Day: November 8, 2012

Soccer

kirbyfullyloaded3 Comments

Football, or as we Americans call it, soccer.

Yes, I’m aware that the above is not a complete sentence.  However, the winter sports season is my favorite, as I get to play soccer.

Now, I hate running.  Even though I do cross-country in the fall and track in the spring, I am really not a runner.  I wish I was, but I’m not and that’s just how it is.

That aside, I love running in soccer.  I love the sprinting, and the distance.  My friend Ally and I run at least two additional miles after practice every day.

Here’s the other thing: I’m terrible at soccer.

I played as a kid in one of those coed AYSO leagues.  The only thing I remember from that was when a kid named Peter fell off the monkey bars near our practice field and got a concussion.  I was sad because he was never the same when he came back, and I had a crush on him.

I played again in seventh and eighth grade on the school team, and wanted to play my freshman year of high school.  But, I popped out my knee during cross-country and skipped a year, joining back up as a sophomore as left wing.

I’m currently the only left-footed player on my team, so I guess that’s something.

But back to the point, I’m awful.

I just can’t seem to get my kicks right and I don’t know why.  But that’s ok; I don’t mind.

Who needs aim when you can just smash?

That’s what I do.  I just barrel into whoever is in my way and pass it to the players on my team who actually have all that fancy ball-handling down.  It’s a party, and I like it.

I love the physicality of soccer, the movement, the heat.

There’s something incredibly fierce about the pace and the nature of the game.  It’s like an unexpected dance, the opposing team always has you guessing.  You have to figure out how to move with them, anticipate their actions and take your queues.

Of course…I’m a horrendous dancer, but that’s mostly irrelevant.

In My Free Time…

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

Everyone has a favorite pastime, something they do when all else fails. Mine is watching movies. And let me be clear on something – I’ve watched a lot of movies.

It’s because of the amount of movies I’ve watched that I’ve decided to make this post.

To be honest, I’m not a very big fan of most the movies which are in theaters these days. There are a few here and there that get a laugh out of me, but other than that they just aren’t as good as others out there.

For example, The Dictator. This is by far not my kind of movie. I went to go see it when it was out with some friends, and despite the racism, sexism, and just plain offensiveness of this film, I actually found it quite funny.

A movie along the same lines which I didn’t particularly enjoy was 21 Jump Street. I mean, it’s funny, it’s got Channing Tatum in it (obvious plus), and it’s a good concept. But let’s face it. How many other movies are out there with the exact same story line? The answer is way too many.

Act of Valor came out last year, and I went to see it with my dad while my brothers were with my mom. This was a hard movie to watch, but that very possibly could have just been me. I have a tendency to be a bit squeamish at times. All in all though, I thought this was a good movie. An aspect of it which I found particularly interesting and appealing was the fact that the actors were real Marines. It added an element of reality.

Almost everyone has heard of the romance Dirty Dancing, and I’ll admit to having a small crush on Patrick Swayze. This film is decent. It has everything one could want in a romance. Dancing, rebelling against parents, guy from the wrong side of the tracks… You get the idea. But although I do love this movie, I don’t find it to be very original. At least not anymore.

The Rebound however is a movie I enjoyed quite a bit. It was funny, and although it was predictable, there was an element of difference to it. And I love Catherine Zeta-Jones. Especially in her other movie, No Reservations.

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Bonfire Night, what is it?

frog3Leave a comment

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Today is a day that most American’s don’t even know exist or acknowledge. Today is Bonfire Night. This event was brought to my attention by Mrs. Beverly (an OVS art teacher). Being as curious as I am, I decided to look up some information to learn more about Bonfire Night. Here’s what I found.

Bonfire Night commemorates the survival of King James I after a group of conspirators attempted to assassinate him and to blow up Parliament. The assassination plot is known as the Gunpowder Plot because the conspirators attempted to blow up Parliament with barrels of Gunpowder. The explosive expert of the conspirators was a man named Guy Fawkes, it was his job to smuggle the gunpowder in the House of Lords and ignite it. Unfortunately for Guy Fawkes (and the rest of the conspirators) he was caught before he could ignite the gunpowder.

Upon being captured Guy Fawkes was taken to the Tower of London where he was tortured and forced to give up the names of his fellow conspirators.

Fawkes, along with the rest of the conspirators, were publicly executed.

On the night the Gun Powder Plot was foiled, the 5th of November 1605, the English lit bonfires to celebrate the survival of their king. Thus Bonfire Night was born.