Just as a disclaimer, please don't expect proper grammar and punctuation in this blog post, or any other future blog posts. I'll do my best with the spelling, but everything else is up in the air. Run-on sentences, incomplete sentences, numbered lists, and bullet points are all very good friends of mine, you will meet all of them very soon.
Grade. Number. 8.
I was now an 8th Grader.
In my school system, that made me the "King Of The Hill" once again.
This would be my last year as a "middle schooler".
Two thirds of my school career would officially be in the books by year's end.
In all honesty, I was excited about the end of the year more than anything else.
Not because I wanted 8th Grade to be over so badly or anything, but we'll get to that.
This was my second year on the Garnet Team.
Two thirds of my grade were on different teams.
I mean sure, we were all still in the same SCHOOL, but still, we were separated.
I only saw them in passing.
They were basically becoming strangers.
But then again, Garnet Team was the best team.
So the rest of my grade on the other two teams were basically the opposition.
At least that's how I viewed them in my mind.
We were all still learning the same thing.
But as I said before, since I was on the Garnet Team, then that makes my team more better.
As far as the academic year went, Algebra was being slowly introduced in Math Class.
I was excited, for about a whole minute.
It's not that I don't like Math.
Actually, that's exactly it.
I hated Math.
I mean, I like numbers just fine.
I like letters too.
But they don't need to be mixed with each other.
2y + 5x = 4z
No.
I'm all set.
I'm sure they serve a purpose for someone who has a job that actually needs that.
But that's not me.
I would have rather had a class that taught about how taxes work.
You know, something that actually applies to EVERYONE.
What a crazy concept!
A little later on in the year, The Geography Bee came around once again.....
I couldn't bring myself to be a part of it.
I was still reeling over the question that got me eliminated the year before.
It still haunts me to this day, so it was better to just sit that one out this time around.
Outside of school, I was playing floor hockey in my Recreation Center League.
This was my second year on the Avalanche.
But the year didn't really start off very well for me.
We had a practice before the season started, and one of our Assistant Coaches must have had a bad bowl of Wheaties or something, because he was being an absolute, well, let's just say "not a very nice person" to everyone.
It was totally out of character for him, he was usually a nice guy.
He was flipping out over every single thing.
It was starting to piss everyone off, including me.
After the practice was over, I told myself "I don't need to deal with this, I don't need to deal with him this season, I'm done."
And I quit the team.
My Head Coach wasn't at that practice.
I told him over the phone that I just didn't want to play anymore, but I didn't tell him why.
He told me "Well if you change your mind, we'll still have your spot open for you."
I kept that in mind.
I went to the first two games of the season, as a spectator.
The team won both games.
We also had one of the key players that I thought wasn't even on the team anymore.
So, in what could have only been perceived as the biggest cherry picking move ever, I called my coach and said that I had changed my mind.
Did the team getting off to a 2-0 have something to do with it?
Of course it did!
Then in my first game back, we lost.
It felt like everyone was looking at me afterward.
But then I realized it was because it was my turn to buy the team soda's after the game.
So I wasn't paranoid after all!
In my league, the Top 4 teams make the playoffs.
We had missed the playoffs buy one game the previous year, ending in 5th Place.
This year, it just so happened that our final game of the regular season would determine which team would make the playoffs in 4th Place, and which team would be watching from the sidelines.
My team, The Avalanche, was 8-5.
Our opponents, The Devils, were also 8-5.
For us, we had to win.
If the game ended in a tie, The Devils would get in, because the first tiebreaker for our league would be which team had scored more goals in the regular season, and The Devils had us beaten there.
We had to win, there was no other way.
The game stayed at a 0-0 tie going into the 3rd Period.
Then, we scored.
The adrenaline was at an all time high.
Could we hold on?
Then we got a golden opportunity to double our lead.
We had a Face Off in their zone, and I was right in the middle, ready and waiting for the pass if we win that Face Off.....
We did.
The pass came straight to me.
I shot it as quickly as I could.
Top left corner.
I SCORED!
All of a sudden, we were up 2-0, with two minutes left!
We ended up holding on, and we headed into the playoffs to face the 1st Place team.
The Mighty Ducks.
No, not the ones from the movie.
We would have had a better chance against that team.
The Mighty Ducks in my league were a "Super Team".
They went undefeated for the entire Regular Season.
And.....
Well.....
We didn't beat them.
I'm not even sure if we scored on them.
They beat us rather swiftly.
But they did that to every team, so I didn't feel as bad.
I still got a trophy for 4th Place.
At the time, I didn't realize that 4th Place got a trophy.
I thought that only went to 1st and 2nd Place.
I was wrong.
It wasn't until the first game of the next season, where I was too old to play in the league anymore, that my coach gave me the 4th Place trophy for the year before.
Apparently there was an awards banquet that I missed too!
Oh well, I loved the two years that I played.
My only regret was not playing sooner, as I started when I was 13, and the league was for anyone ages 11-14, so I could have played for four years, but instead I only played for two.
Either way, it was an awesome two years.
Now going back to the academic side of things, as the year was coming to a close, I started to fixate on the one thing I had been waiting for all year.....
What I was talking about at the beginning of this post.....
It was almost time for HIGH MEADOWS AGAIN!!!
That's right, the year end field trip was back to that magical place for the second year in a row!
This time I was determined to EXPLORE this place a little more than the "pool, food, pool, food, pool, food" routine that I had done the year before.
And I did.
I added Basketball to the rotation.
So I would swim, eat, play basketball, and then start the cycle all over again.
It was more better than the year before!
I still wish I could back to that place to this day.
Then I started to hear rumblings that I would get to go back as a Senior for the High School class trip!
Now all I had to do was make it through the next four years, but we'll get to that soon, one year at a time!
