Monday, December 8, 2008

Blog No. 14: Introvert or Extrovert?

Introvert or Extrovert?

For me, the hardest part of high school is dealing with other people. I am shy around groups of people especially if they are not people that I talk to regularly. I had never heard of these two classifications before today, but I suppose I am an introvert. I hope that there is some cure for this disease!

This year I have had problems with people always thinking that there is something wrong with me because I am quiet. I am quiet most of the time because I feel awkward around groups of people. Usually I only speak when spoken too because I don’t like being the center of attention. Some of you reading this may think “Yea right, I wish you would shut up!” Well if you are thinking that then that means that I am close enough to you to feel comfortable.

The problem with being quiet is that no one knows what I am thinking or how I am feeling. I am a much closed person so I am not going to tell someone how I feel unless someone asks. Even then I still sometimes hold it in. This is probably my worst habit because I hold in too much and it drags me down.

When I am worn out and I need a boost of energy, I do not want to be around a lot of people. Being around people is what usually makes me stressed. I don’t want to be completely alone either because I spend most of my time alone. I live in the country and all my siblings have moved out so I have to be by myself most of the time. When I want to recharge my batteries, the best way is to spend time relaxing with one my best friends.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Blog No. 13: Wow That Was One BIG Turkey

Wow, That Was One BIG Turkey

This year, Thanksgiving was a little bit disappointing. Most families have big family dinners then they spend the weekend relaxing together. Few family members were able to come at all last weekend and I did not get time to relax.

Thanksgiving Day started all right, I was able to sleep in. I woke up at 10 o’clock which doesn’t sound that great, but I was used to getting up early enough to get to school at 6 o’clock on week days! I didn’t do much after waking up; mostly I occasionally watched the parades.

At one o’clock, Mom, Dad, and I drove in town to my grandparents’ house for our Thanksgiving meal. Boy that was exciting! The only family that was there, other than my family, was my grandparents’ and my great aunts Lois and Carolyn. None of my dad’s brothers or sister came so there were no cousins. I would have gone insane if my brother Ben, sister Rosie, and Ben’s brother-in-law Michael didn’t come. They left as soon as they were done eating without even asking me if I wanted to come along! With nothing else to do and no one to talk to I watched college basketball and football on TV for the next couple of hours. Finally I received a text from Rosie that said that I could go over to the community building with the Charneske’s if I wanted to (they are my brother’s wife’s family).

When I got to the community building with the Charneske’s, my day began to get better. We had a lot of fun playing spoons, listening to music, and playing with baby Austin. They had good food there too! When it was dark outside, we played hide and seek around town. Hide and seek may not have been such a good idea because I was already coughing some and it was really cold outside. I think playing hide and seek and basketball is why I am still sick now.
I was feeling very anxious all day Friday because we had our first game of the Thanksgiving Classic basketball tournament at Olympia. The junior varsity team had a walk-through practice at 8 o’clock Friday morning because Coach Hawkins didn’t want us to lie around all day before the game. After practice, I went home and relaxed for the rest of the day trying to keep my mind off the game.

Finally it came time to start thinking about basketball. I was really nervous because this was my first high school basketball game and I didn’t know what it was going to be like. Everything went really well and we beat Heyworth 51-28. I scored seven points and Michael Hallstein got a dunk!

After our game we had to watch the varsity team play Heyworth. Olympia is ranked #4 in the state, so they were supposed to win the tournament. It wasn’t easy for them, but they did pull off the win against Heyworth. The game seemed more exciting than usual, probably because the JV team sat together right behind the team bench and the Blue Crew was standing right behind us. It was intense!

We had two games Saturday, one against Leroy and one against Roanoke-Benson. The nerves were mostly gone, so I just went out and played. We beat Leroy and Roanoke-Benson, for the championship. I think the scores were 48-33 and 57-46. The varsity also won their two games, so both teams won their tournaments and started the season 3-0!

I really started feeling sick sometime Friday or Saturday, so I didn’t do anything on Sunday. My parents didn’t even make me go to church, so I stayed home and slept in. When I did get up, I didn’t really do anything productive at all.

Even though I was sick most of the weekend (and still am) it was a great weekend!