Tuesday, October 31

something beautiful

two things of note for tonight.
one: i just got the new Newsboys cd called GO. i have been so excited for it, especially since it doesn't come out until tomorrow. i figured i would check iTunes since it is already tomorrow on the east coast. turns out, it was on itunes, so i purchased it and am listening to it right now... awesome cd :)
two: i just found out my draw for league finals on wednesday/thursday. now, for me, there is only one person that i would really not wanna play. if my life were some predictable tv show, of course i would be playing that one girl. but praise God that my life is not a predictable script! i am playing the gal that was undefeated until she came against me the second time around. you'd think i would be a little upset about the draw, but to be frank, i'm not. i am actually feeling pretty good... wait, i just started thinking. okay, maybe a little nervous. but that's okay. the next part of my draw, unfortunately, is a team mate of mine. so when (not "if" because i am building confidence here) we win our first round matches, we play eachother. then the winner of that goes on to the finals/makes it to CIF. we'll see how it goes.
that's all folks.

"i wanna run with fire, it's my hearts desire" -newsboys

Sunday, October 29

well, i just wrote out a long blog saying all that happened this weekend with wilderness challenge and what-not when POOF... it all disappeared to the place of no return. i'm not too frustrated about it, but yall should be, because now you guys don't get to hear the fun stories since i refuse to rewrite them all... it's not that fun the second time around.
soory
instead, i am going to let yall in on a little bit of my mind today.
as i walked around today running errands, or while i was cleaning my room, doing homework, changing my clocks and watch, my mind started to go off on random tangents, acting like a little child and asking that little question that'll peck at your mind... "WHY?" for example, the time change. i asked myself, why do we do this. that one was simple, because it allows for the calendar to work or something to that effect. then i wondered, why have a calendar? well, it's our form of organizing time. why organize time? without organizing, things would be chaotic. why would it be chaotic, would it really be chaotic, or would we adapt? (starting to get annoyed yet? i sure was). getting in a debate with time is not a battle you want to take on.
so ya, my mind all day has been going around and around asking "why" and "how come?" it went from concepts like time and ritual to actions and life, and it got to the point of overload where you think so much that you're not thinking at all... ever have that? it's kind of crazy... today it came when i was standing in the salad aisle trying to find which bag to grab. i realized that i was standing in the aisle, looking at the salad, with this spaced look and mouth wide open (kind of like that pic in the post from friday). that's mental overload :)
wow, that's too much... i hope i didn't confuse you guys too much, or cause you to think that my attire should include a white jacket with lots of straps and shiny buckles. i will end now.

*challenge for the day... ask "why" to at least the third level of something and see what it does to you :)

Friday, October 27

so much time, so little to do... wait, strike that, reverse it.

what a day!

what a week!
we had our final league match today at home... now, i don't mean to get all gushy and stuff, but i have to say a few things about my first "last time" as a senior moment. introductions... man, it was tough. when i stepped out when my name was called and then ran down the line for high-5s, i couldn't help but wonder if it would be the last time (cif wasn't a for-sure). i'll get to the sets in a sec, but for now, a jump forward. i played my last set on the far left court today. i hadn't played a set for a match on that court ever before in all my three years of playing, and i got to finish there... it was kind of neat :) so ya, it was a bit emotional and all, but i didn't really tap into those emotions... i figure to save them for the last last set or match :)
so, now about the actual tennis stuff. i won my first set, but after playing my second set, it felt like i had played my first set yesterday. here's why...
i was down in the set 4-5 and she was serving 40-15 when she had 2 set points. now, my first thought was, i've never come back from set point down... i know, i know, those are bad negative thoughts, but i quickly changed them and decided to fight back (with encouragement and little thing called golden spoon dangling in front of my nose :) long story made a little shorter, after many many deuces and other faced set points, i finally got through the game, but lost my next service game, going down 5-6. again, i faced more set points, and i was wondering what i was still doing on the court. i made my way to a tie-breaker, which again, i faced more set points. i finally got a set point, but missed the opportunity. on my second set point, i finally converted and won the set (the tie breaker was 10-8). honestly, the amount of set points this gal had had to have gone well in to the double digits. i was so stinkin tired after that set, and i know i'll be feeling it in the morning.
i was reminded today of the awesomeness of icy hot. it works well, and smells good :) just thought i would add that in
well, it's late, and i have still got more to do, so i will end with a funny picture from today. it's not an action shot or anything, but my dad took this, and although it's embarassing, i couldn't pass up the chance to make someone laugh... so here ya go!
i don't really remember what i was doing, but i think it is likely that a yawn was involved.

