So, I go in spells of thinking pretty hard about stuff in my life and then I stop after a while and just live without much thinking on my ethics. When I say that, I dont mean that I go crazy or anything, being an anarchist, I just kind of live without putting much thought into the motives of my actions. This can be good because at some point I get into a groove where I dont think about what I am trying to improve about myself and just do it, and other times I fall back into some bad habits. A few examples, by the end of my basketball playing for this year, I had stopped worrying a lot about fouls, making excuses, and I had been playing the game with a mentally tougher attitude. That just became habit. However I also worked on not getting angry at mistakes, and kind of forgot about improving on that til it popped up again recently.
So I realized that my attitude towards people isnt always great, and I dont always want to talk to certain people, getting annoyed easily and stuff. (If you are reading this and are like 'is that me he is annoyed at?', its probably not so dont worry. I know how crushing having someone as awesome as me being annoyed at you must be). So what passage did I happen to stumble upon in my Bible reading? 1 Corinthians 13. Oh jjeeeezzz, the chapter about "twue wuv"(picture the priest in princess bride). So, if you need a reminder, and I would encourage you to read this passage to check on what I say, but it starts saying that we can know it all, give ourselves up for God, but dont have love, we have nothing. Then it goes on to that cliche wedding passage about love being kind, not rude, boastful, arrogant, selfish, IRRITABLE,or resentful. Rejoices in the truth, believes, hopes, and endures. Now, I dont know greek or anything, but I'm 99 percent sure the love talked about in this passage is not the husband and wife stuff, this is the 2nd most important commandment, love your neighbor as yourself kind of love. And I fail. Thank God for grace. I have done all of those things wrong on that list, and nothing I could do on my own would ever save me, but the thing that hit me was, the highlighted bit, irritable. I realized that I havent been loving people very well recently, and I'd like to say I'm sorry. I'm going to work on it, *sigh* no matter who the person is. Yeah, this is not going to be easy, and probably none of you will notice. But the Big Guy will.
Im trying to keep on writing music, and I decided to use Gary Lightbody and Aud Fauce as major influences, at least in some of my songs. Both have some simple aspects, some complicated aspects, and pretty sweet lyrics. I am a sucker for simplicity, it has always been easiest for me to worship with straighforward songs with meaningful lyrics. I'm not one for repeating simple lines, I like some thought in what I'm singing. But at the same time I like some complexity amid the simple. Sounds weird I know, but i mosly mean like complex bridges, underlying guitar parts, that kind of thing. So I am working on adding those elements to my songs. It's cool, but its weird because I find myself stopping in my flows and changing progressions a lot more than usual. Hopefully the result is satisfactory.
I hope you enjoyed a more thoughtful blog, I didnt feel like giving you the boring aspects of my whole day. Listen to "Moving Mountains" by thrice to hear some nice 1 Corinthians 13 action
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
This time of the year, when Christmas is... over
So, did I get good stuff for Christmas? yes, I wont get into it, but what you need to know write now is that, though I got several very awesome CDs, I found a classic in my closet today. The W's-Fourth From the Last.
Be Jealous. It's still awesome, filled with amazing memories from my childhood. I used to have an orange "the Devil is Bad" t-shirt. On the back it had a cartoon devil looking up at a fast-falling blue bowling ball that had the W's written on it. So cool.
Now, I am in a pretty good mood. I got my Iphone working with my new alarm clock after hours of trying to load music from Itunes, and somehow trying on my new clothes to make sure they fit good and then reorganizing my clothes felt good. I'm not exactly sure why. It did make my room quite cleaner. I am finally going to try and clean up my room, and I believe I am getting a queen sized bed. Both of these are good things pertaining to my room. It might actually look reasonably like a well kempt 18 year old guys room instead of just a mess.
So yesterday I worked out at the club til I got kicked out. Thats not really important I just thought it sounded cool. It sounds like it could be an item on my bucket list to cross off, if I had a bucket list. I'm not really into making stuff like that. I then proceeded to have a nice dinner with my family for Christmas Eve.
I have gone two days this week without doing my ballhandling challenge, tomorrow will be the third day in the week(or first day in a new week). I havent done it. This is depressing, because I only like allowing one day off a week, so I will have to do it for like two weeks straight to make up for that crap. Ugh, its frustrating, but I will make up for my own insolence.
I woke up in a good mood, had a good time at breakfast, and then opening and giving presents. It's so weird to see how Christmas changes over the years. Back in the day, you wake up at like 6 after hardly sleeping, are just stoked out of your mind, and go running to the tree, check out the present, and annoy your parents til they get ready to open presents, everyone still in pajamas. Now, I forced myself to wake up at nine and get ready for the day. No day is started right without a shower, getting totally ready and decent looking, and a little morning exercise. So I am totally ready, and wait patiently for my parents to shower, though my mom did make breakfast, and I put on some coffee. We slowly make our way through everything. Back in the day we took a break part way through presents so that the kids could play with new toys. Not so anymore, and there are much less toys nowadays. Clothes used to be dumb, now they are appreciated.
But what toys we get are way more complicated. I spent a long while today frustrated out of my mind with this guitar pedal today, which connects to the computer to change settings, because for some reason they made the default settings crap. But I couldnt figure out how to change the settings to what I want on the computer. It's way too complicated, so I will recruit some help later. I gave up, it was too much. And it was made worse because I feel bad being mad on Christmas, because I know its not what my focus should be on, whether my petty new gadgets work.
And here is my learning bit for the day. I get most angry when things dont work right all the time. I realize this is normal for people to get angry when things go wrong, no one is mad when things are right, but I like stuff perfect. Peter pointed it out in guitar that I get frustrated whenever I get something hard to do and cant do it right away. I get mad whenever I continually mess up in ballhandling. I try to keep my attitude up and im getting better, but when my ball goes rolling across the gym and I am forced to walk after it, I'm not a happy camper. I am trying to fix this negative reaction, but it is very hard. I think it correlates with my drive to do better, but it really doesnt help. I'm not very nice to people when I'm frustrated, and that makes me more frustrated. It's a vicious cycle. So prayerfully I will get better at this.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas, I'm out.
Be Jealous. It's still awesome, filled with amazing memories from my childhood. I used to have an orange "the Devil is Bad" t-shirt. On the back it had a cartoon devil looking up at a fast-falling blue bowling ball that had the W's written on it. So cool.
Now, I am in a pretty good mood. I got my Iphone working with my new alarm clock after hours of trying to load music from Itunes, and somehow trying on my new clothes to make sure they fit good and then reorganizing my clothes felt good. I'm not exactly sure why. It did make my room quite cleaner. I am finally going to try and clean up my room, and I believe I am getting a queen sized bed. Both of these are good things pertaining to my room. It might actually look reasonably like a well kempt 18 year old guys room instead of just a mess.
So yesterday I worked out at the club til I got kicked out. Thats not really important I just thought it sounded cool. It sounds like it could be an item on my bucket list to cross off, if I had a bucket list. I'm not really into making stuff like that. I then proceeded to have a nice dinner with my family for Christmas Eve.
I have gone two days this week without doing my ballhandling challenge, tomorrow will be the third day in the week(or first day in a new week). I havent done it. This is depressing, because I only like allowing one day off a week, so I will have to do it for like two weeks straight to make up for that crap. Ugh, its frustrating, but I will make up for my own insolence.
