1h
This break I have started a new weight training routine to build strength for sprint season. It involves getting a mass gainer from the vitamin store. This will add 600 calories to my 3000 calorie diet bringing me to 3600. At 3000 my weight remains constant at 145. I hope to steadily increase my lean body mass to 155 so that I can have the max amount of muscle for sprints and remain in the light weight limit. I am feeling very comitted to this goal and I hope that it will result in positive speed gains.
Monday, November 28, 2011
November 26, 2011-Recorded music for Burra Katha
4h
We got the Jazz
Taxi
Fast Lane
Beneath the surface
These are the songs that I managed to record today with Taylor. We sent them to Jaewon to be mastered and put on the mixtape for CAS. All of them need to be regulated and recorded over again because of nuances with the mic. I have a lot of respect for professional artists who must spend weeks trying to get a song to sound just perfect. I have learned a lot about myself through this session. Without jaewon to do all the software management, I had to record and edit mine and Taylors voice myself. I learned that I am actually competent enough to do this. Jaewon was able to use my edits in his computer via email which means I was good enough to record on my own. This is a very comforting thought and makes me feel accomplished and confident.
We got the Jazz
Taxi
Fast Lane
Beneath the surface
These are the songs that I managed to record today with Taylor. We sent them to Jaewon to be mastered and put on the mixtape for CAS. All of them need to be regulated and recorded over again because of nuances with the mic. I have a lot of respect for professional artists who must spend weeks trying to get a song to sound just perfect. I have learned a lot about myself through this session. Without jaewon to do all the software management, I had to record and edit mine and Taylors voice myself. I learned that I am actually competent enough to do this. Jaewon was able to use my edits in his computer via email which means I was good enough to record on my own. This is a very comforting thought and makes me feel accomplished and confident.
November 24, 2011-Lyrics for Burra Katha
4h
I wrote several new songs today. The one's I will be keeping are We Got the Jazz and I Dont Need Brighter Days. The first is simple braggadocio in the style of old school alternative rap. Its very light hearted and a lot of fun to rap and recite. The latter is much more somber and deals with the bitterness that comes from having relationship problems. I took elements of my own life and incorporated them into a song to advocate against feeling bitter. I try to encourage people to walk away from stress and live life normally because there is no use in stressing. I love writing these lyrics because they are very introspective and creative because you have to think of word play and interesting metaphors.
I wrote several new songs today. The one's I will be keeping are We Got the Jazz and I Dont Need Brighter Days. The first is simple braggadocio in the style of old school alternative rap. Its very light hearted and a lot of fun to rap and recite. The latter is much more somber and deals with the bitterness that comes from having relationship problems. I took elements of my own life and incorporated them into a song to advocate against feeling bitter. I try to encourage people to walk away from stress and live life normally because there is no use in stressing. I love writing these lyrics because they are very introspective and creative because you have to think of word play and interesting metaphors.
November 11, 2011-Volunteered at Wine Tasting
We helped to setup (rig) and then wrap up (derig) boats for the annual GAR Wine tasting event. This is the largest fundraiser for Gainesville Area Rowing. They usually make $8000-$10,000 at this event.
I also helped serve the wine to people by passing bottles to the servers. I was enjoying the live music and the company of my friends. The event made me feel happy because I got to hear music which makes everything better and I got to see Dr. Morris, my 8th grade history teacher. He was a very big part of my child hood and it was nice to see him. We talked about college and he wished me luck for my choices of schools. He then recited his old motto "Do your best today" and I felt absolutely wonderful to hear those words from him. I learned that it is important to continue to keep in touch with those important to you because you want their friendship to last forever.
October 22, 2011-Scrimmage at Bolles School in Jacksonville, FL
4h
Scrimmage at Bolles. This was a fun race. We raced against 4 bolles boats. We beat all of them except the V8 soundly. This was to be expected because they are 2x heavier than us. We beat the boats that would be in our lwt8 category so thats all that was really required of us. This was a good outcome for the boat as a team because it boosted our confidence. Bolles has much more money than we do and much nicer equipment/facilities. Their boathouse is 2 stories tall with an airconditioned erg and weightroom, with an elevator and shower room. Despite all these luxuries, old-school rocky training managed to prevail over the russian-beast Bolles. I learned that despite disadvantages one might face, you cannot get discouraged before the race even begins, you have to go into the race believing you can beat anyone. Only then can you race with focus.
