Results

Came back from the softball tournament with a second place finish. We were the second best team in our division and we played really well, especially for not playing with one another before. We stayed at a campground and the second night there was a Cornhole (bags) tournament and my partner and I lost in the semi finals - so it was a weekend of coming up short. We had fun.

Playin Ball

In four hours I'm leaving for the largest church league softball tournament in america. Several guys from the baseball team are going over and we are going to do our best to win our division. I'll let ya know how we do...

Ducks

Can't wait for the Boise St game tomorrow...

Hopeful

I had a great initial conversation tonight with a potential internship spot. We're going to talk again next Wednesday at 7:00 PM. I'll give out more details after that conversation. He has a few people he needs to talk to on his end and I need to keep praying about it. Right now everything looks good.

Also, I just finished catching up on a show that started a few nights ago. Diddy has a new show on MTV called StarMaker and it's pretty good. Young talent competing to be on his record label. It's kinda like American Idol but with a twist of the Real World because it shows them living together and what happens in the house. Keep an eye out for it.

I go back to school Sunday night...holla.

Summer's End

I leave for school in about nine days so that is a little exciting. Summer is winding down and we lost our championship game tonight in softball. We had to beat a team twice and we destroyed them the first game, won by almost 20. We then turned around and failed to play any defense and got beat by ten...choke.

I'm going to Holiday World on Saturday with my family and a few friends, it will be a really good day. Really looking forward to it.

I've been trying real hard to find an internship for second semester. I have a place i really want to go, now I'm just waiting for an email back from them. I really hope i get the chance to go...we'll see what happens.

Okay...real exhausted, I'm going to sleep.

Disco Curtis

Last summer when I was down in Texas I met three guys that played worship a lot for the church. I always saw and heard them practicing for their own band and I never really gave much thought about it. Well, now they have added a fourth member and have began playing their own music around the Dallas area. They all just graduated high school and look to be a really exciting up and coming band. They have a pop/rock/emo sound to them and opened for Metro Station a few nights ago at Six Flags. They only have four original songs out to my knowledge and a cover of Lady Gaga's Just Dance which is really good. Give them a listen and let me know what ya think...these are 30 second clips you can also check out their myspace page for full songs... www.myspace.com/discocurtis

Just Dance mstr 1 - Disco Curtis

Ashley - Disco Curtis

Surprise Me - Disco Curtis

Breaking Hearts.mp3 - Disco Curtis

Jimmy V

If you have ten mins and you haven't seen this, you must do so. Watch. This guys had it figured out.

Softball All Star Game

Today was the church league slow pitch all star game. I went out early to help get everything set up. At 3pm the skills challenge got started. I competed in three events and I won two of them. I won the Most Accurate Infielder challenge. Going into it I figured I had a chance to win. The other event I won I had no business being in. I won King of the Mat. Those who entered threw ten pitches to see how many strikes they threw. I tied two other people with six, we then had a tie breaker and the first guy with 2-5, the second went 3-5, and then I went 5-5. Don't ask me how I did it. I've never pitched before but somehow I won.

My team ended up winning the game like 20-7 or something like that. Good day all around.

First Time For Everything

Last night I hit my first career homerun. In our softball game I hit it over the left fielder's head and then I ran around the bases like people were chasing me. No it didn't go over the fence, but it still counts. This is my first homerun ever. In my fifteen years of baseball I never hit one. Now, I can say I have a career homer. Feels nice, except for the fact my hamstrings are super tight. Oh well, I'll be good to play in the All Star game tomorrow.

Productive Morning

I usually sleep until about ten or eleven every morning. Today I woke up at seven and could not go back to sleep. So I got up, ate a small breakfast and then went for a run. I almost threw up because I'm not used to eating breakfast.

After returning home I showered and then read the Sermon on the Mount in the Bible. I hadn't really read much in my Bible lately so it was a good thing for me. Good morning.

Two big softball games tonight. Gonna be fun.

All Star Game

This was the first time I've seen the All Star game in like eight years. I've always been at church camp or on a mission trip so this year was so exciting for me.

