"These Things Will Change..."

I missed Wednesday's Walk yesterday because my mom made us shut down the computer until we did our chores or something of the sort. Tomorrow is my first "RandomNess Friday" and you can link up! (Don't forget to read Prism's blog.) We're still gonna do our Narnia stuff, but for now, I gotta read The Magician's Nephew.
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Honestly, I was going to blog about how much I'm dreading volleyball yesterday, but I'm glad I didn't! We won our game today! I'm loving it! My serve is usually great, (thanks to my coach from last year, Alan) but today it was kinda... well... all over the place. But otherwise, I did good. Our whole team did good. These girls have basically all played junior high school volleyball, so we're a really good team. WHOOO HOO!

The video looks a little small, but I hope you can see it. To tell you the truth, I think it's really weird how like, there's this girl rocking out on her violin, but I can't hear violin, like, anywhere in the song.

This song, anyway, relates to me a lot. It reminds me so much of gymnastics. At the beginning when Taylor says "Somebody else gets what you wanted again", it reminds me of the meets/competitions, really only one meet but gazillion practices, a girl named Megan* and her friend Tori* were good at every event. (although I was really good on the beam and floor, they still did great) Megan was a bigtime vaulter. She was so fast, and she was tall like me. (so I had no excuse for being a slow vaulter.) She was the perfect example of a great gymnast, someone worthy of making the level 5 team. Or was she really worthy of making the team?

Physically, yes. Mentally, no. She was rude. To me, she wasn't. Towards her mom, she was. Very annoying. She always talked back (to the coach, I'm not sure, but I think so) and I couldn't understand why i tried so hard and she still was better than me.

Then there's Tori. The typical middle school cheerleader. Her attitude was the average cheerleader behavior. I'm a cheerleader, I'm not snobby. But I also don't cheer anymore. Kayla is a cheerleader, but she's friendly. Tori isn't.

Tori didn't talk back, (and this is before she was a cheerleader.) and she was kinda nice. To me, at least. But she was a huge perfectionist. If the springboard was slightly out of place, she perfected it. What kind of nerd does that--- WHAT THE HECK???!!!!

She bruised easily. That's her skin, she can't control that. But Tori.... oh Tori. Drama Queen all the way. Once, she bruised on the vault when she fell at practice, (we all got hurt that day, especially me. I had to vault on a cut foot, and she's the one complaining?) and she was crying for so long, we were on the beam and she's still crying. Baby, baby, baby--- annoying.

Tori was great on the floor. At practice, when we knew our dance routines well enough, my coach would turn off the music ("I'll Find My Own Way" by Harry Gregson-Williams from the X-Men Wolverine sountrack) after every single mistake made. Tori and I had good technique, so we both had the longest timing. Her routine was almost flawless, but she messed up on our easiest skill, a handstand forward-roll. At the very end of the routine. A skill I had perfectly, and the way I did it was even compared to the way my coach did it. But Tori could dance better. Tori already had her back walkover. Tori almost had her back handspring. Tori had great balance.

Megan was strong. Megan had her front handspring on the floor and back handspring on the wedge. She was great at tucks. Her tumbling skills were unbelievable. her balance was crazy good.

So here's what happened:  We had a competition last March and it was my first time as a level 4, a very respected level at our YMCA. Our first event was floor. "I'm gonna win this." Or so I thought.

During this time, I was very achy from whatever happened to my hip, and could not do the splits. Bad, because that was the beginning of my routine. I couldn't make the back walkover, ya all know that. My legs split in the middle of my back handspring/flic flac/flip flop/lions' leap. I ended the routine perfectly, but it didn't matter at that point, because as usual, Tori did it perfectly.

On beam, I failed worse than that. I fell, one too many times. Megan admitted (her words!) "I was afraid Hope was gonna win. I was surprised she didn't." Well, she won. Because she's really good. She won vault,  also, and I got bronze. Not too shabby there. But that didn't matter. 26.2 points. Second-to-last in the all-around, and only beat the last place girl by .1 points. Embarrassing for both of us.

