Eat Sleep Swim

Chuckle

2010-06-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

So, why did I post a few shapes? Well, the other day I was looking over my math work, and I got several encouraging stickers that I don't usually get.

I can write my name
I was the helper today
I know my shapes

Just proving that I DO know my shapes... (me guffawing)

Best. Practice. EVER

2010-05-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

This week has been nothing but killer sets. All week. But that's how we get better; sometimes we have to tough it through hard sets to get better. But that's how it is and better is what I want, so I am not going to complain.

I was expecting a hard practice today, but I guess they let us off because we worked so hard this week. First, we did snakes. I led the train, starting at one end and doing a lap in each lane, snaking my way across the pool. After a few snakes, we did the thing I have been begging to do all week. I have no idea what it's called.

We took the lane lines out and everybody lined up on the wall with our kick boards ready. At "GO!" we would sprint kick to the other end. Then we would be arranged, fastest in the middle, slowest on the outsides, like birds.

Random kid 1 "Aww! I always have to kick on the sides!"
Coach "Don't worry, all parts of the flock are equally important."
Me "Yeah, the ones on the sides are the ones who get shot first."

After a few times, things got messy. It was hilarious, we were like a pack of vicious OPEN WATER swimmers!

After that, we played sharks and minnows. Just let me clarify that we never ever ever do sharks and minnows, so this was a treat. Surprisingly, as I'm not too hot at anything but swimming, even water polo, I was really good at this. I was last minnow(s) on each one!

It was a ton more fun too because the evil people who get way to absorbed in the game and shun people like brutes not caring how many injuries they cause to win a game of Sharks and Minnows were not there. YES! So almost nobody got a sharp, careless jab to the eye.

So basically most of the people I like were there, we played games and all got along and I didn't get jabbed ruthlessly in the chest; the universe loves me!

Pittsburgh

2010-05-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my family took a trip to Pittsburgh. I had a really pretty nice time. Firstly we went to the Pittsburgh zoo. Though it is a nice zoo, it wasn't extraordinary. They had the basic animals, which are pretty fun to look at. My favorite part was the baby elephant. He was so stinking adorable!

You can't really avoid end of the year school groups, I know. I just don't like them a lot. There are so many kids with those stupid paper form things with questions they have to answer. That limits the fun tremendously I think. Then they don't get to look at things as much as they would like because they are in a group of what seems to be a hundred.

Why does everyone have to talk at once? Because they are talking at once, they have to shout to make sure that their fellows can hear them. So you have a group of hot and somewhat cranky small people screaming and lugging papers with grumpy chaperones and teachers staring them down with their beady eyes.

I don't want to sound all bible clutching ankle length jean skirt on you guys here, but I am glad that I was with my family visiting the zoo than with a group of 40 or so slow moving peers in matching T shirts. Just sayin'.

That night after dumping our belongings in our hotel and waiting for Mom to look up everything she needed to know off of her mini, we set off to do something UNPLANNED. We went to the Hard Rock cafe! I know this doesn't go with the overall awe inspiring coolness of the Hard Rock cafe... but this was my first time. I had a really really really good time! The walls are covered with things that the beautiful people used, I saw a jacket that Michael Jackson wore, drums from Kiss... and that's about it for the things I knew what they were tell you the truth. But it was still cool.

After we ate we went outside to watch the water display. It was "dancing" lines of shooting water, doing the "dancing" part to various music, the one we watched was old show theme songs. It was boring after about the 3rd song, but it was still pretty to watch.

After that, we went to this "Historical Monument" trolly box cart thing that goes about 5 miles an hour up a not so steep mountain hill thing to the top where you could get off, do whatever, then get back on and go down. Living on the edge!! It was cute. Once we made it to the top, which I was thankful for because that thing had been there for like a hundred years, we went over to look at Pittsburgh. We made our way without getting run over to this beautiful view of the city. It was getting a little dark, but not dark enough to see all of the lights. Cars looked like beetles and people like ants. It was very gorgeous.

After we took in the city, we went and got some ice cream at this little store that was to me the food eating version on Sammy's. Once again though, I thought it was cute. Then we made it back down the slope in the hundred year old box tram thing, and drove back to our hotel.

The next morning we went to the science center. They just added a sports center, and it was great! They had a rock wall, a human yo yo, 2 motion simulators, and a bungee thing above a trampoline for maximum jumping satisfaction. I had such a good time in there, two hours passed without seeming like 20 minutes.

After getting our fill of that, we had lunch and wandered around until our movie. It was about Shackleton and how he kept all of his men alive even under the worst possible circumstances. They all made it. That really gives hope, I think, to hear a story like that. Right now I'm reading Lord of the Flies, and it is easy to think that people would revert back to the animal inside of them when they were removed from the outside world. But things like that give hope that, no, we can be good inside too.

Don't Murder Time!

2010-05-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I disagree with my coaches. For example, they have a strong belief that your mind is EVERYTHING. Like the other day, my coach was saying how if you say you can't do something, you can't. But if you don't do that, you are giving yourself a chance.

I don't think that's true. For one, I don't like it. But my reasoning is that I have said I wouldn't be able to do things at practice countless times before. But, I did it! Not all of the time, sure, that's granted. But there were some times where I thought I wouldn't be able to do it, but I did. But there's a catch.

Not a small loop-hole catch people couldn't think of, no. Here is what I did- I tried. I tried. I tried my hardest even though I didn't think I would be able to do it. And by trying, I succeeded. Even if I hadn't made the interval or beat my best time, I still succeeded in that by breaking myself down and just working my butt off, I'm getting faster.

But I see where the coaches are coming from. I don't think it's saying you can't do something. In my opinion, it's deciding that you aren't going to try that keeps you from doing something. Plain and simple.

Keeping an open and happy mind is really good for swimming. It's hard to, but I try. I try to go into races with the "I'm going to let happen what's going to happen, try my hardest and be okay with it. Anything is possible and I know my goals, and I'll be there someday; today or tomorrow" attitude. Freaking out isn't good for you, but I don't think it's what's keeping you from doing your best. If you decide you are not going to TRY, then you are doomed.

Anyways those who are reading this now know my view on this topic now. So let's move on to part 2 of this blog post.

Meets are supposed to be places were you race. Get up and go. I don't care if you feel like a titan, feel like crap, feel week, feel strong, are tired or well rested, hungry or stuffed. You get up and you go, 'cause it's a race.

Telling yourself you are not going to do good before a race is not good prep talk. But that is much much much much different than telling yourself

"I'm not even going to try that hard." (Real quote from the last meet. Really.)

Come on girlie!! Not only does this hurt your performance, it hurts other peoples' vibe if it's on a relay. Relays should be happy and have the "go for it" mood, even if it's clear we are doomed to last place. Who cares? All that matters is time. Our times in the relays, our splits and such, and the time that we spend as a team, racing and having fun. Team spirit and bonding is achieved with jokes, laughs, and a get up and go attitude. Not with a

"We are going to suck." attitude. Chica, don't murder time!!

Plus, what if it's not on a relay, and it's an individual? How would you feel if somebody was saying that next to you? You would feel happy, even though it's mean, you would feel happy and more confident that you are going to beat them.

No no no no NO! We are the dragon slayers! We strike fear into the hearts of the ones around us!! Grrrr!

In conclusion; don't give up before the race has started. You and your times are the only thing that matters, not some nameless faceless swimmer in lane 4. You are going to be fine! You practice hard, you are ready. Even if you don't feel good, still try. Because in the end that's all we can do - in swimming and in life

So get out there and kick some butt!

Nature Walk

2010-05-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

The other day before school we went to a small trail and took a nature walk. It was nice. Durring it I tried to take really pretty pictures, with some interesting perspective. Here they are!-

LE Awards Banquet

2010-05-03T06:34:00.000-07:00

Today was the LE Awards Banquet. This gives out ~~tinkers~~ awards to swimmers for all kinds of amazing feats they have accomplished over the past year of LE swimming. I was up on stage a lot more than I thought I would be. I had a lot of fun, and I didn't trip and fall!! Here is what I went up for.

Zones
Quads
Sectionals
LE 50 fly record
Top 10 in the US
"All Star" team

This year was a lot better than last year. I had a really good time! I knew everybody there it seemed like, and I got to go up on stage a lot this year. I got to see people I haven't seen in a while, so it was nice. Taylor, Scottie and Michael were all there, so were coaches Matt, Charlie and Pete. I can't even list everybody else. It seemed to go quicker than last year... maybe because I had to get up more.

I got a photo frame, 2 key chains, a necklace thing, certificates, a t-shirt and a draw string bag. I just have to find a photo and I'm all set!

First meet, well, second meet really, of LC season is next week... let the new year begin!

Trying Something New

2010-04-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Trying something new is a hard thing to do. It really is. Whether it is something easy or something hard, it is challenging to do so. Most people are creatures of habit. We like doing things in a routine that we are comfortable in. It is understandable that we don't really want to do new things sometimes.

But setting yourself up so that your mindset is that you are not going to like whatever you might start to try isn't good. Don't follow? Here's what this sounds like-

I don't want to, I hate it!
That sucks.
That wouldn't be fun at all.

All without being in it or giving it at least one try. How do you know you are going to hate something if you haven't tried it?

My low key example is this; I wasn't really into art about a year ago. I wasn't really looking forward to the art lessons that we had to do each week. But after one lesson, I found out that I might actually like painting. So on my own time one day I went down to the art room, locked the doors, and painted a picture. Painting pictures is now something that I love doing.

My very big example is swim team. My friend was on the Twinsburg Tiger Sharks, and wanted me to start too. She said it was really fun and told me a lot about it. I have been swimming all my life. I mean really, starting with the "Mommy and Me" classes when I was wee little. But only lessons. I wasn't sure if I wanted to commit to something big like swim team. Acctually thinking back on it, I think I had the mindset that I was talking about before.

