MAGIC!

this weekend, im really pumped for it, because on friday we have our first meet for alameda swim league.We are swiming against de la sal high school out in concord. We are definetly going to lose, but its not going to matter because there a team whos not in our league. Even tho this is going to be a loss, i think it will give us a good measure for where a skills lye currently and what goal we should aim for, for the end of the season. Ive already made my goals, my only priority is to get my 50 freestyle down to twenty-four seconds to about twenty-three that's not the biggest leap, seeing how my freestyle currently is a twenty-six point one, POINT ONE! I dont think you guys realize what that looks like, it looks close to this ------> (26.1), so close to a twenty-five, and i also want to drop my hundred freestyle down somewhere between a fifty-nine to a fifty eight, hopefully somewhere between those to places so that i have more room to improve. Besides just those two races, im just focused im just focused on dropping time for any other even So even if i lose my race, all i care is about how much i improved or how much i haven't. Its really great for me also because i get out of class early, on a Friday! could i ask for much more? The perfect begining to a great weekend.

At the beggining of the week my mom had told me that we were supposed to go see the San Jose sharks play this weekend, so i looked up the day, and theres no game. She said to me " o yeah, its supposed to be in march." She was a whole month off. I was really looking forward to see my friends from elementary school, its cool getting to see how people have changed over the years. Ive done this trip before, what happends is that the parents have a big barbeque and then they chip in for a travel bus to come get us and take us to the game.
Im also planning on going to see Alice in Wonderland on Saturday. Im not completely sure what its about, all i caught is that the red queen is trying to take over wonderland, and the white queen is trying to nock her off a couple of pegs. The madhatter, played by Johnny Depp, is awsome, he has the perfect amount of insanity for me, enough to the point where its funny but not crossing the line into more of the Joker status. And my mom just literally told me that im going to see a play, something about a latina girl and her family, o well, sounds decent enough to go and check out. I feel kinda let down for this post, just because i had nothing else to talk about. but since sutherland told us to start putting labels i guess this one could go under swimming, weekend plans and maybe a couple other things.

memoir prohect

CRISIS OF FAITH.

Before I started my first years at Will C. Wood middle school and moved my way up to Alameda High, I had gone to a private school in San Lorenzo. The school I attended was Calvary Lutheran. We had just about all the same classes as all regular middle schools do, and we even went back and forth between teachers just like any other middle school-er. But in our schedule we had a class called religion. We would just whip out a bible and our teacher would make us turn to one of the beginning proverbs that told of one of Jesus's stories. We would then read about half of the story and then go home. It wasn't just all reading, we also had test on the new and old testament and had bible races, where the proverb would be written on the board and the fastest person to find the proverb would stand up and read it. I remember that on Wednesday's we would have to go to chapel and sit threw a service,we had a huge wooden cross right in the middle of the end of the room, and of course we did the Ren-enactment of the birth of Jesus. After that, we would return to class and continue our schedule. Week after week i started to think of what i was being taught had been true or just a lie. Would there really be white pearly gates,and in front i would be judged on my actions. Sometimes i had wondered what it would be like to float up to heaven, with a halo and a pair of wings, I had thought that god lived on top of clouds and looked down upon us and watched over each and every single one of us, like a hawk tracking its prey.

 

 

I did not start to question the ideals of the bible till I got to fifth grade.That's where I had started to take stories of the bible and try to break them with pure logic. One of my first questionings was the story of Noah and the ark. The story says that there were only one pair of every single animal on the ark, one male and female so that they could re-populate. In Genesis 6:1 it says that Noah had started to build the ark when he was five-hundred years old. Five hundred! He entered the ark when he was six-hundred years old. Of course there is so many flaws in this story to make me not want to believe in the story of Noah and the Ark. By the physical capabilities of a grown adult man, that is physically impossible,and how is there enough food for all the animals and for Noah's family to last forty days and forty nights? And it wasn't just the bible i used common sense on to convince myself if things were true or not. When I was five I had asked my mom if Santa really exists. She asked " why dint you think he exists?" and I replied" I don't know" and she told me "no". Just my nature to question brought me the truth of Santa. So I started asking my self more and more questions on the birth of Jesus and if earth was really created in only seven days?

