Practice

Practice makes perfect. This mantra is repeated by coaches everywhere, in every sport, but what does it actually mean? Well, one of my swim coaches (aka my mother) gave me a very good explanation of what it means and why practice is so important in swimming and in any sport one does. Basically practice is conditioning. Conditioning what you ask? Conditioning your body. You practice to get your body ready so you can perform at optimum efficiency when you compete in a competition. This is especially important in swimming. Yes practice is boring because your swimming in the same six to twelve feet of water for up to 2 hours, and maybe more. But when you think about what your doing, how your utilizing the different muscle and energy systems in your body, you see the purpose of practice. It builds your endurance, it gets your body used to operating at maximum levels for a period of time. Practice is all about your body and preparing your body to do what you want it to do once you enter a competition. So practice does indeed make perfect.

And Luke, you asked me to incorporate you into this blog, and I'm sorry man but I just couldn't do it. I have failed you. For this I apologize.

Fridays

I think that Friday is the universal favorite day of the whole world. What is there not to like? Friday is a sign that the work/school week is finally over, Monday is just a memory by this point and everyone is looking forward to putting into action the big plans they have come up with over the course of the past 4 days. Even though you still have to wake up on Friday, it feels easier. The day is shorter, you have more energy, and everything seems a lot brighter than it did just a few short days ago. You got up early...but it doesn't matter...it's Friday. The working world's favorite weekly holiday...Friday. The signal that the weekend is here, all you have to do is survive these last 8 hours and then....it's the weekend. Friday is the Statue of Liberty for the work force, that shining beacon of light in a dreary sea of dreariness. Friday...your personal gateway to freedom.

Friends

Friends are great things to have. They can pick you up when you're down. A good friend is someone who is always there for you no matter what. They're the person you call a midnight because you have to talk about something, and they always answer. Regardless of what is going on with them, they will drop it all to help you. And if you're a good friend, you will do the same for them. But there are also bad friends. The friends who mooch off of what you do. Those friends are the ones who are never there for you, but as soon as they need something they come running to you. You don't like that they do what they do, but everytime you try to separate from them, they guilt trip you into staying friends. It's a vicious cycle. There is an Egyptian proverb that says this about friendship, "Friendship doubles joy and halves grief." That summarizes a good friendship. If it's a good relationship will bring you joy and when you have grief, that friend will help you back to joy. And that is a good thing to have. So today I challenge you to go out and find a friend, the person who will always have your back, your wingman if you will. And never let them go, a good friend is something that is hard to find and easy to keep, so find it, keep it, and never take it for granted.

Blue

Blue. Blue is the color of the ocean. Blue is something that can calm people down. It carries connotations of water, and waves, and regularity. When things get crazy, when you can't concentrate and things are all over the place, blue is the color that people like to think of. The visions of the ocean, thinking of the waves, the noise, the smells...it just brings a sense of peace when things are all over the place. Blue is an amazing color, it's better than black or red. In fact, it might just be better than all the other colors. What other color has the ability to calm you with visions of the ocean? But then you have the flip side, the dark personality of the color blue. The color blue is also associated with sadness. More often than not, when someone is sad they will turn to blue to express themselves. Picasso's Blue Period is a great example of this. Picasso was going through a rough patch, and glazed all his paintings from that period with blue. It represented his sorrow. Blue. What a wonderfully expressive color.

Backpacks

Backpacks are very interesting creatures. They are a very diverse family of objects that assist with life, namely in the area of aiding human beings with the transportation of heavy and/or numerous objects without taking up our hands. But on the other hand, if you overload your backpack it can lead to problems. The way the backpack hangs off of one's shoulders places a large amount of stress on the lumbar (lower) region of your back. And consequently the larger the load you place in the backpack the more stress you place on that lumbar region. And also, the more stress you place on that region, the more likely you are to develop lower back problems in the future of life. There are also many subdivisions in the backpack family. You have your mesh ones, clear ones, sporty ones, roller ones, and many different other kinds besides that. And if you don't want to have those lower back problems, then a suitable alternative is the messenger bag, which you sling across your body and over one shoulder. The only downside to the messenger bag is the fact that you have decreased storage space. But on the other hand, you don't get those pesky back problems. So there you have it, backpacks are great ways to transport your heavy items (i.e. textbooks, laptops, little babies), but be careful and don't abuse the carrying power granted to you by these wondrous devices.

Goodbyes

Goodbyes are hard. There is no easy way to say goodbye to someone who means a lot to you. Sometimes you have advanced notice to a goodbye, but you always say, "Oh I have plenty of time to prepare for this, it won't be that bad." But then before you know, the date of the goodbye has arrived, altogether too quickly, you find yourself not prepared at all. You have no idea what to say, your planned, robotic goodbye goes out the window. You don't know what to do, the person who is leaving is telling you its time to go, they have to leave, but you're unwilling to accept that. You can't wrap your mind around the fact that the person who has always been there, the rock, the one who you were sure would never leave...they're going away. It's thrust upon you all too quickly, there is no planning a goodbye. You have to accept the fact that they are leaving, there is nothing you can do. You have to know that they are leaving for a good reason, otherwise they wouldn't be going in the first place. Recently I had to say goodbye to someone very close to me...it was a tough time, and tears were shed on both sides. I know that where he is going is where he needs to be, where he is supposed to be. I don't want him to go, but it's not my decision. In short, goodbyes come way to quickly, if you know someone who is going to be leaving you, treasure every time you have with them. Don't blow them off, spend time, share laughs, make memories that will last. The time of their departure is always sooner than you think it will be. Don't be afraid of goodbyes, embrace them. Goodbyes are a sign of change, a fresh start, a new chapter in the story of your life. So say the painful goodbye to the departing person, but prepare yourself for the new experiences that follow. Embrace those new experiences, live the new chapter, but never forget the old one.

How I Spent My Summer

My summer was...busy. It seemed like I never stopped doing something. As soon as school let out for the summer, I was in the pool training away for the summer season that didn't happen. I was also going to my new job lifeguarding at Atlantis Swim Club. Then, a few weeks into summer, I was embarking on a mission trip to Coastal North Carolina with my church. We stayed there for a week helping out around the small community of Hyde County. Once I got back from that trip I had...a week of downtime that wasn't really downtime. I was working again, all the time, and when I wasn't working I was either swimming or lifting weights...again for my summer swimming season that didn't happen. After that week, I winged my way (literally) out west to visit my grandparents and family in Arizona. My family and I endured 2 weeks of blistering temperatures in the deserts of Arizona, but we managed to have a good time. And then once we got back, it was back to the daily grind for the last remaining few weeks of vacation before school started. School has started now, I'm a junior, and I can't wait to see what this year will bring.