Thursday, October 26

what a week (so far)

this week has been filled to the brim with stuff to do... and i am no where near getting it all done! eek!
it's not really school stuff... just, well, tennis stuff, video stuff, chore stuff, favor stuff... and, like the beat, the list goes on!
we've had two tennis matches in a row with one to come... all of them are extremely important and extremely exhausting. it was my first time waking up sore from tennis in a long while this morning. yesterday went well... the team lost, but it was super close, and it was a super tough team (however, i did end one girl's undefeated streak). today, was crazy... almost like a twilight zone version of tennis... in more ways than one. today held my first time asking for a line judge... and i vowed that i would never do that ever since someone did that to me last season... however, i did... as did two other of our doubles teams back to back after my set. and, since our tennis courts don't have any lights like the ones that the football field have and recently replaced/upgraded, our last 3 or 4 sets had to be cut off due to the incapability to see the ball. my set was one of them, and yes, it was difficult to see the ball... i got hit by a serve, in fact. but don't get worried or anything, the serve wasn't fast or painful at all... that should tell you how dark it was. and, to top it off... when we agreed to stop the set, we had a disagreement in the score. i'm not going to get into it, so i will leave it at that: a stinky disagreement.
well, our final league match (and my final league match as a high schooler... sad :( is tomorrow. it is a very big match tomorrow, so i better get to sleep... i have been so excited to sleep ever since i woke up this morning.
tis all for now!

Hooroo

(by the way, i have been asked a few times recently what "hooroo" means, and i did define it maybe a year ago in the blog, but i will redefine it now... it is Aussie talk for "bye"...so, on that note..."

Hooroo, again :)

Thursday, October 19

here are a few pics from my latest photo project





today i turned in my first photo project for photography, and here are a few of the ones i took (we had to take a total of 24 pics split up between 3 objects). fun stuff :) this last one is my favorite... i think i want to put it on my wall.

i forgot to write about our tennis match yesterday... well, we did very well and won. i personally had a rather good day too... coach put out the offer of buying golden spoon for anyone who got three bagels (6-0 s) because we were planning on going to golden spoon after practice today. lets just say that the golden spoon offer was too good to pass up, so i got my three bagels. and an even bigger personal achievment: no double faults in my last two sets. before, i was having trouble getting through a single game wihtout a double fault :) lets hope i can keep the momentum (sp?) rolling through tomorrow's match and my league matches to come.
so yes, we went to golden spoon today, and i have to say, i think it tastes better when you have to work for it :)

HOOROO

Wednesday, October 18

a good match and two bad endings

today, tuesday... long day of school, good tennis match, we won 17-1.
i watched two movies tonight, and both were kind of weird. well the first one was weird because it was in a different language. besides that, it was interesting, however it had a terrible terrible ending. then i watched "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind." if you really want to stretch your brain and don't mind getting a little frustrated while watching a movie because it is just so weird, go for it... also had a bad ending.
my day, in contrast to the movies, will have a good ending.
you know why?
cause i am going to sleep, something i have been looking forward to all day :)
tomorrow i am taking a test by the army to see what my career is going to be (or in their case, should be). then we have a tennis match
my mind is all over the place thanks to that movie
im tired

good night

:)

Saturday, October 14

a blast from the past for frankenstien!

i will explain further... first frankenstien, then the blast.

i had a tennis lesson today in manhattan beach (where the weather was BEAUTIFUL) and it went very well. the fox trot has officially become a part of my game, and i'm not even going to say how, because it'll ruin how funny that sentence sounds and seems. anyway, i was working on playing out the point with me serving. however, it was quite hilarious to see the coach that gave me the monster serve i have (pun totally intended, you'll see why) struggle to return it. i was laughing because all i could think of was frankenstien whenever i aced him... steve (my coach) had created a serving monster (see the pun now?) that was alive and taking over :) i don't know if that makes any sense to you guys, but it does to me... and it makes me laugh.