I don't want to do it, I hate it!
That sucks.
That wouldn't be fun at all.

But thankfully I tried something new. Turns out I love it. Swimming is one of the biggest joys and passions of my life so far. If I hadn't tried something new, I don't know if I would have found that out yet.

So try something new sometime. It might turn out to be a really, really good thing.

Book Burning

2010-04-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Fahrenheit 451. It is set in the future in a society that is, in a very extreme way, like ours. Guy Montag is a fireman. Instead of helping stop fires though, he starts them. He is a book burner. But he doesn't realize really what he is doing in the beginning.

I feel very strongly about book burning and the book burning mentality. I think it is one of the worst things ever. I can't even describe completely how horrible, ugly, and wrong I think it is. Now you might be thinking, nobody burns books! In this country maybe, but in others and in history it pops up.

Here is the thing- people might believe that ideas come from books. That was what people thought in Fahrenheit 451, that's what Ancient Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang and others might have thought. I think that books might help plant ideas, but I don't believe that is where they are from! The emperor thought that by burning books he would unite people more. I believe that by doing such a horrible thing, aside from killing scholars and building the Great Wall, that he was setting up even more that it was before a him vs. everybody else mentality.

What was upsetting about Fahrenheit 451 was that so many things were the more extreme version of what is already happening! They said that people didn't really miss books. Really, I think that's pretty true! Many people like watching TV or playing video games or the like, over reading.

The other thing that was very upsetting for me was just thinking about burning books. Can you imagine how horrible it would be to lose them? Classics hundreds of years old, history that will never again be taught, because nobody knows! Ideas and religions! Ash. Blowing away. Lost. Forever.

And now, even though people don't literally burn books, they have the book burning mentality. You shouldn't read this book becasue it has this in it, you shouldn't read this book becuase it says this, they are bad books, dirty books, you shouldn't read this book because, because, because.... why? Do you really think that people learn all about sex, drugs, suicide, homosexuality, violence and the like by reading a book? Really? If the reason you don't want to read a book is because you don't want to taint your soul, then you should never venture out into the world. TV should be banned. So should computers. Songs should be banned too.

The reason I did this post is because I read this article about Twilight being on the top list of books that parents disapprove of. But that's not all. It was talking about all of these books that have been on the list for some time now. "To Kill a Mockingbird" was on the list. It made me sick.

MidWest Homeschool Convention

2010-04-12T17:28:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of our Spring Break was going to the MidWest Homeschool Convention. That's where I am right now! So far it has been really fun. Yesterday I went to a talk for teens about unlocking your full leadership potential. It was interesting but everything was stuff I have already heard. The thing is, you have to start with an idea of something you want to do in your life, your passion so to say. I am not sure yet what I want to do with the rest of my life! That was step 1. So ya, my leading is going to have to wait.

Today my mom and I went to see Tim Hawkins, a comedian, that is doing shows here this year. He is hilarious!!! He is 'clean' which means he is just appropriate for everybody. I couldn't stop laughing! Here is one of his clips off of YouTube, it's the trailer for one of his DVDs-

It's cool to see so many homeschoolers in one placce... and get this. For most people, you CAN'T TELL they are weird, unsocialized homeschoolers! Ha,ha!

Starting Fresh

2010-04-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well it's long course season again. All things aside, one of the things this means is I get to start fresh, so to speak. I got to put all of my medals and ribbons aside, and start with a clean slate. This is one of those times that you just enjoy. I felt proud and happy and good about looking at those medals and ribbons, even the 7th place in my breaststroke, and thinking about this SC year.

I also worked on my first entry in my new swim journal for this LC season today, and unlike what I did in my previous swim journal, I wrote some non-time goals I have for this season down in the front. It was a positive and exciting entry, and I hope it will set the tone for an excellent season.

I put my old swim journal on the shelf, my box of awards in my closet, and now I am ready for LC.

Sectionals

2010-03-31T18:55:00.000-07:00

Sectionals is over!! I swam the 800 free relay and the 50 free on Thursday, the 200 free, 100 fly and 400 free relay on Friday, nothing on Saturday, and the 100 free and 400 medley relay on Sunday. I had some great best LC times in everything!

This meet was one of the biggest, if not THE biggest meet I have ever been to. Everybody was so fast! Warm-ups were crazy, there, I was the one being passed all the time! There were so many fast swims, it was a cool meet to watch. Get this; there was a girl who went a 2:13 in the 200 back, LC. She shattered the meet record which was a 2:17! And then in the A final of the men's 50 free, there were 23s and 24s! This was an amazing meet.

My mom and I drove there together, while the rest of the sectional team drove down with Charlie. The only thing that was upseting about that was parking. Coaches got to park in the parking garage that WASN'T CROWDED. Everybody else had to walk about a couple hundred miles around campus to the parking garage. After finals, we had to walk in the sleet, the ice cold rain and billowing wind pounding on us, blowing our umbrellas inside out, and making us feel... ticked off. Then we find out the next day that we could have cut through a parking lot and cut our time by over half. *sigh*

This was the first meet where they had forever to warm up. I mean really. They gave us 2 hours! I got there at the crack of dawn and we got to get in a lot of our warm up before the pool really got crowded.

Here is a first; they had a camera guy film everybody in finals and have it up on a screen by the score board!! That was very cool. Though I didn't make it to finals in anything but for our relays, I am pretty sure that they will have plenty of time to stalk me with the camera in the future.

Some people are just made for the camera... :)

Got my hoodie, my goodie bag, and my giant jaw breaker lolly pop. Life is good.

Golds

2010-03-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

Golds is over! It was last weekend, and I'm really sorry I didn't post about it earlier. On Friday was the MILE and the 800 free relay. Our relay did great, making it to Sectionals!! After about a year of waiting, because the mile is dead last, I swam it for the second time ever. I dropped 37 seconds for a time of 18:50! I am very, very, very excited and happy about that swim. Like last time, I was under pace most of the time... that means I went faster than planned :)

Next day I swam the 100 fly, 100 back, and 50 free plus relays in prelims. I made it back to finals in all 3 of my events, dropping time in the 100 back (1:02.73) and 50 free in prelims. At finals, I FINALLY broke a minute in the 100 fly for a time!! I had a 59.42 in that, and a 24:40 in the free, which I took 2nd in!

Sunday morning was hard becasue of the daylight saving time. Ben Franklin invented those by the way. Anyways, in prelims I swam the 200 free, 200 back, and 100 free plus relays. Best times in all of them, 2:02.08 in the 200 free, 2:17.06 in the 200 back,(I dropped 3 seconds!!) and 54.89 in the 100 free. I finaled in everything, but didn't have best times at finals, which is okay with me! I am very satisfied with my performance at Golds, and can't wait for Sectionals!

Above- Me, my hardware, and my ribbon back at home.

Weekly Photo #11

2010-03-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

Big Changes For Fred

2010-03-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

Fred is my sucker mouth pleco fish I have had for about forever now. A little bit ago, we moved over from my 30 gallon tank to my much nicer huger 50 gallon tank my mom used to have. I have been wanting to work on this project for a while now, and finally it got around to being done. Now Fred has a much larger domain along with all of the other tropical fish in my community. I got a froggie, 2 platties, and some striped danios, which are all doing well so far. I think I am going to keep my 30 gallon and transform that one into a guppy only tank.

I had these 2 big silver dollar fish my mom gave me from when she took down her old tank. We think they were biting everybody, so they got moved to a smaller 10 gallon tank of their own. So far they are really not taking it that well. But you know what? Adjust or die, and that's the truth. Other than them, all of the other fish are doing super well.

We had to make lots of purchases for this project, new heaters, gravel and plants, but it was worth it. I really love my new beautiful tank!

Woop Woop!

2010-03-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hola! I attended the morning session of Silvers yesterday to watch Mason at his first USA champs. He did well, dropping time in most of his events, including 5 whole seconds in the 100 free! Great job! Also, great job to everyone else who swam, we had some amazing time drops and a few Gold times, you all did wonderfully! For those who are going to Golds, I'll see you this weekend, and good luck!

I am swimming...

1650
200 free
100 free
50 free
200 back
100 back
100 fly

See you soon!

Weekly Photo #10

2010-03-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

Deep Breath...

2010-03-03T13:29:00.000-08:00

It's Monday, again. The time before Gold Champs seems to speed ahead at light speed with no stopping it. It's 5 weeks, then 4 weeks, then 3 weeks. Now Silvers is this weekend then Golds the next. YIKES! I am nervous, but also excited. I am most nervous about the mile, becasue well, it's the mile! It's long. It's hard. It's what the over-achievers do at Champs... it's the mile. It will go well. I just wish Friday was over.

I have several time cuts buzzing around my head for lots of the events I am swimming. They aren't really pressure, like, "You have to go this cut!!" It's more like, "Pretty sure I'm going to go that." But I'm not telling you guys them. :P

Okay, everytime I try it on I feel fast. I look awesome and fear-striking in it, I have to admit. It is... my kneeskin fastskin. Let's just take a moment to appreciate what I just said. I got a FAST SKIN that is also a KNEE SKIN. That's, in a word, sweeeeeeeeeeet. It's not the suit that is fast, it's the person who is, but still.

So, we will just have to see how things turn out at Golds! See you behind the blocks :)

It's Greek! (Roman adaptations, but still)

2010-02-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

We ended our ancient Greece unit study a few days ago, and started astronomy. I think it is amazing how all of the planets and moons and things in space are mostly named after the Roman gods... Greek gods renamed. Jupiter, Zeus, Venus, Aphrodite, Neptune, Poseidon... I could go on.

I was dreading this unit study, because I thought that I didn't like it. Space, the whole floating around and dying because you don't have enough air and you can't stand up and it's dark and creepy and huge.