But Marnie* said "Everyone wil be last, sometimes it's you." She was after me in the all-around, and when she said that, I stopped feeling sorry for myself. I felt bad for her, and knew that we needed to practice and then it would work.

Victory isn't easy. "Rome wasn't built overnight..." is one of those inspiring sayings. So I keep practicing, and maybe I'll make it to victory. And maybe I have level 5 in store for me someday.

Those things will change, I'll see it soon. Don't be discouraged, because it will only bring you further down. Do everything with no regrets and you're sure to shine!

*Names changed so I wouldn't be a gossip.

Prayer Camp 26-32

Hansel & Gretel. Roller skating. Volleyball games. Shower mishaps.

Oh my gosh.... WHAT A WEEK! Monday was boring, because Monday is just Mondaine.

TUESDAY
Oh my.... this was the WORST DAY EVER!!!! In History class, I had the weirdest headache. Like... it hurt, but it didn't hurt. It throbbed, but it didn't kill. It split, but it didn't split. So weird.

When I got home, I couldn't find my kneepads. I needed my kneepads! But after twenty minutes of searching, I realized that the kneepads weren't crawling back to me anytime soon, and just went without.

But there's a catch... I was NOT going to practice without first shaving my legs! (Don't ask....) So I ran to the bathroom to shave in time for practice, even though it was already 6 o' clock and I was late no matter what. But before I could reach for my pink razor, I had to turn on the shower. When I turned it on... I was like the 'Dumber' in "Dumb and Dumber". I turned on the shower head, while my head was right below it and....

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! It just SPRAYED my HAIR!!!!!"

I ran out of the bathroom. "What?" My dad asked. "Why are you wet?" And I was so furious. "Can we just go to practice now??? I'm late as it is." I said.

I went to practice, with a small bit of fury left inside, with damp hair and a wet shirt. But like they all say... the hard spikes really do get the anger out!!! It's better than gymnastics in a way, because if you're angry, you have to hold it in. In volleyball however, you can take it out on the ball. And I have friends who can help cool me down... and dry my hair!

WEDNESDAY
Today was... good. Church rocked.... nothing else to say.

THURSDAY
Spike it, girl! Thursday  Game day was fun! My serve got more points than I can count. I've improved greatly! it was our last two games, but not like we won or anything. But I have a new injury to talk about!

I was playing in front right, and the balls kept coming... TO ME!!!!!!! So exciting and fun to have the weight of the team on your shoulders, right? NO!!! One ball even came to me, dropped right by the net, and I had no choice but to spike it. I spiked, I failed, I bent my pinky back. But what was injured? My wrist. But I played on, (we ended up losing) and ended up being "player of the week", in other words, someone who showed a lot of effort.

And my cheerleading background helped a lot to cheer my team on!

FRIDAY
Hansel! Gretel! Maria was in a play for the Kettering Childrens Theatre, and this time, her play was "Hansel & Gretel". (Hansel is a boy, but a girl played him. Gretel is a girl.) It was so interesting! I wasn't following it at first, but at the end, it all came together. First, Maria was a bearded LADY dwarf. Second, she was a bratty kid. (Most of the time she was a bratty kid--- in the play.) Then she was a hot pink-haired, black-winged fairy. She did great!!!

It would be so fun if I could do KCT! But I'm not going to because I don't want to copy her or seem clingy. but just saying, it would be so much fun to have the part of Gretel or something like that!

SATURDAY
I spent the night at Maria's, and had a lot of fun! In fact, she should be leaving for her next showing in a couple of minutes. Pray for her and wish her great luck! Tomorrow is her last showing! And my wrist is getting better, thank God!
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Pray for those who need Jesus as a savior. And my birthday is on Monday! Don't forget to visit YOUR BLOG on November 22!