now for the blast. after my lesson, i went to downtown manhattan beach and walked around a bit, checking out some of the new stores and what-not. i went into this store called papyrus and got in line to buy a card. i looked up and saw the cashier lady, immediately recognizing her. i wasn't sure if she'd recognize me (again, you'll see why) and when i walked up to the cashier, she immediately said, "you look familiar..." knowing exactly who she was, i quickly told her where from... she was one of the counselors at camp mattel (a summer day camp that i went to from age 6-12). I hadn't seen her in over 6 years (she didn't work there my last two years). it was crazy, and she totally remembered me. we talked for a little bit, and she asked me where i was planning to go to college cause she knew i was a senior now. this is where it gets crazy... i told her i'd be going to college out in michigan, and then she said that she was going to be moving to michigan soon. curious, i asked what part of michigan... she tells me, "grand rapids!" (that's where calvin is for any of you who don't know). isn't that crazy!?!?! so we talked a bit more, and got to the topic of my old best friend jason that i knew from camp mattel. now, we were best friends for the longest time, maybe about 7 years and he's a grade above me. i haven't seen or talked to him since 6th grade cause he doesn't live around here. after leaving papyrus and getting into my car, i realized that i still had his phone number memorized. i decided to try giving him a call even though i wasn't sure he'd be home because he's in college now. i called and it turns out, he is still living at home while going to a local college... he remembered me instantly and we talked for about ten minutes. we've definitely taken diferent routes in life, but it was so crazy and awesome to be talking to him again! we decided that we would meet up sometime in the next few weeks while i am in manhattan beach so we could catch up from the past 5 years! crazy! total blast from the past!

well, that's it for the day... i need to go work on my photography project now!

HOOROO :)

(look below for a continuation of this post and some pics that just might make you laugh)
okay, all this talk about my memories as a little kid prompted me to go look at some old pics to see if i could find any of me and jason... i ended up finding some funny stuff and because it is so funny, i decided to get the scanner going so i could put some of them up on the site... it is kind of embarassing stuff, but i have to spread the laughter...

here's a pic of me and jason... i have no idea where this is at or why there is a weather map. at mattel, we were in the first generation of campers and were always the oldest (i don't know how that worked out). anyway, we were the cool kids. all the little kids (or shall i say little-er kids since we were little too) would do anything we said... kind of scary now that i think about it. anyway, we were top dogs, so that's a pic of us :)
next is a pic of me and my middle bro aldo at my birthday party i had when i was in kindergarden. i LOVED peter pan (that's who i am supposed to be dressed as). look at my hair... and those bangs?
here's the fun part... tennis. no, i haven't been playing tennis all my life, but i did take lessons for a year when i was young. anywho, here are pics of me and tennis... really really embarassing.

all i have to say about the last one is what in the world were my parents thinking in letting me wear those clothes? today, i'd rather wear what i was wearing in the second picture than that funky ensemble anyday.

i am going to stop now... but that's a little peek into my past :)

popular with the younger ones

so, did anyone enjoy the rain as much as i did? and the lightning? these are things i love, but only when they don't come between me and tennis... that's when i start to have issues with rain.
anywho
it said on the news that this weekend is supposed to be an early blast of winter... kind of exciting. ya.
today was harvest festival... i ate some awesome cookies, and even played some tennis with woo... and about ten other passer-bys. ya, people kept on walking by and asking to hit a few shots. i thought it was kind of funny that people wanted to randomly hit, so either jenny or i would give them our racket and the other one of us would hit with the person for a few shots... we literally had a line going. then there was the one group of boys, probably middle school. i played a little game with them (jenny's idea): who can return cristina's serve? my self esteem was boosted quite a bit after that game :)
jenny and i were just laughing hystarically at all these people coming to play. i even gave a few of them tips, and they could actually hit the ball after i told them how to hold the racket. it was just random...really random... and hilarious :)
plus, i forgot how famous i was with the young ones, middle school and lower. i had girls that i taught in 2nd grade for GEMS (which i did two years ago) coming up to me and saying, "do you remember me? you're my Gems teacher!" i remembered them alright, and it was fun to see them cause they are in 4th grade now, and they've grown taller since i last saw them. and the middle schoolers... i am quite popular with them because of dunamis... you know, my status as "camera lady" and "ping pong lady" still stands outside of camp. i had multiple middle schoolers running up to me to talk to me and to affirm that i was indeed the camera lady from dunamis. one of my best opponents in ping pong from camp actually saw me playing tennis and said i was betraying him and ping pong. quite funny.