But I am finding it interesting and enjoyable to learn about, the planets are really interesting! I think having a background on the names of things makes it fun for me too. And I know a lot of the stories behind the names of constellations! I felt really smart and cool while I was watching Bill Nye today!

So, today we made diagrams of the planets in actual correct size comparisons to each other. Then we put them up in the hallway. The sun wouldn't fit, so we just put the diameter in tape. It's HUGE!

Weekly Photo #9

2010-02-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

The Zoo

2010-02-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

We took the day off from our normal day of school and visited the zoo! It was very fun. I love going to the zoo, it is so interesting! It is nice, we always go when NOBODY is there. My favorite part is the aquarium, and then the rainforest.

My mom's and my favorite animal, though, was the elephant shrew. They are queer creatures! They have these mini elephant trunks, legs of a gerbil, and body of a oversized rat. Beautiful, right? Anyways, they were fun to look at. They had amazing fish, crazy reptiles, sleepy frogs, figgity bats, slow moving capybaras, over-preening flamingos, long snouted crocodiles, funny monkeys, you name it! It was a great time.

I was trying to look for the octupus in one exhibit in the aquarium, and there was this little boy standing there drawing it. I said, mostly to myself, "Hmm, must be off exhibit."

Boy said "Oh no, he is in there. See the suction cups?" I found them and was amazed by the camoflauge that the octupus has. We ended up talking politely to each other about it, and some of the other exhibits. He was very mature for being 4 feet tall. My mom and I came to the conclusion that, he indeed, is homeschooled :)

Here are some of the pictures I took of all the amazing animals....

I'm a Beautiful Blogger!

2010-02-23T05:57:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! I was nominated by my friend Mikayla, over at Thoughts From ME for the Beautiful Blogger award. Firstly, thanks! So, now I am supposed to tell you guys 7 things about me. Well, here I go...

My favorite part of the zoo is definitely the aquaquarium. I love all of the fish!
My hot cocoa is 2/3 hot cocoa, 1/3 milk, and a ton of whipped cream on top!
I think that wearing makeup to swim practice is stupid. But that's just me...
I really am into painting right now. I just compleated a self portrait yesterday!
My favorite songs are all from Taylor Swift.
What makes me feel hard core is going to Saturday practice... and getting up at 5:30 to do so.
I'm going 24 loooooooooooow if not flat at golds in the 50 free. Hey, why don't I just go a 23? That sounds good :)

Now, I am supposed to nominate 7 people. But, I don't have a ton of friends who all blog like I do. Also, I don't know if my guy friends would like to be nominated for the Beautiful Blogger award. So I'm going to give it to my

Mom! You are amazing and wonderful, and your blog is great! You are a Beautiful Blogger :)

Weekly Photo #8

2010-02-21T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is a painting I did a few days ago. It is of the froggie on the wallpaper of my iPod.

Happy Birthday!

2010-02-17T09:31:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday Auntie Kim and Dad!

Peek Inside My Saturday

2010-02-15T12:48:00.000-08:00

It's 6 in the morning and it's that time again... when the stupid alarm clock in the kitchen goes off right when I'm eating, and it won't shut up!

I'm transferred from the car and mom to the truck and dad at the store. My mom had to work so my dad took me to practice.

I get to US, and run down the pathway there and wait at the door for the floor cleaner guy to open it.

Hey Charlie! Practice was packed, 4 people including me. :)

Driving home.

Our party for my Dad and Aunt's birthday, they are twins but Dad is 41 and my aunt is still 39 :)

CAKE and pizza!

Weekly Photo #7

2010-02-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

This is my mask I made for our Greek unit study.

What I do in my lack of Free Time

2010-02-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

So today I got an email from a friend that got me thinking. Between school and swimming, when do you get any free time? Well, I thought about this- and the truth is I don't have a TON of free time. I have school, which sometimes takes me right up until when I have to leave for practice. When I get home, it's after 9 and I still need to shower. So I don't get to do a ton after then, and I don't really want to. Just kick back and watch some TV or play on my iPod. But I think that is the definition of some people's free time- doing nothing. I don't really like to be doing nothing, that's just not who I am. I'm the person who usually likes to be doing something. Unless I'm sleeping. In my free time, I like to do art, blog, write in my book, play games, work on gifts, read, and others. I have also found how to fit some fun into my day without taking time off. Like I put on music if I am doing something that needs little or no thinking, and I knit when we do read alouds or watch movies. But I have realized, even though sometimes I would like more time to myself, I am happy being busy.

Ancient Greek Columns

2010-02-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

A few days ago we drew the 3 main styles of greek columns, Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. It is amazing how often we run into greek styles of architecture, without realizing it! This was a fun project. After we drew the main outline of the column, we used a charcoal pencil and smudged it in so that it looks rounded.

New Blog Look

2010-02-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

So, recently I got a customized background and header from HotBliggityBlog. I love it so much! Casey did an amazing job. She was quick and neat with her work, and was very formal. She did a wonderful job with my background and header. She worked with me to get exactly what I had in mind. Plus, her work was at a reasonable price. I have used some of her backgrounds that she has up free on her site, and she has a TON, before too. They are great. So, thank you very much!

Weekly Photo #6

2010-02-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

Fresh Coat

2010-02-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

Hello! The other day I pulled out a ratty old pair of Keds from our shoe closet (they were my mom's) and gave them a makeover. I Sharpied them up, and they look pretty sweet. I love them! They might be my new favorites. Each section has a design, and then the front has all of them. It took me a while to do them! But it was fun :)

Frozen Hair

2010-02-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Last night's practice and this morning's practice really didn't have that much time in between. Getting up this morning, I wasn't motivated to go to US and the cold pool... I wanted to huddle back into bed. But as you get going ~~like when you dive in the pool~~ it gets better. But we all have those mornings. Where you roll out of bed, force feed yourself, throw on your suit then snuggle back into your jammies, and get into the car. So, get this people - last night, for the first time I can recall, my hair froze. I was walking out with my hood up, and some of my hair was out of it, and it froze! It's weird.... then today when we got into the car, it wouldn't start. The battery was dead. So we get our coach, he gets the police, they can't help us so we finally get some random guy, and get it up and running again. Yeah, that really happened. On the up side I was holding 31s and 32s PCs today... :)

Swimmer Headboard

2010-02-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

Today I really had nothing to do, so I decided to work on a project that has been bugging me for a while now. I have this amazing swimmer board I can hang my medals on. The only problem with it is that the suit and cap are orange. So today I took it down stairs and gave it a well needed paint job. Here are the before and after shots.

Weekly Photo #5

2010-01-31T12:32:00.000-08:00

This is my new camera! I am loving it so far, it's great!

Becoming Obsessed...

2010-01-28T19:26:00.000-08:00

Here is the picture I drew of Talking Carl from the app store. We love him! I took this photo on my new camera... my old one sort of, umm, fell out of my hand at Quads.

My Birthday CAKE

2010-01-26T18:08:00.000-08:00

For those who go to practice with me, and go a lot, and have been with me day in and day out, they know that one of my obsessions is... cake. I love the stuff. Because I swim, I can get away with it. My mom and I worked on my cake together.... well she did most of it and I decorated the teddy bears. It turned out really cute! It has a pool with teddies all around and gummie life savers for innertubes.

My mom has some more on her blog too. Aren't they too stinkin' adorable?!

CCS 11 & Over

2010-01-25T18:36:00.000-08:00

Hello! Today was the CCS 11 and Over meet. Being a 13 year old(!), I was in the 13 and over age category. I am very happy with today, I had 2 best times, 1:00.7 in the 100 fly and 1:02.99 in the 100 back. My goal was to go a 1:02 in the back, and I just made it! :) My 100 and 50 free were a little off today, but that's okay. Mason also swam today, dropping time in both events he swam, 50 and 100 free.

I probably look really dorky behind the blocks. I am shaking out, and jumping up and down and moving around while the others just shake their arms out once and take some deep breaths. That's okay though, I think that's the best thing for me to do behind the blocks. Stay happy and loose :) I don't have a meet until Golds, so that will be nice to have a little break from meets. Oh yeah, this was the pool with the sweet red blocks, oh yeah! ~~I wish they would go ahead and get new blocks for Twinsburg!~~ :)

Weekly Photo #4

2010-01-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

Hello! For my birthday I got an iPod touch! It is really cool. Our favorite app is... talking carl!

My Birthday!!!

2010-01-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today is my 13th birthday! Yeah! Yesterday and the day-before-yesterday, we were at Kalahari, enjoying all of the waterslides and pools. We had a lot of fun, it is wonderful there! We went on all of the rides, the boys played in the arcade, and I got the uber fattening, rich, won't even say nutrition facts ice cream!

Being 13 also means that all of the secrets of the universe are now unveiled to me (not)... what it really means is I am now in a new age category! I am now- gasp - a teenager! Though nothing has really changed, I can say I'm one. I was looking at the spa thing at Kalahari, and the kids' spa was up to age 12, and the teens spa was ages 13! to 18. It was on the pamphlet!

Weekly Photo #3

2010-01-17T06:59:00.000-08:00

My new, very happy-making shoes.

Quads

2010-01-15T11:19:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I competed at Quads at Ewwie Puuie, IUPUI :) I was chosen to be part of Team Ohio again this year. It is such a fun meet! Even though I only had 1 best time, I had a great time. My 200 medley relay took first... plus new meet record! My 200 free relay was .04 off too! Swimming against different states is really cool, though Illinois dropped out this year so it was only Kentuckey, OH/LE and Indiana. As last year I traded caps, attended the dance Saturday night, and had a wonderful experience. The second day when they were playing music, the chicken dance started and I hopped up on the blocks to dance! Lots of other kids were too. That's definitely in the spirit of the swim meet!

