Amazing

Our choir performed at Orchestra Hall in the twin cities yesterday. We had the honor of singing there for the Minnesota Choral Arts Finale. Early this year we recorded a few songs and sent the tape in to a group of judges who listened and rated the choirs without knowing which recording was from each school. Out of many schools that sent in auditions, our choir was one of five choirs selected from the entire state of Minnesota. We traveled to Concordia College in St. Paul where we worked with the clinician on two of our pieces. After doing that and working on two mass pieces with the four other choirs, we got supper and got dressed for the concert. We then traveled to Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis and went through sound checks. Our choir has sung in three or four different venues this year, but none of them are even a fraction as amazing to sing in. The sound of the songs just carry so awesomely, the hall is so large, and the way the hall is set up is just brilliant. Singing on stage was one of the most exhilarating experiences I have ever had and I hope, that someday I can do something amazing and have the chance to perform there again.

Team

Being part of a team is more than just working together to accomplish a goal. It's more like helping your family reach their highest level of performance. During the course of a sports season, you and your teammates get very close and when a close-knit group of people push each other, you get results. Our school's wrestling team consistently has one of the best teams in the state, and it's not just the great coaches we have. There are a bunch of guys in one wrestling room for 2 hours straight working their butts off, and when you wrestle someone who is working that hard, you have to go that hard or you will get destroyed. And individuals on a team will often put the team before themselves. This year at the section wrestling tournament a wrestler competed for his team on a torn ACL, risking even more serious injury, to make sure that his team could keep the lead. That is what team is about.

Ill

I have been ill for the past two days. I went in at 9 O' clock on Tuesday morning and got a strep test. I get strep throat at least once a year and it seems that I have this years case. Yesterday all I did was lay around and sleep. That night, my fever got as high as 102.6 degrees Fahrenheit. You know you have a bad fever when your eyes feel like their burning. Anyways. Today I woke up and took some pills. My highest temperature so far today has been 100.3 degrees. I am feeling better but now I have to work on all the homework I missed. :(

Reputation

Your reputation is a pretty important thing. If you have a bad reputation, people might judge you in a bad way. But if you have a good reputation people probably think good things about you. For example, I say Barry Bonds and you instantly think what? Steroids. Or O.J. Simpson. Murder. Or Charlie Sheen. Cocaine and strippers. But maybe I say Star Trek, and you think nerds and fan clubs, that might be a little unreasonable. As you can see, reputations can lead to assumptions. And, you know, they say when you assume you make an ASS out of U and ME.

March Madness

March Madness is upon us and I finally gave in and made a bracket this year. In case you didn't know, March Madness refers to the NCAA division I men's basketball team tournament. Every year, people fill out brackets for the 64 team tournament, and often bet on it with a group of friends or coworkers. Several celebrities (even the president!) make brackets. Snoop Dogg has one, and it's only half bad. The ESPN website has an online tournament challenge, and I have my bracket on there. My friends and I (notice the almost 7th grade grammar I just used) have a group and I am currently in 4th place (I should really be in third but Jason thought he would be tough and make 2 brackets). I am also 1,844,144 overall on ESPN. President Obama is doing better than me, but considering he is the leader of the country, he probably should be. 

Springtime

Well, today is supposedly the last day of winter. I'm not buying it. When you think of springtime, you think of flowers and running through a field of daisies on a warm, sunny day. But I live in Minnesota. If you haven't experienced a Minnesota spring, let me summarize it for you. Lots of mud. Lots of rain. Lots of people whining about the rain and mud. Lots of people whining about the people whining about the mud and rain. Think teenagers at a stormy track meet whiny. Every year it seems to be the same, the one plus is that it means that summer is coming and with it, the end of school.

Respect

Is it better to be respected? Or feared? I don't know why I said that, I just always think of that when I talk about respect I guess. I don't remember what movie I saw that quote on, but it kind of made me wonder. I mean, like in sports, would you rather be known as one of the better teams or one of the scariest. Because no one likes people who take cheap shots during a game, but it's not like your going to hate a team for being really good unless they break the rules. (cough cough Apple Valley cough cough)