The homerun derby: bust. Something needs to happen to make it more exciting. It takes WAY too long. Let's fix it.

The actual game was great! I seem to enjoy rooting for players more than actual teams so this night was great for me. Many of my favorites were on display. About five or six guys from my fantasy team were in the game. Carl Crawford is on my team and he won the MVP! Very exciting night all around. Really glad the first one I've seen in years was in St. Louis.

Umpiring

Since my internship did not end up working out (thank you Lincoln Christian College internship department) I have been umpiring at night to make a little money. This is the first time I have really gotten involved in umpiring. Now, I've been playing this game for 15 years and my dad umpired for years but actually getting behing the plate and taking control of the game is a totally different experience. It is more difficult than I imagined but I enjoy it. Tonights game were played in the first signs of heat we have had this summer. At the end of the night I was extremely sweaty. Little by little I'm getting more confident and having fun with it. I love baseball.

Summer Days

I've been home for a few days now. I finished my independent study of Statistics and got an A on Thursday. I arrived home at 5:00pm and then was at softball practice at 5:30. That was really fun, can't wait for the season to start. Right after practice I came home and my family surprised me with a new car. I'm now driving a 2005 Ford Escape with less than 29,000 miles on it. Super pumped about that. Then later that night I went down to Herrin to watch an amazing 80s rock cover band.

Not everyday has been great. Friday morning I woke up early and threw up and haven't felt quite right since then. Although I'm better now, still not 100%. Tuesday I'm driving down to Texas for a few days. I'm really looking forward to it. It's my own mini vacation before I start my internship.

End of Baseball

The season ended just over a week ago. We never won a game - no, not even one. We did have a lot of fun and it was great to get out and play the game I love so much. I ended up playing Catcher most of the time but I also played 8 of the 9 positions at some point in the year. Here are a few pics...

I sit in too many Psych classes...

Behaviors that interfere with good relationship building
1. Physical or emotional violence
2. Threatening words or actions
3. Abusive anger
4. Accusing or blaming
5. Judging and criticizing
6. Name calling
7. Denying – not taking responsibility for your own actions
8. Countering
9. Discounting
10. Blocking or diverting
11. Undermining
12. Verbal abuse disguised as joking
13. Withholding
14. Ignoring
15. Forgetting

New Drivers

I had a new experience on Easter Sunday. My cousin is 15 and she has just recently received her driving permit. So after church on Sunday we drove to my aunt's house for lunch which is about 30 mins and she drove while i was in the front seat with her. I forgot what learning to drive was like. She showed extreme caution and was very nervous. Inside I smiled becuase I remember having all the same feelings. This little experience just helped me to remember what it was like to be 15, i forget sometimes...

I'm Back

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted. I have been so so so busy. Just got back from a mission trip from Myrtle Beach, SC and we had an amazing time. We worked with two churches and did lots of work for them and we also spent a lot of time on the beach trying to show people who Christ is. Overall we had a great time and we would all love to do it again. Here are a few pics...

Recent Concerts

Jon McLaughlin

Jon McLaughlin

Brad Paisley

Brad Paisley

Dierks Bentley

Darius Rucker (Hootie)

Darius Rucker

Being Cheerful

Today I am recovering from one of my favorite weekends of the year. I spent all day Saturday and Sunday watching high school and jr high girls state cheerleading competition. On Saturday our varsity team won 1st place for the second year in a row. On Sunday our JV team finished in 4th place. My cousin was in the jr high competition and they were just outside of the teams that placed. They ran a flawless routine but their difficulty was not high enough to earn them a trophy.

All in all it was a very long, rough, and stressful weekend. Despite it being all of those things I am very glad I went and next year I will be there again. It's sort of a miserable-fun.

Another New Position

Today coach told me that I would be playing Catcher a little bit this year. I put the gear on and took some reps behind the plate today. This is getting crazy, but fun at the same time.