Scrimmage at Bolles. This was a fun race. We raced against 4 bolles boats. We beat all of them except the V8 soundly. This was to be expected because they are 2x heavier than us. We beat the boats that would be in our lwt8 category so thats all that was really required of us. This was a good outcome for the boat as a team because it boosted our confidence. Bolles has much more money than we do and much nicer equipment/facilities. Their boathouse is 2 stories tall with an airconditioned erg and weightroom, with an elevator and shower room. Despite all these luxuries, old-school rocky training managed to prevail over the russian-beast Bolles. I learned that despite disadvantages one might face, you cannot get discouraged before the race even begins, you have to go into the race believing you can beat anyone. Only then can you race with focus.
November 19, 2011- Head of the Giblet
4h
I raced in the lightweight 8 at the Head of the Giblet in Orlando. I was extremely angry after this race. We had to stop in the middle because the boat in front of us that we were passing would not yield to us like you are supposed to. This cost us a lot of time because of all the speed we lost slowing down, stopping, and then speeding back up. In the end, we missed 3rd place by a margin of only 20 seconds. Far less than we lost because of the St. Andrews River not yielding. This means if it wasn't for them, I would have medaled. This is a big blow to my morale, but I used it as motivation and hung the results of the race in my room to remind me victory is within reach. St. Andrews was assessed a 30 seconds penalty which helps no one because they were dead last anyways. If we had been given a 30 seconds boost we would have had 3rd place easily. I take this race as motivation to keep pushing and getting stronger.
I raced in the lightweight 8 at the Head of the Giblet in Orlando. I was extremely angry after this race. We had to stop in the middle because the boat in front of us that we were passing would not yield to us like you are supposed to. This cost us a lot of time because of all the speed we lost slowing down, stopping, and then speeding back up. In the end, we missed 3rd place by a margin of only 20 seconds. Far less than we lost because of the St. Andrews River not yielding. This means if it wasn't for them, I would have medaled. This is a big blow to my morale, but I used it as motivation and hung the results of the race in my room to remind me victory is within reach. St. Andrews was assessed a 30 seconds penalty which helps no one because they were dead last anyways. If we had been given a 30 seconds boost we would have had 3rd place easily. I take this race as motivation to keep pushing and getting stronger.
November 4-6, 2011- Head of the Hooch, Chattanooga
This was my 4th year at the Head of the Hooch!! The final race at the Head of the Hooch was the best, the weather was perfect and so was the racing. We placed well in the lwt 8 and we were actually 1st out of all the JV8 times. This puts us in great position to continue. We do not get enough water time on account of the lake being dry, but that did'nt stop us from rowing extremely well in the 4 and the lwt8. These were 2 of the best head races ive ever participated in. After every power 10, the pressure did not drop, it maintained and actually built up over time. This was proof to me that focus and hard work can sometimes overcome even the worst of conditions.
October 22, 2011- Speech writing for the Debate
2 h
I worked on writing my speech for the electoral college debate. I am finding some very interesting facts about the electoral college i.e. that there have been 500 attempts to change it and all have failed. It also preserves the rights of less populated states because of its minimum of 3 electoral votes. It was interesting to see that even though something like the electoral college is opposed by so many people, it is still the only viable solution to elect a president who is not based on regional power bases. This makes me ponder other similar things where there is something universally opposed yet necessary for efficient functioning.
I worked on writing my speech for the electoral college debate. I am finding some very interesting facts about the electoral college i.e. that there have been 500 attempts to change it and all have failed. It also preserves the rights of less populated states because of its minimum of 3 electoral votes. It was interesting to see that even though something like the electoral college is opposed by so many people, it is still the only viable solution to elect a president who is not based on regional power bases. This makes me ponder other similar things where there is something universally opposed yet necessary for efficient functioning.