I woke up in a good mood, had a good time at breakfast, and then opening and giving presents. It's so weird to see how Christmas changes over the years. Back in the day, you wake up at like 6 after hardly sleeping, are just stoked out of your mind, and go running to the tree, check out the present, and annoy your parents til they get ready to open presents, everyone still in pajamas. Now, I forced myself to wake up at nine and get ready for the day. No day is started right without a shower, getting totally ready and decent looking, and a little morning exercise. So I am totally ready, and wait patiently for my parents to shower, though my mom did make breakfast, and I put on some coffee. We slowly make our way through everything. Back in the day we took a break part way through presents so that the kids could play with new toys. Not so anymore, and there are much less toys nowadays. Clothes used to be dumb, now they are appreciated.
But what toys we get are way more complicated. I spent a long while today frustrated out of my mind with this guitar pedal today, which connects to the computer to change settings, because for some reason they made the default settings crap. But I couldnt figure out how to change the settings to what I want on the computer. It's way too complicated, so I will recruit some help later. I gave up, it was too much. And it was made worse because I feel bad being mad on Christmas, because I know its not what my focus should be on, whether my petty new gadgets work.
And here is my learning bit for the day. I get most angry when things dont work right all the time. I realize this is normal for people to get angry when things go wrong, no one is mad when things are right, but I like stuff perfect. Peter pointed it out in guitar that I get frustrated whenever I get something hard to do and cant do it right away. I get mad whenever I continually mess up in ballhandling. I try to keep my attitude up and im getting better, but when my ball goes rolling across the gym and I am forced to walk after it, I'm not a happy camper. I am trying to fix this negative reaction, but it is very hard. I think it correlates with my drive to do better, but it really doesnt help. I'm not very nice to people when I'm frustrated, and that makes me more frustrated. It's a vicious cycle. So prayerfully I will get better at this.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas, I'm out.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Mr. 89 and lessons from bball
I ask that you give me a minute to rant before i move onto what's up in my life. As many of you have heard, UConn has won 89 games straight in womens basketball. Surpassing John Wooden's 88 game streak. To which I say, whoop de freakin doo. I do not follow womens basketball, I dont think it that fun to watch, but thats just my opinion. Apparently, UConn's coach, Geno Auriemma, thinks differently.
"The reason everybody is having a heart attack the last four or five days is a bunch of women are threatening to break a men's record, and everybody is all up in arms about it...All the women are happy as hell and they can't wait to come in here and ask questions. All the guys that loved women's basketball are all excited, and all the miserable bastards that follow men's basketball and don't want us to break the record are all here because they're pissed...If we were breaking a women's record, everybody would go, 'Aren't those girls nice, let's give them two paragraphs in USA Today, you know, give them one line on the bottom of ESPN and then let's send them back where they belong, in the kitchen.'"
Well thanks Phil Jackson.
Look, 89 straight wins is a big deal, I dont care what sport. Its not the same as John Woodens record. The girls game is completely different, why compare the two records? 1. If espn had not said anything about this record for the past 4 days, would any of us know about it. no. 2. Now that it has been broken, do any of us care? NO. Do people watch the men's game more for legitimate reasons, like the speed, athleticism, and well, the men are generally just all around better(thats not being sexist, go watch the nba and the wnba and then accuse me of sexism)? Yes they do. So stop even comparing the two things Geno, you wont win in this argument, and no one is angry that you are passing a record. they are just angry that you seem to think people who dont think the womens game is as hard to win in as the mens game are sexist. Ridiculous. I dont understand whatever happened to the coach of teams being respectable and showing class. I guarantee you a great man like John Wooden would never make a remark like the quote above. I'm done with my rant.
Back to my life. So I'm still very excited about bball, I dont see that changing anytime soon. I love working hard to achieve my goals, I just get kind of upset when my goals get shatter by injury. I just want to work hard, try out for a team, and the worst thing they can do is say no. But it isnt worth it to not go 100%, I can do my job and then the rest is up to God. I realize that I keep saying stuff like that, but you know what, its true so I will keep saying it. Maybe I'll make it my theme.
This morning I was reminded of another lesson from point guard college. I came into practice today and was so tired as I started my ballhandling. I was sucking and I was not excited about being at bball at 9 in the morning. After fumbling the ball on the easiest drills a few times, I remember this concept, "energizing yourself is a skill." I told myself "I'm not tired," like Steve Nash does in his shooting video, and tried to encourage myself to work hard and have enthusiasm, because it really is up to you how you respond in certain situations. I immediately started to feel better, perform better, and when I made mistakes I wasnt as mad. There are days when you go out, start shooting hoops or whatever you are committed to, and it is so much fun, you just love it. But then there are those days, like today was for me, where you just dont want to be there, and its not fun at all. That's when it is important to encourage yourself, psyche yourself up, because it really is your choice how you approach what you do. Be a thermostat not a thermometer, and change your surroundings, dont let your surroundings change you.
So, I went to dinner tonight at Santillis. They were shorthanded but even for being short people they were really slow on their service. I didnt really care, but its kind of hard when you plan on ordering dessert and then dont because it would probably take another hour. And usually I'm not one to complain about food, especially Italian food, but I ordered a tenderloin and they put it on marinara sauce instead of alfredo, so I sent it back, because, I really like alfredo. I wasnt very upset with that, I eat fast anyway so I figured I'd be done about the same time anyway(and I was). However, I also ordered my tenderloin well, just ask bryan, he knows I dont like blood or red in my steak. Well, my meal comes back, this time on alfredo, only to find it was probably medium rare. Yeah. Don't get me wrong, it was still very good and the server was very friendly, but I didnt want to wait any longer to eat and I want my food done at least reasonably right. Is that to much to ask?
So now I feel super negative for most of this blog, so I will change that a bit. I have guitar tomorrow, I'm finishing Christmas shopping tomorrow, I'm full of food, Christmas is in a few days, I finished my rap lyrics(i'm working on the guitar riffs), music overall makes me a happy guy right now, more basketball will be on tv soon enough, I'm walking around and working out plenty, Im about halfway done with senior year, am settling in on college decisions(unless something with bball strangely changes my mind), and I am enjoying trying to grow closer to Christ. So I guess that's pretty cool, it's pretty cool.
Lastly, Andrew Schwab writes a mean blog. Its just at andrewschwab.com, he is the frontman for project 86. I feel like I can relate to him well, kind of like we could be bros. Probably because he likes sports, obviously likes good music, and writes some beast blogs. Way more beast than mine, because all of his have some insightful spiritual message, that almost always seem to connect with me. So check it out and see if you can agree.
"The reason everybody is having a heart attack the last four or five days is a bunch of women are threatening to break a men's record, and everybody is all up in arms about it...All the women are happy as hell and they can't wait to come in here and ask questions. All the guys that loved women's basketball are all excited, and all the miserable bastards that follow men's basketball and don't want us to break the record are all here because they're pissed...If we were breaking a women's record, everybody would go, 'Aren't those girls nice, let's give them two paragraphs in USA Today, you know, give them one line on the bottom of ESPN and then let's send them back where they belong, in the kitchen.'"
Well thanks Phil Jackson.
Look, 89 straight wins is a big deal, I dont care what sport. Its not the same as John Woodens record. The girls game is completely different, why compare the two records? 1. If espn had not said anything about this record for the past 4 days, would any of us know about it. no. 2. Now that it has been broken, do any of us care? NO. Do people watch the men's game more for legitimate reasons, like the speed, athleticism, and well, the men are generally just all around better(thats not being sexist, go watch the nba and the wnba and then accuse me of sexism)? Yes they do. So stop even comparing the two things Geno, you wont win in this argument, and no one is angry that you are passing a record. they are just angry that you seem to think people who dont think the womens game is as hard to win in as the mens game are sexist. Ridiculous. I dont understand whatever happened to the coach of teams being respectable and showing class. I guarantee you a great man like John Wooden would never make a remark like the quote above. I'm done with my rant.
