Soccer Balls Just Love Me

I swear. My head is a magnet for soccer balls.

I actually played soccer for a number of years without incident, but during one practice in sixth grade we were scrimmaging and I was playing defense and was running up to meet the oncoming offense player, who promptly kicked the ball, hoping to score but my head got in the way and the ball struck me hard in the forehead, knocking me to the ground.

Same thing happened a year later during a game with my travel team....except this time I was hit full in the face.

After that season, I quit soccer.

But I still had to play indoor soccer in gym class and that March I was sitting in the bleachers, waiting for my turn to play, talking to my friend Hannah, when a soccer ball comes whizzing at me and hits the front of my head. It gave me a concussion. I was not pleased.

Fall of 8th grade, I was at one of my brother's soccer games. I was sitting on the sideline, contentedly reading my book. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a soccer ball comes and hits me in the face. It was NOT COOL.

Soccer balls just seemed to be attracted to my face or something.

Then came yesterday...

I was having a very good day. Biology wasn't painful, band was fun and went very well, history was pretty chill learning about Buddhist meditation, and gym was the last class of the day.

I got to gym ready to go, took my inhalar, it was a beautiful day out, we were supposed to run a half mile and I finished first and was feeling really good after....it was good. Then my teacher said "Let's go over to the outfield of the baseball field and do some soccer." So we went. We were in groups doing a drill called juggling, where you pass the ball around and hit it only with you feet, knees and head and try not to let it touch the ground. The first minutes went well. Then someone kicked the ball a little bit too hard and.....into my face it went. Somehow, my glasses flew off my face and blood started exploding out of my nose. It was very gross. By the time I got up to the nurse my hands and face were simply COVERED in blood. It's probably good I didn't meet anyone in the halls, because I looked like something out of a horror movie.

See what I mean about soccer balls just loving me? I'm starting to think whenever I play soccer or watch soccer, I'm going to need to start wearing a helmet and face mask to protect myself!

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286....

pi.

pi.

pi.

pi.

pi.

Today is national PI day. Pi, as in math pi, 3.14 pi. Not pie (yum), but PI.

Pi...is cool, but confusing. Like really. All those numbers? Going on forever.....literally? Makes my head hurt. Those people who memorize a million digits of pi...for fun? Kinda crazy. First ten, ok, normal. Anything above a hundred, you're a bit wacky, a thousand, a million, YOU ARE INSANE. 

And that's not meant as an insult. It's also a high compliment that you can actually remember a random order of numbers in that much quantity. Good for you. But you're still insane....

Me? I can probably rattle off the first ten digits, or thereabouts. My brother had several memorized at one point. Maybe fifty or so. Pi, though, I rarely use. I think the only times I've used it are when I'm finding the circumference and areas of circles...

And to tell you the truth, I really couldn't tell you which formula is for which...

pi2r, pir2 yeah, that's confusing. Ugh. I can NEVER remember which is which so on math papers when I have to use it, I always do the wrong formula. Ugh. 

Anyway....happy pi day.......

Also a very exciting announcement on the badminton front!

We've been doing lots in our badminton tournaments and our doubles team came out of the round robin with a top seed, and in our finals doubles tournament we have won our first round match, and therefore advance to the next round. But the really exciting news is this: 

We've also been doing a singles, double elimination tournament (you have to lose twice to be out of the competition) and today I became the undefeated winner's bracket champion! Which means on Wednesday, I get to play against the winner of the loser's bracket in a championship match! The awesome thing about being the winner of the winner's bracket is that my opponent has to beat me not once, but TWICE, to win the championship, while I must only beat them once. Bwahaha. I love badminton.....

badminton love

Confession: I'm really not that great when it comes to sports.      I'm pretty average. In gym class I can hold my own in the middle of the pack, not terribly awful, not amazing for most sports. I'm a bit better at volleyball, being a really good server and a decent player, and I usually make a couple goals in ultimate frisbee, due to the fact that I have an excellent goal scoring strategy.I'm a complete failure in football and basketball. Honestly, I'm so bad it's really quite hilarious.However, when the badminton unit comes up in gym?You better hope you're not my opponent.

I have no idea why I'm so good at this sport. 

So far in gym we have been playing a round robin short game doubles tournament. My partner and I have played ten games and won all of them. We only have two more games left, but even if we lose on or more of them we're still going to get a really good seed when we start our doubles championship tournament. Yesterday we played four games very quickly, winning 7-1, 7-0, 7-0, and 7-2.After the doubles rounds we'll be doing a singles tournament which will be super fun, because I'm even better at playing singles!

I have no idea how I got this good....I just picked up a racket in sixth grade and started beating everybody.....

So....in final words, if you ever see me coming towards you with a shuttlecock and racket in hand....you might want to get out on the way.*evil laugh*

Yawn....

Boy am I tired. Let me go through the day with you:

Got to school wicked early (6:40ish) because I had forgotten my French homework, so I had to go do that.

Training jazz band, with intense piano parts.

French, which was fun :)

Social Studies doing more research on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and trial.

Science, where we  watched yet another boring video on the evolution of the Earth.

Gym, where I ran 2 1/2 miles

Lunch, where I ate everything in sight because I was hungry after all that running.

A math class that was tiring on my brain.

LA where I finally submitted my DuPont competition essay (Grand Prize is $20,000 and a trip to Disney!)

Band, great as always

Report Cards, let's not discuss it.

And then a performance jazz rehearsal from 2:15-4. But we got pizza after so......yeah.

And now we are going to a high school basketball game that I don't really want to go to because I just wanna relax for heaven's sake!

Halfway there

Hey everybody! Yes, I had a fun time skiing yesterday, mostly carving up the east side and the half-pipe, LOL. My skis were nice and sharp and I only fell once, sliding about 40 ft down the mountain, but thankfully while I was sliding I didn't run into a tree or anything, I just stuck the sharp side of my pole into my rear. Ouch! But other then that it was a gorgeous day, and I had a lot of fun.

And now. I can't believe I am HALFWAY there. Friday was the end of 2nd quarter/1st semester and today is the beginning of 3rd quarter/2nd semester. Wow. Halfway through the year! I feel like it's been this year forever, to be honest. Anyway, that means no more Home Ec and I have to be in Gym instead, but I will have a lot of friends in my gym class so that's OK. Also, we are coming upon my favorite time of the school year. It's what I like to call 'The Band Season'. Why? Because from this week until the end of the year we have increased jazz rehearsals for hours after school, and TONS of extra performances, especially for 8th graders in the jazz band. (8th grade gets to do a lot of special stuff) Our 8th grade band is even going to play at the State House in April, by special invitation! And we are the only band going! It's exciting, and I'll keep you posted with all the fun events. And now, it's off to school for the second half of the year for me!