To hold you over until I can really blog again...

I know how everyone is awaiting to hear about how the Invitational went. Truth is, because of my dedication to quizzing, I got behind in school work. I had no time to write on how it went because I had papers to write, and now that they are done, I got to start preparing for finals. If you're really impatient, go look on the ACC Quizzing Facebook group or ask others quizzers. Until then, let me tell you about something I have been doing all year, and the drastic change.

At the beginning of the year, just before my first quiz practice, I took up a vow, the Nazarite vow to be exact. I couldn't cut my hair, eat or drink anything with grapes or fermented, or go near anything dead. Sounds simple, right? Well, it became annoying when my hair became unruly and when I wanted to drink grape juice. Why did I do this? Was it mere superstition? No. I wanted to show how very dedicated I was to God and to leaning His word. This time has been a time of spiritual growth, as I have seen the connection between my vow and the blessing of my quiz outs. I'll admit that it was a bit shaked during my fall from perfect, and wondering if I broke my vow in any way. Yet I stayed strong, kept going, and rebounded. All this time, I stuck to my faith and trusted God for everything. I hope you have watched me as i have grown this way.

But now after 8 weeks of a season and an ACC Tournament, things are changing. I'm going out with a dramatic fashion. And this is how...

Beginning

3 weeks 2 days


1 month 2 weeks

2 months 1 day

2 months 16 days

End (don't worry, it's Welches Grape Juice!)

Did I give up my Nazarite vow? No, this was scheduled from the beginning. After 2 months and 16 days, the vow was complete. I had fulfilled my time. Actually, I fulfilled it, then some. The vow was originally until the end of the season. I renewed it for the ACC Tournament, praying to make the playoffs again. So why not keep it for the Invitational? I want to draw your attention to another Judge. This one is Samson. Samson was a Nazarite. We really don't know him for this. We know him for his strength. Now if you ask any little kid why Samson was strong, most will say, "Because his hair was long." It is understandable where kids get this idea: all they can remember is Samson was strong and had long hair, so they must be correlated somehow. But any adult, from Bible Scholar to church layman, should know that it was the vow Samson was under that gave him his strength. It wasn't until Samson broke all aspects of the vow that he lost his strength. We all know how the story ends: Samson literally brings down the house of the false god, with the leaders of the Philistines and many other people. Obviously, the Lord gave Samson his strength, but where did it come from? It's not the vow. I think Samson's regained strength came from the faith that God would listen to his prayer and answer according to God's Will. To sum it up all in one word, it was faith. Faith is why Samson's strength came back. Faith is why Samson was able to do the Lord's work one last time.

So by faith I shaved my head. Like I said, I wanted to show that my vow was not a superstitous way to ensure a good year in quizzing. Instead, my good performance was God being faithful to my dedication to His Word. Therefore, with one big tournament left, my final performance, I shaved my head and drank grape juice, having faith in the Lord that nothing will change, that I will still be blessed in my quizzing. I was going into the Ohio Tournament by faith. How did that turn out.?You'll just have to wait and see....

The LMS Tournament

I've been quizzing in the ACC Tournament for 8 years, so let me give you a little history listen. This year, the ACC Tournament was moved to Lancaster Mennonite School. I myself can't exactly say why, but I can guess that it has to do something between LBC becoming too expensive the LMS actually becoming big enough to host a tournament. Anyway, in my quizzer career, this is now the third location the ACC Tournament has been in. As you know from my previous blogs on the event, it use to be held at Lancaster Bible College (my college!), but that was only from 2004 to 2008. Before then, it use to be at Pequea Valley High School. Since it was, it was sometimes called the Pequea Tournament, named after the host building. Now after we stopped going to Pequea, it went back to mainly being called the ACC Tournament. (I never heard it be called the LBC Tournament.) But now we are at LMS. Hence, this blogs title. But enough of explaining about the title. Let me explain what happened at the tournament.

We have to go back to Saturday night. That's where it all starts. The Deitricks thought it was best that we have practice both Thursday night and Saturday night. Since Tim had work and Mike had a birthday party, it was just Alyssa, Bobby, Chelsea, and me. Since the Deitricks wrote 18 question sets, and there was only 4 of us, quiz outs were 5 questions. Still, some of us had problems quizzing out. We had more fun filling our columns with happy faces, mad faces, stars and tar pits than points. lol. We had our good matches, we had our bad matches. After practice and snack, we watch the Power of Ten, a short movie. And as Robert had asked me, I brought my wii so we could play Super Smash Brawl. Robert liked it a lot, but not so much for Alyssa. She didn't know any buttons, so she was just trying her best to play. She won one, with my help ;). But the rest I won. Still, it look like Robert enjoyed himself. We went to bed at 11:30 like Mrs. Deitrick wanted, but Robert and I listened to the material as we fell asleep.

Sunday morning we practiced again during the Sunday School hour. Tim and Mike were as late as usual. Once again, practices became more of getting tar pits, smileys and stars, but we also got a lot of points, too. We generally seemed to know our material. We stayed for all of worship, then left. We had lunch in the van as Mr. Deitrick asked us questions. We got there about 10 minutes before the festivities began.

Spring City has a habit of quizzing in the first set, which happens exactly at 1:oo. With only 10 minutes before quizzing, Mrs. Deitrick quickly did rounds of questions until time for the match. So after the quizmaster made announcements, we started out match against Hinkletown 3. Spring City owned in buzzing, as most of the questions were Spring City buzzing in. Yet Hinkletown 3 got a couple. The match started slow for Spring City, but we quickly caught up to our normal performance. I quizzed out. Spring City won 115 to 40.

Our next match was at 2:00, so I had the chance to watch our oppoents twice. First I watched Ridgeview 2 vs. Akron 2. Dave came to watch with me. I kept the score. The match was close in the beginning, all the way up to the end, when Akron 2 took the lead and took the win. I was pretty sure Spring City could win against both of them, for both teams were slow at buzzing in. Spring City's fast buzzing alone gave us an edge. The next match I watched was Hinkletown 3 vs. Strasburg 1. It was a slow match, as bonuses came with errors. A contest and rebuddal came out, but no time outs. Strasburg 1 was in the lead when I left. I had to leave in the middle of the match to get to my match on time. How embarassing!

But I made my 2:00 match on time. It was Ridgeview 2 vs. Spring City. A few more fans showed up for the match. This time, Spring City made sure it wasn't as slow as it was last time. Mike took the first question by buzzing in and getting it right. By question 3, we had 30 points, and it was quite possible to have team bonus by question 4. Robert was a little too slow, so we had to get in. Later on, we did get team bonus, and we also got 3 quiz outs. Dave felt so comfortable with our younger quizzers, he took Mike out when he quizzed out. Spring City won the match 145-20. Spring City was 2-0 in Group G.

We had a break set, then came our 2:40 match: Spring City vs. Livng Rock 2. The team was coached by the Bergs. Spring City has crossed the Bergs a few times in quizzing, especially during tournaments. This is the first time we quizzed against the Berg's daughter, Becca Berg. When 2:39 came around, as the team gathered to pray, we realized we were missing someone. It was Tim! No one could get ahold of Tim! Luckily Tim rolled around at exactly 2:40 so we could start our match. Anyway, the match started, and Spring City performed similar to our last match. We had 3 quiz outs, topped off with team bonus. Living Rock 2 wasn't as fortunate as Ridgeview 2 because they could only get 10 points. We had our strongest win of the day at the end of the match, winning 145 to 10. But still, the two teams came together to shake hands. Thank you, Living Rock 2, for being good sports about it...well, for the most part. I did hear a quizzer say, "Thank you for crucifiying us." While some might have been offended, I took it as a compliment. :). Spring City was now 3-0.

We had another break set. So I watch Hinkletown 3 vs. Petra 1 because I knew I had to scout Petra 1. Up to now, Petra 1 was 4-0. Petra 1's performance against Hinkletown 3 was similar to ours. They buzzed in a lot, giving few questions to Hinkletown 3. They got both quiz outs and team bonus. They won the match, scoring over 100 points. Petra 1 was now 5-0. Their last match was us. I knew that's what it would come down to.

Starting at 3:20, Spring City had back-to-back matches. The first match was against Akron 2. Spring City has faced Akron a couple times, especially in tournaments, and most of the time it is a win. While not as spectacular as the Ridgeview 2 or the Living Rock 2 match, Akron 2 was a great match for Spring City, even better than against Hinkletown 3. Spring City got team bonus and 2 quiz outs. We won the match 130-40. We shook hands with the other team, but couldn't stick around for much more, for we had to get to our next match in the other building.

Once we got to the other building, we went upstairs to our match against Strasburg 1. Now Strasburg 1 performed at the same level as Living Rock 2 and Akron 2 in the season, but from watching in the ACC Tournament, they knew what they were. They were about to prove that to us. Strasburg 1 contested twice, even as early as the first question! That sounds like something Tim would do (lol). Spring City errored a lot, coughing up a lot of bonuses. Some of them Strasburg 1 got, the others Strasburg missed. Their number 1 quizzer errored out, which helped me quiz out. It got close. Spring City racked up enough errors to start losing points. But after switching into conserative mode, Spring City did win 70 to 55. Spring City barely made it to 4-0.

After a break round, Spring City was now to face Petra 1. Both teams were 5-0 and in the playoffs. Now it was just a final battle for that no. 1 seed, which was the bye in the tournament. We prayed together with Petra 1 and then the match started. Petra 1 took an early lead in the match, 20-0. We tried to keep close to them, but we struggled. Not too many highlights of the match on Spring City's side. The biggest highlight would have to be my contest. I got for a bonus "Where was Abraham staying when Abraham said of Sarah, 'She is my sister'?" Right from the start, I thought it was a bad question, and planned to contest from the start. Until then, I babbled. "Egypt.....and Gerar.....and he also said it to Sarah before they left as in what to say wherever they go..." This babbling went on until time ran out. They judges briefly met together, and then came out to say it was wrong. I immediately contested the question. First I started out, "If I have found favor in the quizmasters eyes, may he let me contest the question?" (I always wanted to do that). After everyone laughed, the quizmaster said, "I think I have to let you" (which isn't true, the quizmaster can deny a contest, so yes, a quizzer must ask for permission to contest). So I explained to the quizmaster that it is a bad question because both in Egypt an Gerar Sarah is called Abraham's sister. Furthermore, Abraham tells Sarah before they left Haran that wherever they go, she should say that she is Abraham's sister, so really it was probably said more than those 2 places, and Egypt and Gerar are just two examples of that. Thus, I suggested the question be thrown out and a new one given. So the staff went back into huddle to talk it over. This huddle took longer, with a lot of page flipping. Finally the quizmaster came up. "Thank you for waiting," he started. "We're going to grant your contest, but not the way you are thinking. We're going to give you the bonus points. You're right, it does appear in different places. So we're going to accept multiple answers." I was happy and took it. So after 8 years of quizzing, I made my 3rd career, and won my first one. But in the big picture it didn't matter. Spring City gave enough bonuses that Petra 1 could win. The final score was Petra 1: 75, Spring City: 65. This is how Spring City finished it's round robin. That was Spring City's first ACC Tournament Round Robin loss since 2006. With that in mind...

