Rain Delay

Precipitation. Noah Webster and his pal George Merriam define it as " a deposit on the earth of hail, mist, rain, sleet, or snow." In the Great Dictionary of Ted Kuligowski, however, it is defined as "stuff that falls from the sky that makes people lazy and not wanna do anything." The dictionary has yet to be published, but it gets the job done. Regardless of what it means, it's a dull rainy day today. Based on my information from other states, it seems that this storm is pretty darn big. From Cedar Point to Scranton, it's been raining for a while. I'm looking forward to some eat-a-lot-and-watch-too-many-movies days.

Every year, my pool has a campout around this time of year. It's always a lot of fun; people bring tents, set them up around the grounds, and sleep over. They keep the pool open until 11, a lot of people are there, and it's a big social event. And I'm so glad I didn't sign up for it this year. Why? Because this year, it's a perfect storm for sucky campouts. Because of the insane heat over the last two weeks, all the grass died, leaving only dry dirt around the pool. Now, because of this oncoming rain, it's all going to be mud. Not ideal conditions to camp in. Oh, well.

Reflection

Whoops... yeah... I haven't checked this in a LONG time. Sorry about that. Not that anyone cares. It's an online method of boredom-reduction. It's mainly for me to write, because I like to and I don't that often.

Tonight's one of those late summer nights where everyone gets nostalgic. It's not so much "Boo-hoo, life sucks now that [insert name of previous friend here] is gone" as it's reflecting on the good memories from years past. When we played football and capture the flag in the neighborhood, before everyone had jobs and everyone was home over the summer, and before everyone took the whole "being a teenager" thing too far. I'm never really one to judge anyone, but I just wish people would think before they did something completely idiotic. There are a lot of people who got really screwed up (some more than others) in only about three years. It's sort of disappointing, really. Everything would be a lot easier if we were back in 5th grade, where grades didn't matter, girls were gross, and the biggest disappointment was when someone took apart the big Lego tower during indoor recess. I don't mind the fact that I'm in high school now, I just wish some things were less complicated, and I'm sure most people would agree with me.

DIVING!!!

Yes, it's that time of year again. The last few weeks before school lets out; the weather is warm, spring activities are ending, and DIVE SEASON STARTS. Tomorrow at 4:15 PM, I'll be at the pool with some of the coolest people you'll ever meet to start a 2-month period of practicing every morning and then competing Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Diving is one of the most unique sports out there for a ton of reasons. It's falling with style and grace, it takes more conditioning than most other sports, and the people who do it are really awesome. Plus, how many friends can you name who dive? Exactly. That's why, even though I have to wake up early almost every day during the summer, I don't complain; I look forward to it.

Hey, if you're looking for a great summer book, check out Improbable by Adam Fawer. I read it two years ago, and it is still the best book I've ever read.

Improbable is a 2005 science fiction thriller novel by Adam Fawer. It is the story of a gifted young man named David Caine, who has been troubled by debilitating epileptic seizures to the extent that his medical condition has thrown his life completely off track. He frequently gambles, and goes in debt to the local mafia.
During the course of the book, Caine undergoes an experimental medical treatment in an attempt to set his life straight. After the procedure, however, he discovers that he is able to make predictions using his enhanced calculative skills, and change the future based on his discoveries.

Plus, the cover art is pretty neat. It has a 3-D lenticular image on it which shifts based on your viewing angle. Funny thing is, that's what drew me to the book. I had never heard of it before; I just was in the library and I saw a shiny cover on the shelf so I took it, looked at the summary on the back, and I read it. 

Countdown to summer : 17 days

FlashForward and Lacrosse

Like many other TV shows, the final episode of FlashForward aired Thursday; however, while shows like Lost, 24, and Law and Order, FlashForward was only on for one season. I followed the show closely since the first episode back in September and got really into it, so it goes without saying that when ABC announced that it would not be bringing the show back for a second season, I was pretty upset. I feel like the overall plot was very well-written, the casting was great, and it could have been incredibly successful if it had more of a following. Based on the finale, it's pretty clear that the producers will probably try to get it picked up by another station for another season, maybe TNT or another cable channel. I hope it does. It was one of the few shows I've seen which actually made me think in order to understand everything.

This weekend is the NCAA men's lacrosse Final Four at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. Notre Dame is playing Cornell now, and Virginia plays Duke after that. Last night there were a lot of night-before festivities at the Inner Harbor as the teams arrived. I love how Maryland and Virginia are often considered to be the heart of lacrosse in America, because all the big events for the sport are local. If Virginia wins today, my dad and I are going to try and get tickets to the final on Memorial Day.

"My School's a Palindrome. What's Yours?"

So I'm here at Glenelg High School, Maryland's favorite- and probably only- palindrome. Why am I at such a uniquely-spelled place? For a Cappies-esque event for Howard County schools. It's an all-day thing. Sort of. We have to be here at 2, but it starts at 7. Yippee.

I had a baseball game this morning at 8 in Sykesville. We won 8-1. Not too bad.

TWO SUNS, TOO EASY: A credible consideration raised by David Jefferson and Ted Kuligowski

I have nothing to write about, seeing as it is 9:30 at night, I'm tired, and I just spent the past few hours writing. Sort of. Our assignment was to write a satirical argument about a problem in the world (reflecting A Modest Proposal). If you're interested, you can read it here:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AWjFUO4vdop4ZGZ3ZjZmd3dfOGhta3dzNGQ4&hl=en

One Love

As you may know from reading my earlier post, I got a new phone a few weeks ago. Nice phone. I love it. Yesterday, the Android 2.1 update became available, and, of course, I downloaded it. It's a great update- nearly everything was changed for the better- but there was one problem: all my contacts got deleted. Luckily for me, user-friendliness is high up on the priority list of the makers of the Droid phones. All my contacts were backed up on my Gmail account, and were easily sent back into my phone in a matter of 5 minutes.

Guess who has a math test tomorrow? That's right. Me. And I'm ready. Hell yeah, here we go.

Both the Virginia men's and women's lacrosse teams won their first-round playoff games this weekend, their emotional first games since Yeardley Love, a senior on the women's team, was found murdered by her ex-boyfriend, also a lacrosse player, George Huguely two weeks ago. It's sad how, much like the Duke lacrosse case in 2006, the team, the players, and especially the sport are wrongly yet easily targeted by the media. Especially following UVA player Will Barrow's suicide last November, this kind of publicity isn't incredible for the healing and rebuilding process necessary for the team, the school, and the community as a whole. In Love's honor, the entire team wore a patch on their jerseys which had her initials and her number, 1.  And on the back of the men's blue warm-up jerseys prior to their game on Saturday, in bright orange text, the words "One Love." Love's roommate scored three goals in an incredible performance on Sunday afternoon.