| 2008-The best year ever?Let's take a look. In my last entry of 2007, I said that 2007 was the best year ever, but "may 2008 be even better"... Here's some of my favorite entries from the great year 2008 Friday, March 7 12:00 PM- in study hall…Seth, and Yamac, and I watched the first game of the tournament, Hofstra vs. Towson, streamed live online. Towson eliminated Hofstra and ended Antoine Agudio’s career. 4:30 PM- got home from school just in time to catch the very end of the William and Mary vs. Georgia State game online. WM made a 3-pointer with less than a second left to give them the victory. 6:00 PM- watched Delaware beat Drexel online 8:30 PM- watched Northeastern beat James Madison online 11:00 PM- drove to the airport to pick up my aunt…drove right past the Coliseum…where I had just seen live streaming video that whole day…and tomorrow I would actually be inside it to watch the tournament Saturday, March 8 4:30 PM- dinner with Aunt and Uncle Bessie and Leon, and Aunt Joanne…found out that VCU and William & Mary had won the two early games of the day…lots of laughs exchanged 6:00 PM- UNC-Wilmington 82 Delaware 59: No highlights really…just a lot of fun 8:30 PM- George Mason 63 Northeastern 52: just before the game, we were trying to get a cup of coffee…and the guy was making it in the slowest way possible…it was so funny…the game was entertaining, we actually moved down to behind the NE student section. Unfortunately Matt Janning was off his game and Folarin Campbell was having a really good game. Leon made the quote of the century when NE kept missing free throws: “Shootin a foul shot is like kissing your girlfriend…find out how she likes it the first time and do it the same way every time” LOL Sunday, March 9 3:00 PM- William and Mary 56 Virginia Commonwealth 54: W&M made a 3-pointer with just under a minute left, and VCU responded with a 3 to tie the game. Then WM made a go-ahead layup with 3 seconds left. VCU had a chance to win it, but missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer and the WM students stormed the court. 5:30 PM- George Mason 53 UNC Wilmington 41: No highlights, it wasn’t that great of a game, in fact it got pretty boring…the GMU band played some song that I had never heard before…but I loved it… Monday, March 10 4:30 PM- I get home from school to find out that Tom couldn’t get tickets to the championship game. So I call Dee to see if he is going, because he has tickets. He says he gave them to Matt to go sell, and gave me Matt’s cell #. I call Matt, and he says he’s not going, but still has tickets and that he can meet me at the Coliseum at 6:45. I call Rob to see if he can go, he says he can’t, then he calls back a minute later and says he can, and that he’ll be here at 6:30. God LOVES me. And he really wants me to go to the CAA Championship game. 6:30 PM- Rob comes over for a minute and we’re off. 6:55 PM- We get to the Coliseum and find Matt and I pay him for the tickets. He said now he wanted to go but someone had already bought the other two tickets he had. Rob and I find our seats in the arena just in time for tipoff. Sold out crowd…felt like the Super Bowl. 7:00 PM- The game: George Mason vs. William and Mary…for the CAA Championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. GMU takes the lead early, and WM fights back to make it a one-point game at the half. Rob and I go get some popcorn and move down to the lower level of the arena for the 2nd half. GMU went on a run to start the half and they never looked back. The pep band played “Living on a Prayer” with 18 minutes left in the game…I love that song J Mason was up by 12 with 10 seconds to play and WM made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make the final score 68-59 and the GMU fans stormed the Richmond Coliseum court. April 19 and 20- went to Carolina to see Jordan and his family. Theyre the only christadelphians within 100 miles of their city unfortunately. We went bowling with Jordan, Emily, and Aaron at 11 PM to 1 AM, and then when we got back to their house, we stayed up until about 3:30 AM talking. May 3- I ended up going to Prom (I had never been to a dance before lol) with a wonderful girl from my school. I was wearing a black tuxedo with a pink tie, and she was wearing a coral pink dress. It was a very magical night. May 4- The chapel ecclesia's picnic. played softball, and then of course the egg toss where Caleb and I had to defend our title...which we didnt..lol we lost pretty early, and two little girls, Moriah and Mia, ended up winning. May 28- Senior Honors Assembly. I recieved an award for outstanding attendance (missed only ONE day in all high school: that was last year so I had to walk across the stage in front of the whole school. It was the last full day for seniors. I went to lunch for the final time and saw a few friends, then left school. June 4- Underclass honors assembly. A few of my friends asked me to go so I went(i had nothing better to do at home) and when it was over, the underclassmen walked back to their homeroom, and I was just about to walk home, when the Principal came over the intercom and said the school was going on lockdown..(this was like 2 minutes before the dismissal bell was supposed to ring at 3:45) and so I had to stay on campus. Apparently someone broke into a classroom during the assembly and stole some cell phones and some iPods. School got out at 4 PM. I walked home. June 6- Graduation: The culmination of high school..13 years of school exchanged for a piece of paper with your name on it, that says you graduated...anyway..Graduation was actually very good, and it only lasted an hour and a half. We had to be at school at 8 AM that morning to ride down to the Siegel Center (really nice place...its where VCU plays its basketball home games. http://www.siegelcenter.com) to practice for an 11 o'clock graduation. We processed into the arena at 11 AM, "Pomp and Circumstance" filled the air, and it began. The class president made a speech about Spongebob Squarepants...and how any of us live a better life than Spongebob, but how he is always smiling anyway.
