lessons

More lacrosse games today.

Our first game was against the University of Buffalo and we lost that (long story short), but mostly because they weren't in our league. Also because the girls on this team were just the girls who didn't make the varsity lacrosse team that UB also has. So they're essentially just shy of being varsity players. Also, they have a coach, (a paid staff coach) which I think probably helps. We lost 2-10. It was not a pretty game on our part, although I have to say that if we're gonna lose, I want to lose to a team who wins as beautifully as UB did. Their technique was amazing, their goalie was fantastic, their fluidity as a team was just so pretty to watch. If I wasn't so frustrated to be losing, I would have thought it was the coolest thing to see.

Second game was much better. We played John Carroll, who was good, but not as good as UB, and our level of play was already up from playing UB first. We beat JC 10-7 (which was pretty awesome) and I had - count 'em - eight saves in the game. Please allow me to put that in perspective. Remember how I said that coach sat me down and told me that LAX goalies usually save 30% of what's thrown at them on a good day? I saved eight out of fifteen shots. That's not bad for a long-time goalie and pretty damn good for the fourth game I've ever played in my life. 

I think I decided that I like playing on a team better than I like playing individually. I was nervous at first because I had the mindset that if I screwed up, I was letting down twenty other girls. And then it occurred to me after the first game on Wednesday, when all twenty of those girls came charging across the field at me to jump up and down when I made my fifth save, right before the buzzer, in my first game ever, that I was looking at it backwards. When I do well, all twenty of those people are happy for me. 

This is a huge learning experience for me. I mean, learning lacrosse, yes, but also being part of a team, being part of something bigger than yourself and realizing that you're just that - a part. It's not about me. It's not about Roop or EO or Umble or Amy or Lizzy or Cerise or Miller or Buckle or Katelyn. It's about all of us. 

I can tell that playing a team sport is having an effect on other things that I'm doing too. I got three compliments in the last week that I didn't think I'd ever hear applied to me. Ever. First, Lizzy told me after our Wednesday game that I was excellent at keeping my temper in check. There were way way too many penalty shots taken during that game, and it was because of stupid mistakes that my own girls were making. She said that I was good at not getting mad at the fact that I had to deal with their mistakes and also being respectful to the referees. Now, I know I have a pretty swift temper, so I found that sort of impressive.

Secondly, I had to go in and talk with my Civ Arts professor the other day about my paper. After he told me that it was very good, but off-topic, he brought up several points that he thought were off. I had an answer for every single one, and by the time we were done talking, he was smiling. "You know you're the first student who's come in to talk with me who hasn't gotten defensive about their answers?" he said. "And you had answers. I'm impressed. You're a very good, respectful arguer." I've always been a good arguer, but I think working so much in a group and having to tread lightly when challenging refs has really been beaten into me as of late.

Third, my friend Cassie came into my room on Thursday night, plopped down on my bed, and was telling me about some problems she's been having as of late. We talked for about 45 minutes and then I had to go to practice, and when she got up to go she stopped at the door and said, "You know Rissa, you're a really good listener. And you give pretty good advice." I've never been a good listener. Usually I'm just waiting for the next opportunity to talk. And I'm horrible at giving advice. Maybe having to be able to talk with people at practice and having to take instruction and criticism has been rubbing off to other parts of life. I feel obligated to listen to what people are telling me when I play lacrosse, because if I refuse to correct my mistakes, it affects more than just myself. My stubbornness gets my team nowhere.

Plus sometimes I just can't shut off goalie mode. After our game last night, I went to go watch Stephen's hall play IM dodgeball (which is just about the funniest thing I've ever seen) and my friend Jordan kept cracking up because I was sitting on the sidelines trying to direct all their players. Finally Keith got fed up and made me come down closer and actually talk to them while they were playing. So now I'm "coaching" IM dodgeball. 

So it's just sort of cool to see. I'd do a lot for those girls (my bruises prove that, I think). They're really amazing, great girls. And it's a great game. And I think it's the coolest thing that they have lacrosse as a club sport. Because if it was varsity, I wouldn't be playing. And if I wasn't playing, I wouldn't be learning all this sweet stuff.