Out of Retirement

Last weekend a friend of mine at school told me all the reasons that I should join the baseball team at school. I had heard all of these reasons before but this time I listened. I told him I would play and now I'm really happy with my decision. After playing for 14 years, I have spent the past three years away from the game. Needless to say, I am out of shape and will need a little bit of time to get my timing back. I've had a few meetings with our coach and he has told me I will be playing a lot. I'll be playing 2B, 3B, & SS much like I have for many years. The new development is that I will be pitching as well. I have only pitched two innings in my entire life, both of them were in practice. I'm excited to get out on the field and see what happens, it should be a lot of fun.

Concert

Going to see him Friday night. Pretty excited, even though I don't know most of the songs. This is my Christmas present to Amanda...should be lots of fun.

Busy, busy, busy

Life is busy. Despite my light class load this semester life is progressing rather quickly. A couple weeks ago I went home for birthday celebrations and my cousins' cheerleading competition. I'm not ashamed to say that I like the cheer competitions. In a few weeks I will watch them compete again in Springfield at the State Competition.
Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Mo and Aaron Hofman. They were here recruiting and Aaron led worship at Focus. They are great people and it was fun getting to know them for a few days.
At the same time they were here President Obama had his inauguration. I still haven't had a chance to go back and watch all of that, been too busy. I really enjoy American history and I think this is a huge turning point in our country, that is why I'm so into this Obama thing at the moment.
That's a recap of my life for the last few weeks. Now it's off to meetings, class, and of course...snow. I hate the cold.

Weather Update

My morning class was cancelled due to bad weather today. My professor sent an email at 6:30 this morning saying that it was -41 with the wind chill and class would be a bad idea. Don't worry, tomorrow we are expecting a heat-wave of 30. Watch out!

The high for Lincoln, IL today is a whopping 1 degree. However, the current wind chill is at -17 degrees! Yeah, it's sooo cold.

24

24 is back!

I got up really early this morning to see my cousin Jessica play basketball. She played well and hard but they lost, it was ugly.

Weird Day...

Late yesterday afternoon I was asked to speak to the FCA group at the high school in Mt. Vernon. They meet on Fridays during lunch time so that meant I had about twenty hours to prepare. I ended up not writing anything new and reusing another lesson because the national championship game was on. My brother went with me and as we walked in the door I immediately felt out of place. I quickly realized I was 4-7 years older than the students in the room and it made me feel old. I got up there and spoke in front of the students and it all ended up fine, just made me feel old.

After speaking to the FCA group I had to go see the doctor for the chest pains I have been having lately. I ended up spending 3 hrs & 15 mins in that place, it always takes so long. In the end, the doctor said he thinks the pain will go away with the medicine he prescribed. However, if the medicine does not work there is a good chance I have Mitral Valve Prolapse. Basically something would be wrong with a valve and they would need to do some sort of something to fix that. But I'm going to try this medicine first and see what happens. He said the chest pain isn't going to kill me or anything, he just isn't quite sure what it is or what is causing it. We shall see what happens in the next coming weeks.

Visiting Vegas

Earlier tonight I returned from my trip to Vegas. I went out to see Amanda and to meet her family. It was really good to see Amanda, we got to have fun and relax for the first time since first semester ended. I had an amazing time with her and her friends (well, some of her friends did not care for me...or at least the idea of me). We hung out a lot with her friend Kori and there were plenty of laughs to go around, it really was a lot of fun. Like I said, I met her family and although I was extremely nervous it went over well I think. At least they don't hate me at this point (which, I mean, I don't anticipate being hated but I'm just saying). I'm pretty sure they think I'm too quiet, but in my defense I flew across the country to meet very significant people and I was trying to get a feel for how everything goes on in that family. Next time I will not be as quiet.

On our last night we went down to the strip and rode two rides on top of the Stratosphere which were very intense. I had been on them before but Amanda had not. We had so much much fun but by the end of it we were so dizzy and just needed to sit down. We followed that by watching the fountains at the Bellagio and as always it was really cool.

I really had a great time out there and the weather was great for January. Now I'm completely exhausted and it is time to rest up before school starts up again and life gets crazy.