Its amazing. The principal asked the entire crowd of about 5000 people to not say anything or make any comments until all the names had been called...but as soon as the first name was called, people started. Someone even managed to bring an airhorn into the Siegel Center(great security. Funny how they have to check the GRADUATES but they miss the airhorn on a member of the audience)...my name was called and I recieved my diploma. After the final person, the principal dismissed us almost immediately. If we wanted to toss our caps, it was now or never. I saw one cap go flying, then I tossed mine, as well as many other people. It was one of the defining moments of high school. We all recessed to the street outside the arena, where all the family/friends were waiting. It took a while to find my family..there were just too many people in a small space. Before we left to go home, I had to see just one more person. I walked around almost the whole building and finally found Shelly, a girl I met this year.
I went back home, and there was confetti everywhere. We had pizza. and cake. very good day. June 12- Behind-The-Wheel Driving class. First day. I was in the car with one other student and of course the teacher. Practiced driving around neighborhoods and main roads. After it was over, I was walking home(from my high school) thru a parking lot, and a woman asked me if I had a cell phone. I said no, and she asked me to go get help. I asked what was wrong, and she said "Please get this man away from me!!" there was a man there who had slashed her tires, and was taking her stuff out of her van and throwing it on the ground. I ran to the building nearby but no one was there. I ran across the street and couldnt get a hold of anyone. I finally ran home and we drove back up and called the police. 3 police cars came. I never found out how it all ended..but it was weird. oh, and there was a baby in the van. Picture-perfect domestic dispute.
June 13- THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. nothing too much happened on this day, considering I didnt have to be at school..but something really awkward happened... Had driving class later that day. And the sky was red. The wildfires in North Carolina and Eastern VA(about 100 miles away..) were the cause. It was really interesting how you could see the ash from that far away. I had never seen anything like it. June 14- Got my driver's license. Yesssss.... June 17- The Boston Celtics won the NBA title for the first time since 1986!! I was thrilled. so anway...high school..was alot of fun. This was definately the best year on record. I went to the football games(my favorite part of high school), met a girl who liked me, and met some new friends, thats always a good thing. Ship 2008-Not the best but certainly not the worstI know I know. I always see the cup as half-empty. Ship 08 was just alright. Nothing really to make it special. But anyway, here is the story.
Friday:
Arrived at Ship at 4:30(my parents are on committee). Went to the shed after dinner to bring back everything for the school. Chilled out with Zach, Hannah, and Stephen. I invited Zach and Stephen to spend the night in my room since there was obviously no one else there yet. They did, and we had a good time telling scary stories, most of which were rediculous. Here's an example.
"3 Christadelphians are in an apartment complex. A man tries to break in with a knife. Suddenly, our heroes pull out a machine gun and blow him away." lol
Saturday:
It was mostly just waiting until 2:00 for people to arrive. I saw a few of my friends, and the rest I would catch up with at dinner. he teen mixer was quite interesting. Also I met a few fellow Red Sox fans.
Sunday:
Memorial Service, Afternoon lecture(i hate that word) and the hymn sing. 'nuff said.
Monday-Friday 8:30-11:45:
Class.
Monday:
played some softball and went swimming.
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Played Knockout with Lucas, Drew, Brett, Graham, Matt, and so on. I won 2 games.
Thursday:
Friday:
We were all hoping for it to not rain. It would have been quite a downer if that married-singles game was called off. But the rain subsided, and, for the 2nd consecutive year, the Singles won :) I had a chance to catch the final out of the game but it dropped right in front of me. It was glorious. 20-15.
The kids program that night was great as well. Afterwards we went to the stadium to watch the fireworks.
Saturday:
After dinner was the the choral program. It was really nice. The devotions ended the school on an anticlimatic note: the final prayer simply stated "Thank you for a great week. Amen."
