did I give enough?Does it really matter?
It was a hard team
The little things made the difference
I knew to slow down, I knew to be happy with what was sent my way
But I missed what could have led to success
Was it greed? Pride? Arrogance?
Did I let my feelings get the best of me?
I did bad, but I also did good
And after all I have said and did
I have some good friends, I wish I could be a friend back
I deserve all the ridicule and trashing, I don't want to face up to it
I am number 1 in the team, they need me, I must step up for them
I must, no, need, no, WILL, do better

Like I said, I REALLY REALLY REALLY don't want to talk about it. I'm going stay off IM, email and the internet to help avoid it. I'll get over it....eventually. Give me a few more hours. But if you REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY need to talk to me, leave a comment saying the exact date and time you'll be online and say what you want to talk about, and why, and I'll consider talking to ya.

"I'll turn around to pick up the pieces." -Hoobastank

Pre-season scrimage quizmatch

Today was the day I predicted that the first quizzing week would be. I was wrong. The Ohio confrences are starting their second week of quizzing today, and we have yet to start. The suspense for next week to start is killing me. I wish it would just hurry up and get here. I could really go for a quizmatch around now. I bet all of you could go for a quizmatch now, so I set one up for you. Ten questions on the first week of quizzing material. So everyone take my quiz (especially quizzers) and see where you place. It will give a good idea of who will be a threat next Sunday, and who will need more practice by next Sunday :)

Quizmatch on Luke 1 & 2:1-40

Countdown to the first quizmatch of 2006:
7 days

Yesterday was our second practice. Not as full as last time. With 2 Tedors gone, and Christine absent as well, there was only 4 quizzers. In theory, if all quizzers quizzed out or errored out, only 12 questions would be asked, not 15. So both quiz outs and error outs were moved up to 4 questions. The first practice match was my best. Since quiz outs were 4 question quiz outs, I QUIZZED OUT ON QUESTION 4!!!! Even if quiz outs were 3 questions, I would have quizzed out on question 3. It was on 2 right buzzes and 2 right bonuses. Now, if I can just do that at a real quiz match, I'd be set. Next time, I want to try to do it all on buzzes, but I think Mike would interfere on that with a crazy buzz just to spite me. That was my best practice match yesterday. For the other two matches, I quizzed out as well. Only 1 of the matches was I not the first one to quiz out. I also got to contest one, and I won the contest (see below)! When we went through our normal reading and 3 practice matches, the time was 8:25 PM. We eneded a little earlier than usual. Since we had no other questions to be asked, we ended practice and then went to the eating.

I think we are slightly improving. Mike and I are doing great. We get quiz outs. I just hope when we have more of a competition we continue to do that. The only thing I worry about is our newbies. In all our matches, each team scored around 55 to 65 points. Why is that so bad? Well, in each match, Mike and I (we were on separate teams) contributed 45 of the points. I'm glad that I am individually performing so well, but I wish there was more of a team score. The rookies do well, but we only really see their action after Mike and I quiz out. They won't be able to do that in real match. We got to kill that habit. We got to get them to start jumping in faster, to the point they may even beat us. And I pray that Christine will get better too. We need to see where she is at. I would also like to see 4 practice matches next week.

Ok, here is the contest I faced. I did win the contest, and my coaches said that most quizmasters would do that as well. Let me hear what you think-

Question: Who were descendants of Aaron?
My answer: Zechariah and Elizabeth
Ruling: Incorrect
"Right" answer: Elizabeth (only Elizabeth, not Zechariah)
My contest: Based on Luke 1:5, the verse begins talking about Zechariah, then goes to talk about his wife Elizabeth. The verse uses the word "also" along with Elizabeth's name, hinting that Zechariah is part of this. It means, "Zechariah was a descendant of Aaron, and Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron."
Result: Contest granted

Now I was looking at the other translation and versions, only two versions using the "also" are the NIV and CEV. Most versions call Elizabeth "a daughter of Aaron" which definitely would not be Zechariah. But then again, other translations do not matter in quizzing, just NIV. It is your call.