Back to my life. So I'm still very excited about bball, I dont see that changing anytime soon. I love working hard to achieve my goals, I just get kind of upset when my goals get shatter by injury. I just want to work hard, try out for a team, and the worst thing they can do is say no. But it isnt worth it to not go 100%, I can do my job and then the rest is up to God. I realize that I keep saying stuff like that, but you know what, its true so I will keep saying it. Maybe I'll make it my theme.
This morning I was reminded of another lesson from point guard college. I came into practice today and was so tired as I started my ballhandling. I was sucking and I was not excited about being at bball at 9 in the morning. After fumbling the ball on the easiest drills a few times, I remember this concept, "energizing yourself is a skill." I told myself "I'm not tired," like Steve Nash does in his shooting video, and tried to encourage myself to work hard and have enthusiasm, because it really is up to you how you respond in certain situations. I immediately started to feel better, perform better, and when I made mistakes I wasnt as mad. There are days when you go out, start shooting hoops or whatever you are committed to, and it is so much fun, you just love it. But then there are those days, like today was for me, where you just dont want to be there, and its not fun at all. That's when it is important to encourage yourself, psyche yourself up, because it really is your choice how you approach what you do. Be a thermostat not a thermometer, and change your surroundings, dont let your surroundings change you.
So, I went to dinner tonight at Santillis. They were shorthanded but even for being short people they were really slow on their service. I didnt really care, but its kind of hard when you plan on ordering dessert and then dont because it would probably take another hour. And usually I'm not one to complain about food, especially Italian food, but I ordered a tenderloin and they put it on marinara sauce instead of alfredo, so I sent it back, because, I really like alfredo. I wasnt very upset with that, I eat fast anyway so I figured I'd be done about the same time anyway(and I was). However, I also ordered my tenderloin well, just ask bryan, he knows I dont like blood or red in my steak. Well, my meal comes back, this time on alfredo, only to find it was probably medium rare. Yeah. Don't get me wrong, it was still very good and the server was very friendly, but I didnt want to wait any longer to eat and I want my food done at least reasonably right. Is that to much to ask?
So now I feel super negative for most of this blog, so I will change that a bit. I have guitar tomorrow, I'm finishing Christmas shopping tomorrow, I'm full of food, Christmas is in a few days, I finished my rap lyrics(i'm working on the guitar riffs), music overall makes me a happy guy right now, more basketball will be on tv soon enough, I'm walking around and working out plenty, Im about halfway done with senior year, am settling in on college decisions(unless something with bball strangely changes my mind), and I am enjoying trying to grow closer to Christ. So I guess that's pretty cool, it's pretty cool.
Lastly, Andrew Schwab writes a mean blog. Its just at andrewschwab.com, he is the frontman for project 86. I feel like I can relate to him well, kind of like we could be bros. Probably because he likes sports, obviously likes good music, and writes some beast blogs. Way more beast than mine, because all of his have some insightful spiritual message, that almost always seem to connect with me. So check it out and see if you can agree.
Monday, December 20, 2010
College ball and Rap
On breaks I seem to post more often, its always nice to have some time.
So Patriot Basketball got killed by sunnyside christian and then beat desales in overtime. Its nice to start league play with a win, even if it wasnt pretty. I like that the senior class at Liberty can basically just hang out and talk yet still have a decent time. I ended up at Caleb Harts on Friday, and a bunch of us watched Elf and then just talked for a while. However, he could have informed us of the hot tub earlier.Saturday after the game it was all slick outside so I ended up just hitting up applebees with a few people. Today was church, and then work, and then I hung out with Victor for the rest of the day, even though we didnt find much to do. Oh well, I want to do some more stuff over the break with people. So hopefully I'll find something, but I'm not too worried.
Saturday after shootaround I had a nice long conversation with Coach Watson about college basketball stuff. We went on a few tangents, but basically I have to start basically making a basketball resume for schools, explain my situation, and find someone who will give me a shot. I'm very excited about it, but I feel like the list of schools I send this to wont be very big. I seem to be getting surer of George Fox over time, so when my dad asked "What if you can play bball for Pacific and not for Fox?" I was a little taken aback. I am not going to worry to much about it because there is no point in that when I havent even started, but it is something to think about. I started scouting schools and their rosters, and I think I could fit in well for most of these Division 3 NCAA schools, but some of the NAIA schools look a little daunting considering what my resume looks like and my whole adjustment to the collegiate level. Anyway, I really think I have a good shot at playing, even if it means redshirting freshman year, I dont care I just love the game. I'm stoked for the challenge.
Musically, I almost feel constantly inspired to write, but I dont do it all the time, and I realize that I might just stop feeling inspired pretty soon. Sometimes things like that just happen. I got a Snow Patrol mix from Victor, and it is quite good. I love Gary Lightbody's voice, it's pretty fun to sing along with too, a nice range and stuff.
So, I keep hearing this crappy rap at our basketball games, and on mixes, and it makes me want to write a totally cliche rap song, just to say I did it. The basic elements of these songs: 1.Start with listing your credentials(straight outta North Richland), your name, and the year. 2. The chorus has to have a small singing part, 10 words max, that is repeated over and over, with either sound effects(huh!) or some random rap line between repeats. 3. The verse has to include metaphors and similes about how good at life or how hardcore you are. 4. The bridge must be a faster rap with much more ridiculous and even childlike metaphors(cartoon characters and what not), or a slower yet harder few lines about how notorious you are. 5.You may have one small guitar riff that repeats along with the song's beat, you can change this riff slightly for the chorus and tweak the beats a little, and you can make a new riff and more dramatic beats for the bridge.
Did I miss anything? I know it is necessary to drink a sprite before rapping, because if you dont it is impossible to come up with intuitive lines like "Last name ever, first name greatest."
That's all I got
So Patriot Basketball got killed by sunnyside christian and then beat desales in overtime. Its nice to start league play with a win, even if it wasnt pretty. I like that the senior class at Liberty can basically just hang out and talk yet still have a decent time. I ended up at Caleb Harts on Friday, and a bunch of us watched Elf and then just talked for a while. However, he could have informed us of the hot tub earlier.Saturday after the game it was all slick outside so I ended up just hitting up applebees with a few people. Today was church, and then work, and then I hung out with Victor for the rest of the day, even though we didnt find much to do. Oh well, I want to do some more stuff over the break with people. So hopefully I'll find something, but I'm not too worried.
Saturday after shootaround I had a nice long conversation with Coach Watson about college basketball stuff. We went on a few tangents, but basically I have to start basically making a basketball resume for schools, explain my situation, and find someone who will give me a shot. I'm very excited about it, but I feel like the list of schools I send this to wont be very big. I seem to be getting surer of George Fox over time, so when my dad asked "What if you can play bball for Pacific and not for Fox?" I was a little taken aback. I am not going to worry to much about it because there is no point in that when I havent even started, but it is something to think about. I started scouting schools and their rosters, and I think I could fit in well for most of these Division 3 NCAA schools, but some of the NAIA schools look a little daunting considering what my resume looks like and my whole adjustment to the collegiate level. Anyway, I really think I have a good shot at playing, even if it means redshirting freshman year, I dont care I just love the game. I'm stoked for the challenge.