Spring City finished the round robin 5-1. 5-1 got us 2nd place in Group G, which put us in the playoffs. The only difference from being in first place is that we had to quiz 1 more match. Now look at it in the bigger picture. This is the 5th time Spring City has been in the playoffs in the past 6 years. Like I said, this was Spring City's first loss in the ACC Tournament Round robin since 2006. So from 2007-2009 in the round robin, Spring City is 17-1. Pretty impressive. If you want to date it back to when I starting quizzing for Spring City, Spring City is 24-5 in the round robin. Spring City is not to be taken lightly in the ACC Tournament.

So mom was nice enough to get me a salad for dinner. Tim and Mike went out to eat. So the rest of the team ate together. When we were done eating, I went out to fill out my bracket. Then I spent a little alone time in room 200. I don't have the time or space to explain that; maybe I will explain it later. Then we all gathered in the Fine Arts center for the ceremonies. I usually am loud and riled up for these things, but not today. I feel like I was more just taking in the surrounding for one last time as a quizzer. Fred got up and thanked all who were involved in quizzzing. Then we saw the quizzing video, produced by Brian Harnish, which I saw myself in a few times. Then came the individual quizzing awards. This year they changed it to the top 66 (I wasn't a big fan of it. As I say, "When everyone is special, then nothing is special") One by one, I saw quizzers go up. I saw many friends go up, but only 1 teammate went up. Tim Moss finished in 39th with 510 points. If Tim chose to end his career after this season, he will have officially ended his career better than any of his brothers. As I saw the points people scored go up, I saw the placings go up. I knew I finished 1 short of perfect, but how many people were perfect. Then I heard, "2 people tied for 4th place with 615 points," I knew what to expect next. "From Spring City, Graham Holcomb!" And just as I declared I would at the beginning of the season, I went and went BYAH! for every quiz out I had, totalling 17. With one final BYAH! I went to Fred, received my award. If there was any order I was suppose to stand in, I violated it. Instead of standing with the perfect quizzers, I want to stand with my quizzing brother Tim.

So in the 8 years of my career, the last 6 years I finished in the top 100, the last 5 years I finished in the top 50, the last 4 years I finished in the top 20, the last 2 years I finished in the top 10, and this past season I finished in the top 5. In those 6 years I have 81 quiz outs (2004: 7, 2005: 12, 2006: 15, 2007: 14, 2008: 16, 2009: 17) and 3210 points. (2004: 370, 2005: 510, 2006: 585, 2007: 530, 2008: 600, 2009: 615).

After the ceremonies, we split to the rooms to our match. Spring City got to face Zion 1, 3rd place in their group. As a matter of fact, they had finished in a 3-way tie for 3rd at 3-3, and they won due to less errors. After praying, we were ready to start. Hannah Gehman from Zion 1 gave Spring City a scare when she quizzed out a third of the way through the quizmatch, and had taken a sizable lead in front of Spring City. I turned to Tim and said, "Let us both match her" and that's what we did. Both Tim and I quizzed out. Spring City beat Zion 1 by scoring twice as many points, 90 to 45. Once Hannah was out, all Zion picked up was 10 points.

There were no more break rounds, so Spring City was off to our next match. The seeded team we had to quiz against was Conestoga. If you don't know, Conestoga and Weaverland 2 tied for 4th place in League B in the season. This is important because the 4th seed is the seeded team. Because Weaverland 2 won against Conestoga in the season, they got 4th place and the seed. Not like it really mattered because Conestoga was put in the same group with Weaverland 2. But the irony is that the same thing happened in the group in the ACC Tournament as it did in the league in the season. Both teams took off, and it came down to their head-on match. This time, though, Conestoga was the winning team, so they got the bye. Now Spring City got their ahead of time, before the whole staff was ready, so the ready quizmaster gave us practice questions, which were really old quizzing questions from week 4 of the season. The way Spring City was doing, things were looking up. But that is what could have knocked us off our rocker. Spring City errored...a lot. Both Tim and I, Spring City's top 2 quizzers, erorred out. We were 6 errors alone. So naturally we lost points. It seemed any points we earned were quickly lost. Not only did we lose points, but we kindly handed bonuses which were converted into points for the other team. Needless to say we lost. This had to be the hardest match for me to error out and for my team to lose. Why? This match was my 250th career quizzing match. What a match no. 250 turned out to be. Instead of quizzing out, I errored out. Instead of winning, we lost, and now we were out of the tournament. Another time Tim was denied a trophy.

So for the rest of the night, I watched other teams quizzed. It was hard getting into the quizzing, knowing that we lost in such a horrible way. It was hard to pick a team to root for when you wanted to be that team. I saw Petra 3 win against E-Town 1 in the quarterfinals, and Conestoga win against Petra 3 in the semifinals. Then everyone crowded in the Fine Arts center for the final match of the ACC Tournament. On one side Conestoga had one their 3 matches to get to the final match, on the other side, Bowmansville 1 had done the same. Bowmansville 1 was rearing to go, and they showed it. By question 4, they were in the lead 40-0. It was hard for Conestoga to produce a comeback, and they just could not. After 15 questions, Bowmansville 1 was the victorious team, winning 100 to 40. So the ACC Tournament ended, and so did quizzing in PA. Bowmansville 1 was the ACC Tournament Champions, with Conestoga in 2nd place. Congratulations to both teams.

And in this way Spring City grew exceedingly prosperous

We're down to a bunch of "last"s. Last 2 chapters in Genesis, last week of the season, as well as the last match of the season. I had my last team read through of the material, my last Sunday afternoon practice and my last season performance. This one match was the big one. We were in 4th place, but by a mere 5 points. Our goal was to stay in 4th, so we can be seeded for the tournaments, but we had 2 team training closely behind us 5th place Timberline 1 was in 5th place, just 5 points short of tying us. 6th place E-Town 1 was only 30 points behind. We needed to score points. To make things more exciting, we were quizzing 2nd place Petra 2. Practice looked up. In our first practice match I quizzed out on the first 3 questions, all buzz ins. In our last match, we answered 15 questions without erroring. We seemed to know our stuff. But only our real quiz match could tell how well we were doing.

We got to LMH with a few spare minutes to go, but we decided to go right to the Fine Arts center and await the announcements. Of course this was a good chance for me to get some last minute studying in. At announcements, we were told that it was still a close competition for places 1-4 in League B and places 4-7 places in Leage A. But they said they planeed a 4-way fun match between the League B Quizzer All-stars, League B Coaches, League A Quizzer All-Stars. My jaw dropped when I heard this. I thought "oh my gosh, this could be me." Now let me tell you this was a dream be considered good enough to be in one of these fun matches. I gripped Robert's and Alyssa's hand as I heard the names announced. After the 3 perfect quizzers from League A, the final name is called out: "Graham Holcomb from Spring City." When my name was announced, there was a roar from both myself and my team came, loud enough to noticed by Merv. He said, "Well, I hope he gets at least one right." Now the catch was if a quizzer was called up, so was his coach. So Coach Dave had to quiz as well. Dave turned to me and said, "Thanks a lot!" lol. It was going to be fun. After announcements about the season playoffs, ACC Tournament, and the Invitational, it was time for the last 3 rounds on the regular season.

So the first match I went to go watch was Parkesburg vs. E-Town 1, since E-Town 1 was only 30 points behind us. I thought it was good to get an idea on how much to score, and keep that 30 point lead. E-Town 1 was in 6th place, while Parkesburg was in 15th. Now, as of week 6, both had 1 perfect quizzer. I would sit up with each one at the fun match. If they were perfect through week 7 too, they finished the year perfect because both of them quizzed out in the match. Jordan Keener's quiz out was the highlight of E-Town 1 because they errored more than they got right. 6 errors caused E-Town to lose 10 points. At the end of the match, E-Town 1 scored 45 points, allowing Parkesburg the win. With a 15th place team beating a 6th place team, I had confidence that 12th place Goods 1 could beat 5th place Timberline 1.

But before that, Spring City was up to quiz against Petra 2. We had a huge crowd following us, but a few were our fans. We had all the Petras (and their fans) cheering for their sister team Petra 2 to take 1st place in League A, Slate Hill 1 watching to see if Petra 2 would beat their score, and Timberline 1 watching us to see how much they needed to score. The match started. Tim got the first two right, led by me getting the next two right. With that, 4 questions went by, we were up 40 to 0, and Petra 2 called a time out. Tim and I know that better as the "oh crap" timeout. But then after that, Petra 2 got back in the match. It wasn't enough, though. Tim proceeded to quiz out, and so did I. I got my 17th quiz out of the season, an all-time high, and 615 points, another all-time high. But back to the match. Robert continued to get a buzz in, right making us one short of team bonus. Both Mulllins got a bonus. Chelsea couldn't get hers, but Alyssa got hers! We did win, 90 to 75, but the win wasn't important. What was important was that we scored 90 points, which now gave us and 95 point lead over Timberline 1. We would have liked to score more to give ourselves a bigger lead, but we would have to do with our 95 point lead, and await Timberline 1's match.