I'm off to do homework now, and then I'm going to go watch a movie with Stephen, and then I'm going to bed because I have church in the morning. (Oh! P.S.! Stephen is such a sweetheart. Our games today were at 10 and noon. I thought I had him convinced last night not to come in the morning because he'd been at the game at night and it was early and blah blah and we'd meet up for lunch afterward. Nope. Just as the girls were meeting in center field at 10:00 am to draw for the opening of the match, here comes Stephen in his coat and hat, with his coffeecup in his hand and he sat through both of the games today, cheering the whole time. What a swell guy. He makes me smile.)

first game

Okay! First lacrosse game - Done! And we won, 13-8. It was fun - and frustrating at parts, but mostly fun - to get to play and to watch. 

I've got some pics from the game and also a pic of the hideous thing that happened to my knee as I was saving a penalty shot (the important thing is that I saved said shot - the bruise will heal). It's the outside of my right knee. Strangest bruise I've ever had - and the quickest one to show up too. 

ouch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3HPPobOO8E&feature=related

Check this out. But don't stop watching after she crashes. Watch what she does then.

spanish

It's pretty rare around here that I'm in a day-long state of frustration. Even more rare that that state of frustration extends to a second day, but here I am, so I suppose it's possible.

Today I am angry because I was told this morning that my Spanish professor is going to be taking another two weeks off. So I will not have had her for class for a solid month. They're sending in replacement professors, but it's not the same. I don't want to sound like a heartless, horrible person in saying that I don't think she should take the time off. If you need surgery, you need surgery, end of story. What bothers me is that she's so flippant about it. She didn't warn us that she was going to do this, she still made us take our midterm after not having class for two weeks, and she's having us do half-asses busywork assignments to keep us pacified. And I'm paying for it. I'm just trying to figure out who I can write the angry letter to.

lacrosse

These are a couple pictures of my new helmet, just so you can see what it's like. The top one shows the inside. The red thing is the springy concussion-protector. It sort of cups my head so the helmet doesn't bounce around when I get hit.

The second picture is just what it looks like. The black thing mounted to the face mask is a throat protector. They're regulation on all helmets now. It does just what it says - makes sure I don't get wailed in the throat.

And this is a lovely picture of a pretty nasty bruise I received on Thursday. There are places on your body you just can't cover with padding. Unfortunately, these are also the places I tend most to get hit. :)

kids these days

It's still pretty chilly around here, but for some reason it's really starting to feel like spring. I'm not sure why.



Things around here have been crazy, but so much FUN. Yesterday alone, I spent enough time laughing that it made my stomach hurt. In Civ Arts, my professor spent five minutes singing "Staci's Mom" to try to illustrate to us how Vivaldi uses reaccuring musical phrases in his music. I'm still not sure how that correlation works, I don't think I heard that part because I was so busy laughing at my professor, who was standing at the podium - bow tie and all - singing "Staci's Mom" off-key at the top of his lungs. Hilarious.



On top of that, we had lacrosse practice. It was just a conditioning session, which usually means lots of strength training and lots of running. We did strength training for a solid hour (lots of lunges and pushups and crunches and planks) and just when we thought we were going to go have to run a couple of miles, they took us all down to the basketball arena here on campus and announced that our run was going to consist of follow-the-leader. We thought they were being coy and tricky and that we were just going to run stairs or something (it's happened before), until we realized we were actually going to play follow the leader. Everybody had a turn and we could pick anything we wanted to do as long as we were moving - we played TV tag and Simon Says and Duck-Duck-Goose and did the limbo under the volleyball net, and played Leapfrog and ran sprints and did the Hokey Pokey. And everybody was running around shouting with the biggest grins on their faces. I know we're all 18-22-year-olds, but sometimes you just need to let loose and act like you're seven. Especially because ninety percent of the people around here expect you to act like your forty-two all the time.



And THEN, Stephen and I have got this game going where we have a playing card that we're trying to give back to the other person without them realizing it. I'm not sure how it started and I'm not sure why it's continuing. Maybe it's because we're both competitive people. Yesterday morning, he put it in my hand with a lollipop he was giving me. So I mailed it back to him through inter-campus mail. Then he came stopped by to say hi when I was in the library yesterday afternoon and somehow - I'm still not sure how this one worked - put it inside my wallet in my coat pocket without me noticing, so that when I opened it to get my ID at dinner, there it was. Most recently, I mailed it to his Biology professor in an envelope with a nice note asking to please return the envelope to Stephen Mowery, a student in his 9:00 am Biology class. The rules are - you can't do the same thing twice, and you can't do something somebody's already done to you.