Musically, I almost feel constantly inspired to write, but I dont do it all the time, and I realize that I might just stop feeling inspired pretty soon. Sometimes things like that just happen. I got a Snow Patrol mix from Victor, and it is quite good. I love Gary Lightbody's voice, it's pretty fun to sing along with too, a nice range and stuff.
So, I keep hearing this crappy rap at our basketball games, and on mixes, and it makes me want to write a totally cliche rap song, just to say I did it. The basic elements of these songs: 1.Start with listing your credentials(straight outta North Richland), your name, and the year. 2. The chorus has to have a small singing part, 10 words max, that is repeated over and over, with either sound effects(huh!) or some random rap line between repeats. 3. The verse has to include metaphors and similes about how good at life or how hardcore you are. 4. The bridge must be a faster rap with much more ridiculous and even childlike metaphors(cartoon characters and what not), or a slower yet harder few lines about how notorious you are. 5.You may have one small guitar riff that repeats along with the song's beat, you can change this riff slightly for the chorus and tweak the beats a little, and you can make a new riff and more dramatic beats for the bridge.
Did I miss anything? I know it is necessary to drink a sprite before rapping, because if you dont it is impossible to come up with intuitive lines like "Last name ever, first name greatest."
That's all I got
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Are you very accepting and compassionate towards the crippled? Hmmm, I should probably mark that pretty high...
So two days in and ballhandling is going good, and I'm definitely not as good as I'd like to be, so I'm pretty happy to get to work. Also, I got back to the club, so working out is always good. I realized that I need to put on a good amount of muscle before basketball, so I'm starting to make a slight conscious effort to eat healthier. More lean meats, salads, you know, healthy stuff that helps you build muscle. It feels good to eat well and work out, almost like it's what is good for me... nah.
So now, I have been accepted to 6 schools, I'm pretty okay with this. Corban and Whitworth's acceptance letters came today. All this college stuff just gets me excited. Senior year is almost halfway over, finals are in mid January but Christmas break starts tomorrow. Next year at this time, I will be done with college finals most likely, and either playing basketball or headed home for Christmas. It's crazy to think about, but the weird thing is you can never know what will happen in the next year. I had much different plans for my senior year, it was supposed to be "the best year of your life! Yaaayyyyyy!" to state the common conception about senior year. I'm not going to get back into that, but I'm stoked for my future, no matter if it involves basketball, optometry, certain colleges, or anything else I want. As long as I let God take me where he wants me, I'll be fine.
So I took a spiritual gifts test in Bible yesterday. It was odd. Some of the questions were loony. However, I was already quite sure that I am not a prophet or a healer. Not exactly my forte. But I feel like my top 2, Faith and Music, arent very insightful for spiritual gifts. Faith??? I think that is part of buying into Christianity, it better be a pretty high category! Music, yeah it's a gift that can be used for God's Kingdom, but lets be serious, I wouldnt call it a spiritual gift. Things like encouragement, serving, and teaching are spiritual gifts, I wouldnt say getting up and playing guitar really qualifies in those categories. I guess it kind of is, but it's one of those things that is hard to harness and build up Gods Kingdom on a day to day basis. I play in chapel once a week, and Intersect less than once a month. "Oh, I recieve Word from God on things he thinks the body needs to work on." "I enjoy serving the needy, crippled, anything where someone needs help." "Oh I occasionally bust out a few tasty licks on the ol guitar." Just doesnt seem to be quite the same, but its true that it is an important thing in the church. I dont know, I just needed to ramble a bit about that.
Speaking of music, Chiodos new CD is tight. I cant handle the guys voice or the slightly creepy guitar riffs. Queens Club also has a new EP that is pretty nice, I actually like the acoustic versions of a few of their songs.
I don't really want to go to school tomorrow. It's just going to be an hour and a half of nothing, though I might go grab a few treats from my first grade ta since they are having a party. I know, I say that right after I mention wanting to eat better, oh well, 1 cookie or something aint bad. I just want to do some musical stuff, i have an itch to perform a bit for some reason, I want to work out, and I want to improve at bball.
Lastly, I have watched SNL's best of Will Ferrel several times in the past week, I should probably return it to Hastings, but it is so funny. One might say it is a blinding, brilliant light from heaven. If you havent seen Dissing Your Dog, please do. I can relate so much to the main guy, Dave, since I too enjoy insulting my families dogs, namely Cooper.
Excited for Christmas break, Shy Ronnie
So now, I have been accepted to 6 schools, I'm pretty okay with this. Corban and Whitworth's acceptance letters came today. All this college stuff just gets me excited. Senior year is almost halfway over, finals are in mid January but Christmas break starts tomorrow. Next year at this time, I will be done with college finals most likely, and either playing basketball or headed home for Christmas. It's crazy to think about, but the weird thing is you can never know what will happen in the next year. I had much different plans for my senior year, it was supposed to be "the best year of your life! Yaaayyyyyy!" to state the common conception about senior year. I'm not going to get back into that, but I'm stoked for my future, no matter if it involves basketball, optometry, certain colleges, or anything else I want. As long as I let God take me where he wants me, I'll be fine.
So I took a spiritual gifts test in Bible yesterday. It was odd. Some of the questions were loony. However, I was already quite sure that I am not a prophet or a healer. Not exactly my forte. But I feel like my top 2, Faith and Music, arent very insightful for spiritual gifts. Faith??? I think that is part of buying into Christianity, it better be a pretty high category! Music, yeah it's a gift that can be used for God's Kingdom, but lets be serious, I wouldnt call it a spiritual gift. Things like encouragement, serving, and teaching are spiritual gifts, I wouldnt say getting up and playing guitar really qualifies in those categories. I guess it kind of is, but it's one of those things that is hard to harness and build up Gods Kingdom on a day to day basis. I play in chapel once a week, and Intersect less than once a month. "Oh, I recieve Word from God on things he thinks the body needs to work on." "I enjoy serving the needy, crippled, anything where someone needs help." "Oh I occasionally bust out a few tasty licks on the ol guitar." Just doesnt seem to be quite the same, but its true that it is an important thing in the church. I dont know, I just needed to ramble a bit about that.
Speaking of music, Chiodos new CD is tight. I cant handle the guys voice or the slightly creepy guitar riffs. Queens Club also has a new EP that is pretty nice, I actually like the acoustic versions of a few of their songs.
I don't really want to go to school tomorrow. It's just going to be an hour and a half of nothing, though I might go grab a few treats from my first grade ta since they are having a party. I know, I say that right after I mention wanting to eat better, oh well, 1 cookie or something aint bad. I just want to do some musical stuff, i have an itch to perform a bit for some reason, I want to work out, and I want to improve at bball.
Lastly, I have watched SNL's best of Will Ferrel several times in the past week, I should probably return it to Hastings, but it is so funny. One might say it is a blinding, brilliant light from heaven. If you havent seen Dissing Your Dog, please do. I can relate so much to the main guy, Dave, since I too enjoy insulting my families dogs, namely Cooper.
Excited for Christmas break, Shy Ronnie
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Yes they can.
Cripples can improve at basketball. After I wrote my last blog, I read over the notes I took from point guard college. I love PGC, I feel like I am cheating when I read the basketball tips they give, they are just so sick, yet so few people do what it says. However, I cant use those tips yet in my game, but they teach life lessons through basketball. From not comparing yourself to others, to not making excuses, to encouraging people, to learning from failures. "Success in life consists of moving from one failure to the next without losing enthusiasm."-Winston Churchill. When I fail, I need to move forward without becoming discouraged, that won't get me anywhere.