Quizzing carols???

Countdown to the first quizmatch of 2006:
12 days

Ah yes there is only 12 days left until quizzing...12 days...I feel a song coming on. As some of you may know, I have parodied many famous songs to lyrics that have to involve quizzing. During December, the Christmas season got to the heads of the radio station. So some Christmas stations played nonstop Christmas music. My sister loved this and played it every chance she got. Since there was less than one month until quizzing began, I started studying heavily, and listening to my Audio CD of the quizzing material. Sometimes you'd have these two sounds mix. This mix of quizzing and Christmas carols got to my head and lo and behold, the birth of quizzing carols. So I have posted two on here. One is written by Jen Horning, an old Q-File (I miss those). The other is an original written by me. Let's start with my "original" first.

The 12 Weeks of Quizzing [A Parody of "The 12 Days of Christmas"]
(Instead of going verse by verse, adding a line every time, I'll just put down the last verse with every line. You get the idea)

ON THE 12TH WEEK OF QUIZZING, MY QUIZ COACH GAVE TO ME...

12 questions before review
11 hour bus ride
10 cheering fans
9 tournament matches
8 buzzers buzzing
7 quizzer quiz team
6 practice matches
5 errors, lose points!
4 question team bonus
3 question quiz outs
2 backup subs
and the quizzer sitting out isn't me!!

The second song dates back from 2003 (ironically, the last time we quizzed on a gospel). It may be old, but it is still good. Every year, before quizzing begins, I sing it. Instead of re-writing the whole song, I'll provide a link:

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (Quizzing Version)
[You can guess what this is a parody of]

Quiz practice is tomorrow night @ 7! I extended my memorization to the second half of Luke 1. I can't wait for a second chance (and myabe a less sloppy performance).

What's up in quizzing pre-season

As I hope all of you know, November 2005 has past. I see April-November as an off-season. This is a steady, light practice. All you do is read over the material a few times and write questions. Maybe do some buzzer drills. Nothing to big. On November 30, the off-season ends, and a new phase begins. December becomes the quizzing pre-season. This is when the not-so-serious quizzers begin seriously considering if they want to quiz for the new season. For the serious quizzers, studying becomes more intense than during the off-season, but not as intense as regular practice. During the preseason, writing detailed quizzing questions for every verse is being wrapped up and finished. All question written from now on will be 15-question quiz matches for the week you are studying. During this time, you find out the weekly sections and read carefully only those parts. Now you start serious word-for-word memorization, because if you start that in the off-season you'll forget it when quizzing starts! Some teams even have pre-practices to work on stratergy and explain quizzing to rookies. The real quizzing practices begin after the pre-season ends, which is the end of December. January begins the quizzing season will real quizzing practices, and real quizzing matches! This is also when you get your quizbook, official schedule, and you know who is on the team

And that's what exactly happened. On December 21, I finished my questions for Luke 1 and 2. Questions done. I had gotten my buzzer speed to 304 buzzes/min., an improvement from last year's 300 buzzes/min., but not up to 300 buzzes/min., my all-time high. I had read over the material quite a few times. Still I had no quizbook, so I kept reading out of my Bible. And I still didn't know the breakdown of the material. On December 27, the official quizzing website updated, after 7 months of lacking and update (especially announcing the 2005 ACC Tournament Champions! ). The breakdown for the first week was Luke 1-2:40. I had fully completed Luke 1 & 2. I was slightly ahead, but that was OK. So I would ready the material in the Bible, listen to it on my Dramatized NIV Audio Bible CD. Then I began the memorization. I memorized the Benedictus and Magnificant. I could say it fluently by New Year's Day.

