A Bunch of Teenagers in a Swimming Pool and a 7-Hour Track Meet

Hey, you guys! It's been a while! What--6 days? That's only about 3 days short of forever! Okay, everybody. Raise your hand if you missed me. Come on. Don't be shy.

The swimming unit began in PE yesterday. While I do love swimming and might like being on swim team, swimming with a bunch of immature/half-witted middle school guys in a medium-sized pool is not an ideal recreational break. It also means a fair amount of awkwardness in the locker rooms. Actually, I take it back. I wish it was awkward, but really it's just frightening. Like I said, a bunch of immature middle school boys. Nakedness. Do the math.

My school was a military school about 35 years ago, and some of the tradition has stuck. For example, we have 6 tests at the end of the swim unit. 1) Free style 2) Breast stroke 3) Back stroke 4) Side stroke 5) Emergency equipment test 6) JUMPING INTO THE POOL WITH A PLASTIC RIFLE WITHOUT GETTING THE RIFLE WET!!!

Is it me, or are they suggesting that every guy in the school should join the Marines?

I'm not joining the Marines, just so you know.

Moving onto the next topic, you all know I run track and field, right? Well, we have our third meet on Saturday. If it's not bad enough that it's on a weekend, it also runs from 9 AM to 4 PM. And it's pretty far away. That's not good. What's even worse is that my youth group's one-night lock-in was scheduled the night before. Usually I love this event. The middle school locks the doors of the Church for one night and we stay up until about 4 AM celebrating that fact. Last year it was great--I loved it. But do you think it's healthy to eat pizza and stay up until 4 AM the night before a track meet?

I won't be running, though, unfortunately. It's a seven hour meet and I'm doing a single ten minute event: the triple jump.

For those of you who have never endured the fascinating experience of triple jump, let me give you a hint of what it's like: It's like a really fast Hop-Scotch that ends in a pit of sand. That's it. The hardest part is remembering how you're supposed to get in that pit of sand. It's the triple jump, so you have two hop on your right leg twice, land on your left leg, then launch into the pit of sand. I cam in 3rd place at the last meet. My brother scratched three times. (Coaches yell "Scratch!" like middle schoolers might yell "Epic fail!").

So I'm not looking forward very much to Saturday.

Pray for me. Most importantly, keep reading. Bye!