But besides life lessons, I remembered this thing PGC does called the 30 Day Challenge. What it is is you pick a certain skill and focus on it for 30 days straight. This lets you see the improvement by focusing on 1 thing, and 30 days is a doable goal that is still long enough to create a habit. And it is supposed to be 45 min max, so starting Wednesday, I am starting on a ballhandling 30 day challenge. I made up a 30 minute routine, and I think I can do it at the beginning of each bball practice while others warm up. I'm quite excited. I will finish on January 14.
Another reason for my excitement is the news I got at my doctors app yesterday. Dr. Kody says 1. I can walk now, 2. I can ride the bike now, 3. The ACL he put in was huge, which makes it stronger, 4. He used dissolvable screws so they just turn into bone eventually. So no tearing my acl again on the screw, although I dont understand why dissolvable screws arent standard... 5. I can wear my sports brace now again instead of that giant I was wearing. 6. I should be able to return to bball at 9 months post operation, which means I will be healthy by Bball season next year! This gets me extremely happy, although nervous because I need to work really hard. It's going to be interesting.
Then today I went to physical therapy, and my physical therapist says that I can drive my car, so whenever it gets back from the shop I will give it a go. Overall a very nice series of events.
So yesterday I was sitting in the guitar center in Spokane, jamming on a 7 string, and some old guy randomly came up to me and started talking to me about some book about some guitarist and some random tuning. I politely said I would check out the tuning, but it raises several questions. 1. The guy smelled horrible, so I wondered what exactly he had been smoking, I'm not good at recognizing scents. 2. Is he basically just telling me to rethink how I play because I suck? but I was playing a 7 string so the tuning didnt even apply, and 3. why do people awkwardly come up to me??? I know this happens to everyone a little, but I think it happens to me more than normal. I believe it runs in the family, because it happens to my dad too, we must look like good people to talk to apparently. Very weird.
I went to the Kamiakin Richland game yesterday, and it was pretty sweet. Case Rada has a pure jumper, its absurd. Kamiakin was obviously the better team, but Richland fought hard and almost came back. It was quite entertaining to watch, especially since I'd played probably 75% of the people on both teams.
I might have written more, but I have to head to Burbank for tonights game
But besides life lessons, I remembered this thing PGC does called the 30 Day Challenge. What it is is you pick a certain skill and focus on it for 30 days straight. This lets you see the improvement by focusing on 1 thing, and 30 days is a doable goal that is still long enough to create a habit. And it is supposed to be 45 min max, so starting Wednesday, I am starting on a ballhandling 30 day challenge. I made up a 30 minute routine, and I think I can do it at the beginning of each bball practice while others warm up. I'm quite excited. I will finish on January 14.
Another reason for my excitement is the news I got at my doctors app yesterday. Dr. Kody says 1. I can walk now, 2. I can ride the bike now, 3. The ACL he put in was huge, which makes it stronger, 4. He used dissolvable screws so they just turn into bone eventually. So no tearing my acl again on the screw, although I dont understand why dissolvable screws arent standard... 5. I can wear my sports brace now again instead of that giant I was wearing. 6. I should be able to return to bball at 9 months post operation, which means I will be healthy by Bball season next year! This gets me extremely happy, although nervous because I need to work really hard. It's going to be interesting.
Then today I went to physical therapy, and my physical therapist says that I can drive my car, so whenever it gets back from the shop I will give it a go. Overall a very nice series of events.
So yesterday I was sitting in the guitar center in Spokane, jamming on a 7 string, and some old guy randomly came up to me and started talking to me about some book about some guitarist and some random tuning. I politely said I would check out the tuning, but it raises several questions. 1. The guy smelled horrible, so I wondered what exactly he had been smoking, I'm not good at recognizing scents. 2. Is he basically just telling me to rethink how I play because I suck? but I was playing a 7 string so the tuning didnt even apply, and 3. why do people awkwardly come up to me??? I know this happens to everyone a little, but I think it happens to me more than normal. I believe it runs in the family, because it happens to my dad too, we must look like good people to talk to apparently. Very weird.
I went to the Kamiakin Richland game yesterday, and it was pretty sweet. Case Rada has a pure jumper, its absurd. Kamiakin was obviously the better team, but Richland fought hard and almost came back. It was quite entertaining to watch, especially since I'd played probably 75% of the people on both teams.
I might have written more, but I have to head to Burbank for tonights game
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Can cripples improve at basketball?
It's very hard for me to not be able to move well. I am allowed full weightbearing now but am not allowed to walk without crutches til i can walk without a limp. That helps a lot for me not feeling too bad, but it still makes me feel bad at basketball practice. I dont know if I've made this clear or not, but my drive to improve is higher than your average person. I've said I like going 100% at stuff, and I enjoy practicing like that. I want to get as good as I can as fast as I can, screwing around on the court is not something I spend much time doing. Okay, so I am not serious the whole time, because come on I have to practice my underhand Terry Watson signature shot a few times every once in a while, but for the most part I like to work hard. If at the end of your workout you cannot say you got better, you wasted your time. So this is very hard to do when I am on crutches. I can shoot short range shots, working on focus and form, and I can do some ballhandling(which I should get to do more of this week and on), but it's hard to feel like I got a whole lot better, especially compared to people on the court for 2 and a half hours a day. So I am struggling with that right now, I think it will improve over the next few weeks as I get more capable of exercise, but its not fun currently.
I already mentioned it is not easy to watch games for liberty, but it's hard for me to even watch high school highlights too. I realized this yesterday. I always wanted to be one of the guys in the highlights, and luckily it did happen a bit last year, but it just feels wrong because I just think "I should be out there doing that." It's just weird, and it's kind of hard at times.
This week I got accepted to Carrol College in Montana, and Linfield College down in Oregon. I like getting accepted to schools, even if I have no real intention of going there. Carrol, is WAY cheaper than the other colleges I want to go to. They already have a less expensive tuition, and they gave me a beastly scholarship, but its a strong Catholic school, and its in freaking Montana, so I really dont want to go there. Linfield, as I mentioned in earlier blogs, was really boring when I visited there, and they have frustrated me throughout the application process. They have sent me scholarship stuff, tons of emails about events, but didnt even tell me if I was accepted til today. And even in the acceptance letter, they didnt say what my annual scholarship would be. Really unorganized, I am unimpressed.
I'm kind of waiting for snl to be on, its the Christmas special, I woke up at 11 today, and I'd really like the pancakes I ate at Denny's to digest some more. But some people(Jacob, Christian, Nathan, and Hannah) are not cool because they said they would go to Dennys and then decided to go to McDonald's at the last minute. Denny's wins every time, I dont even understand how you would want to go to McDonald's over a million other restraunts. Terrible.
Anyway, the first graders are thoroughly disturbed by my crutches. Lots of staring and whispering to each other "he has crutches." I can only laugh as they wonder what I did. If one of them asks me Im going to tell them that I didnt eat my vegetables as a kid.
That's all.
I already mentioned it is not easy to watch games for liberty, but it's hard for me to even watch high school highlights too. I realized this yesterday. I always wanted to be one of the guys in the highlights, and luckily it did happen a bit last year, but it just feels wrong because I just think "I should be out there doing that." It's just weird, and it's kind of hard at times.