I love this picture :)

Weekly Photo #2

2010-01-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of us at Quads on Saturday. We did amazing!!!

Pre-Quads

2010-01-06T18:54:00.000-08:00

I have been excited for Quads way before I got the email saying I have the easy fun events... 100s and 50 free, back, fly. I really can't wait! It's going to be a fun meet at a fast pool. My goal is to get all of the caps again... at LEAST Kentucky. I have these cuts for my events in the back of my head that pop up at random times of the day too, that's how you can tell you are a meet junkie :) My buddies have been talking it up too and now we are all just pumped. I think the only way they could get us MORE excited is if they stuffed us in a bus for 5 hours... hmm sound familiar? haha :) We got the relay info today, I'm in the 200 free and medley A relays. Fly for the medley and I'm first in the free. I am very excited about how that turned out.

Quads is going to be so much different this year. For starters, instead of being the only one from my team and not knowing anybody, lots of people from USC are going (YES!!!) and I know a lot of the folks going. Experiences like this are great because it's fun to have your competitors on the same team. Then when you aren't, you end up watching and cheering for their swims even though they aren't on your team.

I'm going back to Indy baby!

Weekly Photo #1

2010-01-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

Hello! I was randomly scrolling around looking at other people's blogs, and this one blog caught my eye. Her friend had this idea to post a picture every day, so she was going to do one once a week, for the whole 2010 year. I decided I was going to also. I will be posting a new picture once a week every Sunday... here is my first one, it's Duncan and his very original evil mad man face. Priceless.

Discovering Some More Talent

2010-01-03T18:30:00.000-08:00

My super good friend has made me a lot of posters over the past 2 years. They are so special and mean a lot to me, I have gotten them before big meets, for my birthdays and holidays, and just as a surprise! My walls are covered with posters that people have made for me, and I have made myself. I have some time cuts up too (I was excited when I got the Sectional cuts :) and posters that I have collected. But my favorite ones are those that my friend has made me, on top of knowing how much time she has put into them, they are so beautiful! She is such a good artist. Here are some of the ones she has made for me-

Amazing!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! It's...

Birthday!

2009-12-31T16:12:00.000-08:00

Happy, happy birthday to my Harry Potter loving bff!

"I have no eyes, fingers or toes."

2009-12-30T19:06:00.000-08:00

I received this email today. It is a bit disturbing so if you are faint of heart I would advise - don't read :) But anyways, here is the question, how did "Freddy" type this email if he has no fingers? If you were mad about having your fingers, eyes and toes cut out and wanted revenge wouldn't you say something about your killer and go torture him? Also- your email gives people no information about your address so how would he find you, really? Wouldn't a little 10 year old boy being mauled my some sick psychopath be in the news somewhere? Rewards for the person responsible? Why have we not heard about that? And really like some 10 year old who can't see is going to break into our house? Really? Why are people forwarding this kind of trash??? Why, oh why??? Anyway... here is the email - I didn't fix any of the grammatical errors but I guess I will have to cut him some slack if he is typing with his nose.

"To late now, you can't delete it once it's opened. Your cursed. My name is Freddy I'm 10 years and I have
no eyes, fingers or toes. They were cut out while I slept. I am seeking revenge. I will hide under your bed and wait for everyone to be asleep, then I will get you...Unless.

You need to send this to at least 20 people in the next 20min. to be safe."

Really? Really? Am I living in a bad 80s Friday the 13th movie or something?

Oh Crab

2009-12-28T07:46:00.000-08:00

Small post, just letting everyone know that everyone's favorite flip flops are now indeed in towl form.

Happy holidays!

Greek gods; The Beginning

2009-12-27T08:53:00.000-08:00

Before we went on break, we were studying Greek Mythology. Here is a summary of the story of the beginning of the earth and the Greek gods.

Well... in the beginning when things were just floating around up popped Mother Earth and then her husband, Uranus, the sky. When they had children, first were the Cyclops, the 100 headed and armed people, and then, strong Titans, 6 girls and 6 boys. Uranus wasn't happy or proud of the monsters he fathered, so he threw the Cyclops and the 100 headed and armed people into Tartarus, the deepest darkest pit in the world.

Mother Earth was mad at Uranus because of what he did to her beloved children, so she asked the youngest and boldest of all the Titans, Cronus, to go and fight him. Cronus did, and defeated his father. But instead of freeing the monsters as Mother earth intended, he left them in Tartarus and became the new ruler of the Universe. He got married to Rhea and when his wife started to have children, he was scared that one of them would overthrow him like he did to his father. So he ate all of his kids. After several kids, his wife tricked him into eating a rock dressed in baby clothes when he asked for the child. She rushed off her newest baby, Zeus, to the island of Crete, where nymphs looked after him.

When he was grown up, Cronus's wife tricked him into drinking a poison that made him very sick. So sick that he threw up all of the gods he had swallowed. Because they were gods they survived in Cronus's belly and grew to be full size. Out came Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter. They fought against Cronus for years before Zeus had an idea. He let free the monsters from Tartarus and they gladly sided with Zeus. Finally, they over threw Cronus and Zeus became the new lord of all the world and gods.

Back From Pittsburgh

2009-12-22T19:55:00.000-08:00

Hello! Pittsburgh was a long, tiring weekend, I will give you that. But it was the best, nicest, fastest meet I have been to yet... faster than Zones and Quads! I made it back to finals in everything I swam except the 200 back, but I was first alternate in that. Here are my times and how things shook out this weekend~

Prelims 200 free 2:03.33 #6
Finals 200 free 2:02.31 #5
Prelims 200 back 2:20.96 #9
Prelims 50 fly 27.10 #1
Finals 50 fly 26.76 #1

Prelims 100 free 55.91 #4
Finals 100 free 56.30 5#
Prelims 50 back 28.93 #1
Finals 50 back 28.92 #2

Prelims 100 back 1:03.94 #4
Finals 100 back 1:03.35 #4
Prelims 50 free 24.89 #1
Finals 50 free 24.76 #2
Prelims 100 fly 1:01.65 #?
Finals 100 fly 1:02.14 #3

I would HIGHLY recommend this meet next year if you make a cut. It is just such a great meet... so many FAST people!

To see how great our other swimmers did, visit my coach's blog at USC Twinsburg.

Swimming! Part 2

2009-12-18T17:20:00.000-08:00

I did well! I made it to finals in the 200 free and the 50 fly and I was one place off from making the 200 back finals :D I had a 26.7 in the 50 fly... 1st place! 2:02.3 in the 200 free and 2:20.9 in the 200 back- all best times!

Swimming!

2009-12-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

Well hey, I'm here at the hotel for the Pittsburgh meet... 200 free, 200 back and 50 fly up soon!

Wish me luck!

Shaker Shark

2009-12-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

Hello! It's been a bit since I last posted, sorry! This weekend was the Shaker Shark meet at CSU.

On Friday I swam the 200 fly for the first time, with a time of 2:28... best time lol :D Everyone thinks the 200 fly is this horrible event, I would say it's ranked up there but not worse than the 200 back or 500 free. Speaking of which I also swam the 500 free and lowered my time, now I have a 5:32!

Saturday was finals day. I placed 1st in everything in prelims-- 100 free, 100 back and 50 fly. Then at finals I lowered all my times again and placed first in each. 55.9 in the 100 free, 1:03.9 in the 100 back, and 27.3 in the 50 fly. THAT was a lot of swimming!

And today I had 2 50s, 50 free and 50 back, and then the 100 fly. I took firsts in those too~ no finals today :) I had a 28.high in my 50 back, 1.03 in my fly, and 25 in my free...

But we time trialed in the 200 free relay at the end and I swam first- with a time of 24.86! New LE record and my first sectional cut! Our team broke the USC record for the relay, and we're a second from breaking the LE one... a girl on that went to the Olympics! The relay was AMAZING, everyone swimming bests! Everyone was so happy after, it was great. The coaches really were excited too, standing with us behind the blocks and doing warm up with us. It was just so exciting! Best relay ever!

Good job to everyone who swam this weekend, I was very happy, lots of people from USC were there!

Gobble

2009-11-26T17:43:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

SpongeBob Monopoly

2009-11-24T19:53:00.000-08:00

I was playing Monopoly with my little brother the other day and was totally getting wooped up by the 8 year old!
Now, usually I rule. And he used to get very upset, very upset. Like, he would go storm to his room and cry it off. I wasn't being cruel either!

So we play a little differently, let some of the rules slide and make up our own. Like, we can buy things with no money, just write down an IOU for later. We would also trade properties for others, and trade them to get out of the hole a hotel can create when you land on it over and over and over and over and...

Also, we always start with $500 in the middle, and whenever you have to pay a tax or hit a space or money not related to other players, we throw it in the Kitty. When you hit the Free Parking space, you get the jackpot. Whenever someone gets it, we throw in $500 again.

So- I usually win because I am smart. I buy good spaces. And Duncs... well lets just say he buys what he likes. We always play the Spongebob version. I get the dark blue spaces (Spongebob's pineapple and the KK) and the transportation spaces. I also pick up odds and ends, good spaces and try get the set.

But Duncan buys the purple and light blue spaces (Patrick's rock, weenie hut jr., somthing else, the Chum Bucket, and Plankton's lab)

As the game goes on, Duncan racks in the money by hitting Parking place at LEAST 10 times. He buys Krusty Krab's (hotels) and I slowly die and burn. He has so many 500s that I ran out, and had to write a $6000 slip to go with his still abundant supply. This went on forever! I would owe him, like 1500, and he would feel sorry for me and let me get away with a property for like 500 when I hit Patrick's rock. Finally I gave up and for the first time, mortgaged my properties (gasp!) to pay it off.

