the big reveal...

well, no one commented on my blog post the other day, so i guess i'm just doing this for Mrs. Cardona's sake.
1) cause/effect
2) argument
3) definition
4) compare/contrast
5) example
6) narrative

happiness?

1) i was in the drive-thru again, picking up a quick dinner after work. i sorted through my change jar, getting a hold of anything that could pay to fuel my exhausted body. when i handed the cashier my money, he just gave it back to me. the confused look on my face prompted him to tell me that the person in front of me had already paid for my meal. it was a small favor, but it sure helped me out. Now, whenever i feel like the person behind me in the drive-thru needs a blessing, i go ahead and pay for their meal, too. random acts of kindness influence happiness.

2) everyone has the potential to be happy. happiness is attainable to all, but not everyone goes out and grabs what makes them happy. every person has possible happiness sitting in front of them, waiting to be reserved by whoever takes the initiative to seize it. if someone isn’t happy, it is their own fault. anyone could be happy.

3) one feels happiness when one feels an array of positive emotions. happiness is feeling pleasure, and depending on the case, spreading that joy. when happy, all is more than satisfactory. the sun shines brighter, the grass seems greener… there is nothing worth complaining about. happiness is an overwhelming feeling of fondness of every surrounding situation and predicament.

4) is ignorance bliss? that cliché saying is drilled into our heads through song lyrics, sappy movies, and any medium that can get the message across. one can link these together because sometimes happiness can be from only taking in the positive circumstances and not weighing the negative. well, let me tell ya, i have been happy quite a bit before. it’s usually my surroundings that spark the happiness i feel.  however, when i was happy, i was fully aware each and every one of my surroundings. so, ignorance is not bliss in all cases.

5) she was happy when that 8 pound body with little feet and even littler hands left her body. to say it was the same happy as when her son walked for the first time, called her “mama” the first time, that’s open to interpretation. when asked, she said there wasn’t a time she wasn’t happy through his entire childhood, she was always proud. i know that’s a lie, though, because someone can’t be happy 100% of their lives. is happiness just what you feel when you’re not sad? Maybe she was just happy more than she was sad. she said she was happy the day he graduated, but she cried during the whole ceremony.

6) the semi-finals of the Midwest Qualifier, a tournament that could send my team to Atlanta for nationals, provided an assortment of emotions, but i know the overpowering and residing one was happiness. that was my favorite match, not because that was the best i played all season, but because as a team we worked to get what we all passionately desired. we were down in the third game 7 to 11. two consecutive blocks made it 9 to 11. adrenaline almost burst my veins; we were playing our hearts out. they scored the next point, but our team wouldn’t let it happen again. we worked our way to 14 to 12. another block. we were onto the ‘ship. knowing i could play a part in helping secure what we’d been seeking all season made me happy.

(start at 5:20... ends at 6:55)

aye aye, captain.

some shoes are hard to fill. i'm accepting the challenge though, and i am on a mission.
success. triumph. victory.
despite the end of the volleyball season coming to an unexpected and heartbreaking end in section finals, i am beyond determined to play my part in helping to reconstruct the team.

Habakkuk 2:2 - write the vision, make it plain.

i am writing the vision, now. we will succeed.

p.s. i seem obsessive, and i kind of am... but i want this so badly. this has just been on my mind for the past couple of weeks.

i think that anything is possible, even when the odds are stacked against you. this is my inspirational blog post... ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE! well, i am asking for another state championship next year. LET'S GO.

sick, brah.

slang can change any integrity of a sentence. 
"props" vs. "i commend you" take opposite stances. the latter of the two seems more professional, something an educator may say to a student.
even two different uses of slang can set different people apart.
"you are so tight" vs. "you are the cat's pajamas" suggests the first was said by a much younger person, since it is just a more current way of telling someone they are cool.... or da bomb.
any text can be transformed into some type of slang. the following in a excerpt from an assignment in my  creative writing class. this is a lax bro's version of Cinderella using their slang.  

Alright broskis, gather around. I got a story for you guys, it is absolutely unreal. It starts with this babe, Cindy. She is totally dank, a total bittie. She has pretty sick flow for being a lady but her evil mom is a big time hater. Every day she just lays that young hate on vulnerable Cindy. She isn’t the only hater, though. Living in the huge mansion with Cindy and her stepmom are her two seriously nasty looking stepsisters. They do not score well with the men. The ugly sisters are always telling Cindy, “Get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich. Then fold my laundry and make me a sandwich. Then, get me some Natty Ice’s.

pretty different from the original, huh?  even though this may not be clear to most, i'm sure if a laxer went to practice one day and told this story his teammates would understand every word. if a college professor told his rendition of the story to the lax bro, using only upper level collegiate vocabulary, there wouldn't be much comprehending by the laxer going on. this doesn't mean the bro is stupid, it just means they have a different language. well, they both speak english, but the two different stories do use completely different language. these are two extremes. sometimes slang is good, it enables a mutual understanding of something... but only if everyone is familiar with the slang term.

anything and everything.

have you ever wanted something so badly? something that you can almost just reach out and grasp, yet something that's so far away?
losing section finals was devastating.
in the beginning of the season, we were ranked #2 in state, and we couldn't even make it this year. we had the dream team. we had everything on our side, the best coach, the best libero, the best setter and middle combo... everything. we had some will, but no one can coach desire. desire conquers all skill. the odds may have been stacked against us,eden prairie ranked first in our section, that's fair to say. but, that game on friday night wasn't some math test. it was a test of desire, who wanted it more. passion will always overpower logic. sometimes the results don't always add up. it never matters what the stats might say, and the experts may think, and the commentators may have predicted. when it all comes down to it, the hunger to win conquers all. i wish the whole team, our whole family we adopted for the past three months, grasped this concept.
there's always next year for the underclassmen, but it's a shame for the seniors.
i will start working my ass off now to make up for the loss we went through, next year we WILL make it to state.