This week I got accepted to Carrol College in Montana, and Linfield College down in Oregon. I like getting accepted to schools, even if I have no real intention of going there. Carrol, is WAY cheaper than the other colleges I want to go to. They already have a less expensive tuition, and they gave me a beastly scholarship, but its a strong Catholic school, and its in freaking Montana, so I really dont want to go there. Linfield, as I mentioned in earlier blogs, was really boring when I visited there, and they have frustrated me throughout the application process. They have sent me scholarship stuff, tons of emails about events, but didnt even tell me if I was accepted til today. And even in the acceptance letter, they didnt say what my annual scholarship would be. Really unorganized, I am unimpressed.
I'm kind of waiting for snl to be on, its the Christmas special, I woke up at 11 today, and I'd really like the pancakes I ate at Denny's to digest some more. But some people(Jacob, Christian, Nathan, and Hannah) are not cool because they said they would go to Dennys and then decided to go to McDonald's at the last minute. Denny's wins every time, I dont even understand how you would want to go to McDonald's over a million other restraunts. Terrible.
Anyway, the first graders are thoroughly disturbed by my crutches. Lots of staring and whispering to each other "he has crutches." I can only laugh as they wonder what I did. If one of them asks me Im going to tell them that I didnt eat my vegetables as a kid.
That's all.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
We're all broken, like Misfit Toys, It's Christmas Mix Time
So, quite the day.
My Finals are done!!!!! Christmas Break for CBC and only 3 hours at liberty everyday. Im quite happy. I am possibly done with Calculus for my life, and my essay on the Abuse of Auto-tune was a success.
If you didnt know, I really dont like autotuning, besides autotune the news of course. I think it takes the feeling out of music and im not down with people changing the pitch of their voice to perfect when they cant do it on their own. People are talented for a reason, dont let people who shouldnt be singers pretend to be. That means you last name ever first name greatest. Thats my belief and I'm sticking to it.
First home Patriots game today. We started out on fire, ended up winning by 20. I cannot express how badly I want to play, it sucks. But my doctor thinks that I will be able to make a full return to athletics, so that is good. My problem is that if I play in college I probably wont be dominant, like i could be this year. And I was really looking forward to that experience for once. Oh well, some things just werent meant to be.
However, its odd to sit on the bench, and I cant even picture myself in the game this year for Liberty. The game dynamics are just so different than they would be. Either way, it was nice to see a win.
I plan on going back to school tomorrow, I have some catching up to do in Physics but whatever I'll figure it out. Ill be nice and lost tomorrow. Physical therapy in the morning too.
For all you who didnt know, basically everyone, yesterday was St Nicholas Day. It is a day to celebrate the real St. Nic, the guy Santa was based off of. My family celebrates it by making cookies and opening our stockings. I know you are all impressed.
I got a book. but thats okay because it's Brian Welch's new book, Stronger, which is like a 40 day devotional but I dont think I will go day by day. He gives a verse or two that has meant something in his walk of faith and tells a story of his life that illustrates how he has seen this in his ridiculous life. The first day? That verse about "I dont wanna gain the whole world, and lose my soul!" to quote dc talks rendition. So he told a story about how him and Kid Rock went on Metallicas private jet, a bunch of them did cocaine, which Brian claims isnt even fun he doesnt understand why he ever did it because it always just sucked, and they ended up in the back of some club, completely paranoid, and one guy(unnamed) in Metallica ended up basically mute for the night from the cocaine. Ridiculous, and quite the illustration to prove the verse. I'm pretty interested to see whats up next.
Lastly for the night. I'm guessing some of you have been wondering "Hey, its Christmas time, and all these Christmas songs are playing. I wonder what Ron listens to at Christmas time?" I know thats definitely been on everyones mind. Well to answer that burning question, I have a nice Christmas mix that is growing slowly.
Here's the list currently.
1-5 This Time of Year EP- Project 86. What can be said, its incredible.
6. Kidnap The Sandy Claws- Korn. Jonathan Davis covering the song from "Nightmare Before Christmas." Very Nice.
7. Zat You Santa Claus?-Neon Horse. Louis Armstrong originally, it's murky.
8. You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch-Queens Club. Murky, again.
9. Ho Ho Hey!(A way for Santas sleigh)- Emery. Pretty sweet.
10. When I Get Home For Christmas- Snow Patrol. I dont know if this is a cover, its slow but cool.
11. This Is War- Dustin Kensrue. Its an original song, and yes, Dustin is the lead singer for Thrice.
I realize Coldplay just came out with a Christmas song, and its fine, just a bit boring. I'm still looking for some more sweet songs, if you know then, you know, tell me. but be warned, if you even mention Family Force 5, it will not be pretty. Way to mess up perfectly fine Christmas songs.
Th..th..thats all folks
My Finals are done!!!!! Christmas Break for CBC and only 3 hours at liberty everyday. Im quite happy. I am possibly done with Calculus for my life, and my essay on the Abuse of Auto-tune was a success.
If you didnt know, I really dont like autotuning, besides autotune the news of course. I think it takes the feeling out of music and im not down with people changing the pitch of their voice to perfect when they cant do it on their own. People are talented for a reason, dont let people who shouldnt be singers pretend to be. That means you last name ever first name greatest. Thats my belief and I'm sticking to it.
First home Patriots game today. We started out on fire, ended up winning by 20. I cannot express how badly I want to play, it sucks. But my doctor thinks that I will be able to make a full return to athletics, so that is good. My problem is that if I play in college I probably wont be dominant, like i could be this year. And I was really looking forward to that experience for once. Oh well, some things just werent meant to be.
However, its odd to sit on the bench, and I cant even picture myself in the game this year for Liberty. The game dynamics are just so different than they would be. Either way, it was nice to see a win.
I plan on going back to school tomorrow, I have some catching up to do in Physics but whatever I'll figure it out. Ill be nice and lost tomorrow. Physical therapy in the morning too.
For all you who didnt know, basically everyone, yesterday was St Nicholas Day. It is a day to celebrate the real St. Nic, the guy Santa was based off of. My family celebrates it by making cookies and opening our stockings. I know you are all impressed.
I got a book. but thats okay because it's Brian Welch's new book, Stronger, which is like a 40 day devotional but I dont think I will go day by day. He gives a verse or two that has meant something in his walk of faith and tells a story of his life that illustrates how he has seen this in his ridiculous life. The first day? That verse about "I dont wanna gain the whole world, and lose my soul!" to quote dc talks rendition. So he told a story about how him and Kid Rock went on Metallicas private jet, a bunch of them did cocaine, which Brian claims isnt even fun he doesnt understand why he ever did it because it always just sucked, and they ended up in the back of some club, completely paranoid, and one guy(unnamed) in Metallica ended up basically mute for the night from the cocaine. Ridiculous, and quite the illustration to prove the verse. I'm pretty interested to see whats up next.
Lastly for the night. I'm guessing some of you have been wondering "Hey, its Christmas time, and all these Christmas songs are playing. I wonder what Ron listens to at Christmas time?" I know thats definitely been on everyones mind. Well to answer that burning question, I have a nice Christmas mix that is growing slowly.
Here's the list currently.
1-5 This Time of Year EP- Project 86. What can be said, its incredible.
6. Kidnap The Sandy Claws- Korn. Jonathan Davis covering the song from "Nightmare Before Christmas." Very Nice.
7. Zat You Santa Claus?-Neon Horse. Louis Armstrong originally, it's murky.
8. You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch-Queens Club. Murky, again.
9. Ho Ho Hey!(A way for Santas sleigh)- Emery. Pretty sweet.
10. When I Get Home For Christmas- Snow Patrol. I dont know if this is a cover, its slow but cool.
11. This Is War- Dustin Kensrue. Its an original song, and yes, Dustin is the lead singer for Thrice.
I realize Coldplay just came out with a Christmas song, and its fine, just a bit boring. I'm still looking for some more sweet songs, if you know then, you know, tell me. but be warned, if you even mention Family Force 5, it will not be pretty. Way to mess up perfectly fine Christmas songs.
