Friday Through Tuesday

Well, I had another good weekend, and today wasn’t half bad either. We got Friday off again for our second snow day of the season. It wasn’t a very exciting day, but it was good to get another day of rest and relaxation. Four day weeks aren’t that bad, I think it’d make a school a little easier to deal with if that’s how it always was, but I don’t see anything changing there. I didn’t sleep as late as I usually do on snow days, so I wish I’d made better use of the time. Spent most of the day on the computer, the majority of the time I worked on a video of all of my pictures from Mexico, finally getting somewhere with it, I seriously just need to sit down and do it, it’s really close. Then once I’d had just about enough of that I had to go shovel. So I got rehired to do the church’s shoveling. I was doing it a couple of years ago, and then we just decided it was too much of a hassle and so I asked them to try and find someone else. Well, they never really did, and though I wasn’t getting paid anymore I ended up doing much of it anyways for the past couple of years. I didn’t really like this arrangement, since I was doing the same work, just not getting paid for it anymore, so now I’m back on the payroll and so I had to go there Friday evening. The roads were a little slick, and got a little confused with the four-wheel-drive, but all went well, got there and back safely. When I got home I helped mother finish up our shoveling, and that was that. Then I spent much of the evening talking to Stacie, so the day ended well.

Saturday morning was our second Swim Meet of the season, but luckily this one wasn’t quite as early as the previous one. I got up around 8:00 AM, which was about when mother left to go get our Christmas tree and then she had to go to the Library for a meeting. That meant I had to drive myself to the College to get there in time for warm-ups, and mother would get there in time for the start of the Meet. I didn’t expect the roads to still be slick, but I definitely misjudged the wonders of nature on that. Not too far up Bingham Hill the sun popped out from behind the trees and blinded me, and as I reached for the visor I guess I hit some slush or ice on the side of the road. This sent me into oncoming traffic so I spun the wheel, and spun out into the snow bank back on the right side of the road. That shook me up a bit, but I whipped it into reverse, backed out of the snow, and continued on my way. No damage done; the Jeep is pretty rugged, though, so no surprise there.

I got to the College in one piece with plenty of time before warm-ups, got changed and proceeded to the deck. Warm-ups started at 10:00 AM, and since we got 4 lanes, Motts had the veterans do a pretty decent warm-up, and that pretty much tired me out. Also, I couldn’t really eat anything in the morning, so that didn’t help me; kind up upsetting, because I know I need the energy, but I also don’t want to throw up. As usual the Meet started with the 200 Yard Medley Relay, which is always a fun event since we’ve got such a strong relay team right now; however, this time we did switch things up a little, so that Nick swam the Breaststroke and Mike swam the Butterfly. My lead-off leg kept us in it, but I didn’t drop any time, which was kind of upsetting; I went a 32.19, just a little slower than my time from the last meet. The others did their job, though, and we dropped another couple of seconds off of our time, good for another school record of 2:01.79, but a disappointing 5th place finish. I followed up the relay with the 200 Yard Freestyle, which is my favorite event, but I hadn’t swum it in competition for awhile, so I really had no idea where I’d be. I had hopes of qualifying for states in it, since my personal best from last spring was only a couple of seconds off of this year’s cut time. Sadly, though, I wasn’t able to pull it off. I finished with a 2:24.64, good for another disappointing place, 7th, but since it was out of 13 swimmers I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad. The state qualifying cut is 2:22.89, so I’m close; in a couple of meets I should have it. Another positive thing is that two of our new swimmers swam the event with me, and were able to beat out two swimmers from Hollis-Brookline, so I’m pretty happy with their finish. Then came the lengthy break in the middle of the meet where I don’t really take a part, since I don’t usually get to do the Freestyle sprints, but that’s okay, that’s not where the team needs me. We did do one thing differently this meet, though; my relay team swam the 200 Freestyle Relay instead of the 400 Yard Freestyle. We all did fairly well, but I’m still not the greatest 50 Freestyle swimmer on the planet. We finished with a very strong 1:46.45, which was good for 3rd place, and I’m pretty sure another school record. I really do love our relay team, because we’ve done so well this year, taking all of the relay records, and continuing to drop our own times. Also, if any of you remember what we went through last year, you’ll understand how important it is to us to do well. I love those guys, we really want to do something this year, and if we keep up the way we’re going, we might just have a chance at showing the state that Monadnock has four guys who love this sport, and we aren’t the “no-shows” that we got labeled last year. This means so much to me, because we need to show everyone that we’re coming back from last year, and we’re going to fight.