I invited Lucas, Graham, Trent, Stephen, Matt, Corey, Dan, and my roomates for a pizza party/all night party in my room. Night patrol even got involved. It was great that they got our back. By 1 AM, there were 3 of us left in the race. Everyone else had gone to their own rooms and 2 of my roomates had as well. So it was just Matt, Dan, and I. We were talking on the phone to Rachel and Tori almost the whole time(they were pulling an all-nighter in their room) And it got really funny when, around 2:30 AM, Matt, Dan, and I went into Jory's room and took a picture of us gathered around him. SO in the end, yes, we made it. 24 consecutive hours of no sleep. It felt great, but Im suffering from it right now haha Hanover 2008:
Exodus 10:9-"We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, for we must hold a feast unto the LORD" By the numbers:
290- the hymn that everyone always requested at the hymn sings at devotions every nite
10- the number of people I knew when I got to the school...not a lot of people
95- approximate percentage of people who I knew by the end of the week
37- points scored by the World Basketball team in their upset of Detroit
3- times that the guys gathered into someones room and turned on the techno music, strobe lights, and laser pointers and started partyboying.
25- my bowling score in the first game, dead last place
63- my bowling score in the 2nd game, where I got 2 strikes and a spare in 3 frames and ended up winning
18- great classes by James, Mark, and Frank
2- times I missed breakfast because I woke up late
2- AM..stayed up this late talkin to people Quotes from the week:
"The truth is...guys, I dont care, just clean it up(laughing)"-Andrew L.
"You would be 0-for-3(on losing the kickball, softball, and basketball games)"-Mike L.
"Some scientist thinks that the moon isn't there!!"-Mark G.
"INSANE!"(after Mark ended his class on Thursday)-Caleb P. and Phil M.
"I'm canadian, eh?"-Trudy S.
"Your mom was wearing a skirt and a sweater to play volleyball!!"-Phil M.
"Man[ny] Ram[irez] got traded to the DODGERS!!!"-(actually I forgot who said this one..) Chronicles of Hanover 2008
Friday:
1:30 PM- left home
6:00- stopped for dinner at a BK/TCBY
8:30-arrived at the hotel
Saturday:
9 AM-left
12:30 PM-stopped for lunch at Fazoli's, a pizza place that I had never heard of before..all-you-can-eat-breadsticks..it was delicious.
2:30-arrived at Hanover, registered
3:00- went into Wiley Hall, the guys dorm. No A/C and it was HOT. I didnt even have a fan. Stephen and I went to go shoot hoops in the basketball arena where it was cool.
5:45-dinner..sat with Stephen and Leah, 2 of the few people I knew..and met Katie.
7:30-hymn sing
10:00-devotions. Met a few new people but still felt really awkward..
11:00-walked around the dorm and met a few new people like Phil and Caleb.
Sunday:
7:30 AM-breakfast
10:00-Memorial Service
11:45-Lunch
1:30 PM-lecture
2:30-went to the campus center(the hangout place) and met Trudy, Rachel, and Danielle..played cards.
5:45-dinner
7:00-Orientation
10:00-devotions
11:00-Kyle moved into my room b/c neither he nor I had a roommate
Monday-Saturday:(7:30 AM-1:30 PM)
7:30 AM-Breakfast
8:45-Devotions(everyone gathered in the auditorium for a hymn and a reading and then went to their classes)
9:00-James Mansfield: "How Jesus Treated People"
9:45-Coffee Break
10:00-Mark Giordano: "The Earth Series"
(this guy stole the show on Thursday, it was about evolution and it was grand. after he finished the class, Caleb and Phil, who were sitting on either side of me, both look at me and at the same time, just say "INSANE!" and without skipping a beat, I say "that was the best class of the week right there" and Mark looked and smiled)
10:45-Coffee Break(everyone seemed to need 2 cups of coffee to stay awake)
11:00-Frank Abel: "The Apostle Paul's counsel for the young man Timothy"
12:00 PM-lunch
1:30-sports..I played racketball for the first time ever..its really fun. played some basketball and volleyball as well.
5:00-readings/
6:00-dinner
Monday:
3:00 PM- Caleb had a can of silly string. We silly-stringed Andrew L's room..he called a meeting for all the guys in Wiley at 11:00 PM.
7:30 PM- Frank gave the evening program on Lying and when it is justifiable.