I ended with a "Well, I ran out of money, good job Duncan! Good game!" Which I hope was convincing 'cause it sure as heck wasn't. That little boy. He humbly accepts my congrats, and says "Yeah, it was fun." Then runs out to tell Mason that, "I BEAT AMBER!!!!" Mmmm hmmmm, I see how he is.

Amazibooks

2009-11-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

Hello! I just started a multi-writer blog all about book reviews! I did the first post about one of my favorite books, The House of the Scorpion. Check it out here.

Undiscovered Talent Discovered

2009-11-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

Hello! This week has been busy! Friday for art we did rainy day pictures with watercolors. What we did was water color the background using styles that would create a rainy day kind of look. We splattered and blotted and dripped it all around to make this cool look. Mine turned out a little weird and pinkish, but it was purple! Then out of black construction paper we had to cut out shapes of people and things we wanted in our masterpieces. I have also zoomed in on some of my people for your viewing pleasure. Here is my painting-

Letting the dog out.

Standing, not really doing anything. They could be walking though.

As is he... Mason started calling him "The Stalker" and it kind of stuck.

And it is so windy his hat blew off!

Fighting Hunger

2009-11-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

Today I had to earn 500 grains of rice on free rice.com for part of school. All I had to do was click on the answers to the multiplication fact and boom- 10 grains of rice in my bowl. Then I went and got a snack.

But so many people can't just get up from their comfy chair and get a banana or soup or whatever. Did you know that every six seconds a child dies because of hunger and related causes? That's a lot of kids. But there are lots of ways to help.

Visit WFP for lots of information and ways you can help. Did you know 25 cents can fill one of their red cups- food for someone far away for a day?

http://www.wfp.org/

Now lets say that 20 of you readers go onto free rice and do 21 problems this week, that's 3 a day. That's 4,200 grains of rice! This is my favorite site for helping stop hunger... visit it today!

Would you like to know where the rice goes? Check this out-

Where does FreeRice rice go? WFP United Nations World Food Programme - Fighting Hunger Worldwide

Finally, here are some of the stats on hunger I copied from the WFP site~

GLOBAL HUNGER

1.02 billion people do not have enough to eat - more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union;

(Source: FAO news release, 19 June 2009)

The number of undernourished people in the world increased by 75 million in 2007 and 40 million in 2008, largely due to higher food prices;

(Source: FAO news release, 9 Dec 2008)

907 million people in developing countries alone are hungry;

(Source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2008)

Asia and the Pacific region is home to over half the world’s population and nearly two thirds of the world’s hungry people;

(Source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2008)

More than 60 percent of chronically hungry people are women;

(Source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2006)

65 percent of the world's hungry live in only seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia.

(Source: The State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2008)

CHILD HUNGER

Every six seconds a child dies because of hunger and related causes;

(Source: State of Food Insecurity in the World, FAO, 2004)

More than 70 percent of the world's 146 million underweight children under age five years live in just 10 countries, with more than 50 per cent located in South Asia alone;

(Source: Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition, UNICEF, 2006)

10.9 million children under five die in developing countries each year. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause 60 percent of the deaths;

(Source: The State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2007)

The cost of undernutrition to national economic development is estimated at US$20-30 billion per annum;

(Source: Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition, UNICEF, 2006)

One out of four children - roughly 146 million - in developing countries are underweight;

(Source: The State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2007)

Every year WFP feeds more than 20 million children in school feeding programmes in some 70 countries. In 2008, WFP fed a record 23 million children.

(Source: WFP School Feeding Unit)

The Amazing 9s

2009-11-06T11:55:00.000-08:00

Do you know the 9s trick?

2x9=18 1+8=9

3x9=27   2+7=9
4x9=36   3+6=9
5x9=45   4+5=9
6x9=54   5+4=9
7x9=63   6+3=9
8x9=72   7+2=9
9x9=81   8+1=9

Also, look at this... the answers to all of them just switch around.
18, 27, 36, 45, - 54, 63, 72, 81

Wow!

Pumpkins!

2009-11-02T19:23:00.000-08:00

Hello! I hope everyone had a fun, spooky, treat filled great time this Halloween! I did! Friday we carved our pumpkins. We have skipped out for the last few years, (we don't let our parents forget it) so I was very excited! Here are the pictures we took-

MY BRAIN!

2009-10-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hello! We are studying the human body right now, and for this part we are learning about the brain. Today we made salt dough models of it. It was a lot of fun! Tomorrow we will paint them for art :D These are the pictures we got------->

Just Keep Swimming...

2009-10-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

Hello! Here is my follow up post on Friday's. I wish I could just fast forward to the post about how I did, but then everything that went along with DOING the times would be lost. I'm going to keep writing now.

First off, I had 2 meets in one weekend. 2. (Hold the shocked gasps}
On Saturday I had the Peg Neal Pentathlon- because I'm still 12 I only had to do the 4 50s and IM. I did well, not as well as I wanted or expected, seeing as it was only easy sprints. I placed well taking 3rd for the whole meet (for 11-12 girls)grabbing me a trophy :D I wasn't overly pleased with my performance that day but I am happy with how the cards fell this week over all. We had a tough week at practice, fast sets, F or F, and pace, it was one of the peak weeks of our work outs.

Today I also competed in the Mile Meet. Guess what we did there? I was heat 6. I got my favorite lane, 10! The mile was a long event. Matt was at the other end taking splits. I was looking for his signs for my race, but when I looked over he either had his hands up or sometimes out. Me, being far away, swimming, wet, and having goggles on, thought that they were the same so I swam the whole mile thinking how much I sucked and how mad Matt was going to be at me, how far off pace I was and just how freaking long it was! My coach owes me a cake. It was a good event, and I had a faster pace than what I was holding at practice for a lot of the 50s. I am very happy I swam it. After swimming the mile it puts a little different perspective on other events. I think this is somthing everyone should do at LEAST once. I made a AAA cut in both the mile and the 1000 (at the turn) and broke the team's 1000 record. I also took second place overall for 11-12 girls. I swam a 19:27, very much where I want to be. Even though I swam 5 other events this one seems to amount to more, I mean come on! It's a 1650! 66 laps! 19 & 1/2 min swimming!

Lastly but not least, we have the Swim Champions! That rocked! I got to meet 4 Olympians! Not only that, I got to hold a gold medal, swim and race with them, and get their autographs! They were so cool! The 3 guys just seemed like guys- having fun and loving what they are doing. They worked on drills and raced in all 4 strokes, and then we did a relay! The people were in the water with us doing the stuff! It was great, a once in a life time experiance. Oh yeah, hey coach, they had us do LANE LINE PULL as one of the drills. ;D I also made sure to tell Peter Vanderkay that Matt was my coach- he knew him, lol.

While we were waiting to go for our large relay, this one girl intruduced herself to me.
"Hi! What's your name?"
"Hey, I'm Amber."
"You're the girl who beat (girl be left un-named) in the 50 free yesterday! She was so so ticked."
"Oh wow, that wasn't even a best time!"
"It wasn't for her either!"

I'm sorry but that is the best. :D :D :D :D :D :D Bye!

2 Meets in 1 Weekend... Spooky!

2009-10-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hi! Well, this is it- two meets in one weekend! Tomorow I swim the 4 50s and a 100 IM (scoff) baby swims. Then, don, don, don, I swim the....... MILE! I am really excited for both meets. First mile, and then the 50s are just fun. We have been doing hard sets all week, and been working on pace. I am ready! YE-AH!

Attitude at meets is not all but mostly everything. If you are sitting there about to puke doing nothing but thinking about your event, that kinda makes you suck. If you are having fun, talking, cheering, doing things you like to do(music, reading, cards, etc.) Then you are far better off. If you are like me, then you might want to dance a bit if you are really nervous... or not it is a good excuse for random dancing! Over all, JUST HAVE FUN AT MEETS AND IT MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER. And if it doesn't help you it will help people around you. Do you think that if you are all moopy and sad that it will make everyone want to be sunny and cheery? NO! Attitude is contagious, and you have to be carefull what you are passing around.

Now here is the fun part, after swimming so many years (1), I have found my favorite things in swimming and have dubbed them magical- here they are...

First heat
End lanes
Funky hats
Speed stripes
SWEET suits
...and...
Singing!

Good luck to everyone swimming this weekend!

CCS Age Group and Open

2009-10-18T19:10:00.001-07:00

Hiya! To all that participated in this meet- good job and congrats!

This meet was good but I am glad that it is over. I dropped a lot of time in the 200and 500 free today, and dropped .06 from my 200 back yesterday! Yeah! I was really close to my 50 times but they weren't bests. I guess this was my distance meet though :D

Here are my results -

25.83 50 Fr
2:06.45 200 Fr
5:41.91 500 Fr
29.62 50 Bk
2:23.82 200 Bk

My Favorite Person

2009-10-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

Hello! I would like to talk about my favorite person now. Benjamin Franklin. He did so many amazing things over the span of his long, long life. Did you know he was the only person to sign all 3 documents, the Declaration Of Independence, the Constitution, and the Treaty of Paris? Through his experiments, he invented the lightning rod, saving countless lives and buildings over the past years. He went over to England to try to make peace with the British... then later went over to France and talked the Frenchies into helping out the "'coon hat hick town" Americans in the Revolution. Did you know he invented flippers? He was an avid swimmer throughout his life. Did you know that 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away.' and 'Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.' come from him? Over all, he rocked. And those are just some of the reasons why Benjamin Franklin is my favorite person!

For more quotes from one of the best people ever, look at this great quotes site I found... really! They are funny!

One Year and Counting

2009-10-12T19:16:00.001-07:00

Hello! The first meet of the season was this weekend! It was really cool for me because this was my first USA meet last year. I have completed one full year of USA swimming :D Last year I would have freaked out, but this year I had fun, was calm, cool, and collected! Among other things, what I really am happy about is that I'm not nervous about meets anymore. I go, have fun, swim the events I have swam so many times before, and go fast! No more freaking out about an event. Not this year baby!