Directly after the relay I had to prepare for the 100 Yard Backstroke. I already qualified in the event at the previous meet, but it’s my strongest event right now, and that’s where I’m going to get the team points. Also, if I can continue to drop my time, I have a chance at taking Nick’s school record in it from last season. This is a goal of mine for the season, to drop the minimum of 4 seconds that I need to take the record. I know it doesn’t mean much since Monadnock’s team is so young, but it’s something I want to do. So anyways, my swim went alright, the turns are still a little weak, and the finish was one of the worst finishes I’ve ever had, but I did drop a couple fractions of a second, with a time of 1:12.05, and a 5th place finish. I was only .45 seconds off of 3rd place, though, and I know I could have taken it if I had completed a successful finish, so that was extremely upsetting for me. I really feel like I let a lot of people, especially myself, because I’m one of the veterans now, and I’m a captain, and I just know I could have done better. So I was pretty down on myself about all of that, but whatever, it happens, and I’ll just do better next time. Everyone’s been wicked supportive, and I know nobody on the team holds it against me; half of them probably don’t have a clue what happened anyway, but it’s nice to know that I could have a wicked bad race and they wouldn’t give me a hard time at all, not that I wouldn’t give myself a hard enough time for everyone, but that’s okay. Also, it was really nice to have Stacie there, even if she did skip practice to be there... I know how much she cares, and so having that someone there who’s pulling for you, it’s just an awesome feeling. Overall it was a good meet, most of the rookies dropped a lot of time, and everyone’s coming along. I love the team and I love the sport.

After the meet, Stacie waited for me, and I drove with her back to her place to hang out. We watched the end of the Patriots game, which is always a good time, well, as long as they win, and they did win. Then we watched The Fantastic Four, which is a pretty sweet movie, I enjoyed it, and we had pizza at one point or another. We followed this up with Constantine, which was a pretty ridiculous movie. It was well done, but I didn’t really understand a lot of what was going on, so I didn’t really give all of my attention to it. It was just nice to spend the time with Stacie. Then Nick and Joe came, because they wanted to go to the school and trash Kelli’s car while she was at the Christmas show. They hung out for a while there, and then we said we’d meet them at the school. Well, they took a pretty long time getting there, so now car-trashing took place, but that’s alright. Not long after we got there Monkton and Manzi drove in, so that was pretty funny. Manzi’s new car is pretty sweet, but it’s a grandma car; it was pretty funny, though, because he set off the car alarm and just let it go for awhile in the parking lot. Then some kid drove in the parking lot and started doing donuts as we just stood there watching. It was a pretty good show, and we were all laughing pretty hard. When he left Monkton decided he’d like to try, so the four of us got in his piece of junk and we got a short ride in the parking lot. Everyone finally showed up, though, and we just hung out in the parking lot for awhile. At about 10:20 PM we left the school, because I needed to get Stacie home by 10:30 PM. We got there at 10:29 PM, so I was pretty impressed with myself. We talked for awhile there, and it was a pretty decent time. I definitely had a great time, but then I had to drive home to Gilsum, alone; that wasn’t very fun, but oh well, it was a really good day.

As soon as I got home I just crashed and slept until about 9:00 AM Sunday morning when mother woke me up. Then I got ready and we went to church. Nothing very exciting there, just my weekly hour to just sit there and think about stuff like that, which is pretty much what I always do. As if I don’t think enough, but oh well. We returned home about noon, and I pretty much wasted the rest of the day. I should have gotten more of my homework done, but I didn’t. We had practice Sunday night, worked hard on starts, turns, and finishes. I pretty much spent the entire time on Backstroke, since those aspects are what cost me the race on Saturday. It went pretty well, and I worked really hard, and although practice was supposed to end at 9:00 PM, I didn’t even get out of the pool until after 9:15 PM, the last one in the pool. No one can say I don’t put in the time. Another interesting aspect of practice, though, Motts announced the results of Saturday’s meet, and as it turns out, we actually did pull of some wins. The girls’ team won one against Stevens, and the guys’ team won against Stevens, Hollis-Brookline, and Kearsarge. This was pretty exciting news, and it brings our record up to 3-4 on the season, it’ll be interesting to see how we finish the season. Again, congratulations to everyone who swam on Saturday, it was a great meet, and everyone should be wicked proud of what they’ve accomplished. I returned home, talked to Stacie for awhile, finished my homework, and went to bed.

