Need to Skate

Seeing as the hockey season has been over for about a month or so I haven’t been on the ice as much.

The season just started this past Thursday, but sadly I had to bench myself and sit in bed at home sick.

Tomorrow night is the 2nd game of the season and I am ecstatic about lacing up the skates and going out to play hockey.

I honestly have not skated as much as I should have in this off season, but hey I can’t be perfect.

What I really need is to find time to start lifting in the gym again, but I have no idea where that is going to fit in.

This season is going to be the one, I feel it.

Last season brought some new faces to Team USA, myself included, but this season we have all worked together and we know what we are walking into.

It is time to get down to business and change the face of Team USA.

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Lacrosse Week

This past week marked the first 3 games of the 2013 lacrosse season.

Our first game was against the York School from Monterrey, CA.

The team was on a southern California road trip and had played four games prior to their game against us last Saturday.

Our team on the other hand had not yet practiced as a whole team yet, and it was evident on the field.

The team has many beginning players and adding new players changes the chemistry of the team every year.

It is an adjustment period to learn how people play the game and to be able to predict how they will react to certain situations.

Come game time I was excited to be back on the field from 9 months ago.

For most of the game York was dominating offensively and defensively ultimately scoring 11 goals.

The game almost ended in a shut out until one of our star returning players, Grant Spencer, scored the one goal of the game.

We all celebrated like we had won the game, but to us it was a victory because we did not give their goalie the shutout.

Final score was 1-11 L.

I was disappointed, but also realized it was the first game of the season and we had a lot of room to grow.

On Wednesday came the game against Laguna Blanca, a game I look forward to every year no matter what sport I’m playing whether it be football or lacrosse. Even when I’m not playing in the game, but the school is, I get excited.

Many think that Thatcher is our biggest rival, and they are, but they are our biggest hometown rival. Laguna Blanca is our biggest rival over all.

Most games with Laguna consist of some mouthing off from players and their parents which at our level of play can get a little out of hand.

We aren’t playing Division 1 sports, what parents need to remember is:

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What was that song?

The other day at our morning meeting I was approached by my teacher Mr. Alvarez who is also known to you readers as “The Brown Guy.”

He said, “Keaton I need to talk to you after the meeting,”

Immediately I thought oh crap what have I done now, but I hadn’t done anything.

It was a proposition, an idea that could change the face of the Ojai Valley School. It is nothing as substantial as the newly founded Mac N Cheeseburger, might I add AMAAAAAAZIIIIING, but that is beside the point.

It had bacon on it

Back on topic.

Mr. A wanted to perform a song with myself and John aka backinphilly.

He can play alto sax and the song had alto sax in it, but he didn’t know what the song was called.

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Cold Case

Is it yes or no?

It can’t be both yet it is

But it isn’t.

Confusing at best

What else is there to think

Or do I not think?

Am I expected not to think,

not to investigate every little parcel.

Sooner or later the case will go cold,

hopefully to be brought out of a box in a couple of years

Unless someone gets to it first.

A high possibility based on the past, but I will sit at my desk waiting for that call.

The call to bring it out and open the box to finally get to look through the files,

Finally solve the case that has been laying stagnant for years.

Little leads here and there that lead to another dead end or wasted efforts that just lead to hurting my good name.

The ice will melt from this case by the fire that has been ignited from the search.

Hopefully it will move from unsolved to forever closed, but for now I sit at my desk.

I am the Monster

Coming up in the next few weeks play rehearsals will be ramping up so that we can give all of you lovely people hopefully the best show so far.

For the past few months the cast of Young Frankenstein has been working feverishly on rehearsing lines and risking ankles to bring the people of Ojai and beyond a great show.

By risking ankles I speak of course of my 6 inch high platform boots that I have to dance in so that I look like a monster…. yea that’s right I am the monster.

It is such a great part because I get to be on stage the whole time, and for the most part I just grunt and make people laugh.

This play is hilarious.

It is full of funny sexual innuendos that are very sly in getting in there, but a line such as, “what big knockers,” while looking away from a good looking girl, I mean come on, Dr. Fronkensteen doesn’t have a thing for doors.

These next two weeks are going to be rough in between late night rehearsals and still keeping up with class, but I have done it every year since the 4th grade and I can’t wait to put on another good show.

Come out and watch us on 2/21 and 2/22.

King Without A Crown

No, I am not going to write a blog about Matisyahu’s song, but it is good, no I am talking about my beloved Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings.

What happened?

They came back after the break which was way too long might I add, and the first game back the Blackhawks destroyed them.

How does a team go from best 8 seed in the western conference to #1 in the NHL one season and then come back to be 28th in the league and last in their division.