The whole team came to see Timberline's match against Goods 1. The Spring City boiz knew what we needed to do...cheer our hearts out for Goods 1. I'll admit, it was a bit ackward in the beginning, since Goods 1's starting lineup was all girls. But our loud cheering beat out the cheering of Timberline, which was a majority of the room. It was so loud we probably blew out a few eardrums. It was so loud that our coaches did not want to associate with us. Mike was so loud it caught Fred's attention! Well, I have to say our cheering had to do something with it because Goods 1 took off with an early quiz out. Goods 1 was the victorious team, scoring 115 points. This held back Timberline 1 to only 45 points. Good enough for us. Spring City had gotten in 4th place in their league for another consecutive year. As I left the room, I told Dave, "I'll see you on the stage."

So after the end of the regular season round robin, everyone started crowding back into the Fine Arts Center. Fred gathered together all the scoresheets, trying to make sense of tiebreakers. At the time, I got to talk to other quizzers, like Jeremiah from Zion and Mike from Slate Hill 1. Mike Good told me that Grace Point 2 was the only playoff team that one their last season match. Meanwhile, Fred showed a 4 minute clip that was about creation. As Genesis 1 text flashed on the screen, it showed the beauty of the creation, along with the music of "indescribable." It was beautiful. Like Fred said, it is hard to see how people stare at the vast array and complexity of the creation and say it is by chance. How foolish they are. So then the fun match was ready.

I walked up on the stage, happy and proud at the same time. I always envisioned myself being on that stage. usually it was as being in the season playoffs. But I also envisioned myself in the all-star match. Now it wasn't as an all-star of the whole ACC, but just in my league. I'll take it. I sat on the end on my team's table, so I was beween the Parkesburg coach and Luisa Miller, star quizzer from Slate Hill 1. Same rules were in effect pretty much (15 questions, 3 question quiz out and error out, etc.) but no contesting and no subbing. The material was Genesis 1-30. There would be only one bonus, and the team and quizzer who got it was random. Let me tell you, it was harder than it sounded. Buzzing was crazy. It got so crazy that I thought my buzzer wasn't working! Needless to say I was frustrated. Then again, I came to I was competing with 11 others....well, more like 7, the 7 other quizzers. The coaches have no idea to compete with our scores. To get an idea of how fast things were going, 13 of the 15 buzz ins were errors. Mainly, it was coming from the League A Quizzers side. Nothing was seen, not even bonuses, from League B (either quizzers of coaches) until the second half of the match. They didn't get a lot of points. We did see quiz outs. The Parkesburg coach was the first to quiz out. I got 2...errors. The first one was a situation question, but I found out later there were 3 possible options, and I picked the harder one, which is the wrong one. The second one was the last question of the match. I just wanted to get in, so I had to get a buzz in at least one more time. I went kamakazie green, and ended buzzing in after "what did Abraham..." With that little information, I tried, and failed. Luckily for coach Dave, my 2 errors both went to him as bonuses, and got them right! Makes up for erroring out on the fun match last year. While League B, quizzers and coaches were out of it, League A quizzers and coaches were closely tight in the race. But mainly consisting of bonuses, the coaches on League A won with 75 points. 2nd place was the League A quizzers with 55 points. In my dreams, I quizzed out in my all-star match. In reality, I errored twice. Still, it was pretty awesome.

Now the season playoffs were going to be between Slate Hill 1, Petra 2, Petra 3, and Grace Point 2. The two matches were League A 1st place Slate Hill 1 vs. League B 2nd place Petra 3 and League A 2nd place Petra 2 vs. League B 1st place Grace Point 2. I went to watch Grace Point 2 vs. Petra 2. The match started close with both team's top quizzer taking control of their team. But soon the rest of Petra 2 hopped into the match, getting Petra 2 team bonus. They also got 3 quiz outs. After a quick playoff match, Petra 2 won against Grace Point 2, 135 to 55.

Since the match I was watching got over so quickly, I went over to the Fine Arts Center, hoping to get in on the the end of the other playoff match between Slate Hill 1 and Petra 3. To my surprise, I walked on after a ruling was made on question 4. So I watched the rest of the match. This match wasn't as fast paced, as there wasa a lot of timeouts and contesting. Petra 3 took a small, early lead, and kept it to the best of their ability. That small lead was enough for the win. Petra 3 won, beating Slate Hill 1, with a score of 80 to 50. Not a high scoring match like Petra 2, but the win was all that was needed to get the win to go on to the final.

The final match was set between Petras. Petra 2 was going to take on Petra 3. Watching this match, I couldn't help but wonder how many times these 2 teams had quizzed against each other in practice, laughing and joking and having fun. Now it was serious. While Petra Fellowship was coming home with the championship, both teams quizzed for their own team. The match was a close one, from beginning to end. Each team got the chance to be the lead team. When all was said and done, Petra 2 won the final match, 70 to 65.

So that's how the season ended. Petra 2 is the champion team for 2008. In 2nd place is Petra 3. I want you to note that last year's champion team was Petra 1. So the traveling trophy would not leave Petra Fellowship, but go from team 1 to team 2, with team 3 in 2nd place. But let's not forget Slate Hill 1 or Grace Point 2. To be one of the top 4 team among 57 quiz teams is an amazing feat. Especially to Slate Hill 1, who after quizzing 18 matches avearged 117 points per match. As a matter of fact, Slate Hill 1 and Petra 2, both from League A, are the only two teams in all ACC to score over 2000 points this year. Congratulations to all.

But since I am a Spring City quizzer, and most of the readers of this are Spring City fans, let's draw back to the Spring City team. Read all the blogs/notes together. That is the tale of how Spring City grew exceedingly prospreous by going from 21st to 4th in a matter of 6 weeks. I don't have the time or room to explain what happened and how the Lord moved. I'll probably do that some other time. But those are the two things you need to know. The Lord moved in us, and something happened. For the second consecutive year, Spring City is in 4th and seeded in both tournaments. Spring City is also ranked 10th over all ACC quizzing teams. Like I said, I finished with 615 points and 17 quizouts, putting me in the top 10, and perhaps the top 5. Tim got a final quiz out, which should hopefully put him in the top 50. Now let's see what we can do with this entering the tournaments.

When we reached Hinkletown, we stopped for the night to quiz

Let me set you the scene. Beacuse of the previous week performance, Spring City had moved up to 5th place, and we were only 65 points behind 4th place Timberline 1. All of a sudden, we were back in the picture for getting in 4th place, which we need for a seeding in both tournaments. So it was a motivation for studying extra hard for these 2 upcoming match, especially considering 5th place Spring City was quizzing against 4th place Timberline 1. With every practice match we had, we seemed to get better. On our last practice match, after 15 questions, we had not a single error! We were ready.

We got to Hinkletown at a reasonable time. So when we finally got everyone rounded up and found a secluded place, we went through questions one more time. The room we used was the room we would have our first quizmatch in. Ed White, from Slate Hill, guest starred as our timekeeper as Dave asked questions. It was loads of fun. When the time came, we went up to worship, listened to the announcements, and then we were off to our quizzing matches.

But we weren't quizzing immediately. Our match was 2nd, so we had to wait a match. So the team stayed in the sanctuary for Hinkletown 1 vs. Bowmansville 2. Bowmansville 2 was quizzing the same two opponents we were, so we watched both of the matches. It was good scouting for our future match against Hinkletown 1. It seemed like it was going to be an easy match for us in the beginning, as we saw Hinkletown give up a few errors, even though Bowmansville didn't pick up the bonuses. They wish they had, as before you knew it, Hinkletown starting taking off, going from fast buzzing to smart buzzing, earning team bonus and quiz outs. Despite getting 5 errors and losing points, they still won, scoring in the triple digits.

Now it was time for the long awaited match between 5th place Spring City vs. 4th place Timberline 1. It started out good for me, Spring City's best quizzer. I quizzed out by question 5 with 3 buzz-ins. For Timberline's top quizzer, things didn't go as well. He had 2 errors without any question right. Those 2 bonuses he gave, plus a correct buzz in, gave Tim a quiz out by question 11. Robert got a buzz in correct, but while attempting a second one, a situation question, he got it wrong. Robert heard "Are you willing..." when it really was "Are you really..."and he couldn't get off of that. Mike joined in the fun by getting 2 right, and his one buzz-in got us team bonus. We were really hoping he could get a quiz out for 15 more points, but he was stuck. Nonetheless, it delivered the win we needed. Winning 120 points to 55 points, it would be well on our way to 4th place.

We had to wait a match before our next match. I was going to watch Zion 2 vs Timberline 2 in the same room we had been in there. But with the room being so hot and stuffy, I decided it was best to go to the sanctuary and await our next match there. Besides, it was good to get an idea of the acoustix sounding. The match seemed the same as the other Hinkletown vs. Bowmansville in the sanctuary. Hinkletown started off with errors going to Bowmansville, but then got their act together and won the match big time, with team bonus and the whole what not.

Now it was Spring City's turn to face Hinkletown 1 in their home sanctuary. I had quizzed many matches on that stage, and was ready for another. I sat in seat 2, across from Hinkletown 1's top quizzer. Our coaches decided to start Chelsea instead of Robert. Early in the match, Hinkletown 1 began as they usually do: with a couple errors. Chelsea had some oppurtunities to get some points, but alas no. Spring City continue to press on. Tim and I continued to quiz out. Robert also continued to get in. We were just short Mike, Chelsesa or Alyssa for team bonus. All of them tried, but none of them could get it. Spring City won 80-40. We would have liked more points, but we were glad with what we had.

We knew had to come down to our 190 total points outscoring Timberline's points by at least 65. So we watched Timberline quiz against Bowmansville 2. My whole team gathered to see that match, to see what our fate would be. It was quite the scene. Mike and Tim took front row to cheer for Bowmansville 2, in their typical loudness. I joined them in loudness, just a few seats back. Now this would seem quite awkward, knowing that Mike and I, who are both 20, and Tim, who is 19, were sometimes loudly cheering for 2 girls somewhere between 13 and 14 years old. But it also was funny, too. When we quizzed Bowmansville 2, Mike said it was his goal to make the small top 50 quizzer cry. He wasn't too successful on that. He should've made his goal to make him laugh, because every time Mike cheered for him scoring, he would burst out laughing. Bowmansville 2 didn't win, but they kept Timberline 1 to only 75 points.