Monday, wasn’t very exciting. Mondays usually aren’t, but we did have practice, and again, we got a lot accomplished. Only problem is, we also had practice this morning, and it was quite rough getting up this morning after last night’s practice. Worked hard again this morning, and I definitely was feeling it. The backstroke’s definitely coming along; I’m really excited about how much time I’m getting to spend on it. Hopefully that’s going to be where I help the team out the most. Nothing too exciting happened today, but I did stay after and help Motts and Erik work on the line-up for tomorrow’s meet at Conant. It’s going to be a really interesting meet, because we put all of our time into making a line-up that can beat Conant. We’re really closely matched teams, and our goal is to win, so we basically set up the line-up so that our four best guy swimmers are spread out the best way we can be to take the most points. It really is going to be interesting to see what happens, because there’s a lot depending on how well the four of us can swim. I’m actually a little nervous, because what I need to do is win the 100 Yard Backstroke, but their Backstroke guy has a little better time than I do, so it’s going to take everything I’ve got to beat him. I’m definitely feeling the pressure. Also, it’s vital that our relays do well, because especially in the Medley Relay, our time is almost identical to theirs. It’s going to take an awful lot to take them, but hopefully we can pull it off. Luckily I’m a bit more confident about that one, because my 50 Yard Backstroke split is better than their Backstroker’s split in the relay. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens, though. Mother picked up a little after 4:00 PM this afternoon, and we came home. I just had a big dinner, hopefully it’ll help me tomorrow, and now I have an English essay to write. I think I covered quite a bit in this entry; hopefully it covers all of the important issues that have taken place over the past few days. Thanks to all those who made it a good weekend, and who’ve made life just a bit more enjoyable.

Peace,
Justin

PS: My entry is way longer. I definitely win.

It's a Beautiful Thing

It’s a beautiful thing,
That the smile on your face,
Can light up the room,
And make everything alright.

It’s a beautiful thing,
That when you laugh,
It can brighten up the day,
And make everything alright.

It’s a beautiful thing,
That when you’re sad,
I can cheer you up,
And make everything alright.

It’s a beautiful thing,
That no matter how you feel,
I know I can make you laugh,
And make everything alright.

Peace,
Justin

A Swimmer

Swimming has taught me a lot about myself physically, mentally, and emotionally. It has become my escape and it has become my source of pleasure. I swim to heal and to push myself to the limit; I swim to find out who I am and what I can accomplish.

When I first came into the world of competitive swimming, I wasn’t an incredibly fast swimmer, nor was I all that competitive. I liked the water, and I needed to find a way to get in shape, a way to fit in, and a way to be an athlete. What I found included these things and a whole lot more. What I found was an entirely new world, a world that I can only penetrate in the water. I found a place to go when my everyday life closes in around me; I found a place that has brought me more pleasure than any one thing has ever brought me. The world of swimming has opened so many doors to me, and has also helped me through a lot. It has been a source of pride, and it has given me a sense of accomplishment and purpose; it has given me a way to feel fulfilled. Swimming has become one of the most important aspects of my life, and it has received an incredibly extensive amount of my attention. Swimming is my love; swimming is my life.

When I began to swim competitively, I didn’t really know what it meant to swim competitively, I just swam when I was told to swim and I loved every minute of it. As my swimming career progressed, I realized just how attached I had become, and just how much I desired to progress in the sport. And it wasn’t necessarily that I wanted to win, it wasn’t necessarily that I wanted to break records or reach the meets you have to qualify for, it was that I wanted to get better, I wanted to improve. All I ever wanted to do as a swimmer was to progress and fulfill my goals.

Slowly, though, my goals got higher, and my progress accelerated. As I continued to work harder, and as my experience increased, I began to improve, and I began to understand that I might have a chance of getting somewhere. The better I got, the better I wanted to get. I’ve never been more dedicated to a cause, as I have become to swimming. The harder I’ve worked, the harder I’ve become willing to work, because all of the effort I have put into swimming has been rewarded, and I have slowly improved.

Now, after years of hard-work and determination, I have become a relatively good swimmer. I have progressed into someone who knows what they’re doing in the pool, and I have become a role model for upcoming swimmers. The rewards have begun to outweigh all of the time and effort I have given to this sport. Although, everything I have put into swimming has been repaid with improved times and a feeling of personal accomplishment, one of the most amazing things that swimming has given me is the respect and appreciation of others. Swimming has given me something to be proud of.

I have accomplished so much through swimming, and as I look to someone to thank, I realize that I have but one person to thank. And that one person is myself. I could not have reached the heights that I have reached without the determination, dedication, and love that I have put into this sport. All I ever wanted to do was succeed as an athlete. With swimming, though, I feel like I have done so much more than succeed; with swimming, I feel as though I have found myself and learned more about living than any other aspect of life has ever taught me. And I have done this through myself. I have succeeded merely because I wanted to. I am a swimmer simply because I desired to become one.

