Invicem!

Every year, the Calvin teams pick themes for Saturday night of the conference meet. This year, the boys picked - this theme? - and their cheer poked fun of another team's cheer. The other team's cheer repeats "WISE OWL!" and holds up an owl statue with a towel on it. At our dual meet, Calvin men cheered "DRY TOWEL!" and then the cheer advanced farther. They are repeating "DRY ROSS!" (Ross is in the dress) and then Ross got "sacrificed" to the water, at which point the cheer changed to "WET ROSS!"












Our theme was construction. We (but I do want to give myself some credit here) developed a cheer mimicking Bob the Builder. If we were losing on Saturday night, we could chant, "Can we fix this? Yes we can!" as Bob does. If we were winning (as we were), we chanted, "Can we win this? Yes we can!" and then repeated "BOB!" in a huddle.



















Overall, the meet was a success. I had best times in almost every event, getting "B cuts" (aka provisionals) in the 50 free and 100 fly for the first time in my swimming career. I was 3/100 off the school record in the butterfly, as was Caitlin (we tied for fourth in the finals - see picture above.) I am also on a few relays that will go to Nationals (the official list comes out Friday, I think.) Thus, I am headed to Minneapolis for March 19-21 to swim on some relays and two individual events. My last swim season - my last trip to Nationals - I am so grateful to be going. In practice today (long course = amazing) I realized that I am not ready to be done. What will I do with myself? I'm glad I am going again, swimming again, enjoying myself again.
I tried to swim as a type of worship to God - not just enjoying it myself, although that's a part of it, but actually swimming so that God could look down and say, "Again! Again! I love this!" Someday, I'll add in my favorite sermon story of all time that talks about God saying "again! again!" It will make more sense.

The future's so bright, I've got to wear... blinds?

Wolfe's Fables: Episode 1

Pogo had always lusted after Roller’s skills. His steady rhythm increased exponentially as he raced downhill. His laces were always tied just right, looking like a helmet or a sleek shell whenever he shot past. Unfortunately, as most skates were wont to do, he was well aware of his skill and bragged about it incessantly.
“I love the wind I feel when I SHOOT down the hill,” he boasted.
One day, Pogo snapped. He had enough with Roller’s bragging, no matter how cool he looked or how fast he skated.
“That’s it, Roller. I’m sick of your gloating. Let’s race.”
Pogo knew that he could boing higher than Roller. Who said he couldn’t make it downhill just as fast – or faster?
“You sure, Pogo? Yes? Then let’s roll.”
So even though Pogo had never practiced a descent, he boinged to the top of the hill. He visualized himself boinging down, flying past, hearing the audience’s cheers.
Go!” the starter cried.
Roller began rolling, leering back at Pogo. Pogo took a giant leap.
Unused to the grade, Pogo missed his landing, so Roller the show-off won, fair and square. He could have napped before Pogo finished. Pogo flopped home, affirming the value of restraint and readiness.



Some updates:

1. We are still out of heat - which is not really worth a big whine because this is the first time I've been in the house for more than 2 hours. Our heat broke Saturday, so I have spent most of the time at other people's houses (thanks, kids). It is supposed to be fixed tomorrow. Until then - slow typing by these fingers, I guess.

2. I heard a quote that I am going to butcher, but it said something about "theologians have one eye on the Bible and one eye on the newspaper." We really need to be aware of what is going on in the world in order to best work toward shalom.

3. Conference is this week!

4. Sunday, I heard about how God keeps His promises. In the book of Joshua, Caleb had 45 years to wait before He received the land God had promised him. Kind of crazy, and it makes me feel very impatient when I am wondering why I still "wait for answers" for WEEKS on end.

5. Saw these sunglasses at Target, and then at the movie theater Saturday night. This is what this blog title is about.

thoughts?

There are some practical issues that you should be aware of.
1. I often confuse "Germany" with "Austria"
2. I'm actually left-handed. (Criticizers, this is acknowledging not only that I drew a right-handed student, but that I DO have a dominant hand in drawing. And this was it.)
3. I did steal an idea off of failblog. Thanks, small child, and teachers who post failed work.

Humility, Autumn Film, a Byronic Hero, and some prepositions

You now have the privilege of reading the blog of a record holder in the 100 butterfly for two pools! Also, very humble. That's right, Calvin's pool (seeing as it was the first meet in the pool), and Alma College's pool on Saturday. (Both of them are the 100 fly.) I just wanted to put that out here before we have another meet in Calvin's pool and potentially I will only have one pool record after that. Having small goals and seeing them achieved really does remind me that God gives us enough for each day, as the sermon was about yesterday. (Also, God gave me great friends. And great, intertwining connections. And people with birthdays on Valentine's Day. I like all of you.)

I heard a new, amazing band named Autumn Film. Here is a video embedded for your enjoyment. They're making a new cd of rearranged hymns at some point, and the songs I've heard so far have been awesome.


Second semester classes start today - I'm taking Doctrine of God, History of Math (I didn't make that one up), Rock Climbing, Psychology (two of them) and Creative Writing. I got so excited for creative writing that I may have gotten a little obsessed over our interim break, thanks to a great suggestion from a friend and some old English notes. I would say, "YES! OMG!" (paraphrasing, since I've never said OMG and plan on never, ever actually saying it) and my housemates would say, "Another idea for your story?" And every time they said it, it was true. On the plus side, I feel like I've made new friends. Literally, made.

My English knowledge comes in handy for my summary of my prayer class: it's all about prepositions. We're not just praying TO Jesus. We are praying WITH Jesus, FOR Jesus (we should be praying as if it were Him praying), AS Jesus, ABOUT Jesus, and I think a lot of other prepositions work there as well. So we'll just leave it as "& etc."