I think that helps a lot. My coach was talking to me about swimming scared at one of the first meets of long course. I was scared over the 100 fly I had last that day, and that affected all of my other swims a lot. They definitely were not the best I could be.

So I think that not swimming scared helped me set the LE district record in the 50 fly with a time of 27.00.

That kinda rocked. I was so happy, I had the Michael Phelps finish with the fist in the air! That's the first time I have ever done anything like that! That was the new district record, and the "any person who swam their time in LE" record, best time and the USC record by almost 2 seconds!

I dropped time in a lot of events from last year so I was very happy about that. I set USC records in three other events too, that was cool. One event that I was most proud of was my 100 fly. I dropped 3 seconds from last year and got the zone cut I didn't have before, and set the new team record. The reason I was so happy about that was 100 fly was one of my struggling events. I hated it mostly because I was scared of it, I thought it was long, and HARD! But I think I swam it right for the first time and I went fast without dying!

I even placed in my breast and dropped time!

The one thing I was disappointed about was the medley relay. The judge lady deeked me because SHE thought I did a false start. NO ONE agreed with her. People in the stands didn't know what we did! My head coach was really mad about it, he got up in one judge's face and told him what he thought about it. Matt was great too and said that whatever random lady said to me he still thought that was the best relay start I have done and 100% legal. When we were walking back, the lady told us that I false started. We just stared at her. As soon as she turned around my friend said loudly, "I hate that woman, always have. She's an idiot!" I felt so bad but my team was so sweet about it, they said that they didn't care, it was a dinky relay at a dinky meet and they knew it was a bad call. I'm just going to say we made 1st in that one though :D

*My friend has been trying to make some A cuts for a while now. Well, she made it by a chunk of time! She was super happy, and I am so happy for her too! She did amazing, and now hopefully she can go to Braun with me! She can go to golds too! If you're reading, YOU ROCK! You don't need onions and garlic anymore!

*Iman also did great, breaking into a 59 for the first time in the 100 free! Congrats!

*Mason's relay team took first in the medley relay, good job you guys!

*Michael and Matt also ROCKED! Placing and shaving time! YEAH!! :D

This meet was a great starter for the season, everyone did well! Great job to everyone who swam!

Matt also did a really nice overview post about the high lights of the meet... check it out at USC Twinsburg.

Bye!

The Zoo Part 3

2009-09-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

And here is part 3, the birds! It was really cool, we came to this one room where the birds were just free flying around us!

The Zoo Part 2

2009-09-23T14:19:00.001-07:00

Hiya! The next part has some of the pictures from the reptile house~~>

The Zoo Part 1

2009-09-22T19:25:00.001-07:00

Hello! We also visited the zoo the next day! Did you now that the word zoo comes from the latin word zoon meaning animals?

Anyways, here are the pictures from the aquarium~~~>

Sauder Village

2009-09-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hiya! As I promised, I am doing the post about our trip. I had 91 photos! THAT is a lot! I decided I am going to do my posts in parts, Sauder Village and then the different parts of the zoo.

It was cool, great over view. It was also a lot of fun! We visited a lot of the little houses and shops, and stopped and got ice cream. We had dinner at The Barn, and played at the pool. I loved it, my favorite part was the printers shop though :D

The Learning Burns

2009-09-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

Fall is coming people!!! It is my favorite time of the year, where I get to break out my cute jeans and hoodies and don't have to suffer through the horrible heat and humidity of summer. Not yet is it snowing, but no longer is it hot. Fall is the perfect time of the year! Fall is coming, hints my new background :D

Anyways, today was a... Monday. Very Mondayish. We did REM, which was cool. We broke out an old science kit and did a 'safe liquids' experiment. It was cool, just seeing if things are acidic or not. You take a tea spoon of baking soda and a table spoon of whatever you want to find out about, dump it together and voila! If it fizzes it is an acid, if it doesn't it is lame.

We have been working on learning about the American Revolution. I thought it would be horrible, but really once you start studing it, it is fascinating! I love how us American hicks beat the British! But we wouldn't have if the French hadn't helped us so much. So far, my favorite person we have learned about is Benjamin Franklin. He was just so great! Did you know that the phrase "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." and "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." were from him? Cool, right?

I am finally finishing up math 7, which I started last year. It covers everything under the sun, so it took me a while. I have a quiz and then I start... pre algebra. The impending doom is creeping me out.

Let's just say I need to study my spelling words a LOT more.

My book that I am writing is coming along well! I am on the third chapter. Both my mom and I have fallen in love with the guy in my story :D He is the best ever.

I have decided that I really like Saturday morning practices. They give me that, wow I work so hard good for you swimming before dawn feeling. I love it because my friend and I usually always get our own lane. The pool is 100 times better than Twinsburg! It is a lot colder. Twinsburg is about 90,000 degrees! I must be sweating like a pig!

Did you know that Verbus is the roman word for Word? Cool right? That's where we get verb and verbally. Loving the Greek and Roman word roots!

Spanish is one of my favorite subjects this year. I just love it! Guess what this is... La nina y mujuer come manzanas = The girl and woman eat apples. Amazing!

That about sums it up, as soon as I will myself to upload the 100 pictures I have from our trip to the zoo, I will do a post about that.

Night!

When Should I Swear?

2009-09-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

Hello! I have noticed that a few people on the team swear. Now I'm not using names, this is JUST a blog post. I'm not trying to be mean, just the common spectator and her views. My mom and I were talking about how swearing might be common at some schools and you may feel compelled to do so, but in the real world not many people just go around swearing about nothing! I mean if you swear ALL of the time, what do you do when something bad happens and a swear word would be perfect for the moment?

As we were talking about all of this, we started talking about times and people who swear and when it would be okay to swear. Here's the list..........

*Pirates...enough said
*People in the middle ages who carried the dead bodies from the black plague out of the city
*Watching your friend's face getting ripped off by a cougar (I read about this on the news)
*Dying of the Black Plague
*Getting the leech treatment
*Army men in battle
*Coal miners, particularly those in District 12 in "The Hunger Games"
*Deep under ground oil diggers
*Being chased by dinosaurs (Jurassic Park)
*Attacked by a mummy
*Getting your hand chopped off for stealing
*Fish farmers
*Getting your tongue cut out and being forced to work for the people about to play in the Hunger Games (Though it would be kind of hard, having no tongue and all)
*Getting picked to play in The Hunger Games
*Swimming for your life so you don't get eaten by a giant fish
*Having Voldemort after you

Just saying.

The Hunger Games

2009-09-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hello all of you blog reader people! Did you all see my new header? I made it on Paint! Yeah!

Anyways, I have been reading the second book to the trilogy of one of my favorite books, The Hunger Games.

For those of you who haven't read it, here is an overview.

So there were 13 districts, each specializing in something (coal, fishing, etc.) and the capitol. District 13 revolted, and the capitol destroyed them. Now, every year they punish everyone with The Hunger Games. They draw a name of a girl and a boy from each district, and make them all fight to the death in the arena. Now the arena changes every year and it can be anything, a forest, mountains, desert, etc. It is also very high tech and filled with traps and cameras. There are no rules. Just live. Now, if this doesn't sound bad already, they force everyone to watch it on live TV.

"The Hunger Games" was one of those books where you stay up til one in the morning munching on pretzels and cowering in your blankets while reading it, jumping at every sound to make sure no one is going to jump out. It was an extremely well written book, and it was just really cool! I loved it, and the second book just keeps getting better and better.

I hope I got someone to read it, because it is one of my all time favorites.

"May the odds ever be in your favor!"

Using Hyperbole

2009-09-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

Hello! Today as part of my school work I had to do a fill in the blank page using hyperbole. For those who don't know what hyperbole is, it is; Obvious exaggeration used to emphasize a point or add excitement and humor to a story. Here it is~

In the great village of Murdering Town lived a superhuman hero named Thumb Screw. Our superhero had this incredible ability to rip all the joy and happiness out of people. One day a little pink bunny hopped into town. The whole town was worried until Thumb Screw came out and stabbed it repeatedly. In the end, everything turned out well because it died. It pays to have a superhero in your village!

Yeah...............

:D

First Day Back

2009-09-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

Hi! Happy September everyone! So, today was our first day back to practice. I have been practicing out at a different site for a week before this, but it was nice to get back to my usual pool. My normal coach couldn't be there, so Coach Rodrick subbed for him. It was cool, I don't get to see him that much other than at meets. He has different drills and sets, so that was fun. It wasn't what you would call an 'easy first day' but it wasn't that hard. But the last time I was in the water was 3 days ago... and my friends haven't been in for about 4 weeks! I liked it, but most thought it was too hard.

It was nice to see all of my friends again too. Some new people started and that is always cool. Mason also started in the beginner's group, and was moved to advanced! Congrats! He is at my practice now! After practicing at US, Twinsburg seems soooooooooooooo much hotter :( But I will live.

You know what is weird? I am back where I started. That was my first full year of USA swimming! And this is my second. I just can't wait for all of the meets to start! :D

A New Twist On Our Backyard

2009-08-31T13:42:00.001-07:00

Hi people! Today is the start of our second week in school, whaaaaa hooooo! We will be doing REM tomorrow... which makes it RET? Anyways, instead today we did a nature study. Today was about maple trees, we went out and tried to find one. Once we did, we did a bark rub and took some leaves in for a leaf rub too. It was fun! My favorite part though was taking pictures along the way. I got up and close to everything and took several pictures. I picked the best and the coolest looking to put up here for you guys............ I hope you like them!