10:00 PM-devotions
11:00 PM-meeting. Andrew said he was going to call attendance and he told us to say whether or not we were involved in the SS incident. Caleb and I both said we were involved. Mike said "Andrew, you want to tell them the truth?" and Andrew said "OK..the truth is...(Im thinkin "whats he gonna do to us?") Guys, I dont care..just clean it up(with a big smile on his face.) lol so we pulled a prank on him and he pulled one on us :)
Tuesday:
7:30 PM: went bowling with all the young people. I finished dead-last in the first game, probably the worst score in the history of the Bibleschool. Then, in the 2nd game, I bowled 2 strikes and a spare in 3 frames and ended up winning the game! Katie was stunned. Anyway, I heard a lot of people talking about the “Yellow Dart”..and I was wondering what it was. Someone told me it was a secret society made up by Gannon. He told me to just write a song about the yellow dart. Caleb, Ben, Phil, and lots of other people were, so I decided to. I couldnt think of anything good though. So I copied my high school’s alma mater song and inserted the words “yellow dart”. I gave it to Gannon, who read it in front of Caleb F, and some other person. They crumpled it up and said it was garbage, and Caleb says “Dude! You cant copy a hymn!! Haha”. I told them it wasnt a hymn, and that it was just an alma mater song. Gannon said “I’ll take an alma mater..”
Wednesday:
1:45 PM-teen hike. went to the local state park and hiked a 2 mile trail, then went swimming..or not...the pool was closed..anyway I really got to know a lot of people during those 2 hours. We came back to the shelter and had a cookout. Mike Live said that Leah B. and everyone at her table could go in line first, and I just happened to be at her table with Morgan, Katie, Silvia, Joe, and Ben. After that, we played kickball. Guys vs. Girls. And Im sorry to say that the girls actually did beat us, 14-11 :) Oh well, we gotta let them win sometime, right? ;) James gave a great devotion to close out the evening.
10:00-devotions...before they started, I sat in between Phil and Caleb, and both of them, without knowing, leaned on my shoulder. Im just like "what..?" and then they realized that they both had done it at the same time without planning it...so we got a picture lol
Friday:
2:30 PM-Softball..Married vs. Singles. I played shortstop for the first 3 innings, and the 2nd pitch of the game, I caught a line drive from James Mansfield. I scored the singles' first run, even though we were down 5-0 already. In between innings, I talked to Morgan, Katie, Joe, and Leah, and we got a picture of all of us..prolly the highlight of the game..haha..we(the singles..i was the only member of the 2007 and 2008 winning team from Ship) lost 16-8 and I was the final batter of the entire game..it was a fly ball to Paul S. who dropped it and chucked it to 3rd where they got Brandon out. Aaron, Trudy, Danielle, Rachel, Esther, and I walked back to the campus center where we told jokes.
7:00- Children's program
8:45- Basketball game-Detroit vs. World. I played for the world team obvously(you have to be from Detroit to play for that team) and I scored 2 points..in a gym with no A/C..it was HOT...I had never sweated so much..I got some ice cold gatorade from the machine and it was all gone by the end. The World celebrated a 37-32 upset of Detroit..I was wearing my "Green Monstah" shirt(celtics and Red sox) so the Detroitians took another loss to the men in green :)
10:00-devotions..the final devotions of the school..Caleb, Caleb, and Phil played the guitar for all the hymns. it finished with hymn 406-abide with me.
11:00-went back to the dorm.
12:50 AM- Caleb, Phil, and I were walking down the hall when we hear someone say "come into Nate's room!" so we go in there, and there are about 15 guys jumping up and down dancing to techno music, and laser pointers...We all joined in..it was the weirdest few minutes EVER. So we then got Caleb F, and also Mike Live to come in the room and did the same thing to them...it was so funny...video is here: http://tigers613.googlepages.com then click "video" then click "Rave!!"
Saturday:
left at 4:00 PM...had to miss the teen party, the highlight of the week..I looked in the room where it would be held at 10:00 that nite...and I thought "Lord willing...one year from now, I'll be there.."
apparently all the guys pulled an all-nighter..I would have given just about anything to be there..There were also alot of people I didnt get to see one last time..I wish I could have gotten to see Luke, and Trudy, and Marjorie, and a few other people..they just werent around.. a lot of the things that happened at Hanover..were not mentioned here...theres just too much...but was it the greatest week EVER?? Im going to have to say YES. it was absolutely perfect. and i'll admit it. at first, I didnt want to go. I wasnt going to know anyone there. it was the unknown...but thats the same way Niagara was a few years ago and look how it turned out. amazing. I loved it. everyone there was so friendly and they all got along. If time goes on, i MUST go back next year. i would rather be there than shippensburg, any day. thanks for the great times..and i hope everything works out..for me, as well as 2 of my friends who were having a rough week. 353 days away..lol..may the good times keep rolling In other news...im still hoping to go to Massachusetts this week or next..irregardless(which isnt a word but it might as well be), im goin to the FINAL RICHMOND BRAVES GAME EVER on Sept. 1.. God be with you all "As your counselor, I order you to write an amazing Hanover recap post. If you don't comply, I will give you a 10:30 curfew the first night next year."