Th..th..thats all folks
Saturday, December 4, 2010
College, Meaning, Whatever I feel like, heck its my blog. Why not?
So quick update on the knee. I'm off pain pills, I might take some Tylenol every once in a while, but my pain is minimal. I now have to work on weightbearing so I can get back to walking and I need to work on my range of motion. Other than that, I dont have a lot to say about my knee.
I am kind of getting excited about college. I've been accepted to my top two schools, George Fox University and Pacific University. I just hope someone decides to join me if i go to fox, because I know no one else will go to Pacific. I am not worried about making friends, I think I will still stay close with my close friends that dont go there, but it's always nice to have some familiarity. Also, when I get to college I will be closer to playing sports, which is already bothering me, even though college bball on cbs just started today and the high school season started yesterday. I am quite stoked to meet a bunch of new people and move onto a new chapter in life, hopefully a chapter with new challenges, because I'm sick of physical injury that has plagued high school for me. Obviously I dont know if thats what will happen, but I find myself wanting some new stuff. I feel really weird writing this kind of stuff because I dont want to offend anyone i currently hang out with. I love my friends, I love my family, I love going to my current church, and none of that will ever change. But I'm tired of high school. It's easy, and its repetitive, and 1/3 of my high school classes are being taken despite my strong arguments against it. i'll let you figure out what that class is... but it constantly grates on my nerves, even though it is the subject that i talk about most. Im tired of the tri cities in the winter. I hate the cold, and I will take rain over snow any day. I'm just sort of stuck in the same old. Christmas, friends and family help, but school, and laying around these last few days do not help. I feel that besides building relationships with people, I'm not involved in anything significant. Here's how I constantly feel: this far in my life has been building up for something. I think that sounds stupid, because I'm 17 so I sure hope that something more meaningful is coming haha, but I would not be satisfied with a life without legacy. I dont think God has called me to live a life just walking through the motions. I could never be satisfied with that. And maybe thats why I want something new, because I feel like my life is generally just going through the motions right now.
So to be less serious but sort of on the same subject, crazy activities dont really make a lot of sense to me. People seem to try and find a lot of their life fulfillment, or at least try to be happy, by doing crazy stuff. Whether its climbing on top of a water tower, going to parties, just doing really random activities. If thats you, awesome. Great for you, whatever works for you as long as you still keep Christ numero uno. But I dont understand how that stuff is fun. I always feel like I'm boring because I dont care about that stuff and people I know cant stand just talking, joking around, playing sports or exercising in general, watching tv or movies with people, or doing musical stuff. Thats the kind of thing that I like, even though I realize it may not be incredibly exciting all the time. Does that make me boring? Maybe. Will doing random activities make me less boring to others? Maybe. Will doing random stuff make me really excited? No, it will be just be, eh, whatever. So do I really care if other people think I'm boring? No, not really, it's just who I am.
Now, I am quite excited recently about music. I want to develop what I have done more, get new sounds and riffs, maybe write some more, then I want to record a product I can be proud of. I dont know what to call it, whatever I decide to call my project. I'm guessing I will have victor help some, but I will do a lot on my own, and I dont feel like Ron and the Snakes is the title I want to go under, since my lyrics are usually not jokes like that name, so its kind of the wrong impression. I dont know right now, I'm sure Ill figure out something.
Lastly, people are changing their profile pics to cartoon characters for child abuse prevention. I'm quite proud of having Sir Hiss as my profile pic. I'm bringing back what may have been the original Saucy Snake.
I am kind of getting excited about college. I've been accepted to my top two schools, George Fox University and Pacific University. I just hope someone decides to join me if i go to fox, because I know no one else will go to Pacific. I am not worried about making friends, I think I will still stay close with my close friends that dont go there, but it's always nice to have some familiarity. Also, when I get to college I will be closer to playing sports, which is already bothering me, even though college bball on cbs just started today and the high school season started yesterday. I am quite stoked to meet a bunch of new people and move onto a new chapter in life, hopefully a chapter with new challenges, because I'm sick of physical injury that has plagued high school for me. Obviously I dont know if thats what will happen, but I find myself wanting some new stuff. I feel really weird writing this kind of stuff because I dont want to offend anyone i currently hang out with. I love my friends, I love my family, I love going to my current church, and none of that will ever change. But I'm tired of high school. It's easy, and its repetitive, and 1/3 of my high school classes are being taken despite my strong arguments against it. i'll let you figure out what that class is... but it constantly grates on my nerves, even though it is the subject that i talk about most. Im tired of the tri cities in the winter. I hate the cold, and I will take rain over snow any day. I'm just sort of stuck in the same old. Christmas, friends and family help, but school, and laying around these last few days do not help. I feel that besides building relationships with people, I'm not involved in anything significant. Here's how I constantly feel: this far in my life has been building up for something. I think that sounds stupid, because I'm 17 so I sure hope that something more meaningful is coming haha, but I would not be satisfied with a life without legacy. I dont think God has called me to live a life just walking through the motions. I could never be satisfied with that. And maybe thats why I want something new, because I feel like my life is generally just going through the motions right now.
So to be less serious but sort of on the same subject, crazy activities dont really make a lot of sense to me. People seem to try and find a lot of their life fulfillment, or at least try to be happy, by doing crazy stuff. Whether its climbing on top of a water tower, going to parties, just doing really random activities. If thats you, awesome. Great for you, whatever works for you as long as you still keep Christ numero uno. But I dont understand how that stuff is fun. I always feel like I'm boring because I dont care about that stuff and people I know cant stand just talking, joking around, playing sports or exercising in general, watching tv or movies with people, or doing musical stuff. Thats the kind of thing that I like, even though I realize it may not be incredibly exciting all the time. Does that make me boring? Maybe. Will doing random activities make me less boring to others? Maybe. Will doing random stuff make me really excited? No, it will be just be, eh, whatever. So do I really care if other people think I'm boring? No, not really, it's just who I am.
Now, I am quite excited recently about music. I want to develop what I have done more, get new sounds and riffs, maybe write some more, then I want to record a product I can be proud of. I dont know what to call it, whatever I decide to call my project. I'm guessing I will have victor help some, but I will do a lot on my own, and I dont feel like Ron and the Snakes is the title I want to go under, since my lyrics are usually not jokes like that name, so its kind of the wrong impression. I dont know right now, I'm sure Ill figure out something.
Lastly, people are changing their profile pics to cartoon characters for child abuse prevention. I'm quite proud of having Sir Hiss as my profile pic. I'm bringing back what may have been the original Saucy Snake.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Surgery=fun stuff. Well more fun than last time anyway
So I'm about ten or eleven hours out of surgery, and I think the nerve block that they put in my leg has pretty much warn off. I am currently enjoying the CPM(constant passive motion) machine. Basically, it slowly moves my leg between straight and 40 degrees, and its pretty awesome at making my knee feel good. The Office is on and I think how i met your mother starts on fox in a bit, which I'm quite excited about.
So we drove up to Spokane yesterday, and it was clear until about Ritzville. After Ritzville it got very snowy, amounting to about a 40 mph climb into spokane. Thank God for the 4runner we are borrowing from a friend.
I had a good meal at Chilis, even though Honey Chipolte Crispers sort of have a tea taste. Afterwards I got to have a good work out. I have more to write about it but I will wait til after I describe some surgery stuff since I know thats what most people will read this blog for.