Finally, my friend Brad (a really great kid who lives on Stephen's hall, and who I rode to Columbus with a couple of weeks ago) keeps harrassing me in the library. I'll be sitting there minding my own business and he'll sneak right up behind me and say "hello" in a really sinister voice in my ear. Everytime I get up to go find a book, he steals something off my desk. Once it was my Spanish textbooks. Another time he took every single writing utensil I had in my backpack. Sometimes he leaves his trash on my chair. On occasion, he'll walk by and reach out to take something, I'll slap his hand, and he'll hit me upside the head in a very Gibbs-esque fashion. Then he'll wander off shaking his head, saying, "kids kids kids..."



On a more serious note, my lacrosse stuff should be in today. The club ordered a new chest protector, new gloves, and a new helmet. I'm so excited. I'm used to the decrepit stuff, but it'll be nice to have new things. It was really expensive, though. The helmet alone cost $250, because it has a special spring-mechanism thing that's extra protection against concussions. And the chest protector has a special pad that goes right over your heart, so it diffuses impact from that part of your chest and ribs.



They're having a memorial service here on campus sometime in the next couple of days. We had a terrible house fire just a couple of blocks away on Friday, I think. A twenty-one-year-old fireman was killed trying to save the people inside. They're holding the service here on campus because it's the only venue in town big enough to hold that many people.



Alright, that's all. I'm off to do more homework. Surprise, surprise...

a happy working song

One week from two days after tomorrow, Easter break starts. I've never looked forward to a break so much in my life. The five exams and two papers I have before them are looking a little overwhelming at this point - kind of like an extra finals week - but what can you do? Just keep plowing through, that's what.

I'm angry that my spanish classes have been canceled. I understand that the professor has to have surgery, and there's no such thing as substitute teachers in college, so the only choice the have is to cancel the class entirely. While it's surely a blessing in disguise (did I mention already the five tests and two papers?), I'm angry that two of my six classes are canceled for the next two weeks.

I'm not the only one with problems in the next week. My friend Jason just walked by and said that he has to take a Sociology midterm at 1:00 today. Good luck to him - that was the hardest test I had to take all last year.

Somehow I'm scraping by. Okay, scratch that. I'm doing really well. I have solid As in four out of six of my classes and Bs in the other two, but I have no idea how I'm doing it. Everything just seems to be completely out-of-whack all the time. I'm just plowing through work in what feels like a really disorganized, haphazard way and pulling off these amazing grades. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely putting the work in - if I'm not at practice or in class I'm definitely studying - but I just feel so pressed for time all of the time. You know it's bad when you start trying to decide if it's wiser to skip a meal so you can fit in another hour of homework or if you should stay up extra late and get up early, or how close to the beginning of practice you can stay in the library and still make it there on time. (People have been misjudging this - we keep having to run sprints because of it.) This past Saturday, I got up at 8:00, went up to the SAC, and did homework straight through till 7:00 at night. Then I did three more hours of it while I was at my job. It's crazy. Honestly and truly, I don't know how I'm doing it. God definitely has a hand in my success this semester, because there's no way I'm doing this all by myself.

On that note, I need to get back to paper-writing and midterm studying. I'm trying to get this final page of the second half of my Spec Mind paper written before lunch so I can study for my FitWell midterm all afternoon and start on my CivArts paper tonight. Sometime, too, I have to do Spanish lab.

This place is crazy. But I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. I always work better when I'm a little bit over my head (in this case, a lot over my head) and between schoolwork and lacrosse and keeping up with all the million things I do around here, I've never been pushed so much, and I've also never been this happy.

So this is me peacing out till next time.

3/3/08

This is the lovliest day we've had in a long while. Warm AND sunny - quite the combination! It was one of those days that's ridiculously hard and ridiculously busy, but so rewarding at the same time. I got to do some really difficult things today:

My lacrosse team went on a road run today since it was so wonderful outside. A four-mile road run. A four-mile road run in thirty-four minutes. It was pretty fast and pretty hard. My stomach hurt for about an hour afterwards and my legs are going to kill me in the morning, but it was so worth it.

Also, I finished writing my Spec Mind paper this evening. I think this is one of the best papers I've ever written. I actually had a really fantastic time researching it - just ask Jenn, I kept coming home from the library spewing all these random facts about death and dying and how cool biology is. I think she's even happier that I'm done with this paper than I am.

Stephen's been awesome. Today we went for a walk and he shoved me into a puddle, which knocked him down a couple of awesome points, but it might have been revenge for the snowbank I'd shoved him into about a block prior.

What an awesome day. God is good.