Let me tell you where were at now. Our goal for that night was a success. Spring City scored 200 points, and Timberline scored 130 points. If you do the math, we passed Timberline by 5 points. So it's a tiny lead. Still, Spring City is 4th place. Now in our League, League A, the 2 season playoff teams have already been decided as Slate Hill 1 and Petra 2. They have clinched the top 2 spots because there is no way any other team can catch up to them. Their positions, however, can change. Slate Hill 1 has a lead of 60 points. If Petra 2 can score 60 more points than Slate Hill 1 scores, they will get top spot. But it gets interesting where it comes to 3rd and 4th place. Why are those two spots so important? The top 4 teams from each league get a good seeding in both tournaments. This means that for the ACC Tournament and Invitational, they will be in a group where they will statistically be the highest team. Let's take a look at it. (Each team in our league has quizzed 17 matches, leaving only 1 left.) Currently in 3rd place is Grace Point 1, with 1720 points. In 4th place is Spring City, with 1670 points, 50 points behind 3rd place. 5th place is currently occupied by Timberline 1, with 1665 points. This puts them 5 points behind 4th place, 55 points behind 3rd place. 6th place E-Town 1 has 1640 points, which is 30 points behind 4th place and 80 points behind 3rd place. Now keep in mind every team has 1 more match left. So to achieve their decision position, each team has to score than many points MORE than the team(s) ahead of them earn. As for Spring City, we're just trying to hold onto our 4th place, and we do that by scoring more than Timberline, whatever their score may be. It's going to be hard, considering we quiz before them. But there is a small possibility we could even surpass to 3rd, if we can outscore Grace Point 1 by 50 points. It is a tight, exciting race between place 3rd through 6th in League A.

Now onto me personally. I quizzed out twice on Sunday, giving me 16 quizouts and 580 points for the sesason. I have now tied my all-time career quiz out high (which, by the way, I figured out that the 12 quiz out streak I was on this year is a career long streak, too). But enough about the quiz outs, let's focus on points because it is by points the individual rankings are based on. Now they didn't post the individual standings this week, but through statistics of previous year, I can tell you that my 580 points have clinched me as 1 of the Top 20 Bible Quizzers. This means for my 4th consecutive year I have finished as 1 of the Top 20 Quizzers. Now let's set the scenario. If I quiz out for one last time, I will have earned a career high quizouts (17), scored a career high points (615), but most importantly, clinch me as 1 of the Top 5 Bible Quizzers. While this is my aim and goal, there can still be hope if I don't quiz out. If I can at least score 20 points, I will have tied my quizout career record (16), tied my career high quizzing score (600), and clinch a spot as 1 of the Top 10 Quizzers for the 2nd consecutive year.

After figuring out all the statistics, you're probably wondering who we have to quiz against this last match to get what we need. Well, it's none other than Petra 2, who is in 2nd place with an average of 117 points per match! You think this sounds bad, do you know how much we were freaking out last week when we saw we might have to face another 1st place team?! Well, even though they are back to 2nd place, I realize that they have the power to be a 1st place team. I've seen the way they quiz, and they can get crazy. 3/4 the way through the season, they have 2 Top 60 Quizzers, plus another 1 makes 3 in the Top 100 Quizzers. This match isn't going to be easy for us, but we'll make sure it isn't easy for them either. We'll study our hardest, quiz our best, and ask for God's favor.

Lord, here I am, 2 months and 1 day in my Nazarite vow. Remember the dedication I have put forward to your word, and bless me for it.

Towards evening, the time the quizzers go out

The quizzing material was the shortest breakdown we will have all season. So it required having to know the material in great detail. On top of that, we had about 5 lists we needed to memorize. Some quizzers did, some quizzers didn't. After our 4 usual practice matches, break and dinner, we were off. The ride there was very interesting. First, we forgot the shirts for Tim to give to Cait for our team shirts, so we had to turn back and get those. Then we missed the exit for 222, so we had turn around for that. Then even when we got in Akron, we couldn't see the small road signs and find the rights roads. Mike and Tim drove ahead of us, and got there 20 minutes before the rest of the team did. We arrived exactly as 6:30 for the end of worship.

We had the third match, so we watched two matches before. The first match the team watched was Petra 4 vs. Forest Hills. I scorekept this match. Forest Hills seemed like the same one we seen for a couple of years. Petra 4 quizzers I didn't recognize, but their coaches I did: Deb Hensen from Petra 1 and Dave Jensen from Petra 2. Forest Hills started out with an early lead. In the middle, Petra 4 caught up. On the last question, Forest Hills errored, Petra 4 picked up the bonus, and Petra 4 won 75 to 65. It took us by suprise when we realized Forest Hills was 5th and Petra 4 was 14th. Continuing our scouting, we watched Ridgeview 3 quiz against Akron 2. They were right next to each other on the standings, so ya think it would be a close match, right? Wrong. Akron 2 took the lead, then took off. Living Rock 3 made quite a few critical mistakes. Akron 2's score skyrocketed into the triple digits.

Then it was time for Spring City's match against Forest Hills. It was the fellowship hall with quizmaster Jesse Johnson. Tim started off the match with a right buzz in. He got another one later on. I quizzed on question 8. Second to quiz out was...not Tim...but...Robert! Yeah! It was an exciting one. He got it on some crazy answers. For example, when Robert buzzed in on how much, Robert answered "enough...a beka..." They marked it wrong and then gave a bonus. After hearing Forest Hill's answer, they went into ruling. Tim looked ready to contest. After the ruling, the quizmaster decided that Robert's answer was right! He was looking for "enough water for the camels" but after realizing both "water" and "camels" in the question, he decided that "enough" was...well, enough! lol. Not only did Robert get in for team bonus, he got his second quizout of the year, third of his career. It was new and different to have him on the bench next to me. I told him, "Welcome to the bench!" with a grin. In review, Chelsea got a bonus question: "What did Abraham call the Lord will provide?" Chelsea, after thinking for a while said, "the hill that Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac." The quizmaster met with his judges to discuss. After discussion, the quizmaster said Chelsea was right. She got her third score for the year! Forest Hills tried to contest, and Tim naturally rebuddled, but the decision was made quickly. They had decided that it didn't matter whether it was a hill or a mountain, the place where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac was the important part, so she was right. So it came down to question 15. Tim could have gotten his third right for a quiz out. Mike could have gotten his first buzz in right for team bonus, but neither happened. The match ended Spring City 100, Forest Hills 30.

Waiting for our next match, we watched 2 matches. First was Zion 1 vs. Petra 4. Once again, I scorekept in the match. It seemed like the last Petra 4 match I watched. Zion 1 took an early lead. Hannah Gehman quizzed out. But then Zion 1 started piling up errors, which led them to lose again Petra 4. Petra 4 got their 2nd win of the night. Trying to scout ahead, the next match I watched was Blainsport vs. Petra 2, the 2nd place team in my league. Man, they showed they were a second place team. They owned that match. They won in the triple digits, with team bonus and quizouts.

Now it was time for our second match. Our opponent was Ridgeview 3. Let me tell you, we took off. Well, actually, in the beginning, only Tim and I took off. The first 6 buzz ins were correct by either Tim or I. If I recall correctly, the first 2 were Tim, then I got the next 2, Tim quizzed out on question 5, and I followed by quizzing out on question 6. When I sat down on question 6, Tim said to me, "Welcome to the bench." :D . He was glad after not being able to quiz out the previous match. Now it was up to the rest of the other 4. Mike, still frustrated over getting nothing the last match, quizzed out this match. Robert came through to cap off another team bonus, although he got 2 errors. Alyssa was exciting to watch. The first time she buzzed in on "How did the gold..." and answered "about a beka." She got it wrong because it WAS a beka, as in EXACTLY a beka. But that didn't stop her. She did get another buzz in right and got her 3rd score of the year, hitting a career high 30 points this season. We won that match 145 to 20.

So I watched one last match, and I had to watch Forest Hills' last match. They were the ones in 5th place, the highest we thought we could reach. In this match, Julie and Derick were able to quiz out, but with one of their quizzers erroring out with no points, team bonus was impossible. Forest Hills had to suffer their 3rd loss of the night, giving them 70 points. While this is the most they got all night, all night they scored under their average. Now their new average will be 90.

I don't mention to be mean. I mention this so you may be better informed what this does for Spring City. With the 2 triple-digit scores, Spring City moves ahead to a 98 point average. With Forest Hills falling below us, they means we should move up at least one, unless some team below us had a more fantastic day than we had. So I'm projecting we move up at least one place. For me personally, scoring the maximum for the day, I can't go down. I only come up, and that's dependant on how many perfect quizzers fell from their perfection. I know of at least one, so I'll at least be in 6th. Tim added 55 to his 340, moving him up to 395. I'm hoping that will keep him in the top 50. Mike added 35 to his 210, moving him to 245. Hopefully that will keep him in contention for top 100. As for our younger quizzers. Robert added 45 points to his already 105, which means he now has 150 points. This is a career high for Robert, and on top of that, he's doing better than I did my 2nd year. The Mullin sisters are in this tight, as they tied each other with 30 points. Alyssa is breaking her career high, while I keep praying Chelsea will at least tie her career high. Time will tell.

P.S.
These 2 quizmatches are dedicated to the 2005 Spring City quiz team, the first Spring City quiz team I quizzed with. The Lord used this team to rebuild a broken me. In this team I found friends. Our friendship, our teamwork, united under the grace and favor of Christ, strengthened by our weaknesses, led us to win the 2005 ACC Tournament. These guys will never be forgotten. Thank you for blessing my life with the blessing God has given you. I pray that I have blessed and may continue blessing you in return.

God bless Brandon Tedor, Aubrey Mullberry, Christine Dragan, Julie Whitmore and Josh Kowalski.

Too early for the next mourning

This is something I really don't want to talk about. I want to be left alone in my sorrows. After this tragedy, this incident, this mistake, I spent the 20 hours in a dark closet, mouring and weeping over what has happened. 20 hours later, I came out of the closet, just because life called for me to continue on as normal, but inside, I feel like I'm still in the closet, grieving. Louis always said it was good for me to let it out by posting up these blogs/notes on how I am doing in quzzing, and, good or bad, I should inform everyone on what's up. So using the deep philosophy of Kansas (please don't give me lip for finding truth outside the Bible)...