So, the surgery went really well. My doctor, Dr Kody, is a really good surgeon and a great guy to go along with it. He was really chill and relaxed when he was explaining the surgery and recovery. So, they put in a dead guys patellar tendon as my new acl, but instead of the 9 mm graft from my patellar tendon last time, this one is 12 or 13 mm. This extra thickness is supposed to help it be stronger. Kody was very pleased with how the surgery went. I am in less pain than last time since I didnt have my own body parts removed to make the graft. That is good, I can do weightbearing in like a week or so.
While Kody was in there, he took out the screws from the last surgery. He also found out most likely why I tore my ACL again. The upper screw was protruding out of the bone a bit, and the tear was a clean cut. So basically, the theory is that every time I straightened my leg, the acl would push against this screw(which is not dull by the way), til eventually, like anything pushing against metal, my acl snapped. This is disappointing but it`s nice to know that i really was strong, and didnt just blow the acl on my own. I have the old screws in a plastic bag. They are a pretty good size, but they are hollow on the inside with holes in each end.
Im home relaxing for at least the rest of the week, and Dr. Kody says in about 4 weeks I will feel like my leg is fine. That's a common problem with allografts(dead people grafts), people feel so good that they end up coming back too early, before the ACL is strong, and they retear it.
Im excited to feel better again sooner, but I cant ride a bike til 3 weeks post operation, so I will be in need of some cardio. Maybe I will do those arm bikes for a while or something, I dont know. Oh well, my muscle is supposed to return quicker since its just the graft healing and not part of my patellar tendon or hamstring. I'm also excited that I can move my leg around already, its not just limp like last time.
So thats enough about my surgery. If thats all you wanted to read then I guess you dont have to keep reading. I wanted to say thank you to all the people who prayed for me and will continue to pray for me throughout my recovery.
I finished my last workout of the year and decided it was a good time to pray, right in the exercise room at the Holiday Inn express, where 9 months ago I was eager to go out and play Pe Ell for the championship game. I realized that I keep saying I hope God uses me mightily through these tears, but in that I was very focused on MY LIFE being good. How will God make MY LIFE work out? And thats not what its about. I dont deserve anything in this life, to quote thrice again "can you hear now that everything's grace, after all. If there's one thing I know in this life, we are beggars all." When I committed myself to Christ, my life no longer belonged to me, but it became God's for him to work through me. That's the truth, so it doesnt matter how my life plays out as long as I live it for Him.
Now, on an unserious note, unrelated to ACLs, that I just keep forgetting to put in my blog. So I applied to Linfield a while ago, and had to put down categories in which I wanted to compete for a scholarship. I had to pick 3, so I put down Chemistry and Math, naturally, but I didnt know what to put for the 3rd. I saw, Music:Instrumental, was a category, but that if I put that I had to list what instrument I would be playing. I told my mom "Look, Ill just put electric guitar down, so they will look at it, reject it right off the bat, and I will get either Chemistry or Math. No college wants to here electric guitar for a scholarship hahaha." I got a letter from Linfield like last week or something, and yes, you guessed it, it was an invitation from Linfield's music department inviting me to participate for a scholarship. Ha ha ha ha, Crap. So I think I might just go record a few songs and submit them to Linfield, hoping for the best. I'm still hoping I get a letter from the chemistry of math department, but I might not.
Lastly, my senior pics came in, so i will post some soon. Ladies, I suggest you sit down before looking at them, wouldnt want anyone to pass out and get hurt just from viewing my sheer attractiveness.
You've been warned, and thats all for now as I sit relaxing at home.
So we drove up to Spokane yesterday, and it was clear until about Ritzville. After Ritzville it got very snowy, amounting to about a 40 mph climb into spokane. Thank God for the 4runner we are borrowing from a friend.
I had a good meal at Chilis, even though Honey Chipolte Crispers sort of have a tea taste. Afterwards I got to have a good work out. I have more to write about it but I will wait til after I describe some surgery stuff since I know thats what most people will read this blog for.
So, the surgery went really well. My doctor, Dr Kody, is a really good surgeon and a great guy to go along with it. He was really chill and relaxed when he was explaining the surgery and recovery. So, they put in a dead guys patellar tendon as my new acl, but instead of the 9 mm graft from my patellar tendon last time, this one is 12 or 13 mm. This extra thickness is supposed to help it be stronger. Kody was very pleased with how the surgery went. I am in less pain than last time since I didnt have my own body parts removed to make the graft. That is good, I can do weightbearing in like a week or so.
While Kody was in there, he took out the screws from the last surgery. He also found out most likely why I tore my ACL again. The upper screw was protruding out of the bone a bit, and the tear was a clean cut. So basically, the theory is that every time I straightened my leg, the acl would push against this screw(which is not dull by the way), til eventually, like anything pushing against metal, my acl snapped. This is disappointing but it`s nice to know that i really was strong, and didnt just blow the acl on my own. I have the old screws in a plastic bag. They are a pretty good size, but they are hollow on the inside with holes in each end.
Im home relaxing for at least the rest of the week, and Dr. Kody says in about 4 weeks I will feel like my leg is fine. That's a common problem with allografts(dead people grafts), people feel so good that they end up coming back too early, before the ACL is strong, and they retear it.
Im excited to feel better again sooner, but I cant ride a bike til 3 weeks post operation, so I will be in need of some cardio. Maybe I will do those arm bikes for a while or something, I dont know. Oh well, my muscle is supposed to return quicker since its just the graft healing and not part of my patellar tendon or hamstring. I'm also excited that I can move my leg around already, its not just limp like last time.
So thats enough about my surgery. If thats all you wanted to read then I guess you dont have to keep reading. I wanted to say thank you to all the people who prayed for me and will continue to pray for me throughout my recovery.
I finished my last workout of the year and decided it was a good time to pray, right in the exercise room at the Holiday Inn express, where 9 months ago I was eager to go out and play Pe Ell for the championship game. I realized that I keep saying I hope God uses me mightily through these tears, but in that I was very focused on MY LIFE being good. How will God make MY LIFE work out? And thats not what its about. I dont deserve anything in this life, to quote thrice again "can you hear now that everything's grace, after all. If there's one thing I know in this life, we are beggars all." When I committed myself to Christ, my life no longer belonged to me, but it became God's for him to work through me. That's the truth, so it doesnt matter how my life plays out as long as I live it for Him.
Now, on an unserious note, unrelated to ACLs, that I just keep forgetting to put in my blog. So I applied to Linfield a while ago, and had to put down categories in which I wanted to compete for a scholarship. I had to pick 3, so I put down Chemistry and Math, naturally, but I didnt know what to put for the 3rd. I saw, Music:Instrumental, was a category, but that if I put that I had to list what instrument I would be playing. I told my mom "Look, Ill just put electric guitar down, so they will look at it, reject it right off the bat, and I will get either Chemistry or Math. No college wants to here electric guitar for a scholarship hahaha." I got a letter from Linfield like last week or something, and yes, you guessed it, it was an invitation from Linfield's music department inviting me to participate for a scholarship. Ha ha ha ha, Crap. So I think I might just go record a few songs and submit them to Linfield, hoping for the best. I'm still hoping I get a letter from the chemistry of math department, but I might not.
Lastly, my senior pics came in, so i will post some soon. Ladies, I suggest you sit down before looking at them, wouldnt want anyone to pass out and get hurt just from viewing my sheer attractiveness.
You've been warned, and thats all for now as I sit relaxing at home.
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