Foodie Friday

2009-08-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

Hi! Well, the first week of school is over! My favorite parts and our highlights were the random experiment Monday, our art lesson today, and foodie Friday. What is foodie Friday?, you blog readers may ask. Well, every Friday my mom and I will try to make a new recipe, and also every Friday (or day after, I may let it slide) I will do a post about it and show you guys the yummy fun of foodie Friday :D

Well, this week we made potato soup. I just love soups, potato soup being one of my favorites! I helped with everything, peeling and mashing the potatos, cutting up the onions, (which I did for about 2 seconds before I quit and asked Dad to do it for me) measuring most of the stuff, and just making it! It was a lot of fun. The soup only had onion, milk, potato, corn starch and flour, salt and pepper, and butter! If that doesn't sound good already, top it off with BACON and CHEESE and you are in hog heaven! The pictures from this week's foodie Friday are above all of the text! This is so unusual for me, because most of the time I put the pictures below the text. I just feel adventurous today! :D

That's all for now, check back soon for Duncan doing crazy pointing guy!

Thoughts About This Season

2009-08-27T12:18:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! So today I was reading one of the Splash magazines that you get for joining a USA team. In one part it talked about a pre-race routine; what to do behind the blocks. It said to think back to your best races and do what you did for all of them. WELL... all of or most of my really good races were when I was dancing and messing around behind the blocks because Matt my coach) was too! Though he has told me to do this several times, I never really thought about it until now. Dancing it is then... :D

I am really excited for this season. I have real goals this time, not just goals that I wrote down for my coach. Mason, my brother, is starting USC too! I am very excited for him. Overall I think I am going to be a lot more relaxed at most of my meets too. Listening to music, talking, singing and dancing, and just being silly at meets keeps me from getting all nervous about it. AND it makes meets a lot more fun! I also learned that you can be silly and serious at the same time! Just don't miss anything. Having a nice pool is great, but I have also learned that I can go my best times in a crappy pool. I can swim longer events and live! And lane and heat placements don't matter AT ALL. In fact, I love swimming longer events in the side lanes! :D

That's most of my thoughts about the upcoming swim season, so I will see you guys soon!

Birthday

2009-08-25T19:14:00.001-07:00

Hi! Today is my friend's bday, Happy Birthday!

adopt your own virtual pet!

First Day Of School

2009-08-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

Hey! Well today we started back to school (sigh...) but it wasn't that bad. I just had a lot more work! I started Spanish, lots of English programs and grammar stuff, I got this hard "Spelling Workout" for 7th graders and I really don't like it. Mostly because I SUCK at spelling. I should have started with the 1st grade spelling! Just kidding! I am finishing up math 7 from last year and then I will start Pre-Algebra. It sounds like an illness. We did the usual states and capitals, and geography together, went over some greek roots, and listened to the latin phrase of the day/week... I'm not sure. Greek and latin roots are cool, here is some from The Greek...

Phobos- fear... phobia!
Photos- light... photographs
Graph- to draw or write ^
Syn- with or together... like symphony!
Metron- to mesure... the metric systom!

But before all of that we had the coolest part of every Monday starting today... Random Experiment Monday! (Yes I know REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement during sleep, but that is okay!)

Today we did one with diet coke and mentos. It was sweeeeeeeet! It all shot at least 15 feet into the air! Here is a clip.....................

LE Top 10 from USC

2009-08-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! I was looking at the LE site and they updated it with the top 10 from LE! Here are a bunch...

Marla
5th in 100 back
3rd in 200 back
9th in 400 free

Me
3rd in 50 free
7th in 100 free
5th in 400 free
2nd in 50 back
2nd in 100 back
2nd in 50 fly

Natalie
7th in 200 fly

Iman
6th in 200 fly
10th in 50 free

Jodi
3rd in 400 free
5th in 800 free
2nd in 1500 free
4th in 100 back
3rd in 200 back
6th in 100 fly
6th in 200 fly
4th in 400 IM

Amanda K.
3rd in 100 back
2nd in 200 back
7th in 100 breast
7th in 100 fly
3rd in 200 IM

Amanda M.
7th in 200 fly

Scottie
3rd in 50 free
4th in 100 free
2nd in 50 back
5th in 100 back
1st in 50 fly
2nd in 100 fly
8th in 200 IM

Kingsley
8th in 50 free
5th in 50 back
4th in 100 back
6th in 50 breast

Michael
7th in 200 breast

Good job everyone!

Fun At My Friends

2009-08-19T05:12:00.000-07:00

Hi! Yesterday, I spent the day over at my friend's house. It was so much fun! I came over and we bounced on her trampoline, I learned how to do a back hand spring, front hand spring and front tuck. After that we all went on a creek walk. We traipsed through the water with nets and tried to catch minnows. It was so fun! It started raining during part of it, but that was fine, we were already wet! We caught this fish, and it was about 6 or 7 inches long! I also caught a snake! My friend's sister caught a frog, and by the end we were all catching minnows like pros. The only sad part was that when we were walking back I was carrying the bucket with all of the fish, then I slipped and fell! The bucket went flying! Other than that misshap, I was pretty good at the creek walk :D

After the creek walk, we came home and bounced on the tramp and played cards before lunch. They taught me how to play Spoons, it is really fun! We played cards more after lunch, and then we bounced on the tramp some more!

Later, we all went to a drive in close to my house. We saw G-Force and Aliens in the Attic. We all liked both! I had never gone to a drive in before, so it was different but really fun for me.

That was so much fun, thanks guys for having me over! :D

New Blogger!

2009-08-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I wanted to tell you all that I got my friend, Iman, into blogging. She loves it, and her blog is really neat. Here is her address~~~~~~

http://leswim1.blogspot.com

Make sure you check it out. Byeeeeee!

:D

Kayaking

2009-08-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hi! My friend and I went kayaking today at Hudson Springs Park. It was really hot out today, so it was fun to get a little wet :D The water was this gross green color though... with STUFF floating in the lake! Other than that it was soooooooo fun. We went all the way to the other side of the lake and back! It was my friend's first time kayaking, so she had a harder time than me... she almost fell out once! My first time I had to stop and wait like a second all the time because I thought I was going to tip! She did great :D There were ducks and geese around us, I thought that was the coolest thing! It was not that hot until the very end:p Here are some pictures of us :D~~~~~~~~~~~

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Summer Re-cap

2009-08-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hi! I start back to school on the 24th. I wanted to do a summer re-cap post, going over some of the stuff I've learned the past few months. It was fun for me to make the list of things I have learned, I was laughing the whole time. Here's the list...

If someone hits me, I will shove them into a drink cooler
I can break into 28s in long course
I can swim fast with sun in my eyes
I won't die if I get up at 5 in the morning and go out to practice
Always drink a ton of water and gatorade at meets
Summer really isn't my favorite time of the year
Watching Food Network with my mom is fun... if not the coolest thing in the world
It is always better to just shut up and swim
I can swim without a coach or with a dinky coach I don't know
Texting your coach isn't weird
I am the worlds biggest Harry Potter nerd
Elevator button - pusher men can be weird
When given a Man Shirt (a.k.a. my Zones tank top) I can wear it and still look like a girl
Saying good bye to most girls is easy... just wail and hug
The easiest way to get multiple girls phone numbers is just to pass around your phone
How to casually pick up the pizza you just dropped into your lap without drawing attention
When someone is ranting to a group don't defend yourself, just don't say anything

Laptop

2009-08-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! Well, today my new laptop arrived! I love it, it is really cool! It just will take a little getting used to. Here is a picture of it~~~~~~~>

Guess what? This is my first post on my new laptop! :D

Bye!

Zones

2009-08-11T13:34:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! Zones is over! YES! It was really fun. The team drove together all the way there, which was about 5 hours. We stopped at Olive Garden on the way there, it was over run by swimmers! We did almost everything as a team, which was fun. We all had roommates, here is a picture of me and my roomy~

4 people from USC went to Zones: Iman, Scottie, Kingsley, and me. I thought that was cool, I was really happy I would know some people. But I already knew a lot of the people! It was cool because most of the girls there I knew because I swim against them at meets, and have met them at Quads.

I swam the 50, 100, and 400 free, 50 and 100 back, 50 fly, 400 medley relay, 200 free relay, 200 medley relay, and 400 free relay. It was a long, and hot weekend, but I had a lot of fun! It was weird to be at a meet with a different coach, but they were all cool. What was really cool is that the people who were on my team were people normally I would be competing against.

When we came in, everyone had a sign on their door with their name on it! I loved that, it was really cool.

So that's all, bye!

Last Day Of Champs

2009-08-02T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hiya peoples! Congrats to everyone who swam this weekend! Here are my results from Saturday and Sunday. I am sending thanks out to my sweet Aunt who came to watch me on Sunday! :D

Saturday

100 Free..........1:05.80 4th Place

100 Back..........1:14:69 2nd Place

50 Fly..........30:94 2nd Place

Sunday

50 Free..........28:81 2nd Place

50 Back..........32:70 2nd Place

200 Back..........2:42:11 2nd Place

I swam the 200 back for the first time today and I got the team record and an AAA cut, though it isn't offered for 11~12 at Zones. I was very happy with my swims, I had a best time in everything but the 100 free, I was also .02 off a sectional cut in the 50 free. Oh well! I love this pool and I normally get best times in it... it rocks! Sadly, we had no relays. People for an 11-12 girls' relay just didn't show up ...and I can't swim on the guys' relays! :D

Only Zones left, then Long Course is over!

Bye!

First Day Of Champs

2009-07-31T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hiya all of you blog readers! Today is the first day of Long Course Champs. I swam the 400 free and my time was 5.02.14. I was really happy because I dropped a lot of time from the last time I swam it, at Freedlander. It was also my 6th Zone cut, so I will be swimming the max number of events at Zones! :D I have the 100 free, 100 back, and 50 fly tomorrow, and on Sunday I will be swimming the 200 back, 50 free and 50 back. Then the bus for Zones leaves on Thursday...