November 12, 2011- Debate Tournament at EHS
At this debate, Akash and I were ready to win because of all the prep work we had done previously. We were debating about the current system for electing presidential candidates. We were able to argue on the side of the electoral college each time we debated. It helped that we agreed with the electoral college when we debated because it allowed us to have more conviction. I was happy with our performance untill I received the ballots and they showed we had only won 2 out of the 4 debates. It was disheartening to see the judges who voted us as a loss say that we did not mention counter arguments to certain points even though we mentioned them in our speeches. It is very annoying when parent judges are unable to keep up with the flow of the debate and correctly record our points. I still gained a lot from the debate because I have a much fuller understanding of the electoral college system. The novices we trained won the novice trophy and the rest of EHS did well. It was overall a success for EHS forensics. I learned that we must be more clear in our presentation of points and perhaps tone down the aggression to make room for more argument.
November 27, 2011- Haven Hospice
3 hours
This day was pretty nondescript. There was nothing of note to be reported.
This day was pretty nondescript. There was nothing of note to be reported.
November 20, 2011- Haven Hospice
2 h
I started my new position today. I now volunteer at the Front desk of the Haven care center. My job involves watching the CC televisions and allowing patients visitors in to the building. I am not supposed to let suspicious people in or those who appear to be homeless. My other responsibility is to greet visitors and help them locate their family who may be staying in the building. I am also supposed to retrieve wheelchairs for those who need them. I am quite happy with my job because it allows me a lot of free time to accomplish school work and music. There is no one there who I work with so its a very solitary job, however, I enjoy the smiles I get when I greet people entering and help them with their needs. The job is important for the safety of the Haven and it makes me feel very confident in myself for helping to safeguard such an important institution.
I started my new position today. I now volunteer at the Front desk of the Haven care center. My job involves watching the CC televisions and allowing patients visitors in to the building. I am not supposed to let suspicious people in or those who appear to be homeless. My other responsibility is to greet visitors and help them locate their family who may be staying in the building. I am also supposed to retrieve wheelchairs for those who need them. I am quite happy with my job because it allows me a lot of free time to accomplish school work and music. There is no one there who I work with so its a very solitary job, however, I enjoy the smiles I get when I greet people entering and help them with their needs. The job is important for the safety of the Haven and it makes me feel very confident in myself for helping to safeguard such an important institution.
November 11, 2011-Debate Practice to train new debators
My partner, Akash, and I helped to train the new debators today at the practice party before their first tournament at EHS. We observed a debate between two of the novice teams and gave them critiques. We tried to teach them what learned throughout our years of debate. We attempted to give them wisdom from our mistakes and tell them what approaches have worked for us in the past. It was nice to see the novices look up to us with such respect because they knew how accomplished we were in the field of debate. We crossfired against a novice team and showed them how to approach a case in many novel ways. The kids all tried to grab our points and cross fire questions, but we refused to give them any points because we wanted them to learn for themselves. The activity meant a lot to me because I have never been in the position to teach other people about things which I know better than other people. I am happy to help my teammates but i feel resentful because we never had anyone showing us the ropes like these novices we trained.
November 1, 2011-NEHS
Today I helped a student at GHS edit his essay. He sent it to me in the late hours of the night and asked me to edit it before he sent to UF. His essay had a multitude of errors in grammar and word usage that I fixed to the best of my abilities. I did not think the essay as it was before I edited would have stood a chance against the admissions officers, after I edited it, I think he will fare better. I tried not to alter his meaning at all, but I suggested that next time he write an essay, he focus more on a specific expierience and not on a broad ranging topic like he discussed. I was glad to able to help a friend in the road towards making a good future.
October 5, 2011-NEHS
Today was our first meeting. The turnout was not very high. I suspect this is because of the fact that most college apps are due mid january and people simply have not had enough time to begin writing significant essays. Regardless, we discussed creativity when writing essays. We concluded it is important to be creative, but not so novel that it appears you are not taking college seriously. We considered the ethics of reading other peoples essays and decided that it may be on the edgy side. However, we reasoned that as long we did not keep copies of essays there was little risk of plagiarism or idea theft.
October 2, 2011-NEHS
Today we officially started planning for our NEHS group: College Essays. We read a small pamphlet on the writing of college essays and gained an understanding of what Colleges look for in the essay. We learned a lot about how they interpret a students true worth from 500 words of writing. We envisioned a direction for the club that allowed us to help other students by giving tips and possibly editing essays of willing students. I am working with Akash and Daniel to work out a schedule for our meetings.
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