 

After starting to question the teachings of the bible, when I wet to church on Wednesdays, and sung the hymnals, I started to feel a guilt creep upon me, just something that dint feel right. It felt as tho god had been watching me and he felt really disappointed in me, it had felt as tho I had committed a crime and got away with it, and now i had to bear such an immense guilt. Days soon passed and became weeks, and soon i unwarily just went through the motion of religion class. Just reading the scripture, reading, not actually sucking in the meaning or value of the story. One day i went home and asked my mom if she believed in the stories of the bible, knowing that she brought up by the christian faith just like i was. had said " I don't necessarily believe in the stories like Moses freeing the people of god from Egypt", " But i do believe in the overall idea of the bible". With that i was even more confused of what to think of it. I sat for a while and came to my conclusion that I have to listen to the teachings of the Bible, and that's up to me whether i believe in it or not. 

 

 

Neli, maybe you just made me look stupid, so i should be mad at y

This long four day weekend that we last had was Valentines day and Chinese New Year. On Friday I dint do a dam thing, just a nice and relaxing day of nothing. Saturday I went out to a G.N.C. (general nutrition center, just for tho's of you who don't know) and got this insanely big container of protein powder, so that after my workout my muscles have access to the protein that i put into my system. So now after my morning practice, i just just mix the powder with some water or milk, than go to school. The first time when i took it, i felt really tired and unbalanced. I went to go talk to my coach and he told me that inducing that much protein into my system is like eating two steaks. So hopefully my body will adapt to it so that my body will become more strong and so i can swim better

On the same day, My mom, her boyfriend, and my brother and i went to San Fransisco. We headed to north beach and went to the restaurant, Cal-zones. I got bored while waiting for food, so i decided to play a ratio game, the ratio was obese people to people who look like hookers. While i pointed these people out, my mom was having a hard time from laughing. Afterwards we went to the theatre, i cant recall the name of the place. We got there pretty close to curtain call timing so we dint have to wait very long. While watching the performance, the actors and actresses had such amazing voices, they dint have much scene changes nor were they very big, I was surprised that they only used chairs and tables when doing a scene change. So overall the play was really good. Sunday i dint do anything, and then on Monday i made crepes for my french class, it was so hard to flip the crepe. I must've burned myself over ten times, i tried to use my fingers to flip it. An now its the begging of a new week for school, and progress reports are coming out at the end of the week, but I'm not so worried.

Is kind of strange to be thinking of ...

Is kind of strange to be thinking of summer this early in the school year? Last year was one of my favorite ones so far. Lately Ive just had some of tho's memories keep popping up in my mind. Just of my swim team in San Leandro and just laying out in the sun all day. Fun, Just being able to bask in the heat of the radiant sun. Every Saturday morning i have to be at a meet by six-thirty to seven o' clock, so everything is still all damp, wet and cold. So after my warm-up i get out and its freezing, but as soon as it gets later in the day, the sun pops up and everything starts to become nice and warm with a nice cool breeze in the air. Not to mention , there is  summer love in the air. Who doesn't like to have a crush, hook up or fall in love with someone during the summer time? Its kind of like valentines day, but only its everyday for three months.

Last year i also had an internship up in the Oakland hills at a theatre called Wood minster Theatre. There were a total of three shows during the summer, i only was able to do one of them. I thought that my muscles and body were going to fall apart by time i got home. Surprisingly it wasn't all that hard, its was surprisingly easy, just because this production only had mainly a lot of HUGE sized props. After each show, i came home and slept from twelve till seven. It was a tiring job but that's what made it so much fun. my plan this coming summer is to do all of the productions so that i can earn my self a little bit of money for a car.

Valentines day.

So its two weeks before valentines day and some of my friends are freaking out and have no idea what to do. The other day i asked my mom if shes a little excited for valentines day and she tells me that she hates valentines day and thinks it is a stupid holiday where we're forced to show our affection to that significant person in our lives.So after I heard her point of view of valentines day, i go and ask my troubled friends why they are freaking out about what to get. And i already new what they would say, they would told me its because they have to impress "their girl". And what if they don't want some insanely big gift, but instead just want to be with you? And instead of a dozen roses, why not just one, the number of roses dose not represent how much you love that person. Its more like how much money you have to try to impress that person. And I'm pretty sure that's not how the HOLIDAY OF LOVE is supposed to work, its a holiday of love, not lust.

In my mind i see valentines day as new relationships, roses and candy, when it SHOULD be about spending time with the one who you love and to cherish their existence. Even tho this holiday has been built upon bravado of jewelry, candy, teddy bears, cards, and flowers, I think that their is romanticism for those few who don't want anything else but to spend time with their loved ones. When valentines day comes around, don't freak about getting the most expensive gift in the store, but instead, get the most sentimental one. And for those twenty to fifty dollar bouquet of roses, just get her one, Its a lot more meaningful than a dozen, At least in my mind it is =)