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too high

It was going oh so well. For the first time I was striving in the right direction for perfection. True, I came very close the second week, but with help from the Lord and my teammates, I passed that 2nd week. Things went smoothly the 3rd week, only having 1 error. I finally passed the 2-week barrier, not an error in sight. My heart rejoicied to see my name not only perfectly in 1st place, but in that 1st slot. I praised Jesus from the depth of my heart, even to the point you could say I was "dancing" (gasp! a dancing mennonite!). I believed that this was my offering. Jesus gave me the best offering, so I gave it back.

Even at the beginning of Sunday, it seemed so good. Our first match against Bowmansville 2 started out slow, but we caught speed. Tim, Mike and myself quizzed out. Robert got in at some point to give us team bonus. We won the match 135-30. We seemed unstoppable, and actually having a chance against Slate Hill 1.

Though my eyes could see, I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think, I was still a mad man

Until that Sunday, I would have to say my head was still on my shoulders, if you know what I mean. I realized that we were going up against Slate Hill. Now while it wasn't the Slate Hill I have known for the past 3 years, looking at their standings, I knew that this wouldn't be easy. In fact, I knew it was going to be hard. Then I heard stuff that I should have never heard. I heard Slate Hill 1 scored either 65 or 70 points their first match. I heard something like they either lost or came close to losing. I heard something between Slate Hill doing a service project Saturday and being up most of Saturday ngiht. I didn't need to hear the factual story, all I needed to hear was enough to give me a false sense of confidence and security. I was pretty sure that now Spring City could take down Slate Hill 1.

This led my mind to wander into the wrong territory. Not only did I want to quiz out, but I wanted to quiz out first. Not only did I want my team to win, I wanted us to win by more than our average, and them score less than their. My mind had gotten off the true meaning of quizzing. My desire for success in that match was driving me now, almost to the point of driving my mind mad.

I can hear the voices when I'm dreaming,
I can hear them say...

I can't say I slept well on Sunday night. Now the fact I was right on the hard floor did play a piece in that, no lie. But there was something more. There was struggling with my performance, especially after my incident/mistake. All the voices just telling me that I failed. They were all mine. Mr. Deitrick did always say that I myself am my toughest opponenent. But it just kept pressessing against me. Every form of the word fail just rang in my head... "fail"... "failed"... "failure"... "failing"... "epic fail." But out of them all, one voice was telling me, trying to yell over all the other voices......

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

No lie, the tears flowed all night. I am very well aware that this is my last year. Being perfect to this point has been a distraction of that. It wasn't until I finished being perfect that I realized that March starts next Sunday, meaing I only have 1 month of quizzing left. As I mentioned in the beginning of the year, I said that it was "perfect or bust." "The year of 18 BYAH!s, the year of 18 quizouts." It was 18 quiz outs or bust. We'll I busted. I messed up. I screwed up. And I just didn't want to accept this, my last year, not being the perfect year. I went back to the high school freshman version of me, who just wanted to do what he did on his Nintendo: press the reset button until I did it right. But as much as I look for that reset button, it doesn't exist. Life cannot be reset at a certain point to start all over and try again. But I didn't want to accept reality. Another voice in my head: "No, this can't be happening. It can't be real."

Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man
It surely means that I don't know

Sometimes I have a habit of taking the 2004 quizzing parody "Meant to Quiz" a little bit too serious. Sometimes I live life like my sole purpose is to quiz. I was meant to quiz. My performance reflects how well I do my mission. If I succed in quizzing, I am succeeding in life and my mission. If I do poorly in quizzing, my life spirals downward. My actions post-quizzing were not a first. I remember when younger, like my middle school and underclassmen years of high school getting in the same funks for doing poorly. I would become very depressed because I couldn't score any points or because I errored twice in a match or because I fouled. When I got to those upperclassmen years, I would still get upset at poor performances, but the sadness wasn't too deep or long. Why?

Well, for starters, by this time in my career I had gotten so good, I either quizzed out or scored 20 points. No fouls, and I would always slow myself down, even to a stop, after the 2nd error. No longer did I have matches where I scored 10 or less points. So there was less to get angry and/or sad about. But also because I had more developed frontal lobe. For those of you who aren't neurologists or psychologists, the frontal lobe is the part of your brain where your sense of past, present and future are located. Because of this, I realized I had some time to complete my goal of a perfect year. So in my junior year, for example, I would say to myself, "Well, I'm not perfect this year, but I still got 3 more years to try." Well, with every year passing, I started running low on having more "tries." Being the last year, this was the last try. I was not happy at all knowing I blew my last try. There is no more "try again next year." This was suppose my year, but it was mine no longer.


I have to say there's also a little bit more pressure on me. Being the top quizzer on Spring City since 2006, I've been made an official leader of the team. In the past 2 years, my name tag has beared an anchor or a pillar. I'm the anchor of the team, I am the pillar that holds them up. They depend on me to be a leader and set an example. I have seen them countless times, when they are faced with a question they don't know, they put down their buzzers and look at me. I have heard a few times a couple quizzers say, "Well, if Graham doesn't know it, then nobody's gonna get it." I even remember Christine one year straight out telling me, "I pay attention to how well you do. If you're doing well, I know there is hope that I can do well. But if you aren't doing well, I feel hopeless, like I'm not going to be do anything." While no one else has told me this, I can tell some people think this my their reactions. It's pressure on me to do well. It's not like a bad thing. Actually, this pressue actually motivates me to do better. If through my performance I can boost my team's motivation and inspire them to do well, then I want to do my best. I found this especially true the first week of quizzing, when our average was as low as 67.5 to 65. We weren't racking up high points. There was no team bonus, and not too many quizouts...with the exception of one....yeah, that's right - mine. I was able to make sure we at least got 35 point every match. The one match where we got only 30 points was because the team racked up 7 errors, including 2 of mine. They could count on me for points, for motivation, for encouragement. But after that last match, no more. I just praise God that Tim quizzed out. If he didn't, the team would have scored much less than they did have.

And when I had finally gotten to this point, I had finally felt like other people, mainly the quizzers on Spring City, wanted me to be perfect. For the first week, I thought that I was alone in my pursuit to perfection. Truthfully, I thought they might be upset that I was going for my own purpose, not a team purpose. True, my 35 points was helping the team, esepcially making sure that one was a buzz-in for team bonus. But I could see how it appeared that I was selfish by going for an individual goal. But after 4 weeks, especially that 2nd week, I finally felt that my team was on my side. They wanted to see my reach the top of the individual standings. Of course it was easier to say when we were on the bottom. As Tim said, "you're all this team has got now." But when you're higher up, the focus is redrawn back onto team. With our average in the 90s, and Tim and Mike back in the swing of quizzing out, I felt like I needed to compete with them, too.

On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed around I'm like a ship on the ocean


Man, it has been an emotional ride. The opening of the quizzing season I was as animated and charsmatic as I had ever been. I couldn't wait to see what the Lord was going to use me this season. With quizzing out after every match, and finishing perfect after every meet, I was exhuberant. I was extremely happy. Inside and outside, I was jumping up and down. I couldn't stop praising God for lifting me up so high. It was great being on the top. But how fast things can change.


How fast can emotions change, especially within a quizmatch alone. First, you go into it all psyched, ready to go. If you get the first few questions, you feel positive and confident in the rest of the match. You feel relieved and happy when you finally get the quiz out. But things are different if it doesn't go that way. If you buzz in and error, you worry. If you can't get in because the other team is being ridiculously fast, you get frustrated, even upset. Feelings get mixed when your own teammates are stealing your questions. You want them so bad for your own quiz out, yet you're glad at least your team is scoring points. And as question after question goes by, with nothing from you but errors, all those negative feelings pile into one. And with that 3rd error, the one that ends your perfection forever, then comes the depression.


The post-quizzing depression sets in hard. I don't want to talk about what happened. I don't want to talk to anyone about anything. I didn't want to do anything. Hopelessness sets in. I just wanted to be left alone. I just wanted to be in the dark, like I felt. I didn't want to be looked at. I couldn't even look at myself in a mirror. I wore my hood to cover my face and hide it from the world. I wasn't excited about anything. Doubts entered my mind about the future. Would I be able to perform the same? Can I still do better than last year? Will I settle for any less? Then I hear those put-downs on myself again.

I set a course for winds of fortune,
but I hear the voices say...


After I got over that 2-week hump that usually prevents me from being perfect, and after getting past all those 3-match weeks, another hump that usually stopped me from being perfect, I felt like this was the sign that this was going to be the year of perfection. No longer did I have to concentrate on 3 quiz outs in a single Sunday, but now all I needed to concentrate was 2 a week until the last week, which was then just 1. I was already thinking about how to receive/celebrate my perfect award. Maybe I should do a cartwheel or a summersalt when go up to receive it. Maybe I should just jump up and down, break out in tears, or kiss some random girl. Maybe I'll go down in one knee in prayer. I got too ahead of myself. I thought because I was perfect the first half the season, I could mirror it right into the second half of the season. I was ready to finish perfect. I guarenteed something that could not be guarenteed, and look where I am now. My plan is gone, and so is my dream of finishing perfect. All I want to do is think about that, how my dream are up in smoke. But the voice keeps saying...

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

All this studying, all these feelings, and all this worry has made me weary. Sleeping is harder thinking about what has happened, and wondering where my future will lead me. Will this still be a great year without being the perfect year? Being weary has drained me from studying, from quizzing to schoolwork. I need to get back on track, back to studying, both school and quizzing. That's another thing. I sacrificed a lot of time I should be spending on school for quizzing. It has caused some of my grades to drop as low as a C. It was all worth it for a perfect last year. But now that a perfect year, is it still worth it?

And I can't help but think I might have went a little wayward. Maybe you the reader have caught onto that from what they read already. But this didn't register to me at all. All Sunday night, I just kept crying out, "Why, God, why?" pleaing desperately for an answer. It was like a little kid who didn't get the candybar from the grocery store after begging daddy for it. "Abba, why??" I couldn't understand. I studied harder this week than all the other weeks. I read it a couple more times than I usually do. I listened to it more than I usually do. I even wrote questions, which I only did for weeks 1 and 2, not 3 nor 4. I even was generous by giving Robert my situations questions for once. I even prayed more for the team this past week than the rest. Mr. Deitrick told us in quiz practice that he felt the Lord told him to surrender the quiz team unto Him. So I prayed the same thing, giving up my quizzing teammates as "my team" and handing them over to be "the Lord's team." Lord, have I not found favor in your eyes?