“You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.”
-- Michael Phelps

Peace,
Justin

Friday

Well, today was the first snow day of the winter, and it definitely came at both an excellent and a horrible time. I was pretty much exhausted last night and I wasn't really feeling very well, so today came as a much needed day of rest and relaxation. Today was also originally the date of our second swim meet, but that got cancelled for obvious reasons. That was kind of disappointing, I guess, because I love swimming and competing so much, but I love doing well even more, and since I wasn't in perfect health, I don't know how well I would have done. So I'm glad we had the day off, because I needed it, I'm disappointed we had the day off, because the swim meet got postponed. Hopefully it will get rescheduled, though, and my disappointment will have been for naught. We got an awful lot of snow today, more than 15 inches, but I couldn't get a good measurement.

I could have gone skiing today, but I decided that I needed the sleep and rest, and so I gave up an opportunity that I usually wouldn't, but it's a good thing. I really need to keep myself healthy, especially for swim season. I really think I can do something this year, I really think I can leave a mark, but I won't be able to if I get sick. I'm trying to eat a lot, and drink a lot to keep a steady flow of nutrients and everything else flowing through my body. Also, I've noticed how much more dry-land training is doing for me, and I'm actually gaining some muscle, though I'm still awfully skinny. So yah, all of that is why I stayed home today. I'm sure it would have been a great time, and I hate giving up chances to go skiing, especially since I only get to go from December to April, generally. That brings me to another thing, though, it looks as if I'll be going for the first time on Sunday. That should be a good time, I'm pretty sure I'm going with Baumgartner and Gail. We always have a great time, and they're good to go with, because they enjoy going fast, like me, and unlike mother. Haha.

Tomorrow I'm planning on going to the Keene State College home swim meet. That should be extremely interesting, and I hope to gain some ideas from it. I think it'll be quite enjoyable to watch, but it'll also be an excellent learning experience. I would love to continue swimming in college, but I know I need to do a lot of work before that can happen, luckily I've still got some time. It also depends on where I end up going, because a lot of colleges don't have male swim teams, or they're in a division that I simply cannot compete in. So I don't know if that dream will ever become a reality, but I at least need to figure out what I need to do to set it into action. We have practice tomorrow and Sunday evenings, so that should be good.

That's about all, it's been an extremely boring day, but I guess that's what I needed. Hopefully everyone has benefitted from the day off.

Peace,
Justin

The Climax

I raise my flag,
I've reached the top,
And I like it here,
So I know I should stop.

To take in the air,
And glimpse the awesome sites,
So I'll remember where I am,
And forget my former plights.

But can we ever be fulfilled,
Once we reach the lofty summit?
Once we've raised our banner high,
Will we ever be truly happy with it?

We've reached the place we've searched for,
We've met our greatest goal,
But have we gotten what we wanted?
Have we filled the gaping hole?

I've gotten what I wanted,
And it has made everything much better,
But still I've got a lot to learn,
And much more to discover.

I still don't know all that much,
About who I am or why I'm here,
And I don't know if I ever will,
But it's never seemed so near.

Peace,
Justin

My Weekend

Well, it's been an awful long time since I've written an entry devoted to what's going on in my life, it's been just poetry for some time now, but here's what's going on. Today was your typical Monday, except for the fact that it was a Monday after a fantastic weekend, that doesn't seem to happen very often. To begin with, Friday was the Monadnock Semi-Formal Dance. Usually dances are a good time, but this was probably the best dance I can remember. I drove to Stacie's beforehand for dinner. I got to meet her parents, too, and I would have to say that they're pretty funny. We had spaghetti, and afterwards we went to the dance. When we arrived it didn't look like many people were coming, because it was practically empty, but I guess it filled up pretty well. Hung out with everyone, rocked out as usual, just had a blast, but most importantly danced with Stacie. It was a really great time, and I'm wicked glad I had a date, and a pretty awesome one at that. After a great ending with "Stairway to heaven," we went out to Applebee's with Baumgartner and Ashley, but we only got drinks. It was nice just to hang out with them, and then I drove Stacie home before returning to Gilsum.

I slept in until about noon on Saturday morning. Then I got my swim stuff ready and threw on some warm clothes before heading in to JC Penny's in Keene. I had signed up to work a shift of ringing the bell at a Salvation Army holiday collection bucket in front of the store, and I was there from about 2:45-3:00 PM. After that I went to the Toadstool for about 45 minutes to waste time and warm up before driving out to Troy.