-Andrew Livermore August 15 and 18th: Richmond Braves vs Toledo Mud Hens
Place: The Diamond
People involved: Daniel G, Tom and Cheryl H, Rob S
Summary: on the 15th, Elliott Yamin(freakin huge star around here, finished 3rd on American Idol a few years ago) was at the diamond. on the 18th, Rob and I went and the Braves actually won. August 16: Relay
Place: pool
People involved: Daniel and Stephen G, Eliza Z, Dylan and (?), Daniel K
Summary: In honor of Michael Phelps winning his 8th gold medal at the 2008 games(and the fact that quite a few people have told me that I LOOK like Michael Phelps), me and 5 other people decided to have a relay race. It was Eliza, Dylan, and me vs. Stephen, some other girl, and Daniel K. It was close but I won it for my team...I am NEVER swimming 50 meters that fast again... So...despite the grief that I gave this summer, it ended up being pretty darn good. I didnt get to go to Massachusetts unfortunately..every time Ive been to Fenway Park, the Red Sox have either made it to playoffs(three times) or won the World Series(twice..2004 and 2007) and this year they arent doing so hot. prophecy is being fulfilled. I didnt go to Fenway so the Sox WILL NOT win it all...gee i hope im wrong Saturday(8/30): Went to the Norfolk Tides game at Harbor Park. It’s a really nice place. Richmond won 8-6, and there were fireworks after the game. THAT was cool. Monday(9/1): Richmond Braves..the final game. They won put on a show...by winning 9-3. Luis Terrero was the final out. The crowd sang Take Me Out To The Ballgame one last time, and after the game, the Braves tossed balls and gloves into the stands as Auld Lang Syne played on the PA..it was a nice way to end the 43 year history of the Richmond Braves. Thursday(9/4): First high school football game. I gave Justin and Stephen a ride. We all had a really good time. JRT lost 32-14 but actually took the lead in the 2nd quarter. Saw alot of old friends and met some new ones. Friday(9/12) JRT's 2nd home game..v.s Hanover. they took the lead, then we ran back the kickoff to tie the game at 7, and it was all downhill from there. 49-7 we lost..but yea we had another great time Saturday(9/13) Went to the DC ecclesia's picnic. It ended up being really good, I swam in the chesapeake bay with Brianna, Stephen, Zach, Chase, and Micah. Zach and I got stung by a jellyfish. Later on, someone got 2 soccer balls stuck in a pine tree..Brianna and I were tossing water bottles for about 15 mins before both balls finally came down..lot of fun :) we went back to Brianna/Chase's house and played dominoes and swam in their freezing pool..Brianna pushed me back in lol so yea it was an awesome weekend Friday, September 19, 2008-Henrico 26 Tucker 13 I went to Tuckers 3rd straight home game, they have 6 this season. Anyway, I had a better time at this game than I had at any game while I was a student at Tucker. It was just so much fun. I saw all my friends(of course we got a pic of all of us) and at one point I had 2 girls around me taking my body heat haha...it was just an awesome night...but I paid for it the next week, I came down with bronchitis. But, if that night could happen again, I would do it in a heartbeat. JRT 24 Godwin 20- Believe it. YESSS!!!! TUCKER SNAPPED AN 18 GAME LOSING STREAK!!! They Scored a touchdown with 20 seconds left to play…we were going crazy…Godwin had one last chance to win but it got intercepted…We all STORMED THE FIELD!!! Justin, Stephen, and I bought some Sprite and shook it up and celebrated like it was champagne…Most exciting, thrilling, game ever! OBAMA-RAMA Barack Obama came to the Richmond Coliseum back on Wednesday. And of course I went :] I drove downtown at around 8:15. Got there at around 9:15 and waited in line…Obama didn’t even enter the arena until 1:30. The entire coliseum was sold out Williamsburg + Boston = Great week I went to the Williamsburg Conference for Sunday and Monday..met alot of people and hung out wiht some of them and some old friends. I was a great 2 days. I had to leave on Monday night so I could catch a plane to Boston on tuesday morning. That was fuun. I saw NYC from the plane and got lots of great pictures. Anyway...that was 2008. And YES, it was the best year ever. So many more things happened this year than what I put here. I hope 2009 is even better. The Danny Awards/Year Recap is coming very soon. Happy new year everyone |