So far this season they have a record of 3-5-2 and only a total of 8 points from a possible 20, a 14 point gap between the #1 Chicago Blackhawks.

This is how last season started out and they came back to win the whole shabang, but keep in mind this is a shortened season.

The teams are playing pretty much half of a season, so there isn’t really room for anyone to mess up, but especially not for the reigning cup champions.

This past weekend the Kings played the Detroit Red Wings.

Despite defenseman Drew Doughty setting the tone early  with a monster hit on Pavel Datsyuk about 5 minutes after the puck dropped, the Kings were trailing 2-1 going into the second, and remained that way well into the 3rd.

The Kings picked up their play and were connecting on passes and shots, but nothing was getting past Jimmy Howard, and so I thought Jonathan Quick.

With 52.8 seconds left in the 3rd period Alec Martinez fired one past Howard just after Quick had skated to the bench to get an extra attacker out on the ice.

But with 4.5 seconds left Detroit Red Wings’ Jonathan Ericcson got one right through the pads of Quick, and it seemed to just slowly trickle past the goal line making it impossible for the Kings to come back, leaving them with yet another loss.

Glass

I have always wanted to live near the glass.

Open and cold

Pure and nice.

Crystalline structures formed feet above the surface.

The glass is the only thing that serves a purpose.

Frozen water, a protector from the sub zero abyss.

The sun sets and rises and reflects of the face, until the heat comes then it’s a race.

A race against time

To finish through the line.

The Season of the LAX Bro is Upon Us

I’m sorry to use the term “LAX Bro,” but I just love using it to piss people off.

It is almost that time of the year to go beat the crap out of people with metal poles and have some good old fashioned fun.

Lacrosse has been defined by Webster Dictionary and all other reputable sources as, ” (n) Lacrosse: The sport real men play during baseball season, (v) To Lacrosse: The act of beating opponents with metal alloy sticks whilst others throw leather balls into leather mitts and slide in dirt because dirt is fun.”

If you would like to check up on that I urge you not to because I would hope you trust me enough to know that’s true.

Lacrosse combines aspects of basketball, soccer, and hockey.

It is the sport of all sports, while it is not my favorite sport to play it comes in 2nd due to a 3 way tie between Football and Ice Hockey.

Lacrosse is raw.

Lacrosse is mean.

Lacrosse is what is up my friend.

Last year was my first season and I was just learning the ropes.

I chose to play defense because I enjoyed the idea of holding a 6 foot long metal stick that I can beat people with.

It is so hard to talk about lacrosse without billions of sexual innuendoes going through your head, but bear with me people.

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College

It is about that time in my life that college becomes a hot topic.

Where do I want to go? Where can I get in? Can I play sports? Do they have the sports I want to play? Where is it? How big is it? What do I want to study?

So many questions and ultimately all of these questions have to be answered to narrow down the long list of schools to one.

Recently I have been doing some research and I have started to look at schools so I started to put a list of schools together so it is all laid out.

College Location Sports
Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX FootballHockey
Duke University Durham, NC FootballHockey
Stanford University Stanford, CA FootballHockey
University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA FootballHockey
University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA FootballHockey
Brown Providence, RI FootballHockey
Chapman University CA FootballHockey
Boston University Boston, MA FootballHockey
University of Denver Denver, CO Hockey
Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN FootballHockeyLacrosse
Northeastern University Boston, MA FootballHockey
Northwestern University Evanston, IL FootballHockey
CU Boulder Boulder, CO FootballHockey
University of Oregon Portland, OR FootballHockey
Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD FootballHockey

In the coming months I will be adding and deleting schools as I compare and contrast the pros and cons of each on the list, and as I discover other schools that will fit into my plan.

I am looking at majoring in either Molecular Biology, Human Biology, Kinesiology, or Sports Medicine.

I have wanted to become a doctor for a very long time.

I want to be able to introduce myself as Dr. Keaton Shiffman, having that prestigious M.D. at the end of my name.

My ultimate dream would be to be a team physician, working on the field or on the ice with the best football or hockey players.

I know that has gotten very specific, but I feel that if I stick to what I want to do that I will make it happen.

As much as I don’t think I will be able to come out of my school and play high level intercollegiate sports it is always worth a try.

The worst thing that could happen is I won’t play, but best case scenario my dream comes true.

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And we’re back!

Well, Saturday marked the first day of the 2012-2013 NHL season, well I guess the 2013 season at least.

It was a long and frustrating lockout, but the teams are back lacing up the skates and getting out on the ice.

I witnessed a moment in history that will only happen once, and that was watching my beloved Los Angeles Kings raise their first Stanley Cup banner up into the rafters at Staples Center.

While watching the captains of the team skate the flag out to center ice I started to feel something.

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