So naturally the next thing that I started thinking about is "What have I done wrong that you have cursed me, O Lord?" After thinking a few minutes, I could not think of anything different that I did that was sinful, negative or hurtful. After several minutes of thinking, I thought of something. On Friday afternoon luch, without even thinking, I had a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwhich, with grape jelly. I had accidently broke my Nazarite vow. But now, here's the thing. I know some theologians say there is no such thing as "accidental sin," for if you do not know it's a sin, how can you be sinning? They say that for something to be considered a sin, it must be done intentionally and purposefully. So go with that thinking. When I was at home during winter break (before the vow), most of the time I ate PB&J sandwiches (I only use grape jelly) because that was the only thing in the house to eat. It became a habit so much that I made one and ate one without even thinking about it. It was such a habit to me, I didn't realize it until I thought hard about it on Sunday night. Would you still say I am guilty of breaking my vow? Because this is the only thing I can think of. The only other thing I can think of goes dangerously into Calvinist territory: God, in his all his foreknowledge, planned for me not to be perfect, for whatever his holy reason might be. It is beyond my question.

Maybe, just like Abraham in Genesis 22, God was testing me with my praise. Did I pass? That is debatable. After my slip-up, Coach Dave just kept telling me that I needed to praise God. In fact, many people are telling me that. As a matter of fact, during worship time we sund "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord", which says that we should praise God in good times and bad times, in blessings and hardships. So I went back to my dorm, to a prayer closet (and that's as literal as it will get), and tried to thank God. I opened my mouth to praise God, but the praises couldn't come out. All that came out was lament. Lament, after lament. The song "Blessed Be the Name of the Lord" kept playing in my head. Did I do as the song said? That's contestable. I bet a lot of you would say no because I couldn't praise God. But I bet a few of you, like me, know that song is out of context. The song is centered around the bridge "You give and take away, yet my heart will choose to say, 'Lord, blessed be your name'." The bridge comes from the Bible, Job 1:21 to be exact. But read the context of the verse. When Job says that line, he's not prasing God, as we do in the song. Rather, Job is lamenting to God! So I was doing the same, lamenting to God, and I think, I hope, I pray that God appreciates that I am honest with my feelings.

A lot of my laments led to questions. Not doubts, just questions. You've heard the most common one: why? Then came accusations. But none of them were legit. I cried out, "But you promised!" but thinking about it, God really didn't promise. I can't claim God's promises when it wasn't a promise by God. I cried out "It's not fair! How can they buzz in early and get it right, while we can't get a buzz in, and when we do, it results in an error!" But God replied, "Fair? What is fair? Is an AIDS epidemic in Africa fair? Is poverty in southeast Asia fair? Is genocide in Rwanda and Sudan fair? And above all, is it really fair to Me, to allow sinners who have turned against me a chance to receive eternal life in heaven?" And after that, I realized that a perfect quizzing year was the least of my worries. The Voice goes on to tell me...

(Carry on!) You will always remember
(Carry on!) Nothing equals the splendor
Now you're life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you

If you follow my blog, the last time I failed out, the song that really helped me was "Save Your Voice (Quiet Down, Boy)" by the ApologetiX, a parody of "Save Your Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" by Big & Rich (thank Mike for that). A line stuck out to me: "And I wouldn't trade my reward up in Heaven's gates for success that fades or some cheap charade..." So here I am, wailing over that I'm not perfect, when there is a better perfection (if that's not a paradox) waiting for me in heaven. The Lord Jesus says to me, "I will make you perfect one day." What a wonderful thing it is to be a child of God, to know that I will one day dwell in the Lord's presence, in heaven, in the room prepared for me, in complete perfection like my Savior Jesus Christ!

That's right, I am a child of the Most High God! Because I am His child, I have been adopted into His family, and I am a co-heir with Christ. My life is truly no longer empty. I have God the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, His chosen temple. That is my reward! Beyond any shiny team trophy or any money given to the top 60 quizzers, or any title, whether it be team or individual. Why settle for less when I can have the best! I think that is what took me so far off. I lost sight of my true identity. My true identity is the one I have in Christ. It is not in myself. Because myself cannot do anything, and I am worthless. At the same time, being in Christ and recognizing that I only can function in Him, gets rid of any reason to be prideful. It's all about being in Christ.

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

And yet, while my mind is concentrated on a glorious future of redemption, I still believe God has something big planned for my final year of quizzing. I don't know what, but we'll find out by the end. For now, I am not leaving the track I oringinally started on, although I might have been de-railed. There's 5 more matches left, and I'm aiming for 5 more quiz outs. While not perfect, I will have still finished the best I ever had, with the most points and most quiz outs in a year. And I pray that God will be pleased with it, my offering back to Him. Then I will be finally at peace, no longer weary, no longer crying. May God be praised.

The appointed time to be back at LMH

On Sunday quizzers were first to get in line for fellowship meal because the quizzers had to prepare for a mock quiz match against the congregation. Before we had those mock quiz matches, we had to do a demonstration by quizzing against each other. The match was close, with few errors, which showed we knew our stuff. Then we had our mock matches. We quizzed against both Mike's parents and Chelsea's and Alyssa's dad, all parents of quizzers. They claimed they all studied, even though some didn't know about the footnotes :-P . I sat across from Steve the first match. I was kind enough to give him a bonus, but still ended up pwning him. Actually, in both matches (we had two, one of Dave questions, the other of Vicki questions) I quizzed out and we won victoriously. As a matter of fact, both of them we scored over 100 points, with team bonus, and the other side I think never got more than 40 points. Even the one match with Coach Dave in, he was unable to help them. We kept the set up on the sanctuary stage for practice, which was good practice for a real sanctuary match. We stumbled on a few questions, but we got most of them. I continued to quiz out. After making sandwiches for the road, we head off to our matches at LMH.

Since the coaches had to be there early for a coaches' meeting, Dave took us to the cafeteria to give questions to me, robert, chelsea, and alyssa. Tim and Mike weren't there for practice. Instead, they amused us much by walking back and forth, hiding themselves behind "moving plants." We did that until the worship time...well, the supposed worship time. It seems like they've done away with worship, and just play Christian music. Yes, much has changed since Zion has changed...especially now that they are no longer producing the quizzing video. It kinda makes me worried to see what different video we'll get. Just hope for the best. After a few anouncements and a joke, we off to quiz.

We were literally off to quiz because we had the first round match. It kind of made me uncomfortable. I didn't get to scout the team we were quizzing against or the quizmaster. All I knew was that Grace Point 1 had a few familiar faces from Paradise, and they had 2 quizzers one short of perfect. I took seat 1, across from one of them. The match was a slow one. Neither team could reach their average. I managed to quiz out, but it didn't happen until question 11. A highlight we did have is that Chelsea got her first points. And her family missed it! :-P. Tim got one right for our final score, a loss 55 to 75. While we lost, Grace Point 1 couldn't get to their average either.

After a one-round break, we had our second match against Weaverland 1. With Weaverland 1 lower than us, we were expecting ourselves to have the upper hand, but even we surprised ourselves. History was about to repeat itself. Last year when we were at the midpoint at LMH, we won a match 170-0 with me, Tim, Mike and Robert quizzing out, plus team bonus. It was about to happen again. I quizzed out, and Tim followed me the next question. Mike picked up the third quiz out of the match. Robert buzzed in to get us team bonus, but it didn't stop there! He must like the midway matches at LMH, for he got his first quizout of the year, second in his career (both at LMH halfway through)! Both Mike and Robert got to sit back in the seats and just watch. Robert was confused when the person across from him errored, and he got the bonus question. It allowed him to score extra points for the team. We won 170 to 10. This is the 2nd greatest match I've ever been in.

We hurried downstairs for our last match because it was a back-to-back match. We quizzed against Maple Grove 2. Both teams' top quizzer sat in seat 1. It wasn't as glorius as the last match, but it had to be the 6th best match my team has ever quizzed. Once again, Tim and I quizzed out early. This also means I would finish the first half the season perfect :) . With me out, the team needed someone else to answer the situation question. So when the situation question came up, Robert decided to take a whack at it. Good thing he did. After thinking about it, he got it right! Now all we need was Mike to get in for team bonus. But all he tried, he could not get in. After 12 questions, still no avail. Now, Chelsea was able to get another bonus, giving herself 20 points for the meet and the year, and we were all happy for her, but we still needed another buzz in for team bonus. With the last 3 questions being review, would we be able to do it? Well, we know Mike did. On the last 3, Mike got them all, buzzing in, not only getting team bonus, but also getting himself a quiz out. Of course, with all 3 of the questions, Mike had to babel his full 30 seconds. This was the first time Mike got 2 quiz outs in one meet. We won 145 to 35.

I stuck around for the last two matches, mostly for scouting reasons. Both matches were interesting. The first match was Blainsport vs. Bowmansville 2. Bowmansville 2 seemed to be struggling as they had 2 fouls. The second foul was very interesting. On the question, Jordan buzzed in. Seth, however, thought it was his light. So sure he knew the answers, he said it right away (it was the right answer, by the way). But then Seth realized it wasn't his, and let out a weak "oh." Jordan then went in with his audible word "ok," thought about it, and then said, the exact answer Seth did, the right answer. The quizmaster went into the ruling of the judges. When he came out, the quizmaster announced that Bowmansville 2 was right, but needed to be fouled again. A Blainsport quizzer contested that it wasn't fair that Seth could blurt out the answer when it wasn't him and Jordan could easily pick it up. The quizmaster went back to the judges. Together they decided that while Seth messed up and deserved to get the foul, Jordan still had the choice to decide whether or not Seth's answer was right (he did not know, nor was told, that answer was right), and also the choice to choose that answer or another answer. So they got the 10 points for Jordan answering right, but lost 5 for Seth's foul, resulting in a net 5 points. I thought it was a good call. I don't know the official ruling on that.