There was a Zones meeting on Monday, and we went over lots of stuff. Though I could barely hear the guy talking, but that's not saying much because I am half deaf. :D Just kidding! We got our roommate assignments too, and I am rooming with this girl that USC "adopted" at Busby because her coach couldn't be there. She is really nice and I am happy about the way that turned out. We also got our team clothes, caps, water bottles, and any other trinkets you happened to buy for Zones. I am getting a suit, but we will get those tomorrow at the meet. I can't wait!

We also got this really cool warm-up jacket, you guys have to see it........

Anyways, that's all! Bye!

Mason's Champs

2009-07-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hi! Mason had his team's champs on Sunday, and he did well. He swam 3 2nds, a 4th and a 3rd. He was most happy with the 50 free, his time before was a 37 and he swam a 34! Congrats!

Relays and (More) Cookies!

2009-07-21T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hi! I have a bit of catching up to do, so here it goes!

Saturday was the Chagrin Relays. I went to watch my brother, Mason, and to hang out with the Twinsburg rec. team. Although I can't blog about how everyone on the Twinsburg team did, over all they did great! Mason took 2 3rds and 3 4ths. So, good job everyone who swam at the relays!

*************Cookies**************
I made cookies today! I also made some a few days ago... but sadly I have no pictures.

Yum!

This is my 50th blog post! That is a lot of blogging!

Now, I wanted to tell you about my new search thing I added, by Google. If you are looking for a post in particular, then this really helps. If you are looking for a swim meet, put Swim Meets, birthdays, Birthday, ummmm... School, fish, cookies, etc. I also uploaded a new background and removed my hit counter, so I hope it will load a bit faster for yours if you are having trouble... On my computer when I was getting on, my hit counter was the thing that was taking a lot of time to load.

I think that's all, bye!

Birthday!

2009-07-13T18:25:00.001-07:00

Hi! Well, today is my friend Marla's birthday! Happy b~day! It was fun, at practice this morning we had cup cakes, fruit punch, and yummy Cheerio treat things they made. (They were soooooooo good!) Have fun in the new age group!

adopt your own virtual pet!

Bye!

4th of July

2009-07-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hi people! I hope you all had a great holiday, I did! My friend and her family invited me to go to their neighbors' 4th of July party with them. They had hot dogs and chicken, snow cones and candy, pinyatas and sparklers. It was a blast, I had so much fun! The family hosting the party lives right behind the foot ball stadium, so we all had a great view of the Solon fire works. My friend and I just went up to the stadium and watched them. Here they are~~>

They had a pinyata there, and before I got a chance to hit it, my friend smacked the top off perfectly. She has the top as a keepsake in this picture.

Make sure you watch this, it rocks!!

OK guys, bye!

Cookies!

2009-07-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

Hi! I was making cookies yesterday (once every 5 years or so:) and my brother said we should just take a video of us just testing the cookies. So we did, and now that I see it, it is funny how all of our personalities shine through. Here is that~~~~~>

Here is the recipe, because it seemed like a lot of people liked them at practice that day :D~~>

Almond Cookies
2 Oct 2006
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup coarsely chopped almonds
¼ cup whole unpeeled almonds

Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.

Preheat the oven by turning it on to 350 degrees.

In a mixer, or a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until it’s fluffy. If using an electric mixer, after about 30 seconds you can see that the mixture is very fluffy. Then add the egg, vanilla, almond extract, flour, salt, and the chopped almonds to the mix. Once all the dry ingredients have been added, mix everything together.

Once all of the ingredients have been mixed well together, pull off little pieces of the dough and roll them into balls that are about 1 inch in diameter. Put the balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Then place a whole almond in the middle of each cookie ball and push it down slightly. When the cookie sheet is filled, put the cookie sheet in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
The cookies should look lightly brown when they’re done.

Bye!

Solon Stars Swim Meet

2009-06-29T06:27:00.001-07:00

Well... the swim meet is over. I didn't do as well as I wanted, but I did okay. I was most happy that I dropped one second in the 200 free! My friend came to the swim meet, I was really happy because she doesn't do many meets. And she was at the same session as me! She ROCKED! She dropped 16 seconds in the 100 free! And got her goal time! Ya!
The first day our coaches couldn't come, so we were assigned some random coach. But that was okay, he just stood there. We knew what warm up to do, watched the board, and heat sheet for our events. R wrote down all of our events and most of our times, and appointed herself 'coach' for the day, we did fine. Matt had told me that there may not be a coach on Saturday the night before, and that freaked me out a bit. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Our coaches came on Sunday, and the world was saved. Except it rained... but stopped for my events! I got more pictures from this meet than the CSU meet, here they are! ~~~~~~~~~~~>

I look really weird in that picture, :D ^

My mom is on the right in the picture above and my dad is on the left in the picture below and friends' parents are next to them.

Bye!

Bag Tags (feel free to laugh at me)

2009-06-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

Hi! Well, it is the night before the Solon meet, and I am packing my bag. I was switching out my bag tags and zipper pulls from my other bag that is falling apart, and while doing so I was thinking about each one. I found myself laughing at how nerdy I am, but still. I thought that by putting my thoughts on each one and what it means in writing (or typing) it would be kinda funny in a REALLY nerdy way. So, here it goes.

My bag~

AAA Cut Bag Tag~ Well, my mom got that one for me at quads, but after realizing that the cut we were looking at was dated... we had to put it away. Later on when I got my first AAA cut in the 100 back, I got to put it on my bag. :D ALSO, it psychs out kids, lol.

Whale Zipper Pull~ I got this one from my parents at Christmas.

Gold Medalist Panda Zipper Pull~ I got him at the start of short course season. I just wanted to keep him 'cause he is so beat up, that stands for all of the days and weeks and months of practice.

Nut/Bolt Thingy and String~ At our 3rdish practice of long course, Matt had us do this really kinda cool drill. You hold the string with nut/bolt thingy attached to the bottom, and try to will it with all your might to go in clockwise and then counter clockwise circles. With trying desperately hard NOT to move your hands. It did! The drill was to make you think "Everything is a mind set." and "You can do anything you think you can do." Like the 'little train who thought he could' but like 'the swimmer who knew he could' that sort of thing. He said that because we wanted it to move so badly, our brain sent these, like, signals... to our fingers which made it move the way we wanted it to even though we were trying not to move.

There on forth he was always on us about the right mind set and good attitudes and coming into practice ready to swim hard. I think that he is right though... it is always better to swim with someone in a good attitude than someone who is acting like a complete butt and is just sucking it up. Yup.

Ohio-Lake Erie Quad Team 2009 Bag Tag~ from my trip to Quads, duh! If you haven't seen the Quads post you should check it out.

Cute Stuffed Turtle Zipper Pull~ HE IS SO STINKING CUTE! That is my one and only reason.

I think that's all, check back soon for news about the Solon meet. Bye!!

:] :} : :\ :l :L :V :B :U :T :O :P :) :( :o :I :D

CSU Swim Meet

2009-06-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

Hi!!! I just had a meet at Clevelend State, they have a fast pool! I think that overall this was the best meet I have had, like ever. ;) I swam my first quad A times in the 50 free and the 50 back, 2 more zone cuts in the 100 free and 50 fly, 2 team records in the 50 back and 50 fly, and all best times! This is what I swam over the 3 days~~~>

Friday Prelims 200 free, 50 free, Finals 200 and 50

Saturday Prelims 100 free, 50 fly, Finals 100 and 50

Sunday Prelims 50 back, 100 fly, No Finals That Day

I was mostly happy because every time I swam I got a best time! Except for the 200 finals, I was 1/2 a second off. I was also really happy because my main coach, Matt, came for the first time this season. I know he has been really busy but still. It meant a lot when in prelims he told me to go a 28 after I swam a 29 low (in the 50 free), and me thinking that he was joking... then to swim 28.88 at finals! And you know, Charlie called him for me, and Matt just told me I rocked. I would like to point out that was the first time he told me that! I was just like, yaaaaaaaaaaaa!

More news about the meet... we got 2 more swimmers from USC going to Zones, Scottie and Iman! I didn't see the events, but the coaches said that they ruled. Congrats!!! Michael and Matthew 'Flinchstone' also were beating times, set in short course! That ROCKS. Good job to everyone who swam this weekend, it was a long meet!

I didn't get that many pictures from the meet, but here are the ones I did get! ~~~~>
Bye!

Mom's Birthday!

2009-06-13T17:45:00.001-07:00

Hi! Well, the day after my brother's birthday is my Mom's, so happy birthday!

adopt your own virtual pet!

Birthday!

2009-06-12T13:19:00.001-07:00

Today is my little brother's birthday! Happy 8th b-day!

adopt your own virtual pet!

CCS Age Group and Open Swim Meet

2009-06-08T05:32:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone! Well, I had a swim meet on Saturday and Sunday. I swam 100 fly, 100 back, 100 free, and 50 fly, 50 back, and 50 free. I also swam on the 200 medley relay. I was backstroke so I started, but it was weird everyone at the far end of the pool. They had to start from a push! It was like back in the Rec team! Though the girl swimming fly didn't have to (back, breast, fly, free) the other 2 did! I tried to touch the wall far on the one side to give the girl more room. I hope it helped! Well, I dropped time in a few events, 50 fly and 100 free I think. My coach also said that I dropped a lot of time in my 100 back for long course, but my converted time is still faster. I was very happy when the meet was over, and I relized that I medaled in all 7 of my events! I was so happy, our relay got in 1st! Anyway, here are some of the pix from the meet~~~~~~~>
Sorry, none of me~ :D Bye!