Well, Reading got their quizbook in mid-December. Christmas break rolled around and I still didn't have a quizbook. Of course I was panicing! I called coach Vicki Deitrick a few time asking about it, and every time she dind't have it. Even she was beginning to bug Fred asking it. Well, on New Year's Eve, they opened up a box, and saw the quizbooks inside. The Deitricks finally received the quizbooks. They were about to open the quizbooks, when Coach Vicki paused and said, "Graham is on edge. We better call him and tell him the quizbooks are here." She did call up and told me I could get my quizbook, and said today is good. She hung up the phone and said to coach Dave, "How much you want to bet that Graham will be here in the next half hour." She was right. I got there in 15 minutes (yes, I was going the speed limit!). The minute I hung the phone up, I picked it back up, called my parents, and told them I was going to the Deitricks. They knew why, so I went. I got my quizbook on December 31. It was the best Christmas present I got. I began highlighting it immeaditely. This is what it looks like (thanx Morgen!)



The following Wednesday, yesterday, January 3, was the first quiz practice. Christine was unable to come. Bruce and Brandon were able to come, Brandon had his last practice before heading back to Penn State. The old veteran Michael Schwager was already there, and not late for a change. I met the new quizzer, Becca and Jai. Since Becca was a tad late, we started with a quizmatch. We explained how a quizmatch goes as we go on. The first practice question of the year I buzzed in and got correct. By the end, I quizzed out. So did Mike. Brandon errored out, but that doesn't matter since he's not returning. Becca arrived, so we began a normal quizzing practice. We prayed, then read, then practice matches. During the reading, I quoted the Magnificant. In the remaining two quiz matches, I got the first question right on a buzz, and I quizzed out. Mike also quizzed out both matches, and Brandon was able to get one last quizout.

Now that we have one practice, I have been able to get an idea of our team and evaluate them. Our team consists me, Mike, Christine, Jai and Becca. Yes, you counted right, we only have a team of five. In October, we started out with a team of 8. By November, we had a team of 7. By December, we finished with a team of 5. Five is somewhat a good number. It is a good number for the rookies and substitute. There is a better odds of getting in. I were prefer a 6 quizzer quiz team. Two subs are better than one. Now, no one can get sick, or have a bad day. They MUST quiz. We cannot afford anyone missing in action. I still haven't been able to see Christine practice, but I think she'll do good. She is syked to be a starter (so far) and wants to quizout this year. If her mind is at it, I think she can. Mike did hold to what he said to me. He did quizout 3 times, and is now challenging me to do better. I think he will step up this year, maybe even to the Top 50 Quizzers List. For beginning, our rookies did good. Jai got a few buzzes in and was correct with them. Being on her team, I noticed that some questions she missed a buzz after half a second. She'll be good and get us team bonus. Becca was a bit shy, especially buzzer shy. We will have to get rid of that. But on every bonus she got, she answered it right. It's a sign that she knows the material. Now to get her buzzing, and we'll be good. I see promise in our team. We can easily get them to learn to buzz in for team bonus. By the tournaments, we'll be ready. Mike will get quite a few quizouts this year, and may shoot to the Top 50 Quizzers List. I think I can, too. I sense another great year.

Ah, yes. I now have an official countdown for quizzing. I found out that quizzing was not January 15, but January 22. A week later than I wanted, and the anxiety waiting for it is killing me! Yet I am patient. It just means more time to study.

OFFICIAL Countdown to the first quizmatch of 2006:16 days, 19 hours, minutes

New Quizzing Year's Resolution

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Santamas: A Fake Christmas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The 4th Matrix!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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



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

Another Thanksgiving

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NYLC Episode 1: The Talent show

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

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

Blood drive on Halloween??!!

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

And now for something completely different....

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

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

Rant on Social Quizzers

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

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

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

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

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

3 months until quizzing 2006!!!!

(Unofficial) Countdown to quizzing 2006:
3 months.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Summer good, school bad

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

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

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

My reflections on the hammock swing went something like this-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mike's Party

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

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

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

Chick magnet 4ever

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

This is me at age 3


This is me at age 15:


This is me at age 17:


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