The last match I watched for the night was Slate Hill 1 vs. Ridgeview 3. Ridgeview 3 was able to sneak a few points in, but Slate Hill 1 owned the match. Mike Good had problems with the first situation question (who to whom and about whom. ouch.), but got the second one. One by one, I saw each one quiz out. Slate Hill 1 knew their stuff. Despite hearing "list the 6..." they knew it was "50, 45, 40, 30, 20, 10." They will be a worth adversay for next week.

So in 1 week, we raised our point average by 10. We were hoping it would raise our average 4 or 5 places, but if you see our standings, it only raised us one place. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who had a good week. And it seems like the top 4 is pushing farther away. Top 5 would be a good aim. As for the individual standings, it's good to see Tim is in the top 60 finally, even though I'd like to see him in the top 50. It's also good to see Chelsea on the paper, even though I'm not sure why she is 4 slots lower than her sister, who is on the same team and shares the same last name with her. But above all, and in all humbleness, it's great to see my name is slot 1. Yes, I know I'm tied for first, one among eight. But to see my name in that first slot is so sweet. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your help.

REFLECTIONS:
This past fall semester, a very proud Pittsburg Steelers would always tell me how great his team is in all of history and how they haven't had a bad season and let him down. He couldn't understand why I would be an Eagles fan, when they can be a disappointment. So one time when he asked me, I simply replied, "But that's what exactly makes it so fun to watch. Nothing is guarenteed with the Eagles. It doesn't matter if they are the favorite team, they could either win or lose. They could be the underdog, and either win or lose. It can't be called. They can do as expected or completely suprised us. They can win or lose, by a lot or a little. It's always suprising and exciting."

I can't help but believe the same is true for Spring City quizzing. Ok, yes, last week we did lose to the the team above us, and won against the teams below us, but still, we're the same way. We began this season, guessing that we'd start near the top as we usually do. Instead, our average ended up being 67.5 We hoped and prayed that our average and placing would go up, but instead our average dropped to 65, and we fell to as low as 20th. Things looked hopeless, and it seemed like Spring City would be trampled on for the rest of the season. But didn't happen like that. The next week, when we had to quiz 3 teams tougher than us, including the team in 3rd place, and we won them all. We have our ups and downs. We have our wins and losses. We score lots, we score little. You can never tell. All the more reason to come and watch how Spring City does in a quiz match. It's exciting.

P.S.
Let me explain the past few weeks. Some have you might have seen me wear apparel from back in my Ark Bible days. Do not get the wrong message. You might have taken it as showing rebellion against Spring City, missing and wishing to return to my Ark Bible days. This is the wrong picture because it is not true at all. I am very happy with my team. This is one of the best...no, this IS the best team I ever had. Let me explain properly. It's a two-part response. First of all, being my last year, I have made this a year of rememberance to reflect on how the Lord has used me in quizzing. But the second reason might more of the reason.

Some you may know this, and for those of you who don't, this might be a confession for you. I did not voluntarily leave Ark Bible. I had to leave because Ark Bible did not have a team. Why did they not have a team? The reasons are too complicated to explain in a short time, but I will say that is was not on a happy premesis. I left that team broken, angry, depressed, not trusting nor wanting any peer fellowship. I was so upset that I didn't want anything to do with anybody from Ark. I was unforgiving and prideful. I thought i was better than all of them. But during the rest of my quizzing years, the Lord started to move me and change all that. This is also too long to explain, too. Let me just say part of it was the mentoring of the Deitricks, another part was having Tim Moss back on the team with me, along with a few other smaller pieces. But let me say that those feelings are all past and gone. I have forgiven Ark of any wrongs against me, whether they are sorry or not. The hard feelings are gone. The Lord had to move me to continue my spiritual growth, and I realize that is is now good that I am on Spring City. But I forgive Ark Bible and all their quizzers, holding nothing against them. They are reconciled with me. That is why I dedicated my matches last week to them. I will never forget them and how they have impacted my life. God bless Ark Bible and its quizzers from the 2004 team.

At that time Spring City went to Starsburg to quiz against E-Town 1, Strasburg 4, and Zion 1

Sunday afternoon practice started a little due to a meal hosted by the youth group. The meal was delicious, and during the whole thing, I was able to run through the material with Tim. Tim wasn't joking. He knew his stuff. He got every question I gave him right. As they cleaned up, I got into costume as a quizzing si...jedi with my black si...jedi robe and green lightsaber. Although practice was late, it was fast. Why? Because we were getting in smart buzzes, answering them all correctly, with few errors or bonuses. We went so fast, we got through 4 matches, had time for a fifth, had a fifth, took a break, and still had time for a sixth! We all knew our stuff. Break was fun too. We started out playing Lightning Reaction Xtreme, a fun game which helps practice buzzing. Once the light turns green, you better be the first one to buzz in, or get shocked! While many were cautious to play, we got a few in to play, and the shock came to be a surprise. And just before dinner, Mike, Alyssa and Tim had fun withe chair cart. After dinner, we headed off to Strasburg for our matches.


As we entered the building, we had flashbacks of the last year we were up there in week 2 of the 2008 season. We sat in the sanctuary, where Tim errored out in 2008 (lol), sat in the same exact pew, and worshipped with the praise band (which I am sure were the same people). We had to wait a match, so we watched our next opponent E-Town 1 quiz against Strasburg 2. The match started off slow, but eventually picked up pace. Jordan Keener quizzed out, keeping his perfection. Aaron Gish followed by a quiz out too. E-Town 1 won, but did not get up to their average.

E-Town 1 had a back-to-back match as their next opponent was...Spring City! I took seat 1 across from Jordan Keener. It was perfect quizzer against perfect quizzer. I put my si...jedi robe hood up and got into the game. The match started slow, but the pace picked up. First to quiz out was Jordan Keener on E-Town 1's side. The second quiz out was...me! Tim got the third quiz out. Then Aaron Gish on E-Town 1 got the fourth quiz out. With two quiz outs on each side, you can tell it was a close one. But with help from Mike and Robert, we were able to take the lead and win against E-Town 1 90 to 70. We didn't get team bonus, but more surprisingly, we didn't have a single error the whole match! :-)

Our team had to wait another match in between until we got to our next one, so I stayed in the classroom to watch Slate Hill 1 vs. Forest Hills. Slate Hill 1 brought their first place A-game has one quizzer after another, each one quizzed out, until Brady was sitting up there all by himself. He got them the team bonus, giving them 135 points. It was apparent Slate Hill 1 was in the right placing in the standings.

Next round we had our match against Strasburg 4. If it wasn't for Strasburg 3 having their match in the sanctuary, we'd be there, but instead we were in the fellowship hall. I sat in seat 1 against Strasburg 4's top quizzer Deanna Good. Now were in this match. Spring City owned the first few questions. Later on, I got the first Tim and I continued our quizzing out. Robert and Mike joined in the fun by lining us up for team bonus. Then each of them got another one in, making them both available for a quiz out! While close, neither of them got the quiz out. I think both of them were frustrated because both wanted their first quizout of the year. The final score was Spring City 130, Strasburg 55.

We closed the night with the last match against Zion 1. Ever since Ark Bible shut down, the Spring City "rivalry" (friendly rivalry, of course) was against Zion. I started my match sitting against Hannah Gehman, Zion 1 quizzer. After she quizzed out and Zion did the Zion shuffle, I found myself sitting across from Hannah Christophel, another quizzer I was familar with. I wasn't in for much longer, as I answer my third question right on question 9 and got my third quiz out for the night. I couldn't believe it! For once in my career, I was perfect 3 weeks in! I was so excited I let a loud BYAH! The Lord had me perfect for 3 weeks! :) Through my Savior's perfection he made me perfect! :D The team also had a good match, too. Tim, Mike and Robert got us team bonus. Tim and Mike proceeded to get another one right, making both of them available for a team bonus. Then Mike got his third right, giving him his first quiz out of the season! Tim was unable to get that last question right, but he still got 20 points. Spring City won 120 to 65.

REFLECTIONS:
Now usually in my prayer and meditation time, I usually keep to myself, unless I think it will edify someone else or a larger group. I'll admit somewhat that I sometimes keep to myself because I'm afraid I'm wrong or misunderstand something. But when Alyssa revealed on Sunday the same thing I was hearing, I figure maybe I should share it too.

After a wretched first week, when we got nowhere near where we thought we be, I really struggled with this. I prayed so much for a blessing on the team, but it seemed like we got cursed. I couldn't help but cry out to God, "Why?!"He answered to me through our chapel speaker at college during the week. The chapel speaker spoke on Gideon, and it lingered in my head. For those of you who are not too familiar with the Gideon story, or the quizzers who forgot quizzing 2005 material, let me review using a Graham Holcomb paraphrase...

Once the Lord had finally convinced Gideon that Gideon was chosen to be Israel's next judge and he needed to obey God, Gideon goes and rounds up men for the fight. and he gathers 32,000. So the Lord takes a look at the men and decides there's too many men. Why? Judges 7:2b says [and I will quote this], "In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her..." God didn't want Israel to think they won because they were strong enough. So God tells Gideon to send those who are afraid home. Why is that? Maybe it was just because God was being nice to scared men, but I sometimes thing that maybe it's because God wants soldier than fear Him more than any human. Only the ones who feared God were fit to be in Gideon's army. So 22,000 depart, and Gideon is left to a mere 10,000. So Gideon thinks that these 10,000 will be his army, but the Lord has news for him. He tells him bring the men down for a water break, and watch how they drink. Those who kneeled to drink were sent home, while those who brought the water to themselves. Why? A warrior of God must be head up and alert, always keeping careful attention. The one who dives face forward into the action is foolish and not fit to be a warror. There were only 300 men who brought the water to themselves, and with those 300, roughly a little less than 1% of the original army, defeated their tough enemy.

And the Lord said to me, "I must make you weak before I make you strong, so you and others may know that it is by My Strength, not yours, that you have been blessed and given victory."

So that's my best explanation to what happened these past 3 week. God first had to make us weak before we were made strong. I had to watch 2 of my teammates error out, 3 losses, a match scoring a low 30 points because of 7 errors and me get 2 errors in 2 matches so I (and hopefully my team) could recognize that age, experience, previous standings or hours of practice alone could not lift us up to the top. God was making us weak first. So after being in 20th place with an average of 65 points, God, in His might, lifted the humbled team up. God was preparing a team fit for the top. He gave us the fear of God, greater than fearing a stronger team or a quizmaster, so that we look towards the Lord for favor. Before we were diving head first into questions, not waiting long enough to buzz. Now we were alert. We brought the question to us before we buzzed in. With the fear of God and smart buzzing, this team was lifted up in one week. In that one week, when the opponenets were hard and the material harder, we got 2 quizouts in every match and in two of them we got team bonus. For the second and third time, we scored in the triple digits. Through God's strength, we were made strong.