The swim team had a pre-meet pasta party at the FR's house in Troy from 4:00-7:15, so that's where I went. Had a great time there just hanging out with the team, I really like those kids, it's a good team, and we definitely have a good time. We watched some college football, ate some pasta, sang some Christmas carols to the neighbors, and wrestled in the dark. Oh, and Baumgartner and I have been singing some Cher songs, so that's pretty exciting. You can't tell me that doesn't sound like a good time. After we were all full and ready to rest our stomachs before practice, Mr. Dill comes out and he's like, "the lasagna's ready." We're all just like, "ohhh..." Sadly to say, I don't think the lasagna got eaten, hopefully they won't be eating it for a month. Thanks to them for having a great meal for us, and letting us use their house.

After that, we were going to head to practice, and I gave Gail a ride. She wanted to stop at the school to get some notebooks, and Motts had to pick something up there, so a bunch of us stopped there on the way. We had a good time running around the dark school, and that was the extent of that. Gail had a pretty good time riding with me I'm sure, probably scared her a couple of times, but it wouldn't be any fun without a little of that. Oh, and we listened to Motion City Soundtrack in the car, too, a pretty sweet band I must say. Then we went to practice.

Practice was pretty good, but I felt bad for Motts because he had to deal with some things that he shouldn't have had to deal with. Hopefully everything is settled now. Luckily, our excellent captains stepped up and led much of the practice to make it easier on him. I was pretty excited, because I got to work one-on-one with Kierstin, and I think she really learned a lot, and she responded quite well. I wish there was more time for that type of instruction, but I do need to keep working myself, or I'm not going to get any better. Also, we ran a practice run of the Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay, and we clocked a very respectable 2:06, and I led off with a 50 Yard Backstroke clocked at 33 seconds, 2 seconds under my best from last year. This was a very positive accomplishment, and it helped my confidence going into Sunday's meet. When I got home from practice I crashed.

Sunday morning I got up at 5:30 AM to get ready for the meet, and we left at 6:00 AM for Keene State. I was one of the first ones there, and I got stuck holding the door open for people for some time, since the College staff hadn't unlocked the Gym yet. After that I changed and got up on deck to stretch and get ready for warm-ups. Warm-ups went well, and I was feeling pretty good about everything, I was seeded well in all of my events, and I had my eyes set on qualifying in the 100 Yard Backstroke.

My first event was the 200 Yard Medley Relay with me leading off as the Backstroke leg, Mike Fratea following with the Breastroke, Nick Hall with the Butterfly, and last, Chris Baumgartner with the Freestyle. My lead-off leg put us off to a great start, my 32.07 second leg was good for second place behind Keene High's A Relay team. This, sadly didn't hold for the entire event, and we ended up placing 4th, although only a second behind 2nd place, with a new school record time of 2:03.90, breaking our own record of the previous season. Then I had quite awhile to wait before my 500 Yard Freestyle, but when it finally came I was well rested, and ready to do my best. I did much better than I had expected, winning the second heat and placing 5th overall with a time of 6:45.61, about 6 seconds under my personal best time from last season. Then I had just a short time to regain my strength and prepare for the 100 Yard Backstroke, the event that I really wanted to do well in. Although my start wasn't the best, and my final turn was horrible, I came in with a 1:12.16, which was good for 3rd place overall, only a second behind 2nd place, and a trip to states in the 100 Yard Backstroke. The State Qualifying time in that event is 1:14.49, and my previous personal best had been at 1:16.12 since last January. I had accomplished what I had hoped to, and by a good two seconds. Finally, was the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. We had the same A Relay team, and we were ready, although we had to face an extremely talented Keene High Relay team. Nick led off with a 57.18 second 100, followed by Mike with a 1:00.20, followed by Chris with a 1:03.11, and lastly I anchored the race with a 1:02.42, good for 2nd place overall, and a our second school record of the day, again ours from the previous season. My 1:02.42, was a personal best by about 4 seconds, which I was extremely pleased with. All in all, we lost the meet, but it was a great day for me, and I definitely accomplished a lot. Also, I really appreciated that Stacie came, and that she told me all along I could get the 100 Yard Backstroke, I guess I did, and I am so happy.

It was a great weekend, I'm still excited about how well I did yesterday, and I can't wait until Friday's meet. Thanks again, Stacie, it was a great weekend, and I really appreciate your support, and everyone else's who has asked and congratulated me, it means a lot. To all the rookies, you did great yesterday, and you're only going to get better, my first meet wasn't exactly pretty, and look where I've gotten, it just takes hard work, determination, and a love for the sport. I've put a lot into swimming, and the rewards have been amazing, it's brought me through so much, and I love everything about it.

Peace,
Justin