well, off to my warm bed and sweet dreams!
have a fantabulous winter-ish weekend!

:)

Thursday, October 12

turn that frown upside down!

turn off the AC, roll up the windows, and close your doors... it's chilly outside! zip up that jacket and bring out the slippers, and, my favorite part, break out the tea!
tonight was my first time having green tea in forever!!! well, i drank it iced a few times this summer, but brrrrrr, no ice this time. for me, it's the first sign of the cooler season starting (i don't say cold because where we live, it's not really that cold :) yay for tea!

okay, so i've been dreaming of taking/making this picture for a very long time now, and tonight i fulfilled my dream. now, i've been struggling to come up with a punch line, and i can't quite choose which one is best. but i'd say, wouldn't the world be a better place if we had happy outlets? i mean, how can you not smile when you see this? it may be a little weird that i've been longing to take this picture for a long time, but seriously, for the past year, i have been looking at outlets and can't help but see the character behind the face-plate. I wonder, what makes them so sad... are they ever happy... what would they look like if they were happy?
i say, this could be a good advertisement pic for the whole "flex your power" campaign... you know...
"are you keeping your outlets happy" or, "make your outlets happy and unplug." okay, so i am no advertisment genious, but you gotta admit, the pic is cute :)

fyi: in case you haven't figured it out yet, i photo shopped this picture... our outlets don't really look like this :)

alright, enough about the outlet :)

i hope this brings a smile to your day!

Wednesday, October 4

i am very very very very very tired.


this is pretty much a summary of my day. the praise team played today in chapel, so i got a little bit of guitar in. and today we had a tennis match, and i got a lot (a LOT) of tennis in today... lemme just say this:
3 tie-breakers.

off to bed for me :)

night night

oh, and yes, life is good :)

Tuesday, October 3

i'll try to make it quick...

i really should be writing an english paper right now, but i just have to quick tell today's story :)

okay... quick background...so, this morning, i was still sick, had to wake up early, and the morning was a bit rough. fast-forward to our tennis match... i played a kind of practice match (it didn't count towards the team score) and i won 6-2. after that set, still sick, still tired, a little happier. i then stepped in for one of our singles players who wasn't feeling well and played the #2 gal--I won 6-3: a bit sicker, super tired, and a bit happier. I then played the #3 gal and won 6-4... not as sick, dead tired, and super happy. I'll come back to that stuff in a sec, but i have a quick side note. We play this team (calvary chapel) every year, once a year. they are always fun to play, and they have a cool coach. so, when we were on our way to the bus, leaving the courts, coach said to calvary's coach "see ya next year!" and i didn;t think much of it at first, but then 5 seconds later, i thought... oh no, i won't be here next year. after consideration, i ended up quick running back to the coach and saying 'bye' one last time... i told him that i wouldn't be back next year and that i wanted to say thanks and bye...he's super cool. so ya, that was fun... and so was tripping on the sidewalk :)
so, back to the sick, tired, and happy theme.
I have concluded that tennis is my new cure-all. up untill today, it had been almost 5 days since i touched my tennis racket. i think playing today has helped to heal me :) although i was coughing and what-not and feeling sick during my sets, afterwards is a different story. since i have been home, i haven't been feeling really sick at all, except for a stuffy nose. duh i am really tired, but hey, i'm not coughing up a lung everytime i go upstairs anymore!

i must end there... see, i am no faster at writing a "quick story" than my mum is at "grabbing a few things" at the grocery store... (no offense, madre)

HOOROO!!!