How fitting that a 2005 quizzing story reminded me of this, for we had a Gideon experience then, during the ACC Tournament. We were made weak through our errors, all 36 of them. There were a couple matches where we lost points because of our errors. We did not control our own fate going into the playoffs. But God did. He put us in the playoffs, he gave us wins in the playoffs (despite errors again), and we won the championship. And so it will be again. We are fully dependant on God to lift us up and bring us further. Praise be to God Most High, Creator of Heaven and Earth, wherever He puts us.

This is the written account of week 2 at Blainsport

Last Sunday was the opening of the quizzing season. We had 4 weeks to prepare for it, and after 4 Thursdays and 1 Sunday preparation, all we got was 1-1 record, 67.5 point average, 10 errors and 2 error outs. Now that we are fully underway into the quizzing season, we now only have 1 Thursday and 1 Sunday to prepare. This Sunday was special because it was Super Bowl Sunday. The Super Bowl pushes quizzing to 2 p.m. and that gives us only the Sunday School hour and whatever little time before the match to study. So that means we only had 1 Thursday and 1/2 Sunday to quiz our best. Let's see what it produced.

Our first match was against the home team Blainsport right in their home sanctuary. I saw Blainsport quiz earlier, and saw their perfect quizzer fall. Since he sat in seat 4, I decided I would also sit in seat 4. The best way to describe the match would be "sloppy." By question 10, I had gotten 2 buzz in correct and 2 errors. My teammates weren't doing any better, getting lots of errors. Luckily Blainsport didn't pick many of them out. By the team we got to review material, I still hadn't quizzed out. On my first match of the second week, my perfection flashed before my eyes. But after our timeout between questions 13 and 14, Tim and Mike asked, "You want this next question?" Of course I said yes. They replied, "This next questions is yours." Question 14 was "What produced..." and not wanting to give up, I buzzed in. At that time, all I could think was how the question would end: "What produced vegetation..." or "What produced living creatures..." I knew I was going to either quiz out or error out. Then it hit me, "either way the question ends, the answer is still the same!" So I answered, "the land" and I got it right! (This is not true because of verb tense changing, and you'll see the irony about that later.) Quizzed out question 14 on full count. Couldn't have pulled it any closer. Sadly that was the highlight of the match. We got 7 errors and lost points, but more greatly lost the match 30 to 60.

We had back-to-back matches, so we had to hurry downstairs to our match with Living Rock 3. I sat in seat 3 this time. This time I had totally changed. I buzzed in on questions 5, 6, and 7, and got them all right. I quizzed out on 3 consecutive right buzz ins! While I was able to turn my game around, the team performed did the same. Tim got 2 errors, and we took him out to increase our change for team bonus. On the brighter side alyssa picked up a bonus, getting her second score for the year. We still came short for team bonus. Another loss, 55 to 75.

Then the next match I went back to as I did the next match, but my team took off. The match was against Emmanuel, and as I usually like sitting across from the top/perfect quizzers, I sat across from Emily Timberlake, perfect Emmanuel quizzer. I started our match off with an error. Tim, probably frustrated because he hadn't quizzed out since the first match (lol), went full throtle into 3 questions, buzzing in on each of them, answering each right, and quizzing out. He was the second Spring City quizzer to do this on Sunday. Two-thirds through the match, I found myself at full count again. But this time, my 2 right was 1 buzz in and 1 bonus. Emily and I at this point had been helping each other by sharing bonuses. On question 12, she quizzed out, keeping her perfect record (Congratulations emily!!). Once again, my perfect record flashed before my eyes. Question 13 was, "What produced thorns..." and I buzzed in. I knew I was either going to quiz out or error out. But I knew this one, and then realized how much blessing I got on the first one. I answered "the ground" and got it right for the quiz out. The following question Mike made the match better by getting us team bonus. This match we won 105-55. This was the first match we got team bonus, first match we scored in the triple digits, and only the second match we won all season so far.

So I guess the best way to describe the whole day was sloppy. I know that a lot of it is my fault. I take full responsibility and apologize to my team. After an errorless week, I got 4 this week. That is unacceptable from me. I should be able to do better than that. As the team's leading quizzer, I feel responsible to not only quiz out, but quiz out as fast as I can to give me subbing teammates an equal oppurtunity. My late quiz outs have denied that oppurtunity for the subs to get in early. I am sorry for that. I cannot be a good example or good leader if I myself keep getting errors. Even though I only average 2 errors a week, I will do my best to decrease these errors. I also want to be able to help my teammates do their best. Any way I can help, just tell me. Let us unite as a team under God to do better and grow in the Lord.

In the beginning...we went to LMH

Now I'm not going into detail about everything that happened on Sunday. I just want to set the picture for you on what happened. If I don't, you won't understand.

We had five practice matches the whole afternoon. The hardest practice match was the third one. Mrs. Deitrick's questions were just nasty. Since both Dave and Vicki had written so many questions, and even using questions written 10 years ago, Mrs. Deitrick was really scraping the bottom of the barrell. She was asking lots of footnote questions, putting the footnote in the actual text. (When Tim got heard those questions, he would say, "Those will never be asked!" The irony.) But the last two matches were great. The second to last match was only 2 errors, and none of the bonuses were missed. In our last match, we went 10 questions without an error. Only one error occured, and the bonus was gotten right. Throughout those five matches, everyone quizzed out at least. I myself quizzed out five times. There was even a couple times where Mike quizzed out before Tim. Things were looking good. Our hopes were up, especially knowing we were quizzinga against a brand new team, possibly the easiest team all season. So even when we were driving up, it was looking good. Mike and Tim went up in Tim's car, and the rest of us in the church van. We asked each other questions, and we were getting them right. Things were looking up, things were looking good.

Got to LMH in good timing. Met up with old friends, and find out where they were. Saw who was there, who was not, and whose roles were changed. Some went from quizzer to coach, others were in new churches. Looking around, I realized that the quizzing had completely changed from what I knew it to be when I began. Speaking of which, I decided to dress like I did rookie year, wearing the "jersey" from my rookie year with my first team, Ark Bible. It was different becasue there was no worship, and announcements started at 6:35. I just suspected it was early season confusion. After announcements, I watched the first match of Emmanuel vs. Strasburg 2. Heck, I scorekept. But I was also listening to the questions, and knew the answers to most, if not all of them. I was ready.

But my teammates did not show the same readiness as I was. Robert didn't feel confident. Mike was nervous. We didn't have time for these feelings, we needed to start quizzing. The starters were me, tim, mike and chelsea. Match started well. Tim got the first one right on a buzz in. I knew it, but buzzed too slow. I rebound to answer 2, 3, and 4 in a row, all buzzes all correct. After 4 questions, Goods 1 called the "oh crap" timeout because they were losing 45-0. With my seat now empty, Robert substuted. I had now opened up more room for team bonus. But with no avail. Errors appeared. Tim quizzed out question 9, allowing Alyssa to get in. She helped greatly, buzzing in, and answering "headwaters." We were one away from team bonus. But instead of gaining points, we lost points. We got 5 errors, the 5th error on Mike erroring out question 15. We did win the match against Goods 1, 75-50, but the win was sloppy. I feel bad for Alyssa because she had the first time of participating in team bonus, but we couldn't pull up for her.

We had no time to rest, for our matches were consecutive. The second and final match from the day was against Parkesburg. Not only was this church new to our quizzing, but also one of the first churches that was not Mennonite and quizzing in the ACC. This match was worse than the last one. I quizzed out on question 7, and that was Spring City's highlight of the match. Mike got 20 points, and all were in the last third of the match. Tim got 10 before erroring out himself. Once again, the team gave themselves 5 errors, losing 5 points. We lost our match 60-80.

After the match, Mike said to me, "Graham, I think this is the maddest I have ever seen you." So Mike, if I appeared mad, and that upset/disturbed you, I apologize. I am sorry. It was not meant to be that way. I wasn't really mad, not even upset. I guess "frustrated" would be a better term. I know this is the last year for a lot of people; not only myself, but also you and Tim, and even the Deitricks. I wanted to give that half of the team the best final year. Now for everyone else, I think it is best to recant everything I said in my last post. As much I was hoping we had what it takes, it's not looking good. Spring City already has 10 errors and 2 error outs. Our point average is 67.5. We have to start in 17th place. For the 16 teams ahead of us, we already quizzed 2 of them, and we have to quiz 14 of them in the remainder of the season. I overheard Tim say, "What's the season for? That's for individual." Well, Tim, if that's the way you want go, so be it. I was hoping being our last year, and being in the position we are, we could go for the season championship. But I guess not, since it's all about individual. If that's so, then I am striving to be a perfect quizzer. I was really hoping Tim and Mike could join me for the first couple or few weeks, but I gueess not. If the season is all about individual, then I am shooting for 16 more quiz outs. Please don't interfere. But let me CYB: Cover My Butt. Don't make this look like a selfish stride for pride. I still want our team to do its best. In fact, I make sure one of my questions right is a buzz in so I can set my team up for team bonus. I just don't want to be blamed for making selfish, prideful advances. I do my best for God, my team, and myself every match, which is quizzing out with one buzz in, scoring the maximum 35 points. I buzz in, I quiz out, what more can I do? I don't want those 35 points to be our team only guarenteed points. Let's give it our best, team. Sorry if it seems like I'm now concentrated with individual than team, but I've been put down earlier in my quizzing career and I don't want to be disappointed again this last year.

Thank you, my team, for letting me vent my frustrations. Sorry if this has offened you or made you upset or angry. Once again, don't get me wrong. I am not mad or upset at you. I love my team as a whole, and I love my teammates each individually. All of you are constantly in my thoughts and prayers. I pray for you all blessings as you go throughout your day and as you quiz. Let us come together as a team on practice Thursday and be prepared to give our best. Let's do this like Brutus! It's on like Donkey Kong!